Fast away the old year passes

New Years Eve... another year almost in the bag. Fa-la-la-la-la

Johnston Canyon from our stay in Canmore for skiing etc over the Christmas break.

2010 was a great year. Shannon & I are 'reconnecting' as they say (read: she hasn't killed me yet ;>) )Boys are doing well at University & both enjoyed their summers of landscaping, Work wasn't the best but there's always next year for that, paid the bills & then some when others were out of work so its not as bad as it seems sometimes. Landed a few new friends as hiking / backpacking partners & while there is never enough time for everything I'd say I did well in the 'outdoor' department getting quite a few memorable trips in & documenting them on Zenfolio. I've got my winter work more or less mapped out plus what will undoubtedly be an overly optomistic list of 'extras'. Shall I start with the basement or the garage?? Or maybe snowshoing?

As for this blog... stay tuned for a 'best of 2010' perhaps or a new photo challenge. Maybe I'll go back & rework some photos from trips past. I know somewhere I have some RAW images from a 2005 (or was it '06?) backpacking trip that have never been processed.

2011 looks to be fine year !!! Happy New Year all!

Click to read full post......

Moab roadie

A little recap on the Moab trip from October. I wasn't going to take a fall trip but Moe was available for part of it, work was more or less accommodating as was Shannon so I figured what the heck. These trips are so worth it even though I sometimes come back a bit bagged from trying to cram too much in. I love Utah hiking!

I enjoy photography. I don't excel at it, I still consider myself to be a bit of a hack but thanks to Lightroom I can usually scratch together my shots into a gallery I am happy with. It took a long time to process all the photos... first of all there are a ton of them & often it is hard to choose which ones to work on. Then a computer dies, & always work sapping my strength. Anyway this shot of Druid Arch I thought worked well as a high contrast B&W.

This shot was on the Peekaboo trail, it was one of the best days for weather, sunny & warm, & this was my 'second breakfast'. The wonderful silence of the Needles area... it just reminds me of great day out hiking.

While I planned fairly effectively for this trip (weather...) there were many moments of discovery or timing that stood out. One was here at what I call Wooden Shoe wash. The cottonwoods were just brilliant in the late afternoon sun ... a happy accidental find.

Here's Moe in The Joint. It was good of him to look up at the right moment, I really like this shot. Moe is a good hiking partner, always on the lookout & is always right there with a sarcastic comment (even if many of them aren't very funny, here's to trying)

Fisher Towers. I just love this shot, the blue sky against the red stone... it kind of symbolizes what I wanted out of this trip: grand sights, good weather, some solitude & some good company.

Here's a shot from the Goblin Valley. Even though my plans for a full moon walk here were foiled it was still one of my favorite places. As it fringes onto the edge of a future trip so I may be back.

Here's the link to the all the Moab Galleries. Oh yeah, I'll be back!

Click to read full post......

Mt Fullerton scrambl'n

Today the world is white, our first big dump of snow for the year. But yesterday it was a different story...

Fantastic day on the rocks. More on Zenfolio

Click to read full post......

Creston Colors

High River is in ‘brown season’ now so it was very refreshing to soak in the fall colors of Creston last weekend. This orchard is for sale… hmmm…

Finally reached the end of what has been a particularly taxing season. “The end” in that for the next while no boss & no ‘babysitting’ but still a ton of work to do. Nice long deadlines though & I don’t have to spend every day in the office so it’s all good. Also need to tuck into some photo processing among other things. But first, in celebration of the change of season I’m taking Monday off & going hiking. See you out there!

Click to read full post......

Happy Halloween!

Busy busy busy! Wrapping up a busy season but I did get away for a short but eventful fall roadie to Utah, based around Moab. Lots of hiking slick-rock, arches, slots canyons, & some rock art. The photos are finally out of the camera & will start to get editted shortly.

The above is on the "Newspaper Rock" panel on the way to the Needles section of Canyonlands National Park. Figured maybe someone might have crafted him on some Halloween long past...

Click to read full post......

Fallout

Stomach bug this weekend... bad timing as it grounded Saturday's outing to Waterton. It was a beautiful fall day too... the leaves they fall, oh the humanity! But on the bright side I got somewhat caught up with my photo processing.

Birdwood Traverse (above)


Invincible Lake Ridge.

Unless I get very lucky that's it for larchy goodness for another year... it is sadly such a small window.

Click to read full post......

Fall Rush

A couple frames from a project that took us three years to complete design to finish. Customer has requested an as-built planting plan so I shot a bunch of photos to reference... winter project.


Way behind on processing photos, fourteen designs in progress, but hard to be inside now that we are finally getting Indian summer. More hiking on the weekend in the fall glory & planning for some upcoming desert hiking. Throttle is stuck open but in a good way.

Click to read full post......

Photo challenge - Murals

From the September long weekend

High River murals. A description and all the photos can be found here.

Upcoming photo challenges: Hank, I saw your suggestion for a silhouette… I’ll keep that in mind (great idea!!!) I also have a few other ideas for upcoming photo challenges. One involves mushrooms… hey, its been a wet year, if you can’ t fight ‘em join ‘em! Might do some of that if hiking falls thru this weekend. Also maybe something with a fall theme, I saw some cool leaf photos the other day that inspired me – not sure if I can follow that format or not (maybe) … my flash abilities are quite limited. More suggestions appreciated!

Anyway, work is still busy and certain aspects of it are draining more of my creative abilities but for a good cause (web SEO related) so on a bit of a learning curve with that stuff. Oh and the empty nest thing is going ok, thanks for asking. I haven’t had to kick a pair of shoes for two weeks!

Click to read full post......

Crazy Pills

I’m always whining about being busy but add to that having to fend for myself for two weeks, an extra couple pinches at work (is it reasonable to work 14-15 hours a day??), a big project at Silverland & you get ‘holy shit’ busy. Had to figure out how to do internet banking & how to work that blasted washing machine… I feel like I’ve been taking crazy pills!


Not all work though, I got in a backpacking trip on the long weekend & caught up to an old high-school buddy for an afternoon of fun in Kananaskis. Today is a loose ends day so finally caught up on my photos too.

I need to spend a little more time shoot'n, with a few exceptions the shoot'n I did on the backpacking trip were taken too quickly... brain wasn't set right or something. Maybe I'll carve out part of a day soon for some camera time. But in the meantime summer is going by way way way too fast!! Now where's my todo list...

Click to read full post......

Portfolio Shoot'n - votivational!

My favorite time of year to try & get a few new portfolio photos, see some three to five year old projects & assess how the plants & construction have held up, that kind of thing. Try being the operative word though. Getting out to do it when there is a little cloud cover & there isn't some major deadline pinning me in the office... well when it does happen I try & enjoy it.


The processing will mostly be winter work but had a quick look thru to make sure I didn't screw anything up too bad. Hopefully more to come.

As for the direction this blog is taking... most of my current photography is over at zenfolio including last Saturday's scramble to The Fortress. Just a better forum for those trips but I'll post here from time to time with something noteworthy or if I perhaps do something I like in processing.


Or another photo challenge. Or whatever. I'm open to ideas. Anyone??? Anyone???

Click to read full post......

Happy Canada Day!!!

Four hours of getting my Silverland stuff together, then reconciling my Visa expenses, a bunch of other loose ends, I'm finally able to process some photos.
Calypso Orchids... I just can't get over how cool these are!

I didn't agonize over anything... lots of time in the winter to go back in a play around some more, but I was starting to fall behind & that was bugging me. I still plan to bring the blog up to date but in the meantime head on over to Zenfolio to view the pics recently uploaded. If I know you, send me an email & I'll send you back the passwords for the locked albumns. For now some socializing & fireworks are calling.

Click to read full post......

Extreme Osmosis

Getting landscapers to work in the rain is not my favorite task ... mostly because I can strongly relate.


Kelly's idea of comedy did not impress the 'saftey officer', but it did sum up the situation.

I'm way behind... a backpack, some hikes, a graduation, awards things, anniversary get togethers... its coming. Eventually.

Click to read full post......

Photo Challenge, May long-weekend

Great long weekend... couldn't crack the whole todo list but I did get a lot done including a hike! I decided to see if I could do the whole photo challenge on the hike, see what you think.

animal (wild – bird or four legs. No pets)

scenic (prefer landscape),

plant, (None other than the Boundary Pine)

macro (nature oriented)

The hike was west of Longview: Grass Pass, Boundary Pine, & Bull Creek Hills. The full selection on the day can be viewed here

Click to read full post......

Coasting across the line

Heading into a long weekend... I've worked the past two Saturdays & averaging 14hr days... running out of gas...
Last Sunday Mike & I hit the slopes of Sunshine for a fine day of spring skiing. Late in the day clouds rolled in with a little precip but nothing too major. No legs left by then anyway.
As is the custom for the spring season Sunshine has been bringing in bands, today it's Nelson's own BC/DC. They do a great job of covering AC/DC (mostly their earlier stuff) ... fun show. Ya just gotta love a band whose lead guitarist wears a cow-suit.
Party on Garth

Meanwhile back at the ranch... Eric didn't ski with us due to a soccer injury so this was the backyard Sunday morning. How many kids were here???

So this long weekend Moe and I are doing another photo challenge thingie. As we both had about a three email limit on setting this up heres the deal:

animal (wild – bird or four legs. No pets) scenic (prefer landscape), plant, macro (nature oriented) so four frames total

Not too restrictive but I really really need to get the camera thing going again. If I can combine that with a hike even better... Not sure where Moe plans to post his shots, his blog: it gathers dust.

Then there's the garden, clean out my truck, Silverland agenda, letter for Eric's grad (already late), visiting with friends, Little Britches parade & rodeo, maybe skiing... or a good book & a sunny patch.

Oh & before I forget I uploaded photos from fall 2009 AZ, UT & NV to Zenfolio today from my laptop. A bit easier to scroll thru than on the blog, full screen is nice, but they aren't annotated yet. What do you want fer nuth'n?

Click to read full post......

Bright Side

Shot from a surveying day... in a yard where this was really the only bright spot.


How many things do I need to shed, cancel, defer, drop, shank, or shit-can with extreme prejudice in order to singlemindedly focus on this one thing that I love? source

I found this & felt like sharing... kinda the opposite of how things are going lately. The mountains, they call.

Click to read full post......

Fernie Bonus Days

April 17 & 18, 2010. The final two days of the season at Fernie. Great skiing with sun & soft spring snow with the favorite part for the kids being the hydroplane across the 'pond' at the bottom of the Boomerang Chair. We also had several big feeds off the bbq, enjoyed the hot tub & the company of our little group of reprobates. There were a few beer that survived but the scotch was not so lucky.

Rest of the photos can be viewed here

Ski season isn't over yet, Sunshine remains open!!! (I love spring skiing)

Click to read full post......

All Rev'ed Up

...and nowhere to go. Stupid weather.

Best quote in quite some time from a client, part of an email commenting on his design:

"Keep the front bed as per Design #2. (wifes name) likes it, therefore I now like it."

Gotta appreciate a guy who knows how to make a compromise ;>)

Click to read full post......

Scraps of Spring

In my garden this weekend, oaffus-doaffus dog & weather battered, but still a welcome splash of color


First a howling blizzard woke us,
Then the rain came down to soak us,
And now before the eye can focus -
Crocus.
- Lilja Rogers

Went to the Calgary Horticulture Society’s annual trade show yesterday & I actually learned a lot. I also got to meet up with quite a few nursery & landscape types who otherwise scatter to scurry around with their respective heads bent to their work the remainder of the season.

Quote of the day came when Ken Wright of Bow Point Nursery Ltd was asked in a seminar on native plants to comment on deer proof plants: “Deer are going to eat whatever plant is your favorite.” I thought that was pretty much the perfect answer.

I was going to go looking for prairie crocus today but decided to focus on a few other tasks like a landscape plan with a really screaming deadline & my hip deep office mess of just about everything that I’ve dropped in the past month.

As Eric had his Easter school break this past week I took a mid-week “powder day”. Since I finally have some backup in the office net productivity was unaffected as that day easily represented the time I would spend in an average past week doing stuff other than my job. Well, maybe one day wasn’t enough actually. Reaching that point of the year where the work outstrips even the most ‘productive’ week so hack & slash … onward I toil. Have a good week, & hopefully spring is coming to your neck of the woods too.

Click to read full post......

Spring 2010 roundup

First of all… have you noticed its spring?? Or what passes for spring in this part of the world. Shhhh… don’t jinx it.
Tessa has been enjoying the warm weather.


Work is almost full bore, the final nudge of the throttle to full comes when the crews start & that will be another ten days or so (depending on the weather). Will likely get a few days skiing in over the school break now that basketball is done.

So you got left hanging with basketball… Eric’s team came second at Zones which gave them a berth into Provincials. The basketball played at Zones was intense; the team that came first in the Zone went on to a second place finish at Provincials.

The first game of Provincials was a loss in a tight game & it bumped the team to the “C” pool so at best an eighth place finish. The coach talked to the kids about playing the second game using the whole bench, get everybody on the board, (& if it was close try & win). It was a 20 point loss, certainly a team they could have beaten, but it finished the tournament on a real happy note & I felt it was the right move. In many of the games leading up to that point some of the rookies had seen little or no action… now they can say they played at Provincials. I never checked the score-sheet but I think everyone recorded at least one basket.

For Eric the last game of his High School career came on the following week as he & team-mate Brandon were selected to represent NDC in the 1A/2A South Central Zone All-Star game. The participants were split East & West & they made a game of it; the final score 93-91. It was smiles all around with many of the kids saying that was the best game they had ever played in. Eric said “I was actually getting passes on my fast breaks”. A great way to finish the season for me too watching Eric among his peers whom he had played against throughout the past three seasons (or longer).

On the weekend I jammed 1512 Basketball shots into Lightroom and spat out 258 keepers into my Zenfolio site for sharing with the athletes, family & friends. I had been considering Zenfolio for quite a while having initially been introduced to it by an scrambling partner Wietse. That was more than a year ago but with the revamp on the company website I needed a new place for what formerly was my Designers Corner segment… the first segment on the build is my tree portfolio which has saved me a lot of time describing the trees I propose for landscape clients in the past…. So the time had come for Zenfolio. I hope it will help me to stay a bit better organized when it comes to my photos and as Wietse pointed out, it acts as an online backup. Such that anything in the ‘clouds’ is secure; it’s another place to keep ‘stuff’.

So if you want you can wander over to Zenfolio for basketball, skiing, or the start of the landscape portfolio. Just mind the pylons, barricades, & open man-holes… heavily under construction.

Click to read full post......

Get open

Well I managed to go a solid month without posting, unlikely a record... I've been busy it seems.

Ok, I had this big long thing written accounting for my whereabouts… lets just say the last while has been a gong show. I’ll blog a bit belatedly about a couple of things otherwise suffice to say it goes like this: work…basketball…chores….shit weather…work…work… with every once in a while SKI or SUN…

But basketball deserves a few more lines. Eric’s team, NDC Timber wolves, finished third in league play leading into the playoffs. NDC is 2A, the top two teams were Foothills Comp (4A) and Highwood (3A) our cross-town rival. NDC defeated STS to advance to the quarter final Friday night against Highwood. We have never beaten Highwood at basketball. Long story short it was an epic game that ended 64-61 NDC. First time a 2A school has made the league final since 1999. Foothills Comp is a strong team with a post who must be 6’6” or 6’8”… anyway, the final game was a hard fought 43-73 finish during which we seemed to frustrate them enough their coach was yelling at them like they were loosing. Time was we’d play them and they’d sit their starters and still roll over us. Most excellent to see that improvement.

Next up at the end of this week is Zones in Didsbury. The boys must defeat Drumheller & Brooks ranked #1 & #2 in the province respectively in order to advance to Provincials. Last year they got to Provincials by finishing second to Drumheller and due to our Zone being so tough there was a wildcard slot from our Zone. We’ll see how it goes; it’ll be fun to watch Eric wind up his High-school career playing at that level.

I only shot about a third of this years play due to my camera being in the shop for a while & some games I just prefer to watch. I’ve got a few good shots using my longer lens even though its auto-focus is frustrating. Overall there should be a good collection of shots once I find time to process them all.

What to do next winter??? It’ll be an adjustment I’m sure but I’ll bet the time will get filled, & maybe I’ll even do some snowshoeing! & more shoot’n… you can count on that.

Click to read full post......

Winter walk'n

Winter wears on. Shannon won't walk Tessa when it’s icy (which has been since November more or less) so I've been the primary walker this winter. Often in the dark but she always wants to go so it’s not so much of a chore.

She has improved a great deal from the dog that was hand shy, would cower if you threw a ball & would shy from a camera. I've been working with her a bit off leash too & its going well... another thing I didn't think I'd be able to do with her given her initial desire to run the moment the gate was left open.
How's that for getting her to stay while I crept right up to her with the camera? Lets just say when I get that close she usually can't resist lunging forward & licking my face.



Finally worn out from playing ball, a game she has grown to love thanks in part to Eric. It's a dog’s life.

Click to read full post......

Orton Technique

The Orton Technique was orginally done back in the film days by overlaying two suitably exposed slides for a nice artistic blurred effect. Now using digital technology we can get a similar effect with much less effort.

Rather than cleaning up my office (it is such a mess I've actually temporarily moved to the dining room... wow it's starting to look like my office in here...) I'm playing with Photoshop tonight. Something I haven't done for a while but with the upcoming website revamps I'll likely have to use it again... but enough of that... a few examples of the Orton technique on some of my shots.


In order of appearance: Mooney Falls(Havasu), Grand Canyon, River Walk(Zion), & Mooney Falls again.

Click to read full post......

Cuatro cervezas por favor

We wanted to take a family vacation for Eric's senior year so we kicked around some ideas & the only time we could all go was Christmas, which is "we've got them by the balls" season for travel companies. We decided on an all inclusive resort (Barcelo Colonial Beach) just south of Playa Del Carmen on the Maya Riviera. Cool breezes off the Caribbean Sea, lots of sun & not too hot (high 20's to low 30's.) We had a wonderful time.
It's a big complex with pitch & putt golf, tennis, fitness center, shopping, restaurants, plus numerous pools all moments away from white sand beaches. Shannon thought she could use this angel in the courtyard outside our room to help find our way. Turns out they are everywhere! We all had a turn at getting 'lost' at some point.
The outdoor nativity scene with a Mexican twist.
Gotta have a chicken!
It was easy to forget it was Christmas time. An occasional familar tune played in a restaurant or a tree in the lobby. It all seemed so out of place. All we needed for Christmas was our little foursome... leave the trees in the cold north.
Pool-side.
Beach activities include snorkeling, scuba, sail boats, wind surfing, jet skiis, parasailing & kayaking. Extra fees for some of those activities.
Michael gets a tow.

Oh who could be behind the hand? "I'm not too worried about it."
Eric especially enjoyed himself because of his status we had to bring him drinks. Just so you know Eric, I drank out of every single one first (partly so I wouldn't spill on my self stumbling back to the chairs)

I am prone to slurpy headaches & I got one so bad from a daiquiri it went right into my chest... that was not fun. Well, it was for everyone else. I had one afternoon where I got my monies worth out of the bar, otherwise I behaved myself. Turns out that "Your shout" & "Half in the bag" aren't terms in current use. Now you know how we feel Mike, never knowing what you're talking about.


Would you believe they actually left me here "But its still light out!!"

I spent much of our pool / beach time vegetating... which is so not like me. I think it helped though, felt much more energized after the trip. Shannon with her beach book (above)
We did three side trips (blogged seperately) & went into Playa Del Carmen one evening to see what all the fuss was about. Shopping & had a bite at a local restaurant. H1N1 kicked the crap out of them but they are making a comeback after some very slow months. All the locals & resort staff we dealt with were very helpful & friendly. But tourism is the major industry there. They probably laugh about us at the end of the day. "You should have seen that boy eat!"
We ate out at the themed restaurants for seafood, thai, mexican, & steak. The steak place was funny with the waiters dressed up as cowboys & Alan Jackson playing over the speakers. I went with the lamb. This is 'classier' than the buffet so gentlemen must wear long pants, collared shirt, closed toe shoe. "But I'm on holidays!!!" Ladies, just not a swim suit. WTF!!! Anyway, all dressed up for dinner in front of the big gingerbread house display by the restaurants.

All in all we ate like kings. Pineapple with every meal... what's not to love?
Hammock time before heading back to Calgary -18.

A word about the shoot'n. All these shots with a Canon G11. I read the manual & tried a bunch of the features but didn't get too 'into it' on this trip. I think deep down I really needed to unplug, & it helped. But none of these shots are all that great. On a happier note my Rebel is back from the repair shop ready to be picked up so I can start shooting basketball again. Yay! So between the two cameras there will be some better shoot'n soon.

Click to read full post......