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!

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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!

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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

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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!

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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...

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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...

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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???

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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.

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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.

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