A little thing I put together...

Slightly askew but thoroughly pondered insights,
random and irrelevant yet ironically lovely photographs,
accompanied by provoking quotes from people that are much smarter than you.
52 Askew.

What a Difference a Year Makes

The family grows...

Turn Around

Hey, guess what?
I updated my People gallery for the Halloween pictures.
That's a quick turn around for me, eh.
Go check them out.

Halloween on Church Street

One of the few things I love about living in the big city (being from the wilderness of northwestern Ontario originally) is the diversity.
And craziness.
I joined my local photography club last night to check out Halloween on Church Street.



It was so warped and freaky, that only a fisheye lens could capture it properly.
The costumes were amazing and everyone was so friendly.
I think I've found myself a new annual event.



I've included some pictures on my flickr to tide you over until I have a chance to update my site.

If I could love an inanimate object...

Tested my new F2.8L macro lens.
It has image stability.
The test shots looked fantastic.
Even at F2.8, when there is only a sliver of in focus area, I was able, hand-held, to place the focus right where I wanted it.



And the IS stopped me from blurring the image and from moving the focus point as I shook to take the shot.



Even with a 36mm extension tube, hand-held at F2.8, I was able to maintain the focus right where I wanted.



I am officially in love.
Mini - Darth Vader and Mini - Cylon never looked so good.

Gearhead

So I picked up another lens.



Can you guess which kind?

Images are Up

Ah, a weekend to relax, breath...
...and update the galleries.
The images from my West Africa trip are up.
And I've expanded and updated the rest of my galleries.
Check them out.

Back from West Africa

So, this is a raptor typical of West Africa.



This is what the rear wing of a Piper airplane looks like after such a raptor collides into it during take-off.



And this is what the rear of the fuselage looks like after such a collision (note the crinkled metal on the left side where the tail and fuselage are riveted together).



The impact scared the heck out of me.
Didn't stop the pilot though.
He continued our ascent and flew for over an hour (and up to at least 7000 feet) to our destination.
Even though the plane was warbling the whole way.
Anyway, I have made it back onto Canadian soil and should be posting some images from the trip shortly.
And we all know when I say shortly I mean, well, within the next 3 months.

Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum

So I had a chance to visit the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum. It was pretty awe inspiring to see one of the last two flying Lancasters in the world, take to the skies.



I've created a new gallery for Transportation, including pictures from the museum and its planes (a lot of which they are still flying).
Check it out.

Toronto Zoo

Created a new gallery exclusively for visits to the Toronto Zoo.
And I've updated it for my visit last week.
Check it out

PS - the polar bears are back on display...
...and as excited as ever.

Departure & New Appointment

It is with the greatest of sadness that I announce the departure of my beloved EFS17-55 F2.8IS.
She joined the team 12 months ago and made quite an impact.
Her image stability, extreme sharpness, bokeh, focus speed and large constant aperture were all exquisite but, even though she served exceptionally well, she didn't get along with the boss, Mr. 1DmkIII.
I wish her all the best in her future endeavors.

I am pleased to announce the arrival of Ms. EF24-105 F4L IS.
While she may not have the speed of her predecessor, she does have a longer range and she fills the gap between Ms. 17-35 and Ms. 70-200 in a way her predecessor did not.
And she is an L.
The boss, Mr. 1DmkIII, seems to be attached to her already.
Please join me in welcoming Ms. 24-105 to the team.

Peru Pictures

OK, so I have uploaded some Peru pictures.
They can be seen HERE.
I still have to re-upload the rest of my website to the new server so please be patient.

Upgrading the server.
Be back shortly...
...with pics from Peru ;-)

In Peru

Lima, Cajamarca, Cuzco, Caral-Supe, Aguas Calientes, and of course, Machu Picchu.
Be back later ;-)

Thunder Bay Road Trip 2009

I've created a gallery featuring some images from the Thunder Bay road trip.
Check it out!

Image Update!

So I actually updated my image galleries for my Thunder Bay trip.
Updated are the Mammalia, Landmarks & Landscapes, Automobilia, Flora, Insecta, Aves, Waterfowl, Other Fauna, Sculpture Portraits and Other galleries.
I've also updated my flickr with some more picture sets.
Expect even more updates on both my webpage and flickr soon.

Road Trip

Just got back from a two week road trip back home to Thunder Bay.

Lots of wildlife.



Lots of updates to come.

Night Life

On Friday night a few members of TPMG got together for a night shoot in downtown Toronto.
You would be amazed at how many strange looks and even stranger questions you get asked when you and 20 other people are setting up tripods and cameras on random street corners.

I've uploaded some of the pictures to my flickr account.

Take me out to the...

Checked out a Blue Jays game last Thursday.
It was a work function, so we were up in a corporate box, pretty far from the field.
It was a good chance to try out the 9fps of the 1DmkIII.
I've put up a few more pictures over on my flickr

Finally

Finally updated the Waterfowl, Flora, Featured Images and the Landmarks & Landscapes galleries.

Late Spring Brings...

Wow, its been a busy couple of weeks.



In there was a trip to the Royal Botanical Gardens for their tulip festival, a trip to the Peterborough Zoo, the birth of seven cygnets, the arrival of eight goslings, a trip to Muskoka, a couple old mills and some ghost towns.



Expect some related gallery updates shortly.

That Time of Year

Muskoka

I've managed to update the Aves, Mammalia, Sculpture Portraits and the Landmarks & Landscapes galleries.

Sanshou

I've uploaded some of my horrible Sanshou pictures over at flickr.

You can check them out here

Wolverines & Wushu

The forecast for Saturday was calling for an 80% chance of thunderstorms up in Muskoka, which is a two hour ride north of home, and also the proposed location for a TPMG ad-hoc event at the Muskoka Wildlife Centre. Throwing caution to the wind and looking forward to, at a minimum, a drive through cottage country, we decided to take the ride. And were rained upon for the majority of the trek north. We arrived at the centre a few minutes (half an hour) early - before the event - before the place even opened. And while we sat and waited for the opening, something glorious happened. It stopped raining. And the sun came out. In fact, the entire time we were out looking at their animals it was pleasant.

Pleasant enough that after the event, a group of us decided to drive even further north to check out High Falls. At High Falls there were actually three different falls, each a different size. I managed to snap a few shots, being not entirely enthusiastic (and a bit pouty to be honest) since I forgot to bring along my tripod (the best falls shots in my opinion are the ones where the shutter if left open a bit longer to get a nice flowing image of the water going over the falls - which isn't possible if you don't have a tripod to steady the camera). Anyway, after a few shots and a bit of a hike around the fallses (is that even a word? How do you say falls plural?), it started to drizzle, so we headed back to the car. Just in time. Within minutes it started pouring. A torrential down pour which had a lot of (smarter than me) people stopping at the side of the highway to wait for it to slow down. At least my car received a nice (and free) wash.

As for the centre itself, well, it was basically a zoo and reminded me of a smaller version of the Canada exhibit at the toronto zoo. They did have more animals from Ontario than the Canada exhibit, but all in smaller enclosures.
And speaking of the enclosures, the fences, well, sucked. There were double fences so you couldn't put your lens up close to the fence. Every picture ended up with the green or grey fence featured prominently in front of the animals, or blurring the close up of the animals, or being the subject of the photograph as the auto focus zeroed in on the fence instead of the animal in behind. The centre does offer an opportunity for photographers to get closer to the animals...for a fee. $250 for the first hour, $100 per hour for each subsequent hour, for groups of up to five. When the foliage comes in, this may be a consideration, depending on what animals they would feature.



Sunday taught me a hard lesson in lighting.
I had a "media" pass for a sanshou / wushu tournament up in Richmond Hill.
It was an eye opening lesson because it was in a hockey arena with crap awful lighting. I don't think I snapped a single decent shot. Even at maximum aperture and iso through the roof, I couldn't speed up the shutter to a point where the combatants were frozen in action. So I came away with a lot of noisy dim shots of blurs wearing sparring equipment.
Now I understand why people laud large apertures and cameras that have super high iso capabilities.



I will update the galleries at the end of the week (hopefully before the end of next weekend) with pictures of Aves, Mammalia and Other Fauna. And may be a Landscape.

Centennial Park Conservatory

I headed over to the Centennial Park Conservatory today to test out the new macro lens as well as see which flowers are in bloom.



I should be adding a few pictures to the Flora gallery over the next few days.

Sight to See

These are exciting sights to see.





Because April nests bring May goslings and cygnets.
Which I can't wait to photograph.
Both were along my morning dog walking route.
Did I ever mention that I love my neighborhood?

Spring at the Zoo

So being a sucker for animals, I became a member of the Toronto Zoo.



And Friday was my first use of that membership.



I should be adding a few shots to the Mammalia, Aves, and the Other Fauna galleries.

If You Don't Know...

...now you know.
How a guy like me spends his tax return.