Ladies & Gentlemen...

...more baboons.
Enjoy.

New and improved...with more baboons!

Updated the Senegal Trip gallery.

New and improved...with more baboons!

Sabodala Village

On the surface, it is what I would have imagined it to be.
No electricity or running water.
No 2,500 sq ft homes.
No a/c.
No cars.
No 52" HD LCDs.
No cable TV.
No 3D Imax mega movies.
No ipods, ipads, iphones.
No bmw, versace, abercrombe or apple.
No designer shoes.
No designer anything.
No facebook or twitter.
No internet.
Not a whole lot by western standards.
They live in grass, straw and mud huts.
Not what a westerner would consider livable.
The morning communal meeting area?
The water supply station.
Where the women fill their pots.
Yet everywhere I walked, there were smiling faces.
And giggling children.
A different world.
A different pace.
Different.
Not inferior.
Their life, I would wager, is as much, if not more fulfilling than my own.
It is here, we could all learn a lesson.
I have for sure.
On what is truly of value.
What is key in life.
Key to happiness.
To fulfillment.
Sabodala Village

By the way, I've rearranged my Travel gallery to include both trips and destinations.

I love it!

FINALLY, an announcement from Canon that gets me really excited.



They have just announced the development of a EF200-400mm f/4L IS USM Extender 1.4x lens.
Yes, that's a 200-400mm zoom lens with a constant F4 aperture.
And YES, it has a BUILT IN 1.4 extender, which when turned on will make the lens a 280 to 560 F5.6 lens.

With the release of the 100mm L Macro with IS, and this lens, Canon, you are keeping me a happy customer.
I can't wait to get my hands on this one!

TB10 III

So one of the best parts, photo-opportunity-wise, of a trip to Thunder Bay is the deer.
They are quite easy to find.
And with a few apples, quite easy to coax into modelling for you.
A few images of my furry models are up in the mammalia gallery.
Enjoy!

TB10 II

You just can't go to Thunder Bay without a stop at the Hoito...

I've added the Hoito and a couple other locals to the Canadian Landmarks gallery.

Enjoy!

TB10 I

Starting to look at the Thunder Bay trip pictures.
First up - I've uploaded a few of a frozen Kakabeka Falls.

Check them out.

Celebration calls for...

...a new lens.
So in celebration of accepting a position with a new company, which will involve frequent trips to West Africa, I went out in search of a nice telephoto lens.
And I had a few characteristics in mind:
1) It had to be as light as possible since I'd be lugging it around in my backpack with all my other things.
2) It had to be as small as possible - see 1)
3) I wanted it to reach as far as possible. I already have a 300mm and a 1.4 extender, giving me 420mm of reach, so I was hoping for something longer.
4) A zoom would be better than a prime since it would lower the risk of missing a photo op while spending time changing lenses.
5) Image stability would be an added bonus since I'd like to take shots without a mono or tripod.
With all that in mind, I found what I was looking for.
I found the Sigma APO 150mm - 500mm F5-6.3 OS.
Wicked.

Christmastime

For Christmas we travelled back to Thunder Bay and I managed to snap a few pictures of the falls, the marina, the Hoito and some deer.



I'm a little busy with the day job but at some point, I'm hoping to edit them and a post a few up here on the site.