Royal Roads

Shooting across Esquimalt Lagoon at the back of Royal Roads university (originally was Hatley Castle)

Edinburgh, Scotland

I am getting a bit more done on my '04 Scotland/Ireland trip album. This is one from Edinburgh, Scotland.

More Macros

This is the moss in my african violet pot -- up close, with the super macro setting. This is fun. So today I sent an order to Lensmate for the 58mm adaptor, an IR filter, UV filter, ND filter - all Hoya and all 58mm, a step down ring - 58 to 52 so I can use my CS 52mm filter, and a small tripod that folds to 4 inches (now that is small). I think I will not bother getting the wide and telephoto converters. I would be better off investing in some good lenses when I get my dslr. But, its fun playing with the little S3 IS, so it might be a while until I get my dslr.

Edinburgh, Scotland

Looking through a gun turret from the old fortifications of Edinburgh, Scotland.

I am getting a bit more finished on my Travel - Scotland and Ireland 2004, album, for my web page. The trip in Scotland was very cold, dreary weather at the beginning of April. But we were only there for a short while. There is much more to go back to see in Scotland. To go at a better time of year would be a good idea too. I understand the heather blooms in the Autumn, for instance. The northern islands have some ancient history and standing stones to see, someday!

Today we drove up to Ladysmith to get some books that Pat might be able to sell at the Red Deer Swap. I got a few pictures, nothing outstanding. A cloudy, grey day.

African Violet macro

I rather like how this one turned out. Super macro setting on my Canon S3 IS camera, with my colors set to 'vivid'.

I loaded the album 'Homework' to my web page today. Its a presentation I did on photo.net sometime in 2002, and deleted it. It has some newer photos in it to round out the album. No serious photography there. Its just for fun.

I spent hours yesterday trying to find the icon for my IE browser after updating my Firefox to 2. So, I have been dragging around today, tired. blah. I finally just made a shortcut to it from the Iexplore exe. I did find out how to add it to the start menu thing, but cannot seem to figure out how to get it into the bottom task bar place. Oh hell with it.

Pat took us for a drive out to French Beach today, just to give the Bentley some exercise. Lovely sunny day, but coolish.

Under Ice

Same day as the other one, 1/60 sec., F/3.5, tried using the flash this time. Both have settings of ISO 100, "P", and "cloudy", with "vivid" set on 'my colors'.


Canon S3 IS, 1/30 sec., F/3.5, focal length 72.0 mm, exposure compensation: -0.33.
Shooting down at my pond from the deck on Jan. 21, 2007, when it was freezing over night.

Motorcycle parts

Pat wanted photos of these bike parts to email to someone who might want to buy them. He is happy with the way they turned out. :) He is my best client.

Dan and Carol left on Tuesday morning. I have a couple of good shots from the top of Mt.Doug, but nothing spectacular. My lichen shots are the best and I shot them the morning before they arrived.(Sat.).

The sun was shining yesterday and today, but I did not get out with the camera except for these shots. We should be having some nice weather for a while now. My crocuses and snowdrops are not up yet. I did see on TV that the Beacon Hill Park has blooms.

Lichen Macro

1/160 sec., f/3.5, focal length - 72.0, exposure compensation: -0.33

We had sunshine, on the 19th. For one day. It was glorious. I was really quite excited about the macros I have managed of the ice on my pond and the lichens on the plum tree that overhangs the pond! Here is one of the lichen macros. The color just blows me away. I have not saturated this, but do have 'my colors' set to vivid.

This will be the my first upload to the new VFXY. It seems they are still in beta with more good features to come. I don't understand why my ranking dropped but it doesn't matter much. I cannot find the FAQ, but imagine it will turn up again, or I will manage to find it.

Mousaka

This is yesterdays photo to add to the Homework album. I was making mousaka and thought the ingrediants might make a good addition to the album. Added frame to correspond to the rest of my 2002 frames - all different, of course. :)

Some old stuff

This is an old photo from 2002, complete with glitzy frame, that I was going to use in a presentation on photo.net at that time. The presentation is long since deleted but I enjoyed making this old presentation and so, I am going to load it to my web page, with a few recent additions to round out the album.

I got distracted from doing my Scotland and Ireland travel album for my website. I downloaded my recent photos. While dust binning the duplicates or trash ones, I got involved in doing follow up on a shot I did for an album I am calling Homework. This was originally made for a presentation on photo.net that I named 'Women's Work", long since deleted. In looking at the old photos from 2002, I see I was using a lot of the frames, made with my old Paintshop Pro program. So, I decided to finish that album before continueing with the Scotland/Ireland trip.

English countryside, panoramic view

While trying to get photos of sheep in the Enlish countryside, as we drove from London to Scotland on the bus; I captured this nice shot of the fence posts. No sheep.

Industrial England

I am starting to sort out my photos from our 2004 Trafalgar bus tour of Scotland and Ireland. We left London the first day and drove to Scotland on a cold, gray day. As we were just going from point A to point B, we did not take the scenic drive. Never-the-less, I found some interesting things to shoot at--out the dirty bus window. BUT, what are these things? Are they burning coal to produce electricity, or are they nuclear?

Phalenopsis

Focal length: 66.lmm, flash, 1/60 sec., f/3.5 with Canon S3 IS

This phalenopsis is in bloom again. This time it has 4 big blossums. The light pink Phal. is in bud and so is the Paph. concolor (little yellow ladyslipper). I cropped the full flower to try to get closer to the inner flower parts. I believe I had this on ISO 100, and P plus macro settings,cloudy and Exposure compensation at zero, with my colors set to vivid. The EXIF says that this is sRGB color setting. This Canon does not do RAW, so this is the control I have over the 'temperature' settings. It works for me. It could be sharper, and so I should probably be using a tripod, even though the lens is IS.

Just because I like it

This is from last spring on my walk in Panama Hill Park. Very simple.

Crystal Eagle

This crystal eagle is the photo for the last 'under construction' page for my website. Its a treasure.

Japanese Garden, Hatley Park

Part of the new Royal Roads University grounds is the Japanese Gardens in Hatley Park. The park is part of what once was the estate of James Dunsmuir. The castle was designed by Samuel McLure - a well known architect in Victoria, in the early 1900s. More here

Fountain

This is the fountain outside the Conference Center downtown in Victoria, B.C.

VFXY has not loaded my begonia post. I wonder if they will pick up this one. I didn't do anything different on the begonia post, that I know of. I hope its their bot and not something I have to figure out on my blog rss feed, 'cause I know less than nothing about that.

Begonia

Neat Image filtered for noise removal

Background in focus

Foreground in focus

In the Springtime

This is a photo with my old Canon A50, that I took on my walk in Panama Hill Park.

I like the simplicity of this shot. I am thinking of printing and hanging it, with a lighter matting and a gold frame to match the other frames on the pictures in the room where I would hang it--the bathroom. I quite a bit of space for hangings in there. Maybe I will redo the whole wall with my stuff. At the moment Yoshimi's silk screen peony dominates the room. Yoshimi is very creative. She promoted her work in New York, and has now gone back to Tokyo, I believe. Have not heard from her for ages. ah well.

Playing with a CS filter

This one, I think, is the best of the ones I shot today. Still needs more work, and I do need to get the adaptor for the 58mm and the 52mm. I should look at the lens hood, of course, also. As well as the wide and telephoto, although, they may not be worth the expense. If I get the 30D I should just use all my filters and lens with it, and get a good telephoto with extenders, if need be. Hmmmmmm pleasant plans!


This was about an hour later (5:20). No filter and no photoshopping. I had the 'my colors' set to the most colorful setting which is a bit like shooting with Velvia on slide film.

I was playing with a CS filter on my Canon S3 IS. I don't have the adapter to attach filters yet, so I taped the filter on the lens. I might have got it backwards for all I know. This is one of the first shots, shooting into the sun.

West Coast Snow Boots

Our snow was 10 inches deep, wet and heavy. This does not slow down the dedicated worker, shopper, walker... This lovely pair of boots were walking through the heavy snow, a lovely flowery handbag, and an umbrella to match, in the true West Coast way of dealing with the trauma of such a big dump of snow.

We didn't barbeque today... but wait 'till tomorrow... the snow should be gone.

At the Jury selection

Yesterday's photo, much reduced in size.

At the museum

Shooting through the glass at one of the main attractions in our Royal British Columbia Museum. I tweaked it a bit in my photo editor. Hope I haven't overdone it.

Dome of the Legislative Building

This is looking up at the dome of the legislative building.

Today I went to the Court House as I was called as a panelist for the selection of Jury duty in Criminal Court for the month of January. There must have been 200 of us. The Court chose the jury members for 2 trials. One a murder and one a fraud. I did not get named to be selected (or not), so I spent the morning watching the process from out in the hallway. There was not enough room for all of us in the Court room. Was interesting. I have to go back again at the beginning of February. I hope they miss me again, as I don't really think I would make a good juror.

Gate of Harmonius Interest, Chinatown, Victoria

The Gate of Harmonius Interest (Tong Ji Men), built in 1981 on Fisgard Street
Chinatown, Victoria, B.C. Canada

peacock

Something I found in my old archives.

Craigdarroch Castle, Victoria, B.C.

Craigdarroch Castle, Victoria, B.C. built by wealthy coal Baron, Robert Dunsmuir.

Architecture

This is a detail of the renovations in the chapel of the old St. Anne's Academy.

We are having high winds and rain again.

Victoria Port at sundown.

Butchart Gardens in April

Here's an eyefull to brighten up a dreary rainy day. This is a converstion from RAW. There is so much more control with RAW. My S3 IS does not shoot RAW. So, I might be going for that DSLR pretty soon.

I have started the under construction pages for "My Town" page of my website. Only 32 more of these pages to go, then I can get back to creating some more actual albums.

Tomorrow is Allison's funeral service. The world is a lesser place for lack of her presence.

January Cyclamen

The sun was out for a couple of hours today. This Cyclamen is blooming despite the snow, deluges and winds we have suffered. I raked the leaves off the grass and over seeded with some grass seed I had meant to seed last Fall, but just did not get the right day for it. I did not put down a layer of sand/soil. I just threw it down and hope some of it will grow. I transplanted 3 boxwood sticks into the area of the border that is bare, by Parmar's side. They should root and fill in that spot in no time.

Sitting Duck

Canon S3 IS, F/3.5. 1/125 sec.