2013 Ends ...

So, here we are again, at the end of another year!

It's also the end of another month - the second month of my new project. Here's the result:

click on image to view larger version

As promised, the delay between photos is slightly longer this time, so that you can get a better look at each photo.

This series was taken from our "back" deck, off our bedroom.

I'll be picking a new "view" for January ... and I'm also starting a new 365 project - my third - tomorrow!

Here's wishing you and yours everything of the best in 2014 - particularly the things that are most important: Health, peace, and happiness!

See you next year!

Oh, by the way, if you're looking for some photo greeting cards (blank inside) to keep on hand "just in case" for 2014, I've for a 10% discount new year's offer running until January 5th on my Etsy website!

My Shop On Etsy

I just took the Next Big Step with my photography - I opened an Etsy shop!

I had 13 of my favourite photos made into blank greeting cards. Here's a sample:

I'd love it if you'd visit my shop and let me know what you think - and please feel free to share it with your friends!

Here's wishing you and yours every merriment this festive season!

A New Project

After moving to our new house, I started a new project (truth be told, I was planning it before we even moved in!) - I will do a new one, each a little different, every month!

I'll be taking one photo from the same vantage point, with the same camera and lens, each day. Not necessarily at the same time of day, though!

Here's November's edition, for your enjoyment! 

Next one will be out in early January!

Radium's Photos with Santa 2013

Sunday afternoon was spent taking photos of guests with Santa at the Tourism Radium Holiday Market. Here's my fav from the shoot:

Have a look at that rest here.

Never Ending Story

As most of you already know, I volunteer as a photographer for ICAN, the Invermere Companion Animal Network, taking photos of the clients (usually cats, but we've had a rabbit, a rat, and dogs, too!) for their website, flyers, calendar, etc.

This weekend was the first time in at a least a month that I've been there, due to our house move. Incredibly, the number of new kittens and cats at the shelter does not seem to have dropped - if anything, its busier than ever!

I don't understand how, in our relatively small area, there are still people who're irresponsible with their pets - allowing unplanned breedings, and not spaying/neutering!

Kudos to the team at ICAN, the real heroes who do the cleaning, feeding, socializing, fund-raising, trapping of ferals, etc, along with the ongoing education of the willfully ignorant. We owe a debt of gratitude to these people, who alleviate the suffering of the innocents.

In this post are a few of my favourite images from this weekend's session.

Have a look at the rest of the photos here.

Something Old, Something New

Something old - our windmill - its been with us since we moved from South Africa to Canada, almost 20 years ago! Its moved several times within BC, to Australia and back to Canada again - and just got unpacked at our move recent move! Ah, it feels like home now!

The windmill was made by farm workers' children, from spare bits of wire and an old Koo tincan.

Something new - today was the first time since moving to our latest place a week ago, that we had the chance to walk around the block and check out our neighbours' view:

We live a little bit further down the hill - we can just see the mountains over the treetops, but can't see the lake from our place.

Rocky Mountain Rally 2013

The Rocky Mountain Rally came to the Columbia Valley for the first time this weekend.

In the middle of our house move, we managed to get up to watch Stages 1 and 2 just south of the town of Invermere on Friday.

Lots of Subaru fans - 75% of the cars parked at the spectator paddock were Subi's:

This was just the first few arrivals!

Some of the action:

Open Class winner, Antoine l'Estage with co-driver Craig Parry

Can't wait until next year's event! Meanwhile, the rest of my photos are here.

The Weatherman Was Right!

For once, he was right! Doesn't happen often in our area!

Yup, its not even hallowe'en yet, and here's the first snow of the season ...

Rally Recce

The Rocky Mountain Rally will run in our area next week so, despite being in the middle of a house move, you know I want to be there to capture the action!

This morning, after moving a load of stuff from one house to the other, I took the opportunity to explore some of Stage One ... we are hoping that the valley fog that has plagued us for the past week will have cleared out by race day!

 

Hopefully I have better luck than I did at the Lakeside Event atop Mt Swansea during the summer!

New Perspectives

Similar viewpoint to a couple of days ago, completely different view!

Fog is a regular feature during the fall, winter and spring months in the Columbia Valley. Even though I was parked at the highest vantage point on this road, it was between 1pm and 2pm before I could start seeing out over the valley, above the cloud! 

Visit my website to see all the photos I took today!

Considering a photography-related African Safari?

Images in Africa Wildlife Safaris & Photography workshops

Moving Scenery

Our landlords have sold the house we're currently in, so we need to move on. At the end of the month, we'll be moving just across the valley - its about 15km away, though, because we have to go around the lake.

I took a drive this  morning to time/measure the distance from our new place to my work (which is right near our current place). It was a rare fog-free morning (fog filling the valley is a typical weather pattern in the area during the colder months), so I decided to take my camera along!

Just a couple of minutes from our "old" house, I saw this view, looking east:

These two photos are part of the view from the road on the other side of the valley, as it ascends the hillside towards our new place, facing south. I think I can cope with this scenery from my commute route, four days a week, for the foreseeable future, eh?

As always, good copies will be posted on my website!

Considering a photography-related African Safari?

Images in Africa Wildlife Safaris & Photography workshops

Late Fall in the Columbia Valley

Took advantage of a lovely late fall afternoon today, it was fairly warm (relatively speaking) and (almost) windless, I went for a walk around the neighbourhood.

I wasn't expecting much, but took my camera along anyway, just in case!

I was rewarded with a handsome senior canine who'd found a sheltered spot, and was catching some sun:

As you can see, almost all our "fall colour" has gone already and winter's just around the corner:

Thanks for dropping by!

Fall in the Columbia Valley

We don't get the spectacular range of autumn colours in our area, as one finds in the northeastern parts of North America, but we can find a few pretty scenes if we take the time to look:

On a sunny day:

Overlooking Lake Windermere, towards the Purcell Mountains

On a more moody day:

From the lakeside, looking towards the Rockies

A few more here.

Black & White, or Colour?

Answer: It depends!

Some photos just lend themselves to both! A better question is, what are you going to do with the photo? And what's your personal preference? Do you want to use it on Facebook? Make greeting cards? Have a large canvas or metal-print made to hang above your fireplace? A desk-top portrait? A mousepad?

Today, I took this photo of my brother's lovely black dog, Mya. She was sitting in pool of late-afternoon sunlight in our living room, and happily gave me a pretty head-tilt when I made a crazy squeaky-noise. I am really pleased with it - I think its possibly one of the best pet-portraits I've done so far.

There are so many different b/w conversions one can do but, to start with, I thought I'd go low key:

What do you think? Both photos are on my website.

Through The Looking Glass

After a busy few weeks involving personal injury, damaged equipment and international travel, I'm finally caught up with my volunteer work at ICAN - Invermere Companion Animal Network - where I take photos of the animals seeking homes.

There were lots of kittens to work with, and I decided to try a new prop - a small mirror that I'd picked up at a garage sale earlier this summer. Here's one of my favourite shots from the day:

The rest of the photos can be seen on my website.

In the kitten room, there were FOUR siamese types, THREE blacks, and TWO tabbies! Talk about herding cats! Thanks to my very patient hubby for his help during this exhausting two+ hour session.

A Flying Visit to a Tiny Corner of England

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to do a bit of photography in England while on a quick visit for a family wedding.I saw a very small area of the country, just south of London. Even in that tiny area, there are so many wonderful things to capture - scenery, architecture, history, culture!

Much to my surprise, this is one of my favourite photos from whole trip! I don't consider myself a portrait photographer, or even a people-photographer, but this scene just dropped into my lap! I'm just sorry now, that I didn't ask the mum for her contact info so that I could send her a copy!

Somehow, the weather was perfect for the whole week! I think we had a few hours of complete overcast one day, and about six spots of drizzle. The rest of the time it was sunny, or partly cloudy, with the temperatures in the 20's Celsius. Glorious!

The whole gallery from England is on my website. Please drop by and have a look!