Derby time

Ahh yes the good ol fathers day fishing derby, so much fun we never miss one. This year we left Spencer at home with mom, he can be a bit of a handful with all the other kids fishing. The fishing was actually terrible though lol almost all the kids got nothing I think 5 fish got caught in 3 hours, it was just not a good dock fishing day. But realistically none of them cared George was stoked just to get the biggest piece of kelp lol. I was happy to see George flex his fishing skills he is getting so good at casting and jigging he was teaching other kids this year I did not even have to help him at all. A good time was had by all cant wait for filomi days for the next one. We also had a huge photo session with the lady who shoots for the newspaper so hopefully we make it in there this week keep an eye out!

Totem pole

 Here is the worlds biggest totem pole in all its glory. I am lazy today so I am going to copy and paste some info for you guys here.

The totem pole was built from two sections, one 163 feet tall and the other 10 feet. While most totem poles represent a single family, this one is meant to represent different factions of the Kwakwaka’wakw people. The figures include the Sun Man, a whale, an old man, a wolf, the Thunderbird and its cousin, the Kulusł, a two-headed serpent, a bear holding a salmon, and a raven holding copper. Despite the raw numbers that the Alert Bay totem pole holds the title with, hardcore totem pole enthusiasts have called foul on the carved wood spire due to the fact that it was built from two pieces rather than one. According to such record pedants, the true heir to the title of world’s tallest totem pole is a 140 foot pole located in Kalama, Washington, which is one solid length of wood. However because it was not carved by an indigenous artisan some do not count it as a proper totem pole either.This categorization is so contentious that the world’s former tallest totem pole, a 185 foot giant that stood in Victoria British Colombia (which was also built in sections) was actually taken down after a great deal of protest. However, even when a vicious wind knocked off the Alert Bay totem pole’s top section it was still the tallest in the world. 

Pretty damn cool if you ask me it is just amazing, anyways this was a 3 frame photo with the 35mm prime I then flipped them on their side and blended into a panorama then flipped it up rite.......this pictures actual size is god damn massive, as for editing I did turn up the colors slightly as the pole is pretty faded and I wanted to show the little paint that is still left on it. Hope you enjoy this I am trying to update more frequently but kids and work are taking my time lately lol

sprouts anyone?

Here is an older macro shot I did a while back. Nothing to special it is just some weird sprouts growing on some moss on a log......pretty exciting stuff, it is amazing what you will stop to capture when you start doing photography as a hobby little things you would just walk by become scenes of interest all of a sudden. I do not know how it came out with such depth of field at F5.6 though, kinda baffles me it has that much blur but I am ok with that. Hopefully I get out and get some new shots soon been super busy at work and with the two kids it has been hard to find time but that wont stop me lol new updates are slowly coming.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Well it has been a month since an update......I have been busy! lol. So here is my big boy (demonstrating his silly face in the second pic lol) But enough of that it is Spencers second birthday today! Time fly's so fast after you have kids it is insane, especially the second one. It seems like yesterday we were sitting in the hospital room waiting for you to arrive. This child has taken a toll on me over two short years for sure, he is strong willed, loud, destructive, courageous, and just a little crazy he is definitely my child alright, and such a handful but to be truthful I would not have had it any other way he is perfect. With the stress of a child so active and determined life can be hard at times but what we learn from the hard times can often lead us to achieve new things, give us a reason to strive harder and humble us in our later years, the love my children have gave me is unlike anything else on earth and I just want to tell everyone how proud I am to have kids like mine. Happy birthday big boy!

On Watch

Well It has been awhile for the ol' blog, I have been super busy lately and now me and the children are sick as a dog but none the less here is an update for ya. You may recognize the buoy from my selective color shot on it earlier this year. The eagles love to frequent this log and watch for fish and small animals in the long grass to eat. Yet again another shot with the crap tamron......zoom in on the head the chromatic aberrations are stupidly bad, plus I had to shoot with a high iso making the grain really show but oh well its still pretty nice. Cant really go wrong with any picture of these majestic birds.

Carnival

The good ol carnival, one of Port Hardys premier events for kids it is either going to be super fun or super scary for most......we managed to scare George pretty good this year lol. he has never been on this drop ride before so I grabbed the camera for a sure shot, and as suspected he was terrified lol This is one of the best and worst places to photograph children you can get such a broad range of faces and emotions but at the same time everything moves in and out of focus so fast it is hard to capture with the equipment I have but none the less it is awesome and I get a few good ones every year.

Pacific Treefrog

Here is a little pacific tree frog, they are among the most common frog species we get around these parts. I have no idea where I took this shot, hell I cant even remember taking it I just stumbled apon it and said damn I was close in to this guy that day better share it lol. Frogs are awesome for macro shots as they actually will sit still for the most part and let you do it, this guy let me get to minimum focus distance zoomed in at 55mm for a nice macro. His colors are not really that special but they have such contrast they are amazing at blending in almost anywhere. Hope you enjoy it I got lots more frog pictures to come in the future I love these little guys haha.

Winter sunsets

Winter sunsets are a thing of the past for this year already, they can be the best setting to shoot in such a wide range of colors in the cold sky's it is amazing. This is just a simple silhouette of a slash with the sun dropping down behind it. Nothing overly fancy here just mother nature doing her thing. I really enjoy the blend of color in this one from dark oranges to bright yellows and blues to purples it has almost got it all. Well I guess its time to stay up later for the spring and summer sunsets now :(

molting time

This is a neat one behold the molting goose, the picture was shot way to slow and is blurry but you can still see whats going on here. So every year Canadian geese molt, which is the process of loosing torn and damaged wing feathers and growing new ones, geese will group together and find some water to hide in for a month or so while they do this usually around June to July. It is also neat when they swim with their wings in the lakes, they will see a boat or whatever coming and instead of flying away the paddle furiously and man they can move (I have pics of this for a later date). I am sure this is a stressful time for these birds as they cant cover ground to get more food or to safety. Anyways thought it looked neat I am going to try and get better pictures of them molting this year later on.

Easter

Its Easter time again and the bunny dropped lots of eggs this year for the boys, this was little Spencers first year actually picking them up. I had a hell of a time trying  to keep Spencer off the beach and focused on getting eggs lol, I also had a hell of a time capturing a decent picture of the boys in midst of all the chaos down there. I should have opted for a more automatic setting on the old cam like an aperture priority or something, the light went from rain to snow to dark to super sunny in like 5 minutes so the captures I did get were all over the place. No big deal got some memories outta the deal and had a ton of fun, the town puts on a good show every year for the kids its a hoot.