Pan Am Games

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As the Pan Am Games draw to a close, I thought I would throw out a comment or two.

In the months preceding the Games, the public relations efforts concentrated on the crowd, traffic and the restricted HOV lanes on the major highways.  For these reasons we had no desire to fight the crowds and attend the Games.

Our son Jeff is a cyclist.  He asked us if we wanted to join he and Laura at the Mountain Bike event held near Barrie.  We met them at the Oro Fairgrounds, and were bused to the mountain bike course at the Hardwood Bike Park.  I was pleasantly surprised at the efficiency of the parking and shuttle bus service.  We were at the park in a matter of minutes.  The security screening was close to that of an airport, but we got through pretty quickly.

The course was a 5.2 kilometre loop over dirt and rocks, either uphill or downhill, with a flat start and finish line. The ladies event is 5 laps and is expected to finish in approximately 90 minutes.  The mens event is 6 laps and is also expected to finish in approximately 90 minutes.

The ladies race was run first, and began at 10:00 am.  By the time we passed through security, the ladies race had already begun.  The Canadian women were heavily favoured in this event.  Here are the leaders on their second lap.

As the race drew to a close, I found a perfect spot along the fence, with great site lines to the finish line.

As the riders drew close to the last turn before the finish line, the press were allowed onto the track...

So from having a great view of the finish line, to not such a great view of the finish line!

But it was very exciting to see the Canadians finish first and second.  Emily Batty was first at 1:27:13 and Catherine Pendrel was second at 1:27:20.  Here is Emily with her Gold Medal.

The mens race started at 2:00 in the afternoon.  We managed to get a great spot along the start line.   Guess who struck their iPhone in front of the shot?

We walked around the course during the mens race, and I was surprised at the varied terrain.

But the most exciting part of the course was a segment called "The Boneshaker".  Seeing the men attack this section of the course was inspiring.

Needless to say, the medical staff were on hand at this segment of the course.

It was a pleasure to see the Canadians triumph again.

Raphael Gagne after winning the Gold Medal with a time of 1:31:14.

All in all, we had a great day on the mountain bike course.  And I must say that the Pan Am Games were a pleasure to attend.

If you are reading this blog for the first time, don't forget to review the archives at the right side for earlier entries. And feel free to add a comment, as well as share this blog with your friends. If you have not already done so, please enter your email address in the "Follow my Blog by Email" box on the right hand side. It will be much easier for me to stay in touch with you. If you don't see a signup box on the right side, then click on the blog heading and that should take you to a webpage with better graphics. You should then see the signup box on the right side.  If you have trouble signing up, send me an email at mark.girard@rogers.com.

Thanks for reading...

Mark

Niagara on the Lake

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The month of May is a tough month for me, with may deadlines at the end of the month.  So when we had a chance to head to Wine Country for the weekend with friends from our bowling group, we jumped at it.

We stayed in a lovely B&B in Niagara on the Lake called the Duncan Quinn House.  Our hosts, Jane and Peter, were very friendly and serve a terrific breakfast.

We had not been to Niagara on the Lake in many years, so we were happy to see a number of new wineries in the area.  But the local flavour of the area has not changed.

The weather is very different on the south side of Lake Ontario. Toronto was being hammered with rain, while Niagara was dry.  We were watching a storm approaching, but when the rain came, it lasted only a short time.

Gone are the days of Niagara wineries making a little wine in industrial buildings.  To be competitive, the wineries have constructed magnificent buildings, both aesthetically and functionally.  One of my favourites from this trip was a new winery called Colaneri Estate Winery.

Another new winery which has magnificent facilities is Two Sisters Vineyards.  This is the barrel tasting room, used for private functions and tastings.  Talk about atmosphere!

Here is a group photo taken in the Hinterbrook Winery barrel room.

As alway, I did enjoy photographing the locals!

It was great to get out of town for a few days and blow off some steam! And we found some new wines to enjoy.

If you are reading this blog for the first time, don't forget to review the archives at the right side for earlier entries. And feel free to add a comment, as well as share this blog with your friends. If you have not already done so, please enter your email address in the "Follow my Blog by Email" box on the right hand side. It will be much easier for me to stay in touch with you. If you don't see a signup box on the right side, then click on the blog heading and that should take you to a webpage with better graphics. You should then see the signup box on the right side.  If you have trouble signing up, send me an email at mark.girard@rogers.com.

Thanks for reading...

Mark

Trilliums

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I ran into Rob Kline, a friend from the Richmond Hill Camera Club last weekend, and we got on the subject of photographing trilliums.  We both agreed that they were difficult to shoot, not technically, but creatively.

Mary Ann's brother Phil and his friend Susan, were in town for a few days.  Susan is a budding photographer, and had never seen trilliums before.  So she was game for a little shooting on Monday.  There is a terrific green space near our house that is generally blanketed with trillium this time of year.

As I mentioned, trilliums are not difficult to shoot, as long as you watch the whites, and don't blow the highlights.  Watch the histogram!  But the more I try to photograph them, the more boring the images tend to be. Would this year be any different?

The trillium patch grows under a canopy of oak trees, so the afternoon light was well diffused. But occasionally, a clearing in the canopy allowed some direct light to add some interest.

In addition, there are usually some unusual variations in the trillium patch.  In previous years I have found some red ones, but I did not see any this year.  But I did find a trillium with 4 petals.

In terms of creativity, I think I like the last one the best.

I'll have to send a copy of this blog entry to Rob to see if he is inspired by any of these images.

If you are reading this blog for the first time, don't forget to review the archives at the right side for earlier entries. And feel free to add a comment, as well as share this blog with your friends. If you have not already done so, please enter your email address in the "Follow my Blog by Email" box on the right hand side. It will be much easier for me to stay in touch with you. If you don't see a signup box on the right side, then click on the blog heading and that should take you to a webpage with better graphics. You should then see the signup box on the right side.  If you have trouble signing up, send me an email at mark.girard@rogers.com.

Thanks for reading...

Mark

Osprey in Cottage Country

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After wrapping up the shoot at Carden Plain (see the last blog post), Ron, Glenn and I headed for Minden, back to Glenn's place.

Along the way, on Highway 48. there was an Osprey nest which was occupied.  Being the hardcore photographers that we are, we had to stop and see if there was any action.  We could see a female in the nest, and she was sitting most of the time, we assumes she was sitting on eggs.  The male was always around, and he would return to the nest every 10 minutes or so.  Since this was around 12:00 in the afternoon, the sun was high in the sky and the lighting was very harsh.

Here is one from the afternoon.

That's the female low in the nest.  Must be a little scary for her, seeing the male flying in with his talons open!

Because the lighting was so harsh, we didn't stay long.  But what was interesting, was that there was another male who was hanging around and would drop by when the papa osprey was out.  The papa was not real happy about that, and would chase away the new male.  That made for some interesting flying around the nest, and the two males made contact a few time, but quite a ways away from the nest.

After spending the afternoon with Glenn shooting another project (more about that in future posts), we headed home, and had to stop in and check on our Ospreys before sunset.  It's amazing how the time of day affects the quality of light.  Here is one taken during the "golden hour", just before sunset, when the sun is really low in the sky.

Phtotographers love this time of day, when everything has that lovely golden colour.

Once the sun dips below the horizon, the light fades quickly and loses that golden hue.

Eventually, the light fades, and it becomes more difficult to shoot moving targets.

The lesson learned is to shot early, or late in the day, but stay away during high noon.

If you are reading this blog for the first time, don't forget to review the archives at the right side for earlier entries. And feel free to add a comment, as well as share this blog with your friends. If you have not already done so, please enter your email address in the "Follow my Blog by Email" box on the right hand side. It will be much easier for me to stay in touch with you. If you don't see a signup box on the right side, then click on the blog heading and that should take you to a webpage with better graphics. You should then see the signup box on the right side.  If you have trouble signing up, send me an email at mark.girard@rogers.com.

Thanks for reading...

Mark

Carden Plain Songbirds

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Finishing tax season last week, I needed a day to blow off some steam.  Ron and I called Glenn Springer, a friend who lives in cottage country.

Glenn wanted to meet us at Carden Plain, a conservation area on Highway 48 south of Minden.  Carden Plain is a vast limestone plain with wetlands, and is now a protected area.  It is well known as a bird breeding ground in the spring and summer months.

I met Ron at a little after 5:00 am and headed east, for about a two hour drive.  Early morning is a good time for bird photography because the birds are active and the light is not harsh as it is in mid-day.  We met Glen at the designated spot, and it didn't take long to set up.  The birds were plentiful.  Here are a few images:

This little guy is a Tree Swallow, a small bird and very fast.  Luckily there are birdhouses set up along the roads which provides home to mating pairs.

This is an Eastern Phoebe. Very active, and not afraid to pose for the camera.

This is a Red-winged Blackbird. Very active and talkative.

This is a Song Sparrow. Very active and singing constantly.

By all accounts, it is still a little early in the season for bird photography.  Lucky for us that we found this place early in the season.  We will try to return when young chicks have hatched and the parents will be actively feeding their young.

There are many more adventures on this trip, so stay tuned.

If you are reading this blog for the first time, don't forget to review the archives at the right side for earlier entries. And feel free to add a comment, as well as share this blog with your friends. If you have not already done so, please enter your email address in the "Follow my Blog by Email" box on the right hand side. It will be much easier for me to stay in touch with you. If you don't see a signup box on the right side, then click on the blog heading and that should take you to a webpage with better graphics. You should then see the signup box on the right side.  If you have trouble signing up, send me an email at mark.girard@rogers.com.

Thanks for reading...

Mark

The Dress Rehearsal

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Part of the satisfaction I get out of joining a camera club is forcing yourself outside of your comfort zone, and learning new techniques.  The Richmond Hill Camera Club has an annual photoessay competition.  Photoessays are a series of photographs compiled together, usually accompanied by a piece of music.  The goal is to tell a story with these images.  The music is also very important, as this sets the pace, and keeps the viewers interested.

Another thing that I have been interested in is time lapse photography.  A time-lapse is a series of photographs stitched together in a movie format.  There are many technical issues to resolve to accomplish this in a seamless fashion.  Shoot on a tripod, manual settings, manual focus.  That was the easy part... some 1,600 images later, then came the problem of putting it all together, and finding the right piece of music.

Sometimes the planets line up, and it all comes together nicely.

Here is my photoessay, called "The Dress Rehearsal":



As most of you know, Mary Ann has gotten involved with the Richmond Hill Philharmonic Orchestra as their Treasurer.  When I was thinking of a subject for a time-lapse, this seemed like a natural.  After asking permission to photograph the rehearsal, I was ready to try it.

I was thrilled with the end result.  In fact, this photoessay won the annual RHCC photoessay competition.  Not only that, the conductor of the Richmond Hill Philharmonic Orchestra liked the time-lapse so much, it was added to their website.

I'm sure there will be a few more of these in my future, given the right topic...

If you are reading this blog for the first time, don't forget to review the archives at the right side for earlier entries. And feel free to add a comment, as well as share this blog with your friends. If you have not already done so, please enter your email address in the "Follow my Blog by Email" box on the right hand side. It will be much easier for me to stay in touch with you. If you don't see a signup box on the right side, then click on the blog heading and that should take you to a webpage with better graphics. You should then see the signup box on the right side.  If you have trouble signing up, send me an email at mark.girard@rogers.com.

Thanks for reading...

Mark

Creativity???

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Life of an accountant is tough this time of year.  I should have blogged an entry much sooner than this.  The last entry was our Florida trip back in January!  Sorry about that.

As most of you know, I am active within the Richmond Hill Camera Club, in fact, I'm the President this year.  Maybe that's another reason for not blogging sooner!  One aspect of the camera club that I really enjoy is participating in club competitions.  A perennial favourite is the Creative competition.  Creativity can mean many different things.  In this competitions, however, creative means "altered reality" or something you would not see in real life. And heavy Photoshop processing is a must.

Here are a couple examples of images I have entered in this category over the last few years, and have scored pretty well:

Title: "You did have to buy Big Glass, didn't you?" - special thanks to Mary Ann for being my model on this one.

Title: "The Wings of Man" - yes that's Jeff on Maho Beach, St. Marteen.

And my personal favourite:

Title: "A Dozen Egghead Friends" - see how many of my kids and friends you recognize!

A more common description of creativity is seeing something in a different, or unusual way.  This can happen when you least expect it, and you have to keep an open mind.  Some examples that I have caught are:

Recognize this image?  It is a wooden staircase at the Art Gallery of Ontario.  Very popular with the photography crowd. But the creative aspect is that this was shot from the top, looking downward.  The normal view of this staircase is to shoot it from the bottom looking upward.

 This is a parking garage in Glasgow.  Very interesting lines, curves and patterns.

This one is much more abstract.  A family wedding we attended was the event, the ladies dancing was the focus of the image.  I love the slow shutter speed and the primary colours, nobody else liked it, but that's art...

Now that my busy season is coming to an end (I hope), I will blog more frequently...

If you are reading this blog for the first time, don't forget to review the archives at the right side for earlier entries. And feel free to add a comment, as well as share this blog with your friends. If you have not already done so, please enter your email address in the "Follow my Blog by Email" box on the right hand side. It will be much easier for me to stay in touch with you. If you don't see a signup box on the right side, then click on the blog heading and that should take you to a webpage with better graphics. You should then see the signup box on the right side.  If you have trouble signing up, send me an email at mark.girard@rogers.com.

Thanks for reading...

Mark