wild flowers

Apple Blossom

Mountain Laurel

no idea :)

lily of the valley

Sometimes you just have to laugh

this is why I bring my camera with me on all my walks:
This is D'Arcy. Totally busted. He was wallowing in this seconds earlier. Absolutely WALLOWING!

Belle was thinking about it but when she saw me she hightailed out of there. D'Arcy then tried the innocent 'who me? look:

"Mud? What Mud?"
but when that failed he showed his true colours- a total lack of contrition:

*sigh* what can you do? his face is too adorable to resist. And of course he got to swim in the pond- a perfect doggy walk completed!!

More photos from the weekend

it truly was a lovely weekend. It was fun to have my camera and document the weekend. Here are some shots of the parade and the snow birds doing a flyover. The man doing the inspection is the Governor General of Canada. At the reception after my son managed to get in his line to have a photo taken. the background was busy and since one cannot ask the GG of Can to move I did some selective blurring in post.

Beware- Proud Mother ahead..........

My son attends the Royal Military College here in Canada. He's completed his first year of studies (Engineering). This weekend there are numerous ceremonies to mark the completion of the first year at the campus in St. Jean (outside of Montreal). He gets to wear his Scarlet uniform. :D Of course we are not going to miss this so Ed, Amanda and I drove up to spend the weekend in Quebec. Here he is the night we arrived. He looks so adorable (I can say that, I'm his mother):

Last night was the ceremony. I found them outside (okay I went hunting for him). During the ceremony I sat on the aisle and was able to grab a few shots. I am pleased with that shot because I couldn't use flash and I had to shoot around the official photographer. A bump in the ISO and there's a bit of noise but it's nice

The Next Step (gulp)

A friend of mine sent me some information about a Photographic Art Gallery looking for submissions. At her urging I decided to send in some photos for consideration. They idea is that the photos illustrate the Poem 'One Art' by Elizabeth Bishop. More info (if you are interested) can be found here: http://viewpointgallery.ca/. I submitted 5 and I recieved notification that one was accepted. I was stunned. Really. This is the photo that was chosen:

I took it this winter when I was out walking the dogs. Part of the trail makes this tunnel and I spied this person in the distance. It's one of those shots that you see whole, in your head and you  know that you only have a millisecond to get it. I was lucky in that I was able to get it in the one click I had.
In my entry I had to submit my CV - all 4 lines of it once you got past my name and address :D. I figured that would give the judges a chuckle. I also had to submit an Artists Statement. This is what I wrote:

Artist Statement:

As a photographer I am always striving to capture not just an image but a story. A photograph shows a moment that can never be repeated but it is an echo of that moment only. Once the shutter is clicked that moment is lost. For me, when I read ‘One Art’ by Elizabeth Bishop speaks of how items are lost (objects, ideas, people) but each loss leaves an echo behind. A hole, if you will, that is the exact shape and size of the loss. The art of loss is not so much the acceptance of loss but the recognition of the echo it leaves in our lives, and in some cases, our souls. The echo can be fleeting- like a shadow in the distance or of longer duration like a boat slowly rotting on the shore. Life can viewed as a series of losses but we can take comfort in the echoes left behind until we too are lost.   

Once I got over the excitement, I was bummed that my others were rejected. Which is foolishness I know. It's a holdover from paying my way through University on scholarships- focusing on being perfect. And being pissed off that I missed 2 answers on a test. I am working on it. Honest.

Meantime, I will enjoy this new venture. Once I get over the panic of figuring out how I want to print and frame it.....

Rocks in my head

I was in Sydney, Nova Scotia for work this week. Monday was a cloudy windy day so I went back to my hotel room, changed, grabbed my camera and headed to Louisburg. This is a historical village on the edge of Cape Breton Island. They have this lighthouse and trail that is fabulous. A photographer could putter for hours. I've been before (in the summer) and have been anxious to get back. I arrived there and saw a totally empty parking lot. It then dawned on me that I was a middle aged woman (well almost middle aged- I plan to live to 103), alone, at the end of a winding dirt road, in the middle of no where and no one knew where I was. Here's a shot- see the white speck- that's my car:

It occurred to me that this was not the smartest idea I'd ever had and perhaps I should back to civilization. Let me add in here that when I die and, if you attend my funeral, words that you will NOT hear tossed around are adjectives like prudent, cautious, careful.....(or patient, slow paced and unenthused, but I digress). So I decided to go for my walk. But, I'm not an idiot, so decided I wouldn't clamber over rocks, get too close to the edge or take other unnecessary risks -after all, I don't want the word stupid tossed around at my funeral! As I approached the trail, I saw the sign warning of coyotes. This is not a silly warning. Our coyotes are big and have been known to attack lone humans. A few years ago a young hiker was killed. They have signs posted telling you how to fend them off. And they provide sticks. So I grabbed one. See- not stupid.
This is me staying back from the rocks:

See- I had to use my zoom. I know, I know, it was my 18-55 lens, but still, I did zoom.  It was wild there. The wind made the trees creak and the waves crash. At one part I heard a booming sound that seemed to keep time with my heart- but it was more likely my heart was keeping time with it. I had to follow the sound:

The power of the water was unbelievable. The clouds were nifty too. And I did say that it was a lighthouse trail so here it is:

if you ever travel to Cape Breton- it's worth travelling there. Just take my advice and take a friend (hell I'll join you!), carry a stick and let people know where you are going :) 'k?

oh and don't tell my mother. She'd kill me.

So a couple weeks ago my Photo Club had a 'Sight and Sound' Essay contest. The entries were fantastic. I wanted to try it and I have to say that it was quite the learning experience. Here's a version of it (I did the original in PP). The music was an edit of "A Pittance of Time" by Terry Kelly The shots were those I took last Nov 11.