Quick Kitty Pic

I found myself sitting inside in front of my computer, on another rainy November day today.  This inevitably means that the pets will join me.  Steve's favourite spot is atop the backrest of the desk chair.  I took this photo of him, which turned out quite well, so I wanted to share it quickly.

It reminded me of another shot I took of him back in July, but never got around to posting.  He turned 1 year as of August, and it seems to us that he's been filling out and becoming more masculine over the last couple months (he weighs in at approximately 14 lbs now, and can reach about 3 feet up the wall stretched out).  He's certainly a handsome boy anyway.

Baby Ben does Fall

My adorable nephew Benjamin and his parents came to visit at the beginning of the month.  He's 7 months old now, and since the last visit he had learned to sit up, and found a love for animals (dogs and cats yes, horses not so much).  We snuck off early one brisk morning to Mount Doug Park to take advantage of the beautiful fall leaves that pile up there.  Ben was a pretty good sport about sitting on the cold ground, and took up sampling the leaves.

He didn't seem to like the taste of them particularly...

 But he kept right on trying them.

He's sporting a cardigan my Mum knit for him in the above pictures, and modelling a sweater from Sitka's baby line in the ones below (they have some really cute onesies for babies, and adults alike).

One of the excitements of the weekend was that Ben learned to use rolling to get around.  He even travelled from one end of the house to the other, although it started off a little bumpy.  He's practising his new skill in the photos below.

Ucluelet/Tofino Camping

We recently took a trip up to the Tofino/Ucluelet area to camp at Mussel Beach.  The campground was beautiful, and worth the trip, as long as your car can handle the road to get there.  We arrived in time to catch the sun setting, and the moon rising, on a night full of more stars than I've seen in a long time.

This was the view from our little private spot on the beach.  And an HDR that I shot as well.

The next day brought a hot sunny day.  This was Charlie enjoying the sunrise, before it had started to really warm up.

The second morning the sun rose behind a heavy fog bank, making for some very dramatic lighting.

The strange weather wasn't deterring the paddle boarders though.

We decided to head towards Tofino and take a turn at random to a beach we hadn't seen before.  This lead us to Florencia Bay, also known as Wreck Beach.  As it turns out this beach gets its name from a ship (the Florencia) that wrecked in the bay in 1899.

These winding stairs lead down the cliff to the flat sandy beach below.  It was beautiful under the low clouds, and we enjoyed wandering along, and chasing the waves.  Although Charlie was a bit spooked by the wet suit clad surfers wandering out of the water, boards in hand.

Product Shots

I just wanted to share a few parts I shot for Tsera Robotics recently. Tsera Robotics is an engineering design and fabrication company here in Victoria. They specialize in the design and build of electro-mechanical machines used in biomedical devices, laboratory and industrial automation, and university research projects.  These are some parts that they designed and made for various projects.

Sweet Home Alberta

Sorry for the lengthy radio silence, it being summer finally, I've been busy enjoying it instead of editing photos.  Although, I assure you, I have been taking photos.  Last month Allan and I packed up the car, and along with Charlie, we made the long drive back to the prairies.  While we were visiting Edmonton we stayed at a friends house about an hour out of town.  We got our fill of farmlands, sun, and stormy prairie skies.  Here's a few shots I got driving around those country roads.

Those horses are always keeping an eye on you.

I was pretty excited when we turned onto one road and there were a heard of bison staring at us.

These two little twins were pretty curious about me.

Mum was sure to follow close behind as they came to check me and my camera out.

Allan got a little nervous when they came right up to the fence, but I felt like they were just curious, not defensive.

This one kind of reminds me of the old MTS commercials, back when they used the live bison with dubbing.

This is an HDR shot I did of a barn in a canola field on the way up to Edmonton.

Beautiful Baby Boy

I'm Back!  I was waiting to make some upgrades to an old Mac desktop, that my parents had recently donated to me, before I loaded Photoshop and got back to business... but it just took too long, and the photo withdrawal was just too strong... so I loaded it anyway, and here we are.

One of the main reasons I was itching to get Photoshop going is this little man right here:

Benjamin Wyatt here is my unofficial nephew (my boyfriend's sisters new baby... and only unofficial till we make it official, if you catch my meaning).  He, along with his parents and Uncle on his Daddy's side, came for a visit shortly after the water vs. laptop incident, and these pictures were just burning a whole in my memory card.  So without further ado, I give you Bennie!

This handsome little fella has a thing for lights, so it was no trouble keep him happy while I had my flash going.

Although he figured out pretty quickly that three little flashes are followed by one big one, and you could see his eyes open so wide right before the big flash almost every time.

I ended up with a lot of horror movie expressions, adorable and funny all at once.

I'd have to say that this one is one of my favorites.  Ben spends almost all of his day with his hands in tight little fists, so much so, that he gets fuzz built up in there, just like toe jam.  Except when he sleeps, he sometime holds both hands flat out in front of him, as if to say "Whoa guys, just, whoa."

This was one of those moments, so Mamma took the opportunity to give him a high five.

Oh and P.S. I knit that blue blanket myself!

Technical Difficulties

Due to some technical difficulties (re: Steve knocking a pint of water onto my lap top, and thus no longer having access to Photoshop) it may be a little while before I can make a new post.  We can blame Steve's insatiable taste for pizza, and my own lack of foresight in placing a glass of water between my laptop and a pizza box. Blast.  Anyway, stay tuned, and hopefully we will be back up and running soon.