SURPRISE!

Yesterday morning, I was sitting outside a certain coffee shop that rhymes with... far-ducks... and enjoying the warm sun on my face.  And then this morning we woke up to 8 inches of snow. What the far-duck?

So I dawned my wellington boots, scraped off the car, and drove (about 15 km/h) to Mount Doug Park to check out the beach in the snow.

Allan's Mom and her dog Rosie joined us for the walk.

Our house had more snow then at the park.  The tree is looking a little heavier then usual.

I felt bad for these little guys, out in the cold.

Dominican Vacation

We recently spent an amazing week in the Dominican Republic, staying at the beautiful NH Real Arena in Punta Cana.  We were there for a destination wedding, and they couldn't have picked a better spot.  Seeing as we were there with such a large group of really fun people, we didn't find any reason to leave the resort the whole time.

The only time we did venture out, was to take a boat trip to snorkel at a spot that was visible from the resort.  We could see this building, on stilts out in the water, from the boat.

I loved the colour of the water so much.

The timing was perfect for this shot.  As the guy in the boat lifted his arm to wave, a guy jumped into the water on the right, making it look like the boat guy threw something large into the water.  I only noticed this today as I went through my edited photos from the trip.

This is a panorama of the untouched jungle of palm trees.  One of the couples from our group had reportedly tried to walk down to this point, but was stopped by security as he left the rows of resorts, to reach the jungle.  The security officer told him it was too dangerous.  I wonder what the danger was...

The sand was so white that it didn't even burn our feet.

The pelicans were busily fishing during the day.  I caught this one as his head went into the wave.

This is a collage of all of the shots I took of the pelicans.

Frosty Mornings

 January in Victoria brings the hints that Spring is just around the corner.  My Snowbells made their appearance early in the month, and are in full force these days.  Can you believe it?  Bulbs appearing in January!  While we still have our share of rainy days, we're also seeing a lot of frosty mornings preceding clear, sunny, but chilly, days.  Combine those with a lawn that hasn't been mown in months, and I've got photographic fun.

These bushes were covered in beautiful blue and purple flowers late into the winter, until our first snowfall killed them off.

But they still look beautiful with a frosty covering.

Catching Up...

So, I figured since it's past mid way through January I should finish posting my December photos.  So, forgive me, these may seem a little incongruous.

 This was taken the morning after the lunar eclipse.  I was awake really early laying on the couch, and saw the moon through the window.  So I went outside in my pajamas, with my camera and tripod, and got a strange look from an early morning walker.  If you look closely, you can see a crow flying by.

Living on the island, I don't realize how rarely I see an open flat space, until I go back to Alberta and take the QE2 highway between Calgary and Edmonton.  It was something I never appreciated growing up there, but now I find it fascinating.

I found this striped smoke stack to be an interesting contrast to the commonly striped lighthouse.

This handsome boy may look like he could rough you up in a dark alley, and take your wallet... but he is actually one of the most sucky felines I have ever met.  I spent about 20 minutes scratching his belly, and he enjoyed it so much his tongue was sticking out.  He belongs to our friends Mike and Amy, or at least he belongs to their house (he was left there by the former owners).  So Mike and Amy took him in and the neighbors couldn't believe the transformation he underwent.  The neighbors got a tree for their front yard last summer, and the guys couldn't get it into the ground because Mochie was too busy rubbing up against their legs.

Home on the Range

My parents live in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, just South of a small hamlet called Bragg Creek.  And, yes, they live in a log home, what else?  Some people rent cabins in the mountains, so they can sit around a crackling fire to open presents on Christmas day; but that's just another day in our home (minus the presents, unless it's actually Christmas).  So what I'm getting at, is it's a pretty beautiful place to come home to.

I went outside hoping to get a photo that would capture the warmth of this place, but when I got back to Victoria, I just wasn't feeling it.  So that's when I turned to my HDR software.

High Dynamic Range (or HDR) imaging is a process used when a scene has a large range of light intensity.  My favorite example is as follows:  

Say you have a scene in which there is a building with a lot of windows and the lights on, but in the background there is a beautiful sun set, but in the foreground there is a darkened lawn.  If you were to set your shutter speed to expose the interior of the building, you would loose the sunset, and the lawn.  If you were to expose for the lawn, the sunset, and especially the windows would be blown out (so bright you loose any detail).  I think you get where this is going...

So HDR software allows you to take three separate photos of the scene, each one exposed for a different  aspect (windows, sky, foreground), and then combine them to get a single image that includes all of the features you wanted.

In the case of the above photo, I actually used a single exposure.  Some HDR software will allow you to fake it, as I have.

 And on that note, here are some Chickadees.  I put some seeds in my hand, and stood really still and got one to land on my hand.

And here's a... one of these.

I included these because they were taken at my parents house... nothing to do with HDR though.

Labrador Lovin'

Being back in Calgary means that I get to visit some of my favorite Labradors, and enjoy some of the best canine affection you can get.

This little girl is one of my parents' dogs, Quita.  Despite her appearance, she is not a puppy, she's actually two (ish?).  She's around 50 pounds, and built as sturdy as they come.  She's sweet, and mostly quiet, and very fearless, and I don't think there is a single person who could say no to that face.

She also has a very unique marking in her left eye.

Brio, is my parents black lab.  He's big and sucky, and has a head like a cannon ball (which he often likes to cram into your nose when you're not expecting it).  These beautiful pooches are our 4th and 5th labradors from Drobot Labradors (we've just known Cindy THAT long, and love her labradors).

And then, of course, there's Riley, whom I've posted photos of before.  He's enduring the unfathomable torture of having a horse toque on his head, with his usual strength and grace.

I think you can see why these characters all hold a special place in my heart.  Can't wait until the next time I get to see them!

A White Christmas

Back to Alberta for a white Christmas this year!  I went out to walk the dogs with my parents on Christmas day.  It was a beautiful sunny day, and all of the snow had these beautiful ice crystals on top.  This formation is known as Radiation Frost or Hoar Frost, it grows on the snow surface when water vapor moves up through the snow on cold clear nights.