Friday, May 29, 2009

New Site Header

Hey there!

I just updated the header for the site so if you normally read this with a feed reader you should drop by the site and check it out.

It was Julie's (my wife) due date yesterday, when this photo was taken. We went for a walk to see if we could get things moving. No luck yet.

This is actually three photos stitched together to make a panoramic. I used Microsoft ICE to do the stitching. I normally try to stay away from Micro$oft as much as I can, let along endorse it, for reasons I won't get into here, but this is a pretty amazing tool, and it's free! Simply open it up and drag in all the photos you want to stitch together. It does the rest. It figures out what order they should be in, lines them up, and corrects some of the lighting/color issues there might be so that they blend together nicely. It takes it's good old time, but still faster then doing it manually. Sometimes it doesn't include all of the photos you selected in the final image, but often if you try again it will work. When taking the photos that you plan to stitch later, try to make sure that they overlap by about a third.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Bridges (Part 3)

Here are some more photos of the bridge from last time.



Monday, May 25, 2009

Bridges (Part 2)

One of the things New Brunswick is known for is its covered bridges, including the world's longest covered bridge in Hartland (I don't have a picture of this one yet).

There used to be over 300 covered bridges, but there's only about 65 left. Many have been replaced by modern bridges and turned into little parks as is the case with this one.

More Info:
Wikipedia Entry for covered bridges
New Brunswick Covered Bridges




Thursday, May 21, 2009

Bridges (Part 1)

I'm starting a bridge series today.

These were found not far from the waterfall in my last post. I should have taken note of the date these were built, but I did not.



Monday, May 18, 2009

Waterfalls

I went out looking for a waterfall that I had visited years ago, but it wasn't quite how I remembered it. It was impossible to photograph unless I wanted to go for a swim, maybe when it's a little warmer. I found this one not far away. It worked out alright.

My wife liked these so I saved them for her birthday, which is today!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JULIE!




Thursday, May 14, 2009

Flower

My friend Alain and I set up a little studio to photograph this flower. It wasn't much, just a dark room with some halogen work lights, because neither of us own a flash yet. We sprayed it with water just to make it a little nicer.

Red seems to be a hard colour for me. Whenever I do something with a lot of red, it never turns out quite the way I'd like. I'm not really sure how to explain what I mean, I just think it could be better.



Monday, May 11, 2009

Julie's Maternity Photos

Our friend Holly Howe did maternity photos for Julie and me. Take a look.

Morris

I was watching my parents house last week while they were away. They have a neighbour called Morris. He's a partridge who likes small, loud motors. Whenever you're nearby with an ATV or a lawn tractor, he darts out of the woods to keep you company. I summoned him with the ATV in order to photograph him. It started out well, I was laying on the ground and he'd walk back and forth right in front of the camera. However, it turns out he's not as friendly as he first seemed. I got a few shots in before he decided he'd had enough. He charged the camera and started beating me with his wings and I think he latched on to my finger at one point. Luckily, his chops aren't that strong and my camera and I survived. Then I ate Morris for supper. Just kidding, he's fine.




Thursday, May 7, 2009

Canadian Goose

Found this goose in a baseball field. He stood as I got closer and started honking, then flew away.





Monday, May 4, 2009

Windmills

Last year about 35 windmills were built near the city where I live. They're spread over a very large area, it was hard to get more then 5 in the frame at the same time. The towers are 80m (262 feet) high and each blade is 45m (148 feet) long. When I was there, they would do one rotation ever 3.6 seconds so that means the tips were moving at 283 km/h (176 mph). The blades moving through the air sounds like a jet plane, but not as loud.