Monday, December 28, 2009

Border Agility

From Photo of the day (2009)


From Photo of the day (2009)


From Photo of the day (2009)


So I went out last week to watch my friends dog agility lesson. I've seen the competitions on TV but never really seen someone at work. Learned lots of stuff - apparently the courses are never the same, and a competition course is checked over by lots of people to make sure it hasn't been used in competition before. Not only does your dog have to know all the tricks of the trade and be able to do them quickly, it has to pay attention to you so it knows which bit to take next!

I figured shooting these guys would be relatively easy compared to say, a lure flown falcon which follows an unpredictable path - I couldn't have been more wrong. I think it would have been easier had I been more versed in how things were run - I have some ideas how a falcon will fly - but those border collies sure are fast! Then there's the obstacles to contend with - other equipment, the handler, and of course lighting. The dogs being a combination of jet black and pure white really doesn't help that situation on a cloudless frosty morning!

Anyways, here are three shots from the lesson, the first two are my friends dog, Jess, the last is the instructor's dog, and of course I've forgotten its name.

I have played with the fill light, highlights and shadows, and cropped in Picasa 3 for all shots, I've also sharpened Jess coming off the ramp.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

BCFA meet

From BCFA 2009


From BCFA 2009


Took Fowler and Meg out the BC falconry association (BCFA) meet on the 5th. Saw a few falcons fly, one caught a duck, we even managed to lure in a wild peregrine with some pigeons. It treated us to a fantastic stoop from a couple hundred feet up which turned a pigeon into a cloud of feathers. Very cool. I didn't get Fowler out much, he had a swollen wing and there wasn't any rabbits for him, but he did fly around a bit with a friends big female Harris hawk.

It just so happens that the two better quality shots from the meet are of him. These are straight out of the camera - got to love evening winter light.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Dog bed

From Photo of the day (2009)


Not actually her bed. My 60 lb pooch and I share a single bed at night. She was hanging out waiting for me to go to bed the other night when I was doing some school work. I liked the lighting and the expression. I had to fiddle a fair bit with this because of the low light and the fact that it was an incandecent bulb (things came out looking yellow) I set the camera white balance to incandecent, then further cooled the colour temperature in Picasa. I had to play with the fill light and highlights to make up for the darkness of the picture - without digging out my tripod and hoping the dog would hold still for an extended period I made do with some increase in ISO. Not liking the grainyness you get with low light and high ISO, I kept it as low as possible and fully intended to rework it a bit in Picasa. It is not a shot that would be large print quality - you would see the grain - but it works for this situation.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Pine cones

From Photo of the day (2009)


I took the camera to the dog park on Thursday hoping to get some shots of dogs playing but no score. I almost got a great one of Jazz (a labradoodle) and Meg sitting - but Jazz went and turned his head for the shot, and then he was leaving. This one was the best of what I had. Nice and sharp. Douglas fir cones, hanging ready to drop their seeds. I cropped, increased shadows a bit and sharpened.

Friday, November 6, 2009

A collaboration

From Photo of the day (2009)


I have been a bit lax on my photo shooting of late. The usual culprits - school, dog, hawk, rain, and early darkness have conspired against me.
I was sorting some pictures and came across this one my father took while we were out hawking a few weeks ago. I fly Fowler in Langford under some high-voltage wires, and this is the pole that holds them up. I guess someone took a paintball gun to it. The fall rain soaked plants and the way the paint had dripped looked cool. Granted I didn't see this while flying, paying too much attention to my bird. I put it in black and white as the colours were a bit drab (dad is new with the settings and the camera may have been on auto) and this just made the plants and the paint blur together better. I also cropped to remove some of the noisy branchs and bring the focus back to the post.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

A couple of birds

From Photo of the day (2009)


From Fowler


A couple pictures for this week.
The first one is a little American Dipper that I found in Goldstream Provincial Park just outside of Victoria. I was on a field trim with my observation practicum students to look at the salmon run but there weren't too many fish. These little guys run around on the bottom of the stream and pick insects off of rocks. Not much to look at but a neat bird all the same.

The second is a shot of Fowler I took today while out hunting. He spotted one bunny and chased (missed) and Meg chased another around in the trees somewhere but I didn't see one at all. Oh well. I liked the pictures though. Hope you do too.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Dog light

From Photo of the day (2009)


I decided to try and take some dark pictures seeing as I am not out that much right now. I am currently on my first 2-week practicum for my Secondary Teaching PDPP program, so I am in school from 8:30-3 just like the old days. When I am out, it is generally dark, or I have the hawk out and bird + dog + camera is a few too many things to handle (or I simply forget the cam at home).

Anyways - I get up and take the dog out at 6am so she gets a good run before I have to get to school and now its not light until after 7am. She wears a little LED contraption on her collar so I can see her bounding all over the park. I was hoping to get a time lapse sort of thing with the light showing a trail of all the places she had been but it just wasn't going to work without the tripod. Maybe next time. I had her sit and did a 1 sec exposure with some obscenely high ISO and this is what I got. You can make out some of her spotted fur on her chest right around the light and if you look closely you can make out her chin above and to the right. It is kind of a neat effect on the computer screen. I was planning on posting a different shot but this one came out better.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Shadow of a Falconer

From Photo of the day (2009)


I took this on Sunday, October 4. I had Fowler and Meg out for some basic training - well the hawk was in training and doing well.. but the dog was all over the place. Oh well. The sun was out and, on heading back to the car, I saw this. I tried to get the dog in it to - but in that shot I cut off her head. It's remarkably hard to shoot an SLR from your waistline - I didn't want my shadow to show I was taking a picture. Anyways, she wouldn't hang around for a second try. I haven't been out shooting since, hopefully I can get some pictures over Thanksgiving and my upcoming school practicum.

I increased the shadows in this shot a bit as the camera made them grey - that's what happens when you shoot in automatic on a sunny day. I also cropped out the excess ground.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

And back at it..

Ok.. ok. My attitude when I fall so far behind in a routine thing is that when I take it up again I start from scratch. I got behind on my Road trip - you can see the rest of the pictures with captions Here - some of them are quite neat - and when I got back to Agassiz I worked 18 days straight (long days) and had to focus on packing to move to Victoria. Now I have more or less settled in, got my university classes organized and am taking this back up.

One point of note - I am not really a "Hawkless Falconer" any more, as I have purchased a young male harris hawk who I named Fowler. He will probably show up more and more in here as I get going. If you want to see pictures of him now, go here. No captions for him yet, but he just flew free for his first time yesterday. Anything new with him will be posted there, as he will not always feature on this site.

As for this site - it is likely to be downgraded to a weekly posting of several pictures as I no longer have the time every day to shoot pictures, let alone update this. I hope you will still find it interesting.

Now to business!

From Photo of the day (2009)

A branch of wet maple leaves near the Clearihue building on the University of Victoria (UVic) campus. I had just got out of class and was headed to the buses in the pouring rain. They stuck out after I had already stopped to look at a single leaf in the ivy below. This one turned out better. I sharpened it a bit, nothing else.


From Photo of the day (2009)

A very large wasp's nest at the dog park I take Meg to every morning. It is currently deserted, which made taking the shot a lot less risky. Of course as soon as I stop to look at something, Meg wants to stick her her nose in it and check it out too. I managed to get this one without her nose in it - I took some other angles after this which, when I looked at them on the camera, I thought I liked better. This is why I always do my editing on the computer screen - unless I was taking a metering shot or missed the subject etc. Anyways, this nest is about the size of a soccer ball, and attached all along the top to a big branch. Pity or I'd take it home as a future teaching resource. This shot was sharpened only.

Monday, June 29, 2009

Road trip - day 1

Ok, yesterday was a long driving day so I postponed the posting and working with photos until today.

Started off early from Agassiz - on the hwy by about 7:30 - 8 am after picking some lettuce in my garden and dropping it off at Anita's. I did a few stops along the way, but not many. First stop was in Rhododendron Flats in Manning park in hopes of catching the rhodo bloom that happens in June but I guess I missed it.

From Day 1


Or at least most of it... I did find a few in the shade. These are wild Pacific Rhodos.

From Day 1


Next stop was Hadley - I spotted a neat rock and stopped for pictures. Ended up learning there is an old gold mine up on the cliff, meeting some.. interesting characters including one particularly odd shop keeper who built "art" out of bits and pieces of washing machines, gearboxes and other machine bits. Also spotted this happy scarecrow which made me laugh. If you look close on the left ridge you can just make out the gold mine on the mountain.

From Day 1


From Day 1


Kept going, listening to my audio tapes, and stopped at the top of the hill coming out of Osoyoos for a scenic panorama.

From Day 1


Lunch was had at boundary Creek Provincial Park - it had a creek for the dog to lie in and we were both getting a bit warm. I found this caterpillar while the dog was wading and I was trying to read.

From Day 1


Got to Nelson in the evening - had dinner with the neighbours and am quite enjoying staying at the Grandparents cabin with my Aunt. I took some other pictues on a hike today but that I will update tonight. More stuff will probably happen between now and then!

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Macro

From Photo of the day (2009)


Spotted this flower while out walking the dog this morning. It struck me that every part of it was blue. Picture came out not bad.

I got this other one of a bee later on the same walk, figured I missed so many pictures this month I could put in two.

From Photo of the day (2009)

Friday, June 19, 2009

Stave lake

From Photo of the day (2009)


Drove out to Maple Ridge to drop off some hoods and falconry equipment I made to Karen Kamstra of Raptors Ridge and see some of her birds and what not. Had a good day trying on hoods, clipping beaks, installing anklets and other such occasional jobs. On the way home I had planned to stop at the Stave Falls Powerhouse National Historic site, but I was running out of time and there was masses of construction so I'm not sure it was even open. I stopped further up from the dam and walked the dog on a trail called the "Railway Trail". There were lots of old trestles so I assume there used to be a railway there. They were working on the dam so the water levels were really low, the shores really muddy. I got this one of the dog's footprints on the beach when I spotted the colour difference in the sand/mud.

Some other shots I got of the "dead forest" of drowned tree stumps that would normally be underwater, and a foxglove on the side of the path.

From Photo of the day (2009)


From Photo of the day (2009)

Cats

From Photo of the day (2009)


I came out of the goat barn at work after milking in the morning yesterday to see Fuzzy the cat play-mauling her long haired orange kitten. He had her paws round her head, and she was chewing on his neck and underside. My truck with camera was right there but on getting out my camera they spooked and so I missed the better shot. I got this one instead, where momma's heart just isn't quite in it anymore and baby is suspiciously eyeing me.

Beaver

From Photo of the day (2009)


I went camping - for the first time since 2007 - at Deer lake with the dog and the young adults from the Chilliwack Alliance Church on Saturday night. Sunday a few of us tried a trail that was supposed to take us up to another small lake called Moss Lake. We lost Matt part way up as he couldn't keep up and we couldn't wait as there were too many bugs. We got up and found.. a smallish lake. The bugs were horrible so we crawled up on top of a cleared area in the breeze. On going down we came across an arrow and a bottle that Matt had left us and we figured we must have left him behind, at the top. So we went back looking for him incase he had gone too far and was still looking for us. While Steve and I were waiting for the girls to check around another path we spotted this beaver in the lake, so I took a few shots. And yes, we did find Matt in the end, he'd made it back to camp.

Float plane

From Photo of the day (2009)


Last Friday I went into Chilliwack for some groceries and other things that are just too expensive or not available in Agassiz (which means I probably won't go back into Chilliwack for at least another 2 weeks). I took the dog out to Island 22 before doing the shopping so she could run and we met some model float plane pilots. I didn't even know they made model float planes. We walked around a bit before they started flying them and then made our way back (dog on leash) once they had the planes out. Meg seemed to think they were ducks and wanted to chase. I thought this shot was kind of cool because there is no scale, and really, it could have been a big plane.

Kamloops

Ok I know this is really bad. Almost July and not a singe June post. I have been busy with lots of things - falconry hoodmaking, ordering things, teaching, work, camping... anyways. These photos from my trip to Kamloops the first of the month have been on my camera until a few days ago.

From Photo of the day (2009)


A yellow-headed blackbird - one of hundreds - at a marsh I went to with Jay down the road from the house he lived in growing up. I hadn't seen one of these guys before so I was pretty enthused. Now I even know what they sound like!

From Photo of the day (2009)


From Photo of the day (2009)


And a couple Red-winged blackbirds at the same marsh. I liked the reed look.

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Manning Day Trip

From Photo of the day (2009)


From Photo of the day (2009)


From Photo of the day (2009)


From Photo of the day (2009)


Took a six hour hike around the lightening lakes chain in Manning Park on saturday. Unfortunately the trail to the last lake was washed out in a rock scree slide so I didn't make it there, but it was still about 24 km walk. Needless to say I was a bit tired to sort through and post the photos yesterday. Lots of wildlife, and more of an Alpine setting than coastal forest so that was neat. I guess the snow is in full melt, all the streams along the paths were full on torrents and seemed to run wherever they felt as opposed to staying within an obvious bed. Columbian Ground squirrels had colonies in anything resembling a grassy meadow, which included the picnic sites at the lake and green spaces in front of the resort. Some were really tame, but they all had to stand up and stare at the dog. There was also Common Loon, Barrow's Goldeneye, Spruce grouse, though we only heard the Varied Thrushes, Swainson's Thrushes and other random small birds I don't know the calls for. Only one Bald Eagle, but lots of Ravens. Here are some of my better pictures, more can be seen in the same album on my Picasa photo site.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Classic Car

From Photo of the day (2009)


The A&W across the street had their Crusin' the Dub party across the street from my apartment. I stopped in after work and garden watering to see the band and the classic cars that they had out. I missed the free chicken and root beer but thought Dad might like this older British car. Hope I took it from the proper angle.

Tractor

From Photo of the day (2009)


This came with a load of hay the other week when George was away. It used to belong to Debra's father, and George has got it to run the feed mixer here. He shipped his old (actually newer than this one) to Alberta, and got this "new" one. Not sure what year it's from, but there isn't a window without a crack. Neat old thing.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Cliff Swallows

From Photo of the day (2009)


From Photo of the day (2009)


Noticed these little guys yesterday starting up a new colony under the eaves of the cow barn. I want to keep up to date on them as within a few weeks their nests will be round balls with tunnel entrances. There are about 8-10 started nests, and lots of squabbling about who gets which space. They are always coming and going with big mouthfuls of mud to build with and I spent probably 10 -15 minutes just watching them and taking pictures - until a cow came up and starting nudging me with her big wet nose. If you look close at the shot of the fight, you can see that one bird is biting the others foot... what a commotion!

Beans

From Photo of the day (2009)


Took this yesterday, but no time to post. Stopped in at my community garden and, while my garlic has grown a lot, I'm not sure if it would show that well in a new picture. Took this shot of two growing bean plants though - they've got it a bit rough in the clay-ey soil after that hard rain last weekend. Oh well. Beans are tough.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Hicks lake

From Photo of the day (2009)


From Photo of the day (2009)


Took the dog up to Hicks Lake provincial park today - partially to make use of my annual BC Parks parking pass, and partially as I haven't hiked around the lake in over a year. Last time I did it Meg was little. Anyways, its a lovely hike, took me about an hour and a half of good walking. Somehow it felt longer than that though. Anyways, around the back part of the lake in the trees there are a lot of old stumps from the hand-tool logging era with springboard pockets in them (so they could get up where the wood was not too wide for their tools). Here are two of the stumps, the first one you can see the pocket in, the other was just so wide I made it a full frame shot. It had 2-3 rather large trees growing out of the top of it. Pretty cool!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Canyon Daytrip

From Photo of the day (2009)


From Photo of the day (2009)


I'm taking my long weekend after the real long weekend - most of the tourists are gone but things are open. I drove up past Hope and Yale to Alexandra Bridge Provincial Park. The park is little more than a rest stop, but the trail leads down where the old Caribou highway was put in when they realized train travel wasn't going to be enough. The original bridge was built in 1862 (BC's first suspension bridge), but torn down in 1915 when it was usurped by the completion of the CPR railway. When cars became prevalent, they rebuilt the bridge on the same site and it was used from 1926 to 1964 when the new one, still in use now, was built a ways downstream. If you are interested, this site has a variety of photos and info on the bridge and area.

After the photo shoot there, I stopped in to visit "The History that is Yale". I was a bit disappointed to tell you the truth. The museum was very good, but the walking tour was a let down. All the points on the map are long gone, but you can walk to where they were and read about them - oh and I couldn't actually find two of the "points of interest" which included an old cemetery that I would have enjoyed. The lady at the museum took me around to some of the things on site - namely one of the oldest Churches in BC (disputed as to whether it or one in hope holds the title (I got to pull the bell rope!), some recreated 1800's style tent buildings, and a very old Red Beech tree planted by a young girl with some relation to or friendship with the Church priest.

From Photo of the day (2009)



From Photo of the day (2009)


From Photo of the day (2009)


Stopped in Hope on the way home, and actually felt like I've been somewhere! I think more Daytrips will be in order in the next few months.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Flower

From Photo of the day (2009)


Well - now I have a real excuse, been running the farm with minimal help (Anita and Janey your work is appreciated!) and between helping cows calve, pumping milk from one tank to another for several people, and not having any inspiration I just don't get around to taking photos. I do take my cam though, so when I see something...

Anyways. Got this one on my morning walk with the dog under the Agassiz-Rosedale bridge before going out grocery shopping etc in Chilliwack. I sharpened it a bit, nothing else.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Hooligans

From Photo of the day (2009)


We've taken down the board and hay bale door we put up in December to replace the roll away one that got torn off in the winter winds. This is partly because we used all the hay to feed the goats, and partly because its warm enough not to have it. Oh and the pen was in need of a cleaning. Anyways, these guys have been spying on me as a feed the goats in a shed directly across from them and I figured they would make a good shot. Hopped over after milking this evening and got this one.

Garlic

From Photo of the day (2009)


Stopped in at my garden plot on the way home yesterday for the first time in a few days. Its been raining off and on so I'm not worried about water and no time to plant anything more right now (most of it is in anyways). The garlic has really taken off - some are over 3" tall and they were planted only 2 weeks ago. Everything else is on the verge of sprouting, though the lettuce seems to have produce a row of minute seedlings. If they weren't so straight I would have thought they were weeds. I took this from ground level and then cropped it to get a better composition.