Day 3 Picking up speed

After a detour to the Calgary airport to drop off one wife, one dog and two kids, the three remaining humans, one dog and two birds continued eastward, through the wheat fields and oil wells of Alberta and Saskatchewan. We stopped every few hours to get some exercise and take a few photos. The mosquitoes were waiting for us at every turn. We made it as far as Virden Manitoba that night, a little over 1000 kilometres. I was expecting miles of parking-lot flat vistas and acres of wheat fields, and was surprised at the rolling terrain and beautiful scenery.


View Day 3 - Calgary to Virden Manitoba in a larger map






There's a dog in there somewhere...



There he is! Frolicking through the wheat fields...





... As opposed to Swift Current, 'The Standoffish, Snooty, Unfriendly City'.

Road Trip Day 2

After an easy drive to Kamloops the first day we decided to get serious about making some progress. We were determined to make it to Calgary the second night, so Rockies here we come. I was pretty impressed that a U-Haul filled with furniture and towing a minivan made it up and down those mountains with nary a complaint.


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This is the location of the Last Spike on the Canadian Pacific rail line.










Dogs wearing hats. They are everywhere in Lake Louise!






This is our rig: no sharp turns and no backing up - ever.

Road Trip!!! Day 1

For almost 3 weeks it was just me, Sylvie and Dougal with nothing but miles of highway in front of us - destination: Halifax. Why? Because I've never driven across Canada before, and it just seemed like a good idea at the time.
We were travelling as far as Sudbury Ontario with some friends who were moving there, so we started out with 4 adults, 2 kids, 2 dogs, 2 birds, one station wagon and one 26-foot-long U-Haul moving truck towing a minivan. First stop was Kamloops, where our convoy invaded my sister's place for the first night.


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When I see a 30 foot high statue of a duck, I have to take a picture of it. That's just the way I roll.









The Merry Pranksters. Plus my sister.

Hendrix was here

...Grandma and Grandpa Hendrix that is. According to the plaque on the front lawn of this Strathcona heritage home, the Hendrixes lived here from 1938 to 1952. Grandson Jimi apparently came up to visit from time to time. I was asked to shoot this beautifully restored home by the good folks at Trillium Projects. Hendrix House can be found at 827 East Georgia.

Front Row Centre

Usually when I walk in a room with floor to ceiling windows like this I get a little nervous. Lighting up a room this size, and avoiding huge reflections in the windows from my flashes, can be daunting. But I recently switched over to a new photographic technique which involves taking the same shot at different exposures and blending them together. What you end up with is an image that has very few dark shadows or overexposed areas, and it's all done with ambient light - no flashes.

I shot the larger rooms and the window views that way, and I'm pretty happy with the result. It's more time on the computer, but less time on location.

... And Man Created Dog

If you're a dog lover (and if you aren't, what's wrong with you?) you will want to check out this National Geographic special

Another Trillium Project

Shooting renovations is much different than shooting for realtors. For reno jobs, I can focus on the details of the room, rather than trying to make the room look as big as possible. And views are not important at all, so I can use more subtle lighting for the interior.

The images below are from a recent Trillium Projects renovation. They are revamping their website and are sending me around to take some high quality photos of their recent work. It's always a pleasure to shoot for these guys, their work is first rate.