Outdoor show (edit Mar 1 )

So the photo contest is over. There were more than 330 entries this year, up from last year. I entered three photos, one in each category, landscape, Ontario Parks and wild life. I got to see the majority of the entries as they were being shown on a monitor. There were so many good pictures, much better than last year. I didn't win anything but I didn't lose either. Each photographer has his / her own style and I'm very happy with the pictures that I take. I've only been taking pictures since 2003 and on a more serious level since 2007. I still have a lot to learn.

My latest work of art, a picture posted earlier, is shown below. I had it reproduced as a 24" x 36" gallery wrapped canvas print. The result is amazing, it looks more like a painting but has a bit of a three dimensional look to it. It looks great.

I didn't enter it in the contest because I made compositional changes to it that would have disqualified it. I removed two garbage cans, a sign, and a couple of branches along one edge. I like the picture and so does my wife and that is all that really counts. It looks great and really brightens the corner of my living room.

So what pictures did I enter? well here they are. Nothing spectacular, but some of what I consider my favorite pieces.

 This one hangs in my living room as a part of my 'group of seven'

This one is similar to the panoramic I had printed on canvas.

The12" x 36" canvas print also hangs in my living room.

So here is the edit. After having a look at the winners and 25 honourable mentions, I just don't see it. The 1st and 3rd in landscape, and 1st in Ontario Parks are interesting and hold my attention. The rest of the winners do nothing for me. There are far more interesting pictures in the honourable mentions. Yet some of the honourable mentions don't do anything for me . I'm not saying mine are any better, maybe I just don't understand the criteria for success. But don't take my word for it, it's just my opinion, check it out  

  http://www.tb-chamber.on.ca/default.asp?pgid=551

There are a couple short photography courses coming up shortly. One on winter photography and the other on falls photography. I haven't decided what I want to do yet. They are both being done at Kakabeka, in mid March and early April.

Weekend walks

Some pictures from this weekend's walks. Friday afternoon was nice at Chippewa and Saturday was t-shirt weather on top Mink Mountain.

Chippewa

We took Dade for a sled ride at Chippewa this afternoon. A ride to the far end of the beach and back through the picnic area then around the amusement park and cabins. Back at the car we stopped at the playground equipment for a slide.

Then back to the house for a donut, some apple and a nap

Do I or Don't I

Once again The Outdoor Show is hosting a photo contest. For those that remember, last year's winners in the Parks category were pictures of the same old same old, Kakabeka, The Sea Lion and The Sleeping Giant. And in the Landscape category, if you weren't taking a picture of a stream waterfall then apparently you wasted your time.  So what will this years entries be, the categories are the same,  Landscape, Wildlife, and Ontario Parks. Some people tell me my "giant" pictures are backwards! It amazes me how many people don't even know the park is there, or that the "giant" is visible from the other side.  Do I dare submit a picture from Pigeon River Provincial Park? Will anyone know where that is? Cause I certainly won't submit one of the "big" three. Do I have anything in mind? Maybe

No, not these. It's an outdoor show, if the people aren't outdoors then the pictures should be tossed. That would be my opinion. I stuck these in as fillers.
'Edit: just noticed that there is no People category'

Should I or shouldn't I, going to have to go see what I have. What do you think?

63059

I bought it in Aug 1999, for $700. It has been plugged in and powered on ever since. Waiting patiently for the press of a button or a signal from the pc to wake it up and do it's magic. Well today the Xerox laser copier / printer died at 63059 copies / prints. Thats like 13 copies a day for 13 years, not bad.

 I've been using two printers for the last week or so because I can no longer purchase the preprinted invoice forms that I've used for the last 13 years. It seems that Blueline discontinued them with no replacement.When I found out the forms were being discontinued I bought all of them I could find. My supply of 400 came to an end and the Xerox printer didn't print the replacement form well. The accounting software had pre-defined forms but the printer didn't reproduce them clearly.  It was old. So I was printing invoices on my HP inkjet and everything else on the Xerox ( until it died ).

So the Xerox  has been replaced with a Brother laser copier / printer / scanner. So far I don't like the way it handles cheque printing. The manual single sheet feed doesn't seem to load the form straight and the result is a crooked cheque. I'll have to try it some more to see if maybe I'm doing something wrong. Other than that it prints and copies fast. Toner is a little cheaper with about the same yeild as the Xerox. The scanner works nice, something I have done without for many years but wished I had.

I'm going to miss the Xerox, it was one of the best pieces of equipment I had. I can only hope the brother lasts half as long. It has a monthly duty cycle of 10000.

Hungry Boy

 Stars and goldfish for a snack, half a jar of baby food, bread, and two strawberries for supper. And just after he got out of his high chair he grabbed a container of apple sauce from the cupboard. He was still hungry and ate the apple sauce as well.

Not Enough

Seems that someone has complained that I haven't posted enough pictures lately. So here you go,

 

28mm Day

I went for a drive to several spots today (5) and took a number of pictures. It was supposed to be sunny today but that didn't last long. Although I took all my equipment I decided to limit my self to one lens. So all the pictures are with a 28mm lens.

Silver Harbour

Headless Giant

Boulder Field

boulders from here were used to build the break wall  in Thunder Bay some 50 years ago

Bacon Island

 Mackenzie Point

Coal Pile & Pie Island

Old pier posts along the Kam River

 Hydro tower

Looking up the tower