My Dedication To Little Hope

Hello everyone....I have just found out some sad news. My blog friend John from Midmarsh Jottings lost his little baby Hedgehog. Hope was her name....John loves Hedgehogs and spends lots of wonderful hours posting great videos of their endless activities in his yard. He has even gotten them a little home and has put it in his back yard. I personally have become quite interested in the little animals and it saddens me greatly that little Hope as passed away. So I dedicate this Water Lily to Hope today and to John who loves Hedgehogs and Water Lilies.

Sunday And Exhausted!! ~ These Forgotten Homes

Hey everyone...sorry for not posting this weekend. I've just started a second job, so now I'm working 7 days a week. Victoria is getting more and more expensive, food cost is up from last year, Hydro went up, gas went up...you get the picture. So my plan is to work hard and see where we are at in six months time. By that time we are hopeful to be caught up and ahead for a change. I hate living from pay cheque to pay cheque, not a good way to live....stresses me out!! So this will defiantly bite into my photography time. I'm hopeful that it doesn't affect my postings but we will see. Today I posted the sea's Forgotten Homes and I did it in Black N White and Color. So tell me which one do you think is more effective? I look forward to hearing what each of you prefer...should be fun :)

Fabulous Fruit Fridays!!! ~ B.C's Native Plants The Oregon Grape

Ahhhhh another Fabulous Friday has come upon us...Wow time just flies doesn't it. I know I can't keep up. Today is about our Native plants here in B.C. This plant is called Oregon Grape and these berries are very edible and were a main source of food for our Native Indians that lined our coastal waters and interiors of BC. These wonderful berries were dried and eaten throughout the winter months and where a valuable part of the Native Indian diet. If you ever get a chance to come to Victoria B.C we have a wonderful Museum. They feature a very large section about our Native Indians and how they lived a long time ago. Not only featuring the foods they ate but the wonderful talent they have at carving. They could create a canoe out of one large cedar tree...I believe it's referred to as a long boat. Don't quote me though. These berries also make wonderful jams, jellies and are extremely tasty. As you can tell from the bottom pictures other animals find them tasty too. LOL Happy Friday everyone

Soft Light and What It Can Do For Your Photo's

Morning everyone I thought I would put a small bit of softness into your day. I have really learned allot with my photography lately and one is light. I really does make the difference on how the image looks and turns out. If you have morning or evening light for some reason it's the softest light the best light for your subject matter. Midday light is too intense and will bounce off your subjects and cause a bright exposure problem. Let's use my post from yesterday as an example. My Woodpecker shots would have been stunning in the morning light...but because I spotted him in the afternoon the exposure was too bright causing the top of the birds head to become a beacon rather than showing how beautiful he really is. To accomplish a better look I had to modify the Woodpecker. With these two shots today I didn't have to modify anything the light was perfect giving both the animal and flower the best way to enjoy it's colors and contrast. What do you think ?

British Columbia's Beautiful Birds ~ Pilated Woodpecker

On Sunday I went for my favorite walk.....I love walking through UVIC's Gardens it's so nice. Although I was expecting to see exciting things I wasn't expecting this!! I heard a Knock Knocking sounds telling me we had a visitor here. I was thinking Oh a Hairy Woodpecker or perhaps a Downy Woodpecker...NO to my great surprise it was a Pilated Woodpecker our larges Woodpecker on the Island. Unfortunately everyone the great morning light was already past...so these pictures had to have large modifications with exposer because of the bright sun light. Plus my angles are something to be desired. I'm happy with these shots...but the action shot in the middle is still a wee bit blurry....but what can ya do....Woodpeckers are not known to stay still while they peck for grubs and bugs are they. LOL I think at one point I asked to stay still for a minute please...It did stop and look right at me...but turned quickly to finish what it was looking for...I laughed out loud when I saw that it was listening to me talking to myself. I was extremely amused.

In this last shot the Woodpecker suddenly turned it's head as if being called and flew away. The action was very noticable it took me by surprise.

Water Effects ~ The Beauty in a Water Drop

Morning...yep here I am again obsessed with water...LOL what else is new. I find it truly fascinating what water can do for plants and for a photograph. This is an area that I need allot of practice on. I have seen what you can do with water from Flickr...stunning work on there....Wow. My objective though is to bring the beauty in everything that Nature has to offer us. There is so much that I haven't even touched on yet...and look forward to investigating over time. I wanted to bring a little sparkle for all of you today when you come. I hope you enjoy my Water Drop post. Have a wonderful day everyone!!

Ocean Birds ~ The Sea Gulls

Sea Gulls....you either love them or hate them. Like the Pigeon they do make allot of mess! One thing that the Sea Gull has over the Pigeon though is it's strong history especially for sailors in the days where navigational systems didn't exist. To see a sea gull out at sea was a huge life line letting the sailors know that land was very close at hand. I know if I was a sailor back then seeing a sea gull would be like seeing God I think....the feeling of thank God!!! Land is just over this horizon. Sea Gulls are also a protected bird for those of you who don't know. So killing a Sea Gull would put you in a bad light according to the laws in place to protect them. I personally like Sea Gulls I love the way they communicate with each other at times they can be loud, but so can we. For me they represent water and what we rely from water, and oceans. For food, new and upcoming uses for Hydro Power generated from waves coming into our harbours...so much that I couldn't possibly post it all one one small post today. I'm sure all of you could in some way contribute to this post about how much we rely on water...but really today it's about the Sea Gull!! Beautiful birds indeed over a very large period of time. Happy Monday Everyone!!

Sidney's New Discovery Center ~ A Series of Under Water Ocean Images~ Part 2 Invertebrates and Fish

Happy Sunday everyone. Today here in Victoria we are having a fabulous day. Nice and sunny you can't get any better than that! I managed to get out for a walk today and got some great pictures...lots of editing on the horizon for me. My favorite part. Ahhhh I'm getting off track as usual...so this is the next half of Sidney's Discovery Center. Lots of Invertebrates in these snaps, sorry everyone the fish except for the one I posted today were all too fast moving and I couldn't capture a clear crisp shot of them, which is too bad because there was one female fish and she was giving birth at the time to a baby! Little did I know that some fish give live birth just like we do.... I was truly amazed.

This image below is a Sea Cucumber...very cool. It was cleaning the glass and I was amazed at what the inside of it's mouth looked like. Click onto the image to get a larger image....it's mouth is truly awsome inside.

Sidney's New Discovery Center ~ A Series of Under Water Ocean Images~ Part 1 Invertebrates

Hello everyone and sorry for the delayed post, but I had a project in mind. Sidney has just recently opened a New Discovery Center and this exciting new exhibit features the species that live in our ocean that surrounds our Island! So I thought I would take the opportunity and check it out and was I impressed....There were examples of all kinds of life and I had no idea just how beautiful it is under the water. I'm now thinking I should take a Scuba Diving Course next summer...I would love to see these wonderful creatures up close it would be a very wonderful experience to be able to swim with and explore the ocean. To be able to witness it's abundance of life. Today's post is all the invertebrates....look at the variety you have with this one type of animal in the sea. From Jelly Fish to Sea anemones!! Simply delicate and beautiful...Wow

Fabulous Fruit Fridays!!! ~ Papaya's N Mirrors

The Papaya!! What a beautiful fruit...not only does it taste great but look inside. The seeds are soft perfect for the tropical areas it comes from. Ready to germinate when spread by wild animals....Today I wanted to try a different way of presenting this fruit, so I took my big mirror outside and tried to get some unique shots. Anyone can put fruit on a counter and take a shot...but I wanted a little bit more. Happy Friday Everyone :)

This Morning Bright N Happy Snaps!! A This and That Kinda Day

Well now that my dreamy water series is complete, I thought some nice bright colors would be a nice post for today. From summer grasses to flowers.... a this and that kinda day! The work week is almost done and time just flies by doesn't it. Wow...but in a way I like it like that...I'm not one to sit around looking for things to do. Instead I'm a person who squeezed every minute out of my day...and even on a good day I could use just a few more minutes to finish things off. Go figure not enough minutes in a day, I never thought I would ever say that. :) Have a wonderful day everyone.

Goldstream Park ~ Part 2 Capturing Moving Water Dreamy Style

Welcome to part two!! Now this little series was the hardest part of my photography challenge. I have seen and worshiped this style of photography where your water looks smooth and dreamy. Not an easy project let me tell you. I have a tripod but it's definitely not a high end one. It's made of light aluminum and the slightest movement causes the tripod to shake. Not something you want to happen while taking these types of shots. I would like to give a big hug and thank you to Claudio, he emailed the details on how to achieve this look. My first day out was unsuccessful...every image was blurry from the slight movement when I pushed the shutter. So I came home and Googled techniques on how to decrease the wiggle problems I was having with my tripod. So the second day I went out I was very successful. Apparently if you take a large breath in then as you release your breath you push the shutter button at the same time...that movement is smooth and you get no vibrations through your tripod causing a crisp and clear shot!!! It must have looked very funny to see a tall woman with a camera and tripod doing deep breathing while taking pictures...but I must say it works very very well. Note when doing dreamy water pictures your shutter speed is extremely high thus the reason for the tripod tool.

Goldstream Park ~ Part 1 Senic shots

Goodmorning everyone!! Well this morning I wasn't about to give up all the goods with the Goldstream post. I had such a lovely collection of pictures that I thought I would post images in fazes. First I wanted to give you a glimpse of how beautiful Goldstream park is. Allot of families go out for picnics, hikes, walks and they love the Nature house where the children can go and listen to a story about nature. Very popular area. My shots though are not of the populated areas, I tend to hike into a world all it's own to show how tranquil things really are and can be. These shots are from different locations of the stream itself. During our rainy season these banks flood and are quickly filled with spawning salmon...which attracts all kinds of wild life including the Bald Eagle...I'm going to go out when this happens to try and capture this wonderful event, even though the smell is something to be desired. The Bald Eagles actually will sit on a dead fish and will stay there while they eat...which as you know is a great opportunity to get that wonderful shot!!

I Stand Alone N Delicate ~ Happy Monday

Ahhh Monday the beginning of a new week. I thought this wee plant kinda represented a Monday Morning. It was all alone in a Field....which was funny simply because the grass had been cut and here this plant was all alone...beautiful actually...so I took a quick snap. I like this image kinda soft. Sorry for only the one image...I started another photo project this weekend and I will be doing a series on Goldstream Park for all of you to see this week. I decided that before the rains and the spawning salmon come and ruin the atmosphere there. That I would get out there and finally practice my moving water shots. I had to give it a few goes before I managed to get some decent shots...Wow I had no idea that getting a dreamy water image was that hard.....but yes it is. I'm sure all of you will be pleased with the results. Tonight will be a large editing night for me....to get a few images ready for tomorrow. I enjoy this part the most with photography...pulling out the good images and dumping the ones that just didn't make the cut. Anyway have a wonderful day everyone.

The Depletion Of Chlorophyll ~ Fall Leaves

Well I didn't do much yesterday...well let me rephrase that I didn't get as much done as I would have liked. But on one of my walks I did notice that the leaves on the trees are definitely turning color. Plants are fabulous don't you think? When they start getting ready to bed down for the winter their leaves loose their Chlorophyll which gives them their green color...then a miracle happens and their true colors shine through...I think it's fantastic. It's like the tree or plant are going to sleep with style. I wish I looked that good before going to bed LOL...I certainly don't look good when I wake up with Chicken hair!!!! Have you ever seen a plant wake up with Chicken hair ...no way not today. :) Happy Sunday Everyone