Author: gfox (old content)

Navy Attendance

Before heading to Nanaimo for Thanksgiving, last Saturday Sox, Sprout and I headed to Ogden Point to check out the Navy Days. I was pretty impressed with their setup there. There was lots of neat things to look at and look in. Armoured Personell Carriers, helicopters, trucks, tents, firetrucks, ships, tugs, and boats.


There were lots of demos done by nevy people, and lots of people to answer questions. There were also flyovers by aricraft, diving demonstrations, and RHIB rides. A RHIB is a rigid hull, inflatable, boat.

All in all a very fun time. And it was free.

Sox and I both felt it was cheap advertising for the Navy. There were tons, and tons of kids around checking things out, playing with machine guns, touring ships, and having fun. What better way to introduce the idea of the Navy (or armed forces) to kids?

Pics are here.

A rather funny (to us) event was the announcement of that attendance of the Women in Black. The announcer, who was frequently telling people about what was happening at that time, announced that the WiB were in attendance, announced what they stood for, then launched into a spiel about how the navy was glad to see them there, and that the navy exists to fight for their freedom to protest. 🙂 It was quite amusing at the time, and to Sox and I it sure felt like he twisted their attendance into another promo for the navy.

I asked on the way out if it was going to be an annual event, and the guard said that they hoped to make it one. I hope they can make it happen next year. How often can you get onto a navy ship and take pictures?

Accomplishment Deep

Tuesday night I completed my 30th blood donation. I have a special donors card that signifies my 25th donation. Every time I take that card from my wallet, I get a renewed sense of accomplishment.

The 30th donation went smoothly. I got in at the right time too. There was a bed ready and waiting for me. By the time I was done, there was a bed lineup several people deep.

I learned something interesting in the recovery area too. One of the volunteers was telling another donor that every unit of blood you donate contains approximately 220 calories. That is another reason they want you to drink the sweet juice and eat some cookies. Don’t mind if I do.

Ocean Sunrises

While in Nanaimo for Thanksgiving I happened to catch a wonderful sunrise. My mom had an amazing ocean view, and the sunrises can be spectacular. These shots were all taken within a few moments of one another. It always amazes me how quickly the light can change, and how that can affect a picture.

I wanted to take the pictures, but I was too lazy to go get my shoes and jacket on. It was quite nippy outside, and the deck was wet. Instead I stayed inside and shot through the glass. I can see a few artifacts of this (no polarizer either), but that is what I get for being lazy.

For this last shot I used the timer function to ensure I wasn’t in the shot.

Offloaded Erasing

:grr: Don’t you hate it when you format your camera’s card before realizing that the pics that were on it hadn’t been offloaded yet?

Don’t you also hate it when you realize this after you have already taken a bunch more pictures on the card forever permanently erasing the pictures in question?

I tried using Image Rescue 2 by Lexmark to recover what was on the card, but no luck. The pics are gone. I took enough pics to forever lose the accidentally erased ones.

Vacation Whirlwind

Vacation was awesome, but vacation ended last weekend, and I am now just getting back into life.

The fam flew across the country to Ottawa for a nice 10 day vacation. The flight out went great, way better than expected. Sprout did well, and for me having him with us helped the flight pass quicker. WestJet is such an awesome carrier to fly on. Without a doubt I would prefer to fly with them over anybody else.

Once in Ottawa we made our way to Sox’s family’s place and settled in. Then the vacation kicked in. We headed from Ottawa up to Carp to take in the Carp fall fair. A couple days after that we then headed up to Montreal for a couple days. Back down to Ottawa for a day, then we jumped in the car for a serious drive.

We took the scenic route, and ended up in St Catharines (what a gorgeous town). We stayed in a 4 Points Sheraton that was very nice. The next day we continued on the journey to Niagara On the Lake, then down to Niagara Falls. I also saw my first 2 great lakes on this trip.

After the falls we stuck to the scenic route, and got to Wallacetown where we stayed on a farm for a short stay. We took in the pretty-much rained out Wallacetown fair, and just enjoyed being away from home. That night there was a huge lighting and thunder storm that awoke me. The next thunder clap shook the whole house and Sox awoke with a start. After re-assuring her we fell back asleep.

Too quickly it was back to Ottawa after a 7.5 hour drive. A day and a bit later it was back on the plane back to Victoria. Whirlwind tour, but extremely fun and enjoyable.

I took a ton of pictures too. Just under 2 GB.

All pics are here.

Soon I will try to gather some highlight pics and post them seperately.

Creative Photography – Class 1

Last night was my session of the Creative Photography class at Camosun. It was … interesting. Too soon to tell if I will get a lot from the class, but I will get something.

Last night was the intro, talking about the outline, and how the class was going to go. Camera’s in class are necessary.

Throughout the 2.5 hour class we would take 10 minutes to go shoot a small assignment. Before hand there would be something said or done to get the class thinking, then he would send us on our way to shoot.

I did take some tidbits away. Sometimes you need to think the photograph, feel the photograph, or see the photo. Explore the box, break out of it. Shoot something you are not comfortable with. Less is more (especially with negative space). Look for randomness or look for order.

My shots from the class are here.

Unfortunately I will be missing next weeks class, but I will resume on Oct 4.

Neil Hodge is the instructor for this course too. When I have a little more time I will spend some of it exploring his work.

Shredder Stereo

The good and bad from last weekend.

Good: new shredder from Costco. We burned out our last $20 shredder, so we upgraded to a cross cut. Very nice to have a shredder back in use.

Bad: I noticed that the LCD backlight on my stereo has gone kaput. This means I can’t see what track is playing any more. Can’t complain too much though, that stereo has served me well since 1991 (approx), and has travelled around the city numerous times. Some day I will get a replacement.

Band Remix

I love this story. It is about a band that likes their fans, and wants to leverage their fans. The band is the Bare Naked Ladies. Their put their songs on the internet and let the fans remix them. The 5 best remixes go on special CD release with proceeds going to charity. The best fan designed t-shirts get some prizes. The best fan playalong’s get to appear in an upcoming video. That is a way to show appreciation for the fans. Don’t sue them!

via BoingBoing