Classic Shots

A classic line from one of the Austin Powers movies is right after taking a bunch of pictures he tosses the camera and says …. “And … I’m spent”.  That could have been me yesterday.

I signed on to shoot a wedding yesterday, and with the rainy weather, it turned out to be pretty difficult shooting conditions.  The ceremony was inside a tent, and it was pretty cramped quarters meaning I couldn’t get to the locations I wanted to be to get the shots I wanted.  The guests were all seated too, which meant that I would be in their way while I was standing for taking my shots.

The family and wedding party shots had to be done indoors due to the rain, and I did OK with that, but was definitely out of my element.  I need more use with the flash before I do more shoots like that.

In the end though I got some good shots that I am proud of, but
I certainly lost my creativity when I started to get tired.  That is something about the photoclub, is that I never have to push myself.  When I am done taking shots, I can stop.  I couldn’t stop yesterday until I had my list of shots done.

I also underestimated how long things would take, and didn’t get enough time with just the bride and groom.

On the upside, it was a very valuable learning experience.  The location was gorgeous (Cowichan Bay), the people were wonderful, and the ceremony was beautiful.  I am going to take some notes and squirrel those away in case I shoot any more weddings.

Commotion Police

There was a commotion outside the office today, and a couple motorbike cops pulled up and stopped traffic. From my desk I could only see the two motorbikes and I was a little confused. I heard a couple more sirens and knew something weird was up.

It soon all became clear when someone mentioned the Tour de Rock. They were making a stop at the Oak Bay City Hall and the motorbikes were making sure it was safe I guess. Maybe putting on a bit of a show too.

The bikes pulled up, and they did a nifty little parking, got some pictures taken, then the Oak Bay mayor gave a quick speech, and presented a plaque. Soon they were off again, but it was quite comical watching the support police almost run into one another.

Redeemed Concoction

We’ve redeemed ourselves. The last 2 dinners have been amazing! The night before last we had home made thin crust (crust was home made too) pizza topped with turkey sausage, pineapple, and sauted onions and red peppers. My half also had some cheddar.

Last night we had this awesome spaghetti sauce that was made from roasted tomatoe, onions, bacon, and garlic. Mmmmmmm.

To me those make up for the horrid fish concoction.

Apple Time

Apple support why do you anger me? I want a simple web form to submit a request for help for my Apple account. I DO NOT want to call you. I don’t have time for to hang out on hold (I assume that is what is going to happen).

I simply want to change the country on my account. Why can’t I do that? People move you know. Somehow the country listed show the US. I live in Canada, and the rest of my address shows that. I want to fix it, but you won’t let me.

Grrrr.

Rainy Outcome

Sunday was the Bastion Square Grand Prix Criterium. This is the big race in Victoria for roadies. Unfortunately the weather was not co-operating, and it was cold, a little windy, and rainy. Not good for road bikes trying to go fast.

Todd raced here as well, unfortunately crashed out with 2 laps to go. The last pic below shows the outcome of that.

The rest of my Bastion Square Grand Prix pictures are here.

Visualize Criterium

Last weekend was the Victoria Cycling Festival. I got out Saturday and Sunday to watch the racing, and to cheer on Todd who was racing. I also managed to take a few pictures 😉

Action photography is hard. Everything is happening so quickly that you really need to visualize what is going to happen, plan for that, then be lucky enough to trip the shutter at the exact right time to capture what you had intended. It also helps to have the correct settings on the camera too. I messed up some of my flash photography because I was in the right mode, just the wrong setting.

Below are my favorite shots from the Cops for Cancer Criterium. The rest of my shots from this race are here.

Recipe Wasted

What a disaster in the Fox household tonight.

We got home from work later than normal, and I started dinner prep later than normal. Dinner was served at 6:45 which is late for us. As I was serving it, I wondered what went through my mind when choosing this recipe.

It didn’t work out for Sox either. Her first bite almost made her puke. I had a bite, then got to the tomatoes (yeuck, I really dislike cooked tomatoes). Sprout ate other foods and wasn’t affected by this dish. He had rice, corn, cucumber, avocado, and milk. Sox and I each ate our rice and salad, but couldn’t stomach the fish.

I was really frustrated with this. I really don’t know what I was thinking and I wasted a lot of time, and I wasted a lot of food. Sox ended up running out to grab some other food while I got Sprout ready for bed.

I’m still not 100% satisfied with my meal, but it will have to do.

Suggestion Gmail

Hey gMail team:

Suggestion for you: Have a setting somewhere so that I can verify that I know the definition of phishing. I don’t need to be told the definition every time I report an email as a phishing message. I only report them when they truly are phishing messages, meaning I have probably marked 30 messages in the whole time I have had a gmail account. It really is a pain.

Thanks

Greg