Monday Night Racing

A few more photos from the track. Not much to write about. We had a rather uneventful night at the track.

A Lesson in Procrastination

All day yesterday I knew I had to shoot a photo but I kept putting it off. Finally I looked at the clock, 11:51. I had nine minutes to shoot a photo, so naturally I started looking around my room. I've shot my file cabinet before and kind of liked it. This is part of my sticker collection, mostly bike companies, but some others as well. Some of them were salvaged from other things so they don't stick so well anymore.

New Skatepark

Saturday afternoon we loaded up Seth's jimmy and took the 40 minute drive to Kingsville, Ontario for the grand opening of their new skatepark. The park was smaller than I thought it would be, but it's still very nice.


Many backflips went down, including this one from Chase Davidson. I got a lot of nice photos of Chase but this was my favourite. Below is a photo of Mark that doesn't do justice to how high he was boosting, but this is the best one I got on film (well, chip). It was a good day full of riding and goofing around.

Another Blue Jay

I should have some more stimulating photos for tomorrow. Today I'm going to the grand opening of the new skatepark in Kingsville. So maybe tomorrow you'll see back flips and other side shows.

I haven't had much time to get away from the computer lately. But I'm almost caught up on all my photo editing and organizing. Here's one from the back yard in between thunderstorms.

Silly Entertainment

Every year we have a big fireworks show along the river between Windsor and Detroit. It's pretty much the same every year and costs somewhere around a million dollars. While it IS fun to watch I can't help but think how that money would be better spent...pretty much anywhere. I haven't went to see the show in a few years, but I've always wanted to take photos of it. So rather than joining the thousands of families and punk teenagers (man, I'm getting old) downtown, I headed to Windsors highest elevation (all 26 meters of it), Malden Park, an old landfill. There were a few people there but I found my own spot with a kabillion mosquitos.

Sunsets and Black Flies

Sunday - June 14

The weather forecasts weren't great heading into the week, but as usual, they were way off the mark, thankfully. Instead of 60's and a chance of rain we enjoyed 80's everyday and only a little rain late Friday night. Here's my favourite from out first night at the cottage.

(Click the photos to enlarge)


Monday - June 15

I enjoy solitude but once the sun goes down its nice to have some company. We were pretty much the only people in the area. Almost all of the cottages in the area were empty so we had the whole beach to ourselves. Well more of a coastline than a beach, it was all rock, no sand. But it was beautiful still. This photo is taken from the water, looking towards our cottage. Perfect clouds for a Circular Polarizer.


Tuesday - June 16

I shot this same photo a couple of years ago the last time I was here, but it was cheap film and there was an ugly line through it, so I tried it again. I tried to capture the vastness of the water and maybe even the calm and silence. It's about at least a forty foot drop to the water...but its not quite as dangerous as it looks. However it IS a little tricky with a backpack, camera bag and a big camera hanging off you. This is along the Bruce Trail, near The Grotto, not far from Cyprus Lake Campground (where I usually stay when I'm up there).


Wednesday - June 17

We picked up a giant bag of peanuts at the store in town, probably around five pounds worth. By the end of the week they were gone, thanks to this Red Squirrel, a couple of Chipmunks and a Cardinal.


Thursday - June 18

Our campfire on Lake Huron. This was a massive day. Up at sunrise to catch the ferry to Manitoulin Island, about 12 hours later we got back into Tobermory and headed to the Beer Store, 6:01 and all we picked up was disappointment and a little panic. Luckily we had enough to last...but we had to go easy.


Friday - June 19

I shot a lot of photos along the water near the cottage. Whenever the colours were dull I'd switch to black and white. I usually just shoot all colour photos then convert some to black and white after. But this time I shot a lot of black and white only.


Saturday - June 20

I finally got some nice scenery to shoot sunsets. I try sometimes in Windsor, but its hard to find interesting settings that don't have power lines or buildings in the shot. So every night when the sun started going down I'd grab a beer and my camera bag and head down to the water to spend some time with the Geese and Sandpipers. This is one of my favourite sunset shots from the last night there. Most of the sunsets were rather boring but this final one was quite interesting, plus the rain from the night before filled all the craters in the rock and gave me plenty of reflection opportunities.


Sunday - June 21

This is the very last photo I shot on the trip, Sunday morning before we headed back to Windsor and all its unpleasantness. From left to right: Me, my sister Lisa, her husband Rob, and his brother David who was visiting from England.

My Growing Camera Museum

I'm still processing and organizing my photos from the trip...so hopefully tomorrow will be my most interesting post to date. For today I thought I'd show off the latest arrival to my House of Cameras I'll Probably Never Use. My Uncle gave me this old Kodak Brownie medium format camera a few weeks ago.

Back Home

I've got a big post coming...hopefully tomorrow but most likely Wednesday. I'm still sifting through over 300 photos from my trip and I want to do it right. But it will be worth the wait, there are some really good photos that I'm stoked about. For today, I have a picture I shot tonight at the track (above) of Eric, the current points leader by a large margin.

And here we have a shot of me in the Winners Circle after my first ever karting win (shot by my dad).

Red Bull and Leaving

I didn't have much time to shoot photos today so I kept my camera on all day and grabbed it everytime I heard a plane approaching. Since the planes for the Red Bull Air Race are flying out of Windsor Airport this year they all fly over our house on their way to the river. I also got a red bull helicopter.

This is my last post for a week, as I head off to a cottage on Lake Huron for a yearly break from Windsor and everything I hate about it. When I reluctantly return I will post at least one photo from each day of the trip. Take care, Society.

Flying Objects

This weekend is the big Red Bull Air Race here in Windsor, Ontario. I went down to the river but there wasn't a plane in sight. So I headed to the airport to see if anything was going on there. A few planes were flying around there, then they started heading towards the river, so I followed. But before I left the airport area, I saw this Hawk soaring overhead with a Red Winged black bird hot on his tail. It must have been protecting some babies because he would not leave the hawk alone, even though the hawk seemed to barely notice the little birds presence.


I ended up back at the riverfront, but not very close to the action. I got some good photos though. I may head down there again today if I have time. But I have a lot to get done today first, I'm leaving for Tobermory in the morning. Oh...and speaking of Red Wings (*huge smile).

Fish n' Chips

I started working at this take out restaurant when I was sixteen. I finally quit there about 6 months ago simply because I had been there way longer than I ever imagined. I left on very good terms and my old boss still calls me about once a month when she needs extra help or someone calls in sick.


I've been pretty much unemployed for month now so I welcome the work when she calls. I like everything about the job except the customer service part of it...which is a fairly big part. But its a small place and I work alone during the day, it's almost perfect. Yesterday she called me to fill in for a day, so knowing I wouldn't have much time to shoot a photo otherwise, I brought my camera with me and shot a few during my downtime.

More From the Backyard

Just a couple bird shots for today. I promise I'll get some photos from off the property soon. Hopefully today, but its raining pretty good right now so no guarantees. Above is a Robin rockin' out in the bird bath and below is a Sparrow workin' on a sunflower seed.


I also wanted to add that on Sunday I'm leaving for a week so I won't be adding a photo everyday, but I WILL be shooting them. Probably way too many. So there will be a pause in posting, but when I get back I'll make one big post with at least one photo from each day of the trip, fair?

Quiet Night

A simple, calm photo that I intended to be much better. But the moon is a strange mistress when it comes to photography.

Tuesday's Kart Photo

Since we race Monday nights and my dad and I are the volunteer photographers for the club, most Tuesday posts will be some action shots from the night before. Not much to report from the track. We had a rather uneventful night. But that's not a bad thing, the kart came home in one piece. Here's a shot from the senior class' race. Number 68 is my dad in his kart, which I also race in the regular class. Again, if you want to see the full gallery from all the races check out www.fog.calebest.com. I'll have last nights photos up today or tomorrow. You can also check out the main page for the club, which Carl (pictured above, #88) maintains.

Skatepark

Just a simple photo for today. I'm not sure if I even like it yet, kind of a sloppy job in Photoshop. But at least it a photo from somewhere other than my room or backyard. Getting tomorrow's photo may be difficult, it looks like non-stop rain all day and we're supposed to race some go-karts tonight.

Baby Jays

The Blue Jays in the yard have been teaching their young to fly, and attacking anything that comes near them, including photographers. All the cats that usually lounge around our yard have been laying low, under the cover of porches and bushes. The above photo is one of the 3 babies in the driveway (the other two were content in the safety of our recycle bin). Below is a couple elder Blue Jay's in the watchtower.

The days of Film

Just in the last few months my collection of old film cameras has grown quite a bit. Friends and relatives have been giving me the old film cameras they've had laying around for years. The Minolta was my first camera my Dad and I bought together about 10 years ago. I still use it once in a while when I want to take full advantage of my fisheye. I'm about halfway through a roll of film in the Mamiya. Its just a test roll to see if everything works. I'll probably never use most of these but at the very least they make for some interesting decoration. I've only been shooting digital for a year and a half but everytime I shoot film now I look at the back of the camera after each shot to see the picture and think, "Oh yeah...film."

Lung Diary 2

Last night I went over to Steve's apartment for Lung Diary's band practice/recording session/watching Pittsburgh beat Detroit. I'll be shooting a lot of photos for these guys in the coming months (hopefully years). They're all good friends of mine. I probably have more photos of friends bands then I do of anything else.

Another photo from my bedroffice. This is my collection of ticket stubs from the concerts I've been to over the years. Click the photos for a larger view.
I used to go to shows quite regularly but the last few years I've slowed down. And now that I need a passport to cross the border into Detroit I won't be going to anymore soon. At least not until I get a passport, which I'm in no hurry to do.

Headquarters

Kind of a lazy post for today. I've been a little busy so I thought I'd just post a photo of my office/bedroom. This where I spend too many hours burning up my retinas in Photoshop and online poker.

Dirty

A couple shots from the race track last night. An action shot and a photo of what my dark blue coveralls look like after a night of dirt racing.

My Education

After finishing the Journalism program at St. Clair College I didn't feel like I learned anything about photography. So over the years I've taught myself through trial and error, along with some help from various photography books I've picked up.