100 Photos!
I couldn't wait to post this photo to hit my 100 mark. I rather like how these fireworks all line up in a column. Unfortunately the smoke is a little annoying. I did what I could in photoshop to make the smoke less noticeable.
There are 3 more fireworks photos coming. There's a couple that turned out really well I think. So keep your eyes peeled over the next few days!
Fireworks shot number two. This one isn't perfect, but I had to upload it because of all the different colours involved. The smoke and some of the shaky lines are kind of distracting, but I just love the variety of the spectrum displayed here.
I got several photos of the fireworks over Canada Day. At first, I was disappointed with my results. I was worried that there was too much smoke in almost all the photos. Well, it turns out I got quite a few photos once I did some selective cropping. This was one of the first photos I took of the fireworks -- and notice that in this one there is no smoke in the sky. It was early enough in that I didn't have to contend with the smoke.
This is the first of 6 photos I'll be uploading over the next week. I hope you enjoy!
Another shot from my sister's recital. During the intermission, my dad spent some time explaining how the harp works. I'm rather happy with this photo!
I'm still catching up and trying to get photos up to hit 100 photos in my photostream in the middle of my fireworks highlights. Here's a photo I took before my sister's Harp recital at Highlands United Church a few weeks ago. She was raising money for her trip to Ireland which she is about to embark on this coming week!
My mom has two of these flowers growing in a pot in her backyard. I rather like how this turned out - the flower is rather spectacular :)
Also, Happy Canada Day everybody!
This is a water feature my parents put in their backyard a year ago. My mom worked for a landscaper for awhile so she was able to get his help and advice in building a private water feature. I think it turned out pretty well!
The water is split at the top into two streams. The left is a high volume stream that is supposed to signify the male side. The right half is a much quieter, low volume stream that is supposed to signify the female side. I'm not sure if I agree, but the fountain is quite pretty.
This was from that tree tour I've uploaded a few photos from already. This yellow flower is on a Caragana tree on the University of Alberta campus. Pretty huh?
I'm gonna try and go into an uploading spree over the next few days. Hopefully I'll get some good fireworks pictures tomorrow on Canada Day, and I'll aim to have the highlights from that shoot up for my 100th photo in my photostream!
Diane and I went to our friend Erie's place to see her new baby daughter. She was real cute... but the best photo I got that day was of Erie's puppy (I can't remember her name though :\). She is a very cute puppy!
A couple nights ago the sky was something to behold. Once again, I'm a little unhappy with how the photo turned out, though I think that's because the sight is hard to capture well on camera. I think I need a good wide angle lens.
By the way, that was quite a thunderstorm last night! I tried to get my camera out, but I had never taken lightning pictures before and by the time I got the technique down the lightning had pretty much subsided. So I'll have to wait until the next corking good thunderstorm to see if I can get some lightning photos.
I finally got my shipment from the camera store with my new Sinking Barge backpack. It is awesome! I can carry my camera in a nice padded compartment in the bag. It has a laptop slot, and a small amount of room for a book or two or other carry ons. I am very happy with this bag already. I can use it as a day-bag which means I'll have my camera with me more often than before. Maybe that'll mean I'll have more photos to upload to flickr!
On the tree tour I mentioned awhile ago, I took quite a few photos. This one is of a tree next to the Earth and Atmospheric Science building. I rather like the reflection in the building's mirrored glass.
Back to another one of my walk pictures - this one is of the LRT bridge on the south side of the North Saskatchewan River.
As a side note, I'm a big fan of the LRT - I use it almost every day to get to work and home again. I'm glad that they are finally expanding this great service. It is waaaaay better than the bus!
This was the view from my condo balcony after a particularly warm summer day. The thunderclouds were rolling in and made a very nice photo opportunity. I really like the contrast between the extremely dark clouds with the sun bathing the neighbouring condo building in a warm glow.
This is a photo we setup after my convocation ceremony yesterday. My mom took the photo, and I think it turned out pretty decently. The original image was cropped down to this frame, and I much prefer this over the original :)
For those interested, the photo was taken at the water feature in the education courtyard just north of the education building at the University of Alberta.
Diane and I went on a tree tour around the university campus. This is one you might recognize if you're on campus - its right next to the vehicle turnaround by the van vliet centre. It's a rather cool looking tree that I don't really remember noticing before the tour. Funny how you can be on campus so much over the past 6 years that you practically live there, and yet not notice some of the cool things that exist there!
I took this photo while Diane and I took a walk through Louise McKinney Park in downtown Edmonton. It's a park that we had stopped to walk through one evening after an event we were at a year or two ago. At first, I had thought to pop the question in the park, but there was a lot of people around and the mosquitoes were out in force, so we ended up fleeing back to Diane's place. However, not before I got this wonderful photo. I'm extremely happy with how this photo turned out. I hope you like it!
Last night, I asked Diane to marry me! I doubt this will come as a surprise to anyone who knows us. We've been dating for nearly three and a half years, so it was definitely coming.
The ring is a simple white gold band with a tension set emerald. I have many different reasons why I didn't get a diamond - mostly it comes down to the fact that I kinda dislike diamonds. The simple, elegant ring is very much what I wanted to find. Diane doesn't really wear rings, so I wanted to get one that was as unobtrusive as possible so she'd be more inclined to wear it.
She loved it :) I dunno how much she'll wear it on her hand, but I also got her a chain to wear it around her neck if she so desires.
Back to my walk pictures -- here's a photo of a couple of ducks swimming upstream in the North Saskatchewan River. This is one of the only photos in my stream that is cropped - I don't usually crop my photos, but this one was much better with some of the trees and distracting scenery cropped out.
My roommate Mike had a party last Friday where we got together and played some games at his parent's house. This is Casey, their dog. He's so excitable, especially around the pool table when there's a game going on.