Bug Photos...

Okay apparently there are a lot of insects at the cottage these days and so I have an entire section of photos just focused on them crawly creatures...enjoy?

My favorite bug has gotta be the dragonfly - I'm an aviation buff and they are the equivalent of the A-10 Attack plane...they come in low and eat up mosquitos!

Best time to shoot dragonflies is just after they've left their aquatic bodies - nymphs...
...they spend a bit of time drying out their wings.
They climb onto fingers are very willing to be placed in different settings or in this case plants.

I think this is a wolf spider but I'm not sure...I love their beady eyes - I got a pile of shots of them but again missing my big lens - next time!

The elusive dock spider - again they probably have a more official name but that's how I know them. Chelsea and I found this one on our dock and it was about the size of my palm...big mother!!!

One of the nights at Star resulted in a number of disoriented moths perched on our cabin front. This shot is a temporarily capture Luna moth being held by my darling daughter Chels!
I should note my sister Kiki made the discovery of these Lunesta wonders...

Another mysterious Manitoba moth - to be identified.

An inch-worm makes a daring ascent up a rain-drenched stalk.

Latest Outdoors Pictures

Here's the latest in photography attempts by yours truly on one of my family's escapes to Star Lake:

An experiment with motion via swings & a unique exposure - thanx to the aerobatics of Chelsea!

A classic Star Lake sunset...there will be more!

A mother & fawn - I'm still kicking myself I didn't bring my telephoto lens for a second weekend in a row!
Playing with light, exposure & motion...a little experimental.
Some mushrooms lit up by a flash & a setting sun...shot at ground level obviously.
The rain fills the stream that runs along the border of our property and of course is game for exploring photography.
Our transportation to the cottage is ironically via the Ford Escape we've had for the past few years. For more photos & brief write-ups check out musings.

Star Lake Weekend

Here are some experimental shots from last weekend - hopefully I'll have some more time to do some more this weekend. The shot below is of some "lady slippers"? at sunset just after we arrived at Star Lake. I lit up the flowers with my flash from the front and of course the sunset lit up the subject from behind somewhat.One of our "projects" was to remove a few dead or dying trees and set up a play structure for the kids. This an experiment in motion utilizing Aimee as my reference...turned out kind of surreal!
We have a bizarre pine tree seedling that thinks it is a flower or something? I took a shot of it from directly above and I think I used a flash on it.
Playing with light in the underbrush near the edge of our property - utilized natural lighting & shadows provided by the sun & the presence of some tall trees nearby.
Added a little motion to the shot and I bumped up the saturation somewhat...kinda artsy but fun.

More Recent Shots...

Last weekend was a great time to getaway from it all! I spent some time working on my new mtn bike trail near our cottage at Star Lake. I completed the loop on Saturday and rode it about 3X on Sunday. Interestingly, I came across my share of nature including this porcupine:

Unfortunately, the porcupine (the white spikey thing) wandered off rather quickly and I only was able to fire off a few shots before he escaped down a cliff. Maybe next time I'll get a shot of more than his prickly butt!

Some unidentified flower that grows along my newly constructed hiking/biking trail!

Me & my bike (posed and shot by timer on a nearby boulder)

My girlz relaxing on the deck - Wendy took this pic at home while I was away on tour.

While I was away out west - my lovely daughter ended up breaking her arm - thankfully it has healed quickly!

We have an interesting visitor at the cottage - a silver fox who is becoming a bit too friendly! These shots were taken Sunday morning at around 8 am.

Note the sneaky eyes of swiper the fox!

explore play via digital slr

Exploring Some Recent Pictures

A recent March Snowstorm left the family cottage under some serious snow!

Aimee loves her Papa (Grandpa)

I came home to Chelsea's Birthday greeting to me on March 9th!

A Nuthatch resting on a snowladen branch at Star Lake

Daddy (yours truly) & Chelsea after an epic snowmobile tour to Falcon Lake!

Our Quinzhee that remains relatively unmelted in our backyard!

Aimee exploring her snowprints on our back deck.

Animals - as our daughter Aimee gets excited about at the cottage!

I tried to capture the backlighting of the sun on this lonely perched squirrel

I managed to capture the unique coloring of this yet unidentified golden bird. Any aspiring ornithologists want to take a guess at what this bird is?

Bocce on the Labour Day Weekend

Who would have thought I would enjoy such a simple game as bocce. You don't know what bocce is? Check out this link - bocce rules. We made our annual escape to the cottage on a very fine weekend - complete with 30 Degree C. weather on Sunday, some canoeing, gaming, reading, relaxing, playing with our kids, and of course eating! I have to say though I really enjoyed our Friesen bocce tournament - no we aren't italian although my love of their food would perhaps say different! Maybe it was the terrain in which we played the game or perhaps the fact that my team (consisting of me and my brother Blaine versus Dad and my brother Kyle) won 2 of the 3 matches. Hmmm - we'll see how I'll explore play at work this week. That's right college is back in action and I have a lovely week of orienting students in registering their courses for the year tomorrow!

Over and out...