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Saturday, February 21, 2004

Today turned out to be a terrific day. I started out by driving over to Burnaby Lake and visiting with the animals. (Those of you who visit my journal frequently already know how much I love the Canada geese). I brought the big medium format camera (Mamiya C300 Pro) with me, because I wanted to use up the last few shots on a roll of film I had in it. I planned on continuing on to downtown Vancouver right after to have coffee with my photojournalist friend J.

So I shot the last few photos on the Mamiya, then I used the EOS 10D to shoot some more of my favorite geese, which were all around me. I was crouched down low as to not frighten them (this position seems to make them feel comfortable around me, and they get close).







It was nice and warm in the sun this morning, so a few of the geese were taking naps:



These two got into a bit of an argument:



Here I am, watching them:



Here are some geese just coming in for a landing:









Someone off in the distance had some goose food, and so they all got up to go for lunch:







So I left Burnaby Lake and headed into Vancouver. Traffic was completely mental and I almost got into a few accidents, but that's pretty much par for the course when driving in Vancouver now. We have the worst drivers in the entire country, but I won't get into that here; it's an whole other story.

There wasn't too much happening down town, so I didn't really do as much photography as I did wandering around. Near the end of the day, I decided to head over to the beach and get some shots as the sun went down. I went to Kits Beach in the Kitsilano district of Vancouver. I don't go there very often but today I went there quite honestly by mistake. Yes, I got stuck driving in the turn lane and had to go over the bridge, so since I was there anyway, I decided to park at the beach.

The sunset was nice, but it was getting pretty cold. I shot some photos with the medium format camera (which I fumbled with--cold hands and all) and I shot a few more with the EOS 10D (which I also fumbled with. It's hard to use a camera when you can't feel your fingers).

Here's some of those shots:



























Ah! It's a sunny day today! I checked the forecast and it looks like it's going to be nice weather through the weekend. That makes me very happy.

I got up early today (about 6:30am) because I went to bed early last night--well, not 'to bed' specifically, I actually fell asleep on the living room floor with some pillows in front of the TV. I don't know how I'm able to comfortably sleep on the floor like that, but it's something I've always been able to do. It's funny, because the cat's always like it when I fall asleep in the floor. They usually come and sleep with me.--So I've been watching a little TV, checking email and surfing the net a little. I think I'll take a drive and see if there are any yardsales out there this morning.

Thursday, February 19, 2004

Sometimes I like to shoot abstract photos. I don't do it very often, but for me it's kind of like meditation. The normal set of tools my physical self uses to perceive an image are replaced by an alternative, subconscious metaphorical set. The resulting perception, which is always different every time I look, is spiritually soothing and momentarily relieves me of this reality.







Monday, February 16, 2004

Wow, the weekend seemed really short. It's been really rainy weather, so I didn't get out much.

Today I took some photos of things I'm going to be auctioning on Ebay. I got one item listed, but I still have two more things to put on there.

I'm selling one of my film cameras. I have mixed emotions about it. It's my always faithful Canon EOS 630. I really love that camera, but I haven't really used it that much at all since I purchased the EOS 10D last summer. I thought I'd be using them both, but I'm finding I use the G2 a lot more than the EOS 630 as well. For casual use, it's more sensible.



I think one of the main reasons I'm getting rid of it, is because I really need a new printer. I Canon has a nice one that's on sale right now for about $200.00 and Epson has a similar one. I don't really have the extra cash right now, so I have to juggle some equipment around in order to get the stuff I need.

So yeah, the Canon EOS 630 will probably be listed tomorrow after work.

It's funny because I was in the house all day and most of this evening, but I knew I had to go to Safeway to get some food stuff for work tomorrow. I was putting it off all afternoon. Finally I went there at 10:30 PM. Perhaps it's just me, maybe I was being cranky, but tonight I was noticing the high prices of food and it really got me pissed off. It's as if I had some kind of epiphany or something--I mean, it's not like I haven't shopped there before and spent unreasonable prices on food--but tonight it struck me hard, and I was rather shocked my the ridiculousness of it all. There I was, about to buy a carton of eggs and I noticed the price; $4.69 for 12 large organic eggs. Now, should we really be paying $4.69 for a carton of eggs? It pissed me off and made me wish the person who decided they should be priced so high, was standing there beside me. I'd really like to know how anyone could believe that is fair price for eggs.

I thought that organic eggs came from chickens that are free range. Shouldn't they cost less? It bugs me that we (those of us who choose to eat healthy, wholesome food) have to pay more for it. When did this happen? Why?

Well, before I end up writing a novel on the subject, I should really get to bed. I gotta get up at 5:30 AM. I should have been in bed a few hours ago. Got the 'Sunday night blues' again.

Gnite