Goodbye Pittsburgh, Hello Texas

Well it has been a wild year and I sure have been terribly poor at updating the blog.  I sometimes wonder if it is worth it.  I noticed several images are broken in flickr and I do not have any meaningful comments only spam. but hey some news is better than no news.  We moved to Texas in June and our last week there I spent an evening with a great friend at work who loves photography too.  So here is my favorite shot of the night.  I took two exposures with the 24mm Tilt-Shft lens to make a 40 megapixel photo of downtown Pittsburgh.  So long Pittsburgh, it was great to spend 2 years growing a family in the area. 

Another friend with a business

I'm so busy being a dad and working as a crazy completions engineer. So I have little time for photography.  So I figured breaking the 3 month lull on the blog with a promoting a great local business in PA.  A good friend of mine, Cory Webb has started to publicly promote his art business.  Cory has done several large feature paintings that put my photo canvases in a competition for wall space.  He is a really great artist with amazing creativity.  He will look at your empty wall, look at your surrounding furniture and come up with a painting that complements the color palette of the room.  Go check him out!

Here is a piece that Cory did that we just love in our living room.  Ends - 16"x30", Middle 30"x40" Oil on canvas

Elbow Valley Revisited

I just love the Elbow River Valley.  It was the first place where I caught my photographic bug in 2009.   It is here where you can get up close with the Eastern Slopes of the Rocky Mountains that can been seen to the west of Calgary. I woke up at 4:30 am to get out for the 5:47 am sunrise that magically came down the valley and lit up the peaks. Used the Canon TS-E 24mm L II lens, tilted to get best apparent DOF.  

I do wish I had a z-pro filter holder to use a polarizer, but I guess I will have to wait until the fall when Cokin gets back into business.

Road to Mt. Kidd

I was recently back to Calgary with my wife and with new addition to my family Olivia. I tried my first tilt shift panorama with the Canon TS-E 24mm L II lens. This technique was inspired by Darwin Wiggett, who has taught me some amazing landscape photography techniques. I adjusted the tilt of the lens to get the most DOF and then took two exposures shifted up and down. Merged together in Adobe Photoshop Photomerge.

AJ Design and Decor

A good friend of mine, Amy Memory has started an interior design company in Cranberry Twp, PA.  She has some great talent with her business and she did a great job designing a Classic Winnie the Pooh theme for my daughter Olivia.  Amy also asked me to take photos of some of her designs.  She is a great resource and knows her stuff.

Her company AJ Design and Decor has a website located and you can "Like" her work at her Facebook site.

Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Plant facing the storm

With the Japan Nuclear disaster leaving the news, but will forever linger in the people in Japan, I thought it would be interesting to see where the nuclear reactors are near my house. I am definately not a proponent of nuclear power, but it is quite awe-inspiring to see the massive cooling towers spewing steam into the atmosphere. I took is with my new Canon 24-70mm 2.8L and my Canon 5D Mark II.

it's time for an update!

So three people that I care about bugged me today on why my blog has not been updated for ages. Well sorry about that! Lots of new stuff going on in my life.

So let start off with the first: New Place!
We no longer live in Mars, but in Cranberry Township. The new house is quite the change, but the community is pretty much the same! NOTE: I took the picture down as it was too close to home to the internet.  If you want to see it you will have to visit!

Ok, on to the next thing: iPad 2
Yes I stood in line at the Ross Park Mall in Pittsburgh for 2 hours to get a 64GB Black 3G model. I gotta say it is awesome. I feel sorry for the Macbook Pro that has been sitting on the coffee table begging for attention! 

Next up: APEGGA Art Show participant!
I decided to enter 2 of my favourite photos to the Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists and Geophysicists of Alberta Annual Art show as part of their Annual General Meeting. I call upon my friend Costas Costoulas of Resolve Photographic Services created some wonderful canvas prints. He is my go-to guy for all my printing. So good that even in the USA, I trust Costas with giving me the best product!

Here is the Art Show setup that Costas did for me!

Well that is enough for today. Thanks for bugging me Mike, Bec and Dad!

Death-cicles

I have been busy, but here is another one.

I cannot believe the icicles that have formed in Pennslyvania. It seems like after a snow fall, al the heat in the buildings escapes out through the uninsulated attics and melts the snow. I could not believe hearing dripping water on a freezing night while walking the dog. Some of the icicles are 7 feet long hanging from the 2nd story eves-throughs. Well I could not resist the urge to take some pictures.