A photo studio in the house

I had been thinking for a while now about turning the huge empty master bedroom in my house into a photo studio of some type. It was time I added another dimension into my photography realm that is so far removed from my regular sports and nature shots.

So guess what I finally did it. It might not be a professional (as I am not a pro photographer) setup but WTH it is functional.

I had the pleasure of taking some pics of my friend Ashley last sunday as my first run through to see how things would work out with the new setup. She was an absolute sweetheart as worked together to figure out lighting, etc for different possible shots.

She was very pleased with how things went and the in the final outcome.







The rest of the pictures can be found here http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157609963636675/


I still have a lit bit of tweaking to make to my setup but I am very happy so far!

Elora Gorge at 40cms

I went and paddled the Elora Gorge last last saturday with friends.

It was a whopping 40 cms which is way more the the maybe 10 cms I have paddled it in the past.

The river looked so totally different. It was fast moving and huge waves / holes.

It was a wet dreary freezing cold day. I actually had to wear my gloves and that says alot.

We only had one major swimmer during the day. We had a kayaker out of their boiat above the chutes. I ended up having to run the right hand line down the chute to try and catch up to the boat. I punched the first two holes fine and ended up getting pushed over by the last one and swimming with my boat to shore. I ended up banging my knee (which end up being pretty swollen that night) on a rock during my swim.

We did get the kayak back so that was a good thing.

The scenery on the river was amazing when we came up to this huge waterfall coming off the side of the gorge wall. I wish I had my regular camera with me but the weather was to crappy to take pictures anyway.

Everyone made it to the take out safe and sound.

I am glad I made the trip as it gave me and idea of what the Gorge was like in high water but without the ice and snow. I have determined that my cutoff point for running the Gorge will be around 50 cms.

Until next time be safe out there.

Trip to the city of Ottawa to paddle the Pumphouse and potluck dinner

I spent last weekend doing a roadtrip to the city of Ottawa with my friend Mark.

My goals were to paddle the Pumphouse slalom course and attend the CDB paddling club annual meeting and potluck dinner. Mark was along for the ride to go visit his brother.

We left Mark's place just after 6am on saturday morning and made it to Ottawa just after 12:30ish. This was a pretty good time as we only made three stops, Tims in Bancroft, Foymount for shopping, and the Antrim truck stop for brunch. We managed to briefly run into my dad and step-mom as they just finished having breakfast there. It was a what the hell are you doing here moment as it was totally random and unplanned.

I dropped Mark off at some intersection and headed over to the Pumphouse for some paddling fun. I had never been there before and was really impressed with the facility. It is a great slalom course in the downtown area of Ottawa. Some of the members of the Canadian Olympic Team were there training. I also ran into some of the Junior teamt that I know. I met up with Christian, Paul, and Stephen. We managed to get a couple hour of paddling in and then we headed over to a local pub for a drink before parting ways.

I headed over to MEC before going to Julia's house for the party. The meeting was great and so was the dinner. Here are some pictures from that night http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157608985076314/

I ended up getting voted in as Member at Large which is someone who promotes the club while out and about. The CDB website is http://www.cdb-ottawa.com/

Kelly from the club presented me with a plaqued version of a picture of me running ST-Chute on the Ottawa River. He said is was their way of giving something back to me for sharing all the pictures I take of others.

This is the original picture:

After the party I headed over to Marks brothers place before making the uneventful trip home on sunday.

Lower Madawaska and a trip to the Wilno Tavern

We met up at the at the Paddler Coop at 11:30. We decdied to run the Lower Madawaska since there was no water on the Middle Mad at MKC. It was running at about 30 cms.

What more could you ask for ... the sun was shinning, the air temperature was cool, and your out paddling with your friends in November.

We only had two swimmers during the day and beers at the takeout before heading off to the cabins to offload our gear and more beers.

Link to pictures http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157608594838922/

So what could make the day any better but a trip to the Wilno Tavern for a late dinner and Blaine was the only Wilno virgin in the group.

Ryan had a brain lapse in judgement and offered to be the DD for the night so we piled into the kid mobile and headed off. The place was busy and we had to wait at the bar for a bit before getting a table. The drinks were definitely free flowing.

Dinner was going great and then it happened ... we met "Mike from Wilno" ... he was definitely a unique character. Ryan was the first to bail from the table to avoid the drunken conversations to stand at the bar and I wasn't too far behind him.

And that is when we met some more of the locals Syliva and Tommy. Sylvia was a throwback to the 60's and was figuring out everyones astrological signs. Tommy was a lumberjack in his little world. We were warned by the the bartender not to armwrestle Tommy as he has put more people in the hospital that way.

The night was kind of blurry for me as Ryan and Greg made sure the drinks were flowing. I lost count after two coolers, one sling, and three vodka shots. I am pretty sure Greg was in the same state of me. I do remember that the discussions were definitely lively.

Soon the night came to an end as we were the lasts one leave Wilno on a saturday night.

Has anyone else met any of the interesting characters at the Wilno?