Bee Macro Goodness

Man, have I been inactive on here? Well, here's some new photos I shot last week. I'm honestly not much of a bee person, so when I was invited to shoot them I was definitely not expecting to see such a huge diversity of bees from here in Saskatchewan. Still, you learn something new every day! Enjoy!

NWT Trip - Photo Phriday!

I finally had a chance to sit down and edit all my photos I took in Yellowknife and on the way up, rather then just editing one or two at a time. This means a busy Photo Phriday as rather then prolong the photos you're getting a huge dump of them all at once! By rather amusing coincidence the majority of these photos are all of the same thing: water, whiskey jacks and bridges!













All of the above photos were taken on the same day when my wife, mother, father and I went for a walk out to Cameron River Falls, a water fall some 45 km outside of Yellowknife. It's one of my favourite places to photograph because it doesn't take much to get out too but it's far enough off the beaten path that there's NEVER a lot of people out there. Anyweather, the walk out was fun and when we got to the falls we stopped for a little bit and to just enjoy their majesty (or something). We pulled out some snacks that mother had packed up for us and started to eat when we noticed some birds (whiskey jacks/grey jays specifically) eyeing our food. We threw a couple morsels their way and - surprise surprise - they hopped down to eat it.

Well Julia and I decided to get a bit closer to the falls (as you can literally get to within a few feet of them safely) so we go a wandering, whilst my parents keep occupied with the birds. A few unsuccessful photos and a better look at the falls later and we came back to find a couple people (STRANGERS!!!!) visiting with our parents and the birds literally eating out of their hands. Not to miss the opportunity, the above photos were the end result!











These photos are all of the bridge crossing the Mackenzie River, the main only ground artery into Yellowknife. They were actually taken by request of a friend but I thought I'd post them here before I sent them off.

The bridge isn't actually finished yet but is, as you can see, getting fairly close to it. As such the ferry ride we took to get across the river will likely be ending soon. So I can proudly proclaim myself to be one of the final... 10 - 30,000 people to use the crossing. If the bridge finishes within the next year or two anyweather.





Alexandra Falls, just outside of Enterprise, NT - a small community about 2 hours from the border. No real story to go with these photos, the falls were just something I wanted to see and photograph, so on our way back home we did. Yay? Yeah!

Well that's it for this Photo Phriday, next week we'll get something completely different up and posted. Cheers!

Photo Phriday!

Still brilliantly behind on editing leisure photos. Forgive me? Yeah, I wouldn't either. Well, at least I got this Photo Phriday up!

Saskatchewan Week - Day Five

If you ever decide to visit any of the major parks of Saskatchewan, you'll likely happen across a couple of these fellas. Particularly in the cities, they have a great deal worked out with their human counterparts: You feed them, keep your distance and never approach their young and they'll tolerate your presence to within a few feet. I'm not convinced humans are getting the better end of this deal (which is part of the reason why you shouldn't feed them. The other reason you shouldn't feed them is because YOU SHOULDN'T FEED THEM) but it does allow for some very nice photos now and again.

Banff Week (II) - Photo Phriday!

In these past two weeks of Banff photos we've seen plenty of mountains, forests and rivers. Like that famous Arrogant Worms song goes, we've got lots of rocks and trees and rocks and trees and rocks and water! And my photos are here to prove it (at least for Banff)! But do you know what I haven't shown you of Banff and area so far? Well, in case you haven't looked at the photo you had to scroll by to read this, I'll tell you: Strutting Ravens!

Yeah, who'd've thunk it?

Most birds you'll encounter are, justifiably, wary of humans. We have a bad tendency to hurt and kill things that aren't ourselves. And even then... *shakes head at humanity in general*

ANYWEATHER!

Not ravens though and certainly not this one. I did take a few more bird photos while in Banff but, for the most part, I was very careful to take whatever opportunity I had with the lens I had on at the time (usually my wide angle lens) to get a few really bad shots of the fauna. This was because if I made any sudden, questionable moves or sounds (ie reaching into my backpack, making weird noises switching lenses) most wildlife would flee like I was the hunter in Bambi. But, no not this bird. He just watched me, five to ten feet away as I would take two or three minutes to switch my lens, point the camera in his direction and shoot many many photos (of which only two aren't crap). The conclusion to draw from this? Ravens are either extremely dumb or just really enjoy looking down on us. Personally, given that strut, I'm guessing the latter.

Photo Excursion Week (I) - Day One!

A few times a year (more if I can help it!) Corey Sawchyn and I go out on random photo-taking excursions throughout Saskatchewan. They're pure and simple fun as while we may occasionally have a general destination in mind we never have the specifics planned. Ergo, every so often and whenever these excursions happen, I'll be setting aside a week to post some of these photos. And guess what?! This is the first week of these new photos! That means, in a way, every day is Photo Phriday!!! Win!

Fauna Week - Day Six

To date, this is probably my favourite Fauna photograph. Well, bird Fauna photograph anyweather.

Fauna Week - Day Five

Awwwwww! The baby geeses! They is so cute! I can has good english now?

Fauna Week - Day Four

Fauna Week - Day Three

Fauna Week - Day Two

Fauna Week - Day One

I bet, after Flora Week, you never would've suspected Fauna week was to follow!