Another One Bites The Dust

A year ago I was in an entirely different place than I am now. I was hurt, angry and more than a little afraid. All that is past and my life has changed more than I would have believed back then. I've become a fairly good amateur photographer over the course of a couple of thousand pictures.

It’s taken four years but I am finally getting the hang of my little camera. I have gone from taking the occasional shot of the cats to going out in a field before sunrise to take pictures of same. There was still too much snow on the ground to go riding but I did take a drive out to Chestermere Lake with Maureen. We both took our cameras and went walkabout. As I hoped, her new camera has given us something we can do together.

I have found that the world is full of surprises and some of them you can catch with your camera.

When I look back at the photos I took over the course of 2009 I can see the slow but steady improvement. I am still using the AUTO function as it seems to do the job. What I take pictures of however has changed. I seem to have developed a greater appreciation of what makes a good picture. Armed with Maureen's tripod, I have even gone to the moon.

I have finally gotten over the idea that I’ll use up all my film if I take too many shots. Even at its highest resolution, the camera can take 129 shots—this morning I managed 121 before I got too cold. I had to change out the batteries once but that’s a 10 second operation.

I can’t begin to describe how much this little camera (Fuji FinePix A345) has changed my entire view of photography not to mention life. I find myself looking at the world differently now than I did a year ago—it truly is a beautiful planet. I look forward to going out and taking pictures now just for the sake of taking them. Some turn out great, some don’t. I no longer care—I just keep shooting.

Sharing my pictures online has been a good experience as well. Okay, I started the Flickr page (and this Blog) in an attempt to show someone I was ‘mostly harmless’ and no threat to her. It didn’t work—she still wants nothing to do with me. This no longer matters as the experience has been worthwhile on quite a different level. I have received positive feedback on several of my photos from people who do this for a living. Something about my picture grabbed their attention and they liked it. So I go out and take more.

I even managed one last ride on November 24--fantastic! It was brisk (no more than +3 that morning) but beautiful. I went out to my bridge one last time, a full six months after my journey began.

As always, I found new and interesting things to photograph. It's almost as if I'm starting to see the world as a series of photos just waiting for me to capture them.

The coming year is starting off better than its predecessor but will no doubt contain just as many twists and turns. One thing for sure though—I’ll be there to capture as much of it as I can with my camera. Only 82 more days until spring and my bridge is waiting--I'll be back.

Could this be the last ride?

City on the horizon
Originally uploaded by Unknown species

As unbelievable as our weather has been it still came as a pleasant surprise to be out there riding on the twenty-fourth of November. When will the 2009 season be over? I have no idea. All things considered I wouldn't rule out a December ride just yet. I can always dress for the cold just so long as there's no wind. Let's hear it for global warming! If it results in milder and shorter winters, then let's get out there and burn that fossil fuel.

Of things hyped all out of proportion the so-called climate crisis is right up there with H1N1. Are you afraid yet? Watch any of the twenty-four hour news channels. You'd think people were dropping dead of the flu right and left and the bodies were stacking up in the streets the way they go on. Frankly I think you have a better chance of dying from old age while waiting in line for your shot. I seem to remember some other acronym everyone was in a panic over a few years ago--Y2K--talk about a complete nonevent. So far the drunk drivers of the world are still way out front in terms of killing people and we're just coming into their favorite season.

As for the climate change, get used to it. Adapt or die. Yes, the climate has already changed and continues to do so. Yes, it is without a doubt the direct result of manmade emissions. Is there anything we can do about it? Uh, no. Plain and simple answer is that we cannot and will not shut down all carbon dioxide emitters. Nor can carbon capture do more than scratch the surface of what's already there. The climate crisis is a crisis of talk only for no one seems willing to admit there's nothing that can be done. So they talk and as they do the carbon diozide content continues to climb, some of it no doubt due to their lengthly and pointless speeches.

It's all academic anyway since the world's going to end in 2012 according to Hollywood. Being a lover of disaster movies I have no doubt this one will wind up in our collection. As to the prediction itself, at least we won't have to wait very long to find out. Of course this means I only have two more seasons left riding. Darn! I shall miss my bridge and the adjacent pathway once the world is gone. I shall miss all the pretty girls and butterflies.

Everything alive has already either gone into hibernation or flown south except for the geese. The lake and all the little ponds are frozen. The temperature out there was a brisk +3 when I started out at 9 AM. It warmed up to maybe +6 by the time I got back to the car at noon. Still, not bad for the end of November.

Winds Of Change

Arrival
Originally uploaded by Unknown species

I ventured out for yet one more ride yesterday and was struck by how much the scenery has changed from the lush green fields I rode through back in April to the barren, silent landscape of November. It was a wonderful summer and has been an incredible fall. I never dreamed I’d still be riding in November yet there I was, down at the bridge one more time. The railway bridge at the end of the pathway has become the symbol of my rides for it represents the turnaround point. I have arrived at my destination—now all I have to do is make it back.

The ride out was easy with the Chinook winds pushing me along. Coming back was another matter entirely. Even on dead level ground it’s tough to push against a forty or fifty kilometer an hour headwind. This is the price we pay for the warmer temperatures—a gusty, wicked wind from the west. According to the weather channel the gusts were in the fifty to sixty kilometer per hour range, almost but not quite enough to push me back to the lake. Needless to say the car was a very welcome sight.

Even with most of the wildlife gone and most of the crops already in, there was still a few things out there to take pictures of. The low angle of the sun this time of year makes for some great reflection shots off the lake or canal. Then there were the geese--just about the only birds left other than the odd seagul and a small flock of swans. The honking is a constant background noise--the only sound in an otherwise silent landscape. Soon they too will be on their way.

All Hallows Ride

Wetlands Conservatory
Originally uploaded by Unknown species

So there it was the day before Halloween and I managed to get in one more ride. Back in August I thought the season was over yet September proved me wrong. I’m not about to declare this the final ride just yet. The forecast for my next day off is looking good so far. As long as there isn’t any snow and the temps are above zero I intend to try. What really struck me this week was how quiet it was by the wetlands conservatory. All the songbirds have long since flown south. Even the insects are gone. There was a skim of ice on what little water remained in the canal. The geese on the other hand numbered in the thousands. The field just off the bike path was a seething mass of black and gray. As always I managed to find things to take pictures of. The sky was all pastels and weird cloud formations in the background made for some interesting photos.

It has been almost exactly a year since I began this blog. Okay, so my motivations for starting it up were a bit flawed, it has still been a worthwhile venture if only for the practice it gives me at writing. As well, it’s a place to show off my best shots from my cycling adventures. Every now and then I take up the soapbox and use this space to rant. All in all it's been one hell of a year yet here I am, still kicking.

There was a definite sparcity of wildlife to be found out there this week. Where late the sweet birds sang there was onlu silence. There were geese by the thousands and even a sizable flock of swans but little else. The only patch of green left is the golf course and even they have taken to covering up the greens with plastic tarps.

A magnificent desolation was how Buzz Aldrin described the lunar surface. It wasn't quite desolation out there but it certainly had a different feel than it did back in August or even September. The temperature barely crept up to ten Celsius and the sky was overcast.

Still, for this late in October I wasn't complaining--the very fact that I could and did get out there was enough. I have fallen in love with cycling all over again this year as well as photography. Thankfully the two seem to have worked rather well together for me.

The so-called Vanishing Point is where parallel lines meet at the horizon. It is also the place where I reside, on the edge of the known in a state of confusion. The world confuses, amazes and most of all astounds me with its beauty yet is only a tiny speck awash in an infinite sea of stars and planets.

Still Riding!

All the colour without the trees
Originally uploaded by Unknown species

Just when I thought the season was over, the weather gods smiled on me. Indian summer, so named because the early British soldiers thought it resembled the weather in India--a wonderful surprise after last week’s blast of winter. The pathways were clear and dry and there was only a trace of mud to be found down by the weir. So off I went for one more ride. No bike shorts this time I'm afraid--thermal longjohns under the blue jeans and three sweatshirts. Still, it was a beutiful day and great to get out one more time.

I started down in Shephard just like I used to back in April. Eighty-fourth street has become too dangerous for a bicycle these days; some of the residents of our little cul-de-sac seem to figure speed limits, rules of the road and even common sense are completely optional. The other day one of them passed me while I was turning left. That’s right, he cut inside me and turned in front of me in order to gain thirty seconds, thirty seconds he then wasted at the next light. As the saying goes: the hurrier they go the behinder they get.

Everywhere they go, everything they do, they're always in a hurry. It would be amusing if it weren't for the fact that they put others at risk with their antics. If only they could slow down and appreciate the view all around them. That's what I love about the bike paths--no one's in a hurry and if the odd cyclist passes me they usually say hello as opposed to giving me the finger as they speed by.

There wasn't a whole lot in the way of wildlife out and about this week although I did manage to startle a muskrat almost as much as he did me. At first I thought it might be a beaver but he's much too small and the tail too skinny. The shot was supposed to be of the muskrat but I love the way the reflections make everything look upside down.

As always this time of year, there were thousands of geese on the lake though not very many in the air. The water level in the lake was very low and the geese were strutting about on the exposed mud flats. The noise was a bit like being stuck in rush hour traffic--a constant unending honking. I caught the sound of swans as well and was lucky enough to photograph them, albeit from a considerable distance.

There are days when I pine for a telephoto lens but it would be impractical to carry while cycling so that's life I suppose. Between dumb luck at being in the right place at the right time, the inherent abilities of my little camera and the imaging software I am only now learning how to use the pictures continue to improve. Some of the feedback I've been getting has been very encouraging.

Pictures of the old truck on the MacKenzie Century Farm have garnered quite a bit of attention, so much so that I felt compelled to go back and snap a bunch more. Sadly, they're not quite as impressive without the green grass.

Never-the-less I have plenty to play around with. It amazes me what the software can do with a bit of tinkering. Old trucks and sepia tone seem to go together--I'm not sure which I like best in this case though.

Either one could serve as a greeting card:

Autumn Flight

There was simply too much crystalline dihydrogen oxide laying about for me to go riding this week. So I drove out to the lake and went walkabout instead. As always, I managed to find a few things to take pictures of. This has been the year of the hawks for me and this day was no exception. I particularly like the way the trees frame this shot and focus your attention on the bird.

As well as the hawk there were geese by the thousands. As I was walking beside the canal they flew over me. The noise was incredible: wave after wave of them coming in for a landing on the lake.

By the time I returned, the lake was covered in geese. If the snow on the ground wasn't enough of a clue for you, the gathering flocks spell it out. Winter is coming!

Take heart though. There's only 156 more days until spring...

October Skies

I did it! I managed one more ride and in October no less. It was a bit chilly but after about ten kilometers or so it wasn't so bad. Hard to believe the weather is still this nice--harder still to believe I actually felt up to the ride a mere five days after they yanked the last of my teeth out. I am now officially old since I already have bifocals and cannot stand today's music. The new teeth not only look better but actually hurt less than the factory issue ones did.

I didn't bother to make my usual stop at Tim Horton's on the way back this time--teeth aren't quite up to one of their sandwiches yet let alone a donut. Next time, if there is a next time this season. The wonderful thing about the weather here is you never know. This is also the terrible thing about the weather here. You pay your dime, you take your chances. Here's hoping we have one of those mild winters Calgary is famous for.

I was hoping to get more pictures of the trees in all their splendor. No chance. The prairies winds had done their job and those leaves were halfway to Saskatchewan. Skeletal trees dotted the landscape where only last week all the colours of the spectrum blazed. Even the canal had all but dried up.

It wasn't exactly cold but there was a definite bite to the air that declared summer a distant memory and winter a foreboding vision. The endless cycle of life continues and one season follows the other. Still, I have my favourites and winter is no longer one of them.

Autumn on the other hand, does have its merits so long as the snow doesn't cover everything up. There was a time in my life when winter meant skiing but those days are long gone. Now it's just that cold miserable season when everything hurts. Only 171 more days until spring...

Not Quite Over

I have the best boss in the world. When I pointed out to him that the weather on Wednesday (September 23) was going to be far too nice to waste on work, he agreed and gave me the day off to go riding. So off I went for one more visit to my favourite bridge. A fifty-five kilometer round trip on an absolutely gorgeous fall day. Who could ask for anything more?

Though it was warm and the skies cloudless, the crunching of the leaves under my tires left no doubt summer was over. The evidence was all around me. Still, the beauty of the lake drew me on and the open path beckoned--just one more time before the snow flies again in the Great White North.

There wasn't much in the way of wildlife this time, just a few geese and one napping squirrel. The trees on the other hand more than made up for it with explosions of colour all around. The ones right along the canal were the best with their reflections in the still water.

I have grown as a cyclist this summer, working up from just a few laps around the park back in April to my final marathon rides. I have also grown as an amateur photographer. I have taken hundreds of pictures this summer and some are what I call keepers. The hawk pictures blew my mind as did the fireworks. I had no idea this little camera was capable of such things. Now, after four years I am finally beginning to learn how to use it and what makes a photograph work.

I began this blog as an attempt to rekindle an old friendship. That didn't work out but the blog itself has persisted and developed a life of its own as has my Flikr page. My bike rides and subsequent photographs are reason enough for both to continue. The old friend and I are probably both better off without each other anyway. The journey isn't over yet by any means and as I go further with each ride, I take better photographs. Perhaps in time I will improve my writing as well.