The Girl Behind the Camera

Springtime in Paris

2007-04-12T15:50:00.000-07:00

My first picture of Paris - I'll never forget what it felt like to stand on Le Pont Neuf, looking out at the Seine for the first time, with the beautiful city in the background. Just amazing...

La Musee Du Louvre
The sheer size of this building meant that the only way I could get a picture of the entire this was from the top of the Eiffel Tower. I have never been that overwhelmed by a building before - the Louvre is bigger than a city block, and it would probably take a week to see everything inside.

I can't even describe the "bigness" of Notre Dame Cathedral. It literally took my breath away. Even from the top of the Eiffel Tower, you can see it clearly among the hundreds of other buildings. Such a beautiful work of art...

This is the "Hotel de Ville", a very famous Parisian landmark, and the place where many political decisions were made before, during, and after the French Revolution. Just like everything else in the city, the architecture is amazing.

I can't have pictures of Paris without including the Eiffel Tower. I'm pretty sure that there are about 50 pictures of this incredible landmark - after going through and deleting some. Simply put, it's one of the most photogenic things I've even been lucky enough to photograph.

There are several more pictures, which I will probably post at random times, but these few caught me eye today.

My last photograph of Paris. It seemed fitting to capture the sunset over the Seine...

springtime in London

2007-03-03T13:12:00.000-08:00

While people back in Canada are enduring the annual March snowstorms and cold, wet days, London is warm and sunny. (Well at least today was sunny - we seem to be getting bursts of rain at random points during every.)

Another walk in Hyde Park led to more pics of the beauty that lies right in the heart of this busy city.

This is by far my favourite picture taken of a swan since we moved here - the light was perfect and even though it took a few minutes, he posed very nicely for me:

There seemed to be hundreds of birds all over the park - the usual seagulls, swans, geese, ducks, and other small water birds, as well as an unexpected visitor:

Right at the end of the Serpentine, where there are tons of people and birds all around, a grey heron (we thought it was a whooping crane) sat at the very top of a tree. I was pretty excited, since we don't see them around very often - and got an even better surprise when he flew down to the water to get some of the treats that a little kid was throwing to the other birds.

Since herons are such solitary birds, and usually stay out in the middle of the river where it's hard to get decent pics of them, I was really happy to get such good close-ups. It will also be the only time I can expect to get a photograph of a heron eating a french fry...

around London

2007-02-28T13:11:00.000-08:00

A swan in Kensingon Gardens

The London skyline from a City Building (and a cameraphone)

Skateboard park near Notting Hill

Rainy days in the schoolyard

Sunset over North London

update

2007-01-28T02:14:00.000-08:00

I'm still trying to decide if I'm going to bother with this photoblog... I haven't been motivated at all to post pics regularly, and it takes so long to upload pictures and organize them here that I might just stick to posting pics in my regular blog.

For now, here are several pictures taken in Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park during the last couple of months. Hope you enjoy them!

The London Aquarium

2006-10-25T08:11:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my other blog, Jeremy and I went to the aquarium this week. The front entrance was pretty impressive, lots of interesting lighting and several tubes of water with glowing jellyfish in them.

There were so many amazing fish there, I have weed out about 40 pictures for this post. Here are the ones that I thought turned out really well.

This pufferfish has the creepiest eyes I've ever seen - instead of a regular eyeball, it's a bunch of little glowing blue dots.

Not sure that I'd eat that kind of shrimp... they're way too pretty

Sometimes they swam a little too quickly and I couldn't get a decent picture
Creepy piranhas

Strange mini-eels starting at themselves in the mirror

This was the weirdest fish we'd ever seen - they look normal for a little while, then suddenly flatten out like something squashed them. They swim like rays, but look like flattened fishes. Very strange.

Giant goldfish

A tiger shark looking like he's getting hungry...

Fireworks

2006-10-21T11:07:00.000-07:00

Sunsets

2006-10-19T10:40:00.000-07:00

Serpentine River, London, UK

Windsor, Ontario

I know - everybody has pictures of sunsets. They're naturally gorgeous, and an easy target. Every person I know who owns a camera has claimed "I'm a really good photographer when it comes to sunset pictures".

I'm putting up some of my favourites anyway. Hope you enjoy them. (If not, I'll try to find something more interesting next time)

Kensington Gardens, London, UK

Boardwalk in Windsor, Ontario

Detroit, Michigan skyline

Pelee Island, Ontario (near marina)

Evening sky over London, Ontario

Ella Lake, Ontario

Windsor, Ontario

Lake Erie, Ontario (from Pelee Island)

Ella Lake, Ontario

Just for fun (and it still is the evening sky) - a moon shot from Ella Lake, Ontario

going for a little action...

2006-10-12T13:28:00.000-07:00

chasing squirrels in Kensington Gardens

chasing pigeons at the Natural History Museum

Line dancing in Hyde Park...

... on rollerblades

some kids apparently require leashes

practicing roller blading skills

any hockey game is good - even if the only North American team was the Leafs...

a pick-up soccer game in Kensington gardens

crossovers

trying to get away from daddy...

Natural History Museum

2006-10-09T23:05:00.000-07:00

Did you know Canadian geese can dive underwater?

2006-09-13T15:18:00.000-07:00

My mom made a comment on my last post in my other blog that reminded me of a set of pictures that I definitely needed to publish.

Even though this blog isn't supposed to have much in the way of written words - I should explain these a little.

Our little lake in Northern Ontario (where I was born and raised) has in the last few years become home to a family of Canadian geese that grows bigger every year. These geese have decided that rather than spend their days in the uninhabited part of the lake, that instead they should hang out and poop in all of the public beaches and swim around in front of all of the docks and places that people usually swim.

The first year we saw them, everybody thought the baby geese were "so cute" and spent time feeding them bread crumbs from the end of their docks.

Then the babies grew up, pooped more, and came back each summer to have their own babies. Geese have a LOT of babies.

Even though we used to feed them ourselves, we now cuss at the people who feed them because it means they'll stick around the area where all the people are.

My father and several other cottagers with boats came up with the idea of herding the geese into the other half of the lake where there are no people so they can poop and honk all day long if they want without disturbing anyone.

This process sounds easy, but take a LOT longer than we expected. Possibly because the geese might be just smart enough to see a speeding motorboat headed their way and haul ass to shore instead of staying on the water. So the herding process required a lot of patience (which my father doesn't always have) and a lot of skill in keeping the boat just fast enough to scare them in the direction you want them to go without running them over / sending them flying to shore.

Before you get angry with my dad for scaring them away, keep in mind that swimming / stepping in goose turd can ruin even the nicest summer day at the lake. People actually gathered on their docks to watch the goose herders tear around in their boats, laughing and taking pictures. My mom had the brilliant idea that we should hop in with our cameras and try for some up-close action shots. In addition to trying not to drop our cameras in the lake, we had a great time trying to hold them steady to catch pics of some pretty impressive maneouvering on the part of the geese. For such big birds, they're very agile...

Here are some of the pics I took while riding shotgun in the boat on one of the "herding missions". I tried to get a picture of the goose that kept diving underwater like a loon (the bird) but well... he was underwater.

After successfully completing Operation: Scare / Chase Geese into 2nd Ella (the cottager's nickname for the part of the lake that's uninhabited), all was calm on our lake again.

Not sure how long the calm lasted... These two look like trouble...

Cranky Swans

2006-09-11T10:52:00.000-07:00

At first they all seemed to get along

Then the goose apparently did something to piss him off

Yep, this swan is biting him

Apparently Canadian / British relations aren't so great after all ;)

A day in the park

2006-09-10T16:36:00.000-07:00

In the midst of all of the swans, ducks, pigeons, and other unidentifiable birds, are several dozen Canadian geese. Just as bold as back home, the birds wander through crowds of people. These two had a nice walk around the grass before going back into the pond to cool off.

Jeremy & Eve chatting on the grass

Running away from mom & dad in hopes of swimming with the birdies.

So you're from Canada, eh?

Around the Round Pond

2006-09-07T15:17:00.000-07:00

Gotta love the ever-efficient Brits. Instead of thinking of a fancy name for this pretty little piece of water in Kensington Gardens, they call it "round pond". Cause that's what it is - a round pond.

There are tons of wildlife around this park, with a few dozen swans and (sigh) Canadian geese hanging around all day, eating grass (I decided I've taken enough pictures of Canadian geese, so there aren't any for this post). These birds are so used to people that you can walk right up to them and they don't care.

The swans were my favourite - I had no idea their feet were so big! Very cute and much larger when you walk up to them than when you see them in a zoo.

Random London Pics

2006-09-05T15:17:00.000-07:00

Sitting on dirty stairs in front of my new building (because I can get free internet access here and won't have my own internet until next week), I decided to stop neglecting this poor blog and post some more pics.

No theme to them really - just pictures I've taken since we moved here.

The first and only silver birch tree I've seen since leaving Canada. Interestingly, it was planted on the corner of Ladbroke Grove - one of the main streets in Notting Hill.

Graffiti on a wall near Notting Hill

The top of the Golden Jubillee Bridge

Foreign Coke cans

Friday night traffic in Westminster

A new place

2006-08-30T12:57:00.000-07:00

Oh Canada! The Canadian War Monument (near Buckingham Palace)

Enjoying the weather at Kensington Gardens

Westminster Abbey doors at night

Very interesting modes of transportation in this city...

Even the escalators for the Tube are interesting (as long you don't mind heights)

Gotta wonder what they were talking about... what to have for lunch? What the Queen was up to that day? When they walked around they made as much noise as possible - which we think was purely for the tourists' entertainment.

Wellington Arch at dusk

A wall surrounding Buckingham Palace that looks 300 years old...

Other random pictures...

The Lovers

Our street in on a rainy night

Last weekend in Windsor

2006-07-28T14:19:00.000-07:00

Finally the time has come for us to start our journey to England. I'm hoping to have a chance to visit the waterfront one last time. I like to pretend that there isn't a ridiculous amount of pollution in the river and just enjoy the view. It's definitely my favourite place to visit here.

Another blog, another dollar (well hopefully)

2006-07-25T15:25:00.000-07:00

I take way too many pictures. There are so many things that catch my attention and send me running for my camera. Since I started my other blog, I've toyed with the idea of starting a photoblog so I would have a place to post my pictures.

A Little Bit About Me

I'm a teacher

I live with my boyfriend and my cat

We'll soon be moving to England for a couple of years

I've got two nephews (who are not related to me by blood, but their mommies are like sisters to me, so it doesn't matter)

I take a lot of pictures of sunsets

the sky

flowers

my kitty

and the lake where I grew up

I'm learning about abstract photography and am playing with different styles so I can widen my photographic horizons