More photos of flowers. This time, a lower perspective gives us an interesting horizon. These flowers are alongside a ditch but shooting up from the bottom of the ditch, combined with a little work back in the digital darkroom gives us this shot. Could be a day at the beach near Parksville…
Month: April 2009 Page 2 of 3
I’ve fallen behind in my postings for my 1aDay collection. So today, I’m posting four photos, which show some of the reasons why I like living here in Victoria.
This first photo is called “A Pink Boulevard” and shows the TransCanada Highway, looking southeast towards downtown Victoria. (Click on any of the photos to see a larger view on my Flickr site.)
What I like about this is the rows of cherry trees in full bloom on the boulevard. They add a nice touch to the morning commute.
Too bad they can’t stay that colour year-round.
The second photo on this catch-up day is called “Bike Commuter Heaven.” It’s taken from the same flyover I was standing on in the previous picture. It shows the Transcanada on the left and the Galloping Goose Trail on the right.
The Galloping Goose Trail is an old rail line that runs from downtown Victoria all the way to Sooke. It’s become a vital part of the trail system in this area and all kinds of people commute to work on it every day. It’s also popular with walkers and roller skaters, of course.
Normally, this photo would show a biker on the trail. But wouldn’t you know it – I waited 15 minutes (while my dogs tried to figure out what I was doing) but not a single biker came along! Of course, once I got to the other side of the bridge, a big pack of bike racers went flying by. That would have made for a great shot…
Number 3 on my list is a shot I call “The Weed Bed.”
It’s another example of the kind of stuff that pokes up all over the place in this area. No one tends these plots. They just are there.
This one sits behind a big secondary school not far from our house. The school is built near a large outcropping of stones, from which you can get some great views of the surrounding area. And throughout the area, there are these patches of colour at this time of year.
Yellows, purples, greens – a riot of colour almost everywhere you look. I don’t know whether the kids that go to this school appreciate the view. It doesn’t seem like it’s that big a deal to them, judging from the piles of garbage that have built up in the rocks. It looks like plenty of people like to hang out there and eat lunch. I just wish they’d use the trash cans near the back doors when they were done.
Finally – my fourth picture today is called “The Side of the Road.”
This is a view of the TransCanada, showing the kind of stuff that grows along the road here. Not everywhere, of course. And not all of it is natural. A lot of trees are planted. But it’s amazing how much colour appears in the ditches and on the sides of the rocks along the roads.
If you look closely, you’ll catch a glimpse of Roxy wandering into the photo. She’s not usually at the side of the road – at least not unless she’s on a leash.
I hope I’m not boring you with these pictures of the spring colours here in Victoria. I know I’m going to get some grief from those of you that are still dealing with the dregs of the winter. But hey, it’s spring now everywhere – officially. And I’m seeing the colours around here in a different way, now that I’m wandering around with a new camera. It’s a great way to enjoy your neighbourhood.
I’m starting down a new road with my photography. I’m the proud owner of a new Nikon D90 but I discovered that my existing development setup wasn’t able to work with the RAW file format that the new Nikon put out. I use an older version of Photoshop, which can’t read the new files.
This is a major bummer but fortunately, I’ve come up with a solution. I just got a copy of Adobe Lightroom, which lets me load up the new files from my Nikon and work on them. I’ve got a lot to learn about how to use it, but so far, it’s working out. This is my first effort at developing a final image through Lightroom, without even opening Photoshop.
While this will work for some photos, I’m still able to do my final imaging in Photoshop with my old Powerbook and I can hold off getting a new MacBook for awhile anyway. And it’s going to be awhile, now that I’ve decided to get the new camera.
Oh, the joys of technology. Everytime you do one thing, something else needs to be upgraded…it’s a never-ending loop. (But I love it!)
Sunday was a good day for a paddle here on the Island. The sun was out and the air was warm. People were walking everywhere and kayakers were out in force. This group was making their way past McAuley Point, on the south tip of the Island. It’s a favourite dog walking park the year round.
It’s been five years since I started The Daily Upload. Let’s see, five years at 365 uploads a year — that’s 1,825 posts. But wait a minute … looking back over my posts, I see that I’m actually only up to 567, including this one. So maybe I should have called it The Once Every 3 Days or so Upload. More accurate perhaps, but not that as catchy.
My first posts were actually made on April 3, 2004, so I’ve missed my own anniversary by a couple of days. But we’re in the ballpark. I put up three posts that first day. Two were about the 2004 version of March Madness, while the third pointed to a report about the Spanish train bombings in Madrid. I’ll reprint theme all here, since they’re pretty short.
Hurray for March Madness
The NCAA Final Four is on. This is what basketball is all about. The skill level of the players and the coaches – heck, even the referees – is something to behold. I’ve played basketball or been involved with it for most of my life, and it’s weekends like this that convince me that it’s still the best sport out there.posted by Dave @ 7:20 PM
There’s an interesting story here about the Spanish bombing.
Bomb Rocks Madrid Suburb (washingtonpost.com)posted by Dave @ 8:28 PM
Let’s all get ready to party
The Final Four is down to two. What a pair of games they were…Georgia Tech and UConn on Monday…it should be great!posted by Dave @ 8:38 PM
I’ve covered a lot of topics in these past five years. There have been some very personal posts, plenty of comments on current events and a few opinions. I’ve pointed to funny things going on around me and sad things too. But reading through some of my past posts its clear that this is a personal journal.
When I created The Daily Upload I wrote a description of what it would be – and it’s still the same one that’s at the top of the page today:
This blog is where I track things I’ve read or heard in the wider world. Like you, I read the paper, visit websites, read blogs, listen to podcasts, watch TV, chat with smart people, put up with others, etc. It all adds up to the substance of my thoughts and opinions. And then I use this blog to share them with you.
From humble beginnings the worlds’ wisdom flows… always downhill, of course.
I’m looking forward to the next five years.
It’s Saturday morning. At some point during the night or early in the morning, someone walking by this garbage can at the entrance to the park stuffed it full of old clothing. As the day progressed, dutiful dog owners and people out for a walk passed by and deposited their bags full of dog crap and empty coffee cups on top of the clothing.
OK, it’s good that you’re picking up your garbage. But come on…who do you think is going to clean up this mess during the weekend? It’s obvious that the can is full. Adding stuff to the top just means that it’s going to look ugly for days. Thanks to cutbacks in the parks department, it might be a week or more before someone from the municipality shows up to empty the container. And by that time, there’s going to be junk and dog poop all over the place.
The irony is that just about 20 metres away is an even bigger garbarge can, that’s nearly empty. All people need to do is on to that bag for another few steps and they can dump it there.
There’s an underlying problem here that is larger than just some dog poop piling up beside a garbage can. It’s that people aren’t willing to take enough responsibility for things in the community, like keeping it clean. That’s not something that you have to turn over to a paid employee. Just pick up that garbage and make sure it gets put somewhere. Democracy isn’t easy – it’s hard work. We all need to do our part.
Every day, the berries are getting redder. I think of holly with Christmas but that’s because where I come from we only find it in flower shops.
Here, it’s everywhere.
You can never go wrong shooting a picture of a Golden Retriever. This is Roxy, our ever-faithful, always-ready-for-a-walk, Golden. Like every other Golden we’ve met, she really is this happy. And when you’re looking for a shot to show off your new camera, a picture of the dog is always a good bet.
PS – Kelly, this one is for you.
A lot of trees in the forest have been broken over the past couple of years. The wind has played havoc with trees that had withstood severe weather for many, many years.
But this one, and another standing not too far away, appear to have escaped the wrath of the wind, perhaps by giving in to it. I’m not sure what causes a tree to grow like this, especially when there don’t appear to be any others in the immediate vicinity. But they’ve certainly angled off to the north.
Whatever the cause, it seems to have worked. The winds are blowing right now here on the West Coast, along with rain and even what appears to be snow pellets (yuck!). But the trees just stand and take it, waving slightly and waiting for warm weather to arrive. I hope it comes soon.
The Big Picture has some pretty impressive photos of what Earth Hour looked like last weekend, from around the globe. The one on the right is from Hong Kong.