It's been a good year for Photography

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There are currently 107 photos in my Most Interesting of 2009 set. These are all pics that have made the top 200 out of all my photos on flickr. Flickr ranks photos by what they call interestingness. By comparison my 2008 set had only 50.

- Peace

Who Said?

Speak up for the people who have no voice,
for the rights of all the down-and-outers.
Speak out for justice!
Stand up for the poor and destitute!

Beth has the answer. Honestly I don't know if I would have gotten it right.

- Peace

Merry Christmas - This is War

Dustin Kensrue - This Is War

Strange Quotes

I think there's these notions out there that people think of infidelity as quote-unquote ‘wrong,' as quote-unquote ‘immoral,' “ he said. “In this day and age, and in this era, creating those morality judgments is not equivalent to a tolerant society.

CEO Noel Biderman, who's company helps people have "afairs", in the Globe and Mail today. The Toronto Transit Commission turned down advertising from his company t with the slogan "Life is short. Have an affair."

I wonder what Tiger Woods would say to that?

Many of the skills needed to use computers aren't highly useful in slaying mammoths.

Jakob Nielsen, usability guru from his article: Short-Term Memory and Web Usability. His point is we should keep web sites simple because

After all, your paying customers are only one step out of the cave.

OK I'm all for keeping things simple but I'm not a fan of theory that it's because our brains can't keep up. My grandfather could do math in his head way faster than any of the grand kids because he had to do the fly calculations while working the lumber docs in his youth. Ancient cultures memorized huge sections of text as scrolls where rare and could keep complex stories and characters strait. I think it's modern hubris that thinks our issues with needing simplicity are because we haven't evolved enough.

- Peace

Alt Christmas Music

'Salvation Is Created’, the new record from Bifrost Arts to be released November 3rd on Great Comfort Records, is a modern-day oratorio that seeks to present the Christmas story stripped of sentimentality in the hopes of revealing afresh the mystery and strangeness of Christmas as it initially emerged. By making the familiar unfamiliar, the listener is reintroduced to the Christmas drama and encounters beauty to be sure, but also blackness, dry desert, strange noises from unknown sources, and the confusion and anxiety so latent in the situation. The quiet and fragile hope provided by a baby born without medical assistance in an unsuitable environment, in an insignificant town and amongst circumstances dangerous both physically and politically, takes on greater poignancy. The outcome of the story is unknown and uncertain, and certainly not the prelude that one would expect to the story of a king or universal triumph.

Found this when I went looking for A Familyre Christmas Vol. 3, no luck but Vol 1 & 2 are there.

We felt that in lieu of creating Volume 3 this year, it would be better to draw attention to a very special release from one of our sister labels, Great Comfort Records. The record is called Salvation Is Created by Bifrost Arts, and is one of the most unusual, beautiful, and surprising Christmas records out there. The album features Sounds Familyre artists Ben + Vesper, Elin K. Smith, and SF Friend Joshua Stamper, along with a whole slew of incredibly gifted artists.

Have a listen to the free mp3 Joy Joy!!! to get a feel for this album. I think I'll be ordering it.

- Peace

Community Kitchen

Wilma and Dorothy have been kind enough to include me in their cooking group with the Community Kitchen. The Community Kitchen provides all the things you need to hold a big cook with a group of people, Wilma and Dorothy provide the leadership and grace to our group. Thanks to Wilma, Dorothy, the rest of the group and the Community Kitchen; I've been able to contribute in a significant way to the cooking of meals at our house. The Community Kitchen is a great way to save time and money. Home made frozen dinners, half the cost - twice the value.

I'll be looking to take the coordinator training through the Community Kitchen as I'd like to see if we can start an other group to spread the advantages of cooking in community. Let me know if you're interested.

- Peace

Birthday and Christmas Ideas

My Birthday and Christmas are close together, I'm hard to buy for yada yada yada.

Anything from the World Vision Gift Catalog.

Gift Cards from The Camera Store or MEC are always welcome.

Games for my DS:
Big Bang Mini
LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga

Game:
Dominion

Movies:
Up
The Philosopher Kings

Music:
Deep Blue by Martin Josheph

Sufjan Stevens: the BQE and the comic book Hooper Heroes.

Half Handed Cloud's Halos and Lassos

The Essential Weird Al Yankovic.

Books:
Kevin Frank's True North.

Photoshop Lightroom 2 Adventure

For my Mac: The Magic Mouse.

From Threadless in 3XL: a simple plan or All Galaxies.


Update:

Can't believe I forgot Buzz Lightyear!

Just read a review of Looking for Calvin and Hobbes: The Unconventional Story of Bill Watterson and his Revolutionary Comic Strip and it sounds great.

- Peace

Hello, it's me Calvin posting on Dave's blog. In keeping with my tradition of vandalizingposting to Dave's blog my favorite videogame-style music, here is a really neat remix of Michael Jackson's Thriller:



You can learn more here.

A Tough Guy Eh?

Calvin took this shot of me on Sat at their delayed due to illness Halloween Party. They say I looked mean.

- Peace

20 Years Since the Fall of the Berlin Wall

CBC News:

Former Polish leader Lech Walesa tipped the first of 1,000 plastic foam dominoes set up where the Berlin Wall once stood as part of celebrations Monday marking the 20th anniversary of its fall.

That made me smile, I've always connected Polish Solidarity and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Mostly due to Steve Taylor's "Over My Dead Body" from his 1984 album Meltdown. The final verses of the song are:

After the Nazis we were baited by the Russian bear
Our 'liberators' wanted Poland for a thoroughfare
Rise up, my brothers don't despair the Iron Curtain's rod
Someday we'll draw the string assisted by the hand of God

I was a victim of December 1981
I took a final beating from the blunt end of a Russian's gun
You made a memory - the memory will multiply
You may kill the body, but the spirit - it will never die

In the mid 80's I remember thinking I would never see the fulfillment of Steve's prophecy, the Iron Curtain was a fixed part of our reality. But in 89 there was the huge upswing in people gathering in churches for Peace Masses, and then the wall came down. And I couldn't help thinking of Steve Taylor singing:

Rise up, my brothers don't despair the Iron Curtain's rod
Someday we'll draw the string assisted by the hand of God

May the dominoes continue to fall.

- Peace

The Cost of Genrification

A friend and I visted Jesus People USA on Jan 1, 1994. As young guys from Edmonton I'll admit we found the inner city Chicago neighborhood JPUSA calls home quite intimidating. In the past fifteen years Uptown has gone through a process of gentrification. Some of the new upscale neighbours objected to JPUSA's homeless shelter.

The “powers that be” had listened to and heard the relentless pleas from a very fearful and merciless exclusive club. This group represented a relatively small number of people determined to promote hatred, fear and deception by painting negative pictures like violent ex-offenders living near innocent children. Nothing was investigated and propaganda had been used as a powerful tool, and the result was “no more funding!

JPUSA hasn't given up on the men from the shelter. They're still working and advocating for the homeless in their neighbourhood.

Digest this utterly false statement: “We’ve served our time and have been set free to live as a productive member of society.” Once a person is greeted into the cold angry cells of shame, that person’s rights are vanquished and they become a lifelong slave to societal fears, hypocrisy and prejudice. Guilty for life has been tattooed upon the foreheads of ex-offenders. The first strike law of public housing, mandatory minimum sentences, parole, the internet and the easy availability of criminal background checks have placed huge X’s upon every felon’s back. Sadly, the result is that housing and employment have been made virtually impossible. Thus, an endless cycle of grief and recidivism begins, and within that context, the lost sheep need to hear the Lord’s message of love, grace, restorative justice and hope.

Read the full story: Dejected but not forgotten

- Peace

Do You Like Breakfast?

Hi it's Calvin, not Dave. I feel inspired to post this video here:



PS: Don't ask me why Dave lets me intrude on IdeaJoy, but I think we can all agree this video is fabulous!

PPS: We like breakfast!!! =)

The Philosopher Kings (Movie): A Short Review

Sarah took me to see The Philosopher Kings during the Calgary International Film Fest. From the official website:

In search of wisdom found in unlikely places, The Philosopher Kings takes us on a journey through the halls of the most prestigious colleges and universities in America to learn from the staff members who see it all and have been through it all: the custodians. This thought-provoking, feature-length documentary interweaves the untold stories of triumph and tragedy from the members of society who are often disregarded and ignored, and seeks out the kind of wisdom that gets you through the day and the lessons one learns from surviving hard times, lost loves, and shattered dreams.

The Philosopher Kings is a wonderfully humanizing work. Eight stories are woven together by various themes touching the nature of work, family, art and life. If you have the chance to see a screening then I'd highly recommend the movie. For 2009 I'd rank second only to Up!

- Peace

My Stint as a Wedding Photographer

Back at the end of Aug. I had the honor of being the prime photographer for Cameron and Teressa's wedding. I've posted 80 pictures from the Wedding to flickr. Wow, talk about stress. Mostly self imposed. Most of it was realizing that I'd agreed to shoot a major event for two people I care deeply about and that they are both outstanding photographers. Indeed Teressa is now doing Family Portraits. Cameron has a flickr stream that he doesn't update nearly enough.

In comedy they say you should never follow a better comic. Not sure what the rules are about shooting better photographers.

- Peace

1500 KM

First ride since Aug. Lots of reasons why, ankle getting hurt again, taking advil for a wisdom tooth removal drained my energy. Took the birthday of a friend to get me out ridding again. Won't make 4500 km this year, but if I make 2500 km I'll be happy. BTW 2500 KM was my best distance when I was in my 20s.

- Peace

Download Buddies?

You can download cool music from NoiseTrade.com if you'll give out five email addresses. NoiseTrade will then send those five people emails about what you've downloaded. They won't spam you, I know the CEO of NoiseTrade, they're good people. I also don't like spamming people, even if we're friends and I'm getting good music out of the deal.

So I'm looking for download buddies, five friends who wouldn't mind if I used their email address when I want to download something from NoiseTrade. You'll of course be free to use my address to do the same, and you'll know what I'm downloading. What say you?


- Peace

Martyn Josheph

Enjoying Martyn Josheph's How Did We End Up Here? He has quite the collection of MP3 for free download on his listen page. Enjoy.

As seen on Empire Remixed.

- Peace

Land of the Free?

The Land of the Free incarcerates more citizens per capita than any other country on Earth, almost half of them for nonviolent offenses. And it's not because of a rise in crime rates—in fact, those have been falling for nearly a decade. Rather, tough sentencing and anti-drug laws have put a growing number of marginal offenders behind bars.

From Wired Nils Christie: Empty the Prisons part of their The Smart List: 12 Shocking Ideas That Could Change the World. Thing that struck me was that Chuck Colson and Prison Fellowship have been talking about this for years:

2.3 million men and women now pack our prisons and jails — a 500-percent increase since Prison Fellowship began in 1976.

From the sidebar on Why Minister to Prisoners.

- Peace

The Quotable Chris L. Rice

Chris over at has a great post sins to keep us out of heaven, and just had to quote a couple of bits:

Jesus said, not that it is hard to be gay and enter the Kingdom, but rich.

and

If you haven’t struggled with hate in the church I submit that you haven’t been close enough to anyone else in the church for enough time to really be a member. Church demands the kind of proximity and rigorous honesty that causes friction and yes, untoward anger. That we can be the Church and not kill each other is wonderful testimony of the grace of God and the active presence of the Holy Spirit.

- Peace

Blogger Turns 10

Blogger, software that I use for IdeaJoy Turns 10. Hope Blogger gets some new templates for it's brithday.

- Peace

Four Interesting Pictures From NB

We spent a week in New Brunswick, and I posted 60 pictures from NB. Still my home province only comes away with four pictures. No man is a great photographer in his home province? Maybe.

It does fit with my sense of NB as the province people drive through on the way to Nova Scotia or PEI. New Brunswick is easy to capture as NS or PEI, and it doesn't try as hard to please either. To be honest I prefer it that way.

Update:


This shot of a Tim Hortons traffic sign just made the Most Interesting Set, bringing the NB count to five. It also occurred to me the NB was the only province to have two portraits make the Most Interesting Set.

- Peace

Six Interesting Pictures from PEI

I only posted 34 pictures form PEI, but still six of them made the interesting set. I couldn't spot a theme in the NS pictures but here half the pictures are from the Confederation Bridge and half are form the Orient Hotel where we stayed.

- Peace

Seven Interesting Pictures from Nova Scotia

I think I've finished posting pictures from our vacation, 158 pictures in all. 67 of those were taken in Nova Scotia. The above seven pictures are the NS pics that have made it into my most interesting of 2009 set. Not sure if there is a theme. Blue? Water? If you see one tell me.

- Peace

A Silent Movie of the Tide Coming In

Watched the tide come in for an hour when we were at Hopewell Rocks. Used the time lapse feature on my Pentax K-7 to take a picture every 30 seconds. Well it was every 15 seconds at first, but I slowed down when I realized we'd be there fora bit. So just over an hour compressed to just under three minutes. Still I find it relaxing.

- Peace

The Holdout

This old farm house and farm sits on prime real-estate in Fredericton. The farm doesn't seem very active, a few cattle. It's been that way for over twenty years. As a I kid I remember being told they'd been offered $5 million, but they turned it down. Every time I'm back in Fredericton I'm expecting to see a new subdivision, but the old house is still there. The older I get the more I'm hoping they continue to holdout.

- Peace

I can't predict Flickr

I like this picture, but I never would have guessed it would be the most popular picture from our trip to NS, PEI and NB. That's one of the pleasures of flickr, random pictures getting a bigger reaction that you would have guessed.

The other thing I thought was odd: no one on flickr asked about where/how the picture was taken. Strange.

- Peace

Whale System Watching

In a boat with just the surface of the water and maybe a seagull it's easy to think of the ocean as a big tub of water and not much else. When you come across a group of whales you see an entire system at play. The whales chase the fish to surface so other animals follow along. Dolphins and Seals in the water. Gannets diving out of the sky. The ocean is obviously alive!

- Peace

Kings Landing

Final tourist thing of our trip was a visit to Kings Landing. It's a historic village from the 1800s. Kings Landing is a direct result of the construction of the Mactaquac dam. Most of the buildings on the site would have been flooded by the headwaters of the dam.

- Peace

It's been 21 years...

21 years ago this month I moved from Fredericton NB to Edmonton AB. Still walking around the Fredericton Farmers market I ran into people I knew: Jane and Al Sears. Al taught me Sunday School, Jane and Al stayed with us in Edmonton while Al was the at the U of A one summer. It's not like it was when I was here 10 years ago, and saw a great number of people I knew at the market, still it was nice to bump into a couple of people and feel a connection to my hometown.

- Peace

Julie & Julia

Julie & Julia - a charming movie with some great laugh out loud moments. Both Kim and I really enjoyed it, that puts it on a very short list of movies. Yes, we took a break from local maritime culture and went to a Holywood movie. We did return to local culture by having dinner at William's Seafood after the movie.

- Peace

Jumping Ship

Took the camera with me to dinner, just in case there was something to shoot. Kids were jumping off the wharf and this fishing boat that was docked there. Was able to watch them from our patio table at the restaurant on the wharf. We just don't get this sort of thing in Calgary.

- Peace

Kids of the Fort

This group of kids were kind enough to do some running for this shot. I don't think they get asked to do much modeling for action shots, they seemed quite excited by the idea.

- Peace

The Cabot Trail

Today we drove the Cabot Trail, what a ride! Tomorrow we'll go whale watching, if the weather cooperates. Then we're off to PEI for four days, then NB! Having a great time :)

- Peace

Enjoying NS

To be near the sea, to see family. It's good to be here.

- Peace

J.J. Abrams' Mystery Box

OK I like J.J. Abrams: Alias, Lost, Star Trek check. What surprised me is how funny he is.

As seen on: Six TED Talks to Make You Reassess What You are Doing With Your Life

Train Bridge at 1400 KM

Wanted to hit 1400 KM before leaving on vacation, so did 25 KM this morning. Didn't have time to bike home tonight. So did a quick loop through Fish Creek Park. We leave for NS tonight. OK need to pack.

- Peace

My Style?

When other photographers ask me what type of photography I do, I never know what to say. A bit of everything, I guess. But if there is one type of shot I prefer it's finding the unexpected coming together. Like a Kayak and a Pedestrian.

- Peace

Bike Paths that go Nowhere

Hi, everyone this is Calvin writing-- not Dave.

So, Dave has often said about how the bike pathways/bike designated roadways often go nowhere and I've contested that fact in the past. Then again, my riding normally doesn't recognize proscribed boundaries (because I am a rebel). At least for me, the bike designated roadways have always seemed useful.

Today I found a pathway up near the airport. I was at the southeast corner, and this pathway runs the entire length of the east side of the airport.

There is a lot of pavement dedicated to this super long pathway, however:

- It's a bit boring.
- It's bumpy.
- It's noisy.
- It's not that scenic (airport on one side, hwy on the other)

And one last thing: where does it go?

Well, I followed said pathway for maybe 20 minutes on my fast road bike, around bends, past bushes, over bumpy potholes and heaved pavement, all the while wondering what I would do if I flatted out (walking out would take hours!*)

It turns out, that this particular stretch of pathway goes nowhere, and it goes everywhere: it ends at the airport terminal.

So, if you ever need to bike ride from the east end of Pegasus road to Hong Kong, London, New York or Paris, the City of Calgary has you covered.

* I always carry a spare, so really I was wondering what I would do if I flatted out twice, which didn't seem impossible given the length and godforsakeness of the pathway.

1300 KM and Change of Plans

Hit the 1300 KM mark last night. My first ride since the Highwood pass. The ride over the pass aggravated my ankle injury from April. So I won't be doing the Calgary to Edmonton Ride or the alternate Jasper to Lake Louise. Sigh. I'll be pushing back my goal of ridding the Golden Triangle to 2011.

- Peace

Pentax K7 Again

Loving the new Auto Focus system. Allowed me to get a fast lock on this Pelican flying over me at the weir last night.

Filled my Four Gig memory card in under an hour shooting jpeg. The images are larger, and I'm getting more shots. I've never filled my four gig card shooting jpeg on my K10d. Will need a new memory card. Will also have to free up space on the laptop before going on Vacation.

Getting used to how the K7 feels in my hands.

- Peace

Pentax K7 First Impressions

First longer than a weekend trip to the Maritimes in over 10 years and being asked to shoot the wedding of two talented photographers made it easy to justify putting my name on the waiting list for Pentax's new K-7.

It came in yesterday, did some shots this morning. First thoughts:

Auto focus is really fast. I started with my Sigma 70 2.8 DG Macro. A great lens that made me turn the auto focus on the K10d off every time. On the K7 it was fast with no hunting.

I miss the feel of the K10d, the K7 is smaller and lighter, and in my huge hands I'm going to have to find a comfortable way to hold it.

More later.

- Peace

If I had $25...

Money is not the answer,but it's part of it. Love this cover of "If I had a Million Dollars", The Kraft Dinner bit is brilliant.

As seen on the Kiva.org blog.

- Peace

1200 KM Climbing the Highwood Pass

Did a run over the Highwood Pass and hit the 1200 KM mark just south of the summit.

- Peace

Photo Shoot with Talitha and Rachel

Sunday morning I drove out to Rosebud to do a photo shoot with Talitha and Rachel. I'm quite happy with the results, hope they like them. More pics will be added to the set over the weekend.

- Peace

Canada Day

Five Iron Frenzy' Oh Canada.

They've got trees, and mooses, and sled dogs,
Lots of lumber, and lumberjacks, and logs!
We all think it's kind of a drag,
That you have to go there to get milk in a bag.
They say "eh?" instead of "what?" or "duh?"
That's the mighty power of Canada.

True that.

- Peace

1100 KM

Hit the 1100 KM mark this morning, and ended June with just over 600 KM despite taking an entire week off. This gives me hope for July and Aug as I'll be taking the last week of July and the first week in Aug to visit the Maritimes with Kim.

- Peace

Citizen Sarah

Sarah won the award for Grade Eleven Female Citizenship Award at Centennial High School. She also won the Grade Eleven English AP Award. To say we're proud of her would be an understatement.

- Peace

Goat Creek June 2009

I think it's been five, maybe six years that I've been riding the goat creek trail. For those who don't know it's a 40-45 km ride from south a Canmore to Banff and back to Canrmore. Ride it twice a year, June and October. I just love getting out in to the mountains. Even if it's a trail I've done a dozen times.

- Peace

Chattong With Ted at 1000 KM

Hit the 1000 KM mark yesterday on the way back to Canmore after ridding the Goat Creek trail. Ted pulled up beside me and we chatted about bike and equipment. He's biking from Vancouver to St. John's. He did it in 2002 and he's doing it again. He's blogging his adventure. Go Ted!

- Peace

800 and 900 KM

Hit 800 KM yesterday morning overlooking Fish Creek. Hit 900 KM tonight coming home on Elbow Drive.

(BTW I'm sad to see that Facebook is no longer importing pics when it imports my posts,sigh)

- Peace

700 KM

Hit the 700 KM mark yesterday. So to catch my 2008 self by July 7th, I just need 1000 KM. Right.

- Peace

Brain Off

- Peace

600 KM - Plan? What Plan?

So the 100 KM on the weekend didn't happen. I just hit 600 KM last night. Still aiming to pass my 2008 self in early July.

- Peace