700km Sort Of...

For got to take the 700km shot this morning, didn't remember till the 707 mark.  That seems fitting as I'm getting back into the routine of ridding.  After hitting the 600km mark at the end of March, April just didn't happen, and neither did the first half of May.  Many reasons, a new job, way too much snow in April, a broken seat post, blah, blah, blah.  Need to get back to riding.

- Peace

My New Most Viewed Photo on Flickr

Thanks to my 2009 pic Under Goat Creek appearing on Tumbler blogs like Silent City; Under Goat Creek is my new Most Viewed Photo on flickr with 7,931 views.  6000 of those have been this week. 

For years my most viewed photo has been Ice Cube.  It has just over 7300 views, mostly from Google Image Search.  It's also had a longer run dating back to 2006.

Both shots were taken with Olympus Stylus point & shoots.

- Peace

600 KM on Time

Hit the 600km before the end of March, that kept me on schedule.  Late on blogging it though :)

Goal is to hit the 1000km mark by the end of April.  That takes me from the 200km/month pace to a 400km/month pace.  Doable if I start biking to work this week, though the bike is in the shop so we'll see.

- Peace

Spruce Meadows at 500km

Did a bit of riding on 22x yesterday and hit the 500km mark for 2013 while going past Spruce Meadows.  As this is the first 100km mark for Spring it was nice to get some colour in the shot.  The 2013 100km at a time set has been very monochrome up to now.

Goal is to be at 600km by the end of the month.  Glad to see that there should be good weather this week.

- Peace

400km - 2 days late

Hit the 400km mark while riding through Fish Creek park this afternoon.

The plan called for me to be at 400km by the end of Feb. At 300km I said "100km in six days shouldn't be too bad." Around the 306km mark I wiped out on a sheet of ice and my knee took the brunt of the fall.  Took a few days to recover.

196 km should be doable in 28 days I have left in March.  I'm not counting the 31st as we're doing the Easter Sunrise Hike up Nose Hill, and I won't be up for riding after that.

- Peace

Game Night at Nathalie's

Game Night from Nathalie Babineau-Griffiths on Vimeo.  Nathalie did a time lapse, I was sitting near the camera. We played Dominion, Munchkin and more Dominion.

 - Peace

300km in Millrise

Got a cold in early Feb that just hung around for weeks.  Nothing too bad, but enough to keep me off the bike.  Got out today and thanks to the bonus km I did in Jan hit the 300km for the year.  The plan calls for being at 400km by the end of Feb.  100km in six days shouldn't be too bad.

- Peace

Venice Top 4 Shots + 1

We had four nights in Venice. I took 2978 shots, published 110 of them to flickr.  Of those 10 made it to my Most Interesting of 2012 set.  Here are the top 4 shots and 1 that I loved that flickr didn't.

	Side Canal An iconic Venetian moment caught as we passed this side canal on a water bus.  Even caught a bit of Venetian litter in the lower left corner. I'm guessing it's the strong lines that drew people into this picture.
	Glass Fire The island of Murano is famous for it's glass-work.  This is a peice of public art on the island that I shot with my Lensbaby. I think the Lensbaby blur suggests the movement of fire. Lucked out with the clouds making such a great background.
	Reflecting Canal Did as late night walk about to see what I could find.  This is my top night shot.  I think it looks very industrial, so I'm a bit surprised that this did as well as it did.
	Smoking in the Shadow I have mixed feelings about this, cause I'm not trying to make smoking look cool.  We were stuck by how much smoking there is in Europe and so I wanted to reflect that reality.
	Flowing Just happened to come across a fashion shoot on the island of Burano.  I loved how the wind caught her dress.  Was surprised that this didn't get more attention.  One of the other shots from the shoot did make the Most Interesting of 2012 set. The people running the shoot didn't chase us tourist photographers off, and were very friendly to us.  It made my day.

I took over 11,000 photos in Europe last summer. I am currently publishing photos from our time in Rome. You can see my most interesting shots from London and Paris.

Little Red Wagon

Little Red Wagon is story of how Zach Bonner became an advocate for homeless children before he was twelve. As a movie it's very "After School Special". However the subplot of a family that goes from middle class to homeless is real enough to be a good introduction to the issues of homelessness for children. The message that we can do something to help is also worth repeating. If your looking to engage a group of kids with the issues of homelessness then Little Red Wagon would be a good start.

- Peace