285:365 Transparency

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Originally uploaded by amkb

Anna: Posting photos for today and the rest of the week...

I like how you can see through the petal in this one.

284:365 Flaming

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Originally uploaded by amkb

Anna: Posting photos for today and the rest of the week...

283:365 Curled

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Originally uploaded by amkb

Anna: Posting photos for today and the rest of the week...

One of the things I love about macro is how even the most ordinary things look extraordinary.

282:365 Spiders of a different sort

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Originally uploaded by amkb

Anna: Posting photos for today and the rest of the week...

The flowers on spider plants are so delicate!

281:365 Glowing

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Originally uploaded by amkb

Anna: Posting photos for today and the rest of the week...

Much of the Shaw Conference Centre is open views of the sky and the river valley - a perfect greenhouse for some lovely tropical plants. There's a stepped display of plants along the stairs on either side of this part of the building; ideal for some macro photography.

I loved how the sunlight was hitting this blossom.

280:365 Artsy Fartsy, part three

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Originally uploaded by amkb

Anna: Posting photos for today and the rest of the week...

One last photo of a temporary art display in front of the Shaw Conference Centre.

This style of sculpture seems to be really popular in Edmonton. It's interesting, but I don't particularly care for it. :-/

279:365 Artsy Fartsy, part two

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Originally uploaded by amkb

Anna: Posting photos for today and the rest of the week...

Another of a series of temporary art displays in front of the Shaw Conference Centre.

278:365 Artsy Fartsy, part one

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Originally uploaded by amkb

Anna: Posting photos for today and the rest of the week...

We took a break to get away from all things moving related and get some fresh air. Which is when I remembered I needed to swing by my job at the Shaw Conference Centre and talk to someone about whether or not they want to keep me, since I haven't been able to work for so long with my elbow issues. (I was told to give it a few months if I want, and come back whenever I felt I was ready.) So while Philippe and the girls took the river valley, I headed straight downtown and walked to the conference centre.

In front of a new section of the building is several areas where temporary art displays are showcased. This is one of them.

I was only able to get pictures of 3 out of 4 sculptures. One of them, which makes me think of a giant haggis, wasn't visible, with the annex it's in blocked off. Perhaps they're in the process of changing displays.

Advance photos...

The next week is going to be pretty busy with the move - we will officially be out of the apartment Saturday morning, but the move itself should be finished by friday night. If things go well, the girls and I will have moved a decent number of boxes and bins in the day or two before that.

Which is a long way of saying we're unlikely to be taking any pictures for the next while - or if we do, getting the chance to upload anything here.

With that in mind, I'm going to post a bunch of photos that were taken today as seperate posts. As usualy, you'll be able to see the full size photos at my flickr account here.

Once those are done tonight, the next posts we make will be from our new home! :-D

277:365 Queen of the Hill

Anna: Ever since we first started filling storage bins and stacking them in our bedroom, the little Harley-Bug has been desperately trying to get to the top of the pile. It was too high for her to jump, so she kept trying to climb onto a shelf she's not allowed to be on, in an effort to get to the top. With the bins topped with smaller, odd shaped boxes, she hasn't been successful.

Her interest continued as ever growing stacks of boxes were added to the corner. Today, Philippe went and put her on the top. Then played with her. LOL He's such a suck. ;-)

I'm the one that added the stuffed bear. I guess that makes me a suck, too. LOL If you squeeze a paw, the bear emits a horrifying recording of a baby giggling. Well, I think it's horrifying. Philippe thinks it's hilarious. The kitten likes it, too. Either that, or she hates it. Either way, triggering the thing has her over in a flash. Then she starts sniffing and batting at it. Quite amusing.

The other cat is far too dignified for such shenanigans.

276:365 At the museum again.

Anna: The girls and I headed to the museum this afternoon - something we haven't done in a while. There were a couple of bus loads of elementary kids there, so it was louder and busier than expected. I must admit, as home schoolers, we can get pretty spoiled. We're used to having places like this all to ourselves. ;-)

One of my frustrations is that tripods and monopods aren't allowed. There are some amazing artifacts, like these intricately embroidered child sized mitts, that I'd love to get good photos of - these are silk thread embroidery on hide. Difficult enough to get a good image with shaky hands, but with my elbow deciding to get painful on me again (I even made sure to take painkillers before I left), I had difficulty supporting the camera. I tried to make up for it by fiddling around with the shutter priority. After playing around for a bit, I ended up staying with photos that were dark, but at least somewhat clear, because I just couldn't hold the camera steady enough to get lighter shots. I figure I can always lighten the photo in post processing. I can't fix something that's blurry because my hands were shaking.





There's a new temporary exhibit going on right now. Ends of the Earth: From Polar Bears to Penguins This link is to a pdf file. It was really busy - it seems to be geared more at young kids, including a "snow" slide and play area.


This is a walrus skull that was part of the exhibit. The tusks extend quite a bit beyond the bottom of the photo. That's a lot of solid bone and tusk right at the front!

275:365 - First photo assignment

So I'm taking a course; the first assignment had three parts:
- One pic capturing speed (using shutter speed)
- One pic separating subject from background (large aperture)
- One pic capturing everything in focus (hyperfocal)
While I'm not super-happy with them, these kinda work :P
P.

274:365 The new neighbourhood

Anna: Philippe might be posting some pictures he took yesterday, but for now, I'll post these. My younger daughter and I went for a walk through what will be our new neighbourhood in just a couple of weeks. You can see the photos in larger sizes here.


This is one of a number of historical buildings in the area. I like the style of architecture on this one.




















Our balcony overlooks the valley, along with a high end neighbouring complex. There are a number of look out points, but the one near this complex has fancier light posts. *L*



























There are sets of stairs leading into the valley all over the place. Some are boken up by landings, and it was over the rail on one of these that I got this photo. Directly beneath our balcony is trees, a street, and this area here, then more trees and finally, houses.

I think the views will be quite spectacular in the summer.

273:365 Happy Valentine's Day

Anna: I hope everyone had a fabulous Valentine's Day. :-)


I left this great big pillow, made with a fabric texture that looks like it's made of roses, for Philippe to discover this morning. Hearing his exclamation when he found it was a hoot!! :-D

Philippe left a big box of Bernard Callebaut chocolates for me to find. This plate has one of each kind in the box - and there were several of each. This will last me a while!! *L*



Click on the photo for full size.

272:365 Mystery solution

Anna: I was originally going to post the un-cropped photo of the last mystery photo, but it occurred to me that it wouldn't make any difference, since it was really just more of the same. So, I am instead posting this version.

We had a wind storm a few days back. In the ravine we were walking in, a few trees were downed - no mean feat, considering how sheltered that ravine is! We also came upon the remains of a wasp's nest, which my elder daughter brought home a small piece of. She held on to it so I could get a few macro photos.

I've always found the stripey pattern and colours of these quite interesting. It makes me wonder what different trees the masticated fibres came from.

271:365 - Nature Walk

Philippe - Actually got myself out of my apt, with camera.. First time in a bit, so you get a few pics :)

These first two are Bohemian Waxwings.. and they're shy.





This magpie was also not coming very close.


The Chickadees were out in force though.



And so was Chip

These were just pretty so I took them :)

270:365 Another mystery

Anna: I think this might be an easy one. Aside from cropping and sizing, this image is straight out of the camera. Click on it for a larger image.

Can you see what it is?

269:365 My girls

Anna: This was actually supposed to be yesterday's post.


It was a lovely day for a walk, so the girls and I headed over to a nearby ravine. The direction we took brought us to street level at a small park. I thought the way the girls were silhouetted against the sky was quite striking.

268:365 What's this?

Anna: Can you stand one more cat picture? I'm all caught up now - honest! *L*


The girls and I were at the Reuse Centre today, dropping things off. We made a stop inside.

The girls found a few really neat things, but I scored big with just one item. A table top embroidery frame.

As soon as I brought it in, Harley was all over it, sniffing away. Tiger was, as usual, more stand-offish.

I wonder, sometimes. Just what is it that cats can smell that we can't?

On second thought, maybe I don't want to know. ;-)

267:365 Was there something?

Anna: This photo actually goes back to Feb. 1. I just didn't get around to uploading it until now.



I was doing a bit of crochet to test out my arm when the little Harley-Bug decided she needed to get into my project bag. As you can see she's claimed it as her own, even though she could only fit her front paws in. That's after I took my yarn out for her, too.

Yeah, I can be a sucker for the cats sometimes. :-D

266:365 Mystery solution

Anna: No one guessed that the last mystery photo. Well, here's the solution, anyhow.


It was a pine cone seed. Just the very tip of one. The image was taken with our new zPix digital microscope. It was the first photo we tried taking with it, and it wasn't working well at all. I ended up having to take a screen capture. Philippe then went hunting, found, downloaded and installed the updated drivers, and now it works fine. We might be posting more micro shots here in the future. :-D

Oh, then we got the microscope for free. Those grocery store loayalty points are good for some things! :-D