Hammer Time

It's been a long time since I've walked West Edmonton Mall.  Doing the entire mall, including the side halls, took me a little more than half an hour, minus the time it took to snap some shots of the giant, robot jackhammer of awesomeness.
Sent from Anna's phone

Look up

Look up and see who is watching.

From above

Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church.

Art Gallery

DSC_8419-50%
Originally uploaded by amkb

Anna: Here we have the newly opened Art Gallery of Alberta. The design for this - and the accompanying price tag - was quite controversial. I think it's neat. We haven't gone in yet. Saving that for a quiet, weekday. I look forward to seeing how it looks on the inside!

Exploration

Anna: Today we got to visit with someone we haven't seen in many years, taking the opportunity to explore new areas. One of those was the town of Beaumont, located south of Edmonton.



This is the reason we stopped. From the highway, we could see this striking building at the top of a hill. It's the historic St. Vital Catholic Church.



This statue is in front of the church (it has a grotto, too). I played around with the lighting and contrast of this photo, after using the clarify function on my PSP X2. I don't usually like to modify photos much, but it really made an otherwise flat looking photo pop, and the white of the statue stand out from the white of the clouds.

304:365 Destruction

Anna: Being at the end of a row of townhouses, there was only one house beside us. A unique building with at least 4 levels, two of which were built down the side of the valley, below our street level. We all thought it would be an attractive building, if it weren't in such terrible condition. The location is certainly prime, with unobstructed views of the valley.

Today, it got torn down.

These are just a few of the photos we took from off our balcony. Most of what I took were videos using the S3. I've never taken so many video clips with that camera since we've owned it - and wow, does it suck through batteries! I ended up filling the memory card and, not having a spare, switched to my D70. Unfortunately, I've yet to find the battery charger since the move, and it was already overdue for a charge. It wasn't long before I couldn't use it anymore.

Philippe, meanwhile, had taken a few shots with his D80 before heading inside. So I borrowed that and got a few more shots until the S3 was finally uploaded to the computer and the memory freed up.

So the next few pictures are from both of us. I didn't even try to upload any of the video.

Click on the photos to go to my flickr account, or visit this set and see the details behind them.

297:365 Double Header - Updated

Anna: The whole family headed out for a walk this afternoon, and I got a few decent photos. You can see the rest on my flickr account, as well as the full size of these two.

Philippe: I've added a pair of shots I was slow to process. Anna's been reminding me, usually with foot, that I should post more often. :P



There's a building we pass regularly that is unique in both shape and colour. The windows are reflective pink. I liked how clear the reflections were in this shot.



























We've got a winter storm warning happening right now. I'll take spring wherever I can get it! We swung through a downtown theatre that has a greenhouse type lounge area, with waterfalls and benches for people to enjoy. I have no idea what these trees are, but I really like them.

P. This shot is of a building that has a triangle shape; the side we're looking at actually comes to a ten, fifteen-foot width at the corner.

P. This shot was taken with the camera propped on a notepad, since I forgot my tripod :)

222:365 - Legislature

Philippe: The Legislature has a screen up until Remembrance day, showing the names of all those who died in service between 1914 and 1918. This started 04 Nov at sunset, and will be complete Nov 11 at Sunrise. Blogger is screwing up, so you can see the larger shots here.

175:365 - Leg trip - updated: This is my Good Side

Hit the leg for basic shots, just to get back in the habit.

Philippe: This was just cute, and frankly it's not like I have access to my macro lens these days

:P

Philippe: though I blew out this shot, I got me some *new* software (The latest version of Nikon Capture NX) and I'm playing with it a bit. Here are the before and after shots. :)

Anna: It occurred to me that the title and comments above might be a touch confusing. "Leg" is short for "legislature" - we went to the legislature grounds this afternoon to play with the cameras.


*ahem* I was having fun with the macro lens again. ;-) More photos uploaded here.

This wasp was decidedly co-operative. She kept wandering around the flower, letting me get some good views. I had a hard time choosing which one to post here.

119:365 Happy Canada Day!

Anna: A happy Canada Day to all my fellow Canucks. :-D

Today, the family and I headed out to one of several Canada Day celebrations across the city. This one started a bit later in the day (we weren't about to start at 7 am, not even for free pancakes! *L*). We only stayed for a couple of hours, too. You can few my Canada Day flickr set here.

This photo is of the first performance by the Miscigenação dance group. Pronounced Missy-jen-a-sówn, it is a Brazilian fusion dance, blending many different dance styles. This group did quite a number of dances, all with costume changes. Very excellent.








These folks are the reason why we came to this celebration over all the others. They're from the Capoeira Academy Edmonton. The guy levitating in the middle? I think it's safe to say he's the instructor - and WOW was he amazing!!!

After they finished their performance, we left. I'm sure the other performers would've been great, too, but between the heat and Philippe's back saying nasty things to him, it was time to go.






Later on, I headed out by myself to see what else was going on. After a brief stop at The Works (updated set here) I took the scenic route to the legislature grounds. (updated set here) I took quite a few photos along the way, but they didn't fit into any sets I have right now, but they're in my photostream.

This photo is taken from above the interpretive centre, as I was heading out. The crowd had thinned out quite a bit by then, with people heading to the south side to claim their spots to view the fireworks. Some people were already set up in the river valley, even though there was still 4 hours before the fireworks were supposed to start! I was tempted to stay for those, but I really didn't feel like waiting around that long. Especially after seeing that all the washrooms and porta-potties had line ups of women. Ever notice there are never line ups of men waiting for the washrooms? *L*

One of many photos I ended up getting while wandering the legislature grounds. I love the colours in these roses.

88:365 End of the day.

Anna: Didn't get a chance to take photos while we were out and about, so I got some off our balcony. *L*


Can you come out and play?

When we first moved into our apartment, we were really impressed with the size of the balcony. My daughter's cat had been an outdoor cat for the last 3 years, and I knew she's miss it. We figured at least she'd be able to go onto the balcony and get some fresh air.

So shortly after the move, we'd let her onto the balcony with us. We promptly discovered that there's an open space along the rail at the wall separating our balcony from our neighbour's, and she could fit through. *L* We got her back and plugged the space and thought things would be fine.

Then this cat arrived. I think it lives in one of the ground floor apartments. Suddenly, Tiger was no longer on our balcony. She'd jumped from our 3rd floor balcony, to get at this cat.

Directly below us are patios with paving stones instead of grass.

I was able to catch her when she ran into the storage area of one of the patio areas, which happened to not have any tenants at the time. She had a bloody nose, a sore hip, and was very nervous. Nothing was broken, thank God, and she soon healed. It was over a year before we let her onto the balcony again, and she's constantly watched when we do.

Meanwhile, this cat still comes by.




Sunset.

Every evening at sunset, we get bright reflections off this downtown building. I like how the leaves seem to glow from the reflected light behind them.

84:365 - Architecture

Morning walk; the light was a nice diffused grey, so eldest and I went photo hunting :)


Philippe: This little bit of architecture is just plain interesting to see. It's an innovative approach to ensuring a bit of light :D.




















Philippe: This building is now closed down, but I've always appreciated the way they actually tiled the signs right into the wall :)













Philippe: Just a nice flower.














Philippe: The focus is a little interesting on this one as the wind was catching it so I ended up with a sharp focus on the side of the flower, and the rest diffusing out a bit.

79:365

Philippe: They've got a new addition at the WestEd Mall fish tanks; this guy was thoroughly enjoying himself in the water movement :).


















Philippe: The neat part of this one is the model fire escape bolted to the outside. According to the plaque, the model was created in 1930 ish (I think) as a marketing tool for the shop that created the actual fire escape for the building.












Philippe: I just can't resist a good starburst.. :P














Philippe: Old fashioned construction is such a marked difference from today's standards.. There's a real sense of solidity and stability from this brick building that just isn't there for me in the modern glass and plastic constructions.











Anna: I just couldn't do it.

Normally, I will at least resize my photos so they are smaller file sizes, faster loading, etc. They loose detail, though, and for these, I just couldn't bring myself to resize them.

Click on the photos to see them at 100%

50:365 Lunch and Pink

Anna: Friday is the usual library day for the girls and I. Once done at the library, we like to go someplace at least for drinks. If the budget allows, we'll do lunch. Today, the budget allowed. ;-) We stopped at a place called The Three Bananas Cafe, where we got to sit and look through our library selections while waiting for our food. My younger daughter ordered a 3 cheese pizzette, while my older daughter and I had bowls of Boston Clam Chowder and shared a traditional (mushroom and pepperoni) pizzette. The crusts on the pizzette are a multi-grain flat bread I can't remember the name of, but really like. The grilled flatbread that comes with the soup is really nice, too.




I posted the blue building a couple of times. I posted the gold one. Today, I was after pink. After lunch, we headed for this nearby building, with its distinctively colored windows. I admit to a bit of photo manipulation, here. There are power lines all over the place and, even after cropping, I still had one running across the top left. So I got rid of it. :-D

The inside is also very interesting, and I've been wanting to get pictures. Especially in the food court area, where the pillars have murals of local wildflowers. The one time I did go in with a camera, I had a security guard come up and tell me pictures weren't allowed. I'm guessing because of all the government offices in there. Ah, well.

44:365 - Morning run - updated: Reflections

Philippe: I think this is my favourite shot, then again, I've got a thing for sunlight and water. This one is simply a closeup of the sun shot below.

Philippe: This is by far, one of my favourite benefits of morning jaunts (in this case, a run). I've lucked out in that the sling bag I've got for the camera has a waist strap as well and, when tightened properly, doesn't hinder the run at all. :)

The 'saucer' effect is a known issue with the D70 and direct sun shots.. I don't mind it too much as it adds to the mood :P.

Philippe: This one would need trimming to make it pretty, but I like the wide feel of the shot.

Anna: One of the interesting things about our city is the pedway system in the downtown core. Pedestrian walkways run through buildings, below street level and, as in this picture, above street level. This picture was taken from a 4th level pedway, which is actually 3 floors above street level. There's another pedway directly below us, similar to the one visible in here, running from a parkade to a shopping mall. The mall is actually in two buildings, joined by above and below ground pedways. With the exception of 1 or 2 blocks, a person can travel through the major downtown complexes and LRT stations without ever stepping foot outside. A handy thing in inclement weather!

Aside from it being really neat to watch traffic pass below us, I like the reflections in the blue glassed building.

41:365

Golden

Anna: The girls and I went on a photo trip downtown today. I loved how the light was making these buildings shine.

Halfway There

Anna: I just had to add this one, too. This is one of many staircases along the river valley. That landing is actually the halfway point of this staircase, and there's another landing near the bottom. The first time we took it up to street level, all 4 of us counted the steps, and we all got different numbers at the top! *L* I think there's about 200 steps. That landing with the benches was *really* appreciated!

36:365 Downtown and Getting Artsy

Anna: The girls and I headed downtown today and had to use one of the parkades, so we made a point of parking at the top level for the view. The blue building is my favorite - it's just a marvelous shade.


















Philippe: Every once in a while, the artsy-fartsy in me just screams to be let out.. Then, when I do, it sees the results and usually says "k.. I'll go back in now..."

:D

P.