Project 365 - Day 364 - Bronte Harbour

For the second last day of this project, I decided to go back down to one of my favourite haunts.  I went down to Bronte Harbour.

The ice in the picture is quite thin, to the left of this shot the water is open and moving.  The geese shown in the lower right hand corner are actually standing on the ice itself ... not swimming in it.

It just might be time to fly south birds ... :-)

Project 365 - Day 363 - No Rest for Santa

Well, today marked the last of the Christmas festivities that we had planned this year.  4 Christmas dinners, and one open house, and we got to see a lot of friends and family.  It is now time to start planning for next year.

This got me thinking about Santa.  It must take him forever to make all the toys for the little boys and girls, so he must have to start right away.  I am sure he takes Christmas day off, and maybe Boxing day as well, but he is probably back at it again on the 27th, making toys.

I have a figurine that I painted probably 12 years ago of Santa making a dollhouse.  I decided to do a portrait of him for tonight's shot.

Project 365 - Day 362 - Tree at night

Tonight I went back down to Coronation Park to shoot some stars.  I decided to use my tree as the foreground for some start shots.  It was really dark due to the lack of moonlight, so it was really hard to focus.  I ended up bracketting my focus on a number of shots and picking the best one later when I could see what the focus was doing.

Project 365 - Day 361 - Snow and running water

One of the things I like about early spring is the melting of the snow, and how the creeks and rivers start to carve their way through the ice and snow.  Today is a very nice day, it is sunny and hovering around 0 deg - the perfect ingredients for open water in the creeks and rivers.  This is a shot I got this morning around the corner from my house - I love the reflections in the pooling water, just before it goes down the little mini rapids.

Project 365 - Day 360 - Coronation tree from another angle

This shot is of my favourite tree in Coronation Park.  You can see that the remnants of the ice storm are pretty much gone from our neck of the woods.  We went to see my sister this evening for Christmas dinner and she still has a lot of ice on her trees.  Her neighbourhood is just north of us, about a 10 minute drive.  It is really strange how different the results of the storm are from area to area.  I guess there is something about living closer to the lake - but it usually feels colder around the water.

Project 365 - Day 359 - Luca and the Nerf Gun

So this is my cousin's son Luca.  I had him pose like this, and used a small aperture to blur his face while I focused on the barrel of the Nerf gun.  The gun was not loaded, and neither my camera nor I was in any danger during this time.

Project 365 - Day 358 - One more ice storm shot

This was shot on the way to a family dinner, the first of four Christmas dinners this year.  Yum.  Anyway, this is up in Brampton, along highway 407 where the ice on the trees and bushes is still pretty thick.  You can see a lot of ice build up on the transmission towers.  These lines all survived the storm, but some are still coated in ice even though it is sunny outside.

Many thanks to my patient wife for pulling over on the side of the highway so I could get this shot... :-)

Project 365 - Day 357 - Covered in ice

Today I was doing some last minute running around, and I stepped out of Staples at Dorval and the North Service Road.  The sun was out, and it had lit up the field of grasses beautifully.  So I raced home and grabbed my camera, only to find out I missed the show.  I waited this time, and sure enough, as the sun started to drop it lit up the field again.  I snapped a couple of pictures.

This is an HDR of 4 shots.

Project 365 - Day 356 - Ice

So, those in the GTA will recognize this photo.  It's something that they are looking at themselves, in their backyards, front yards, and even in the planters in their balconies that they have neglected to clean out this fall.  This is a shot from my backyard during today's ice storm.  Currently we are at the tail end of the storm, and it is warming up a bit so the ice should begin to melt off the trees.  There are a number of trees down in the area, some parts of the GTA are without power and will be for a while, but here in our immediate area there is not much damage - yet.  We're still hoping that this will be the extent of the storm.

This is one of my many spruce trees in the backyard, the branches are hanging a lot lower than usual, so I was able to get a pretty close shot.  No macro today, the wind is too strong making longer exposures impossible.

Project 365 - Day 355 - It's all over but the wrapping

Spent most of the day today shopping - but it's almost all done now.  All we have left is wrapping.  Usually, I wrap all the presents while Sonia does the last finishing touches on the shopping but since we're finishing a little earlier this year than usual, I might actually have some help in that department.

Project 365 - Day 354 - Leaf on Snow

Well, not a very imaginative title I know, but it actually describes the shot perfectly.  This is a leaf from my Japanese Maple that decided to fall AFTER the snow last weekend and subsequent melt today.  This guy is still wet as it is still raining outside.  I was hoping it would freeze, and make for some good icicle shots off the branches, but no such luck.  I guess it's really a good thing, as if the temp were to drop below freezing now there would be a lot of accidents.

Project 365 - Day 353 - Santa came to my house early this year

We got home later than usual today, and we found a present under the tree.  It wasn't from Santa Claus, but it was from my sister, Heather.  Heather had been posting on facebook about an ornament that our mother had made a long time ago - she made a bunch of these ornaments and sold them at a craft sale.  My sisters bought some of these ornaments, and Heather dug one out of a box for me to have, asI didn't have one of my own.  It was truly a nice surprise.

Our tree is full of ornaments that we have received from friends and family, ones that we bought while traveling on vacation or for work.  Each ornament on our tree means something to us, and when we put the tree up every year we get to relive those memories - "remember this trip?" "Were did we buy this one?" and so on.  We even have ornaments that remind us of Brodie and Leo, our dog and cat that have since passed on.

So today's shot is another ornament on the tree - but not just any ornament.  This is one my mom made.

Project 365 - Day 352 - Batteries Included

I remember one Christmas when I was a kid.  I was allowed to open one present on Christmas eve, and the rest would have to wait until Christmas day.  We were allowed to pick the present we opened, and I chose this heavy rectangular block that I had been checking out for weeks before.  My parents tried to talk me out of it, but I insisted that I open that one.  It turned out to be a lantern battery - part of another gift.  Now, my parents could have left it at that, but they allowed me to open the gift that went with the battery.  It was a wood burning set.

At this time of year we find ourselves shopping for kids gifts, and I know some people like to buy the cute outfit, or some clothes that the kid needs, but I'm more of the toy kind of shopper.  Usually, I check the side of the package and see if the toy requires batteries, and the more batteries it takes the better the toy inevitably is. 

Recently, Sonia and I were shopping for toys for a charity and we were specifically looking for things that did not take batteries, as these are consumable or luxury items.  Rechargeable batteries are an option, but if you have a toy that takes twelve AA batteries ( yes, I have bought a couple of these toys - as well as a case of batteries from Costco ) then this could get expensive.

As a photographer, batteries are a big part of my hobby.  When I go on a shoot I make sure I have my two camera batteries charged, and my AA batteries ready to go - at least two sets for the two flashes, two sets for the PocketWizards.  That adds up to a whopping twenty four batteries.  They are all rechargeable, so at least I'm not personally responsible for killing the environment ... :-)

This photo has the batteries included....

Project 365 - Day 351 - Snow on the Juniper

This is a macro shot of a spot of snow on a juniper bush in front of our house.  This was shot with my 60mm lens, side lit with a flash as it was getting late in the day  ( I had to keep adjusting my settings to account for the dying natural light).    This spot is no more than an inch square, as you can probably tell by the size of the juniper stems in the bottom right hand corner of the shot.

Project 365 - Day 350 - Shadows

When I got home tonight, I went around back to get the recycling containers.  I noticed the way the trees were casting shadows across the pristine, untouched snow in the backyard.  So I grabbed my camera and tripod and hiked around the back side of the backyard, careful not to disturb any snow.

Framing the shot posed a real problem, and after trying to crop and get it to work in post I came to a conclusion.  I should have gone to a park to shoot this where there was more room.  But I kinda like this anwyay...

Project 365 - Day 349 - Winter Night

This was shot tonight in my backyard.  The sky was so blue because of the reflections from the snow and the big bright moon.   No starts tongiht, it's just too bright outside.  But I wanted to capture the colour of the sky itself.  I shot the moon through one of the birches in the backyard for this picture.

Project 365 - Day 348 - Christmas Portrait

Today I spent the afternoon at Stonemill taking pictures for a Christmas event put on by Heather and Pat Belsito.  This was one of the subjects for today's shoot.  The pointsettia beside her is named Landon, who is her little brother - he was too camera shy to be in the picture.

Project 365 - Day 347 - Fun with colour and light

Today I was going through my gear for a photo shoot I am doing tomorrow, getting everything ready and making sure I had all my parts.  I was also thinking about what my shot might be for tonight.  I was playing with the camera, taking a test shot, and then realized that my shutter was at 30s.  I shut the camera off, thus closing the shutter, and turned it back on.  Just on a whim, I check out the picture.  It was kind of cool!  The camera was aimed at the christmas tree and I was moving it back and forth, so the colours from the lights were streaks.

I then began thinking of what I could do to incorporate this effect in my shot for today.  I remember when I was on a photo tour with The Mentor Series, one of the instructors told us about a technique where you hold the camera steady and zoom out over the shutter length.  So I tried this.  After a few shots, this is what I came up with.

A neat way to look at the christmas tree... :-)

Project 365 - Day 346 - Cloudy Cloudy Night

I attempted this shot last night, but there were too many planes around as it was too early in the evening.  I went out later tonight, and it worked out better for me.  Now, it's cloudy tonight, but the ceiling is high so I did get a nice view of Toronto, but the haze is still there.  You can really see the light fall off from the city into the lake.

The lake also appears to be freezing over, but that's because my shutter is so slow, it makes it look smooth.  A benefit from this is the reflection of the glow around Toronto.

Project 365 - Day 345 - Starry Starry Night

Okay, feeling much better tonight.  I also feel creative ... and that's a good thing!

Went to Coronation park tonight to get some stars.  Tonight was a clear night, the first one in more than a week, so I wanted to get a good shot while the getting was good.  I started shooting directly over the lake towards the US of A, and I found that there were just too many planes going by - not close enough to get a good shot of and not moving fast enough to keep out of the shot.  So I started playing with the angles.

This angle is right down the shoreline towards Burlington - or I guess more appropriately Bronte Harbour.  Shot at f/8 and 13s shutter at 24mm focal length using my 24-70mm lens.

Project 365 - Day 344 - Snow?

Okay, I will admit.  I was really drawing a blank today trying to figure out what to shoot.  Still not 100% so I didn't want to go outside - too cold.  So I went through the house with my macro lens.

This is italian white bread, focused really close at f/57.  It kind of looks like snow ... :-)

Project 365 - Day 343 - Ready for snow

This is yesterday's shot.  You see, I had a little .. ahem .. issue last night.  It seems that I had contracted a stomach bug that kept me on the couch and sometimes the bathroom floor for the last 24 hours yesterday.  It started just as I was leaving work and hit hard around 8pm last night.  Now I am starting to feel kind of normal, and hungry.  I shot this yesterday, but really didn't have the mental focus to post last night.

This is the birch trees in front of our house.  I like the way the black branches contrast with the light sky.  Kind of neat.

Project 365 - Day 342 - Colours

Today's shot is a different shot.  I wanted to catch the colours of Christmas again, but in a new and different way.  I took one of our reindeer that is covered in sparkles and placed it in front of the Christmas tree.  Then I shot it with my 60mm MACRO lens to catch the colours without seeing the entire figure.

Project 365 - Day 341 - SQUIRREL!!

This was yesterday's shot.  I shot it yesterday but didn't have access to any interweb to post it - it was a very crazy and busy day.

This little guy has been a focus of mine for a while.  I keep trying to get a shot of him - I did end up using one of his shots during the summer months.  Recently, he has taken up home in my metal shed.  He didn't do any damage as all the stuff in there is safely stored in hard plastic boxes, but he did build a nest with all his nuts and things.  I'll clear him out in the spring, but only if there are no babies.

Project 365 - Day 340 - Winter Berries

Posting VERY late today, I didn't have network access after I took this shot yesterday. 

I am pretty sure these are not edible, but then again I may be wrong.  There is a hedge along the walkway at work, and as I was leaving work yesterday I spotted this one bush that was covered in these berries - much more than the other bushes.  I guess that this one hasn't seen a lot of bird activity being so close to the front door.

Project 365 - Day 339 - Water Droplet Collision

Heh.  Yep, that's what it is.

I got this new device a couple of weeks back that had "some assembly required" and I finally had time to built it.  It's called a Camera Axe (www.CameraAxe.com).  Basically it's a controller for your camera, it controls the camera and a flash - more if you use a wireless system.  There are some sensors that you can make on the web site, such as sound, motion, projectile, etc.  Today's shot employs a valve "sensor"

The Camera Axe is set up to control the valve.  You fill this tube with water and then the valve opens and drops water into a dish.  Some of you might remember my first , manual droplet shot.  I didn't use anything for that and I got lucky, but repeatability was a real problem.  What this device does is let's you free up your hands for focusing and framing the shot, selecting the aperture and so on.  You adjust the delays and the timers (there are a LOT of settings you can go through) and you take the shot.  It's not like the box is doing all the work, but it takes the pressure off to allow you to set up the collision and then start playing with light and colours.

I am impressed with this device ...

Project 365 - Day 338 - Rudolph

I wanted to shoot something christmassey again and I was drawn, once again, to our tree.  I could have taken the standard triange shaped christmas tree showing all the ornaments, none of them in any kind of direct focus or anything.  That would be pleasing to the eye - our tree is cool - but I wanted something a little more personal - more close up.

This ornament is a recent one that I bought for Sonia two years ago.  Our tree is full of ornaments that mean something to us - ones we bought each other, ones we had purchased for us and ones that we got on vacation.  It's a neat little (standing at 7 feet tall) tree full of memories.

Project 365 - Day 337 - A different kind of snowflake

In Bronte Harbour, there are these decorations that hang from the lamp posts.  For most of the year they are an anchor with a rope winding around them.  For the holidays, however, the town changes them to snowflakes.  I have wanted to shoot these since I started this project, but the shot was just not there.  I took another stab tonight and I am reasonably pleased with the outcome.

I had to do a lot of cloning in this picture to get rid of lights of passing cars.  This was shot around 5:30 tonight, and it was the time that there was a lot of car traffic in the area making the shot difficult.

Project 365 - Day 336 - Big Christmas Balls

There is a Christmas tree in Town Square in Oakville at Lakeshore and George streets.  It's a pretty big tree, and I wanted to take a picture of it today.  I didn't want just any picture, I wanted a different take on the traditional christmas tree pic.  So this is what I came up with.

There are these giant gold and red balls on the tree.  Most of the balls had either no reflection or underwhelming reflections.  This was one of the balls with a good reflection - but the problem was that I was in the shot when I would shoot it.  Solution?  Shoot on an angle and use your tripod.

1 sec exposure - another reason for the tripod.

Project 365 - Day 335 - Happy December Everyone!

December 1st.  That means it is now legal to put up the Christmas Tree!  :-)   We bought a new tree this year, pre lit with LEDs on it, from Costco.  It's 7 ft tall - nice and big. The last one was only 6 1/2 feet tall, so this guy is bigger - but just about as big as possible for our house.

We have it lit and decorated, so I decided to take a shot of it for my Dec 1st project 365 photo.

Project 365 - Day 334 - Sunrise with a little surprise

I woke up today for the sunrise, and it was turning out to be un-spactacular.  Yes, that is a word - well it is now anyway.  Besides, it is a gooder way to say not so spactacular or something along those lines.

Okay, back on track now.  It was very cold outside, and I parked in a lot beside the big lot for Coronation park.  This lot looks right out onto Lake Ontario.  When I started shooting, I noticed something in the top right hand corner of the shot.  I re-framed the shot and took it again.  That is the moon there peeking through the clouds, while it still can before the sun comes up.

Neat.

Project 365 - Day 333 - Urban Sunset

After shooting sunrise and sunsets in Tahiti, it was a change to be shooting the sunset in Oakville again.  Not necessarily a nice change - yes, I am happy to be home, but I could have stayed in Tahiti for a lot longer.  I am sure I would eventually get homesick - missing family and friends - but that would take a long, long time.  And besides, I wouldn't really miss this bitter cold we've been having.

The sun sets at 4:30 these days, so I have to get out and shoot on my way home.  Sometimes I have to shoot when the conditions are not all that ideal - but I have made this commitment to shoot every day all year, so that's what I have to do.

Today, an urban sunset - Oakville style...

Project 365 - Day 332 - Grizwalds, this is not...

I wanted to shoot Christmas lights tonight, so I took it upon myself to turn mine on.  I don't take the lights down in the summer - first of all they are white and second they are hidden by the trees at the front of the lot.  They are C5 incandescent bulbs, glass, so they do break and burn out, and I end up having to replace 5-6 of them each fall season.

When I turned the lights on, only 3 were blown this time.  So not too bad.  When I took my shot, you could see two of the blown ones, and by see I mean there was a light missing in the row.  Thank heavens for the clone tool ... :-)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas ....

Project 365 - Day 331 - Footprints

Took a walk in Coronation park today looking for shots that displayed a winter theme.  The park is basically closed for the season, they close off about 3/4 of the park and there's only one entrance open.  The area after the closure is not maintained in the winter months. 

I came across this in the parking lot.  It's a boot print, that has been frozen into the ice.  I thought it was pretty cool.

Project 365 - Day 330 - How do you measure up?

Man, it gets dark really early now - almost dark by the time I get home.  These grey skies are such a contrast from the sunny and mostly clear skies in Tahiti.  And it's cold!  It's really difficult to get motivated for the last 35 shots - yep that's how many days I have left after today...

I wanted to do a macro shot today, as I have not done one for a while - save for the shot of the hermit crab from Tahiti.  This is a measuring tape using my macro lens with all three conversion tubes on it.  I didn't crop this picture, it's basically right out of the camera - but turned to black and white.

Project 365 - Day 329 - Back to the cold cold north

So, we left Bora Bora on Saturday evening and it was 35 deg C.  Landed in Toronto on Sunday night and it was -8 deg C.  You do the math.  And I was still in shorts.  Luckily I am Canadian and I did not feel the cold.  Jumped into the warm cab and made it home.

I took the day off today to get some stuff done around the house.  One of those things was the yard work.  The wind was really strong out front and raking leaves in the wind was just not working for me.  But I did spend a couple of hours cleaning all the dead plants out of the gardens and getting the place ready for the soon to arrive, if not already here, winter.

Today's shot is of one of the flowers in the front of the house, now all dead and dried up.  The garden in behind has some evergreen ground cover in it, and it creates a nice contrast between the dead plantlife and the living evergreens.

Project 365 - Day 328 - Waiting at the gate

As you all know, we left Tahiti and her islands yesterday evening.  We had the red eye flight into LAX.  It was a pretty uneventful flight, but I didn't get a lot of sleep.  We got to LAX just after 9am today. 

We went through customs - one of the biggest lines I have seen in a long time - and picked up our bags.  By the time we checked back into Air Canada for our last leg home, we had 4+ hours to kill.  Not good.

Today's shot is of our gate, with the plane being readied, but no one else in the seats.

Project 365 - Day 327 - ... sniff ... do we REALLY have to go home today???

As I write this, two porters are trying to remove Sonia from the room - she has chained herself to the bed, chanting "Hell No I WON'T GO!"  :-)

This has been a magical trip, I will recommend this to anyone who is even thinking of coming down here.  It is really a once in a lifetime trip, and it is a heck of a jaunt to get down here, but well worth it.

Today we slept in until almost 9am.  Well, that's not entirely true - we both got up for the sunrise, but then went back to sleep again for a couple of hours.  Breakfast at 9:30 and then back to the room to get into our sun tanning wear.  Sonia came up with the idea that we go on another kayak trip as the water was really really calm this morning.  So off we went.

Our bungalow is one of the last of the line and it's quite the walk to the area resort/beach area.  We did this without shoes.  That was a mistake, because even at 10:30 am the boardwalk was HOT!  But we made it, jumping from shady spot to shady spot, and got individual kayaks this time.  Off we went.  We went across the lagoon to this motu on the other side - but all the way the water was no more than 6ft at the deepest point.  We wandered over some of the most interesting underwater plant life and biggest fish we have seen in Bora Bora yet.  It was pretty incredible.

We hung out on the kayaks for the better part of 2 1/2 hours, and then headed back to shore for some water (didn't bring any) and to cool off (the lagoon water was just slightly cooler than the air).

Today's shot is from our trip.  I had the camera in the dicipac today to keep it dry, and was taking the lens part off to shoot.  This shot is with the dicipac lens on in front of the camera, and it had gotten wet.

Project 365 - Day 326 - Souvenir means souvenir in French!

So, today was a relatively lazy day.  Up for the sunrise at 4:45 and back to bed by 5:15.  Breakfast at 8am today, and then we decided to go back into Vaitape again to get some souvenirs.  There was a cruise ship in port and there were a lot of people in the little craft market.  I went to take some pictures of the ship transporing people to the port, and Sonia went into the market.  When I had enough shots, I went into the market to look for her.  One of the vendors said "She's over there" and pointed to Sonia.

We are now known to the vendors of the Vaitape craft market ... :-)

Back to the resort by lunch time and out on the deck with our snorkel gear.  After 40 min of snorkeling, we sat out with our books in the sun/shade (Sonia in the sun, me in the shade) and read through our eyelids for a while.

I went back out again to get some more fish shots and Sonia continued to read.  When we were both done, we went around the boardwalk paths to the bungalows to get some scenery shots.  Today's shot is one of them.

This is shot with my Tokina 11-16mm lens with the polarizer on it.  I had to straighten the boards a bit on the left and right due to distortion, and cropped  a bit due to the lens seeing some of the rim of the polarizer and UV filter I have on the lens.  Other than that, straight out of the camera.

Project 365 - Day 325 - 4X4 trip around the island

This morning we went on a 4X4 trip around the island of Bora Bora, and also went into the island at three points to go to areas that we could get great scenery shots.  Today's picture is from one of those spots, looking over the lagoon and various resorts.  This particular spot is up by a radio tower that allows communication from island to island. 

The tour was great, we had some fresh coconut water, straight from a coconut, and saw how they make Pareos - the traditional wrap that some women wear on the islands.  We also got to see a couple of cannons that were placed in 1942, when the US forces came to the islands to keep it out of the Japanese hands after Pearl Harbor.  Our guide was telling us that the US forces were here for four years, and there was never a battle on these islands.  When one of our other tour mates asked how the islanders took to the Americans, our guide responded that the US forces were great to the locals, and helped with building roads and buildings in the area.  The land was appropriated for their use, but they gave it back to the islanders in good condition once they were done in 1946.

So if you're ever in Bora Bora, I recommend you look up Vavau 4X4 Adventures.  Ask for Daniel, our guide.  He was awesome!  www.vavau4x4adventures.com

This is shot at 11mm using by 11-16mm Tokina lens.  I have my circ polarizer on, and it is shot at f/8 at ISO800.   Shutter is 1/400s

Project 365 - Day 324 - Into Vaitape

Today we went into the small village of Vaitape to do some shopping.  I bought a couple of shirts and Sonia bought a necklace from one of the craft vendors.   After the shopping was done, we treated ourselves to snow cones.  The snow cones were so good, after all I think it was the hottest day so far of our vacation.

When we got back to the resort, we went snorkeling again.  Sonia was feeding the fish from our bungalow above, and I was underneath with my camera in the trusty waterproof bag taking pictures.  The current here is slightly rougher than the past places, so it was a bit more difficult to stand but I eventually got the hang of it and was able to get some good shots - although there is a lot of bad ones to go along with the good ones ... :-)

This is one of those shots, from the coral nursery right under our bungalow.

Project 365 - Day 323 - Tern of phrase

Today we spent most of the day in the bungalow.  It rained for a bit, and then let up - after which Sonia and I went snorkeling.  Sonia accused me of trying to get her to touch the stingrays, but that was not the case - you know they/re really not that dangerous to humans as long as you stay away from their tail.

Before we went snorkeling, I was watching the birds flying around the lagoon between our bungalow and the main resort area.  There were so many birds fishing and it was really cool to see.  All of a sudden this one bird flew into my view - he caught my eye because he had light blue feathers on the underside of his wings and body!  It was quite cool! 

I already had my 70-200 Sigma on with the polarizer on the front so I was shooting away.   Unbeknownst to me, Sonia had decided to check out what I was shooting and came up behind me just as the tern (I believe that was what it was) dove in for a fish.  She put her hands on my waist just as this happened and scared the poop out of me!  I missed that shot, but soon recovered enough to get this shot.

I toned down the reds a bit on this, as the fish is almost split in two.  But yes, his wings are that blue.  No photoshop on that part ... ;-)

I tried to research the kind of bird - the closest I can find is the Greater Crested Tern.  But he is a tern of some kind ....

Project 365 - Day 322 - Sunset from sunny Bora Bora

We're on our last leg of our Tahiti trip.  It was really difficult to leave the Royal Huahine resort.  It is a small resort, but the biggest on the island.  You get to know all the staff, and they can anticipate your meal and drink orders.  

Snorkelling around our bungalow also proved very fruitful - we actually went twice yesterday before eventually dragging our butts out of the ocean to go to dinner. 

Going into the town of Fare from our resort required a short 20 minute boat trip - but that was no problem for us.  Fare is a cute little town, but is also the capital of Huahine.  We went to the supermarket there, and also bought fruit from a local grower - Sonia negotiated a fair price for what she though was one mango - it ended up being a plate of 8 mangos!   Man, I have never had mangos like that before!!  They are different from the ones we get in the stores, and super ripe as well!

So off to Bora Bora today, a quick plane ride (15 minutes - quicker than the boat trip to get to our resort) and we were here.  Once we got settled in our over-water bungalow, we went for a walk through the area.  There are many restaurants and shops along the road here and we ended up at a supermarket to get some water and, of course, some beer for me.  On the way back, we were just in time to catch the sunset ... here it is from the public beach across from our hotel.

Project 365 - Day 321 - There's a 4:45 AM now?

Up at 4:45 today to try and catch the sunrise.  Every day, with the exception of the day we left Moorea, the cloud cover has been too heavy to get a good shot of the sunrise.  Today was no exception.  The alarm goes off, I go out to check the state of the sky and set up my tripod, I wait, the sun comes back up, and I go back to bed.  No shot.

Today, however, when I first got up I went to the deck and noted that the full moon had yet to set.  Of course, where the sun was coming up it was cloudy, but where the moon was setting it was nice and clear.  So I set up this shot to get the moon as it reflected on the water.  Took a couple of shots here and then went to the front of the bungalow to see what the sunrise was doing.  So today's shot is of the moon-set - if there is such a thing ... :-)

Project 365 - Day 320 - Did I mention our bungalow faces West?

Today Sonia and I went on a tour of Huahine.  It was pretty cool, seeing all the
archaeological sites around the island.  Apparently this is why Sonia chose this island, to
see the restored sites from the time before Europeans came to Tahiti.   Our guide was
originally from Los Angeles, but went to the University of Hawai'i to study polynesian
culture.  His father was a French national and he first came to Tahiti when he was seven
years old and fell in love.  He studied Archaeology and hotel management, as he had always
wanted to get into this field.  Now he is working for himself.  The tour was great, and he
had a lot of knowledge to pass on.

In the afternoon we came back to the resort and snorkelled a bit.  When that was done, Sonia
lay out in the sun and I took a nap.  She woke me in time for the sunset, which was pretty
spactacular.  This shot is from tonight's sunset.

Project 365 - Day 319 - Underwater camera

So I bought an underwater camera at the camera shop in Papeete for $2300. Not a bad camera,

and it takes really good shots! Okay, it is not April Fool's day, nor is it backwards

Friday - I didn't buy a new camera. I did, howerver, buy this product called DICAPAC.

Yeah, it has an unfortunate name, but what it does is allow you to put your camera in a

ziploc bag and bring it in the water with you. Really. That's what I did! No, seriously!!

This bag is made of a thick plastic, and some of it is clear. There are ports where you can

stick your fingers in to fire the shutter and to adjust the lens and so forth. There is a

hard plastic piece that goes in front of the lens so the pictures are resonably sharp. You

can see the back of the camera and adjust any setting on the camera as well through the soft

plastic. You can shoot through the viewfinder (I recommend auto-focus as the scuba mask and

extra plastic will not allow you to focus accurately so you'll have to rely on the camera to

make the decisions on what to focus on.

I took it snorkelling, and kept it at the top of the water, but it was completely submerged.

Letting most of the air out of the bag is a good idea, as it will allow you to hold it

underwater better.

Now, it is not as good as getting a real underwater lens, or putting your camera in one of

those $2500 cases, but it does the trick. It has a ziploc seal that is really good, and

then you roll the end of the ziploc down and velcro it closed. Then another roll and velcro

and you are set.

The thing that I have to remember is to set the ISO high, 1200 or 1600, as light dies

quickly underwater - I followed this one really cool fish around for a while and got lots of

dark pictuers, then when I adjusted the exposure they were pretty blurry.

But this shot is from the trip today. It's of the plantlife that is growing on one of the

piers of our overwater bungalow.

Project 365 - Day 318 - Sunrise in Moorea

Sonia set the alarm today for 4:30 so I could get up to check the sunrise again.  When the alarm went off this morning, I opened our curtains to find some cloud at the horizon, but it looked promising.  I started to get ready, gathering all my stuff, but unfortunately I woke Sonia up in the process.  As I was puttering around the room, I was planning my shot and Sonia was asking questions about what I was going to do this morning.  Finally, I dragged my lazy butt out to the deck of our bungalow and looked over towards the sunrise.  It had already started!!!  Abandoning my shoes, I ran with my tripod and camera all the way over to the bridge that connects the overwater bungalows to the rest of the resort.  I didn't have time to set up in my planned spot, at the end of the dock in front of the restaraunt.  I was able to get a few dozen shots off, varying angles and details.  This is just one of them. 

I'm going back to bed for an hour ... :-)  Mornin everyone!! :-)

Project 365 - Day 317 - Hotel pool at night

We went back to Tahiti to Papeete today to do some shopping.  Sonia was looking at the pearls and the clothing and I was taking pictures of the town and surrounding area.  When we got back to Moorea I took a short nap, but left Sonia with strict instructions to wake me at 6pm as I wanted to shoot the sunset.  The sun actually sets on the other side of Moorea, but the light hits the clouds and it is quite spactacular - I got a great shot of it last night. Alas, there was no light over the mountain as the cloud cover was far too low.  So what's a guy to do when plan A fails?  Plan B of course.

This was a shot that I wanted to get regardless, so I went and got it after exhausing the "sunset" options.  This is our hotel pool at night.  It is lit from below the deck, and it overlooks the ocean and the overwater bungalows.  It is quite cool.  Enjoy.

Project 365 - Day 316 - Introducing ... Hermes

Spent the day at the beach today, enjoying the surf and the lightly salted water.  When we first got down to the beach, the towel counter was not open.  While Sonia got us settled, I went to get the towels.  When I got back, Sonia was intrigued with something at her feet.  Thinking she had stepped on a piece of coral or something, I became concerned.  When I approached, however, she looked up and said "Hey, come here!"

I meandered over slowly, expecting now that she was going to get me to clear out some of the miniscule amount of seaweed that had gathered in front of our sun beds.  But instead, she pointed to a shell in the sand.  "Check it out! - Meet Hermes!!"

I looked.  I saw a shell.  One of ... well I am not exaggerating when I say hundreds of other shells on the beach.  But just when I was going to make a smart alek comment - yes, I have been known to do that from time to time - the shell moved.   Inside, was a hermit crab.

So, off I went to get my camera and macro lens, while Sonia babysat our new friend and made sure that the young man who was raking the beach did not rake him up as well.  I got a lot of shots of Hermes, but not a lot of useful ones - as these guys are pretty quick for crabs, and he liked to fall off things that I wanted to photograph him on.

Well, here's Hermes!!

Project 365 - Day 315 - Moorea at night

Today we made the trek to Moorea.  The trek involved a half hour ferry ride from the island of Tahiti to the island of Moorea.  The ferry ride proved to be a great source of images, and they will be displayed once I get home and can create the panoramas by stitching together the required images.

Tonight, after dinner, I dropped Sonia back off at the room and I went back out to shoot.  We had eaten dinner at the pool bar, and it overlooks the pacific ocean - with a great view of Tahiti.  Having this view all night I wanted to share it with you guys.

After I shot this view a bit, I was headed back to the room and found this shot below.  This is one of the over water bungalows in the foreground, and far in the background you can see the island of tahiti all lit up.  Also, there are stars... lots and lots of stars.  There is light polution here, but not nearly as much as back home.