TFC Home Opener - 2016

It is the 10th year for Toronto FC, and with a lengthy road trip to start the season all of the TFC supporters were chomping at the bit for our boys in red to come home.  8 away games to start the season along with off season renovations to Our House (BMO Field) - lets just say that the atmosphere always promised to be something special.

With new security measures in place, and undoubtedly a learning curve for the entry gate staff, I did not want to risk bringing my Nikon into the stadium.  I settled for my blackberry classic camera.  This little guy isn't too bad of a device, and allows you to shoot panorama on the phone itself.

These are a few of the shots I got pre game.  No in game shots - that's when you actually watch the soccer game...

I am now an official Award Winning Photographer

In October of 2015 I entered a number of photographs in the Capture Oakville photographic competition.  This competition is held annually.  I entered 5 images in digital format, of which 3 were chosen to be printed and judged.  Of those 3, I won 2nd place in the category Something Grand.  The photo was from the Glenfinnan Viaduct in Scotland, which those of you who saw the Harry Potter films might recognize as the bridge that the Hogwarts Express rides along.

Here is the shot that won 2nd place.

And these were the other two that were chosen to hang in exhibit.

15th Hole - Capture Oakville

Seagull - Nature and Wildlife

I am using my winnings to save up for a new camera... :-)

Project 365 - Day 365 - What better way to close off a project?

Done.  Finito. Fini. That's all folks. 

Today marks the end of my project 365 for 2013.  Now, I am not saying that I won't do this again, I am saying that I am taking at least 2014 off - probably more.  I might pick this up when I have less on my schedule - when I am retired, or at least have more free time.  This project took a lot of my free time away, and it became - at times - a chore of sorts. 

I learned an awful lot this year, I forced myself to hone new techniques and shoot different things.  I short three charity events, and participated in many photo outings, one of which will no doubt become an annual thing for me.  I saw new parts of my town and surrounding area.  I learned that if you have a camera in your hand, random people will ask if you can take their picture and have it emailed to them.  I learned how to coax squirrels with peanuts to get that perfect shot, and how to pan to catch birds flying by or coming in for a fish.  I learned to stop shooting when I had my shot of the day, and to come back later to get the rest of the shots for other days.

I learned that even I can't take a bad picture in Tahiti and Bora Bora.

I do have regrets though.

I regret that I never got that shot of the cardinal I wanted.  I didn't have time to shoot the northern lights - as the weekend we spent in Algonquin Park was not ideal for that subject.  I also regret that the Algonquin trip was a week too late for the good fall colours, and a lot of the colourful foliage had fallen by the time we go there.  I regret that I did not explore more techniques.  I regret that some of my shots are less than stellar - but they can't all be framers.

I found out that a lot of people were following my blog, although my blogger account only shows one actual follower.  Facebook, Twitter and Networked Blogs brought my more people, and my blogger account recorded visitors from Central and South America, Europe and Asia.  I also had some traffic from the Polynesian Islands as well.

Canada - 6513 pageviews
USA - 2789 pageviews
Russia - 578 pageviews
Germany - 377 pageviews
Ukraine - 149 pagevies
Indonesia - 84 pagevies
France - 59 pageviews
Netherlands - 48 pageviews
China - 45 pageviews
Serbia - 32 pagevies

Friends and Family who had never clicked "like" in Facebook on any of the shots shared their favourite ones with me.  It was really cool to find out that even though people weren't vocal about it, they were following my blog.

The most visited posts were random.  Day 227, the shot of our friend's daughter at the Rising Star competition garnered the most pageviews, along with Day 303 - the shot from Hallowe'en.  The third highest pageview was page 1, which is where everyone had to go to start looking at the blog unless they had a direct link.

Although this marks the final Project 365 blog entry, it does not mark the last Confessions of a Photoholic blog.  You will see more from me, but not as often.  Thanks for taking this incredible journey with me, and a huge thanks goes out to my wife, Sonia, for her patience, support, and ability to kick my ass into gear to get a shot of the day even when I didn't want to even look at my camera.

Oh yeah, today's shot.  This was shot on the 31st, although I just got home from a NYE party.  This is shot on Britannia Road looking off into the sunset.  The sky was dark and gloomy until just an hour before sunset.  Sonia sent me out to get this shot - we were supposed to be in Milton together for a party and she sent me on ahead and got a ride with friends so I could have a sunset for the final shot of the blog.  Thanks again Sonia.

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.