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Last week I spoke at a The Ontario Fermentors Guild AGM on the use of social media for small business. The hotel that I was staying at was around 20 minutes away from Niagara Falls and the I needed to check off another todo on my life list of things to do. Item number 54 “Ride on the Maid of the Mist”. I packed my things into the bright white PT Cruiser [That's another story of rental car roulette I'll post at a later date.] and made tracks via the GPS to the mighty Niagara falls. I did not have much time to pull this off because of my afternoon flight home out of Hamilton.

The GPS chirped “Left, right, left, right” past the cheesy motels on the outskirts of town. As I hastily made my way through the world famous honeymoon hell on this very wet and rainy day I heard the woman on the GPS announce “You have reached your destination!” I sure had. What lay before me was the mighty Niagara Falls and it was huge. Tons of mist rising up out of the canyon. It was awesome in scale and beauty and the massive casinos and hotels that wrung it’s perimeter no longer mattered. There are few places on earth that do that to a person. The Grand Canyon, the desert in Almeria Spain, and the Rocky Mountains all have left me with the same feelings upon first glance.

I parked the car and whisked down the rain swept hill past the arcades and 1970′s haunted house amusements to the entrance of the attraction. Only $14 bucks to ride into the falls. A deal I thought to myself. I paid the ticket and went down the elevator to the waiting lady of the mist.

She was a beauty of a boat and just as I had imagined her. The sharp smell of burning diesel fuel, from the Maid, washed over me and into my nostrils. Yes we were going on a boat ride into the falls and it was going to take the power and torque of the mighty engine below the decks to do it.

We pushed off and I wrapped myself in the bright blue disposable poncho that was to protect me and my camera gear from the harsh punishment of the mighty mist that was about to deluge the fair maid and myself. I was excited and giggled  as I madly snapped self portraits with my iPhone to prove that I indeed did take the ride on the river.

I am not sure why I was so tickled to be on the Maid of the Mist but I was. As we steamed past the first set of falls the rain and mist began to pound the passengers and boat. My camera gear was taking a punishing from the less than gentle mist. I cleaned the lens and snapped up shots as I could. When we finally edged the bow of the boat into the leading edge of the falls the water that was pouring over the top deck and bow had most of the tourists all in a flap. We sat there nose to nose with the falls in a strange show down. Finally as the détente eased the boat slowly began to turn as she did so many times before. The falls would win this again today and we would limp back to the waiting dock where a new set of passengers would ride to the wet edge of the river.

Yes I had ridden the Maid of the Mist and checked off another of my life’s todo’s. It was fun and now I look to the list for the next crazy adventure that waits to be crossed off.

• Apple iPhone
• Baseline DCT, Huffman coding
• TiltShift – iPhone App
• Lo-Mob – iPhone App
• Flickr for iPhone
• GPS Latitude: 49 deg 17′ 32.07″ N
• GPS Longitude: 123 deg 8′ 38.74″ W

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Well, it’s not easy to change the early morning behaviour of my six year old, Olympics or not. Trying to get the young fella to “get cracking” so we could make it out to see the torch be run down Denman street was no easy task. I awoke to the sound of helicopters that were tracking Govinator Arnold Schwarzenegger through his leg of the relay in neighbouring Stanley Park so the mood was already heightened in our house. Shuffling down the street with sleep in his eyes and me time checking out loud every couple of minutes to make sure the he understands that the torch waits for no one.

When we arrived the sirens and rolling lockups of the police motorcycles was already in full effect. Squeezing in kitty corner from Olympia Pizza the we caught up with the corporate preamble and then there it was…the torch, team of support staff, and camera crews there were documenting the event. And then it was gone. In fact I don’t even know who was holding the torch for that leg to be honest. I was just trying to snap a few good shots and make sure that Noah could see the event without getting pushed about.

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Now I am not going to give anything away here but I will say that the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Opening Ceremonies were much better that I thought they were going to be. I have seen most opening ceremonies in recent years and this one does more than hold it’s own. Sure there are some moments that maybe a bit too Canadiana but hey that’s what sells a country these days. Union Jacks for the Eiffel Tower for France and the Statue of Liberty for the good old US of A, it’s what the people seem to want.

The feeling of winter is conveyed through some great yet simple techniques of fx and lighting. There were stand-ins for stars and dignitaries with exception of one huge Canadian star that brought the house down with song in a surprise appearance.

The fact that there is a roof on the place does not get in the way of the event at all. Well maybe for the pre-show and I suspect that will get sorted too. The show runs 2.5 hours  and considering that this was the first dress rehearsal and the third rehearsal overall it went off with only a few tiny glitches. One more full dress rehearsal should take care of what did not go on cue.

There were plenty of stand-ins and blanked out names that will be replaced by the stars of sport but even though it was just a dress rehearsal it really did flick the switch for me and the family. We will watch the real ceremonies on Friday from the comfort of our own couch knowing that we did share the some of that experience. Oh and I won’t have to choke back cheap beer in an expensive plastic cup while watching it.

The one thing I can say is that there will be fireworks that are launched after the show from the roof of the giant dome.

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CTV Set up on Robson

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Walking around on Sunday you could feel the pre-Olympic fever that was beginning to crackle to life in the city. The downtown core was a buzz and the GE plaza was pretty jammed with skaters and spectators alike. I shot this looking down through the new glass domes that were part of the recent GE expansion and revitalization of the Robson Square rink.

• Camera: Canon EOS 10D
• Exposure: 0.008 sec (1/125)
• Aperture: f/6.7
• Focal Length: 55 mm
• ISO Speed: 100

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This was shot on the old set of “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” in the Tabernas Desert, near Almeria Spain. The set has been turned into a pretty cheesy attraction but we stayed the night near by and felt compelled to pay homage to the western legend. This set and the surrounding desert was host to the plethora of spaghetti westerns produced in the 60′s and 70′s. I guess the attraction [Mini Hollywood]  is worth it if you are in the area but I would not necessarily go out of my way to visit the old western set unless you are a spaghetti western freak. My 4.5 year old son really thought this was a real cemetary and I could not convince him otherwise.

Here is a slide show from the rest of the day spent there:

• Camera: Lumix DMC-LZ8
• Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/640)
• Aperture: f/5.7
• Focal Length: 17.5 mm
• ISO Speed: 100

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I love this one for the rough grindhouse look and the overly saturated colours. Bigger than life just like a show girl. Shot in Seattle on 1st Avenue.

• Camera: Lumix DMC-LZ8
• Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/640)
• Aperture: f/5.7
• Focal Length: 17.5 mm
• ISO Speed: 100

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Well it hit today. The 12th Annual International Photo Competition edition of Photolife Magazine that I was lucky enough to place fifth in the category of “People, Family, Friends, Strangers” I had found out that the image had placed back in December and I have been eagerly anticipating it’s arrival on the news stand shelves ever since.

I have been published before in magazines like the Georgia Straight and 24Hr magazine, among others this however is a pretty big deal for me as the competition was fierce with thousands of entries from around the world. The other thing that I am so very proud of is the fact that I shot the image on a Lumix procumer point and shoot. The rest of the winning images were all shot on DSLRs and SLR. I am a small camera fan and like the portability and “always with me” style that it brings.

I may be a new media guy but I have to admit still like the feeling of being published on real paper and cover stock, it just feels so tangible. I did also rush out and buy up the entire rack at the local Chapters.

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This is the first time I have noticed the official Olympic US Network here in Vancouver. It almost looked like the many movie sets around town where we put stickers like this to masqueraded as a US city. Not this time though the big cock is in town for real. I did notice that they were parked close to the GE rink though. I guess old habits die hard.

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