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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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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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Lost in thought

This shot is from our trip to Oahu in 2007 on the east side of the island at the Kualoa Ranch jeep tours. They are not actually jeeps but rather ex Swiss Army six wheel drives that were actually pretty cool. The tour goes through the Ka’a'awa Valley where Jurassic Park, Windtalkers, You, Me & Dupree, 50 First Dates and Lost were filmed. It’s about two hours of six by six fun in the jungle. I would probably think about eating lunch elsewhere if you go in afternoon as the food there is pretty lame.

• Camera: Canon EOS 10D
• Exposure: 0.006 sec (1/180)
• Aperture: f/8.0
• Focal Length: 80 mm
• ISO Speed: 100

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Last Memorial Day I took the family to Seattle on a bit of a whim. We hit the Woodlands Park zoo and then went downtown. When we were at the Pike Place Market this old guy in a uniform just walked up and grabbed a crab out of the tank and started waving it at everyone. Then he just stood there and posed for pictures. I don’t think he was really crazy at all. Crazy or not he takes a great picture.

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

Photo Credit © 2010 JP Holecka

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Queen Sofia Palace of the Arts

The city of Valencia has an opera house that rivals that of Sidney without a doubt. In fact it is the 3rd largest opera house in the world after Metropolitan Opera House in New York City and Chicago’s Civic Opera Theatre. The Valencia Opera House [Queen Sofia Palace of the Arts] is located on a dry river bed that rings the old part of the city. The river was diverted and turned into a giant public space after devastating flood in 1957. Today the river bed plays host to Europe’s largest aquarium, a massive science world, IMAX theatre, and the opera house designed by native architect Santiago Calatrava. The opera house stands very tall and resembles a giant Spartan war helmet and is covered in Calatrava’s often used white concrete with an outer layer of broken mosaic tile [trencadís]. In the setting sun the building captures the warm rays and radiates them right back out. This is juxtaposed with the massive blue reflecting pools that connect it with the rest of the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències [City of Arts and Sciences].

If you are planning a trip to Spain I can’t recommend a stop over enough. The City of Arts and Sciences it simply amazing and will dazzle and delight all those of any age.

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Photo Credit © 2009 JP Holecka

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I shot this in between the massive days of rain why had this month. I like the slight blur that the Hipstamatic app added to the shot. For some reason I love the way leafless tree look on “film”.

• Camera – iPhone
• App – Hipstamatic

Photo Credit © 2004 JP Holecka

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This shot was taken as we ascended the mountain via the Skyride. I like this shot because of the sun off in the blurry distance and remnants of the rain on the window. If you look closely you can see English Bay, Stanley Park and Vancouver in the distance. In fact I could see the ferry that my wife was on when I spoke to her on the phone…

The rain held off and the little guy finished learning the snow plough [pizza wedge] and went for his first ride on the chair life. I set up the lap top and had the best office view you can imagine. It was a good day.

• Camera – iPhone 3Gs
• App – The Best Camera

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