Author: Robb Towns

I had a fun evening of comet chasing tonight. It took two trips out to get some photos of the comet. The first trip out I only had a general idea where it was in the sky. I took some photos of the highway and the sunset from the bridge I was standing on while I searched for the comet. I never did see it, so I went home and looked though the photos and in the Bridge photo just above the street light I could see the comet. I went back out the bridge, but the lights were so bright I couldn’t see anything in the sky. So I went to the next bridge down the highway where I knew there were no streetlights. I got a few comet pics. Not quite a crisp as I would have liked, but I am still happy.

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On one of my walks I came across this beautiful little garden full of Lilies and tucked away in the shade was a bunch of wild flowers. Couldn’t help but stop and take a few photos

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We were invited down the street to a friends backyard where we had social distanced BBq and then watched the community provided fireworks show. It was our first visit with them since Covid locked us all down. A really nice way to spend Canada Day.

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Wising all my amazing followers a very Happy Canada Day.

End of June update on my virtual Lands End to John o’Groats walk. I am in Newbiggin-on-Lune in the Eden district in Cumbria England. In June I walked 195 kms or 121 miles

1032 kms / 641 miles completed – 712.2 kms / 442.5 miles to go.
59% done in 50% of my goal time. The pin with my photo in it is my current location, the red pin is my pace pin. I am 167 kms ahead of pace. At my current pace I should cross into Scotland 2nd week of July.

Camera and Wireless Technology is amazing. Tonight, my daughter Kendra was walking along the Harbour in Kirkwall, Orkney Islands, Scotland and she was watching the sunset while thinking that her Dad back in Ottawa, Canada would love this! So with the wonders of video technology she called me and for the next hour we wandered the Harbour together taking photos and screen shots, all at my direction. We’re calling it ‘Remote Photography’. Kendra was holding her camera phone and I took the pictures. These pictures were all taken between 10:30-11:15pm her time. We are so thankful that we can do things like this even though we are 3000 miles away from each other. It makes missing her and Orkney a little easier.

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So I bought a couple of remote flashes recently and I have been curious to see what kind of results I would get. I watched a few Youtube videos to see how to get what I hope would be at least good results on a first try. What I mostly learned is that I have more to learn on this. I am happy with these first attempts though.

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Petrie Island beach is about 5 minutes from our house. It is a true gem in the east end of Ottawa and for Orleans in general. My goal this evening was to capture the sunset. I used my new 10-22mm wide angle lens and I was able to capture a few shots that I am really happy with. One special photo was of a group of young ladies that had come down to the beach with their parents to take photos. These young ladies were all dressed in their prom dresses. The 2019/2020 School year has been tough for these graduates with many strike days and Covid19 shutting schools down since March.

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A young lady from the Orkney Islands ask permission to use one of my photos for a school project. I was really honoured to know that my photo had made enough of an impression on her and her parents that they would reach out and ask for permission. I had originally posted this picture in a Facebook group that promotes the Orkney Islands over a year ago. Little did I know, the house at the bottom of the rainbow is this young poets house. Below is her Acrostic poem. (I had to look up what Acrostic meant).

Well done Aimee, I hope you get a great mark for your work. I think this makes you a published poet now.

Acrostic – a poem, word puzzle, or other composition in which certain letters in each line form a word or words.

Now you know to 🙂

I had to go downtown for an early morning appointment. It was a bit surreal to take the bus and LRT from Orleans to the west end of Downtown. I was the only person on the bus to the LRT station and then I had the entire train to myself for the first 3 stops. Only a couple of people got on the train for the rest of the journey. I arrived earlier than the time for my appointment so I spent some time taking a few photos. My appointment done, I walked east through the downtown core to Rideau Station with hardly a soul in site. I was able to take a few photos along the way. The ride home was similar. A surreal experience all around.

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