I’m a Laird

This brilliant little bird was playing in the trees behind my house. I found out later on that it is a Male House Finch. I have to admit, I know nearly nothing about birds, but I love them flying around the cedars behind our house.

Last week I took a two hour Flash Photography Course from Michael Williams Photo here in Orleans. I found the course very interesting and I am really looking forward to honing my skills in the Genre over the next few months. I think I will need to buy (don’t tell the CFO) a few little things to enhance the Speedlights that I own.

Here are few photos from my first practice session last night.

The warm weather has turned our back yard in something like Heathrow Airport for birds and squirrels. Our neighbour, a couple of doors down, puts out bird feed and peanuts by the shovel full. I was lucky enough to capture a few cardinals in flight. Still need to work on it a bit, but happy with this first attempt.

I had to drive up to Renfrew for a test at the Renfrew Hospital (all is good) so we decided to make a road trip out of it. We stopped at the Swing Bridge, the Power Dam and the Old Mill. We had been there last fall, but seeing it in the Winter was interesting.

It was a reasonable day weatherwise today and I had seen that another photographer had been down to the falls. So we took a little drive down the road. These falls are very close to the Imalaird Headquarters. The snowbanks were rather high, so not idea for taking photos, but I got a few I like. Sometime I think I need to upgrade my ND Filter. Next time I am going to try my Infrared Filter.

I got a new set of filters for Christmas and I thought I would take them out for a test run. They are Star Filters, the length of the star lines surprised me, so I will have to think about how I am going to use them in the future. Hope you enjoy my experiments.

Well, the weather outside is frightful, seriously, the skies are dull for has seemed like weeks and there is absolutely no snow and none in the forecast will the New Year. A few years ago we took a little stroll along the beach on Boxing Day when the weather was very similar, so the Team headed down to Petrie Island so get some beach time.

One half of the Imalaird Photography Team went for lunch with the British Ladies downtown, so I thought I would take advantage of a couple of hours to go take pictures of planes on approach at the Airport. Got to the airport and they had switch operations to a less than ideal viewing spot, so headed back to the Head Office (Home). On the drive back, I passed by the road to Mer Bleu Boardwalk. That’s always a favourite to walk around with the cameras.

The Imalaird Team rented a Chalet in the Laurentian Mountains for the weekend. It was a very nice getaway. Got some shots of a wonderful sunset when we arrived, some nice nature shots on a wee walk and some super cool night shots of the Beaver moon with Jupiter and a Halo.

I created a 2024 Desk calendar from our recent visit to the Orkney Island in Scotland. If there is any interest, I can sell (and mail) you a copy. You can send me an email at robb (at) imalaird.ca

Ottawa local Pickup = $15
Canada $15 + $3.50 postage = $18.50
USA $15 + $5.75 postage = $20.75
World $15 + $11.25 = $26.25

All funds in Canadian Dollars