Curves and Levels

Heading West Soon

Vieux Montreal

I made a day trip to Simon's Cameras yesterday to find a tripod part - and thus found myself in Old Montreal. The day was windy and brisk, with fast-moving clouds allowing a low-angled afternoon sun to peek through occasionally. I walked from the City Hall down Rue St. Vincent towards the St. Lawrence River then west on Rue St. Paul, snapping randomly. These nine uncropped images were given the antique treatment using the 'Sepia' setting in Adobe Lightroom as a starting point. I fiddled generously with the individual sliders after that.

Google Map

A few color pictures of Old Montreal after the link.

Perdu 24 Hours Gone

Last night, our little buddy Lewis, didn't come home.

The backyard behind us goes deep; then comes parkland - woodlots, green space, willow scrub and tall grass. As long as our two kitties travel in that direction (they always do), they won't be tangling with traffic. There is a railroad back there, but these animals have enough good sense to stay clear of locomotives pulling a mile's worth of boxcars.

Cats should have a real cat life; with birds and mice to stalk, high branches to climb on and bushy hiding places - so we open the door for them. Young Lewis went out at 10:30AM yesterday and didn't return. Not at noon, when he usually comes back for a nibble and a long nap. Not at 1:00, when I walked the end of the yard giving the special two-tone come-home whistle. Not at three or at four-thirty, when I mounted extensive foot-patrols into the yonder bush. Then dusk fell, as did the snow. As did our spirits. He's never stayed away all night before. We went to bed imagining the worst.

This morning, I was out at first light, walking the neighbourhood, tracking paw prints, calling, calling. No luck. Much gloom and discouragement. My partner called the SPCA from work while I got a 'Lost' sign ('Perdu' en francais) set up on the computer. The printer needed ink; I was just about to install when I heard a faint cat-like noise. It must be Henry, I was sure. He's our other, older cat or it came from the schoolyard - the kids were having recess. I decided to check.

What's this? There was Lewis on the porch with Henry right on his heels like the worried older brother making sure he got home. What happened? Where did he shelter? Why didn't he answer? We'll never know, of course. One of these would have told us, but we're eschewing gadgets at the moment. Anyway, Lewis was all "Doop-de-doop. Hey, I'm home. Is there any food in the bowl? Why is everybody so excited?" We squinted our eyes.

What was it Homer Simpson said to the partially-eaten, picnic-sized sub sandwich that had already given him food poisoning?

"I can't stay mad at you!"

It's all good.

Henry: search team member.

Sunday Contact Sheet

My morning walk roughly follows the train tracks going east out of town and returns along Rue St. Patrice parallel to the river. The turnaround point is a creek where an old trail winds through some woodlots. The sun was out so I brought the camera along.

Google Map

Abandoned Fish Hatchery

I stumbled across these ruins of a fish hatchery while walking on the Magog River path. The operation was built in 1880 and was responsible for introducing five million fish a year into the lakes and rivers of Quebec. It was closed in 1943 due to unsuitable climate conditions - too cold in the winter, too warm in the summer.

Google Map

Olympus E1, 14-54mm. Converted to B&W in Photoshop.

Back Roads To Mansonville

Afternoon's are short and the light is dreary on cold November days. Today's road trip? Down the Chemin des Peres to Austin, south along the Owl's Head road, turn east at Vale Perkins, look for a covered bridge near Mansonville. Oh, I found it. Now I must ask the question: Why is it so hard to get a good shot of a covered bridge?

Southern Thailand By Train

On the platform at Bangkok's Hua Lam Pong railway station.

SOUTHEAST ASIA, Chapter 1: Bangkok to Krabi

Bangkok. Where began an extended trip to Southeast Asia in early 2003. Our rough adventure began in Thailand and from there we hopped through Malaysia, Sumatra, Java and Bali. This installment is the first of several to come. It covers a few days spent in Thailand's capital followed by a train trip to the country's south.

Red by train, blue by bus.
THAILAND FACTS Source: Thaiways.

Thailand's population
Total 63,038,247 (end Dec 2007), about 31 million males and 31.9 females. Of the total, 9.3% live in Bangkok, the capital city.

Geography
Thailand has a land area of 513,115 sq.km. bordered by Malaysia (South), Myanmar (West & North), Laos (North & East) and Cambodia (Southeast). The country's east coast borders the Gulf of Thailand and the west coast abuts the Andaman Sea.
Google Map

Climate
The temperature varies from 19C to 38C with the annual average at about 29C. The humidity is from 66% to 82.8%. In the North and Northeast in winter, the temperatures are much lower during night time, especially on the mountains, with temperatures lower than 10C.
Weather Link.

People
75% Thais, 11% Chinese, 3.5% Malays,
and others are Mons, Khmers, Burmese, Laotians, Indians and a variety of hill tribes.

Brief history
History of Thailand.
The Origin of Thais.

Looking upriver from Hat Noppharat Thara on Thailand's west coast.

If you are new here, please read my recent Blog Notes post. Thanks.

Frost Garden

Two below zero this morning. Clear sky and crisp air painted a frosty veil on our backyard shrubbery as it loses color to late autumn decay. I went out with the E1 and the 14-54mm and tried my hand at some faux-macro. I put the aperture at f4, set the focus as close as it would go and leaned in to the subject, using the viewfinder to confirm sharpness. Above and below are the results, with a few more after the link.

Winter Comes To Magog

Boardwalk winding through marais-de-la-riviere-aux-cerises (Cherry River Marsh).

More photos from the marsh and the shore of Lac Memphremagog at the link below.

New Compact Cameras

Presenting this year's crop of raw-capable, easy-to-carry digital cameras. Pocketable point-and-shoots abound in the digital marketplace, but the vast majority are auto-everything snap-grabbers offering acceptable, jpeg-only images and little photographic control. Since April of this year, five companies have brought out products, perhaps in response to internet clamor, that will tweak the imaginations of photo enthusiasts who need serious capability from a camera but occasionally want to travel light.

Above: CANON G10

From left to right:
NIKON P6000, SIGMA DP1, PANASONIC LUMIX LX3, RICOH GX200