This one time I got to paddle around a big ‘ol lake in the middle of an Amazonian national park. There were all sorts of creatures residing in, on, above and around this lake. This group of birds of an unknown species were doing just that, and having a time of it by the looks of things.

This is directly outside my bedroom window.

I feel that I’ve been quite remiss in my posting of landscapes, so here’s the beginning of the hike to Gorman Lake. Situated near my town of Golden BC, this was a favourite hiking spot  throughout my childhood. It had been years since I last gazed upon it’s craggy features but it hadn’t changed a bit.

Beards man. They’re the way to keep warm.

Ohhhh dang. I never in all my years thought I was going to be able to see one of these little fellas in person, but lo and behold! I live an awesome life.

I can remember as a child seeing ‘grown ups’ taking photos and I was always baffled that a person could be so engaged in recording something that they could see right in front of them. It took years for any sort of interest to cultivate within me. I was 17 before I got my first camera. A small, red, five megapixel point-and-shoot that I saved up for months to purchase. I can remember it got lost in the mail and took well over a month to get shipped to me, much to my frustration. I played around with that beast for years, never realizing how limiting it really was. Since then I have dabbled with a variety of cameras, both film and digital, but none have suited me better than my current Canon 550D. The 550D has allowed my photographic creativity to blossom and for that I am grateful.

I currently have 27,411 photos on my hard drive.  Last Sunday I took this picture. For the first time since I first picked up a camera, I finally feel that I have created something I deem  art.

For this post I decided to switch my format. Henceforth, the text shall precede the photographs.  If that upsets you, click here.

These photos are coming from Christmas time in the ol’ Thomson house. The first picture I think looks pretty swell.  For some reason my camera vibrates the slightest amount when my mirror is open and since this was an exposure of 1/2 sec, it had some time to wobble the light trails quite a bit. I totally dig the effect though. Actually I like the effect more than I like the picture in general. The second picture is a somewhat generic shot of some ornaments. I had just got a tripod so wanted to just try it out and hence, that shot.  In hindsight the reason it’s generic looking is likely because a lot of people get cameras for Christmas and need a trial run with them or something. Whatever.  Catch you tomorrow faithful readers.