Morning has broken

A few of my favourite morning quotes:

I could be a morning person. If morning happened to be around noon.

My bed and I have a special relationship, we're perfect for each other. But my alarm clock just hates seeing us together.

Every morning I long to hold you, I need you, I want you, I love your warmth... your smell, your taste... Ohhh coffee I love you. Good Morning!

If people were meant to pop out of bed, we’d all sleep in toasters.

If you've followed for a little while you likely know that I wasn't cut out to be a morning person. I'm just not that productive in the morning. Oh, I'm not the surly kind but my internal clock seems to be a few hours out of sync with the early morning crowd's. Of which my wife is a devoted member.

She has told me on numerous occasions that I've missed a glorious sunrise. In fact, on several of those occasions she's even made some photos of the sunrise - in case I didn't believe her. A few mornings ago she told me of a beautiful huge moon that hung low over the horizon at the break of day (sorry, no photos). So I promised myself to go look the next day. No huge moon but I'll (grudgingly) admit that the light in the early morning was pretty nice. Hold the applause. Fear not - I doubt that early rising will become my new habit.

Walking the plank(s)

We took a long walk today on the planks making up what appeared to be an endless pier jutting out into the Peace River. Apparently there is some truth to the origins of the expression 'to walk the plank' but we didn't meet the same fate as hapless pirates' victims. In fact we had a pleasant conversation with some other folks who were also enjoying the sun and warmth.

Our dog, Sasha, was pining for the bitterly cold weather (-29C/-20F) currently being experienced up north, and had to make do with only a little shade.

But for all you folks bravely battling through the deep freeze, I included a shot from the back yard to help warm your spirit if not your toes. Spring can't be far off (the power of positive thinking ...).

First steps

There's learning by reading and there's learning by trying. I've done a bit of both to start figuring out all the buttons and menu items on the new 5D. Today's lesson was on shooting stills - starting with first steps on the AF system. Centre AF point for now - will leave the other 60 for another day.

Since the EF-S series of lenses aren't compatible with Canon's full frame sensor cameras, I bought a 'nifty fifty' (EF 50mm f1.8) lens for 2 reasons - (1) reviewers gave it high marks, (2) it cost $94. I stepped 10' out the back door and found some willing subjects. I wasn't looking for challenging subjects - that's the camera's role for now. The 4 shots below are SOOC.

Since the 50mm has neither macro nor zoom capability, I cropped each of the 2 photos (#2,4) to simulate a close-up shot (#1,3). Lesson 1 completed - I was happy with the colour, focusing, and sharpness.

on tripod  f5.6  1/160 sec  ISO160 (cropped)

 hand held  f5.0  1/400 sec  ISO160 (cropped)

New addition arrives safely

With not a little anticipation, a nervous watch was kept for the safe delivery of the new arrival. Its progress had been tracked for several days and all the signs looked good. However, one can never be over-confident that all would go as expected. The hours on the promised delivery day ticked by until just near the end of day, the highly-valued addition was delivered. Weighing in at 8lb 10oz, it was carefully removed from its protective shield. At first it appeared a little non-descript:
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Eyeing it from a different angle shed a little more light on the markings on the new arrival:

And a little more light revealed further, more colourful, hints of its pedigree, although its identity was still somewhat hidden:

Not until it was examined closely under better light was it fully identified:

Yes, fellow photogs, I have taken the plunge into the world of full-frame sensors, thanks to generou$ contributions from my daughters, son, and wife. What lies ahead is wading through a 404 page manual and taking time to learn the many features of this wonderful piece of technology (yes, I've already jumped ahead and made some photos with it, blissfully unaware of how its focus system operates). All in good time.

And while I've dabbled with shooting in RAW, I've made a commitment to myself to try to make that my default starting now. Several new software programs accompanied the camera so the learning curve appears more like a hill right now. Acquiring and learning Photoshop will need to be relegated to the back burner for some time.

In the meantime, you'll likely catch me cradling the new arrival very carefully until the confidence factor increases.

MIA ?

Yes, I have been away from blogland since last year. But I haven't been focused (ouch) on just relaxin'. I've also been doing lots of R&R, as in research and reviewing. And I'm happy to announce that as a result, I'm expecting a new arrival shortly. And you'll have to bear with me, 'cause I expect I'll be doing lots more learnin' as I get better acquainted with her once she's here.

Now with all the traveling and visiting over the Christmas/New Year season there wasn't much opportunity to share some of the (photographic) fun I had prior. Let me share a few shots I made at the local Coconut Festival a month ago.

And whether you're Irish or not, here's a blessing for you for the new year just begun:

May the raindrops fall lightly on your brow.
May the soft winds freshen your spirit.
May the sunshine brighten your heart.
May the burdens of the day rest lightly upon you.
And may God enfold you in the mantle of His love.