Winter Wonderland, Happy New Year 2012

Another year is over. I think it was a good year after all for us here. I was not very busy on myonlyphoto blog; however, I continue to photograph everything and anything. I am now carrying two cameras on my shoulder, the Canon 7D and Canon 20D, which I fixed not too long ago. I am still hovering around my town, with Matthew on my side, as I cannot go far from home. I think it would be a little too much for a three year old.

My focus this year was where I live. We have very rich history here in town and we are surrounded by beautiful nature trails. It will take ages to explore all so I am going to continue to focus my photographic energy in that area.

The above photo shows our local picnic pavilion in the Sheppard's Bush Conservation Area, which is about 65 acres in size and has over 3 km of hiking trails. Sheppard's Bush also has a maple syrup evaporator hut. As I said our town has so much and I have not seen all yet, one of them never attended the maple syrup making festivities.

 

The beauty about the winter is that you get this beautiful black and white effect that surrounds warm objects. The first photo is only cropped, no editing was done. The natural wood color makes this photo very magical. However, I discover new editing tool in Google Photos and tried some of the effects. I thought I show off my experiment, the second photo. Whoever comes up with the editing algorithms is doing wonderful job and making my life easier.

Happy New Year 2012!

'A new year is unfolding

- like a blossom with petals curled tightly

concealing the beauty within.'

Suspended, A Leaf

It is not just the dancing colorful leaves that make autumn so interesting. It is a season full of spiders, mushrooms, butterflies and fungi. Thousands of subjects to photograph.



I am so pleased that many of you still visit me despite of my low posting. Every day I tell myself I will go for posting marathon, but then when the night comes all I can think of is sleep. I did not give up on photography. I carry my camera with me most of the time, sometimes two and sometimes all three of them (one is just point and shoot).

Also, for a low price of just under 200 dollars Canadian, I was able to fix my Canon 20D. They never claimed that it was the number of shutters, all it was it needed major overhaul and probably was shorting somewhere. I am missing probably one more and important lens, macro lens and I will be set for many years. Suggestions are welcome.

No I wasn't that lucky to photograph the falling leaf. It is very easy to spot hanging leaves on the spider webs during the fall season. Since the web is nearly invisible, one can be fooled, and not I am not suspending my blog. I may take a break such last, but I will be always back.

My Matthew continues to grow. We wander around the town streets, parks and we are regular visitors to our local library. My parents borrowed my small point and shoot camera for their trip to Poland, which was also used at home by Matthew. So now he is getting hands on my DSLR. He likes the zooming effect when looking through the view finder. He is almost 3 1/2 years old.

Photo was taken at Thronton Bales Conservation Area, Newmarket, Ontario, Canada.

English Garden Confessions

We are very lucky to have many nice attraction in our town, especially Merlin's Hollow, the English garden that is free and open to public four times a year. The English garden has gardens within. Each has its own character or theme. These are some of the photos of the flowers I captured. I probably captured over 80 different species, but believe or not the garden has over 1500. That is a lot, and it is only on 1 acre of land.



What confessions you may say? Well I have not been here for a while. Life is busy and keeping us out of trouble. I am still with Matthew. He is not going to school this year, but next year. I better enjoy this time even more. I know I will miss him.



Oh, I forgot about the confessions. The confession I have is that I started a local blog in our town Living In Aurora. I noticed that over the 13 years lot changed in our town. So for the record, I started to post pictures locally from our town and write. I write my opinions. I try to stay away from politics, as it is very confusing topic to be involve in, but I vote.



I felt like I was walking the streets and trails and saw so much. I started to share. I started to see the growth, so I started to take more pictures. I started to see flaws in our town, so I started to get involved. I think it was time for me to raise my opinions publicly.



I guess you know why I have been absent here. Yes I been spending more time there. But no worries, this blog My Only Photo and Story Blog was born with Matthew and I am not leaving the premises. I may post less, and visit less, but I will be here.



I hope you enjoyed my English garden flower showcase for today.

Protective Males - Red Wing Black Bird & Canada Goose

I am always on the lookout for the new birds, but I am out of luck this year. Same birds as last year - bunch of Red Wing Black Birds and Canada Geese. Not to mention that their population have also increased more than usual.

We also have American Robins that are the most common birds hanging out around the residential areas. I remember one incident when in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia many moons ago, we met a man walking back from the four hour trail. He told us what he saw - a moose, a bear and one American Robin. We smiled. I don't really mind American Robins, because they have a very pleasant song, but I am starting to mind too many photos of them.



So far I was able to see hummingbirds only once. I found them in a local trail around my house. Saw them for few seconds and they were gone. Every year they come to see my chestnut tree, but not this year because the tree is already loosing flowers and the nuts are starting to form.



But what can I say, having the usual is better than nothing. Here on the first photo is a female Red Wing Black Bird. Amazing contrast in plumage between the female and the male red wing. Followed by the photo of a screaming or signing Red Wing Black Bird male. They usually make lot of noise when people pass by their nests. Males are very protective.



Another a very protective bird male is the Canada Goose. This one would jump on the railing close by where the nest was and would hiss on everyone passing by. I used to be scared, but I have noticed that if you do nothing and just walk, they will give you a warning only.

Well, my three year old bird continues to grow, sing, dance, and run. The latest and greatest he is the Superman boy called Matthew.