Been a busy few weeks!

So several weeks ago (three to be exact) I went on a solitary vacation to the state of Arizona.  I have never been alone anywhere.  I was always with either a friend, family member, ex-wife etc.  I was never alone with a camera anywhere.  I needed this trip to clear a few things up.  I wanted to be alone to think, clear my head and do some photography.   I think this particular image says it all for me.  Life's a journey, not a destination as the song says.

It was an awesome vacation with just a few hiccups.  But what vacation and life in particular don't have a few hiccups.  I got what I needed.  It was an awesome time to regroup and collect my thoughts.  I now know what I want out of my life and it's time I go and grab it.

Oh by the way, I missed Forrest by 5 minutes!  ;)  

It's been a while

Sometime, life gets in the way.  I've been doing a lot of photography but haven't been posting to the blog.  I wish I could post daily but I've been uploading my fall photos to Shutterstock, Bigstock etc.  Just trying to get more money.  I recently booked a vacation to Arizona.  I'm going to the Grand Canyon, the horse shoe bend near Bend and Monument Valley.  

The above picture is from Mud Lake located here in Ottawa.  I've been there a lot this fall doing video work.  I was able to get a juvenile egret up close which is awesome.  

Junior Egret at Mud Lake

Today was a fantastic day in Ottawa.  We're having great weather on the weekends.  Sunny and warm.  I on occasion go to Mud lake in Ottawa to do some photography since there is a variation of birds at the lake from Owls to Great Blue Herons and egrets to chickadees, nuthatches and robins.   WIth the shallow waters this year, you can get to places that you couldn't before.  This junior egret has been hanging around for the past several weeks.  I've managed to get some really good photos and video of this amazing bird.  He is not skittish or shy around humans and will completely ignore you.  Which is good for us photographers.  :)

Lac Leamy Casino Sound of Lights

Finally got out to do some photography after taking a break.  This summer has been weird for me for photography.  I didn't really get out much this summer with the cameras.  At least it doesn't feel like it.  I've been doing a lot more video work and uploading to other micro stock agencies trying to diversify my portfolio availability.  

I think this fall, I'll be heading out more to do some more landscape and wild life photography.  I miss shooting my wolves, deer and foxes along with my Algonquin Park landscapes.

Sony RX100 Mark II

The Sony RX100 Mark II is a camera I had before last year.  I upgraded it to the Sony RX100 Mark IV.  I went back to the Mark II because I had no need for 4k video and other features of the camera were a bit gimmicky.  The Mark II is just a great little walk around point and shoot.  It has a 20.2 megapixel sensor and shoots raw.  It's also mirrorless which has it's disadvantages such as battery life.  But you can add an adapter to the front of the camera so you can filters and other devices.  I have yet to attach it to my telescopes eyepiece which I'm planning on doing later this summer and this fall to get some shots of the planets Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.  Also I plan on doing some videos of the moon.  I just wish the weather cooperates on the weekends.

Lac Leamy Casino Sound of Lights - Canon Vixia HF G40

So I wanted to do a review of the Canon Vixia HF G40 last week.  Life always gets in the way as a friend and fellow photographer lost her life to cancer at the young age of 28.  I hadn't gone shooting for a bit with the camcorder as my day job seems to get in the way.

But this past week, I got to shoot the Casino de Lac Leamy fireworks.  I had missed the previous show as I totally forgot about it.  And yesterdays event, let's just say, whoever went to it got soaked in the torrential downpour.

This was the first time I had used a camcorder at night.  Shooting video is a little bit different than shooting photos at night.  Especially fireworks.

I had set the camera at ISO 100, f1.8 and exposure of 1/8th of a second.  Let's just say that didn't work out as I thought.  The exposure was way too low so I increased it to 100th of a second and voila, problem fixed.  So setting with ISO 100, f1.8 and the exposure was 100/1000 of a second.  Problem fixed.  So I thought.  My external mic died about halfway thru the show.  Hence no sound on the video.  For this Wednesday's show, I have a fresh battery in the mic and I know what my settings have to be.  I also have a better idea of how to frame the shot as I framed it wit htoo much empty space to the left.  

Overall, I think the Canon Vixia HF G40 is an excellent daytime and night time camcorder.  You can control pretty much any setting on it as far as exposure, white balance, mic etc.  I am really happy with the camcorder.  

One of the reasons I bought the camcorder was to do a lot more video work at Parc Omega where I get pretty much all my wildlife shots.  I hardly go there in the summer as the animals hide in the shade of the forest because of the heat.  I'm planning to go a lot more starting in September as it's mating season and the fall colours start.  Also the fur on the animals thickens as they prepare for the colder temperatures of Canada's northern climate.

A good one has gone home

I was going to do a review of the Canon Vixia HF G40 today after work.  That is not going to happen as this morning, I woke up to find out that one of my photography friends passed away at a young age from cancer.

As a cancer survivor myself, this hit me pretty hard.  I got cancer at the age of 35 and luckily got my 5 year clearance this past December.  My friend got her cancer while in her late 20's and passing away early in her 30's.  

You don't know the unimaginable guilt I feel that I'm still here and she is gone.  It's a total shock to the system to think that someone so young and full of promise could just pass away so quickly and so quietly.  I am still in shock and it's just really upsetting that I'm still here and she's not.  This is not the first friend that I've lost in my lifetime and it won't be the last.

I'm just mad that cancer took a young and promising person and not someone who has done evil in this world.  Death always takes the good ones too early and leaves us to mourn.  

I know she is in a good place now and the pain is gone for her.  I will truly miss you my friend.

R.I.P.

Canon Vixia HF G40

So today I finally picked up the Canon Vixia HF G40 camcorder.  I wanted this prosumer camcorder so bad.  I upgraded it from the Canon Vixia HF R62.  The G40 provides a few bit more controls when shooting video like Exposure and ISO settings.  I can actually physically attach an external mike as well to the G40.  It's more of a prosumer camcorder rather than a top of the line consumer camcorder. I will post a better review when I actually start using the camcorder in real life situations.

Sony RX100 Mark II

I had this little pocket camera in the past but upgraded to the Sony RX100 Mark IV which was a good walk around camera as well.  I sold both to upgrade to a DSLR body and a camcorder.  But I think I will buy the Sony RX100 Mark II again as it was a great all around pocket point and shoot little camera.  Plus I could buy some accessories for it as well and attach it to my telescope to do some astro videos of the planets and do some small astrophotography with it. 

Plus it's an awesome pocket walk around camera that is light and fits right into my jean pockets.  I have 3 Canon DSLR's with various lenses but together the weight of those cameras combined kills my back when I'm walking for long distances.  Anther good reason to have a small walk around pocket camera.

I was saving up money to buy the Canon Vixia HF G40.  But I do have a great little camcorder in the Canon Vixia HF R62 which does everything that I need from a camcorder.

Photo & Video

Lately, I've been doing shooting a lot of video as I have had plenty of photos on the various micro stock agencies.  I'm just trying to build up my video portfolio.  It's time consuming doing both but I do love doing both.  Video clips sell for a much higher price but they are far and between what I typically sell.  I do still sell a lot of photography.  Not as much during the summer as most people are on vacations.  I'm hoping sales of both video and photos pick up again in September.

July is the slow time!

The summer months are the slowest times for photo sales.  At least from my experience.  As people take vacations, they purchase less from micro stocks where I do pretty much all of my business.  I travel as well to various parks to do my photography.  The above shot is from Barron Canyon in Algonquin Park, Ontario.  Took it just before I got to the Algonquin Radio Observatory.  I'm thinking next weekend going to Algonquin Park again.  But this time to the southern Highway 60 corridor.  There are a lot of moose sightings.  I also want to do some astrophotography imaging.  Hopefully the weather will co-operate.  If not Algonquin Park, maybe one of the other parks which are located 2-3 hours just west of Ottawa.  Weekends in Canada are just amazing with the weather and scenery.  

I typically go to Parc Omega in the fall and winter seasons as the landscapes are amazing as the tree leaves turn colours.  I hope to make it to Tremblant as well for a day or two.  It's a good time to be living and doing photography.  The technology is just amazing.

Algonquin Radio Observatory - The short version!

The shorter version.  Because attention spans are shorter than gnat lives.

Algonquin Radio Observatory shorter video

There is just something about this place

There is just something about Algonquin Park located in Central Ontario.  You get a real sense of the wilderness.  Even with this 46 metre telescope, you just feel the size of the park and it's natural beauty.  Especially on a bright sunny day with large, puffy clouds making their way across the sky.

On my way out of the park, right before exiting the radio telescope location I did encounter a female moose which was a perfect ending to a perfect weekend.  Well, almost perfect as I left two or three pints of blood as I was eaten alive by the mosquitoes and black flies.

The photo and videos from Algonquin Radio Telescope are up for sale

Photos and videos are finally being accepted on the various micro stock sites listed on the right of this blog such as Bigstockphoto, Fotolia, Pond5 and Shutterstock and my own site.  Hopefully I'll make a sale or a dozen off from my fun trip to the Algonquin Radio Observatory at Algonquin Park, Ontario.

The photo and videos from Algonquin Radio Telescope are up for sale

Photos and videos are finally being accepted on the various micro stock sites listed on the right of this blog such as Bigstockphoto, Fotolia, Pond5 and Shutterstock and my own site.  Hopefully I'll make a sale or a dozen off from my fun trip to the Algonquin Radio Observatory at Algonquin Park, Ontario.

Hurry up and wait

So now that I've uploaded everything to the computer, edited everything in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC or Apple Final Cut Pro X, I uploaded everything to the various websites.  Now I have to hurry up and wait for the various websites to curate all my submissions and update their various databases so my images and videos can be sold to everybody.  Waiting is the worst part as I'm not in control of anything.  Waiting always kills me.  But at least now I can go shoot some more photos and video my surroundings.

I've also added some of my other portfolios for more customer options.  I hope you enjoy!

Algonquin Radio Telescope

I had the privilege of staying the night at the Algonquin Radio Telescope in Algonquin Park, Ontario which is located just a 3 hour drive west of Ottawa, Ontario - Canada.  I've been to Algonquin Park on several occasions to camp and do some nature and landscape photography in the past.  I've heard of the Algonquin Radio Telescope a few years back.  But due to life getting in the way, I never had the chance to go up there to visit.

As it turns out, I finally had the chance on the Canada Day long weekend in 2016.  This was the first time visiting the site.  I got there at about 14:00 or so and checked into the house where the researchers stay.  I roamed the area around the house overlooking Traverse Lake.  It started out a beautiful, cool day with white, puffy clouds.  It was supposed to clear out for the night and no rain was expected.  

I asked one of the resident astro-physicists if I could access the telescope site to take some pictures and at 17:15 I was able to access the telescope site.  The 46 metre dish is something to behold on first sight.  It is a gigantic dish in the forest.

I first spent about 75 minutes walking and photographing the site from various angles.  What a sight to see.  I left the sight at about 18:30 to go get ready for a nicely prepared dinner of curried chicken and rice.  We were joined by Robbie who flew all the way from Ireland to see various Canadian sites.  After dinner, Robbie, a fellow photographer and I decided that we wanted to go photograph the dish at sunset.  Again an amazing sight to see.  Especially at dusk with no clouds and no moon.  It was just an awesome experience to see the site, meet new people and get some education in the process.

If you do decide to go, bring several small children to entertain the large amounts of mosquitos, horse flies and black flies.  I mean this in all seriousness.  The bugs took 2 pints of blood from me which were quickly refilled with some much needed Irish whiskey.

Algonquin Park weekend!!!!

I have been waiting for this weekend for quite some time.  I've always wanted to go to the Algonquin Radio Telescope in Algonquin Park but never had the chance because life and certain events just got in the way.  The weekend has finally come when I actually get to scratch something off my bucket list.  Today I head up to the radio telescope for the whole weekend with my cameras and camcorder.  I'm just hoping the sky clears up.  At least that's what the weather channels are predicting.  At least it won't rain like it did yesterday on Canada Day.  Missed the fireworks for the second year in a row.

My experience with micro stock agencies

For the most part, my experience has been rock solid dealing with micro stock agencies such as Shutterstock, Bigstockphoto, Fotolia, Alamy, Pond5 and Videoblocks.  There are agencies that I will not work with again such as Dreamstime, Canstockphoto and 123RF.  While having portfolios on those last three agencies, the work is just not worth the return.  In 2+ years of having portfolios on those agencies, I've gotten one payout between the three of them totalling $51.00USD.  Uploading, keywording and submitting your photos or videos is just not worth the time and effort.

By far, Shutterstock is where the action is.  That's where I have my biggest portfolio and that's where I make the majority of my sales.  I've just start shooting video in the past 9 months and have had a great success with it on Shutterstock, Fotolia, Pond5 and Videoblocks.  I suggest doing both video and photo work.  Doing video as well gives clients potential options as well.  

As you can see on my blog I have links to my various portfolios.  If you want to sign up, please use the necessary links provided and sign up that way.  I spend about an hour or two a week just uploading to the various websites including editing, keywording and uploading.  It's a great return on investment and time.

Way to go England!

This is nothing photography related but way to go Britain.   You voted with common sense for Independence.  The second shot heard around the world.  

All time best seller

So this is my all time best selling photo that I have up on several micro stock agencies.  I do really like this shot.  I used to go to Parc Omega quite a lot.   Especially on those cold winter days during the week when people would be working and if they weren't working, they'd be inside because it was apparently too cold.  Yet, I'd be out there with my cameras taking my pictures.  Dedication and perseverance pays off.  You or I will never get this shot again.  

Nature is just amazing during the fall and winter seasons.  The animals are more active.  Their furs are thicker.  They are more hardier. 

When my photography ship comes in

Maybe.  Just maybe, when my photography sugar momma comes in I will be able to purchase one of these one of these spectacular vehicles.  It's just millions and millions of photos that I have to sell. Actually at $0.33 a pop it's about a million photos or so.  Just for a basic model.  So who wants to help a photographer out?  

Favourite duck

I go to Mud Lake often to shoot nature and wildlife photography and wildlife videos.  Mud Lake is located in Ottawa.  It's a lake surrounded by a lush green forest and is near a water filtration plant.  It's a peaceful refuge if you just want to get away.  It's got several nature trails and is really convenient as it's located within city limits.

You get a lot of turtles and various water fowl.  A lot of herons and a lot of various types of ducks such as the above Male Wood duck.  It's my favourite kind of duck.  It's not as friendly as the regular mallard duck as they don't seem to like going near humans.  But that's ok for us photographers with our lenses and large sensors.  We can crop our photographs to still get a nice image.

Holy exhausted Batman!

No new photos or videos today as I was swamped at work.  Plus I didn't get a chance to edit photos that I took yesterday.  I took a lot of panorama photos and some wide field like the one above taken with the Canon EOS 6D and the Canon EF f2.8 16-35MM L series lens.  I think I will do some photography tomorrow.  I haven't been sleeping well in the past week or so.  I'm really exhausted.

Shooting panoramas

Did another walk around from where I work to the Museum of Canadian History.  This walk takes me about 90 to 120 minutes to complete as I stop along the way to take photos.  Today I decided to shoot some panoramas with my Canon EOS 6D and the Canon EF f2.8 70-200M L series lens.  I gripped the camera vertically and started shooting at 70MM.  I stitched about 8-10 vertical shots in Adobe Lightroom CC and colour corrected, removed sensor noise, corrected white balance and then posted on this blog.

I didn't get to edit many more shots as I had a few errands to run after work.  Tomorrow will be the day for editing.  Actually maybe next week as we're supposed to get sunshine till sometime next week.  I want to be outside and use my camera.  Editing is for those rainy, miserable days.

The sink hole

Finally made it to the sink hole in downtown Ottawa.  Pretty funny to see it in person.  A lot of people just watching the workers and equipment fill in the hole.  What a mess!

Noiseless Pro

Noiseless Pro is a noise reduction plugin for Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Photoshop Lightroom which reduces the noise or grain in your night or indoor photography.  Currently it only runs on Apple Mac computers.

As someone who shoots outdoors in low light or in night time, there is a lot of noise and grain in my photography.  Even using the latest camera bodies and lenses, you will get noise and grain.  Noiseless Pro gets rid of the noise and grain artifact in the photos quite easily.  You can check my night photography on my website or my microstock portfolio here and here.

I have been using Noiseless Pro for about 9 months now and have been going thru my previous shots and running them thru Noiseless Pro.  Everything is being accepted for sale whereas before it was not accepted because of high noise values.  The software is on the pricey side but you do get what you pay for.  The noise reduction in Photoshop and Lightroom CC is good, but not as good as Noiseless Pro.  That is why I would ask you to try and buy it here.  Purchasing the product also helps me out as I am an affiliate of MacPhun.

Shot this in July 2015 with the Canon EOS 6D and the Canon EF f2.8 17-35MM L series lens.  I think I had the lens about a month and I was still testing the lens out.  It's a great Canon lens.  

I'm editing a few photos from the past couple of years as it's raining pretty much the whole weekend. Trying a new technique in editing and re uploading the files to Shutterstock, Bigstockphoto, Alamy and Fotolia.  Most have already been accepted on Bigstockphoto so I'm just waiting for the others to catch up.  Hopefully they'll be accepted soon.

Sinkhole

Time to go see and do some video of the sinkhole in Ottawa.  Way to go City of Ottawa.  Ottawa, a city a sinkhole never forgot!

Baby woodpeckers!

Just got home from taking some videos and am editing them now.  Got some cute, little Pileated Woodpeckers being fed by both parents.  Videos to follow.

Finally some photography this week.

After doing a week of video work, I "forgot" my camcorder at home and only took my Canon 6D bodies and the various lenses.  The above shot is a landscape panorama composite of three separate photographs.  I shot this on my lunch today as I needed to get out of the office and do something I actually enjoy doing.  I actually enjoy the current job I have as the my coworkers are good, clients not that bad and the bosses leave me alone.

Today was a hot and sunny day as you can tell from the above photo.  Ottawa is finally green after a prolonged winter and hardly any spring as we went directly from winter to summer.  Spring was very cool compared to past years.

Anyways, back to photography.  I always get my shots from either across the river from Ottawa or from Nepean Point which faces westward towards Ottawa.  Today I shot eastward and got this pretty sweet shot.  It was taken with a Canon EOS 6D and a Canon EF f2.8 70-200MM L series lens.  Composite of 3 photographs each at 70MM, f16, ISO 200.  Ottawa is a really green city.

Shooting editorial photography and videos

I've been shooting a lot of editorial photography and video.  A lot more video than photography.  It's a lot of fun.  I'm selling the photography as well.  Shutterstock is a great platform to sell your photography and videography along with Bigstockphoto.

Glad I went!

I seem to be shooting a lot of video lately.  More video than photography.  I didn't even bother taking my cameras today.  Only took my Canon Vixia HF R62.  I'm glad I went to the Gatineau side of the Ottawa river after work today.  There were big puffy clouds that were moving at a quick pace over Ottawa today.  

I'm sitting at a Timmie's right now editing the videos while listening to a YouTube video on Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC and the Google Nik Plugins.  Pretty cool software.

The importance of computers and post processing.

I have two Apple computers.  A late 2015 iMac with a 5k 27" retina monitor with a 2GB video card, 1TB fusion drive and 32GB of memory.  I also have an early 2013 Macbook Pro with a 2.7Ghz processor, a 500GB SSD hard drive, 1TB video card and 16GB of RAM.

I absolutely love both of these computers.  Why?  Because they just work.  They're responsive and I don't have to fix them every couple of days.  They just work.  I edit 1080p 60fps video on both using FCP X and edit 20.2 megapixel photos created with multiple Canon EOS 6D bodies and various lenses.

I use Mac computers because the administration and upkeep is pretty non existent compared to any Windows bases PC's.  I work for a federal government department that use Windows 7 and Windows 8 PC's.  Let me tell you, they are a headache compared to Macs.  Driver updates, software updates, hardware replacements etc.  For home, you go Mac or nothing else.  Yeah, Macs are more expensive, but you get what you pay for.  In my time, I've built my own Frankenstein PC's and used different MS operating systems from Windows 98 to Windows 10.  When I need things to work, I use an OS X based computer.

This weekend

Some people are crazy.  It's roughly plus thirty degrees celsius in Ottawa this weekend.  With the humidity, temperatures are nearing plus forty degrees celsius.  The reason I say people are crazy in Ottawa is because it's Race Weekend where people run either 2km, 5km and 10km or in some cases all three.

I was there in downtown Ottawa yesterday photographing the event.  I heard one of the announcements that they had a record number of people needing medical attention due to heat stroke and heat exhaustion.  Most of the people running wither either my age or older.  These people are going to end up with hip replacements or needing work done on their knees if not now, later in life.  But it does offer great photography.  So keep doing it you crazy people.

First to 2500!

I always thought that Fotolia or iStockphoto would be the first to 2500 images and/or videos to 2500 files available for sale.  Today at about 14:00 I reached 2519 files on Shutterstock.  Shutterstock accepts Editorial shots along with videos and that's what put me over the 2500 mark.

I only started micro stock just about 2 years ago.  I had a pretty good go at Fotolia and I have 2352 files available for sale.  Fotolia was pretty much outpacing Shutterstock until about a few months ago when I bought the Canon EF f2.8 70-200MM L series lens.  After that, pretty much everything I photographed was accepted on both sites.  

I absolutely love photography and videography.

Shutterstock continues to impress

Now I know photography wouldn't make me rich.  It's a hobby for me that I make some money from. I'm more of a semi-professional as I make some money from selling my photos and videos on stock photography sites.  I sell on about 7 sites from 123RF to Videoblocks.  But my best site is Shutterstock.  In the last 8 months, my acceptance rate at Shutterstock has been incredibly high as I've added over a thousand images and videos to my portfolio.  Sales have been steady with my last month being my worst since October of 2015.  

Fotolia continues to be my second best site as far as acceptance and sales.  They unfortunately do not accept editorial shots or footage so they're losing out on a great number of photographs and stock footage.  

Shutterstock and Fotolia continue to impress me both.  I think they're the top of the top of micro stock sites.

My Shutterstock and Fotolia portfolios are available to view here by just following the previous links.  My own website is here if you are interested in any of my photography.

If you're interested in selling with either Shutterstock or Fotolia, just click on the respective links.

Shot some new video today.

Went on a walk today at lunch with my Canon Vixia HF R62 1080p 60fps camcorder.  Shot some video of stuff I never knew Ottawa had.  I kinda like discovering new stuff in my own city.  A lot of my stuff is getting approved on the various micro stock sites but some of it isn't.  Some is selling.  Some is not.  Just gotta keep shooting and uploading and hope for sales.

Shooting video for stock.

I've started to shoot video for uploads to the various micro stock agencies that I deal with.  If you asked me 2 years ago or even 18 months ago, I'd say you'd be crazy saying I'd be shooting video as well.  I was all photography, all the time.  I knew Photoshop and Apple Aperture 3.0 inside out.  That's all I wanted to know and do.  Now I just use Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC to edit my photos and Apple Final Cut Pro X to edit my videos.  I am learning Photoshop CC again to get my certification.

As far as shooting video I just use a Canon Vixia HF R62 to shoot 1080p 60fps video that I upload to sites like Pond5, Videoblocks, Fotolia and Shutterstock.  I mostly edit the video on my early 2013 Macbook Pro which has enough horse power to edit 1080p video.  Last year I bought a 2015 iMac with a 27" 5k monitor to do 4k videos.  After shooting with the Sony FDR AX33 4k camera and uploading to the various websites, I only sold 1080p video.  Nothing 4k.  So I sold the Sony FDR AX33 4k camcorder earlier this year.  Since my early 2013 Macbook Pro has the horsepower to edit 1080p 60fps video, I'm looking to trade or sell my 2015 iMac for a Canon Vixia HF G40 video camera which is more of a prosumer camcorder than the Canon Vixia HF R62.  Mind you the R62 is a great little camera which does what I want.  Another reason I want to sell the iMac is that I want to be portable.  My 2013 Macbook Pro allows me to do that.  I just add an external hard drive to my laptop for off line storage and I'm ready to go anywhere at anytime.  

So if you're looking to buy a mint 2015 iMac with a 27" 5k monitor with upgraded RAM, let me know.

Unofficial start to the long weekend in Canada

The May two four weekend is the unofficial start to the Canadian summer as it's the first long weekend in a while.  I spent the day in Algonquin Park yesterday and today I just went to Jack Pine Trail and a bit of the Tulip festival.  

Warm weather and a nice sunny day.  I really wanted to do some night photography at Algonquin Park yesterday but I left the park at around 6:30pm as I was running low on fuel and if I left at 11 or midnight last night, I figured I'd miss all the gas stations on the way him since they all would have been closed.  I made it back to Ottawa with enough gas that I could have gotten some today.  I averaged 5.7L/100km in my 2015 Hayandai Elantra.  This was the first time I put over 700km on a tank of gas.  Now I know how far I can go on a tank of gas.

Anyways, back to photography and my plans.  I think, depending on weather, I may go back again next Saturday and might stay the night or stay much later.  I found a place where I can get decent horizons for astrophotography which is great.  A nice quiet place just off of the main highway.  So if the weather cooperates that will be my plan for next weekend.  

What a day at Algonquin Park

Got to the park at about 11:30am and within half an hour of getting there, saw my first of three moose.  Unfortunately, the first one was in deep brush so pretty much unseeable and unphotographable unless walking through a foot of water and about 30 metres full of brush.  The next 2 moose displayed amazingly well in clear fields along Highway 60 which runs the souther corridor of Algonquin Park.  Both got within 10 metres of the road stopping traffic along both sides.  Too tired to edit photos and videos tonight.  Editing will be done tomorrow along with uploading to various websites.

My eyes are really heavy so it's time for bed.

Algonquin Park

Heading up to Algonquin Park today.  Hope I see some nice wildlife.  Probably not, but it'll be a nice drive up and time time spending it in one of the most amazing parks in the world. And, best of all, the cameras are coming with me.  :)

Shoot. Edit. Upload. Repeat.

Basically what I have been doing the past couple of weeks is shooting, editing and uploading over and over and over.  Spring finally made it into Ottawa.  Sort of.  Plenty of warmer temps and a bit of sunshine.  Got the cameras and camcorder out to shoot and video the spring in Ottawa.  Tulips are out and the trees are finally greening up from a long and cold winter.  

Hibernation is finished I think.  Finally!

Tulip Festival - Ottawa, Ontario - May 14, 2016

Shot today before the rains came.  Tulip Festival held in Ottawa, Ontario - Canada every year since Canada help the Netherlands in the second world war.

Today was people hell.  Crowds upon crowds of families and people taking photos of the tulips with cell phones, point and shoots and actual DSLR's.  All of my photography was taken with the Canon EOS 6D and either a Canon EF f2.8 100MM L v2 macro or the Canon EF f2.8 70-200MM L v2 lens. The above was taken with the macro lens.

Currently just sitting at a Tim Horton's editing photos.  They will be up on my website later this weekend.

International Astronomy Day 2016

The event held every year by the OAOG at the Gloucester Shopping Centre has been cancelled due to weather being bad.  Clouds and rain all day.  I was going to go to the event and photograph it but with the weather cancelling the event, I will have to make other plans.  

I will now get to catch up on stuff that I couldn't do during the week.  I have to go buy a power cord for my telescope mount and buy a book on Photoshop.  I want to get my Adobe Certified Expert certification in the next couple of months.  Although I use Lightroom for all my photo editing, Adobe has not offered the Lightroom CC certification yet.  So Photoshop CC certification here I come.

Back to Astronomy Day.  If your city has nice weather and an Astronomy event going on today, I highly suggest you go as you will learn a few things about the universe you live in.  Astronomy got me into photography.  Astronomy and photography are two amazing and amazingly expensive hobbies.  But as I always say, at least I don't spend my money and time on foolish things like alcohol and drugs.  

Time to go and enjoy the day.

Editorial away!!!!

I've been photographing a lot of editorial content lately.  It's been accepted on Shutterstock and I'm waiting for Bigstockphoto to go thru the shots I've taken and curate which shots they want to keep and which shots to not keep.  Since Bigstockphoto is owned by Shutterstock I don't see a problem with acceptance.  I uploaded several shots to istockphoto but they were all rejected for some reason or another.  So no more editorial content for iStockphoto anymore.  Their loss, not mine.

I went up to the Hill today and noticed these peaceful protestors.  I've seen them there in years past.  They're not like your typical sjw.  Quite peaceful actually.  I uploaded the above photo to 500px and apparently it's Up and Coming along with another photo.  I personally like the composition of this photo.

The next two days are supposed to be clear and sunny here in Ottawa so I will have to get out at lunch and after work.  Unfortunately I have an appointment for an oil change on Thursday so I don't know if I will get out.  More than likely I will go out after the oil change since it shouldn't take long.

Differences between the microstock sites

It's always good to make sales on multiple microstock sites.  The shots from yesterdays events on the Hill were 100% accepted on Shutterstock but not on iStockphoto.  My acceptance rate for photography lately has been at or near 100% on Shutterstock and Fotolia.  It's always good to have portfolios on different websites because they may be accepted on one but not the other.  Plus multiple sales of the same image on different sites is always nice.

Mercury transit of the Sun

So I got to shoot the Mercury transit event on Parliament Hill.   A few MP's showed up along with  Canada Astronaut/Politician Marc Garneau.  I don't usually photograph people, let alone Liberal members of Parliament but photography has no sides in politics.  I spent about an hour and a half on Parliament hill spending the time photographing the event and the people.  The event was put on by the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (Ottawa chapter) and the federal government.  About 28 telescopes and 32 volunteers showed up for the event.

Several media outlets like the CBC, CTV News along with one or two radio stations showed up to document the event along with several photographers such as myself.  The good thing about lugging around a Canon EOS 6D and a Canon EF 70-200MM L series lens makes you look really professional.  I could get up really close to the speakers and get an unobstructed view to photograph the speakers.

After getting home from work, I uploaded all photography into Lightroom CC and finished editing fairly quickly.  I've uploaded a few of the best shots to Shutterstock, Bigstockphoto, 500px,  123RF and my website.

Hoping to have most, if not all shots accepted on the various websites.  Check back soon!

Tulip Festival - Ottawa 2016

The Tulip festival starts next weekend here in Ottawa.  Nearly half the bulbs planted have bloomed and I expect the rest to bloom over the next few days as we get warmer weather and some much needed rain in Ottawa.

I always love to go down to Dow's Lake to shoot these beautiful flowers.  A few of my shots are on sale at my website.

Another beautiful Saturday

It's another beautiful, sunny day here in Ottawa with warm temperatures as well.  Packing up the cameras for another fun day of photography.  Today on the agenda will be the tulips followed by some city scape photography.  Hope you all have fun with whatever you're doing today.

Selfie rant

Descent sales seem hard to come by.  $0.33 here and $0.33 there but where are the sales for $20 or more?  Or larger sales like $120 per file?  Or $500 for a sole picture or video?  In a tough economy where people are working 2 or more minimum part time jobs to make ends meet is a tough market to try and sell your photography in.  

With people using iPhones and Android devices to take pictures, it's harder and harder to sell quality photography.  People think they take quality photos with their phones not realizing they're using tiny sensors with tiny pixels to take their photos.  People store their photos on their devices not ever printing them.  Just share them on Facebook or Pintrest.  The online world is killing photography.  Specifically social media is killing photography.  Instant selfies.  Instant gratification.  As a society, we have devalued quality with quantity.  How many bathroom selfies can you only take?  Narcissism at its best I suppose.

People spend $200-$500 on an iPhone or an Android phone every two years to take selfies that they shoot and forget but bitch when they go to a photographer to have a proper photo taken.  Photographers spend literally thousands of dollars on equipment alone.  My Canon EOS 6D, battery grip, SD card and Canon EF 70-200MM L series lens cost roughly $5000 Canadian.  That's one camera, battery, lens and SD card.  Then there's the computer and software which cost me roughly $3000.  Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Lightroom cost roughly $14 monthly for me to run.  Then there's the education which cost me roughly $4000.  Upgrading my education costs even more.  Learning online costs money.  Watching YouTube videos costs me time and money in a sense instead of watching a Youtube video using a different technique I could be marketing my skills and photography.  And yet people wonder why photographers charge $100 an hour or more.  You're asking a professional to make a memory for you.  Clients just tell you, you're just pressing a button and the camera does the rest.  I'm here to tell you the rest costs money.  

If you want a selfie, use an iPhone.  If you want a real photo, a real memory, something that looks professional, use a real photographer with a real camera.  Hire a real photographer!

Shooting Editorial

I haven't been shooting many editorial shots for fear of them being rejected on sites like Shutterstock and Fotolia.  What if they're rejected or they don't sell?  Well, they haven't sold anywhere yet but they are being accepted.  Which is a good thing of course.  I'm not one for photographing people much just because there are so many photographers that do people photography.  I would rather shoot inanimate objects such as the kayaks above.  

Plus if I put the shots onto micro stocks like Shutterstock, Bigstockphoto or my own site and people find themselves in my shot which is for sale, they'll probably come after me for money or some other reason.  Could it just be paranoia?  I don't know.  I just know I hate having my picture taken.

Back to shooting editorial.  I've been shooting it for a while now but just haven't posted them to the micro stock sites and if I did they were rejected for some reason.  That all changed in the last month or so when practically every editorial shot has been accepted which is a feat in itself.  Now I wish they would just sell.  Considering they're on micro stock agencies, I'll probably sell them for pennies on the dollar.  But if people would just buy off of my site where I get a higher percentage of the sale, that would just be awesome.  I host my photos on FAA (Fine Art America) because it only costs $30 a year and you can upload as many photos as you want and they take care of all the printing, framing and shipping to your client.  Less administrative head ache for moi. 

Daffodils

The Tulip festival begins in about a week and a half here in Ottawa, Canada so I thought that I could go do some macro photography practice.  I was joined by a friend after work today and we shot some flowers.

The tulips are not in full bloom yet as we've had a very cold spring with seasonally low temperatures.  But it's been warming up and the flowers are coming out.

I'm just glad I got out today again.  Will have to go out after work again tomorrow.  I do enjoy my photography.  So glad this hobby found me.

Ottawa tired!

I've lived in Ottawa since 1983 when I was just 8 years old.  I took up photography seriously in 2008 or so.  Started taking classes in 2010 and finished in 2012.  It is now 2016 and I'm tired of photographing Ottawa and the surrounding areas.  I fee like I've done it all in this quaint town of a million plus people.  You have your typical tourist sites like Parliament Hill, the museums, galleries and such.  I've been to Parc Omega more times than I can count.

Don't get me wrong, I like living here in Canada's capital.  It's quiet, relatively cheap and there are jobs here.  I'm just tired.  Tired of the same.  Mind you, I'm not the kind to just pick up and move to a new place.  I have to have things figured out.  Need a job.  Need money to eat and put a head over my head.  I need a place where I can edit my photos and videos.

I've felt the need to move somewhere for the past several years.  I've come to realize that I've spent too much time here.  I'm still finding it hard to be alone after my divorce.  I see no future girlfriend in the near future.  I don't know if I'll get married again.  I'm scared to move to a new place.  But I'm more scared if I don't and things stay in the same place and do the same things.  I don't know if I can keep doing the same job for the next 20+ years.  A job I hardly enjoy.  A job that is just the means to an end.  I'm not overly happy doing the same thing day in day out seeing the same people, doing the same job.  

I love photography.  It's the only hobby/job that keeps me happy.  I don't think about anything else when I'm out photographing the surrounding world.  I think the only other person who would understand is a photographer.  Photography is something that lives in you.  It's more than a feeling.  It's more than a passion.  It's in my DNA.  Honestly it's what I love to do.  Just put me in a national park with a camera or two and I'd be happy as a kid in a candy store.

Another walk around the hill

Another nice day and another nice walk around Canada's Parliament Hill.  Photography seems to be the only thing that brings me joy.  Not just lately, but the last 5-6 years.  Considering I went through a battle with cancer and a divorce, you can imagine I was not in a very good place mentally.  The only thing that kept me going were my camera's.  I felt like I had no support anywhere else.  Everything seemed distant and remote.  Except for my cameras.

The Wood Duck

Taken today at Mud Lake after a long day at work.  There must have been at least 5 pairs of Wood ducks at the entrance to the path today.  When I came at about 4pm they were all diving for food.  Weather was a bit chilly with a brisk, cold wind

I honestly love shooting with my f2.8 lenses.  I don't think I could go back to a slower lens.  I may be an f2.8 snob but f2.8 lenses help out a lot.  Especially the Canon ones.

Alamy?

So I upload to several micro stock agencies such as Bigstock, Istock, Fotolia, pond5 and shutterstock.  All get regular sales and on most of them I have 2200+ images.  On Alamy, I only have about 400 or so images.  Granted I only started uploading within the last two months yet I've not made a sale whatsoever on the site.  I'm just wondering if I should continue to upload.  Let me know in the comments below.  

Adobe Certified Expert Certification

No photo to go with todays blog post as this is more of a rant rather than anything else.

I've been interested in photography since I could remember.  I finally took some classes in 2010 at Algonquin College and finished the Photography Techniques certificate in 2012 all while working and dealing with cancer at the same time.  Since I beat cancer back in 2012 and cleared this year with my 5 year anniversary, I've been thinking that I honestly don't want to do the whole IT industry thing anymore.  I've been in IT since 2001.  The only certification I have is my CompTia A+ certificate along with my diploma of course. 

Since I got cancer back in 2010, it made me realize what I wanted to do with my life.  In the last 5 years, life has really been a struggle with cancer and dealing with the breakdown of my marriage and inevitable divorce.  Over the past year or two, I've been feeling the need to get out there with my cameras and follow my dreams.  It's not just dreams I think.  It's actually more than just dreams.  Something inside me is telling me to go out there and do my photography as a full time job.  I feel it in my bones.  I'm unhappy with where I am in my life.  Being newly single.  Being not where I want to be financially along with my living condition.

The only thing that ever makes me happy is when I'm out doing photography.  Doesn't matter what sort of photography it is.  One of the things that worry me is the finances of going out on my own just to do photography.  I upload and sell my photography on various micro stock sites but I don't get enough sales there to support myself financially.  I don't know if I want to work for someone else.  I've done it all my life and would like to head out on my own.  Just frighteningly scary is all.

I think by this time next year, I will be somewhere else other than Ottawa.  I want to get my Czech citizenship back so I can be a dual citizen of Canada and the Czech Republic.  One thing that I do know is I need to get my Adobe certification in Photoshop CC.  Currently I use Lightroom CC to edit all my photography.  I just need to do my certification.  I think that will be my goal in the next couple of months.  Get my Adobe certification and get out of Ottawa.  As one of my Photoshop teachers used to say a lot in class: "Who's with me?"

Surfing the waves to catching the night sky

I spent the whole day yesterday (4/23/2016) doing photography.  Woke up really early Saturday morning at 4:30am and didn't get to bed till past midnight after shooting the stars.  We started early at 8:30am to go see some kayakers surfing the waves at Bates Island in Ottawa.  Considering the amount of water rushing on the Ottawa river this spring, I'd say all had a good time.  It was a very chilly morning with just above zero degrees celsius feeling like a negative five celsius.  It actually felt colder with the wind.

This is how I ended my day under the starts till the full moon came out at about 10:30ish.  It was time to pack up and head home.  Got home just past midnight and it was really hard to wake up this morning.  But I'm glad I spent the whole day doing what I love and spending  time with good friends who enjoy the same things as I do.

Yes today is kind of a short blog but it's nice and sunny outside again.  So off for other adventures with the Canon EOS 6D's and the Canon L series lenses.  Have a great day everyone.  :)

The Canon EOS 7D

Got this shot of a Great Grey Owl a few years ago with my trusty Canon EOS 7D and the Sigma f2.8 70-200MM.  Honestly,  I think the Canon EOS 7D is a great wildlife, sports photography camera.  On a trip to Prague, Czech Republic in June of 2013 it was the only camera that survived of the two.  My Canon EOS 6D body did not make the flight from Ottawa to Prague.  Somewhere between Ottawa and Prague, the pentaprism dislodged from it's housing and was completely useless.  So back to shooting on a cropped sensor.

Anyways, we're gonna talk about the Canon EOS 7D.  Great, great action camera.  With the version 2 of the firmware it just kicked into an awesome action camera because of the number of shots you could get within a second.  The above shot was taken with the Canon EOS 7D and the Sigma f2.8 70-200MM non OS lens.  From what I remember it was a warm day that day.  Now a March day in Canada is not warm for anyone south of the Canadian border.  I think it was maybe around -5 degrees celsius with no wind, no clouds.  Just your typical Canadian spring day.

This was one of the better days of photographing the owls.   No winter snow storm.  It's actually pretty cool to photograph these owls in a cold snow storm with the snow falling down.  It adds some drama to the shot.

In this case I got the Owl coming in to get a meal on a little mouse.  I t think after it got the mouse and went back to eat it, we left as we knew that, that was it as far as it flying as it disappeared into the woods.  I to this day still remember this being one of my happy days.  Photography always makes me happy.

The 70-200MM

I honestly love shooting with the Canon EOS 6D and the Canon EF f.28 70-200MM L IS series lens.  Since I got the Canon 70-200, my acceptance rate on Shutterstock, Fotolia and Bigstockphoto have increased exponentially.  I also think I was holding the lens all wrong and the focus was way off causing my images to be soft and completely not sharp.  But now that I hold the lens a bit differently, I'm able to focus much better and let the lens do its magic.  The Canon EF f.28 70-200MM L series lens is amazingly sharp.

I'm also glad I bought the lens when I did back in October of 2015 as the price has increased by about $700 because of the falling Canadian dollar.  The falling Canadian dollar is good for one thing for myself as Shutterstock, Fotolia, Bigstockphoto and istockphoto all pay in U.S. dollars.  This means now I get about 30% more in my payouts which is nice since I derive 100% of my photography income from micro stock agencies based in either the U.S or the U.K.

I was thinking today while at work how to increase my passive income from photography.  I have my own website of course.  I sell my photography on 500px and Redbubble.  I am not on Etsy yet since I've heard conflicting things about that site.  I have one book available on iTunes.  I have to create probably another 2-3 books and put them up on iTunes and lulu.com.  Mind you, I'm horrible at marketing myself and my photography.  I'm also a perfectionist when it comes to my photography.  It just has to be perfect for me to put it up on a site now.  So it takes a while for me to do anything.

Anyways, back to the Canon EF f2.8 70-200MM L IS series lens.  Just simply an amazing lens as far as sharpness and colour accuracy.  I previously had the Sigma f2.8 70-200MM non-OS lens which means no which was a great lens.  Just not as good as the Canon version.

What originally made me get the Sigma version of the f2.8 70-200 was the great grey owl blow out back in 2012.  At the time, it was the only 70-200 I could afford.  At the time I think the Sigma was selling for about $1000 and the Canon was about $2200 or so (rounding off in dollars).  So the Canon was out of my league.  Now due to circumstances in my life I could afford the Canon lens.  I also now have a few Canon EOS 6D bodies to put my L series lenses onto.  Yes.  I'm addicted to photography and a total Canon camera fan boy.  I wish I was getting Canon to sponsor me but that is not the case.  But, I am hoping to work with Canon soon.  I'm a Canon brand kinda photographer as I shoot video on a Canon Vixia HF R62 camcorder.

If you are interested in some of my photography and videography you can check the following links:

Shutterstock

Fotolia

Bigstock

Pond5

iStock

I also upload to alamy.com and videoblocks.com but my portfolios are small compared to the others.

Feel free to shop or contact me here via email.  

Night fall.

I was supposed to meet up a with a fellow photographer friend to do some astrophotography today as we got clear skies and warm weather.  But alas, she had exams and bailed out on me.  Now, I was not going to have a few thousand dollars worth of astronomy and photography equipment with me alone in the middle of no where at night.

So at the last minute, I decided to go down to Nepean Point in downtown Ottawa to do some night photography instead.  I only stayed for about an hour and half since I had to walk back to my car which was a good half hour walk for me lugging 3 camera bodies, 3 lenses and a pretty solid tripod and head.  

In this shot I managed to get the constellation of Orion above the city of Hull, Quebec.  This shot I think worked out pretty well.  Seems I got the exposure right and managed to get a nice sky behind the bridge and city.

All images can be purchased at my website by clicking on the following link.

Night fall over the gulf

So I love shooting wide field landscape shots with my Canon EOS 6D and the Canon EF f2.8 L 16-35MM lens.

If you seriously want to get into photography, buy a decent body like the Canon EOS 80D, the 7D Mark II and buy the L series lenses.  Yes they're expensive but you get what you pay for.  You can see the quality of a good camera, a good lens and a half decent photographer here:  http://goo.gl/cdNR63

Mr. Grumpy

Today's blog is going to be short and sweet.  Warm temperatures.  Blue skies.  And finally photography after work.  

I went to Mud lake today which is located just off of the Ottawa river in Ottawa's west end.  I just needed some fresh air and clear my mind.  I always like going to Mud lake as there are plenty of varied wild life to watch and photograph from small birds to big birds, turtles, and small woodland animals to deer.

Since my longest lens is the Canon EF f2.8 L 70-200MM, I will be doing a lot of cropping of some of my photography since I got rid of the Sigma f5-6.3 150-500MM lens to get another Canon EOS 6D body.

On my way around the lake on the walking path I met a friend and fellow photographer.  He will remain nameless as he shoots on a competing camera line which will also remain nameless.  Now, I met my friend on a bridge which crosses some water.  From this vantage point you can shoot a lot of water fowl such as geese, ducks, musk rats, beaver and very friendly turtles who will gladly pose for you for a small fee.

I spent about two and a half hours shooting the sh*t just talking photography and various other topics.  For not being a people person that is pretty good.  As I am a solitary photographer meaning that I love going to do photography by myself most of the time so I can stop, think, take pictures as I please without any interruption.  I also like doing photography in small groups with other photographers.

Yes, this is a convoluted blog post as it's late on a Thursday night and I work early tomorrow morning.  Plus I wanted to do some astrophotography tomorrow night since I don't have to get up any time soon on Saturday and I could actually sleep in.  

By the way, have I mentioned recently that Canon rocks?

The 3rd Canon EOS 6D body and the moose

So I've been doing a lot of thinking the past couple of weeks with what I wanted to do with my photography and videography.  More specifically, what kind of photography and videography I wanted to do and what my current equipment was capable of.  Also in my thought process was what do I sell via the micro stock agencies I deal with.

Some time ago I bought a Sigma f5.0-6.3 150-500MM lens that I used to get various shots with for my wildlife photography.  I also use a Canon EF 70-200MM f2.8L II USM lens a lot as well.  I've been finding that the Canon 70-200MM far more often than any other lens just because of the build quality of said lens.  If you shoot on the Canon platform and do not use this lens because of the price, I suggest you start saving up to get this lens.  Simply the best lens out there.  Sharp, crystal clear and the colours are consistently amazing with no chromatic aberration at all or at least very, very little.  For my landscape photography I use the Canon EF 16-35MM II L USM lens along with the Canon EF L 24-70MM II USM lens.  For macro photography, I use the Canon f2.8 100MM L USM lens.  I also use the nifty fifty (Canon EF f1.8 STM).

I also shoot video for my stock agencies.  Currently I use the Canon Vixia HF R62 HD camcorder.  I had the Sony FDR AX33 4k HD camcorder.  Now, both shoot amazing video.  World class.  As much as I wanted to keep the Sony FDR AX33 4k HD camcorder, I could not sell 4k video at all.  1080p, plenty.   But of course not as many as I would like.  Sales are always good.

Today at lunch I went to my local camera shop that I always use to buy my equipment to sell some stuff and perhaps buy a new body.  A new body for me anyways.  A camera body that is.  So today at lunch I went and sold some equipment.  I sold the Sigma f5.0-6.3 150-500MM, the Sony FDR AX33 4k HD camcorder and the Sony RX100 Mark IV which by the way is an excellent pocket point and shoot camera which also shoots 4k video along with taking great pictures.  Plus it fits perfectly in the front jean pocket.

Depending on what I was going to get back for the equipment I was going to buy a cropped sensor body like the Canon EOS T6i or the Canon EOS 70D.  I was kind of hoping to get enough money back to get the Canon EOS 70D which is a steadier body with a few more features than the T6i.  Plus the T6i is an entry level camera.  Don't get me wrong, I think the Rebel series of cameras are great.  That's how I started in the photography business.  Actually I upgraded to the Canon EOS 350D from the Canon A95 which was a cool little point and shoot camera that, if I remember correctly required four double a batteries and shot at a maximum of 5MP.

Back on topic.  I had more than enough to buy the Canon EOS 70D body and battery grip.  But I was a bit short for the Canon EOS 6D.  I did a bit of budgeting for the next couple of weeks and figured, why not?  Spend less than $500 to get a full frame body.  My third Canon EOS 6D.  I got the Canon EOS 6D because I was so happy with the other two Canon EOS 6D cameras that I still use to this day to do my landscape and nature photography.

The only thing that bugs me about the Canon EOS 6D is the lack of focus points using only 11 and only 1 is cross type.  Otherwise it's an excellent camera body which works well in low light and other photographic situations.  So now I have three Canon EOS 6D bodies attached to Canon L series lenses except for the Macro and nifty fifty which are waiting for their own bodies.  Eventually I think I may get two mored bodies to finish off the set.  I also need to get a battery grip for the new addition to the Canon family as I find the body to be just a tad bit small for my hands.  The battery grip also helps when you're shooting vertical. I wonder if I can get Canon Canada to send me one for review.  Eh, Canon????