f-stop steve


This is my first attempt at a photoblog. I have been doing self-taught photography for most of my life. I hope you like this effort. Please click on the photos for enlargements.
"If I could tell the story in words, I wouldn't need to lug around a camera. ~Lewis Hine"

Saturday, July 29, 2006

CSI - Canada

It was a particularly gruesome scene.
Veteran cops looked away in disgust.
















"My God! What did they use? A Howizter? It's on the ceiling! The lab boys will be here for weeks trying to get some usable DNA."










Some members of the family attempted to block our cameras, but the public has the right to know!










The children were hit hardest. They had never seen anything so.....red. So.....sticky. So...yucky.

















The authorities thought that had a suspect. The press were all over him. "I'm not an animal!" he screamed, I'm a human being..." (Sorry. Different movie)

















Soon after the police had the suspect in custody, they learned that he was a fall guy. Someone had paid him to take the rap. The kid was told he would do okay in a few years if he just kept his mouth shut.
He was tighter than a clam when the Big Guy walked in and gave him...(dum, dum,dum, dum) "the look."
"Who dropped the container of spaghettii sauce in the kitchen?" "Was it you?"
The kid cracked under the strain. "It was Nanna!" he cried. "I didn't want to do it, but she made me say I did it while she cleaned up the evidence." "Don't send me to the chair, I'm just a kid!"
"Okay", said Poppa. " Calm down. I thought it was pretty funny." "That's why I took all the pictures."
And they hugged each other and laughed at the ladies cleaning up the kitchen.
The End.
(fade to black - cut to Mr. Clean commerical)

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Guest Photographer - Amanda




















I know how gunslingers in the old west felt. Every day someone comes along who think they're a little faster, a little better than the Kid. I shoot a sunset, somone else does better.
Well. I'm not a gunslinger and I know a great shot when I see one. This one is beautiful! Nice Job, Amanda! (That better be coffee or hot chocolate those guys are holding though)

Monday, July 24, 2006

The Conversation


























I don't know what the conversation was about but based on the body language, I bet it it contained the phrase "Listen to me....."

Sunday, July 23, 2006

You know who this is for.


























Never let it be said that I don't look after my friends.
You know who you are and you know why I posted this.
'Nuff said.

At the end of the day


















Sometimes, when you want to photograph something beautiful, you just have to look out your front door.

Saturday, July 22, 2006

I'm telling you what I saw!


















I know it's a swimming pool, Poppa, but I really saw sharks in the water!

Friday, July 21, 2006

Coordination


















It took several attempts to get this shot where they both hit the water at the same time. Fortunately, they didn't mind the rehersals.

Thursday, July 20, 2006

I am not a Nerd!


















Okay. So maybe I did score higher than Shalee on the nerd test, but I only got a 15! Besides, this is my car. Do nerds drive really cool cars like this? No!
And even if they did, their licence plates would not read "ITTS ME". Like mine does.
Fstop, you're sooooo cooool.
Yea Baby.

Monday, July 17, 2006

Hawaiian wall




















The effort that went into making this wall must have been enormous. It takes a few seconds to realize how precisely the stones fit. An interesting carving can be seen on the large circular stone in the middle left of the photograph.

Friday, July 14, 2006

Infinity


















I thought that a wide-angle lens might capture what I saw. It didn't do it justice.

Thursday, July 13, 2006

If you think this is big....


























you should see the size of the ventriloquist that makes it work!

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Pastoral eh what?


















While driving around the other day, I came upon these majestic animals. I know they are not Clysdales because they don't have the "feathers" on their hooves. They are either Belgians or Percherons. Either way, they are draft horses, so called because they were bred for hauling heavy loads.
I suspect these are beautiful examples of Belgian draft horses, if for no other reason than there are more Belgian draft horses around than any other type.
But, I have my orthopedic shoes standing by in case I have to stand corrected.

Something else you might not know about Canada...
The first commercial jet powered aircraft to fly in the western hemisphere was designed in Canada by James Floyd. It was the Avro C-102 and it was called "the Jetliner" a name that was used to describe any commercial jet for many years. Now you know.

Sunday, July 09, 2006

Total Abdication of Responsibility


























Today's rant is brought to you by a careless truck driver. In this case, careless really means care - less. My neighbour had some dirt delivered to his back yard the other day and while the driver was manoeuvering (which is funny because my dictionary defines "manoeuvering" as moving skillfully) his truck, he knocked over the two boxes in the photo. His care-less actions took out my phone line and my internet connection. Now in the universal scheme of things, losing my telephone and internet connection don't amount to a hill of beans, but the attitude of the driver and his boss are indicative of more serious underlying problems.
The driver abdicated his responsiblity by saying "Call my boss, not my problem."
Well guess what, Skippy. It was your problem because you drove the truck into the boxes.
The owner abdicated his responsiblity by saying "Not my problem. Call the phone and cable companies."
Well guess what, Skippy. It was your problem because your truck knocked over the boxes. (It was also the owner's obligation to call the phone and cable companies and report the damage. Up here in polite Canada, you don't even have to pay for the damage in most cases, but you do have to own up the damage.)
Hence the title of today's blog.
No-one has to accept responsiblity any more. For anything. We're all victims. Society is to blame.
If you didn't get the GI Joe with the frogman outfit when you were seven, don't worry. You have the right to be abusive when you're older, because it's not your fault!
If you knock over some stupid boxes and create some inconvenience for some stupid stranger, it's not your fault! They should have made the road wider, or moved the boxes back, or called for less dirt for their backyard. Whatever the case - it's not your fault!
If your kids are doing drugs because you don't monitor what they're doing, where they are or who their friends are -it's not your fault!
You have a right to a life! You work hard. You hate your job. Your boss is a jerk. We can't blame you because your kids are spoiled rotten and rude and bullies and dopers. It's not your fault!
Well we are responsible.
We have to take the responsibility from society's shoulders and put it where it belongs. On our shoulders.
What happened to the days of standing up and saying, "I was wrong. I made a mistake. I'm sorry. I'll make it right."?
Are they gone forever?
Are we really going down this path to............. where ever?
What are our grandkids and great-grandkids going to look like if we don't stop this insanity?
What will the world look like?
What will society act like?
What ever it will look like or act like, I'm certain that if things and people don't change it won't be polite or nice or attractive.
Don't abdicate your responsibilty and don't let others abdicate theirs.
Make a stand. Do what's right.
You already know what that is.
So endeth the lesson.
Have a nice day.

I Eliminated 4 people

















No, I'm not an assassin, but if you leave the shutter open long enough and the people keep moving, they don't end up in the shot.

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Apostrophe Clouds


















I looked out my office window this morning and saw these unique looking clouds. I wish I had said something profound so I could have used them as quotation marks. But I didn't.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

I'm Not Sure I Want To Eat Here


















The food's pretty good, but the chef is crazy.

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

4th of July Fireworks



























I went out late last night to try and capture some weather shots. I like what I got.
Happy Birthday America.

Sunday, July 02, 2006

NIGHT LIGHTS





















July 1st is Canada's birthday. We're 139 if you must know. Sweetie and I were outside watching the fireworks and in between shots, I took my 2 million candlepower spotlight (I may be afraid of the dark, I'm not sure) and lit up my front yard. It came out kinda cool and the only problem I encountered was the wind blowing our French Lilac tree around. We didn't mind though as the entire neighbourhood smelled like lilacs all night long.

Saturday, July 01, 2006

Stuff Americans in the Southern USA can't do.


























Here's the contents of the test: take one cup of boiling water. Add an outside air temperature lower than -35 degrees, throw the cup of water in the air. Result? Snow.
Let me know how you make out in Brownsville or Key West.