Screaming Heads

Proposal to affect our beloved White Water Preserve

Orillia Power is proposing to build a power generating station at the Minden Wildwater Preserve. I'm not going to go into all the details, you can find them elsewhere, but there is NO DOUBT it will affect this fabulous natural waterway, where the PanAm Games kayak and canoe slalom events were hosted, unique in the world, and a natural treasure.

I wrote a letter to the Minden Hills Town Council who are considering the proposal. I hope it doesn't fall on deaf ears:

There are many arguments for and against the project but I defy you to find one supporting it that does not have a financial aspect. Money will be made if this project goes ahead, by OPG, by those hired to do the work, by others, and likely by the Town of Minden. Fair enough.

I have failed to find even one argument against the project that has anything to do with money. Instead they centre around changes that will affect this precious resource; not only the waterway itself but also the lakes and waters both up- and down-stream. Those who use the white waters for recreation – the kayakers, the fishermen and women, even those who simply wander the banks of the river, explore the caves, watch the trilliums grow in the spring, enjoy nature at its best. There’s no denying that these gifts will be affected if this project goes ahead.

As a photographer and an artist with ties to many outside the community, I often get requests, “I’m thinking of coming up to Minden Hills for a visit, what do you recommend that I see and do?”, number one on my list is to visit the Minden Wild Water Preserve. By far. The gnarly tree roots, the warblers and cedar waxwings flitting through the trees, the pristine trails along the water’s edge… Even in February! The rushing water, leaving filigreed caps of ice on the rocks (the original “Iced Cap!”) Even before the PanAm Games, it was one of the few things that people knew about our area. “You live in Minden? Isn’t that where that fabulous white water falls is located?”. Now, after the event, it’s a calling card for visitors from all over the world to come see our natural beauty.

Who has stood on the side of the Gull river and not thought, “Wow. This is a magical place”?

And now there’s a proposal to take it all away, or at least make it less magical. Shame on Minden Council if you approve this project which will affect our natural treasure for the sake of the almighty dollar.

New Banner Picture

I replaced the banner picture. For the record, here's the old one, since otherwise it disappears into cyberspace!

Topaz ReMask special offer!

The fine folks at Topaz Labs are in the process of updating one of their most effective plugins, "ReMask". If anyone has struggled with making a selection in Photoshop (frizzy, blowaway hair is the best example, but any irregular shape also poses challenges), ReMask is an intuitive, quick and extremely effective tool.

ReMask is designed on one simple idea: To create the best quality mask with minimal input. By using ReMask’s simple 3-color tri-map technology, users have the power to quickly and easily extract even the toughest elements — hair, foliage, and transparent materials — in their photos. The new updates to ReMask 5 make it the most powerful masking software on the market. The two biggest additions are standalone capabilities and background replacement tools.

ReMask 5 works as a standalone program now, in addition to being a plugin. This means no host program is required and Lightroom integration is available. ReMask 5 also allows you to replace and edit the background of your masked image without leaving the program. Choose from transparent, solid color, or image backgrounds.

If you already have ReMask 4, the update is free. If not, you can take advantage of the sale that's now on and purchase it for $49.95, a $20 savings, between now and September 18th!

Here's the link to the ReMask product page. You can try it out for free... but complete your purchase before the 18th to take advantage of the sale price. At checkout, enter the code. "GetReMask5". 

Screaming Heads

Note: this paragraph and picture added after the fact. I realized I never posted a picture of a "Screaming Head", and my intro was rather weak. 

Sometimes an artist's vision is so far out of the mainstream, it defies description. Peter Camani's Screaming Heads project is like that. You have to see the place to get it.

The club had an outing to "Screaming Heads" near Burk's Falls. If you've never heard of it, it's an off-the-wall place, conceived in the creative mind of Peter Camani. You can read more about it here, or Google it to see a variety of videos and other links. There's no simple way to describe it, check out the links. On September 18th weekend, by the way, the "Harvest Festival" will be there, an event which Peter describes as something like Burning Man (Google that if you've never heard of it either!). He expects over 3000 people.

Peter Camani describing some of the features inside his Midlothian Castle home 

As a challenge, I decided to shoot the entire visit with one lens only, my new Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 macro. I changed lenses only once, to do the group shot because I needed a wider angle. Otherwise everything you're about to see was shot with the one lens (although I did crop many of the pictures).

Our group. Missing is Philip Brown who was there but he disappeared sometime in the morning. Hope the witches in the castle didn't get him! I borrowed Jack's neat lightweight MeFoto tripod, set up the camera and used the TriggerTrap for the first time, controlling it with my iPhone. I set it to take a shot every 5 seconds, I did half a dozen or so before wandering back to shut it off.  

Many of my shots were enhanced using various Photoshop tools, such as the Flame Generator here (there were no flames in these old lanterns!). Then I used Topaz Impression to create a painting.

Another painted image (Topaz Impression, "Turner Afternoon" preset). This is essentially a full-frame image, I was challenged by the 105mm lens and couldn't get back far enough to include the whole canoe.  

You could either walk around the pond, or take the human-powered 'ferry' across! Amin is providing the muscle for this crossing. It doesn't take much – I had crossed myself earlier so I could get this shot and I sent the ferry back under the power of a little 5-year old boy! I toned this one similar to Dianne Stender's style. 

Cement and other sculptures dotted the landscape. Enhanced in Topaz Impression, "Impasto" preset. 

Eyes cut in the sculptures made wonderful frames to shoot through! I took some pictures of Chris and Holly looking through some eyeholes, but others have posted those so I didn't.

I did say it was a macro lens, right? So I had to shoot this grasshopper... 

...and this wasp or hornet gathering nectar on a goldenrod bloom. 

Amin and Gord hanging out. The 105mm gives an excellent perspective and by the way, it's really sharp! Amin is wearing the new HHCC baseball cap, the shipment came in a couple of days ago if you're a club member.

Christine struck a fashion model pose on one of the sculptures. 

...and so did Holly. 

And Wendy. Very, very rare for me: I did NOTHING to this shot, it's straight out of the camera, not even cropped! 

Another painted image in the style of Degas. I think the composition really works here!

The castle is guarded by this little gnome, hidden in the wall near the gate. At least he was sheltered from the rain (yes, we got caught!). 

And finally, one more shot, taken in their lush garden:

You know I did a little work on this one in Photoshop and Topaz! Told you this is a sharp lens! 

So an excellent day's outing, capped off by a great early dinner on a patio overlooking the river in Huntsville before the drive home. 

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Last 2014 post

Traditionally, this is a time of year to look back and then cast an eye forward to the next 12 months.

I originally wrote this long diatribe about how I'm aging and how I have to learn to accept my limitations but I decided to erase all of that and put on my "glass half full" hat.

2014 was a pretty good year.  I've finally reached a point where I'm producing images that I like and I can see my art becoming slowly consistent. Others have recognized that, which is very satisfying. My opinions and perspective is more valued. I got to shoot assignments for the local newspaper, sold some prints, mentored some people, learned to focus my vision.

I'm basically retired and don't have the desire or energy to pursue my business any more, financial issues notwithstanding, so I want to concentrate on my photography, my art, my writing. I write a lot – you're reading some of it, this will be my 49th blog post this year (including the tech blog) – and I write for the paper and eBooks and tutorials and... but there IS a novel somewhere inside me. I need to devote a little time to it every day.

I have lots of friends and acquaintances, although none of the intimate kind. A bunch of new ones in the camera club. I'm enjoying country living, but I miss having a connection with my family and my past. I'm frequently told I should pack it up and move back but I don't want to. It's inevitable, I know, but I'm holding out as long as I can.

I share too much. This is my outlet, though, so forgive me. As each year dawns, I wonder if this will be when my medical issues will jump up and bite me. Two cancers, both still there... It's hard to accept limitations. When you're younger, you can resolve to fix things but at this age (I'm 68, if you didn't know) it's more about learning to live with things. My weight. My legs and knees limit my mobility. Creeping arthritis. My hand's not the same since my broken wrist a year ago. Other stuff too...

So what am I looking forward to in 2015?

• No new medical issues. No pre-existing ones jumping up and biting me. Wishful thinking? I sure hope not!
• Growing my connection with family and friends.
• In 2015 I vow to pick up a paint brush. Traditionally I'm self-taught in most things but I want to find a way to kick start my painting. At least I need to learn the basics.
• I want to teach more. There's a network of people up here who value my knowledge and opinion, mostly from the camera club, and I enjoy sharing my experience. I will set aside time for that.
• In my photography:

• Continue on the path to finding my style

• Print and sell more pictures

• Continue acting as a judge in competitions

• Ongoing assignments from the newspapers

• The PanAm Games are here this summer. I'm hoping for press accreditation so I can photograph the whitewater events

• I hope I can travel at least once. Finances are limited, there are a number of places on my 'bucket list' (New Orleans. Iceland. New Zealand. The British Isles...), I want to see at least one of them.
• My "Great Canadian Novel". A good start. Dare I hope to finish it?

That's a lot of stuff for one year! Good thing I'm 'retired'. Maybe I'll have to move some of it to 2016! Not the travel thing, I hope.

Stick around to see what I write at the same time next year! And to all of you, look at the picture at the head of this article:

May 2015 Exceed your Expectations!

From the "Sporadic Musings" department

Do I have A.D.D.? No I don't, and I apologize to those who might or know someone who does, I don't intend to trivialize it. But I think it's in all of us, to some extent.

I get distracted easily. Is that the definition? Put on some music. "Wish I could play keyboard like that". New song. "I really should have stuck with the guitar". "Think I'll go find my harmonica and play along". No, back to the keyboard. Why is that blue jay pecking for seeds on the ground when I have a perfectly good bird feeder up 2m away? I haven't heard back from the computer guy yet. 

I was reflecting on why I haven't settled on an art style. I know it's because I'm constantly exploring new directions. Every time a new program comes up, I imagine the possibilities and try it and go off seeking a pot of gold at the end of that rainbow. Then along comes another one and I go that way. I'm wandering around instead of focusing on "True North", despite the lip service I've paid to the concept over the years.

My mind wanders. I hesitate to start anything that would require continuous attention for more than a couple of hours. Is it just me? Oh look, a squirrel!

Parting Shots

It was a rainy day in Pizzaville...

What does one do when it's a rainy, cold, damp, miserable day? The obvious choice is to throw another log on the fire, pour a fresh cuppa, find a good book to read and put your feet up. I did that. Then I got bored. And I thought, "I bet the streets are shiny wet" so I did what any real photographer would do: I went out in the damp rain.

I drove into Minden, filled up with gas (amazing, 85.9¢/L after my discount!) bought some groceries (prime rib roasts on sale! Yay!) and meandered down to Bobcaygeon Road in Minden. Downtown. The main street. OK, it's really the ONLY street... I parked, looked for a likely spot, took a few test shots for exposure, then waited for someone interesting to come along.

There were only a few people out but I wasn't ready to give up. A soggy half hour later, I was rewarded. Along came this red and white umbrella person!

Definitely being added to my "Best of 2014" set!  

I've had this shot in mind for some time. I knew that what I wanted to do was to mask out the subject, then apply a motion blur to the background. Others have used this technique in posted pictures of wanderers in the rain-soaked narrow cobblestoned streets of exotic locations, but here I was in 'picturesque' downtown Minden! I wiped the raindrops off the front of my lens and took a few shots.

My composition wasn't great. In fact I shot it as a landscape shot (horizontal), trying to include the lamp on the light pole at right. But when I loaded it into the computer, this crop called out to me immediately.

At the risk of being exceedingly technical, I fixed up the wall on the left, pasted her on a fresh layer, removed the top half of the umbrella on the background layer and did the motion blur thing. And some other Photoshop stuff. Good, but not quite my vision. So I added some brushstrokes in the style of Cezanne, a soft glow with, well, Topaz Glow, and texture with Flypaper Textures.

On the way home, I stopped in the Canadian Tire parking lot, figuring the lights from inside the store would add an interesting element to a similar shot. I didn't like any of those, but then behind me, these two girls appeared. Got it! I debated removing the stop sign but I think it adds to the story.

At the risk of eclipsing the other picture, here's another one. An oil painting filter in Topaz Impression, plus a flypaper texture.. 

See you all when the clock strikes 2015! Stick around and enjoy wrapping your mind around some new ideas. And let's enjoy the upcoming year together.

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Busy Times

It's not supposed to be busy. It's mid-summer, I should be spending time sitting on the dock, going for a swim, mowing the lawn (yeah, well... this is the country, right? But when it gets too high and ugly...), sitting in the gazebo drinking a Marguerita, enjoying the festivals and activities up here in the Highlands.

I visited my friend Janie on Kushog lake last weekend. It wasn't the greatest weather but you don't need an excuse to go down to the boat! I think this captures her in a really great moment on the lake. 

I'm doing some of that stuff, but I find myself in front of the computer for too many hours every day. There's weekly trips to Toronto, weekend visitors, stacking firewood... but I owe it to my faithful readers to post to the blog, so here I am!

I don't want to bore you
with family pictures 

...but I have to post a few! I was in Toronto last week when my son and family came to visit. There are 3 pictures I'd like to share here, if you don't mind!

Amalia is the latest addition to the family. She has bright eyes, a captivating smile and her father's dimples. She's 5 months old and the most beautiful baby in the world! 

Her big sister Leah is going to be 5 years old in a month or so. She's happy, friendly, really smart and inquisitive, and of course loves chocolate chip cookies (who doesn't??). I have a bunch of shots of her but I think this one captures her best! It goes without saying that she's the brightest, most beautiful almost-five-year-old in the world...

No doubt, my mother's going to call me when she sees this picture and say, "how could you put such a horrible picture of me up on your blog?". I know you're not smiling, Mom, but that's only because you didn't want me to take your picture! The little 'gator in the foreground is worth  a comment: most of the residents at Thorne Mills have walkers and to distinguish them, they put ribbons or flowers or something on them. Mom's had this little guy who I call "Sebastian" (family joke) for quite some time. Anyway, the picture does capture who you are, Mom!

As most of you know, I'm not a great "people" photographer, but I'm trying. I took this casual portrait of Janie at the same time as the boat shot above, I kind of like the treatment and again I think it captures her essence well.

High key portrait, with some Topaz Simplify painting effects. I love Janie's hair even though she complains about it! BTW I did NOT use Topaz ReMask on this shot because it didn't need it, but I tried the new version and it's really slick. Her hair was a challenge, Topaz handled it easily! Go to my previous blog posting for a link to the plug-in and where to get it for half-price for the next few days. Oh, OK, here's the link, and use the code "julyremask" when ordering. 

Workshops

In the last few weeks I've done a couple of different workshops. The "Stars" one had two parts to it, one a technical classroom seminar and the second part will be a field trip at Oh-Dark-Thirty (which is when the stars are out, duh...). The problem is, you can't shoot when it's cloudy. We were actually intending to go out tonight but the weather forecast changed so I cancelled it. Hopefully next weekend will be better. There's an interesting website called cleardarksky.com which has links to some 1900 observatories and observing sites in North America, with a wealth of information. Unfortunately their forecast only goes out a day or two so it's hard to plan ahead.

This was one of my classroom sessions this month. I'm willing to do more of them if anyone is interested, drop me a note and we'll see if we can work out a good date.  

This is one of the spots I picked out for the field session. As you can see, I'm facing East. There's a nice view to the North and West as well, South is not so good.  This looks like a dandy sunrise location as well, I'll check that out in the upcoming days if I can get out of bed early enough!

While we were there, we saw some cool dragonflies. I REALLY have to get a macro lens. If you see dragonflies, BE NICE! Remember, they eat mosquitoes!

People who regularly shoot macros will poo-pooh this shot because the back wings and the head are not in focus. I can do better... but this was shot with my 70-200mm lens with the 1.7x teleconverter mounted (no question about sharpness!). Handheld, 1/640 second at f/8, ISO 400.  I'm not sure of the species: I Googled it but didn't find the exact same markings anywhere. 

Don't try this at home, kiddies!

This was shot in Toronto, it was a hazy sunset, otherwise I wouldn't have pointed the camera directly at the sun.

I don't know if you can see the foreground detail on this internet version. Again, the same lens/teleconverter combination. You can ALMOST see the corona, certainly there's some detail at the edges. 

Some street photos

I'll close with some street photos I took this week. I have a tough assignment from the Minden Times to shoot what's going on in Minden: not much! It's a pretty sleepy town...

Cliff's big ole dawg is a common sight on Minden's main street. Nap time! 

These two guys were hanging out in front of the Dominion Hotel on a hot summer afternoon. I was trying to get their pictures without them noticing... I guess I failed! 

This is actually cropped from the same photo. I like the character lines in his face. The reflection of the other gentleman in the window adds balance and this shot has gathered some pretty positive comments on a few street photography forums. 

See you next week!

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It's fun being published!

Lots and lots of pictures for you today, so I'll keep the words down to a dull roar! Besides, I'm doing the Stars workshop in a couple of days and I'm still preparing the curriculum and materials, so I have to do this quick.

I'm posting this now because I posted the following picture and question on several social media sites, so perhaps I piqued some curiosity out there!

Here's what I wrote: "Why you should use "Pro" cameras and lenses. What was I shooting? Wait for it, I'll post it on the blog in a day or two... anticipaaatiiiooonnnn..".

The answer to that question is, "The Kin[sman] Club Truck Pull, show 'n shine and ATV Mud Bog" at the Minden Fairgrounds! The truck pull is photographically boring (grass growing is more exciting!), I missed the car show, but the Mud Bog was a ton of fun. Here are more pictures than I really should post, but it was hard to choose!

See why I got muddy? That trench is (guessing) 100' long and about 4' deep in water and mud. Fastest ATV in each class  wins.  This was my favorite shot, but the Minden Times didn't use this one. 

They printed this on the front page, 3 columns wide, above the fold!  

Jay Warner was the E-Class winner on his souped up Can-Am 1000. What you can't see in this picture is the Nitrous Oxide bottle which apparently he didn't use in this race because it isn't legal in that class. This bike has more  power than my car. And when he raced past me less than 10' away, well, I got muddy! 

Here's a shot of Vic Rizzo, F-Class winner in motion! I shot this with the 17mm wide angle lens so you get that I was only about 5 feet away when he whizzed by. Most of the others were at 200mm.

A similar shot of Jay. I think he pulled the Nitrous on this run. Also ultra-wide angle, up close and personal! Boy, did I get splashed.

Also at the event, they were doing training for kids, teaching them to be safe on ATV's. They were busy the whole day! Some of the things they did brought back my motorcycle instructor days (ATV training is also under the auspices of the Canada Safety Council).

The youngster on the red bike is Seth Waldensperger, son of one of the instructors, leading the group. See? I'm learning to take notes. This shot was also published in the Minden Times.

At the same time, I had another assignment from the Times, for a feature page called, "Minden Moments". They published 4 of my shots (almost the full page), including these two:

 

  

 

Kawartha Dairy gives you your money's worth when you buy a large ice cream cone! 

It doesn't get any better than this for kids! 

Lens is sold

My Sigma 120-400mm lens is sold. I'm picking up a TC-17e teleconverter for the 70-200 f/2.8 which will extend it out to 340mm at f/4.8. It was too much to carry around. Now I can be almost equipped with a shoulder bag.

And finally, one more photo

A little street photography in Minden the other day.

I'm proud of myself. I actually engaged Dave in conversation then asked permission to take his picture. Note the teardrop tattoo below his left eye. I thought I knew what that meant, but I could be wrong: I'll leave it to you to Google it. He had other tats, somewhat crude so you know where they were done. Interesting character, though.

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Signs of Spring

Workflow tips

From the "for what it's worth" department (FWIW): I thought I'd share a couple of workflow tips for my photographer friends. But then I decided it would be better to put it in my tech blog so most of my readers' eyes don't glaze over and it makes them not want to come back to visit every week! If you are a photographer and  use Photoshop or Lightroom or Elements in your post-processing, feel free to hop over to www.faczentech.blogspot.com.

TOPAZ CLEAN on sale

The good folks at Topaz Labs have done it again. This month they have put Topaz Clean on sale at half price for the month of May.

That's one of those products that's a little hard to understand until you use it (you can try it for free before you buy it for 30 days). Here's what they say about it:

If you've ever post-processed a portrait for flawless skin texture, or made a car look clean and polished, or created the perfect sky... you know how difficult it can be. There's a fine line between "too much" and "not enough" post-processing - and you have to get it.

Topaz Clean makes it easy and fast to create perfect image texture. Instead of creating 5 different layers in Photoshop, just drag a few sliders in Clean and you'll get a great result in seconds.

Topaz Clean lets you smooth edges and surfaces in your photos. It's great for subjects like cars and portraits, and you can also use it to create some interesting effects as well. Clean has three main controls:
 * Smoothness: smoothes the surfaces of your photo. Useful for removing blemishes from skin, removing dust + noise, creating a "flatter" texture, and more.
* Edges: smoothly enhances edges with a unique process that looks "vectorized". This creates smooth and well-defined lines in your photo that work great on image features like hair and eyelashes.
* Texture: recovers and refines original detail in your image to keep it looking natural. For example, re-introduce original skin texture in your portraits to prevent your post-processing from looking too overdone or "plastic". 

Here's the link to the Topaz Clean product page. To take advantage of the half-price offer (valid until the end of May), enter the code "mayclean" at checkout when you order it.

Do you live in the past?

I do, and I admit it. My sister shared a site with me and I thought I'd pass it on. This website is called "45rpm DB" and it contains the full recordings of 77,000 45rpm singles dating from 1950 onwards! You can search for anything, but look at the "archives" tab: it shows the top 10 charts for each month and year. It's amazing how you can remember every single song from that many years ago.

As I type this, I'm listening to Michael Jackson's "BAD" from 1987. Before that it was Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" from 1973. How about "Surfer Girl" by the Beach Boys from 1963? Love this site!

Give yourself an Assignment

Again, this is for my photog readers. But it leads to some pictures for the rest of you too see, too. Bear with me.

I'm a really strong advocate for the "Competition" process in camera clubs. Not only does it get you to think about doing your best work, but it also gets the creative juices flowing. For me, it helps to have a theme or a reason to go shoot pictures. I like the time limited ones that force you to focus on a topic. I'm not that good with long projects, although I'm trying.

So last week, I noticed that the river was up again in Minden. We're all hopeful that it doesn't result in another flood situation like last year. I took a few photos and sent them to the local paper and not only did they want some, they also asked me for pictures to illustrate an article on "Signs of Spring".

This fixed dock on the Gull River in Minden is underwater again.

So are parts of the RiverWalk pathway and this bench illustrates how much the river is up 

Signs of Spring. Well, it's late this year. So if you go out in the woods today, you're in for a big surprise. Nothing to see! The trilliums (and trout lillies) are about the first wildflowers up) weren't there yet.

Early shot of an infant trillium not open yet. Just about the only one I could find. 

What to do, what to do. I did find some pictures from previous years in the archives, but I wanted to do some new ones. So I gave myself an assignment. What else would be harbingers of spring?

Iconic symbols like songbirds back at the feeder.

I hate grackles. OK, "hate" is a bit strong, but they show up in herds (I think a flock of grackles should be called a "Feh" or a "Yucky"). They drive off all the other birds, they squawk, they empty the feeders in a matter of minutes. This one was fluffing out his feathers, probably a display thing in mating season. Too bad there was an out-of-focus twig  blocking part of the tail...

I did manage to get this shot of a female rose-breasted grosbeak.
The male eluded me – every time I got close enough for a shot, he disappeared. 

Anyway, back to the 'assignment' thing. What else says 'it's spring'? "Well", I thought, "what about people out doing outdoor chores"? So with that in mind, I went out and found these:

Jack was out raking leaves on a property in Minden 

Keith was transplanting some trees at his place in Hunter Creek. Interesting guy: He and his wife (Carol?) retired here a year or so ago: they're not comfortable with country living yet, his wife says she never knows where she is, the roads aren't laid out in a grid like they were in the city! Keith and I talked about the flooding, he says anyone who builds or buys a home on a flood plain sort of deserves what they get! 

I stopped at the Minden Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Mart. Sue only opens for the season in April, so there's a sign of spring! It's pretty cool in her place with all the doors and windows open, she has to dress to keep warm. 

Spring flowers for sale, like these miniature daffodils and bluebells say "spring"! 

Tulips. This is going to be the cover shot for an insert section in the Minden Times next week! 

I think this is a killer art shot. Out behind the Fruit Mart was a stack of flower pots waiting for plants. A little Photoshop (Topaz) and voilà! Going in my fine art portfolio. Contact me to buy a print!

By giving myself an assignment (or being lucky enough to be given one!) I was able to find some interesting images.

I mentioned larger projects: I've got two in mind. I'll share those soon. Watch for it!

Image of the Week

For 7 years I've been shooting this tree at the Minden Wildwater Preserve. I finally got it. This is a 5-shot HDR, using Nik HDR Efex Pro 2. I set "de-ghosting" on so I could isolate the moving water on just one frame. I'm definitely making a large scale art print of this one. Haven't decided what medium yet, probably Epson Cold Press Natural, and I'll probably ask Jim to mount it for me using his patented process. You need one for your wall. You know what to do! 

OK, enough typing. Time to go out and see how the Trilliums are doing. Oh, and I think I got a shot of that male grosbeak. Next time!

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