Goodbye to my Four Thirds equipment & Hello to a new lens.

One thing I forgot to mention in my previous post was that I recently sold my unused Four Thirds equipment (Olympus E-620 and three lenses) as a part of the Olympus trading promotion, and I bought a new Olympus M.Zuiko 45mm f/1.8 lens.  I really enjoyed using E-620 and the associated lenses, and hopefully the company receiving it will find it a good home.

I have been using my new lens for a while now, and it is versatile, sharp, and quick.  For example, I can shoot landscape and portrait with this lens.

Autumn colours along the canal at the beginning of the month.

Autumn colours in Ottawa and Montréal

Yesterday, my girlfriend and I attended the Festival végane de Montréal, and I took some photos of the autumn colours in Montréal and compared them to the photos I took last month in Ottawa.

Autumn colours along Rideau Canal.

Canadian Tulip Festival - 2017

My parents flew from BC to visit me this week, and I brought them to see the Canadian Tulip Festival a couple of times, as well as visited Montreal for two short days.  They are leaving tomorrow, but I think they had a good time overall.  Here are some of the pictures from the tulip festival.

Autumn colours, birds, and a butterfly(!)

This past week was probably the last few days of the year when signs of autumn are still pretty evident.  Soon the trees will be bare and the ground will be covered by snow once again.  I have an uneasy and sickening feeling about the future of the world given what happened just four short days ago in America.  But there is not much anyone can do except to stay positive and hang on tight to anything that brings you happiness, whether it is spending time with your friends and families and/or being outside and enjoying nature.

People going out for a morning stroll.

Canadian Tulip Pre-Festival (2016) & birds (and one squirrel) at FWG!

The popular Canadian Tulip Festival will begin in two days (here is one of my posts from two years ago).  To avoid the crowd, I went to Dow's Lake this afternoon to see if there are any tulips flowering beforehand.

And indeed there were!

Searching for fall colours in Ottawa

Since last month, I have been watching leaves slowly changing their colours on my way to school.  This past Thanksgiving long weekend, I finally had some free time to go outside and enjoy autumn up close.

The week before, I saw an Eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus) at Sawmill Creek while I was taking a break from sitting in front of my computer all day.

Remnants of Autumn

I finished grading a bunch of lab reports yesterday, and when I woke up this morning, the weather was so nice that I decided to visit the Arboretum for a long overdue nature walk with my camera.

I have been so busy lately that autumn is slowly disappearing in front of my eyes and yet I haven't got any free time to take some photos with my camera.  I was very happy today when I got to the Arboretum and saw there were still some trees with their fall leaves.

Tree on fire

Ecology labs and autumn colours

I have been incredibly busy this school semester demonstrating labs for the ecology course, grading lab reports, as well as preparing for my PhD comprehensive examination.  I tried to take some pictures whenever I am outside, otherwise I am indoors working away.

The ecology course consists of two field labs - first on the effects of abiotic factors in the stream on benthic macroinvertebrate biodiversity and second on tree diversity in different successional stages - both of which take place at Gatineau Park.

Last month (September 12th), the teaching assistants and lab demonstrator went out to familiarize ourselves with the study area.

Old Chelsea Stream (upstream)

Busy life...

One of the reasons I am extremely busy these days is that I am temporarily employed by my supervisor to analyze the data from my deceased labmate's project.  In the end, we will publish the results on her behalf with her being the first author.  I will also be presenting her research at the ESC-ESO conference next week at Guelph.

I walked to school yesterday to get feedback from my supervisors on the presentation slides.  I took some photos on the way there.

Maples leaves on the ground.

(Long) walks around Peterborough and Trent

I have been very busy lately because I am working on my funding applications for my potential Ph.D. position due next week.  I took a little break on Thursday morning when I had to drive the lab vehicle to get serviced.  After dropping the truck off, I walked to Jackson Park to photograph the fall colours.

The colours were mostly here, although there were still some green leaves.

Beautiful Fall Colours in Algonquin

We left for Algonquin Park early this morning hoping to be there before most of the visitors arrive, but due to construction and like-minded people, the park was packed when we arrived.  As we slowly drove north from Peterborough, the fall colours did not change very much (even outside the park), but as we entered the park itself, the changes became evident and there were some leaves falling already.

We started off with hiking along the Peck Lake Trail.

Assortment of vibrant colours (pretty much the theme of today) - green conifer trees, yellow/orange/red deciduous trees, and blue sky/lake.

Autumn in Jackson Park - Take 2

I wasn't overly satisfied with the photos that I took on Monday because the leaves were not bright enough!  I went back to Jackson Park today hoping to see a more expressive forest, and I was right.

Combined with the sunlight, the leaves produced a blend of beautiful colors worthy of being photographed.

Torch of tree.

Thanksgiving Autumn

One thing I really want to do lately is to go out and take photos of the gorgeous display of autumn here in Peterborough, especially as I walk through neighborhoods with beautiful red and orange maple leaves every morning to the bus stop.  This Thanksgiving break finally gave me a chance today to bike to Jackson Park and take some photos.

The explosion of colours is just astonishing!

Getting outside again

I finally did something outdoorsy this week.  Went to school on Sunday, but not before I went for a walk through the Lady Eaton drumlin next to the campus.

Unknown kill.  Pigeon feathers?

Fall leaves

Nothing in particular. Just taking some photos of the maple leaves near where I live before heading out for poutine with my roommate.

Incomplete rainbow?

The weather in the afternoon was not as good as the morning; it was hazy and warm.

I have no idea what this phenomenon is, but there was just this patch of "rainbow" in the hazy sky.

Nelson Park and Bute Street

I had to work today and I didn't take photos for the last few days so this would be photos from Thursday, when I had to go to a hotel during lunchtime and put away some stuff for our seminars. Afterwards, I went to Nelson Park again and then walked along Bute Street to head back to the office. I must say Bute Street is an amazing colorfulittle gem in Vancouver for photography. What a nice spot.

Nelson Park (playing with the Pin-Hole effect in the camera)

There is a stretch of community gardens (I think) along the sidewalk and the park. What a great use of urban green space. This "guard bear" is doing a good job.

Ashby House Bed & Breakfast, adjacent from the park.

Then it was turning onto Bute Street. Love the colours in all these photos.

Back to urban end of the street.
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New lens (70-300) & testing it out at Yaletown and UBC

Today, I completed a deal with a seller on craiglist and got a birding-lens for my Olympus E-620, the Zuiko Digital ED 70-300 f4.0-5.6. It's a dream come true, because it can reach 600mm so I can take much closer photos now. It's a much bigger, heavier, and beautiful than I thought but it's definitely going to make my photos better.

The seller is at Yaletown so I met him there this morning. Before he arrived, I took some photos of the people and dogs walking by.

This was the cutest dog.

Another of its own.

After the deal, I couldn't wait to put it on and try it out by walking along the Granville Seawalk! Even though it is not a macro lens, it takes pretty good close-up photos of flowers too.

More Morning Colors

For two days in a row, the morning sky has been just absolutely breath-taking. I just can't resist taking my camera out while waiting for the skytrain and capture the moments.

Waiting for the train.

Inside the train. This could easily be the most beautiful image I had captured...had there not been a person's head or the window blocking the way.

Another shot looking across the river.

After arriving at Vancouver, there was still some time for some more pictures.

Morning sun rising...

... and painting the city in one of my favorite colors.

I went out for a quick stroll during lunch break to the Harbour Green Park.

Sky/mountain/tree/seaplane-watching all at once.

A B&W shot of the waterfront.
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Wordless Wednesday: Morning Colors at Skytrain Station

367 days ago (2009-01-04) ...
365 days ago (2009-01-06) ...
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