It’s been a while since I last posted but better late than never. So what have I been doing? We’ll I am pleased to say that I’ve launched another web site, Doug Sanderson Photography at Doug Sanderson Photography. This site has my photographic portofio, photoblog and gallery fom which to purchage prints. Take a looks.
How to embed a gallery2 image into the blog that is. That means I’ll be able to put up travelogues of some of my trips like this one in Nepal back in 1998.
I’ve recently come into possession of a very wide angle lens for my camera. Looking through a such a lens gives a whole new perspective on ones surroundings. You get a big picture view but to see the detail you need to get close to your subject. If you get too close the image gets distorted, particularily in the periphery of the frame, such that it bears little resemblance to reality.
Is there a parallel to be drawn here in life? How often have we heard arguments with one side claiming that the other is too close to the issues at that they’ve lost the big picture perspective. Perhaps our politicians need a lesson in optics.
This past weekend was the 10th Annual 0ttawa Dragon Boat Race Festival. Over the course of the weekend hundreds of teams compete and race money for charities. More money is raised by this event than any other held in Ottawa. Some of the teams race to win others race for the fun of it. At least one crew was made up of breast cancer survivors.
This shot might make for a good caption competition. Answers on a postcard….
I just hope I’ve got the energy of these guys. The group is known as The Zimmers and they are raising money for age concern. The record goes on sale today.
You can find out more from Peter the famous youtube video blogger aka geriatric1927.
Wouldn’t we all like to be happy in our work? This balloon guy is clearly having a bad day but I can’t quite figure out who is the more underwhelmed, him or his customers. Answers on a postcard…
Each spring Ottawa holds a tulip festival and the city that has spent the past three or four months buried in snow comes alive with colour. 
Now some history from wikipedia:
In 1945, the Dutch royal family sent 100,000 tulip bulbs to Ottawa in gratitude for Canadians having sheltered Princess Juliana and her daughters for the preceding three years during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, in the Second World War.
The most noteworthy event during their time in Canada was the birth in 1943 of Princess Margriet to Princess Juliana at the Ottawa Civic Hospital. The maternity ward was declared to be officially a temporary part of the Netherlands, so that the birth could formally be claimed to have occurred on Dutch territory. In 1946, Juliana sent another 20,500 bulbs requesting that a display be created for the hospital, and promised to send 10,000 more bulbs each year.
After living and working in Canada for seven years I have now become Canadian. I attended the oath taking ceremony with 71 other people from 30 countries including a 100 year old Chinese lady. The ceremony was a light hearted affair and for some people it was the end of a long and difficult road. The family next to me were from Jordan and they we so clearly overjoyed to be here. The father was positively beaming and his kids were waving their flags like crazy.
There was a more solemn side to proceedings as we were reminded of our duties as Canadians and we were urged to join local community groups and take an interest in helping others. It made me wonder if that sort of thing shouldn’t be taught in schools.
We went to a BBQ at a friends house on the weekend. This is a new house (to them) and its is situated on a fantastic location on the Ottawa River. Fishing in the summer, hockey in the winter, fall colours in between and beautiful sunsets all year round. What more could he ask for?
I came across this lonely bear on a walk along the Rideau Canal this weekend. From the looks of him he fell into the canal and was given up for lost.
