Our home and native land

I'm currently packing my bags for a trip home for the weekend. It's been five or six weeks since I was there last and I'm hoping the snow is gone by now. As I explain to my American associates, Atlantic Canada has 10 months of winter, and 3 months of not-quite-winter (using our metric calendar, of course). Anyway, to commemorate the (hopefully uneventful) trip, I decided to post this picture of some of my Canadian compatriots also visiting Kentucky. Canadian Geese are everywhere here. The local Subway I frequent has a flock that appears each day to break their fast on free, day-old bread. They're noisy creatures, honking their views at anyone who'll listen. Vocal, like most Canadians. The group in the picture was strolling along the shore of Lake Nevin when I snapped their photo during a day-trip, hiking at the beautiful Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest, in Kentucky. Well, time to finish packing. It's late. Honk! (Nikon D300, 200mm, f/5.6, 1/800, ISO 200)

Did you hear the one about...

I took this picture because, to me, the lorikeet on the right looked like he was telling the one on the left a joke, and from his expression it was a pretty good one. The Louisville Zoo (in Kentucky, USA) has an exhibit where you can get in a cage with a couple dozen lorikeets and feed them nectar from a tiny cup. They land on your hands, arms, head, face, or wherever they can find purchase, then they drink the nectar, poop (optional), and fly away. When I put it that way, I suppose it doesn't sound that great but it's actually kind of fun, especially for kids, but even more especially for photographers that like to watch kids get pooped on by wildlife. Mwahahaha! Good times. (Nikon D300, 200mm, f/5.6, 1/250, ISO 200)

Right to my door?

The Treasure Island Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada has a live show called The Sirens of TI that performs nightly. Sadly, despite my efforts, I missed it. It seems like a show I would have enjoyed. At least I managed to snap this shot of the decorative cast above the door inside of the casino before I left. Given my experiences though, it is my personal opinion that in Las Vegas the Sirens aren't limited to the Treasure Island casino. I had been warned about them but was still surprised. You see, Nevada has legalized brothels and so, as you might expect from their marketing departments, the streets are lined with people handing out baseball card-sized advertisements to anyone who gets in range. As you walk by them, you hear a quick snap like having playing cards in bicycle spokes, at which point you turn with curiosity to see what the noise was... this will ultimately be your undoing. If you make eye contact, a small stack of 'baseball cards' will be handed to you.

Snap! "Eh? Thanks," I said, the first time a stack flew into my hand, followed by "WoooOOOooo!" which was my surprised reaction when I actually looked at them. The cards (some tastefully, some not so tastefully) extolled the virtues and services of a number of Ladies of the Evening and proclaimed their almost superhuman ability to get to my room (wherever it may be) within 20 minutes, 24 hours a day! That's faster than a pizza! So 'Brooke', 'Suki', and 'Bella' got stuffed into my pocket as collector's items, proof of my experience, and I continued on my way.

Snap! A different guy hands me cards. "What? More? Woo! Thank you!" Carly. Macy. Alexis. Chrissy. Ok, I have a few friends to give those to as joke gifts.

Snap! "Really? Thank you." Cleo. Bailey. Darla. I took another two steps.

Snap! A lady hands me another half dozen cards. "So many! Well, thanks." It quickly became a game to see how many I could collect in my few hours of wandering on The Strip.

Snap! "Thanks." Holly & Hannah (both?). Kara. Suri.

Snap! Uh-oh. This guy saw me take some other cards so he expects I'll take his too. "Sure. Thanks!" Tyra. Nikki. Hope. Bridgette.

Snap! Snap! I get swarmed by a brothel-marketing mob. "Thanks," I politely cry back to them as I run for my life, my hands rapidly filled with more cards than I can handle. Myrtle. Gertrude. Mildred. Just kidding.

After my pockets were filled to capacity I had to start turning them away but in total I did get 220 cards and, in an unexpected twist, 4 newsletters ("Hey, these aren't all women...!").

Of the 220 cards, four were immediately thrown away due to stickiness (yes, ewww) leaving me with a deck of only 216 but on the bright side I'm pretty sure I snagged an ultra-rare "Danielle" rookie card. Snap! Hot. (Nikon D300, 32mm, f/4.2, 1/13 sec., ISO 1600, cropped)

Hannibal, eat your heart out.

Whenever I've had time, I've been sorting through the last few weeks worth of photos. I've taken about 2,500 pictures this month alone. My excuse for not posting is that while I'm travelling there isn't even time for sleep! There's too much to experience. For example, because I never have before, I attended my first Arena Football game last week (so many cheerleaders!), as well as taking advantage of a political rally to get some photos of U.S. Presidential hopeful Barack Obama (none of which turned out, frustrating me).

But to take my mind off of everything there's always a calming trip to the Louisville Zoo to watch the elephants peacefully stand around eating. They and I have a lot in common. We both have a difficult time moving our girth from location to location but, for food, we give it our best; we both wear grey or earth-tones a good portion of the time; we both never forget especially when people wrong us (or when they feed us); we're both well worn with laugh-lines; we both respect a gifted tactician when we see one; and we both poop wherever we're standing. It really is a special bond. (Nikon D300, 200mm, f/5.6, 1/400, ISO 200, cropped)

The Grand Canyon

Here is a panoramic I took from Hopi Point on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon at sunset, in Arizona, USA. Sadly, I had to do some post-processing in Photoshop to fit the pictures together as well as to apply a software-based Graduated Neutral Density filter to recover the over-exposed sky since I didn't have one in the field. How ill-prepared was I? Sheesh. I really don't like manipulating photos mostly because I'm lazy and since I take hundreds of photos, processing them would take forever and suck the fun out of photography like a vampire bunny would suck the juice from a carrot. Successful post-processing makes me feel good about my computer-related abilities but bad about my photography skills since I most likely have failed in some way as a photographer in order to need to edit a picture.

The next day, we got up before sunrise for some more pictures and to get an early start on the rather pleasant hike down Bright Angel Trail to the Three Mile Resthouse, followed shortly thereafter by the excruciatingly painful, body-destroying, soul-crushing, life-altering, dehydratingly-fun ascent back up the canyon again for a total of about six intense hours. I was asleep within an hour of returning to the Yavapai Lodge. It was awesome! (Nikon D300, combined 8 photos, GND filter, straightened horizon, cropped)

Bellagio Fountains

If there's one thing I've learned about staying at hotels it's that the Internet connections are usually poo. I'm having slowness issues with mine tonight and as a result it is now past midnight, I haven't finished this post, and I'm tired and crankier than usual. I was going to get up early too. Oh, well. This is a picture of the fountains in front of the Bellagio along The Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada. (The building on the right is Caesars Palace.) The spraying and arcing jets of water from the fountains are set to coincide with music. I believe playing at the time of this picture was the song Con Te Partirò sung by Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli. The Fountains are definitely a must see when in Vegas, if for no other reason than to marvel at the engineering and choreography required for such a display. (Nikon D300, 18mm, f/9, 1/400, ISO 200)

The Strip

The MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada is home to many things, including the 45 foot tall bronze lion statue pictured above, and KÀ, a Cirque du Soleil performance which I had been anxiously and impatiently looking forward to and which completely blew me away. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys performing arts, martial arts, acrobatics, pyrotechnics, drama, action, or humor. It even has an amazing musical score (which I bought immediately and have not regretted).

Las Vegas itself, as you can imagine from all the movies and television shows, has a whole lot of people and money floating around the casinos. Unfortunately for them, none of the money floating around the casinos was mine although they do get credit for trying. You can't move without being marketed at. Every casino wants you to spend your money in their establishment and there isn't much that they won't do to try to lure you in, but the wealth generated by casinos wasn't built on winners and knowing that made it easier to ignore the flashy marketing, although I do have to admit that I was more than a little overwhelmed for those few hours I spent wandering down Las Vegas Boulevard. My senses have never been more assailed in four short hours than walking The Strip.

Although Las Vegas does have a lot to offer, and I took a lot of pictures there, I'm glad it was only a one day stop. (Nikon D300, 34mm, f/5.6, 1/1000, ISO 200)

Churchill Horses

Well, I didn't think I'd be without internet for my whole vacation or I would have set up some scheduled posts. For tonight, until I get back into the swing of things and get some new photos ready for posting, here is a couple of horses from the day I spent at Churchill Downs two days before the derby. They looked kind of sad but it was their expression that made me want to photograph them. Maybe they knew the fate that would befall second place derby winner Eight Belles in two days time. That was a very sad day for such a promoted, and gambled upon, event like the Kentucky Derby. (Nikon D300, 200mm, f/10, 1/400, ISO 200)

Kellie

Here is Kellie Pickler singing at the infield of Churchill Downs, in Louisville, Kentucky. I had made may way through the crowded field up to a metal fence that separated Kellie from the masses and snapped a couple photos when I noticed that there were people even closer than I was. Unacceptable. I looked around and found that there was an entrance to the stage with two security guards.

"So what do I have to do to get in there?" I asked them swaggering confidently.

"You have to know the password." Was their cryptic reply.

"Is the password 'please'?" I asked hopefully.

"Sure, go on in." They stepped aside to allow me in.

I assume my camera made me look like a reporter. Cool! So I made my way up the stage and snapped this photo. I'd never really heard of Kellie before this, it's not my kind of music, but everyone (including Kellie) seemed to be having a great time so I assume she's good at what she does. I left too quickly to find out myself. heh heh. (Nikon D300, 200mm, f/9, 1/320, ISO 200)

And the winner is...

Galloping down the final stretch of track, this horse, named 'Run Away and Hide', although not touching the ground at the moment, eventually landed and went on to win this race at the Festival in the Field. It was my first time at a horse racetrack, and this one was a biggie: Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky, USA, site of the Kentucky Derby, an insanely popular thoroughbred horse race. They held a race every half hour or so. This was race 8 of 10. When it was over, I popped over to the infield to see if I could snag a shot of Kellie Pickler, who was performing, which I did and which I'll post soon.

Oof, I just realized how much sun I'd actually gotten today. (While brushing my teeth, I glanced in the mirror.) I hope all the red fades to a sexy tan. Sigh. That makes me all the more exhausted. Time for bed. (Nikon D300, 135mm, f/5.6, 1/400, ISO 200, cropped)