I really meant to have some of this ale with me when I was watching the solar eclipse, a couple of weeks ago. I even meant to have it reviewed for the Thursday that followed the celestial event. A friend, Marc, had picked up the beer on the Friday before the eclipse and I had intended on driving to his place to pick it up, but weekends are tricky for driving to the east end of Ottawa. And I was also totally preoccupied with making sure that I had everything ready for the big day. No matter. I received my six-pack on the following weekend, at the same karaoke night where my other friend, Perry ..read more

When it comes to photography, I don't know if I have a style. I tend to think that I have a wide range of styles. I shoot landscape. I shoot nature. I shoot portraits, including models (either dressed or not). I shoot abstract. I shoot long exposure and I freeze action. I shoot wide-angle and I shoot closeups. Occasionally, I shoot macro. I shoot in the day and at night. Indoors and out. Recently, I drove nearly 300 kilometres to capture once-in-a-lifetime images. It was totally worth it. I think my photography centres on capturing life moments that I am experiencing but there's more to my ph ..read more

I don't know why it bothers me so much, but it does. I'm finding that I have a love-hate relationship with Threads. I love that I've reconnected with some of my virtual friends after leaving the dumpster fire that's marked with an X. I love how the algorithm has connected me with some new folks who seem like-minded, particularly those who share my love of photography. The algorithm doesn't always get it right and sometimes I find some head-scratching posts in my feed. I hated how my feed seemed polluted with porn bots but after blocking any that showed up, they now seem to be far and few betwe ..read more

There was no mistake about what I was getting. But as a newcomer to this brewing company, I wasn't sure what it was called. You see, the first thing that grabbed my attention was the top of the can, which clearly reads Hazy IPA. Good. I was in the mood for one. Filling the top half of the can was an image of a fish with two legs, a top hat, and cane, a la Loonie Tunes Singing Bullfrog, surrounded by the words Something In The Water. Hazy IPA is repeated, toward the bottom of the label, with Maitland, in a different font, separating the two words. Was Maitland the name of the brewing company, I ..read more

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We actually had a Plan B. But by Sunday afternoon, it became Plan C. The weather forecast for Monday didn't look promising for Eastern Ontario. Our original plan (Plan A) was to spend the morning with our friends, in Spencerville, kayaking on the South Nation River. Originally (our pre-Plan A), we were going to kayak through the afternoon, witnessing the total solar eclipse while floating on the river but as the the excitement grew for this celestial event, I decided that I wanted to be on firm ground, with my D-SLRs secured to a tripod, to capture the moments. So Plan A was to kayak in the mo ..read more

I mean, 20 seconds is a long time to stay perfectly still, in the dark, while people wave funny light sources around you. Last Friday, I attended a light-painting workshop with my Ottawa Photography Model Meetup group, at the Merivale Photographic Studio. I've played with light in the past, photographing light trails of moving cars, and I've drawn patterns with a light source—my phone—on a long exposure. I've even shone a flashlight on inanimate objects in the dark. But I've never done something as complex as what five photographers, a model, an instructor (Evan), and various lighting props co ..read more

I came across this photo, the other night. I was just rummaging through old photos and it came up. Even though it was taken, by DW, in 1997, I look at this picture of yours truly, in Beijing, in Tiananmen Square, and I think that not much has changed. Oh, sure, I've packed on several kilos and my hair now has some grey, but it's clearly me. My wardrobe hasn't changed much in the 27 years (my Thor, it's been nearly three decades!): I still wear jeans on most days, still wear a t-shirt under a button shirt. Heck, there are still times when I wear the outer shirt unbuttoned! And I still wear pra ..read more

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I'll be damned if I'm going to give Apple $80. A few months ago, I shook out a blanket that was crumpled on the footrest of my POÄNG chair, not realizing that the remote control for our Apple TV box was stashed within the folds. The tiny device went flying, struck the tile around our fireplace, and fell to the floor, where it hit more tile, landing upside-down. I could see tiny shards of glass on the tile as I reached to retrieve the control. I couldn't believe how smashed the touch-sensor area was. I tapped the device against the palm of my hand and more pieces came off, I placed those piece ..read more