I didn’t spend a long time in Zion National Park, and was lucky to even make it there. Midway through my trip I decided to change my route in order to fit it in. In my initial plan I was to go North from Page to Bryce then continue north through to Arches National Park and then further south to Monument Valley. However after looking at a map I realized that would have caused me a lot of back tracking. Now instead of going north after Bryce, I would go back south through Page, then East over to Monument Valley and then north through to Arches.

After the Grand Canyon I drove on North and made it to the town of Springdale where I found a nice cheap hotel just outside the entrance to the park. The drive into Springdale was interesting as I dropped down into a canyon doing some sharp snowy switchbacks, followed by a tunnel that went on for over a mile long. I was happy to make it to the hotel room after the long day of driving.

In the morning I was up early to catch another sunrise. After, I chased a few deer around (or rather they chased me around), went on a few small hikes, then set off around lunchtime for Bryce Canyon. It was a short visit, but in December, Zion wasn’t as spectacular as I am sure it would be in the spring or fall. Here are some photos from my short stint in Zion.

The grand canyon is nothing short of magnificent. It is one of the seven natural wonders of the world, and for good reason. I had a heard a lot of good things about visiting the Grand Canyon, and it didn’t disappoint.

I arrived at the grand canyon late, after wine tasting all day in Northern Arizona. I checked into a cheap hotel just outside the canyon and did my best to get to bed early so I could catch the sunrise at the canyon. Nerves, excitement, and the couple in the hotel room next door kept me up later than I had hoped, but eventually I got to sleep. The next morning I made my way to the park just as the sky was beginning to open up. I was a touch late, as by the time I made it into the park and at my first viewing area all the reds of the morning sky had dissipated. However that first glimpse at the over 4000 foot drop below was no less breathtaking. I stood still on the edge of the canyon watching as the sun continued to climb up the sky, and several photographers snapped happily away.

After I regained my composure from my captivation of the grand canyon, I wanted to get out and do some hiking. It was still early in the day and I wanted to do some exploring. I decided to hike the Hermit Trail, as I thought it would likely have the least amount of people hiking it, and I wanted to honour the late Canadian Louis Boucher who the trail was named after. I hiked first to Hermit’s Rest then made my way to the Dripping Springs, before heading back to the top of the canyon. All in all I hiked over 16 miles, in about 5 hours.

While relaxing after my hike at trail head I met a really nice couple from France. They both worked in England for a few years saving up, before finally setting off on an epic adventure that will take them from Alaska to Argentina, and eventually back to France. Fabienne and Arnaud are documenting their adventure on their blog at: http://www.elgringotrail.com/blog/?cat=12

I camped that night in the canyon with Arno and Fab, before setting off again in the morning to catch the sunrise. This time I was there in time, and got to shoot the canyon as the sky lit up to a blaze of colour. It was an amazing experience. After spending the morning shooting, I slowly made my way out of the park, checking out all the viewpoints on my way out of the park. I would have loved to spend more time in the park, however I still had a lot of country to cover and needed to make my way north into Utah.

I will definitely be returning to the grand canyon. I would love to do the multi-day hike into the canyon out to the Havasu Falls. Until then however, I will have to only dream of the beautiful green-blue pools.

Here are some photos from my hikes and of my sunset and sunrise shoots at the Canyon. Also here is the Google Earth KML file of my hike.

My first big drive of my trip was from San Clemente, California to Prescott, Arizona. After watching the documentary Blood into Wine I knew I wanted to make it into the Prescott Valley to taste the wines of Manyard James Keenan and Eric Glomski. Plus everything I had read about this part of Arizona was positive.

Prescott was a cute little town, with a really entertaining downtown. One of their main streets is dubbed Whiskey Row and has a good mix of bars and art galleries. I found myself at home at the Raven Cafe which featured over 30 beers on tap. My kind of hang out. Prescott dubs itself as Arizona’s Christmas city and it shown through with all the businesses being lit up with Christmas lights, as well as the big Christmas tree they have at their town hall.

In the morning I made my way north headed to Jerome, Arizona. Jerome is a town built on top of a mountain, that was founded as a copper mine camp. Apparently in the 1970′s the town was riddled a ghost town (and apparently it is haunted), however a few years later hippies and artists started moving into the empty buildings and revitalising the old mine town. Jerome is now a pretty touristy little art town, with lots of different shops and cute cafes and restaurants. Jerome was also the first stop on my wine tasting adventure, starting with Maynard’s Winery Caduceus Cellars.

Not knowing what to expect from an Arizona wine, I was happy to find after my first tastes that Arizona wine, does in fact taste like wine. The wines I tasted were all pretty dry, but very flavourful. After spending a good 30 minutes plus tasting I decided it was time to head on to the next tasting room on my list, Stronghold Vineyards. This is the combined winery of Maynard and Eric, and is located in Cottonwood a short drive just down the hill from Jerome.

The Stronghold tasting room is a lot more relaxed and chilled out than the Caduceus room. The guy who was pouring (Kevin) was quiet the character and pretty entertaining. He did a great job of letting me sample a bunch of the wines. Before long I was starting to feel a little tipsy after all the pours I was having so decided to hang out with Kevin for a while. They had a brand new PS3 in the room so we played that in-between customers coming and going. It was a pretty entertaining way to spend the afternoon, and Kevin was a great host.

Eventually after sobering up, I needed to get a move on. My plan was to still goto Page Springs Winery (Eric’s winery) and then make my way to the Grand Canyon. Page Springs was another quick drive away. Their tasting room was actually at their vineyards which was cool to see. I got there around sunset, which made the winery look even more impressive. Page Springs had a lot of different interesting wines. One of my favourites was the ECIPS, or spice spelled backwards. After shooting some photos it was time to get myself to the grand canyon. I headed off north, with a quick stop in Sonoma for a few photos, and then a stop in Flagstaff for some dinner, before making my final trek into the Canyon (my next post). Here are a few additional photos from the area.

Last month I went to Montreal for my annual visit to spend time with my brother and his family. It was a fun two weeks in which I got to meet my new niece Azure, spend some quality time with my godson, as well as eat all those lovely foods I love so much in Montreal (poutine, smoked meat, macarons, crepes). I took a lot of photos of my azure and the rest of the family. Here are some of my shots.

I have been in Montreal for the past few weeks visiting my brother and family. It has been a really nice time of year to come, as the colours of the trees are all very vibrant. Here are some photos from a walk I did around the mountain and the city.

Over labour day weekend Bernie and myself organized the 3rd annual Kitsilano Tennis Open. We had a good turnout this year of 10 players of varying tennis skill, and lots of new faces to the tournament.

Oliver had won the tournament the past 2 times, and was crowned champion once again this year when he defeated Dom in the finals. As for myself, I had a strong start going undefeated in the round robin, however lost my focus in the semi finals and got destroyed by Dom. Was good to get the tournament going again after missing last year. One of these years someone will finally take Oliver out as champion.

Here are some photos I shot of the day.

During my latest visit to my parents place in the West Kootenays I spent the majority of my time out at my parents camp site on the lake just south of Fauquier. I spent a good portion of my time out in a canoe exploring the lake, and taking in all the nature. Here are a some photos (and a select few stories) from my time back home.

One fun story is about a beaver I happened upon. I was paddling the canoe up into the mouth of Taite Creek slowly sneaking up on a blue heron. As I approached the heron quickly spotted me and flew off; too bad. However as he flew away I noticed a object slowly moving towards my canoe. On closer inspection it appeared to be either an otter or a beaver. He quickly disappeared under the water, so I decided to continue to circle through the mouth of the creek. As I was coming back around the mouth, I heard a strange gnawing sound. I navigated the canoe over to where the sound was coming from, and found the beaver sitting on a small island taking down a tree. I continued to watch (and follow) the beaver as he took the tree and dragged it to shore where I am assuming he was going to use for a damn.

The beaver became pretty familiar with me quickly and didn’t mind my presence, so I continued to watch him as he swam around and did his thing. Eventually my Father and nephew showed up on land to let me know it was time for dinner. I quickly canoed over to the bank where they were and let them in on the secret. we continued to watch the beaver as he had a late dinner himself. Eventually my nephew got restless and broke a stick, which spooked the beaver. The beaver then jumped into the water, gave us all a nasty look, then dived into the water with a big tail flap to show his displeasure. At that point we decided to give the beaver his peace and left to go for our own dinner.

Another fun story is of an osprey. One morning I woke up early for a sunrise paddle. The lake was so calm and glassy it was a perfect morning for the trek. I paddled south from Taite Creek (where my parents camp is) on my way to Octopus Creek. Along the way there is this fantastic old log that juts out over the water. On top of the log an osprey has built a nest on. As I passed by the log I noticed one osprey sitting in the nest guarding her eggs I assume, and a second osprey standing guard on a nearby tree. As I continued to paddle by I noticed two ravens fly in attempting to get at the ospreys nest. The osprey that was on the nearby tree immediately took action and flew with talons out at the ravens. It didn’t take long before the ravens had retreated.

On my return from Octopus I got really close to the nest to take a few photos. The osprey in the nest did not enjoy my presence too much and began chirping at me. The osprey did this funny head bob every time he would chirp, which I found somewhat hilarious. Eventually the bird got a little too fed up with me and took to the sky. I had thought I had chased him away, however within a minute the bird was dive bombing at me with his talons ready for action. At this point I decided I wanted to keep my eyes and paddled away as quickly as I could.

I have to say it is really awesome to see such a return of animals to the arrow lakes. When I was growing up the trend was towards the opposite. The lake was being abandoned by the ospreys, fish stocks were dwindling, and you were lucky if you ever saw an eagle. There has now been a great turn around, with osprey nests on every telephone poll, kokanee and trout in full abundance and larger than ever, and animals we never used to see like the beaver.

Hopefully I can return again before the summer is over to enjoy the solitude of the Arrow Lakes and all it has to offer.

During my time back in Fauquier I made a day trip with my nephew Mateo to Vernon to visit my brother Michael and his family. It was a really nice summer day, so Mike decided to take out his boat on Kalamalka Lake to do a little wakeboarding, and just enjoy they hot summer day.

Here are a bunch of photos I took during the day. First up was Mateo who had never wakeboarded before. He was up on his first try!

Next up was Kalin. He started off on a wake skate, goofed around on that for a while then switched to the wakeboard.

My sister in law Angie and Kalin’s friend Johnny also went for a board. I went too, but nobody remembered to take any pictures of me. Maybe it was for the better!

However it was my brother Mike who showed us all how it is done.

After we all got a little wakeboarding in we got a little silly. We put Kalin in the dry-suit and filled it up with air so that he would float on the water. We then pulled him behind the boat!

The rest of the day we spent cruising around the lake enjoying the sunshine. Kelsie (Mike & Angie’s dog) was sure enjoying it.

It was a great way to spend the day, as it is always fun hanging out with Mike and Angie.

This was the third year (second in a row) that Lester and I made the pilgrimage from Vancouver down to the Gorge in Washington State. Both Sasquatch 2009, and Sasquatch 2006 were great times, so I didn’t expect anything different this year.

We left a little after 1pm from Vancouver and made it into Seattle in decent time. Lester had told me about this burger place in Seattle called Lunchbox Laboratory that apparently made some of the best specialty burgers around. I can’t remember which burger I got, but it had so much bacon in it I actually had to take some out as I felt my heart was on the brink of failure. Overall though it was a really fantastic burger, wonderfully presented. My only complaint is that is was just too over the top, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

After stocking up on groceries, we hit the road for the final stretch to the Gorge. The traffic was pretty horrible, however Lester used his super powers of driving in a lane that was apparently closing. I think he probable shaved a good 45 minutes off our trip with that maneuver.

Unfortunately once we hit the Gorge access road we weren’t as lucky. We got to the access road at around 11:30pm and the lineup of cars was something I had never scene entering the Gorge. It was somewhat reminiscent of our 4+ hour wait getting into Bonnaroo. By about 3:30am we had finally got into the camping area. We had a pretty good idea from last year where we wanted to camp, so despite the warnings that it was full, we made our way to the area. We were finally able to find a decent spot (albeit tight) close to the entrance, showers, and bathrooms. Once the tent was setup, we slammed a few beers, had a pull of whiskey, then crashed in our tent.

The next three days at the Gorge rank up there with the best of them. The music was fantastic. I think I spent the majority of my time on the main stage, however made the switch over to the side stages on occasion. Some of my highlights were Mumford & Sons, Vampire Weekend, Broken Social Scene, The National, My Morning Jacket, Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band, LCD Sound System, Massive Attack, The New Pornographers, Band of Horses and Ween.

Festivals are more than just the music however. Getting to party with old friends and make new ones along the way is all part of the fun. While it was just Lester and me who made the trip down together, between us we probably knew a good 15 other people who went down to for the festival. A bunch of them we didn’t even end up seeing!

Another fun pass time during Sasquatch (or any festival for that matter) is people watching. Last year Lester and me player hipster bingo which was a load of fun. This year we didn’t do the bingo but the people watching was just as good. My favorite this year was the dancing viking guy! The next day he showed up as the dancing chef. Unfortunately we didn’t catch him on the final day. Second favorite would probably be the group of people who dressed up as power rangers and other super heroes. One final costume I have to bring up was the couple who dressed all in black and used glow sticks to make them look like stick people. Very cute.

Another fantastic year at the Gorge for Sasquatch shared with some really great friends. Barring any unforeseen events I don’t see myself missing this festival too often in the future.

Here are a few more random photos from the weekend.

From their website:

“Vectorial Elevation” was an interactive artwork that allowed you to direct powerful light beams and transform Vancouver’s skyline between February 4 – 28, 2010.

The light show was one of my favorite additions to the city during the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. It added a feeling of intrigue to our skies, and gave you a sense that the city was alive. Many nights walking home across the bridge from Downtown, I would stop to watch as the lights danced across the sky.

Despite being on the go for most of the Olympics I did find time to go out and photograph the lights on one occasion. The weather was wet and we were socked in by fog, but I think it added to the effect of the photos. Here are some shots from my photo walk. Also definite thanks to Jordan and Oliver for bearing with me, and helping me setup.

Most people who know me knew I wasn’t a big proponent of the Vancouver Olympics. The city of Vancouver has a laundry list of problems that the money spent on the games could have gone towards. Despite my opinion the games were going to go on, and I had the choice to make the most of them, or sit them out sulking. I decided since I would likely be paying for these games (along with the rest of Canada) for many years I would do my best to enjoy all they had to offer; and to be quiet honest, it was hard not to.

My Olympic experienced started off with the torch running through my neighborhood down 4th avenue. Chip Wilson of Lululemon fame was the torch bearer, and got to run it past his flagship store. I was blown away by how many people were on the streets. hundreds packed 4th avenue in both directions as far as the eye could see. The city was excited.

One of the things I was looking forward to during the Olympics was all the free concerts that were going on around town. I was able to catch a good number of great bands. The Arkells and Broken Social Scene at Ontario House, The Stanfields and Julie Doiron at Atlantic Canada House, Wilco at Livecity Yaletown, and Wintersleep at the Ozone in Richmond. The sheer musical talent that was in the city over the 2 weeks was outstanding, I just wish I was able to catch more of it.

I was also able to attend one event during the Olympics; a hockey game featuring Russia vs Latvia. It was a bit of a blowout by Russia what was expected. I got to go with Jason for free courtesy of our good friend Brian in Lethbridge.

In addition to the concerts and the events I tried to get out to many of the houses and pavilions after work. It was often tough to get into specific places as the lineups were just horrible. This is to be expected when over a million new people show up in your city.

Ultimately though the Olympics came down to experiencing the excitement of the games and the city with friends. The experience wouldn’t have been the same if it weren’t for my buddies.

It was also great to have visitors from out of town in the city. Joe and Kasie made the trip up from California, Sophie was in from London, Bryan from Lethbridge, and of course Mr Newfie Joe made it to town as well.

In the final few days of the Olympics I got more and more into watching the events, especially the hockey and the curling. Out of shear luck we were able to find a place to watch the semifinals game against Slovakia as we just happened to be watching the womens curling finals outside a fully booked bar that happened to have one table just come available.

Since finding a bar to watch the gold medal hockey game was near impossible, I invited friends over to my place for an impromptu brunch to watch the final game. It was an amazing finale to the Olympics, and a nail-biter of a game to watch. Eventually Canada pulled out the victory in overtime thus calming all of our nerves.

After the game we took to the street and marched down Granville Street to join the city wide party to cap off an amazing 2 weeks.

Despite my opposition to the games I did do my best to make the most of them. Now that the party is over, it will be interesting to see what happens with this city. Will it go the way of Barcelona and turn this city into an exciting, “fun” city? Or will we be the next Athens riddled in dept. Only time will tell. One thing is for certain, that 6 billion dollar price tag certainly won’t be going away anytime soon.

As a bit of a last minute decision I took off for Maui midway through January. My brother Michael and his wife Angie had booked a trip out there, and after finding a flight for less than $600 I decided to jump at the opportunity. As you may know I started last year off in Hawaii as well. I spent an amazing 6 weeks there last year, so it was a no brainer to return. Every year should start in Hawaii!

Most of our time in Maui was spent on the beach, or in the water either surfing or paddle boarding. We would barbeque almost daily, and coconut ice cream or shave ice was our dessert. Life was definitely grand. On our last days we did the Hana Highway drive, followed by whale watching. It was a really great trip, and I am happy I got to spend it with Mike and Angie.

Here are a some photos from the trip Maui:

During my time on vacation in Maui my brother, his wife and I went up to Honolua Bay one day to checkout the surfing. The day we went we caught the tail end of some monster waves. Still got to see the occasional 20+ foot wave being surfed though. Also was some of the best surfing I have ever witnessed live before. Here are a few shots I took from the day.

Hawaii

2009 started with a trip to Hawaii to see my best friend Joern get married. I was the best man of the wedding, and wouldn’t miss the occasion for the world. It was a beautiful ceremony that took place in the garden of the Sheraton on the Big Island overlooking the ocean. A fun evening of drinks dancing, and other fun events took part after.

The first week in Hawaii was spent on the Big Island. I was staying with Jason who I had convinced to come along, as well as Bernie and Andrew who were there for the wedding. We had a good balance of touring around the island and just lazing on the beach, and enjoying the warm Hawaiian waters. After our first week Bernie left us, while Andrew, Jason and myself headed off to the Island of Kauai for some more adventure.

Kauai was a bit of a fantasy land. Such an amazing island in terms of geography, so lush and green, and such an amazing place to photograph. We spent 2 weeks in Kauai, during which time I actually worked for days. I would wake up at 6am and work until around 1ish. This would still give me half the day to explore. Jason at the time was working on his book and kept to a similar schedule to me, while Andrew spent his mornings exploring around on his own. It worked out extremely well, and made me extend my trip by another 2 weeks.

The 2 weeks spent in Kauai went by quickly, and soon it was time to move again. Before leaving the island however we decided we would catch a benefit concert at a school on Kauai that featured Donavon Frankenreiter, and Jake Shimabukuro. Jake stole the show as expected, however seeing all the kids in the school singing/playing along with Donavon was also quiet fun.

We took off to Honolulu for a few days to celebrate Andrew’s birthday, after which we moved onto Maui for a few days. Maui we spent a lot of time our time driving around the island exploring. Our trip along the Hana Highway goes down as one of the most scenic drives I have done to date. It is also largely untouched by tourism, and still very remote.

Finally we ended up back on the Big Island for two more weeks. These last two weeks were spent mainly surfing. We had found a fantastic house to rent half a block from the beach, which allowed us to simply walk from our place, to the beach and go surfing. We did also manage to make it up to the top of Mauna Kea.

West Coast

Unfortunately my time in Hawaii had to end. Although it was nice to be back in Vancouver, and catch back up with life, and play some hockey! Started off playing back in Langley for my tema the Master Bladers, then as the winter started to turn to spring, I began to get some Burton Hockey sessions organized, slowly bringing in new recruits for the year.

It turned out to be a banner year for Burton Hockey, for both VRH and BUSH. I even managed to score my 1000 point, and Lee went on to destroy the record books.

Also during the spring Jordan, Oliver and myself after a night of many beers, started Urban Capture the Flag. We had an initial beta test, then got around to setting up matches every couple of weekends. It was a lot of fun to get going, unfortunately due to busy summers the wheels fell off. Hopefully in 2010 we can get the ball rolling again, especially so we can do another Capture the Beer.

As the spring rolled on I did my annual festival of the year, by attending the Sasquatch Music Festival. I was accompanied by Jason and Lester. It was a ridiculously fun weekend, which was made even better by the cool crew we met from Calgary/Canmore. If only everyone could experience a car party, or the flambongo.

As summer quickly approached, I hastily made a bunch of new travel plans, that would take me away from my beloved Vancouver for most of the summer. Before leaving however I still managed to plant my tomatoes, and get them started on my balcony.

Finally my last weekend in Vancouver before taking off was spent up at Whistler celebrating Joern’s 30th birthday. It was a fantastic weekend that saw the creation of the m-1000, some amazing stealthing, and a lovely barbeque on the lake.

Montreal and Europe for the Summer

It is becoming a bit of a tradition now for me to visit my brother in Montreal over the summer. Last year was no different. It was a lovely visit with Richard and Youki, and was great to see my ever growing nephew Mateo. Say what you will about bribery, but it works on kids, as I was able to get my nephew to cut his hair!

On my last week in Montreal after a visit to Ottawa I fell sick. Horribly sick. It was one of the worst times of my life, and could have been so much different had the medical system in Quebec treated me correctly. Unfortunately when it came time to fly to Europe I couldn’t go. I pushed back my flight 5 days in the hope I would recover. Luckily I did after seeing a new doctor. The only good thing that came of this, was that I was able to go on another search for the best poutine in Montreal.

I hadn’t planned on going to Europe last summer. However it was my cousin Johanna’s wedding, so I couldn’t not go. Building off the success of my time in Hawaii I decided while in Europe I would work for the majority of my time there to save on vacation days. I spent my first week before the wedding in Berlin, where I met up a few times with my cousin Christoph. It was really nice to spend time with him and get to know his family. Then it was time for the wedding. So I hoped a train and headed out for Oldenburg.

The wedding was absolutely wonderful, despite being completely confusing for me language wise. Johanna being German, and Regis French, made for a very bilingual wedding, in languages I am not exactly the best at. Regardless there were a few nice French girls who could speak English who helped me out. Johanna had asked me to take some photos of the ceremony. I had never shot a wedding before, so I was a little nervous to do so under the gun, however I was pretty happy with the result of the wedding photos I took.

After the wedding I was off to Berlin for a final two days before heading off on the rest of my adventure. Next stops, Croatia and Italy. I met up with Jason in Dubrovnik, where we started our adventure. We spent a wonderful two days in Dubrovnik, exploring the old city walls, enjoying the local cuisine, and partying in the back alleys.

We then picked up our rental car from the airport and started our drive North towards Kastav, where our good friend Sid lives. when we picked up the rental car, we were told Avis wouldn’t honor our rate. We had rented with carrentals.com, who guaranteed us our booking, yet Avis said there was a problem, and we had to pay 10 times the price we were quoted. Here is more info on how we were screwed by avis and carrentals.com.

Despite that minor problem, we continued on our drive up the Croatian coast, finally making it to Kastav where we spent our weekend getting shown around town by Sid.

It was then off to Italy. I celebrated my 29th birthday in Venice with Jason. I then continued on alone south through Verona and Florence. I met back up with Jason in Florence and we continued on to Siena where we attended the Palio de Siena. We were lucky enough to be able to stay with our friend Berenice at her lovely Siena Villas.

Just like that the trip was coming to a close. One final stop in Manchester England to see some friends, and catch a Pearl Jam concert, and then it was back to North America for me.

Wisconsin, Wilderness, and a Trip to the East Coast

A few weeks after returning home to Vancouver I was off again. This time to Wisconsin. One last wedding, and another adventure with Jason. I arrived a week before the wedding of my friends Tom and Ingrid. Basically for the week leading up to the wedding I worked during the day, then in the afternoon went off on adventures exploring the state of Wisconsin. It was a fun time. Jason arrived a few days before the wedding, and the rest of our time was spent celebrating the wedding of some good friends.

When I got back to Vancouver it was time to do my annual hike of the year. This time it was up the Lions. It was a nice hike with a bunch of great friends, and probably the last opportunity we had before the weather started to turn ugly.

I made it home to visit my parents in the Kootenays for Thanksgiving. I spent some time with my mom pine mushroom picking. The rest of my time was spent in the kitchen helping her out baking pies and other nice treats.

My last trip of the year took me to Philadelphia and Washington DC. I finally got to see my first ever Flyers home game, and proceeded to catch two more games. Finally to close out my weekend I caught the last ever concert in the Spectrum (where the Flyers won their Stanley Cups) played by Pearl Jam.

Returning home it was time to finally ground myself for the rest of the year. I spent the final two months of 2009 reconnecting with friends, and baking up a storm. Christmas was spent with my parents and family feasting and playing games. A wonderful way to close out such a wonderful year. Here is to 2010 being as good to me as 2009 was, and perhaps a return to bearded Stefan.

Over the holidays while at my parents place I started a project. I wanted to mount a camera in their yard, have it take pictures, and upload them to the Internet. Basically I wanted to start a webcam.

Before heading back to my parents place, I did some last minute shopping on craigslist and was able to get an old Canon A75 camera. In it’s day it was a decent camera, but now at only 3mp not many people would want it. So I was able to get it for a cheap $20.

Next up I was able to get a mini Compaq computer that would control the camera. My friend Oliver helped me out with getting it, and I thank him profusely for it. With these two items, a network cable, and a bit of programing I was able to setup Fauquier Cam.

So how does it work? I will get into the technical details in another post, but here is the brief overview. The camera is mounted outside on one of our sheds. It is connected via USB to the Compaq computer which sits inside the shed, as well to an ac adapter cord. The computer sits inside the shed running Ubuntu Linux, and controls the camera via the usb cable, and the wonderful Linux application GPhoto 2. So I have a script setup that runs every 2 minutes from 30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset. The script tells the camera to take a picture, then downloads the picture to the Compaq computer. After the image is downloaded to the Compaq it proceeds to upload the image to my webserver.

Once I have the image on my webserver, I resize it to multiple sizes, insert it into a database, then upload each size to Amazon S3 for storage and hosting. OK I can see your eyes glazing over, so I will leave the rest of this for the technical overview.

So what am I getting at? Well basically that if you browse to www.fauquiercam.com you will be able to see an up to date photo from my parents backyard. Greenhouse? check. Garden? check. New cabin my brother is building? check. Scenic pasture and mountains in the background? check. Yup you get it all. I have even included an archives section so you can go back and view photos from past days. Like January 2nd, when my parents made a snowman and a sign for the camera.

This is all just a start. Up next is compiling time lapse videos of every day and adding them to the site. Then as content gets built up (like lets say a years worth) I will do some time lapses of the seasons changing. Lets hope the Canon A75 stays reliable!

Well I hope you all enjoy this little glimpse into my parents backyard and a view of the weather in the small Kootenay town of Fauquier.