Third Place!!!!

Joe Creek Falls
Originally uploaded by s.kosoris

I was out all day, so I just got my mail a few minutes ago - I won third place in the scenery category of the Friends of the Sleeping Giant 2009 Photo Contest!!!!!!! I entered this picture of Joe Creek Falls into the contest after taking it this summer. I was wondering about the contest back in January, but kind of forgot about it during the last few busy months.

Joe Creek Falls is going to be on display in the Sleeping Giant Provincial Park Visitor Centre this summer, and may appear in the park tabloid and on the Friends website!

Wish Me Luck!

I'm presenting a short paper at a local conference tomorrow afternoon! I've given a few seminars over the past few terms (one last term and two this term) but this is my first oral presentation at a conference. I'm feeling a bit nervous right now, but I'm also getting excited. This is going to be fun!

Cat Pics!

Today I went to my mom's work to take pics of their office cat, Chomp. Chomp's been living in the office for the last few weeks. I'd heard all about her and wanted to take some pics of her.

Well, today really wasn't my day for taking pics of cats. I took a lot of pics of Chomp, and when I got home I took even more pics of Sasha, for a combined total of 65 cat pics. The 9 nicest ones are now on flickr. Unfortunately, the vast majority of them are blurry; for some reason my camera didn't want to focus on the cats, but instead focussed on the floor behind them. I think it might have been because I was a bit too close and I was using the Sports mode rather than the Program mode that I usually use. Program is a lot better, as I can take macro pics, but it's too slow. So I guess I have to take the good with the bad.

Saucer Scout Hijack

Scoping Out the Saucer Scout
Originally uploaded by s.kosoris

I took this picture a few weeks ago. And ever since posting it, I've been thinking about taking a second picture in which the Snowtroopers succeed in hijacking the saucer. So today, after a bit of set-up (I had a bit of trouble figuring what type of rope to use for the second Snowtrooper), I went out and took a few more shots! While I was out there, I came up with the perfect ending to the story as well. So now there are three pictures all featuring the Saucer Scout that tell the whole story of the Snowtroopers hijacking it! I'm really pleased with how the new shots turned out!

Unfortunately, while I was heading outside I dropped the saucer. I was able to find everything except for one of the red tiles with the grill. So on one side, there's only one, while on the other there are two. I'm hoping to find the piece in the spring once the snow melts, but I might buy a few replacements in the meantime (this isn't the first time I lost one; I was just really lucky that I found it last time). So for now, my saucer is going to be a bit unique!

I also finally announced the names of my Snowtroopers today on Flickr. The one who is dual wielding is called Mr. Hardcore. That's what I called him in the picture of him in the shrub and it sort of stuck. His accomplice I've called Gary for no real reason. That name has stuck, too, so there you have it: Mr. Hardcore and Gary!

Lego Indiana Jones!!!!!

Wow, I really need to stay out of the stores right now!!!! I wandered into Zellers earlier this evening and found that they had a LOT more Lego than Walmart and Superstore. And I found asmaller Indiana Jones set, Ambush in Cairo. So after standing around for a little while, trying to decide what to buy, I eventually settled on it; I thought it would be cheaper to buy this set than just the Indiana Jones figurine from Ebay. And for some reason, the set came with an extra pistol, so be prepared for pictures of mmy gunslinger adventurer!

More Deer Pics!

Today, my dad was off work early, so we decided to go picture taking again. The weather wasn't the greatest (it was hazy - there was no sparkle to the snow) so we decided to go back to Mission Island to take more deer pics. I go some fantastic new shots, like the one featured left, and they're all on my Flickr page!

Lego Space Police

lol, I've been eyeing this Lego set up for a while now, but I had a hard time justifying buying it. And then today, I wandered to the store and decided that I really, really wanted it. I have an idea for a shot (lol, when don't I have an idea for a shot nowadays with Lego?) and I wanted some of the pieces for it. Unfortunately I'll need to wait for something to come in from Ebay (of which I'm excited about!) before I can put this shot together. But in the mean time, I have a couple of cool-looking space vehicles too!

I also really liked the alien guy (I think his name is Kranxx according to the box) and thought he looks fitting for some shots with my Star Wars Lego.

Found: Fright Knights!

To celebrate getting my essay to length, I decided to pull out my Legos! I have an idea for a shot of Majisto which I am hoping will look really cool, so of course I had to dig him out. When I opened up my Lego bucket, I was really surprised: apparently I own Fright Knights!

As far as I knew, the newest Knights that I owned were Royal Knights or Dark Forest. Actually, the last set I remember buying before my Snowtroopers was the Dark Forest set Bandit Ambush. So imagine my surprise when I find two small Fright Knight sets, the Bat Lord and the Bat Lord's Catapult!

I'm not surprised that I bought the Bat Lord. He comes with a black dragon with orange wings, which looks deadly! I'm not quite sure why I have the Bat Lord's Catapult, but hey, I'm not complaining. So hopefully I'll be able to take some fun pictures of the Bat Lord and Company in the near future!

A World of Crystal

It's been awhile since I made a new gallery on Flickr. And so I just finished making A World of Crystal. I've been planning on making it for a few days now. It features some of the amazing shots people have taken using crystal balls. I wanted to call it Mirror World, because the images are upside down in the crystal ball (but many of the images in the gallery have been flipped), but that is the name of my Crystal Ball set. And so I settled on "A World of Crystal" instead. This new gallery features 18 shots, all by different photographers.

Crystal Ball!

Lately, I've been admiring pictures other people have taken using a crystal ball. And then I remembered that I have one stashed in my closet! A number of years ago, I bought it from Winnipeg when I was visiting the Forks. It has dragons on it, but I thought it would still create the effect which I wanted. So I dug it out of my closet and went outside to play! I posted two shots which I liked onto Flickr; one I flipped using picnik, and the second I left as it was (the image is upside down). I'm quite pleased with the results, and hope to take more pictures with it soon!