Head for the Horizon 2nd version

Using a different editor to generate this video.

Please comment or email which you think is better.

Tigers at CMZ Music by Nineteen 5

Photos from this weekend (6/6/10). The big tigers (Taj and Almos) were pensive and playful. The cubs (Bagheera and Vitez) were very playful.

The music is courtesy of friends of mine, Kevin and Christine Watkins of Nineteen 5. Saw them in concert this weekend and liked the song Seven Sisters. They are on iTunes.

Cubs sparing

Today (May 29) was wet and grey and there was some play/sparring between Vitez & Bagheera as well as Taj & Almos.  I wasn't in a position to get any pictures of Taj/Almos.  These photos were taken over the span of at least an hour.  There were a number of sort skirmishes where they seemed to be testing each others skills.

In a number of the photos not shown here, you can see that neither of them are bearing their claws.  None the less, when they stand on their back paws, and stretch out the appear to be over 7 feet in length.

Cubs 1st Birthday (Set 2)

Sorry for the delay in the 2nd set of pictures.  This set is larger, I was going to split this into 3 posts but chose to combine these together due to the delay in getting them online.

Taj and Almos can be seen supervising at the beginning of the sequence and throughout the event.  

Bagheera and Vitez completely destroyed all of their toys as planned and expected were pretty exhausted by the end.

Music Video: Head for the Horizon

I was at Fox Elipsus's concert in Tacoma over the weekend, he played this song and I really liked it. He mentioned that his inspiration was a video of polar bears swimming north to the ever smaller arctic ice pack.

It occured to me that even though the song is about polar bears and their vanishing habitat, that extends to all animals whose habitats are vanishing.

The song touched me because of the plight of tigers and their vanishing habitat. That and the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico motivated me to generate this video.

I hope you enjoy it, if so, please share it, and help in any way you can in stopping the vanishing habitats and species.

Thanks for Fox Elipsus (http://elipsus.net/)

Update: corrected some timing, and credits (Thanks Robyn)

Cubs first birthday

This is a quick post, there will be more pictures to follow.

The boys first birthday was a "smashing" success. They smashed everything!

In this set, notice the peeps, and people in the background (you know who you are).

Epic Wedding: Congratulations Jeannette and Jeremy Colwell

Yes, EPIC.

There was  at the beginning,  a small delay caused by an "addressing" issue. 

These things happen. There were quite a number of surpises planned by the Bride and Groom (all good). The Dr. Suess vows were great, albeit a bit jaw dropping at first.

The reception was in a word quite unique. The MC seen below blowing bubbles, kept the surprises coming. Chantels speech to her mother was a touching.

The surprises for the guests, were in no particular order: Sumo suit wrestling, bouncy ball races down the hall way, and a photo booth.

There was much wine, great food and much rejoicing until.. well i'm not even sure.

FOUND: Center of the Universe

Here is it.  At long last, the center of the universe has been located on Granville Island in Vancouver, BC.

From this spot, travelling less than 1 meter in any direction yields:
A pate shop
A chocolatier
An Italian Deli (cheese and procuto)
Tarts, deserts..

Suffice to say a foodie paradise.  I am planning to return quite soon, and bring a small army of foodies.  We shall plant a flag (with a tiger on it) and claim this area to be under our dominion.

There will be a picnic in Stanley park, and there will be great rejoicing!  And probably wine..

Ok DEFINATELY wine.






Johnny Depp was not in attendance. <- Test to see if the mention of his name spikes my stats again.

Stalin Sculpture - Richmond BC

Driving to Jeremy's wedding, we saw this sculpture, so i stopped to take photos on the way back.
Forgive my vanity, some of the shots are composed to include my reflection.

Its in answer to an old question from an art teacher from my youth: "where are you in your artwork?"

There, in the center, just to the right of his ear.

Tip o' the hat to Alfred Hitchcock!

Writing Field Trip

I kind of chickened out.  I didn't really write anything.  Lets face it, i'm NOT a writer.
Today, I didn't feel like a photographer either.
There are just some days, you can't get firing on all cylinders.  Today was one.
I did get a very few adequate (barely) shots.  These will look ok on the web, just don't look too closely.

Later we went and saw Iron Man 2.  Good movie.  Better than "Adequate" -JC Hutchins!

Taj 3rd Bday (3rd photoset)

A few more photos from Taj's third birthday.
A slide show this time.
If you view these pics on a mobile device / prefer that I not use a slide show, please leave a comment.

20100502 Almos 3rd Bday - Taj pics

Although it was Almos birthday, Taj put in his appearance.
He checked out all of the festivities and gifts
located his portion of the ribs,
and was quite content to finish them off.

If viewers can please let me know which you prefer, Pictures or Slide show, I would greatly appreciate it!


Grand Entrance:

From 20100502 Almos 3rd Bday - Taj pics

Mmm enrichment.. mmm



Wall appetizer


Let me eat cake!



NOM!

20100502 Almos 3rd Bday (1)

This is post 1 of at least 3 sets.
I have to many to post all at one time.
I will cross post to the Cougar Mountain Zoo facebook page.

Published!!!

UPDATE: Yep.. URL when its online!

Just heard back from a local paper and I may have a picture published!

How kewl is that?

From Taj 3rd Final

Date: 2010:04:11 13:37:16Camera: Canon EOS 20D

Exposure: 1/2000

Aperture: f5.0

ISO: 400

Focal length: 135

Happy 3rd Birthday Taj

Apologies to my CMZ friends. I was waiting to hear back from someone before I posted these. Sorry for the delay.

Taj was in rare form (as was Almos), great fun was had, many presents were destroyed, and 2 slabs of ribs were consumed.

It was great messy fun, and many thanks to Robyn Barfoot for affording me a great spot to take these photos.

"Johnny Depp" or It's the camera I had with me.

Saw this great mural in Tacoma today and grabbed these pics with my
iPhone.

I'll try and get back later this week with my Canon and grab a few better pics.

The Littles

The smaller guys were playful today as well



Tip of the hat to the photographers I met today!

Big guys

The "bigs" were out in all their glory.

Baby Joey (Wallaby) @ CMZ

His coming out day was today.

Kinda shy little guy, and sticks close to mom.

My own google superbowl commercial