Light the Bridge!
There has been a campaign in the city of Edmonton to donate money to light the high-level bridge after the waterfall proved too costly and full of flaws. There are 50,00 lights due to the generosity of the citizens of Edmonton and I do not think that it cost the tax-payers anything. While out on an evening walk I thought that I would take my camera and tripod and practise some shots for the fireworks and bridge display on Canada Day next Tuesday.The lights seem to move in lines from one end to the other, changing colour and rhythm.
Last year I got pretty good fireworks but black sky and was envious of the blue skies of my fellow photographers.I did some research on exposures and decided to try putting my speed on “bulb”, pressed the remote shutter down for 5, 6 and 7 seconds. I used manual mode and manual focus, and kept my ISO at 100 and tried f/8 to f/11.I used my zoom lens at 70mm up to 300mm and prefer the wider shots, and probably move the viewfinder up,which will be good for the fireworks. The blue bridge in the foreground is the pedestrian and LRT pathway. Here are the results:
Snow Sculptures from the Silver Skate Festival
I better post this before the day is over. As I mentioned in yesterday’s comments, the witch that I took a photo of is Baba Yaga from Russian and Slavic folklore. She lived in a house with chicken legs. Here are some more of the snow sculptures from the silver skate festival – I felt sad for one artist whose sculpture collapsed. The weather was always changing which did not help for the snow to pack .
I made them dark deliberately so you can see the details. These were grouped together and there were others around the park. Except for one I was remiss not to get the artist names or the titles, something to remember in the future. And I erased the ones of the column that were in focus – well that was smart of me.
What are your favourites?
Ice Scuptures
Attended ” Ice on Whyte” an annual show of ice and snow sculptures hosting artists from around the world who feature incredible work. One of the features is a huge slide made out of snow for children and adults. In the evening rotating spotlights cast different hues on the ice. There was an entertainment tent where a live band was playing some good blues and hot chocolate was available for a donation to the local youth shelter.
It was -10 celsius when I attended, quite liveable if you were dressed properly.Crazy weather, a couple of days above zero then down, then up. yesterday was -29 C with wind chill factor of -43. Today is warmer with less wind but still the equivalent about -33 C. Nasty!
Now that was a Weekend!
My apologies for not getting to your blogs or commenting on them, just had to skip a few days for other duties. I volunteer at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival and have been doing so for about fifteen years.The only years missed during that period was when I was out of town and my job would not give me the time off and last year due to illness. But they welcomed me back, thankfully and it was fun. The perks? Getting fed delicious gourmet meals the whole time, a t-shirt of good quality, free admission, and parties with some of the bands from the festival playing. I just don’t have the energy for all the parties anymore ( I used to go to them all) and I would have loved to go to Sunday’s but just had no energy left. But I did go to Saturday’s party and sang in the acoustic room with other folk enthusiasts then danced away to the Johnny Clegg band and Parachute Club (forgot about my arthritis).
I loved seeing favourites like Amadou & Mariam, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Emmy Lou Harris, Arlo Guthrie Family Reunion,Hills to Hollers with Linda Tillery, Barbara Higbie and Laurie Lewis and Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Mavis Staples. New to me in that I heard them for the first time were Andrea House, Pokey Lafarge, Joanne Shenandoah, Monkey Junk and James Vincent McMorrow. But the best was the headliner, the wonderful powerful Bonnie Raitt. She put on such a show and was pulling her favourite musicians on stage with her and obviously having a blast and so were 20,000+ more of us. Welcome back Bonnie! I have no photos of her because it was requested that no photos be taken and I had taken some when she joined with Mavis but removed them out of respect and they were poor shots anyway.They are etched in my mind’s eye.
Here are some photos to give you a taste of the festivities. They were all taken using my Canon 70-300mm lens and no editing has been done yet.
©Jane Chesebrough
©Jane Chesebrough
©Jane Chesebrough
©Jane Chesebrough
©Jane Chesebrough
©Jane Chesebrough
©Jane Chesebrough
©Jane Chesebrough
©Jane Chesebrough
©Jane Chesebrough
A Vigil for Jack Layton
I have always admired the politician and the human being. He was fair, he changed political debates from dog-eat-dog to a more civil exchange. He was passionate, on everything from homelessness to senior’s dignity to care for the environment. It wasn’t about him, it was him being the best he could be as a servant to the people.He was a musician who liked the folk songs of the 60’s and lived his life for the cause of bettering the world.. He listened and he responded. With that in mind, I attended a vigil to celebrate his life at the Alberta legislature . I felt sad, yet also inspired to carry on his legacy in some small way. There was a good turn-out of people who showed up to celebrate his life, whether they were of his political persuasion or not. People have showed up all across Canada to express their grief, their gratitude, their condolences.Thank you Jack Layton.
“My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.” –Jack Layton, in his letter to Canadians
My Heartsong 