Life :: Wildlights

Well, with Christmas come (and gone), everyone has their own sort of traditions they do. Around here, many Christmas traditions include the BC Wildlife Park's annual Wildlights...  This year seems to be quite dull and boring around here, because it hasn't snowed anywhere near as much as it should have (as I write this, we secured another record high today of plus 10 C)...

Each year, the BC Wildlife park holds their annual Wildlights Festival. They, in conjuction with BC Hydro, string millions of lights around the park for people to enjoy. They have the wildlife express running (a miniature steam engine), and have changed over the last few years to include a light show, and wolf feedings...

This year, I went with my favorite neice, and her family... and had a great time. It was surprisingly warm, and we spent much longer out there than anticipated.



This year, they upgraded the light show, to include a new laser light. It was pretty impressive, and even included fog so you can see the work of the laser behind you... It was quite exciting (and I would say worth the $10,000+ they spent on it). Our experience culminated with Sofia and her perfect little 'shocked' expression with the lights flashed in front of her...

They have interactive stations where you push a button, and things happen. Sofia was learning how this all works to make the penguins swim...
We even had the joy of visiting the goats, although Sofia wasn't too sure about them...

Maybe next year she'll be more into participating... and walking on her own.
We finished by taking a ride on the Wildlife Express... just for Sofia! Definitely her highlight.

Definitely a fun time... a highlight of most... and a good tradition in our area. I'm always intrigued to see what has changed from one year to another... Lets hope everyone else has someplace to relax and unwind like this...

Rodeo :: Interior Provincial Exhibition Part 1

It's the Labour Day long weekend, and every year, Armstrong, and the Interior Provincial Exhibition, host one of the largest Canadian Professional Rodeo Association (CPRA) Rodeos... So naturally, this year... I opted to make the IPE Rodeo my 'big' rodeo of the year... I got tickets for Friday night, and Saturday night of the rodeo (both semi-final nights)... and lucked out.
Friday night, I was left with one ticket, no one to go with, and 3 hours before rodeo... so I took Tammy and her son.
Shane LOVES rodeos. He talked most of the way there, all excited about the rodeo, in his cowboy hat and boots...

We got there just in time to pick up my reserved tickets - for Thursday night and Saturday night... Argued with the lady, who had no idea what she was talking about... and ended up with 2 new tickets... I sat down at the grass, cause the first row tickets sucked for taking photos, and Tammy sat in one of our seats.

Until she got kicked out of the seat... just to find out, the replacement tickets we got for Thursday's tickets I wasn't supposed to get... were for Saturday. Thanks. So Tammy went and complained to the right people, and we ended up in great seats following! :)

 

Knowing low light, fast movements, and a great subject/photographer distance were all playing a game against me, I used this opportunity to shoot, for my first time EVER, in complete manual mode. I knew I had to jack the ISO up, in order to create a still shot with decent lighting...  Night rodeos are going to be the bane of my existance... next time, I'm sitting as close to the middle of the arena as possible!!

In addition to the cowboys... there were a few great displays of talent, including the Crazy Cowgirls trick riders. I think they needed more guts than the cowboys do...

I love rodeo, I really do. I'm such a country girl at heart. Could I live the lifestyle of a rodeo widow - you bet your bottom I could! The only thing I hate about rodeo, is how it's such a male dominated sport... Not that you'd see me up on there on the bronc, but what about ropers? But... alas, that is a whole new blog post in itself. With the number of rodeos Alyssa and I are considering next year... you will probably be succumbed to it eventually.

Life :: Kylie, Sofia and Shane

Well... Here's a lot awaited shoot!
For nearly 8 months, Kylie and I have been talking about doing a shoot with Sofia. I'm so eager to get some photos of her, and play with my camera, that I was so excited, reguardless of it being cloudy, overcast, and threatening rain (which is did spit on us for a while). It was relatively cold and dreary for an August day around here.

My poor niece LOVED the swing. She was happy to spend hours swinging on it... rain or shine. She screamed when she was pulled out - only to find her love of the slide too...

Once she had enough of the slide, and we returned to the swing... we extracted that crazy grip of hers and wandered around a little. She went and chased the seaguls, and wandered down the pier with us... before playing in the river with Shane - against Kylie's wishes...

She was one cold little girl who was very grumpy when she left the river and went for lunch...

I love photographing her... Get her in a good mood, and Sofia is normally all smiles! She's such an easy model, she just loves to play, and as long as mom is not too far away, she'll smile for hours. I absolutely adore her smile - just lights up a room with the twinkle in her eyes...
God I heart that kid... proud aunt? I think so...