Joiner's Musings

The Chateau Laurier, located in Ottawa, Canada,  celebrated its 100th birthday this year. Here is a shot from the canal side and not the conventional shot of the hotel itself which is usually the front. The front is very elegant but I think the side view shows the majesty of the building itself which, as you can see, is very well preserved. I have stayed in many hotels in the the Ottawa area but never at the Chateau. Back in the sixties during Trudeau's campaign for election to PM I worked on a rival's campaign and remember attending a party at the Chateau but that is the closest I have ever got to experiencing the regal atmosphere of this fine hotel. Olympus EPL-2, f/8, 1/400s, ISO-200, 14mm, in-camera Dramatic Art Filter.

Now this is a mess of lobster, freshly boiled and ready to eat. Those three plates represent over $200 worth. It was simply delicious. There were more than a few people to enjoy them. Now, I am a tail and claw person myself but I saw folks at our get-together last evening devour the whole thing, I mean everything but the shell. I don't mind the roe but all the green gooey stuff and long tough meaty stuff is not for me. To each his own. Taken with an EPL-2, f/3.7, 1/60 sec, 16mm, ISO 200 with flash.

Is home-brewing your thing? Here, my wife and I are preparing a wine cooler, Acai Raspberry. Really simple, just follow the instructions implicitly. We bag our wine into roughly 6 litre bags and then decant from the fridge. 23 litres lasts about 2-3 months and there is a considerable savings to boot. I also brew beer, again, very simple, just follow the instructions though I must say, sanitation is the key to getting good results. My favorite beer is Coopers IPA. $22.00 will get you 23 litres of beer, less than $1.00 per litre. Cheap and easy and fun as well.

This is what happens when you have a 30 year old Audi and the upholstery has deteriorated beyond repair. Obviously the driver's seat is the worst of the two. Luckily Audi Tradition, a division of Audi Germany has made the fabric available this year after many requests to provide the original material. I ordered enough material to do one seats for sure, perhaps most of the passenger seat, we'll just see. In any event I have spoken to an upholsterer but I have no idea what his work is like. Some have suggested that I see a sample of his work and that might be a very good idea since I want the reupholstering to be done right and to look like the original. There is also another auto upholsterer in a small town nearby that some say is very good. Before I do that I have to get it on the road and to do that it has to be safetied. That requires hundreds of dollars worth of new parts which include brakes all around, wheel bearings all around, fuel system parts and other miscella...

In less than three weeks we will be making our annual trek to our cottage in central Canada. In summers past we would spend upwards of five weeks at our cottage but this year we plan to stay a little longer so we can attend a birthday celebration and a conference in the Capital area both in August. However it is the beauty and serenity of our lake in the central Canada that attracts us. We both have hectic occupations and the cottage is a place where we can relax, spend time with friends and family, boat, hike, fish, swim, enjoy campfires at night and talk about all kinds of things that are really not all that important in the scheme of things. We have some exciting new projects this year but play is the priority - not work. Taken with an Olympus E-30 and11-22, f/10, 1/400sec, ISO 200, +1/3EV at 11mm. Second photo is taken with an Olympus EPL-2 at 14mm with Dramatic Tone Filter applied which is an in-camera filter. The shot is taken at Maniwaki, Quebec in early August 2011.

I couldn't use a flash and at that distance the on board flash would have been useless. So, what to do? I wanted a shot of the president of the college I work for and knew that the light conditions would pose a challenge. I could not even move closer for the shot. So I thought I would try a shot at ISO6400. The camera I have is not known for high ISO and I try to stay away from anything over 1600 because the sensor size is a bit of a limitation. But, I think the results after being cleaned up a little in Phase One, Capture One are not bad, not prize-winning but not bad. EPL-2 F/5.6, 1/30 sec. ISO-6400 45mm, no flash

This particular lens is proving hard to get. I have had an order in to one of my favorite online retailers, a company that said to be the biggest supplier of Zuiko lenses for Olympus Cameras in Canada and I still have not received it. A search of other retailers online results in the same story, unavailable or back-ordered. In my years of purchasing lenses online I have never had to wait this long. Is it a good lens...yes!. Is it a great lens...maybe! It is probably one of the best lenses that Olympus has in its already complete line of lenses for M43 cameras. I am prepared to wait a week more and we'll see what happens. The photography forum groups suggest that I go to an Ebay supplier which I am reluctant to do, trusting the major retailers instead.The photo includes the lens hood which I have also ordered along with a clear glass "filter".