This past weekend was the annual Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix (PVGP), so Jonah and I went to watch the cars and take some pictures.  The first 2 images are from my Fuji X-E2, and the top image will be my weekly selection.  The images following of the cars racing are from my Canon 5d MkII, which out performs the Fuji when is comes to sports photography.  My favorite image from the day is the last image, so you should make sure and scroll to the bottom.

As we walked to the races I noticed that some folks in Pittsburgh have begun expressing their love for one another by placing locks on the bridge. As I explained this ritual to Jonah, he asked "Can't they just get married?"  Seems like a reasonable question.

Around this time when it is super cold and snowy, I like to think about when it was warm.  I was cruising through some of my images from this summer and stopped at this one.  Camp applications should be coming out soon.

This past weekend was the Dirty Dozen.  If you aren't familiar with this event, you should head over to Youtube and search for some of videos.  In short, it is where cyclists race up 13 of Pittsburgh's steepest hills, including the steepest hill in the world Canton Ave. with an incline of 36%.  Oh and it is cobblestones too.  I went to 7 of the 13 hills this year to photograph the cyclist, including Canton Ave. Feel free to grab a drink and click through the 1700 or so images from the day located here.

I was able to spend some time with friends on the river the other day.  Partly for the time on the river and partly to get some photos up close of the Giant Rubber Duck.  This is one of my favorites from that day.  Shawn coming in for a landing with the duck and the city in the background.  I am sure I will be posting more images of the duck as I get around to editing them.

When we heard during the summer months that the giant rubber duck would be brought to Pittsburgh, we marked this day in the calendar.  I had heard about the duck from blog posts that I had read about the duck visiting Sydney, Australia, so I knew this was a must go to event.  It did not disappoint!  There was a party on the Clemente Bridge and the people lined both sides of the river.  It made me proud of the city and proud to call myself a Pittsburgher.  Here are a few images from tonight and I am sure to return later once it is docked at Point State Park.

During our trip to camp in September we went down to the beach with all the kids.  Louisa happened to be at the beach too, and was also kind enough to let me take a few photos of her.

While we were at "Labor Camp" this year several of the kids and parents went to the beach to climb the rocks and skip some stones.  I was able to capture this image while Jonah and James were having a conversation.  I imagine it was something like, "We will own this beach in a couple years!"

This spring I decided to plant some perennials to attract butterflies and other insects so that I could capture some macro images of them collecting the pollen.  A few weeks ago I was able to capture this bee on a daisy.  I am not a bug expert so this could be something other than the common bee and if you know what it is let me know in the comments.

Way back when, I think in the 1950s, you could purchase land on the islands in Parry Sound.  Several years ago, I am not sure when, the Canadian government declared much of this area "Queen's Land."  This would be the equivalent to a National Park in the states, I think.  Anyone that owned property during this declaration was able to keep their property, which is great for the current and future generations.  However, this gave permission for the general public to begin camping and hiking throughout this area.

When we were hiking back from the totem pole to the cottage you see in the distance, we came upon this sign.  If there were actually grass anywhere on this island, I would have named this post "Stay Off My Lawn!"

While we were at the beach we played a game similar to horse shoes, but with golf balls and holes in the sand.  I couldn't resist taking a photo of the father-son game that was in progress.

After a day at the beach everyone got cleaned up and decided to hang out on the deck before dinner.  I was able to snap a few images of my niece Nora and sister-in-law Karen.  This one is my favorite for a few reasons.  I will let you decide why you like it.

During our walks to get ice cream in the evening we pass this grouping of trees.  I love the way the trees are silhouetted in the evenings when the sun is setting.  If you are able to visit Kiawah Island make sure and take time to notice the trees.  There are many very interesting varieties to appreciate.

During our family vacation a couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to photograph the Sticca family.  We started a little earlier than we should have, but even with the challenge of a very bright sun, I think everything turned out really nice.  Below I have included a few of my favorites.

As you can imaging there is little to no indoor plumbing and most cottages utilize the outhouse to take care of business.

Like the previous post I set up my camera each night taking many exposures so I could build the start trails.  On Saturday I pointed the camera south so that I could get a different look and also include a portion of the cottage.  While the camera was taking photos we were inside playing poker and drinking beers.

I have been wanting to photograph star trails for some time now.  However, living around Pittsburgh and the amount of light pollution we have is not conducive for this type of photograph.  When I was in Canada I took the opportunity to take hundreds of photographs so that I could build a few images.  The first evening there was some light cloud cover so that evening was a waste.  Saturday and Sunday were perfect and one of the resulting images is below.  This was taken from the deck of the cottage facing north.  Not so bad for my first try.  I probably needed to let the camera run for another 30 minutes but I was getting tired and called it a night.

I have seen my share of sunsets and some are prettier than others.  I would have to say the sunsets that I experienced while in Canada were amazing.  The image below was made on our second evening on the island.  This is one of my favorite photographs from the trip.

If you missed Day 2, check the previous two posts.  I did not title them Day 2, but rather focused on the particular topics of the day.

Day 3 consisted of a hike, finishing the porch, Kyle's recovery, and a fire.  Kyle and Brett made a new friend on Day 2 named John.  Not me, the other John in the group.  Well, Kyle spent most of the day in bed and was back to normal around later in the afternoon.  That is why Kyle is not in the group photo.

In the morning the group hiked about a mile over the rocks and through the trees around the coast to locate a totem pole.  I was hiking with camera gear and a tripod to a group shot was no problem.  Once we returned it was lunch time.  The afternoon activity was finishing the removal of the porch floor and reattaching the stairs to the cottage.  Below you see the after and if you would like to see the before and during check out my previous post titled "The Cabin."

Kyle started feeling better and he decided to go on the same hike that we completed in the morning.  I can't recall if this photo at the table was taken before or after his hike.  Either way I like it.  It tells the story of how our weekend went.  Some guys drinking and carrying on.

Last but not least....THE FIRE.

Remember that front porch?  Well, it was just a giant pile of lumber.  The group made several trips taking scraps of lumber out to the rocks along the coast.  We started a large fire and burned about half of the porch.  The wind was gusting quite a bit and we were lucky that is was consistently blowing out to the water.  I had to take a couple photos of the fire.  The first is just of the fire to try and show the size.  The last is to show how extremely hot this blaze was and how close we were attempting to sit.  I love that Greg is taking shelter behind the cooler.

So these were my day by day recaps.  Stay tuned though because I took many landscapes that I will be posting one at a time over the next several weeks.

I have been to Canada plenty of times.  Usually it was to Toronto for work and there are all sorts of Canadian and ex-pats from other countries there.  So I have had plenty of exposure to my fair share of Canadians and they are some of the nicest people you will ever meet.

Well, when you travel a few hundred kilometers north of Toronto you get to experience the "Real Canadians" that are no nonsense and downright hilarious.  There are a few cottages relatively close to the cottage we were staying in and one of the families was there this weekend.  They stopped over with their three kids to hang out before dinner on Saturday night.

I was able to take a couple shots of two of their kids, the youngest was a little shy.  A shot of the group as a whole hanging out listening to probably the funniest man (Jamie) I have ever met.  I could listen to his stories for hours on end.  Oh, did I mention that they swear like sailors, not the kids, the parents, and they do not care who is listening.  The last photo is of Jamie describing how he and his wife crashed a corporate holiday party in Florida and told the CEO he was quitting the company.