This hoarfrost stuff may look pretty and very awesome, but don’t let it fool you! It is evil! Is summer soon? I miss the days of +30C weather!

Usually this frost is gone by 9am, and I used to grumble as I groggily drove by it in the past on my way to work or school in the mornings, knowing that by the time I had a camera in hand it would be gone. In the last month, however, we’ve had these strange “fog storms” move in and freeze everything in sight, and this frost takes an exceptionally long time to melt, so I was finally able to capture some of it. Now that I’ve accomplished this, bring on the sunshine!

Proof that it is evil: this little guy sure took a liking to it…

He followed me home from California a few years ago, and I’ve grown rather fond of him. He may secretly be evil, but he’s so cute!

I always enjoy going to the Street Wheelers weekend in Lethbridge. I love the old cars, especially everything pre-1960s, but with all the people at the park it’s hard to get good full shots of the vehicles. Instead, I focus on the details :)

I only could bring my Rebel because my 40D is too heavy and bulky (especially with the grip and using an L-lens most of the time… and then you want to bring an external flash, the 50mm, a telephoto… etc. out of control!), and especially inconvenient on rides. But ohhhhh, I suffered for it. I remember how amazing it was when I first got that camera; now I was constantly cursing how slow it was (I missed so many shots because the auto-focus was too slow) and how limited the kit lens was. What, I can only zoom to 55mm?? Painful! And ohhh the grain at high ISOs.

Now I have my love back in my hands :)

On Saturday Hope sent Sarah and I out to do aerial shots of a few branches throughout Alberta. It was the first time for both Sarah and me to do aerial photography and fly in a small plane, so what an experience! Hope’s cousin Josh was the pilot, and he was awesome to fly with. He was fun to be around and really good at what he does (oh it made the day less painful).

I was worried about motion sickness, so Hope got me sea-bands to wear. She tried to talk me into Gravol (it`s an anti-nauseant for those of you in the US), but that stuff knocks me out; Sarah has learnt it is very chemically similar to sleeping pills, which ironically don`t work for me!

Hope, James, and Jaxen saw us off. Jaxen was the only one okay with being up that early.

Hope had said, “Now kiss!”

Co-pilot!

Me on the wing while we were finalizing things.

Early in the flight, on our way to Medicine Hat, things were going great. I was actually less sick than on a large airliner (which I have to look forward to tomorrow! yay!) because there was so much fresh air being circulated. It’s not so much that I get motion sickness, but from the air quality, or what is affecting my head. I was taking tons of photos and really enjoying it. This was exciting because aerial photography would be a lot of fun to do, and I’ve always wanted to learn how to fly planes – I had only given up on my dream of flying a fighter jet at this point because I know my brain would not handle it. I think I get shaken-Tanya-syndrome :P

These were all taken on the way to Medicine Hat. I really don’t like living in the prairies (I find the ocean much more satisfying) but from up there I had to admit it was quite beautiful! The views looked almost like paintings!

In Medicine Hat, we went to the location, banked, did our circles around the branch a few times, and shot away. I survived it, but after we levelled off I wasn’t feeling so well. I got the “sic sac” ready, but after a bit of controlled breathing and water, I was able to put it away. “Good girl!” Josh exclaimed.

Unfortunately the nausea came back, because the vibrations of the plane never gave me a chance to recover. Josh offered to let me try to fly the plane, but I wasn’t feeling too up to it. We talked a bit about his history of flying, then he decided to show us roller coasters. They were fantastically fun, and I have to explain that on amusement park rides I love that feeling, especially the controlled free fall… but with an already upset stomach, all that water I just drank came back up. Josh felt really bad, but it totally wasn’t his fault, it was from earlier!

The landscape between Medicine Hat and Edmonton was so brown, dead, and uninhabited (for two hours of flight), until this cool area.

“I spy with my little eye something that is… brown.”
“Everything!”

In Edmonton we did another branch before fueling up, and after I shot photos for one circle I had the bag again. It was hopeless for me at this point!

We got the rock star treatment when we landed… a red carpet! With four cameras, you would THINK one of us photographed it, but no….
We got to spend some time in the pilot’s lounge, where I caved in and had Sarah give me a Gravol. Those sea-bands were NOT working, no matter where I moved them on my wrist or how hard I pushed them in. Sarah suggested they may only work as something to focus on, whereas when I get sick I don’t get tense, I totally mellow out, so I don’t see how calming myself down would work!

After about a half hour of sitting there I felt a tinge better from the Gravol, and we headed back to the plane to make our way back to Lethbridge, and get all the locations along the way.

More sick than I look, trust me :P

Look, I’m not puking back there! haha

I felt crappy the rest of the way home, which was a shame because we passed some beautiful landscapes. Once in a while I’d pick up my camera and try one shot, but even that would make me sick again. I had to keep my eyes closed a lot, and this didn’t help when the Gravol started to knock me out. It didn’t help my stomach, mind you, just made me super drowsy! I kept waking up every time my head would roll back, and almost every time Josh was looking back laughing at it!

I wasn’t sick a whole lot more, mostly because I didn’t eat all day! That would have been dangerous. Instead, dry heaves for me (sorry for the TMI!). Calgary was the worst because we had to do three branches all in quick succession of each other.

It was a relief to see Lethbridge, but I was sad I couldn’t shoot because it looked gorgeous after all the other brown cities we flew over! Lethbridge is definitely the nicest looking place in Alberta… at least from the sky. We have so much greenery, all the trees had gorgeous fall colors, and our coulees were surprisingly green for this time of year. It was really cool to see the city from that perspective. After I put my bag away I managed to get several photos at least.

Like velvet

Josh: “It’s only a goodie bag once there is something inside!”

I learnt:
-I can’t be an aerial photographer.
-I will never be a pilot :(
-I can actually go 8+ hours without eating, wtf?

This place puts Lethbridge’s “owl man” to shame!

This is the back of my dad’s shop… woo!

Some shots just outside of Pincher Creek…

A little more cliched…

This is all woodpecker damage to our tree. The tinfoil is to keep the bird away. Instead it just pecked around it!

First I started with some light painting, and my mom helped as my assistant :)

I also had a chance to do some fun photos with some girls I went to high school with, and their kids. We had a blast!