All My Blogs

Whistler Valley from near the top of Whistler Mountain.  Photographed August, 2015. Blue.  Green.  Aquamarine.  These are some of the lake colours you see when visiting Whistler.  But what makes these such different colours?   Arguably, we all know water is blue, but it really isn't.  Pure water is clear, and pure water in a shallow lake will also appear clear, revealing the bottom.  As the water gets deeper, that transparency slowly disappears.  That's because water absorbs light, long wavelengths (warm colours) faster than shorter wavelengths (cool colours).  As the water gets deeper, the reds and lower frequencies are absorbed first, leaving the higher frequencies, like blue.  Thus, deep water appears blue. Shallower bodies of water may reflect more of the warmer colours, making them appear greenish.  This tendency is increased with the presence of phytoplankton like diatoms and other pelagic photo- synthesizers.  ...

The lower falls at Canyon Falls Park.  Image produced from fusing3 images together. It was a treat to watch the family crawling around the rocks or, for the dad, watching him jumping into the plunge pool.  He did this several times; I had to change shutter speeds as I otherwise caught only a blur of him descending into the frothing waters below.  The kids, as you may have noticed, are the same ones at the bottom of the falls on the left and right of the image.  In order to produce this photo, I took a couple of dozen photos and blended the desirable ones together. I would not recommend jumping into the plunge pool on any waterfalls as there is a danger of striking the bottom, of undercurrents, or of falling uncontrollably.  I have worked with children who have jumped into shallow areas and sustained severe neck injuries.  I cannot find any information about jumping into the plunge pool at Canyon Falls Park, but I am aware of the risks. I photographed this s...

Service can be anything that helps others, and you don't need to get paid for doing it. My trip to Willow Park Church's Living Nativity was inspiring not only because it was a great show, but also because it reminded me of what it means to serve others, voluntarily.  While it is true that each of us has our own needs, we should also think about making a difference in the lives of others, without being paid for it. I think of a stewardess' instructions before takeoff.  In the event of depressurization, oxygen masks will drop down.  Put yours on first and then help those around you.  We can't be of help to others if we don't look after ourselves.  After our own needs are met, we should try to assist those around us. There is a great quote from Philippians 2:4.  " Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others."  I have strived to live this for all of my adult life.  Look after yourself, and help others al...

Rob, Gail, Kathryn, and Eric at Living Nativity, Willow Park Church, December 5, 2025. I went because it was a Christmassy thing to do.  And because it was with friends.  OK, and because my wife "asked" me.  And it turned out, it was also fun. I was very impressed with all the work that went into both the production and the ancient town of Bethlehem which you could wander through.  Plus there were free cookies, things you could actually buy, and quite a lot going on.  You also had to be careful, otherwise a Roman soldier may toss you in the nearby cell. The production was good, the Living Nativity was good, the the mood was festive.  I took a few photos, as I am driven to do, and you can see some of the images below. Some of the events at Willow Park's Living Nativity. As always, the real reason for the event was to celebrate the birth of Jesus, and to share the amazing story with anyone that would care to partake.  It was a production put on by hundre...

Photos for my grandchildren - memories for later years - a Christmas tradition. I have done it every year since my first grandchild. I make a print, in fact I make a lot of prints.  A total of eight pages on photo paper - standard letter size.  Each page has photos of the kids from the year, generally I have 4 on a page (each photo is 4x5 inches) and so there are 32 images.  Then I put them in a plastic 3-ring binder sleeve, two pages in each sleeve, back to back. This is the fourth year I have done this.  They will have an album now with about 120 photos, and it will grow by another 32 images next year.  I will keep this up until they are in their teens - by that time there will be fewer available photos probably - but time will tell. So, where do I get the shots from?  I have taken some of them.  I also visit their mother's face page (as we are "friends") where I look at her posted images and take the ones I like.  I then use an editor and crop ...

View of Okanagan Lake from the south end of Knox Mountain Park One of the jewels of Kelowna is right behind me.  I live at the base of Knox Mountain Park, on the east side.  Yesterday, my wife, Kathryn and I walked part of the 20 km of trails that crisscross the area.  It was a lovely day and we took our dog, Murphy, for a short tour of the area.  I photographed the map that is at the base of the southern end by the parking lot and included it here.  I will post the entire map at the end of this blog. One thing I found that was strange was the fact that Knox Mountain Drive, number 16 on the map below, is closed.  It opens in May or April, depending on conditions, and closes at the end of October (I think).  Certainly for us, it was closed being the 11th of December.  The fact it was closed wasn't a problem though as we enjoyed our walk to the first lookout.  That's were I shot the inset photo of Kathryn. I have written other blogs on Knox Mou...