...and the winner is!

To the Edge of the World

Please excuse me, but this post is going to be nothing else but boasting. Yup. My wife, Kasia, who is the better half of the MiKSMedia Photography duo, has been participating quietly in few online photo competitions.  On April 1, she received an email from My Photo School that one of her photos took 1st place in a monthly competition.  She was leaning more towards dismissing it, as an April's Fools joke, since the winners for the month of March were not posted yet.  Next day, we checked the results again, and it wasn't a joke.  She took the first place in Landscape & Nature category with this image:

Also in the same category two of her images were finalists.  Talk about domination!  These are the finalists from the Landscape & Nature category:

Busy, busy..

Winter beauty

The best part was, when I went through all the categories just to see the winners.  Low and behold, my wife took second place in the Travel & Architecture category with this image:

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and..... that's not all.... she had 3 images as finalists in the Macro category!!!  Talk about dominating the school competition.  Oh and by the way here are the Macro category finalists:

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This discovery made me very very happy.  So big congratulations Kasia, on all the winners and finalists.  I think you deserve it.... is that too biased?  :-)

Still I think it's a great accomplishment.  I'm very proud of you!  (the rest, outpouring of affection has been censored from this blog)

A Heart of a Lily

Mac has been entertaining us recently with his amazing series of landscapes. Whether at sunrise or at sunset, Alberta is so beautiful seen through his lens! But since it is wintery outside and they are forecasting some more snow to come, I thought a change of "scenery" would be in order. I have been able to get my hands on some nice lilies recently and have been, as usual, quite happy to spend a nice afternoon taking pictures of those gorgeous flowers. And since they are yellow and sunny and take my mind away from the cold outside they are perfectly suited to cheer everybody up, or so I hope ;) Kasia

Walking with a big fish

During the last Scott Kelby's World Wide Photowalk, I decided not to sign up, but I still met up with my buddy Randy Pond, and spend a nice afternoon walking around and practicing street photography.  I decided to make this walk a little more challenging, by taking only one lens with me, the fish-eye.  I really like the results of this experiment, hope you like these too.  Enjoy!

Lights in the Sky

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University of Alberta has a website that monitors geomagnetic activity in the  Edmonton area, called Aurora Watch.  There you can sign up for free email alerts, when aurora borealis or northern lights have a chance of occurring.  I received a red alert a few weeks ago, and decided to take my oldest son with me to Elk Island Park for a "capture the lights in the sky" mission.  Unfortunately at the site, Konrad realized that his little point and shoot camera did not have the settings necessary to record the northern lights.  I setup both of my cameras, one with fish eye lens, the other with wide angle, on the beach of Astotin Lake.  Since Konrad wasn't able to take any photos, I let him operate one of the cameras.  It was a great time, just being there, chatting, counting down exposure time, and watching the amazing light show in the skies above us.  Great great time.  Enjoy!

Playing on the farm - Part 2

Continuing on the post from yesterday, here is the rest of the photos from the family photo session.  It was really a wonderful time, even when the kids got bored with all the cameras clicking away.  One thing I found is that as a photographer, I have to really pay attention, because moments go by very quick and I have to be ready to catch them.  Enjoy.

Playing on the farm - Part 1

Families that plays together, stays together as they say.  I had a honor to capture such family recently.  We drove down to Vegreville, as my buddy Randy Pond, knows of a little quiet farm on the outskirts of town that was a perfect location for the photo session.  Since I never like posing portraits, I let the 3 girls run around and just play, then invited the parents to join in the fun.  Here are the results. Enjoy.

Spring on the streets of Edmonton

The spring has finally arrived, or at least I hope so.  Temperatures are finally above the freezing mark, and more often the sun is peeking through the clouds.  Thus a lot more people are on the streets, just enjoying the warmth after a long and cold winter.  I thought this would be a perfect time to try out my little micro 4/3 to minolta lens adapter, on my little panasonic GF1 camera.  I have to say, that manual focus on a LCD screen is not easy.  None the less it was a great experience it I think it worked out quite well.  Here are some street shots from Edmonton.  Enjoy.

Landscape in Film

I just had to try out the 40 year old film camera, on a little drive I took over the weekend.  A good friend of mine, a specialist in photographing pets, agreed to go for a little drive in the country, just exploring.  We took the backroads, and after a while, because I was paying more attention to the scenery, then to where I was going... I got lost.  I mean lost, completely utterly lost.  To make matters worse, it was a grey, overcast day, and no sun peeking through at all.  Didn't have a clue if I was driving north, south, west or east.  Luckily my iPhone found the way home.  Here are some shots taken with the film camera.  Again almost no editing, just a little crop here and there.  Enjoy.

E & R in Winter

My great friend Randy Pond and me had a great opportunity to photograph Erin and Ryan for their engagement.  It was a cold day, and we thought that we could shoot inside, but unfortunately we were told by the security of the building that it was not allowed.  So braving the cold, and deep snow all around we started.  Erin and Ryan are a great couple, and judging from these photos, photographing their wedding will a lot of fun.  Enjoy!

Family session with Olivia Kovios - Part 3

Here is the last set of pictures.  I hope I get invited to do this again.  It was nerve racking, but a lot of fun at the same time.  Enjoy.

Family session with Olivia Kovios - Part 2

Here are some more photos from Olivia Kovios family session.  Enjoy.

Family session with Olivia Kovios - Part 1

Olivia Kovios is a great family photographer, so I was a little nervous when I was invited to photograph her family.  She has three wonderful kids, that are as photogenic as their parents.  It was a lot of fun, but nerve racking at the same time.  Alsways having the thought in my mind, how these snapshots are going to be received by a fellow photographer.  It was a success.  Enjoy.

Colours of summer past...

This winter has been dragging it's feet, and specially this month of January has been pretty drab, and black & white.  Haven't seen a lot of sun or blue sky this month, so I want to add some colour to the blog right now.  These are photos taken last summer during various outings in Edmonton.  As you can see, we can have some colour in the summer time.  Enjoy!

Denver - Kari

Before I flew into Denver I messaged about 20 models in the Denver area, through Model Mayhem. It's a great site for finding aspiring models to practice one's photographic skills with.  This is where I met Kari White.  Although it was a short session,  she was great to work with, and I think I managed to pull off a few good images.  Enjoy.

Randy-thon: Olivia

I had an honour to meet Olivia at the Randy-thon a few weeks back.  She's very talented photographer, and not too shabby at posing herself.  You should definitely check out her facebook page HERE.  So with out more rambling from me, here are images of Olivia.  Enjoy.

Randy-thon: Danielle

Continuing right along with Randy-thon.  Here the second lady that decided to pose for us, Danielle.  Enjoy.

Randy-thon: Madison

I was invited to my good friend Randy Pond's little studio in Vegreville AB.  He had lined up two great girls, that agreed to pose for us, and invited another local photographer, who also does not mind being on the other side of the lens.  We started off in the studio with Randy's self made super ring light.  You can click HERE to see it.  After a few shots in the studio, we moved outside, since it was a beautiful sunny day.  So here is one of the girls that posed for us, Madison.  Enjoy.

My Lovely Nieces Last Part

My Lovely Nieces Part 3

My Lovely Nieces Part 2

Here is the continuation of the photo session I had with my lovely nieces.