Ecomuseum

The Ecomuseum is an educational wildlife park located on the island of Montreal which is operated by the St. Lawrence Valley Natural History Society. I had a great time there viewing and photographing all the animals.

The hawks and eagles were kept out on tether lines so I was not impeded by fencing with respect to photography.

The American Bald Eagle and a Red Tailed Hawk were both very beautiful.

I enjoyed watching the owls but had to blur out the fencing from the foreground. I didn't do too badly!!

The Snowy Owl was absolutely gorgeous...

The Coyotes and Foxes were quite the characters. The coyote was resting in the snow for most of my visit...

This Red Fox was somewhat restless and kept popping in and out of his den. But he did settle after a while...

To learn more about the Ecomuseum please go to: http://www.ecomuseum.ca/

Happy Holidays!!!

Have a happy and safe holiday season everyone!!

Christmas tree shopping (or rather chopping)

For the second year in a row, my friend Elise invited me to go look for a Christmas tree with her. She goes to an awesome place in Leeds-Grenville where we can bring the dogs and they get to have a romp with us while we're scouting for trees. Last year there was no snow as you can see below...

Compare that to this year! We had quite the adventure. Got stuck once in the snow on the side of the road...the snow plow had plowed beyond the ditch and it looked solid! A nice man came and pulled us out so all was good. Somehow we managed to not get stuck on a private road before it was plowed. Elise has some pretty awesome snow tires! Here's a picture of the plow after we made it through...

The dogs had a good romp and enjoyed running through the deep snow. And it was deep as you can see...

Elise found a good tree and we got home safe and sound. All 5 of us were pretty pooped at the end of the day. I know that Eklypse and I slept well. I'm sure that Elise, and her 2 puppers did too!

Printing

I was printing some orders this evening and decided that I wanted to print Alika's photo that I took on Sunday at my studio lighting lesson on the Ilford Smooth Fine Art Paper that I print my simulated sketches on. It looks fabulous!!! I will let the ink cure before spraying it and am looking forward to getting it framed. It is going to look gorgeous on display. I really want to start working on doing more "fine art" type photography. That is why I'm going to see Ed to learn about studio lighting. He is a wealth of information and I'm quite lucky to have found him!

Lighting lesson

I was lucky enough to find a well known fellow photographer in the area who is willing to help me with artificial lighting. I went for a lesson today and was there for 5 and and half hours!! I'm still reeling from everything that I learned. I was unable to find a human subject as a model and as a result, I brought Alika with me. She was thoroughly spoiled after the lesson while I had tea with Ed and his wife. I am totally looking forward to my next lesson!

Photos with Santa for LAWS

I had the pleasure to do another "Photos with Santa" fundraiser. This time it was for the Lanark Animal Welfare Society (http://www.lanarkanimals.ca/) and was held at the Lanark Veterinary Clinic. We had a really good turnout!!! Here is Santa cuddling with one of the kitties.

Hopeful Hearts Photos with Santa

Hopeful Hearts is a new dog rescue in the Ottawa area. They specialize in rescuing special needs dogs. Older dogs and dogs with chronic conditions and illnesses. Pictured above is MacKenzie who was going to her new home this past week-end. A fundraiser was held in conjuction with Natural Pet Foods grand opening in Carleton Place. It was a success!!

To visit Hopeful Hearts, please go to:

http://www.hopefulhearts.ca

And to visit Natural Pet Foods please go to:

http://www.naturalpetfoods.ca/

Fly Ball in Montreal

History was made on November 24th and 25th, 2007 when the first ever NAFA sanctioned fly ball tournament was held in the province of Quebec in Region 20. I had the opportunity to shoot the event and was blown away by the nice indoor lighting!!

The crowds were incredible. The bleachers were full! Next year the organizers are planning on moving the fly ball lanes to an area where spectators can watch from the blue bleachers!

CKC Obedience Trial

I spent the day yesterday at the CKC Obedience Trial being held by the Ottawa Valley Golden Retriever Club. It was fun watching all the dogs at the trial. It made me want to get back into it with Alika. And, I finally was able to watch Eklypse's litter mate, Nova, perform.

K9 Costume Ball

In honour of Halloween, Bullies in Need held a K9 Costume Ball fundraiser. It was a blast!! The dogs looked so cute in their costumes. Some owners even dressed up to match!!

Fall colour

I don't often post images of my own dogs. But I just wanted to share Eklypse with you. First we stopped at this beautiful row of trees.

Then we found a really funky tree by the shore line.

And of course, she had fun playing with her friend Nigel!

Black and white conversions

I went down to the States last week to attend a photography seminar. I had a wonderful time learning new things, meeting new people and seeing "cyber friends" for the first time ever! The topics of the day were enviromental portraiture and Photoshop. In the Photoshop portion of the seminar, black and white conversions were one of the topics covered. I have been playing a little with black and white conversions and here are my results. These are from a wedding that I shot back in September.

BARK in the Park

Bark in the Park was a huge success despite the rain on Saturday. I had fun photographing all the dogs!

Gatineau Park

I had a wonderful time in Gatineau Park today. This was the view from the parking lot.

The leaves are absolutely beautiful!!

Eklypse enjoyed it too!

dockdogs®

Despite a cool and cloudy start, it ended up being a beautiful day!!

Got some beautiful photographs today of the dogs have fun diving into the pool.

To view more images, please visit http://heathphoto.ca/galleries/dockdogs30-09-07

dockdogs®

Time for some wild and wet fun!! Dockdogs® is once again in the Ottawa area. Come on out to the Dundas Veterinary Clinic in Winchester on Sunday, September 30th and check it out!!

For more information, please visit: http://www.dockdogs.com/component/option,com_extcalendar/Itemid,53/extmode,view/extid,338

B.A.R.K. in the Park

Come get your dog's photo taken in a fall setting at the B.A.R.K. in the Park fundraiser at Bruce Pit on Cedarview in Nepean. The event will be held on October 6th and 7th, 2007 from 9:00 to 17:00. I'm looking forward to photographing my favourite subject once again for a good cause! For more information, please visit http://home.ican.net/~933435/UpcomingEvents.htm

Beginnings and endings

Photography is about preserving memories...capturing that split second in time for all eternity.

This is Evi. She is just beginning her life. Her owner has many years to look forward to with her. She has a wonderful, quirky personality. I'm looking forward to watching her grow and become a fabulous sport dog and family pet. She will provide many hours of fun and frolic for her owners and will give an insurmountable amount of love to her human family.

And this is Riley. I have only had the opportunity to meet him once. He is a wonderful, happy boy who has given his human family an incredible amount of love. Unfortunately Riley's life is coming to a close. I know that he will be sadly missed and fondly remembered when he goes to wait at the bridge for his human family.

Right now, Riley is still enjoying life and that is what I love about dogs. As long as they are loved and well cared for, they enjoy life to the fullest. I know that you will enjoy the rest of your days Riley. May they be carefree and as sweet and can be.

USDDN Regionals at Super Ex

The Regionals for the United States Disc Dog Nationals are coming up this Saturday. Woohoo!! I will not be the photographer for this event this time around. It works out best as I will be competing with one of my dogs. Now I will be able to spend more time with her. And, as there will be official photographers there, I will actually get some photos of us playing at this game!!!! That makes me very happy. I would love some nice photos of the two of us together.

Carp Fly Ball Tournament

Had a great time as usual photographing the dogs at the fly ball tournament last week-end in Carp. This is a new boy to fly ball. He's doing well. I hope to see him racing soon!!! Maybe next month at Burnin' Rubber's tournament...

Trampoline fun

Shalaine is the daughter of a good friend of mine. She is a lot of fun!! We had a wonderful time getting some images of her on the trampoline. After that, we went to playground around the corner and got some images on the ground!

USDDN Regionals

Regionals to qualify for the United States Disc Dog Nationals this year will be held on August 25th at the Super Ex right here in Ottawa!! I am very excited to be both participating with one of my dogs and photographing the event. It will certainly be a day to remember! For more information please go to http://www.flyingdiscdogs.com/trialaug25.htm

Dog Days in the Capital 2007

Another fly ball tournament in the region will be held in Carp on August 11th and 12th 2007 hosted by the local fly ball team "Paws On Fire". I'm looking forward to photographing my favourite subject...dogs in action!!!

For more info, please go to http://www.flyballdogs.com/pawsonfire/

It takes how many hands to raise a child??

A good friend of mine is expecting a new addition to her family at the end of August! Her family is quite excited about it. We decided to do pregnancy portraits 5 weeks before her due date as her first daughter was 4 weeks early! Of course the whole family was involved in the portrait session :-)

Expanding my horizons

I have been expanding my horizons and working with people for a change!! It's totally different! I'm very much enjoying the experience and am looking forward to further developing my people photography skills. Linda was fantastic to work with and her make-up was done by a local make-up artist by the name of Tressa Wilson. I would love to work with the two of them again in the future!

Kingston NAFA Tournament

Unfortunately I was only able to shoot for one day at the tournament. A small emergency required that I boot it back to Ottawa on the first day of the tournament but all's well that ends well! Had a great time shooting on the second day of the tournament!!

USDDN Trial

Had a GREAT day photographing the trial!! The weather was mostly perfect and the dogs were in good form. Can't ask for much better than that!

Bonnie

Bonnie was a gentle soul and the mascot of my choir. She attended many of our concerts and truly enjoyed meeting all the people. Run happy and free on the other side of the bridge sweet girl...you will be sorely missed.

NAFA Fly Ball Tournament in Kingston

Back Draft will be hosting it's second annual Fly Ball tournament on July 7th and 8th, 2007. Lot's of fun to be had yet again!!

USDDN Trial

There will be a Disco Disc Dog Trial trial in Manotick on June 30, 2007. Time to boogie with your friendly canine pal! More details can be found at:

http://www.flyingdiscdogs.com/

B.A.R.K. Walkathon

Be certain to make it out the Arboretum at the Central Experimental Farm on Sunday May 6, 2007 for B.A.R.K.'s annual "Woof and Wags" Walkathon.

Registration begins at 8:00am and the 3k walk commences at 9:00am.

A free BBQ and social follow the walk. Get your pup's photo taken by Sue Bird. Various dog sport demos will take place throughout the day. Information on canine health, training and your rights and obligations as a dog owner will also be available at the different booths.

Bullies in Need

Had a great time at the Bullies In Need Spring Fling fundraiser today.

Bam Bam is known in the Pitty circles for his pout. And here he is...showing it off big time!

dockdogs®

Photographing dockdogs® was a blast!! 4 days of dogs, dogs, dogs!! Too cool!

Spring Fling

It will once again it will be my pleasure to do photos for Bullies In Need during their Spring Fling fundraiser on Saturday April 28th, 2007.

Bullies in Need is a network of rescuers, shelters and bully lovers that works very hard to save as many pit bull types and their mixes as possible due to the passing of Bill 132 in Ontario.

For directions to the event, go to: http://www.foreverfriendsdogtraining.ca/FF-ContactUs.htm

For more information on Bullies In Need, go to: http://www.bulliesinneed.ca/

U-Fli

U-Fli is coming to Ontario!!
Come out and watch the fastest fly ball dogs in the area race head to head in singles, pairs and regular teams of four.This is free fun for the whole family to watch.
Hosted by fly ball area teams Burnin'Rubber and Paws on Fire.
When: Evening of Friday April 20, 2007 and all day Saturday April 21st, 2007 and Sunday April 22nd, 2007
Where: Huntley Curling Rink in Carp
Map: http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&q=199%20Langstaff%20Dr%2C%20Carp%2C%20ON%20K0A%201L0%20&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&um=1&sa=N&tab=wl

Help Brock

This super sweet boy has found his way into rescue. Diagnosed with grade three hip displaysia he is in need of two surgies to correct the problem.

A 2-hour freestyle disc seminar will be given by Pam Casselman to raise funds for his surgeries and rehabilitation.

When:Friday, March 16, 7:00-9:00 pm

Where: The Training Hall in Carp

How much: $25 before March 9 / $30 at the door

Limited to 40 people, no dogs please

For more info, email: elise.bonder@rogers.com