Smokin' good smoked turkey...

More snapshots from my kitchen..... brined and smoked. The gravy was sooo good all I had to do was reduce - added nothing, not even flour... mmmmmmmm

Hoho...holy mackerel that's good wine!

more snapshots from my kitchen...

Apothic Red - $17 a bottle, available in limited quantities at NSLC. Really, really good wine at that price!

California blend of syrah, zinfandel and merlot "layers of dark red fruit complimented by vanilla and mocha". Oh yeah!

Havana Photography Workshops

The workshop is now full! Yippee!

the Hippest Hats in Hogtown

Picked up a new lid for my trip to Havana in January. Wildhagenwear is run by Sheri Wildhagen and husband David Greig, (brother of my good friend Ian Greig). When I wrote David asking for a hat he said, 'I'll bet you're going to Havana'. You bet I am! I asked him to surprise me with an appropriate lid and here is the fantastic result. Measure your noggin and they'll make a great hat that fits like a glove. Custom made in small quantities they're built to last. Guaranteed to 'take five years off the average middle aged man'. (we'll see about that)

:-) Dapper Dan in the can.... sometimes you gotta take your own damn picture and the light is always half decent in the loo.

Havana Photography Workshop

Join me in Havana Cuba for a week in January 2011!

ONLY ONE SPOT LEFT FOR JANUARY 9TH TO 16TH!

havanaworkshops.com

Salmon Fishing in Newfoundland

Home pool in good water after a rain. Two days later, after more rain, that tuft of grass to the right of David was under water. The rock you can see close to shore was also under water. ...and the fishing was easy...well, not that easy but it was good.

an empty camp overlooking home pool

This simple, small black fly tied in a #10 and #8 hook was my most productive, even in high water. Other productive flies were of course the blue charm and a white winged blue charm and a silver bodied blue charm, (for lack of a better description). All tied with moose hair wing except the white wing where I used calf tail. I don't fish the 'hitch' like most in Nfld and I catch plenty of fish with my fly under water much to the surprise of most Newfoundlanders. Our guide Gord says the advantage of fishing the hitch is that you always know when you've raised a fish. True that! Locals tend to fish a short line and kind of hunt for taking salmon. They're looking for a fish who'll either take right away or one who will raise to a fly. A raised fish is very likely to take if you carefully tempt him back. The short line means you are always in visual contact with your fly and that's a good thing. On a larger pool I will often fish a longer line, carefully sweeping the pool and often the first indication of a taking fish is that wonderful feeling of my line going tight. I know I miss fish because I don't see them rise to my fly. Oh well, maybe next year I'll start using the hitch on a short line.

All images below shot with the Lumix GF1

Good thing we're using barbless hooks! David takes a fly in the ear.

A word on barbless hooks. I really thought I'd lose a lot more fish using barbless. Not so! I am a complete convert after this trip. Removing a barbed hook from a fish you want to release can sometimes be quite a chore. With a barbless hook I would simply run my hand down the leader until I reached the hook and simply remove it and watch the fish swim away having never been out of the water. Never had to touch the fish. You've gotta love that.

Crossing the pond with our fearless and very capable guide Gord Thatchell

Another topic of conversation on our trip was the phrase, 'a jumping fish won't take'. Well they sure will where we were! I'm talking about fresh running grilse. Locals will see a fish jump and literally go after it. If its a fresh fish that may have just arrived in a pool it will often take. I experienced this on this trip. I saw a fish jump in a bend in the river hundreds of yards away. I knew fish will sometimes take in this area so I walked down and started fishing. After a few minutes the fish jumped again giving away its lie. I was then able to carefully present my fly and got a good raise out of him. I changed my position so I could more carefully present my fly, it was a tricky current, and as soon as he saw that fly again, WHAM! He took it hard. It was a rocky pool full of fast currents and a challenging place to land a fish. Fun, fun, fun.

Crosby's pool - this fish had lots of sea lice still attached to its back. A sign of a very fresh fish. I had grilse go into my backing at least twice and a couple of others come close. That doesn't happen often with grilse!

Back at the camp - wild salmon just tastes better

David had a habit of asking people how they liked their moose cooked, it being a real staple in Nfld. Moose pie, moose stew, ribs in the oven, in a frying pan with salt and pepper - lots of pepper, but then the bomb shell......MOOSE BUNS! Moose buns? 'Ye takes yer moose meat, covers it in cheese whiz, wraps it all up in bread dough and ye deep fries it'. There's one for the food network.

You never know what you'll see out the camp window. Lots of moose this trip and a couple of caribou too. A family of loons and lots and lots of song birds. Unending songs.

The Torrent River

Atlantic Salmon, Salmo Salar, known as The Leaper.

The Torrent River has an underwater viewing chamber built into its fishway which allows fish to bypass the falls. The gashes on these fish are from hitting rocks as they try to jump the falls. www.torrentriver.ca

Hey..... I'M HUNGRY!!!!

They're getting bigger...

Bird in the bush update!

Not sure if there are five. I'll do another shot when their eyes open.

A bird in the bush

More Lumix snapshots - a sparrows nest in a bush on the patio. None in the hand - 5 in the bush.

Lumix GF1 by Panasonic

I've been waiting 10 years for someone to make a camera like this. It reminds me of my old Konica Hexar with the f2 35 mm lens and the 'silent' mode available in the early models.

The Lumix is a point and shoot with interchangeable lenses. The 20 mm which is equivalent to about a 40 mm in 35 mm terms, is f 1.7. Sitting on top is the optional electronic viewfinder which I have to admit I find awkward but I'm sure I'll warm up to it. The lcd on the back is large and bright, controls have been very well thought through and the camera generally handles very intuitively.

Dog photo below taken at iso 800 at f 1.7. The food pics in the previous post are both taken under existing lighting conditions in my kitchen. I just love this camera!

Lumix shot on my kitchen table

Its a dogs life.

Snapshots from my kitchen

Got a Lumix GF1 point and shoot and I LOVE IT!

Went shad fishing with some bonefish flies and caught a mess of trout - and fiddleheads are in season. Fiddleheads have twice the antioxidants as blueberries and are high in omega-3 fatty acids, according to research scientists in NS. They're good with a striploin too. I like to coat them in olive oil, salt and pepper and throw them into a cast iron pan. Leave some crunch please!

A graduation celebration at my house

Tell me they're not having fun!

The Catholic Church

A job for Canadian Lawyer Magazine.

With a little help from Hugh Reynolds and my Profoto 600B.

My photo chosen for EXPO 2010 SHANGHAI exhibit!

From the Canadian Heritage press release:
The visual arts category brings together original pieces by more than 40 artists in an exhibition of Canadian contemporary art that will be held at the Canada Pavilion. This exhibition was developed around Canada's theme at Expo 2010: "The Living City: inclusive, sustainable, and creative."

I'm one of 40 visual artists chosen for exhibit. I didn't even submit! Cool. Cirque du Soleil put the exhibit together. I think I'll celebrate with a nice bowl of spicy Dan Dan noodle soup, yumm.

Magnum photos pre-earthquake Haiti

This photo essay from Magnum photographers of Haiti before the earthquake is fantastic. The combination of music and these fantastic photos is incredible.

click here: http://inmotion.magnumphotos.com/essay/haiti

Giovanni Hidalgo, master conga player

Me and Giovanni in the studio

I had the great pleasure of spending the day with the best conga player in the world, Giovanni Hildago, here in Halifax. He was shooting a new educational dvd set. Should be a 3 hour, 2 dvd set when complete, covering beginner, intermediate to advanced. I spent the best part of the day with Giovanni, his manager Jhean Paul, talented director John Walker and the rest of the crew. They were shooting at the beautiful St Ceclia studio's in Purcell's Cove, just outside Halifax. Great people all around and Giovanni was one of the coolest dudes I've ever met. Completely down to earth. He invited me to visit him in Florida. What can I say?

John Walker and Giovanni at St. Cecilia studio's

the whole crew