I couldn’t decide whether I liked the colour or b&w version more so you get both. You also get a bonus (but mandatory) sunset over the lake shot.

You would think I would have went people portrait crazy (I am pretty sure at any time during the evening there were over 30 people present) but I was actually drawn more to the furry animals. Sometimes you just have to mix it up a little bit to get your mojo going.

Only downside is that I now have doggy fever.

Over the years, the erosion from the Coaticook River has sculpted this amazing 50-meter-deep natural gorge. To cross the river over the gorge, you can take the Guinness Record’s longest hanging bridge in the world (169 metres/555 feet) - c/o Eastern Townships Travel Guide

We had reserved a site in the N area which holds 28 traditional camping lots in a very wooded area where literally thousands of ferns cover the less traveled grounds. At dawn and dusk, the light was simply magical. Because our campsite was situated near the river, there were hundreds of tiny bright blue dragonflies flying about on the river’s shores. I couldn’t help but think of my cousin whose favorite colour was blue and like dragonflies so much had gotten one tattooed on her shoulder. On Sunday, before heading back home, we hiked the trails and walked on the suspended bridge over the gorge. Being that it is the world’s longest suspended pedestrian bridge, you can imagine it was quite the sight.

photo c/o of Maximilien Lincourt

While I cannot show you any photographs from that session (we have an agreement that doesn’t enable me to use them in my online portfolio so her designs aren’t stolen) I will definitely let you know when her own website is up and running so you can view them.

At the end of the shoot we went a little on the funky side and decided to submerge the bottom of one of the dresses in the pool we had at our disposition. I snapped this shot of one of the girls in her own clothes while she was dipping her toes in the water so I could test out the lighting.

I was told that this little fella has no home but he looked so clean and well-behaved around humans. He was following us around for the entire session, sometimes even ending up in my photos which meant I had to re frame my shots many times so finally I snapped this one quickly before I left.

The yellow legume seeds of lupins, commonly called lupin beans, were quite popular with the Romans and they spread the cultivation of them throughout the Roman Empire; hence common names like lupini in Romance languages. Lupin beans are commonly sold in a salty solution in jars (like olives and pickles) and can be eaten with or without the skin. Lupins are also cultivated as forage and grain legumes. - c/o Wikipedia

Who knew? I love the Internet for random things like these.

My good, good friend Courtney Summers, whom I’ve known for eons (How old are we? Seriously! Where has the time gone on the Internets?) is publishing her first book titled “Cracked up to be” in late 2008. Her cover has just been made public and everyone I know is excited about it (and if they aren’t just yet, I will list 10,000 reasons to them about why they should be, and they will. Believe me.).

But seriously, Courtney is a YA fiction author (Ya for young adult, yo!) who deserves nothing but praise and through-the-roof book sales.

Cracked Up to Be
St. Martin’s Press
December 23 2008

In which the popular girl decides to quit being popular and find herself but her friends work hard to stop her from making a big mistake…

Buy the book, or your head will explode AND implode at the same time. (Oh yeah, I went there.)

Available for Pre-order: amazon [.ca] | chapters

Also, please visit her website (and possibly even add her smart and witty blog to your RSS Feeds reader, yes?) and revel in the awesomeness of this young Canadian whose future promises to be incredibly bright.

To see the Summer Sky
Is Poetry, though never in a Book it lie–
True Poems flee– - Emily Dickinson

Two things that I can’t put into words (I’m better with photos than words) any better than simple point form:
- Saturday, 11pm. We laid down on the quay and watched the stars.
- Sunday, 3pm. We got caught in a passing thunderstorm while canoing on the lake - and let me tell you that we were rocked the whole thing “The Notebook” style.

Before anyone asks, I did bring my trusty Nikon however I did not take photos. I am not entirely sure why, but what I do know is that sometimes seeing the world constantly through a lens takes away from the beauty of the “this is happening right now, in front of me” moments. While I do not have pretty photographs that I can put here as a mean to share my wonderfully relaxing weekend getaway with you all, I have wonderful memories, etched right up there in my brain and heart.

And with these, you don’t need to calibrate the white balance, adjust the exposition time or even do back ups on disks. Because you know what, these memories, they’re indestructible.

N.B. Don’t go and book an appointment with your doctor if you think you’re hallucinating because you have seen these photos before. Chances are, you have, but some time in 2006. I just thought they looked pretty as a diptych especially because I love these colors together.

Grief is the Price We Pay for Love - Queen Elisabeth II

I’d heard about Piknic Electronik a couple years ago but you know how it goes, life happens and I only had to opportunity to attend for the first time last summer during which I attended a total of twelve times (you can see my photographs from the 2007 season here). Needless to say, I was quickly hooked. I was able to develop my photography skills a lot throughout the entire summer under all aspects but most importantly in the outdoor portraits area.

If you were to ask me what is the number one reason why I’m a loyal Piknic Electronik attendee, I would tell you that it is a solid tie between great music and great photo opportunities.

Here’s to 30 more years of unconditional love Mom & Dad!

Friday proved to be a very sunny and average spring day temperature-wise. We stopped in my hometown for a poutine and soft serve before heading out to the wilderness. We sat in open shade to eat our meal and I couldn’t resist snapping a couple of shots of the boyfriend even though he wasn’t finished with his meal. After a few shutter clicks, he gave me a stinky face (which you can see in the first photo) and even though the focus is off, I really do love the shot with all my heart. Oh the things he must endure to be with me!

On the first day we lounged around and took a small walk to Lac Lauzon where the water is so clear that on sunny days it creates very nice color variations on the water surface. On the second day, we hiked to La Corniche lookout where you get a breathtaking view of Lac Monroe, a widening of Rivière du Diable. I must have hiked that trail a dozen times in my life and I don’t think I will ever get tired of it. The view is simply spectacular every single time.

I guess the photography bug is starting to wear off on the boyfriend because he wanted to take a couple shots with my Nikon. I happily obliged and gave him a small Photo 101 session with yours truly when he started getting frustrated with the automatic mode on the camera. After ten minutes, he knew of the basics of aperture, shutter speed and dept of focus and took these photos of yours truly in bright lunchtime sunlight.

For our last evening we opted to play card games and drink red wine next to the campfire. I then suggested we take advantage of the boyfriend’s newly acquired manual shooting mode knowledge to do light writings. The first two photos were done with a burning stick and the last one (which is actually a composite of three individual shots) were done with my cellphone. The heart was drawn by the boyfriend and the names by yours truly.

All in all, we had rain every night and sunshine or clouds during the day. Boy were we glad we didn’t cancel our plans!

Smiles were all around and I was very grateful for the return of longer and sunnier days. I had almost forgotten how fun it is to take photographs late in the evening, when people are more relaxed and open to having a crazy-camera-lady follow them around.

So if you ever want to know which day it is at any particular time, stop by, take a look at the day set on my calendar and the answer will be any other of the 364 days left in the year.

So what did I do? I took photos of course.

Him? He’s excited about the cargo space, the roaring of the engine and upcoming camping trips. Me? I’m excited about the scent, the color of the truck (RED!) and upcoming camping trips.

We can pretty much agree that this RAV4’s future holds many happy, happy days.