The best camera is the one that’s with you. I’m not the first to say this, I’ll give that credit to Chase Jarvis – he has a book with this title that includes only photos taken with the iPhone.

I haven’t found much use for the camera in my iPhone except for occasional snapshots (mostly to send to Desi!), but when I was down taking photos at sunrise recently, I noticed my Canon 5D making such a nice silhouette against the sunrise. Without missing a beat I pulled out my iPhone and took this photo:

I was really happy with the results – even a tiny 3MP camera in my phone can take a great photo in the right place at the right time.

Oh, and a small confession about the sunrise photo in the post below. The ducks in the shot weren’t actually there, that was a little bit of photoshop magic. They were flying over Kempenfelt Bay, just in a different photo (from March 2009!). Thanks to Desi for helping me choose the number of ducks to include as well.

Last week, I had the strange urge to wake up around 4am and go down to the lakeshore to grab some photos of a sunrise. I was hoping for some nice morning fog, but I didn;t find that. Instead, around 5:54am, I snapped this photo:

It certainly looks like those rowers have the best seats in the house! I need to go out and experience these sunrises more often… to think that such natural beauty exists in every day, and I am normally asleep until well after it is gone. A few more photos below!

I’ve had this for a few weeks now, and I am really enjoying it. It is also one of the reasons I have been so busy! The item in question is a large format printer, a Canon ImagePROGRAF 6300:

I realized how expensive large prints are, especially on canvas. Buying my own large-format printer made sense in the long run, and printing for other people has already started to pay for it. Its a 24″ roll printer, so I can easily print off 24″x36″ prints, or even 24″x60″ or wider if I wanted. Here a shot of some of the things I’ve put together so far:

It has been quite the learning curve, especially with the canvas and applying protective coatings. I have all the kinks out of the process and I’m really enjoying being able to print any size I need on a whim. The control I have over the end result is wonderful, and the results are even better than I expected. A great investment for sure. I’m looking forward to reproducing some of Desi’s paintings with it as well!

The only downside is its size: this thing is huge! This is how it fits in my workspace:

My cousin James just returned from quite an adventure through Eastern Asia and ending in New Zealand. On these travels we had been in contact via e-mail, and he told me to expect a package in the mail. A few weeks later, a very curious package arrived in the mail:

The package contained something that I was quite happy to receive; inside was a great letter and a wonderful gift from Vietnam – Rose Tea:

The tea is effectively dried rosebuds in a package, such an intriguing idea to use roses as an herbal tea! Interesting fact: Roses are very closely related genetically to apples.

Anyhow, Desi and I decided to try out the tea, and I found it quite crisp and very aromatic, Desi found it wonderful as well – a great tea with a unique story! Desi and I both thought it was a nice romantic gift for us to share.

We also made a cup of it for Desi’s mom, and I think that out of the three of us, I enjoyed it the most – I love these special herbal teas. Thanks very much for the great gift James, I’m still shocked it made it through customs without a problem!

A few weeks ago I was on my way to work, just leaving home. I noticed as I closed the front door that a very small (less than one inch long) wolf spider was seeking shelter from the rain on our front porch. I had my camera with me, and took five minutes out of my morning to snap a photo of the little guy. I won’t post the photo large here as some of you may be arachnophobic, just click the thumbnail to see it bigger:

The poor spider was probably quite frightened, a giant predator is trying to trap it and blind it with the light of a thousand suns. Anyhow, I got the shot I was looking for and went on my way. The spider survived its close encounter and hopefully is now preying on mosquitoes an other annoying flies.

It was an interesting way to start my day.