Use what you have

I went out to take pics of the sunset, but the view was spoiled by the houses in my neighborhood. If I had tried to go to another location, the sunset would have been over by the time I got to the end of the block, so I just shot the reflection in side of my car.

The top of Hancock

Later on Monday, I was at a function on the 95th floor of the Hancock Building. It was a bit hazy, but at least there was a view. The talles building in the background is the Sears Tower.

What a difference a day makes

After an incredibly frigid day on Sunday, the temps on Monday shot into the mid 80 - and the skies cleared so you could see all the way to the top of the Hancock Building.

Head in the clouds

I haven't posted for a while because I've been in Chicago for five days. When I landed there on Saturday night, it was about 70 degress. By Sunday morning the temp dropped to about 40 and didn't recover much during the day. I almost froze my butt off walking three blocks to my conference centre, which was just across the street from the 96-storey John Hancock Building. The clouds were so low, about one-third of the building wasn't visible from the ground.

Anniversary of sorts

I'm doing a double posting today because I just realized today is a bit of an anniversary for me. It was a year ago that I was diagnosed diabetic. Upon finding out, I had to make some pretty serious changes in my diet. It wasn't easy at first, but as you can see, the diagnosis was probably the best thing that happened to me.

For a healthy diet - and to also lose weight, I recommend the Low GI (glycemic index) Diet. There are several books available through Amazon. Look for titles by Rick Gallup, Helen Foster and Jennie Brand-Miller.

Note: Photo on right is Copyright Sandy Stewart. Photo on left copyright is unknown.

Hog Wild!

I caught this guy on a hog as he cruised by one evening.

Lesson in communication law

The guy driving this car needs a lesson in communication law - and I'm providing that to him free of charge right now. If you know him, please send him the link to this blog.

I was out taking pics last night and decided to try my hand at panning shots of traffic - mostly motorcycles and the odd car that caught my eye. I had taken several pics when this guy turned his car around, came up to me spouting terms like "invasion of privacy" and demanded I erase the pic from my camera because I didn't ask his permission to take his picture.

I told him I didn't need his permission to take his picture and I wasn't going to erase it. He threatened to call the cops and also to sue me. I told him to call the cops and his lawyer, adding I would wait for the police to come. I'll spare you the details, but the exchange went on for quite a while before he eventually went away.

Here's what this guy needs to know

I am guaranteed the right to express myself through photography, and I have the freedom to publish the photos I take. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees my right to take photographs of anything. With rare exceptions under the Security of Information Act, I can take photos of anything or anyone in public, without permission, and it is not against the law.

Don't just take my word for it. Here's what the Charter says:

• Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, 2.b):
  freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;
  
  
• Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, 7.:
  Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.

As for the Privacy Act, it protects personal information submitted to the government from improper use or distribution. It does not apply to photography.

Here's the pertinent point from the Act:

• Privacy Act, 2.:
  The purpose of this Act is to extend the present laws of Canada that protect the privacy of individuals with respect to personal information about themselves held by a government institution and that provide individuals with a right of access to that information.

Here are a few other points this guy needs to know.

• I cannot be fined or charged by a private citizen, property owner, or security guard. These people do, however, have every right to sue me if they believe I have done damage to them.
• Nobody can threaten to destroy my camera, lenses, film, other property, nor can they threaten me with physical harm. Nobody can actually destroy my property, forcibly delete photos, expose your film, or harm me. Police can not interfere with my lawful enjoyment of my camera. If anyone harms me or damages my property, I can sue them under civil law to recoup the damages. I may even be able to file criminal charges.
  
  Criminal Code, 264.1 (1) ("Assault"):
  Every one commits an offence who, in any manner, knowingly utters, conveys or causes any person to receive a threat
  (a) to cause death or bodily harm to any person;
  (b) to burn, destroy or damage real or personal property;
  
  Criminal Code, 430 ("Mischief"):
  Every one commits mischief who wilfully
  (a) destroys or damages property;
  (b) renders property dangerous, useless, inoperative or ineffective;
  (c) obstructs, interrupts or interferes with the lawful use, enjoyment or operation of property; or
  (d) obstructs, interrupts or interferes with any person in the lawful use, enjoyment or operation of property.
  
  
• Nobody can force me to delete photos (with the exception provisions under the Security of Information Act.) According to the Canadian Copyright Act, my photos are owned and copyrighted by me, for my lifetime, and 50 years after my death. My photos are my private property. Willful destruction of private property falls under Criminal Mischief.
  
  Copyright Act, 6.:
  The term for which copyright shall subsist shall, except as otherwise expressly provided by this Act, be the life of the author, the remainder of the calendar year in which the author dies, and a period of fifty years following the end of that calendar year.
  
  Copyright Act, 10.:
  (1) Where the owner referred to in subsection (2) is a corporation, the term for which copyright subsists in a photograph shall be the remainder of the year of the making of the initial negative or plate from which the photograph was derived or, if there is no negative or plate, of the initial photograph, plus a period of fifty years.
  (2) The person who
  (a) was the owner of the initial negative or other plate at the time when that negative or other plate was made, or
  (b) was the owner of the initial photograph at the time when that photograph was made, where there was no negative or other plate,
  is deemed to be the author of the photograph and, where that owner is a body corporate, the body corporate is deemed for the purposes of this Act to be ordinarily resident in a treaty country if it has established a place of business therein.
  
  Criminal Code, 430 ("Mischief"):
  Every one commits mischief who wilfully
  (a) destroys or damages property;
  (b) renders property dangerous, useless, inoperative or ineffective;
  (c) obstructs, interrupts or interferes with the lawful use, enjoyment or operation of property; or
  (d) obstructs, interrupts or interferes with any person in the lawful use, enjoyment or operation of property.
  
  
• Nobody can report that you broke a law to the police when you have not, or make false statements to discredit you during an investigation, according to the Criminal Code.
  
  Criminal Code, (Misleading Justice) 140.(1):
  Every one commits public mischief who, with intent to mislead, causes a peace officer to enter on or continue an investigation by
  (a) making a false statement that accuses some other person of having committed an offence;
  (b) doing anything intended to cause some other person to be suspected of having committed an offence that the other person has not committed, or to divert suspicion from himself;
  (c) reporting that an offence has been committed when it has not been committed;
  
  Criminal Code, (Extortion) 346. (1):
  Every one commits extortion who, without reasonable justification or excuse and with intent to obtain anything, by threats, accusations, menaces or violence induces or attempts to induce any person, whether or not he is the person threatened, accused or menaced or to whom violence is shown, to do anything or cause anything to be done.
  

So there's the lesson in communication law for my friend in the car. I know there's a lot of information in the post, so let me summarize with one salient point.

I don't need your permission to take your picture.

Privacy Act, 2.:
The purpose of this Act is to extend the present laws of Canada that protect the privacy of individuals with respect to personal information about themselves held by a government institution and that provide individuals with a right of access to that information.

My thanks to Ambient Light for making my legal research rather easy. Ambient light focuses on Canadian Laws. For American laws, visit attorney Bert Krages' site.

Ironically, I probably would have deleted this pic once I got home and saw how unspectacular it was. Instead, I now have a reason to publish it.

Before and after

You gotta love PhotoShop. The above image was my first trial shot of a sunset. It's terrible. The background is way overexposed and the foreground is quite underexposed. After playing around with it for a while in PhotoShop, I managed to come out with this. I probably over-did it, but it's really easy to get carried away when experimenting. Click on the pic for a larger version.

Concord prototype

This swan landing on Quamichan Lake reminded me of watching the concord jet landing at Heathrow many years ago.

Coming in

I tried my hand at catching birds in flight today - and discovered it's not an easy thing to do.

Wing and a prayer

Ok, I admit it. I have a thing for cloud formations. This was taken shortly after takeoff on a flight from Vancouver to Toronto.

Parting shot

After a great weekend in Toronto, I shot this just before I walked into Pearson Airport for my flight home

YVR

I flew to Toronto yesterday and it was a perfect day for flying. The cloud formations at the Vancouver airport were absolutely spectacular.

Hooked on effects

I started playing with slow exposure effects a while ago and I think I'm hooked. This was done with a very slow expsure, a remote flash and a laser pointer. I also used a wireless remote to set off the camera, so I really could have used one more arm for this pic.

Into the blue

If you have a sunset that is unspectacular, sometimes all you have to do is look behind you.

Stop and shoot

Sometimes you're driving down the road and you see something that makes you want to stop and take a picture. This was one of those times.