An Excellent Day

In the grand scheme of things, the title of today's entry is entirely a matter of opinion.  Shouldn't EVERY day be an excellent day?  One would hope so, but the truth of the matter is that some days are better than others; and some days are fantastically worse than others.  But today started off very well for me; for a friend of mine, not so well.  She's grieving for the loss of her dear friend, Bonez.  And yes... Bonez was a dog.  Naturally, having lost dear pets (who truly are like hairy children,) I feel my friend's pain, but my life continues and I'm going to carry on with all of my plans.

So... the first and foremost thing I had planned today was to go for a ride in a helicopter.  White River Helicopters has, for the last couple of years, sent a helicopter up to the Riverside Festival at Har-Lee's place on the Kalum River Valley to provide short sightseeing tours for the modest price of $35 per head.  If you've never done this, folks... I strongly recommend that you take the opportunity next year to get in on this fantastic chance to see a few things that you might not otherwise get the chance to see.  Of the times I've been in a helicopter, which aren't many, I have never been able to sit in the front seat.  Oh, my WORD the view from up there.  We took a quick peek at a valley with a river that feeds into the Kalum.  It was simply spectacular.  Here's a Black and White of it:

Why Black and White?  Well... going back to my last post... this one just works SO much better in B&W, so here it is.  The textures and details just LEAP out compared to the color version; also, in the color version, the curved canopy made it impossible for even my polarized lens to completely eliminate glare and reflection.  But with the B&W, I was able to easily salvage the details.  And it just looks cool :)  But back to the flight.

The flight was short and sweet, and left me with a hunger for more.  Flying in a helicopter isn't like flying in an airplane...  Actually... helicopters don't truly fly: they beat the air into submission.  Which results in a very different experience from a fixed-wing aircraft.  With a fixed-wing aircraft, you can feel the engine pulling you along, whereas with a helicopter you definitely feel suspended from the rotorhead, particularly during takeoff and landing.  Or in any sort of close proximity to other objects.  Sadly, as enjoyable, and indeed, FUN, as it was, it had to come to an end all too soon, and our pilot, Jazmin Ramsay, set us down just as gently as you could ask for.  Thank you, Jaz, for a great flight, and I guarantee that I'll be back next year for more of the same :)

Following the helicopter trip, the weather was just so nice that Deedee and I just had to head up to the lake for a while.  Did we swim?  Not today... but we soaked up some rays and watched people having fun in the sun.  There were children playing with waterguns, adults in boats of different kinds ranging from kayaks to pedalboats, and teenagers throwing footballs and frisbees. 

All the activity out there just demanded that I take some pictures. I even tried my hand at a new artistic style I've been reading about... It flies in the face of everything I've ever been told or thought about photography, and truth be told... I'm not sure I like it.  The standard in photography is to keep your subject, at the very least, crisp and sharp.  A soft focus is acceptable, and even artistic, but what I'm reading about in various sources is to deliberately place your subject out of focus.  Excuse me????  Okay... it's not my thing... but what I've been reading has been written by other photographers, so I'll post an example of my own effort at this technique... and let YOU the layperson decide if this is art, or if it hurts your eyes.  Please post comments at the bottom of this page... if the form has disappeared, click on the link with the number of comments, and it will open up for you.  Let me know what you think... I can take it.