Active by Nature

July Photo Blogging Challenge:  Selfies

First of all, I seemed to have completely missed the June Photo blogging challenge.  Oh no! Was that the phone camera photo challenge???  That is my specialty!  Oh well.  Time is passing so quickly these days.  On to the theme for this month: selfies.  Like most of the other photo blogging participants, I am not a fan of selfies.  I had never heard of ussies.  But that makes sense after reading the other blog entries.  All my photos except one are actually ussies then.  Here we go.....

(1) On July 1st, my husband Colin and I were going to go for a Canada Day paddle on Spray Lake.  We loaded up the kayaks and equipment, which is no small feat.  By the time we got to the put-in spot, a strong wind had picked up.  Heading out on Spray Lake in windy conditions is not a good idea.  So, back home we came and quickly switched into Canada Day appropriate cycling gear.  We flew downtown just in the nick of time to catch the Canada Day parade and I remembered to take a selfie (whoops.... ussie) for the photo blog challenge, messy helmet hair and all. 

(2)  Although not a fan of taking regular selfies, for quite some time, I have been a fan to taking pano-selfies, or actually, I should call them pano-ussies.  Do you all know how to do this?  You put your cell phone on the panorama setting.  You spread your participants out along a scenic viewpoint.  You begin to pan the assembled folks, panning slowly.  As soon as you have passed by the first person in the line-up, you call out GO.  They run behind you, taking the camera carefully out of your hands.  The two key actions here are to grab the camera carefully and slowly keep the panning action going.  You then run quickly to the far end of the line-up and position yourself so you are in the photo.  Presto!  A photo with all of the group included, taken by two of the group members.

(2.a) Yup.  You guessed it.  There were three of us on this hike and nobody else at the viewpoint to take our photo.  So I started taking the photo, panning from L to R, then the person in yellow ran behind me, took the camera and kept slowly panning, giving me time to run into the shot on the R.  Cool, no?

 (2.b) Another hiking group.  Another pano-ussie.  This time, atop Jumpingpound Ridge: 

I must say, I love this trick and I love this photo.  It works really well when you are atop a scenic vista without anyone else around. 

BONUS SHOT!!!  This photo is not from this month, but from a few years ago.  But I just have to share this really cool take on the pano-ussie.  You can use this technique to clone yourself.  I have even used this technique to take a photo of 2 people x 2 (two sets of "twins" in other words).  Couldn't find an example looking back in my photo collection.  But here I am on the left and right of this photo: 

(4) I took this traditional selfie when I hauled a big load of stuff home (up a very steep incline) with my new e-bike, Bee and my Burley on a day that the smoke was bad.  I am totally in love with my new light 'n bright e-bike that is light enough to lift up onto the bike rack of Farley, our travel trailer but also strong enough to haul groceries up the side of Lawrence Grassi Mountain.  It is also light enough to ride as a regular bike on flat terrain.  Expect to see more pictures of Bee in future photo blogs.

(5) This traditional "ussie" was taken near the start of our backpacking trip to Tombstone backcountry campground after the initial steep 1.3 km to Elbow Lake, pictured in the background.  My friend Dorothy, who I did this trip with, had just turned 70 a few days before this adventure.  Way to go, Dorothy!  

Before I sign off, I am so excited to share with you that I have a new-to-me camera.  It is Canon EOS R mirrorless camera.  The person I consulted with on my new camera selection assures me this is like going from an iPhone 3 to an iPhone 12 Pro in terms of the advancement it will make in my camera equipment.  I know it is going to be a steep learning curve however.  But I am excited about what I will be able to accomplish with my photography moving forward.  Now, to go and watch my first YouTube video on how to get started with this camera.  Stay tuned!