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Congratulations to Canadian Olympic Athletes! In Vancouver 2010 Olympics, Canada won 14 Gold, 7 Silver, and 5 Bronze medals. Canada holds the record for the most gold medals in a Winter Olympics. All Canadians are proud of all our athletes and their accomplishments.

I just finished watching Hockey gold medal game between the United States and Canada, with Canada winning 3-2 in overtime where it was four on four. Watching Canada give up its 2-0 lead with the last goal scored in the remaining 24 seconds was certainly difficult. I am sure all Canadians were sitting on the edge of their seats. Fortunately, Sidney Crosby scored the goal at 7:40 in overtime.

Team USA played extremely well throughout the entire Olympics. They are a young team that many expected would exit early. In fact, they had to rebook their flights because of their unexpected final gold medal game. Congratulations to Team USA on their silver medal.

Congratulations to all athletes from all countries. I hope you enjoyed your stay in Canada.

Finally, my heartfelt sympathies to the family of Nodar Kumaritashvili and all those who knew him. Nodar Kumaritashvili was the Georgian luger athlete who died while practicing prior to the start of the Olympics. I hope his death causes the International Luge Federation to examine the safety of all tracks.

Again, congratulations to all Canadian Olympic Athletes!

On Thursday, 10 September 2009, I photographed Calgary model Anya near Mount Rundle in Banff National Park, Alberta. If you click on my Flickr profile link, you will be taken to Flickr where you can see more of my pictures.

On Thursday, 10 September 2009, I worked with Calgary professional model Anya on a photo shoot in Banff National Park. We left Calgary at about 11 am and returned at about 11:30 pm. It was a long, but fun day.

Our first location was at Lake Minnewanka. When we arrived, it was windy and cool, at about 18C or low 60sF. We took several shots for about an hour or so before taking a lunch break.

For lunch, we went to into Banff townsite and ate a quick meal. Afterward, we enjoyed a brief tour of the Cascade Gardens beside the Administration Building. I wanted Anya to have some time to enjoy Banff.

Please note that the previous links to the Cascade Gardens and to the Administration Building were from a prior visit to Banff.

After our brief tour, we settled upon a location near the Administration Building but across the Bow River. These shots have Mount Rundle in the background. Because it was direct and strong, the sun forced Anya to keep her eyes closed except for brief periods when I took the photographs. A scrim or other device would have been helpful.

In the early evening, I took our last series of photographs near Bow Falls (link from prior visit to Bow Falls). In these shots, Anya looks as though she is lit by the setting sun. In fact, were it not for my Canon 580 EXII speedlights, she would have been a complete silhouette. At this particular location, there were mountains behind us that shielded us from the sunlight. The foreground, however, was still brightly lit. With the setting sun came cooler temperatures. We worked until about 7 pm.

After our last location at Bow Falls, we packed up our things and then went for supper. And we finally arrived back in Calgary at about 11:30 pm.

Working with Anya was a positive and rewarding experience. While serious about her professional modeling career, she was relaxed, enthusiastic, confident, energetic, and fun. She incorporated new ideas and suggestions easily as well as utilized many of her own creative ideas. Knowing that I am still experimenting as I continue to grow and develop my photography skills, she was patient, encouraging, and enthusiastic. In summary, Anya is a genuinely beautiful person, in all respects, who is a pleasure to work with.

I highly recommend Anya as a professional model, and she can be contacted through her modeling agency I Model Management.

On Thursday, 10 September 2009, I photographed Anya at Lake Minnewanka in Banff National Park. You can view a Flickr slideshow of my photographs of Anya from our Banff photo shoot. And, if you click on my Flickr profile link, you will be taken to Flickr where you can see more of my pictures.

Ana Avramovic is a full-time finance professional and part-time model—that is, she models as a creative hobby. We had an opportunity to meet in advance of our photoshoot. If it is convenient, I like to meet potential models for coffee in advance of a photoshoot. This provides an opportunity for us to meet each other and confirm that we want to go ahead with the photoshoot. During our coffee meeting, we discussed our backgrounds briefly. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Ana and learned that we shared some similarities in our backgrounds but also some vast differences. Our similarities were interesting because they allowed us to form common understandings and shared experiences. However, I found our vast differences more interesting because I was able to ask questions and learn more about her character. If you ever have an opportunity to meet Ana, I am confident that she will impress you with her intelligence and friendliness.

On Thursday, 4 June 2009 we met at Heritage Park for our photoshoot. Unbeknownst to us, this was the same day that the park was hosting seven thousand children as part of the AMA school patrol. The first sign that things were different was there were lots of police in the parking lots directing traffic and there were lots of school buses.

Once we arrived at the park and got set-up, we were notified that we would not be allowed to shoot. There were too many children wondering about. Ana had already changed and we were getting ready to leave when a senior manager approached us. He asked a few questions, with two important questions: First, Were we professionals or shooting for a magazine or something similar? And second, Didn't we know about the kids' day at the park?

We replied, "No, we are just amateurs looking to have some fun modeling and photographing. And we were surprised by all the children that were present." Luckily, he reversed the prior decision requiring us to abandon our photoshoot, and Ana changed once again. We then began our photoshoot.

I am grateful to the manager at Heritage Park who allowed us to stay. I can understand the Heritage Park's dilemma: on one hand, they want to ensure the privacy and safety of the children; and on the other hand, the park should be accessible and open to all. Sometimes these two objectives collide as they did on fourth of June. Ana and I did our reasonable best to avoid the children. In the early part of the shoot, the kids were listening out on the lawn to the grownups drone on. And after the lawn meeting ended and the kids dispersed around the park, we generally tried to find areas where it was quieter.

In the photograph above, we found that just as we set up, the kids and accompanying adults started filling the area around Wainwright Hotel. So we didn't stay and photograph here as long as we would have liked. So we just moved from location to location.

Heritage Park is a great location for kids to enjoy themselves. Even though we had make allowances by working around the kids, we enjoyed ourselves and had a productive day. And again, I am grateful to the manager who trusted us and allowed us to stay.

My picture of Ana is hosted at Flickr. If you click on the picture, you will be taken to Flickr where you can see more pictures.

Today, Canada celebrates its 142nd anniversary of confederation. I hope all my fellow Canadians have a terrific Canada Day.

I took this picture of a Canadian Girl in 2007 during Canada Day celebrations at Prince's Island in Calgary, Alberta. If you click on my picture, you will be taken to my Flickr site where you can see more of my pictures.

Happy New Year 2009!

I wish everyone a terrific new year, one filled with health, happiness, and triumphs.

I hope this past year has treated you well. Of course, most of us were bruised to some extent in the financial markets. I am curious to see what this coming has in store for us. The good news is that 2009 should be much better than 2008.

I took the picture above on Saturday, 8 November 2008. Until early December, we enjoyed a warm easing into winter. As you can see from the photograph, the ski runs behind Chateau Lake Louis were not yet covered with snow. And the lake itself was unfrozen. Now, of course, the ski runs are covered with snow and the lake will remain frozen until mid-June.