Rest and Relaxation...

The summer vacation... what will it be today? Steaks? Pizza? I know beer is on the menu.

Hot days and cool nights. Looking forward to the Canada Day celebration tomorrow.

Cheers.

Aa makes a drawing of Grandma and Grandpa!

Fire destroys house at 133 Chestnut

My shift was just about to end when I heard on the emergency scanner that there was a working fire at Chestnut and Westminster in Wolseley. I had also just finished testing out a program from qik.com that allows you to shoot live video from your phone. It also has a feature that will post it to a blogger website, but it didn't work.

So, here is the low quality video I shot...






Plus as an added bonus I shot our interview with the District Chief on my point'n shoot...

Winnipeg Blue Bombers exhibition game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats

I know this is a couple of days late in the posting, but it has been a busy couple of days...

My favorite time of the year is football season and I was fortunate to be able to go to the first exhibition game of the season for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Yay!

This exhibition game is always a good time to test out new ways to do things, like try a new work flow, which is what I did on Wednesday night. Normally we (as in most of the photographers) wait until the break at half-time to go to our little media room and start transmitting photographs back to the office. In this day and age of instant internet gratification half-time is a long time to wait for a photograph. So, with that in mind I decided to see how much time it would take to transmit from the sideline during the game. It turns out that it's not as long as I thought it might be, but it was long enough that I would not feel comfortable doing it during the regular season if we didn't have the proper number of photographers covering the game. I was able to transmit ten photos before the end of the half, mostly while Hamilton was in possession of the ball. I sent three photos in the third quarter then realized that all the photos that were sent during the break would be more than enough for the web staff to deal with.

If all goes well during the next game that I can get to I will try it again.

For now here is a selection of the images I processed for the Winnipeg Free Press.

And a clip of video that I was able to grab at the end of the game with my point'n shoot.

Yummy! Mini-doughnuts at the Red River Ex

Yummy! Mini-doughnuts at the Red River Ex, originally uploaded by mdcellphoto.

Just spent about three hours following our humour columnist around the fairgrounds as he reviewed a few of the rides. Got a couple of good pics. One with a tarantula on his face. Look for it in the paper!

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on the MTS High Speed Mobility Network

Not the newspaper guy. The stadium guy.

Not the newspaper guy. The stadium guy., originally uploaded by mdcellphoto.

The university of Manitoba faculty association was wearing these T-shirts saying "I [heart] Asper" during the sneakers in motion event.

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on the MTS High Speed Mobility Network

NEWSFLASH - We're No.1

Just got a nice e-mail from our editor telling me our newspaper just won the Excellence in Journalism Award from the Canadian Journalism Foundation.

She says, "The CJF Excellence in Journalism Award is based on the following criteria: originality, accuracy and fairness, social responsibility, accountability and accessibility, diversity, professional development, courage and independence.

The judges said our submission – your work of the past year – was ‘dazzling.’

I’ve said this before – the quality of the work this small newsroom produces every day is extraordinary.

But now it’s official, and you can’t go all Winnipeg on me. You’re the best."

I'm not in any of the video, but I took the photo that was on the front of the "pink paper."

Cool. Now lets hope we don't see anymore cutbacks in the newsroom!

Froggy goes to the Children's Festival

Froggy goes to the Children's Festival, originally uploaded by mdcellphoto.

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Where's the Moose?

Where's the Moose?, originally uploaded by mdcellphoto.

Nestled in the grass alongside the nice path of the Bishop Grandon Greenway is this large aluminium sculpture of a Moose antler.

I was told it would be a "giant aluminum sculpture of mythical moose."

I spent some time looking for this mythical beast and only found the antler.

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on the MTS High Speed Mobility Network

Children's Festival slide show

Wanted to see a good slide show of the photos I took at the Children's Festival yesterday. So here is one that I made in Flickr...



And here is the video I shot, featuring FRED PENNER!!!

Me and FRED PENNER!!!

Me and FRED PENNER!!!, originally uploaded by mdcellphoto.

How cool is that! I look stunned naturally because it's FRED PENNER!!!!!!!!

The Children's Festival at The Forks was the place to be today, except I was
working. It rained then stopped and got really sunny and hot, then it rained
again.

Had lots of fun and hope to be able to take my kid there tomorrow or
Saturday.

Too bad I couldn't get a photo of her with FRED PENNER!!!!

"If I knew you were coming I'da baked a cake! Baked a cake!"

As a consolation prize I bought her a CD of FRED PENNER!!! music. And a
book.

Car goes through plate glass window

Car goes through plate glass window, originally uploaded by mdcellphoto.

A sales guy at Terry Ortynsky Nissan dealership suffered minor injuries according to co-workers.

Probably had to go home to change his pants too. And probably his shirt with the big coffee stain.

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on the MTS High Speed Mobility Network