Forest Fires renew Fears from 2003

JULY 19, 2009 - Kelowna's scenic surroundings are making national headlines again - for a sad reason.
Two Forest Fires have forced evacuation of almost half the homes in West Kelowna, and closed the highway disecting the town of Westbank.
Recalling the devastation in 2003 when over 200 homes were consumed by fire in the Okanagan-Mission region of Kelowna, national media have quickly descended upon the city.
Fortunately, nobody has been injured and it appears only two homes have been lost to the blaze that began Saturday afternoon.

Water's the trouble?

In the middle of a hot,dry summer in the Okanagan, the most recent news around BC waterways have been sad.
On Okanagan Lake, this year's renewal of hydroplane races has been sunk by the promoter Jordan Schramm.
It's been a few years now since we've last seen the world's fastest boats racing just off the Kelowna shoreline. I enjoyed photographing the event for the sponsor Molson the last time around - even though I had to stretch my 300mm f2.8 Nikkor to its limit with a 1.4x teleconverter to get images reasonably tight.


Even sadder, a death was recently recorded on the first BC waterway I worked beside after graduating Journalism School. A rafting accident led to a fatality on the Kicking Horse River near Golden BC. It was back in the 1980's when I spent a couple summers photographing clients riding the rapids of this mountain river.

Here's a couple photos from these events in better times. More fun recreation on the water appears on my website

Countdown to 24 hours

Can you hear the clock ticking?
It's now just 24 days to the most invigorating and inspiring 24 hours of the year in Kelowna PLUS an opportunity to win a beautiful 24" display print for your generosity.
To help out the annual 24 hour relay on June 13-14, 2009, I have just launched an online auction on Kelowna Photographer.com for a framed, poster-sized display print. ALL of the funds will go to the 24-hour-relay, which funds the Easter Seals Camp in Winfield plus programs at the Okanagan Boys and Girls Clubs.
Bidders can choose from hundreds of beautiful photos on my site ranging from stock images of Okanagan vineyards and Kelowna area orchards to lifestyle and recreational images from this lakeside paradise.
Bids will be accepted up to the minute before midnight on Sunday, June 14, 2009.

Rockets Rock the WHL

First place Vancouver Giants - eliminated.
First place Calgary Hitmen - upset.
Kelowna hockey fans cheered their Junior hockey team to another WHL championship on home ice Saturday over the top-ranked Calgary Hitmen.
Next stop - Rimouski - for the Memorial Cup.

Rockets rolling

Excitement is building for the hockey playoffs once again in this sporty B.C. city of Kelowna.

While some are focused on the Vancouver Canucks in the NHL, our local fans have another team to get even more excited about - our own Kelowna Rockets in the WHL.  The team is in the driver's seat in the Western Hockey League championship series against the Calgary Hitmen, returning to home ice Monday after winning the first two games of the series in Calgary.

It reminds me of the 2004 season when the Rockets won the Memorial Cup on home ice against the best junior hockey teams across all of Canada.  That week provided a lot of outstanding action for me to photograph as the newspaper published a special daily section of Memorial Cup stories through that memorable week.

Let's hope history repeats itself this year.

Kelowna writer rising

I'm constantly inspired by other artists around Kelowna - and pleasantly surprised when another is recognized internationally. I recently had the honour of photographing for the Vancouver Sun a fiction writer whose books have become popular world-wide.

Alan Bradley, 70, writer of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie and two more mysteries about a precocious English girl, 11-year-old Flavia de Luce. The series of books has been sold in 13 countries; the first of the Canadian books launched a week ago.

Similar to a common hangout for Flavia, an old church in Kelowna became an interesting background for the portrait of the Okanagan mystery writer. I hope local artists continue to be appreciated for their creative works. Some of my more recent creative works have taken life in a re-design of my website.

More news is good news

I hope people enjoy news about new developments in photography, with hi tech equipment continually adding to the digital evolution.
I've just added a news page to my main website with today's top story - the new spark in remote trigger technology.  Here's the new gadget's I've deciding between right now for when they become available in Canada for my Nikon cameras.