Your Bio

Welcome to my photography home on the Web. After years of trying all sorts of online photo services, and uploading my own galleries manually to my Web site, I decided to make Smugmug my photo home on the Web. You can order prints of most of the photos here, and unless otherwise noted I've taken all these photos (except the ones I'm in of course). Commenting has been turned off, so if you'd like to comment on one of my photos, please contact me. Enjoy the photos, and remember to cull your own!

Featured Galleries

Winter Rose : At the end of January I decided to take a few pictures of a few roses that happened to be in our house. I took them out onto our deck and shot them against the backdrop of snow...I'm not particularly impressed with the background; the photos would have turned out better without our dead shrubs being visible. ;-)

Winter Rose

At the end of January I decided to take a few pictures of a few roses ...

Updated: May 05, 2008 12:30pm PST

July 15th 2007 Sunset : In mid-July I spent a little over an hour chasing one of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen. I shot over 120 photos because I just couldn't stop - every few minutes the light changed, and a new version of the sunset would appear. I shot from three different locations until the sun went down past the mountains.

July 15th 2007 Sunset

In mid-July I spent a little over an hour chasing one of the most beau ...

Updated: Mar 19, 2008 1:54pm PST

Galleries

Mattea Rene Violante's First Birthday : Mattea's first birthday, celebrated at Marco and Linda's house on April 26th, 2008.

Mattea Rene Violante's First Birthday

Mattea's first birthday, celebrated at Marco and Linda's house on Apri ...

Updated: Apr 27, 2008 12:06pm PST

Japan 2008 - Day 5 : Our fifth day in Japan was a busy one - we did our first full-day tour, which had six stops, including Nijo Castle, Kinkakuji Temple (also known as the Golden Pavilion), Kyoto Imperial Palace, Todai-ji temple, Deer Park, and the Kasuga Taisha Shinto Shrine. Many pictures were taken, and there's a video showing several of the sites as well.

Japan 2008 - Day 5

Our fifth day in Japan was a busy one - we did our first full-day tour ...

Updated: Apr 04, 2008 12:50pm PST

Getting Inked in Okinawa : Guess who got a tattoo? You'll have to look at the pictures to see...

Getting Inked in Okinawa

Guess who got a tattoo? You'll have to look at the pictures to see...

Updated: Apr 03, 2008 6:09am PST

Japan 2008 - Day 4 : Day four in Japan had us doing our first tour - we spent the afternoon at several historical spots in Kyoto. The temples and shrines are beautiful! We celebrated Jason's birthday by going out for some delicious food...Chinese food! :-)

Japan 2008 - Day 4

Day four in Japan had us doing our first tour - we spent the afternoon ...

Updated: Mar 31, 2008 7:04pm PST

Japan 2008 - Day 3 : Our third day in Japan had us waking up in Tokyo, and checking out of the very lavish Prince Sakura hotel to start our walking tour of Tokyo with our friend Andrew Shuttleworth. We saw a variety of places around the city of Tokyo, and by the end of the day we had the blisters to show for it! Warning: many of these pictures are of technology, which some of you may find boring - but Jason was in geek heaven. ;-)

Japan 2008 - Day 3

Our third day in Japan had us waking up in Tokyo, and checking out of ...

Updated: Mar 30, 2008 4:42am PST

Japan 2008 - Day 2 : For our second day in Japan, we headed to Yokohama, then on to Toyko to connect with Andrew Shuttleworth, a friend who lived in the area.

Japan 2008 - Day 2

For our second day in Japan, we headed to Yokohama, then on to Toyko t ...

Updated: Mar 28, 2008 6:12am PST

Japan 2008 - Day 1 : Our first full day in Japan was focused on one thing: SUMO! We had tickets (thanks James!) to the second-last day of the sumo tournament being held in Osaka. Off we went...

Japan 2008 - Day 1

Our first full day in Japan was focused on one thing: SUMO! We had tic ...

Updated: Mar 26, 2008 3:39am PST

Japan 2008 - Day 0 : These are our "day zero" photos, which was our travel and arrival day...although technically we lost a day and a half with the 15 hour time zone change and the 14 hours of travelling (including the layover in Vancouver) so this is more like day zero/one.

Japan 2008 - Day 0

These are our "day zero" photos, which was our travel and arrival day. ...

Updated: Mar 24, 2008 6:59pm PST

February 22nd Sunset : An incredibly beautiful winter sunset, photographed from my backyard. When I look at such beauty, I'm profoundly in awe of my Creator.

February 22nd Sunset

An incredibly beautiful winter sunset, photographed from my backyard. ...

Updated: Mar 19, 2008 11:28am PST

Winter Rose : At the end of January I decided to take a few pictures of a few roses that happened to be in our house. I took them out onto our deck and shot them against the backdrop of snow...I'm not particularly impressed with the background; the photos would have turned out better without our dead shrubs being visible. ;-)

Winter Rose

At the end of January I decided to take a few pictures of a few roses ...

Updated: May 05, 2008 12:30pm PST

Amsterdam 2007 : At the end of November I was fortunate to be invited to Microsoft's Mobius conference, so Ashley and I decided to go a few days early and see the sites in Amsterdam. Here are the pictures from our journey. We've added comments on many of these pictures because we discovered that if you use Picasa's comment feature, it embeds it into the EXIF comment field and Smugmug extracts that and shows it under the photo. Cool! Remember to click on the large version of the image to see it full screen (with the comments below), and that you can use the arrow keys on the keyboard to go forward and back.

Amsterdam 2007

At the end of November I was fortunate to be invited to Microsoft's Mo ...

Updated: Mar 19, 2008 6:53am PST

Exploring Snow, January 2008 : The snow was fresh this morning, so I decided to step into my backyard and take a few pictures of it. These are also my first public photos with the Nikon D300 (an amazing camera!).

Exploring Snow, January 2008

The snow was fresh this morning, so I decided to step into my backyard ...

Updated: Jan 25, 2008 1:33pm PST

The Blogger Bus & CES 2008 : Photos from my journey on the Windows Vista Media Center & Blogger Bus, and some photos Las Vegas at CES 2008.

The Blogger Bus & CES 2008

Photos from my journey on the Windows Vista Media Center & Blogger Bus ...

Updated: Jan 09, 2008 4:49pm PST

Thanksgiving 2007 : Canadian Thanksgiving is in October, so my family and I travelled to Edmonton to celebrate with the Paniak side of the family, whom all live in and around Edmonton. The area where my grandmother lives has a community centre that backs onto a small lake that's usually full of geese, so I started off by taking some pictures of that. And there happened to be a rabbit in the area as well...

Thanksgiving 2007

Canadian Thanksgiving is in October, so my family and I travelled to E ...

Updated: Oct 31, 2007 10:11am PST

July 15th 2007 Sunset : In mid-July I spent a little over an hour chasing one of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen. I shot over 120 photos because I just couldn't stop - every few minutes the light changed, and a new version of the sunset would appear. I shot from three different locations until the sun went down past the mountains.

July 15th 2007 Sunset

In mid-July I spent a little over an hour chasing one of the most beau ...

Updated: Mar 19, 2008 1:54pm PST

Calgary Sunset August 15th : It's amazing what beauty I can see looking from my backyard. God's creativity never ceases to amaze me.

Calgary Sunset August 15th

It's amazing what beauty I can see looking from my backyard. God's cre ...

Updated: Oct 26, 2007 5:10pm PST

New York 2007 Microsoft Trip : I went to New York for a very quick Microsoft event - I left at noon on the 23rd of October and around the same time on the 25th. Crazy!

New York 2007 Microsoft Trip

I went to New York for a very quick Microsoft event - I left at noon o ...

Updated: Oct 25, 2007 5:57pm PST

Lethbridge Air Show 2007 : Ashley and I went to the Lethbridge Air Show with our friends Kim and Mitch Berreth in August of 2007. It was the first air show I'd been to, so it was interesting to see all the planes up close. The Snowbirds performed, and a monster truck showed up as well - a curious addition to an air show, but it was fun taking pictures of a big truck crushing already mostly-crushed cars. My camera worked overtime - I shot around 1300 photos, trying to capture the best shots possible. Unfortunately many of the aerial acrobatics were a bit outside the range of my zoom lens, so these photos involved a lot of cropping and a lack of sharpness. The biggest challenge though was in post-production: I had shot so many photos that were nearly identical it was a headache to pick the best ones. It took me hours to get through them all and an added bonus was a smudge on my lens that had to be fixed in almost every single photo. At any rate, the photos turned out pretty well for being my first attempt at shooting fast-moving objects from the ground.

Lethbridge Air Show 2007

Ashley and I went to the Lethbridge Air Show with our friends Kim and ...

Updated: Oct 22, 2007 9:07am PST

Rowena's 25th Birthday Party : Here are the photos from Rowena's 25th birthday party held at Shakers Family Fun Centre. You can move through the images here using your keyboard, pressing right and left, and you can click on the image to see a larger version.

Rowena's 25th Birthday Party

Here are the photos from Rowena's 25th birthday party held at Shakers ...

Updated: Oct 17, 2007 9:57am PST

Ontario 2007 Vacation : Photos from our vacation to London, Ontario - and our forays into Toronto, Niagara Falls, and other fun places!

Ontario 2007 Vacation

Photos from our vacation to London, Ontario - and our forays into Toro ...

Updated: Mar 19, 2008 4:53pm PST

Mattea Rene Violante's Baptism : Mattea Rene Violante was baptised at Our Lady of Grace Church in Calgary, Alberta, on the 18th of August, 2007. Here are some pictures from the event and the celebration afterward.

Mattea Rene Violante's Baptism

Mattea Rene Violante was baptised at Our Lady of Grace Church in Calga ...

Updated: Aug 18, 2007 11:09pm PST

Summer Softball : My sister-in-law Chelsea plays softball in a casual weekend league. This was the first time I used my D200 for shooting sports, and it turned out pretty well - the 4fps capture speed helped a lot.

Summer Softball

My sister-in-law Chelsea plays softball in a casual weekend league. Th ...

Updated: Jul 29, 2007 9:50am PST

Tony & Crystal Violante: Reception : Here are photos of Tony & Crystal Violante's reception at the home of a family member. Friends and family enjoyed food, drinks, and a lot of laughter as they celebrated the occasion with Tony and Crystal. Some photos are presented in both black and white, and in colour, and the occasional photo is presented in an alternate cropped format. A big thank you to Crystal, Tony, and everyone there for being able to ignore the camera and allowing me to capture the natural joy I saw.

Tony & Crystal Violante: Reception

Here are photos of Tony & Crystal Violante's reception at the home of ...

Updated: Oct 26, 2007 10:37am PST

Crystal & Tony Violante: Wedding Ceremony : I was honoured to have the privilege of being the wedding photographer for our friends Crystal Hehr and Tony Violante, who were wed at Our Lady of Grace Church on Thursday July the 19th at 3:30 pm. My wife Ashley took the photos of Crystal getting ready, and I took the photos before, during, and after the ceremony.

Crystal & Tony Violante: Wedding Ceremony

I was honoured to have the privilege of being the wedding photographer ...

Updated: Jul 25, 2007 9:22am PST

Desiree & Jason Vassallo's Wedding : Desiree Magnus and Jason Vassallo were married in Edmonton, Alberta, on July the 7th, 2007. Most of these photos were taken by Ashley because I was busy filming the ceremony. Black and white conversion, cropping, and adjustments done by myself in Adobe Lightroom.

Desiree & Jason Vassallo's Wedding

Desiree Magnus and Jason Vassallo were married in Edmonton, Alberta, o ...

Updated: Jul 21, 2007 5:00pm PST

Crystal & Tony's BBQ : A summer BBQ with our friends Crystal, Tony, Desiree, Linda, Marco, Hilary, and others...

Crystal & Tony's BBQ

A summer BBQ with our friends Crystal, Tony, Desiree, Linda, Marco, Hi ...

Updated: Jul 15, 2007 10:01pm PST

Cariann's Convocation and Our Vancouver Trip : Cariann Dunn graduates from the University of British Columbia with a undergraduate degree in psychology - part of the Dunn family goes to visit her and see some of the Vancouver sights.

Cariann's Convocation and Our Vancouver Trip

Cariann Dunn graduates from the University of British Columbia with a ...

Updated: Jun 13, 2007 3:56pm PST

Fire & Floods: Calgary Rocked by Storm : At around 8:30 pm on June 5th, there was a fierce storm in Calgary, Alberta, with massive lightning strikes. One of those lightning strikes hit a home four houses down from mine, and it blasted a hole in the roof and caught fire. These are some pictures of the house, the fire fighters that responded, and the flooding in the green space behind our house. I took a short video clip of what the fire looked like from my back yard from about 300 feet away that you can check out on YouTube. Elsewhere in the city, flooding of all kind was occurring - I've added a few photos I received from others that shows some of the problems.

Fire & Floods: Calgary Rocked by Storm

At around 8:30 pm on June 5th, there was a fierce storm in Calgary, Al ...

Updated: Jun 06, 2007 12:55pm PST

Wheels for the World : The Wheels for the World event was held on Sunday June the 3rd as a fund-raiser for AIDS and extreme poverty relief in Africa and Asia. Photos of these cars can be ordered through this site - just click "Buy This Photo" above each image and it will be added to your cart. When finished, click on View Cart and you can check out and select the print size - or get the image on a coffee cup, a mouse pad, a t-shirt, or any other number of options.

Wheels for the World

The Wheels for the World event was held on Sunday June the 3rd as a fu ...

Updated: Jun 06, 2007 9:24pm PST

Graham & Megan's Wedding : Ashley's cousin's wedding, photographed in Dunrobin, Ontario on a sunny July afternoon.

Graham & Megan's Wedding

Ashley's cousin's wedding, photographed in Dunrobin, Ontario on a sunn ...

Updated: Mar 24, 2007 9:14pm PST

RockPointe Compassion in Action @ The Crowfoot Movie Theaters : On Sunday the 18th of March, 2007, members of RockPointe church, along with interested visitors, assembled in the Crowfoot movie theatres to view a message from U2's Bono and Bill Hybles about combating AIDS and extreme poverty in Africa. These are my photos from the event - it was, frankly, a nightmare to shoot because of the low lighting. The ultra-high ceilings in most locations made a flash bounce impossible, so I ended up shooting without a flash for most of the shots. The end result is ISO 1600, fairly grainy photos - some of which I transformed into black and white where the grain helps the image have more impact. This was my first real use of Adobe Lightroom, and I was quite impressed with it (for the most part).

RockPointe Compassion in Action @ The Crowfoot Movie Theaters

On Sunday the 18th of March, 2007, members of RockPointe church, along ...

Updated: Mar 23, 2007 12:57pm PST

Hawaii 2006 [Rough Cut] : I still haven't gone through all of my photos from Hawaii (for a variety of reasons, most of them technical), so this is a rough cut that I put together to show friends and family.

Hawaii 2006 [Rough Cut]

I still haven't gone through all of my photos from Hawaii (for a varie ...

Updated: Jun 03, 2007 4:13pm PST

Backyard Sunset (Dec. 29th) : I happened to look out my back window, and this is what I saw...

Backyard Sunset (Dec. 29th)

I happened to look out my back window, and this is what I saw...

Updated: Dec 29, 2006 8:50pm PST

Fall 2006 Scenery in Calgary : Although the fall season in Calgary tends to be rather short, before the snow falls things are very beautiful here as the leaves change colour. I wanted to capture some of that, although the day I went shooting was very overcast so the photos took a fair bit of tweaking to avoid looking dull. This was one of the first sessions where I shot 100% RAW and spent the time to convert and adjust each one. I think the results were worth it, I really like the tone in most of them.

Fall 2006 Scenery in Calgary

Although the fall season in Calgary tends to be rather short, before t ...

Updated: Nov 01, 2006 9:00pm PST

Halloween Party 2006 : We had a few friends over (from our church small group) for a little Halloween party. Halloween doesn't seem to be very popular in our area - or maybe it's that we live on a side street - because we only had about 20 kids come to the door. This is going to make me sound old, but when I was a kid my friends and I would hit every house in a 3KM radius side street or not. Come on, free candy - what kid doesn't want free candy? Of course, the problem could be the fact that it was cold and snow was on the ground...but that's almost every Halloween in Calgary. Brr and Boo all at once!

Halloween Party 2006

We had a few friends over (from our church small group) for a little H ...

Updated: Apr 04, 2007 9:09am PST

Thailand 2006 : I was invited to Thailand for a Microsoft conference (Mobius 2006) and we decided it was a good excuse to save money on a trip to Thailand! Ashley came with me and we had a wonderful time - I'd definitely go back to Thailand again some day.

Thailand 2006

I was invited to Thailand for a Microsoft conference (Mobius 2006) and ...

Updated: Jun 03, 2007 4:09pm PST

Habitat for Humanity Home Building Day : As part of our church's "40 Days of Community" season, our small group spent a day helping to build a house with Habitat for Humanity. It was quite interesting - since I personally know very little about home construction (ok, basically nothing at all), there were quite a few times when most of us were standing around doing nothing. But it was a satisfying feeling putting up drywall...even if it took us five times longer than the professionals in the other room. ;-)

Habitat for Humanity Home Building Day

As part of our church's "40 Days of Community" season, our small group ...

Updated: Oct 26, 2006 4:21pm PST

L.T. Paniak's 60th Birthday : Lawrence Paniak, better known to everyone as "L.T.", celebrated his 60th birthday in Lloydminster, Alberta, on Saturday the 21st of October 2006. Over 150 friends and family were in attendence, and a great time was had by all until the wee hours of the morning.

L.T. Paniak's 60th Birthday

Lawrence Paniak, better known to everyone as "L.T.", celebrated his 60 ...

Updated: Oct 27, 2006 7:56pm PST

Osaka Japan 2006 : On our way back from Thailand we had an eight hour layover in Osaka, Japan. Although we were very tired, and in need of a change of clothes and a shower, we didn't want to pass up the opportunity to see Japan for the first time. We're planning a trip there in 2008, so this was a good opportunity to get a "first look" at Japan.

Osaka Japan 2006

On our way back from Thailand we had an eight hour layover in Osaka, J ...

Updated: Oct 19, 2006 6:27am PST

Mayan Riviera 2006 : We went to Mexico with our friends Tim and Melissa Heerebout and had a blast!

Mayan Riviera 2006

We went to Mexico with our friends Tim and Melissa Heerebout and had a ...

Updated: Oct 20, 2006 4:43pm PST

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