I spent a good chunk of my Christmas vacation up at my friends cottage where I can escape city life and work. It’s such a great get away to decompress and recharge. Driving up to the cottage requires trekking through a snow covered road and to my surprise the iPhone camera captured some pretty good shots with motion blur.

Just as we are arriving the snow starts falling adding a couple more inches to small base that’s already accumulated.

The fortress of solitude awaits me.

The lake hadn’t frozen over completely but Steve still managed to walk out onto the little amount of ice that had accumulated.

Sitting by the fire with my long johns and sweater. Feels good to have that warmth hitting your back until its so hot that you have to get up.

I dont remember why Marc is sitting on Tanya’s back but I think there was a bit of a wrestling match that pre-quelled this.

We cooked a large pork loin one night and wrapped some of it with bacon, such a great idea. Everything tastes better with bacon.

These photos are a bit dark but they were taken after a few of us ventured for a nature walk at dusk.

This machine can plow snow and fix downed telephone poles.

There’s little snow left on the rock due to a warm front that came through and melted most of it.

Checking the rocks for grip, it’s surprisingly easy to slip and fall on these massive sheets of rock.

It’s been WAY too long since I’ve updated this blog but that’s what happens when you go away for the holidays and come back to a mountain of work. For all of you that don’t run a blog it’s not as easy as it looks and requires time and effort to post on the regular, hence for people like me that have a busy day job I try to post as much as possible but sometimes that can weeks apart.

When I was home in Toronto I didn’t bring my digital SLR because I had no space in my luggage for it and I decided it would be a good time to try out the new iPhone4’s camera and see if its worthy of taking quality photos. As you can see it did take some very good photos but it still lacks in low light situations. I can’t complain though, it’s a worthy adversary to point and click cameras and being a phone, it’s always in my pocket ready to go whenever I need it.

One of the first things I did when I got home was head over to Tim Horton’s to get a cup of coffee and a donut. It’s such a Canadian thing to do but I’m a Canadian at heart!

Because of the always warm and sunny weather in California, I feel that the spirit of the holidays is lost on most people and very few stores get festive. Check out all the Christmas flair at Tim Horton’s.

Same goes for the liquor store, everywhere you go in Toronto all the stores have some type of holiday decorations.

I love the liquor store for its incredible selection of foreign beers. From Holland to Germany you can practically find anything you’re looking for here.

I’ve never really seen this before, an escalator for shopping carts. A guess it’s a necessity when you’re in a multi-level department store.

This is the view from my friends Marc and Ian’s apartment where I crashed. Light sprinkling of snow.

This cute guy is Ari, he’s my brothers dog and has such a great personality, not to mention his super cuteness wins anyone over.

Well this doesn’t win him any cute awards but the snow makes for a great place to drop your goods off (if you’re a dog of course).

For Christmas, my brothers and I made the trip up to our home town where we grew up, Barrie, Ontario. Thanks to Steve and Shannon we had a great place to stay and enjoy the holidays. Including plenty of the white stuff.

Just a few hours of getting in, Shannon’s dog, Dexter decided to mark his territory on my brother’s bag and leave a christmas log nearby. We all had a great laugh minus my brother who wasn’t too happy about the pee stain on his bag.

Here’s a great photo of Steve using his dad’s magnifying glass set that he uses to fix watches.

No words needed here!

I decided to put the magnifying glass up to the iPhone’s camera and see what it would do. The zoom turned out to work pretty well.

That’s a walnut amongst some Christmas decorations.

One of the joys of winter is the icles that can serve as a great substitute for ice cubes.

Ari got into some cookies and munched them down like, well a dog does.

There are certain things that I would never be caught doing in the winter, riding a bicycle is one. It’s an accident waiting to happen not to mention its gotta be COLD. This individual seems to shrug all the hazards and blistering cold air quite easily.

This is the equivalent of a sports bike but for snow. Its a Ski-Doo Renegade X and its slow, reaaaallly slow.

So slow that it makes only 155hp and I couldn’t go full out in fear of crashing this slow machine.

Frying some ham up for a warm breakfast sandwich. So much better than cold ham if you have the patience to cook it.

This photo doesn’t mean much unless you were there that night. My friends, Brad and Dustin put on a clinic and beat me and Steve in pool, the catch was that whoever won would have to do a shot. We played over 25 games easily the entire night. A bottle of Patron and Schnapps was emptied. Needless to say I don’t remember the latter half of the night.

That’s one giant sized lobster at the grocery store!

Anytime I see a convex mirror I have to take a photo into it. I love the way it bends the image. I decided this time around the phone would be front and center in the photo.

I’ve been in a weird mood lately where I’ll go weeks without wanting to edit a photo and then all of a sudden I’ll sit down for 5 hours straight and bang out a set of images. Thankfully these didn’t take that long since they were shot in the studio but all in all I’m happy with how they came out.

All three images are immensely different from each other in both lighting and mood. What’s the fun in shooting images so they look the same. I try to diversify any chance I get. Have I succeeded here? You’ll have to be the judge of that and let me know what you think.

A couple months ago, I had the chance to shoot some photos of the new CRZ and the results are a bit lack luster. The locations really didnt work out too much and the rig shot was a bit of a failure. I still managed to put together three photos for viewing.

It’s very rare for me to attend a motorsports event where Japanese cars don’t dominate the field but recently, I was invited to the Grand Tuner Grand Prix event held in picturesque Monterrey Valley at Laguna Seca raceway. There was supposed to be a full field of time attack cars however, very few showed up which meant the majority of the vehicles were of German descent. Not that I’m complaining, I was actually rather happy since it’s a nice change of pace to shoot Porsche’s, BMW’s and Audi’s.

I should note that some of these photo may have not been taken by me. Nate and I shared cameras all weekend and shoot over 8 gigs of photos so to remember who shot what is a little advantageous hence credit goes to him as well.

The lines of the 997 Porsche 911 are so blissfully good and that center exhaust is the cherry on top.

It rained on and off most of the weekend, which wasn’t very kind on my feet but I forged ahead and took as many photos of the cars driving in the wet stuff since this opportunity rarely comes along (shooting in the rain).

This could be one of my favorite shots as a 997 cup car is fighting the forces of gravity through Laguna Seca’s corkscrew, trying to exit the infamous corner with as much speed as possible.

A train of cars coming through the corkscrew, led by a Porsche GT3 and a rather awesome BMW 135i.

I can’t help but admire the older generation of Porsches more than the new ones especially when they look so damn good like this grey 930.

This chipmunk was probably checking to see what all the racket was about.

In a sea of 997 and 996 Porsche Cup Cars there was this one 993 GT1 racer. The 993 is by far my favorite model of 911. This example is a rather extreme version of the road going version.

The wet weathered proved a little too much for some of the drivers and their machines payed the price.

A driver pops out for a moment while the crew checks over the car.

All carbon doors, these are serious race machines here, not your average home built race car.

Single lug = real race car status.

Dodge’s Viper ACR is a brute of a vehicle. It doesn’t look like it would be a fast race car with that long nose and muscle car persona, but in actuality it is an extremely capable race car. This one in particular was fastest in its class.

This is what Im talking about, a yellow 993 Carrera, street/track car. I’ll park one in my garage someday.

Three different generations of Porsche’s in this photo. Can you name them all?

In between the “Tuner” (think street cars built to see the track) cars sessions, the Porsche Cup Cars were out running practices and eventually races. This was a real treat to watch and photograph, especially when you have a 400mm telephoto lens to play with.

To add to an already epic list of cars at this event, some historic Nascar’s ran the track. To see these brutes that normal spend most of their time on oval tracks turning left navigate Laguna Seca was a sight to behold.

Doesn’t this car remind you of Day of Thunder the movie?

I’ll leave you with what made me owe and awe more than any Porsche could at this event; an old IMSA Audi quattro race car and an A8 race car. These two beasts were just too cool for their own good. Seeing (and hearing) them run left an unforgettable experience on me. Cars will never be this awesome again.

These Paris posts are really starting to draw themselves on, soon I’ll be going on a months worth of postings. Let’s just say that I took way too many photos while I was there.

I love the inside of the subway, it never sees natural light. Maybe that’s why that guy looks so down.

You won’t see a poster like this on this on these shores. Kaboom indeed.

Real chain links holding together bigger chain links.

People smoke too much in Paris but it’s a part of the culture so I accept it. Unfortunately, the streets are a victim of the smokers aftermath.

UNI QLO is a clothing store that sells fashionable stuff at cheap prices.

The stairs inside the store received the scrolling LED sign treatment.

Inside was a zoo, there were WAY too many people and even more people waiting in line. It snaked all the way to the back of the store. I would have bailed and come back on a weekday. Look at all those happy faces.

Mmm hotdog with a side of fashionista.

This guy was trying to sell cooked Macedonian nuts from his shopping cart, thrifty.

With views like this how can you not fall in love with Paris.

The bus stopped right in front me as I sat on a bench and I saw a chance for a reflective glass photo.

These are arguably the best sweets in Paris. Oh and they definitely aren’t cheap.

Not sure what this is all about but its cool art.

The ever-so-famous Moulin Rouge. At 90 euro a ticket, I had to pass on seeing the half naked dancers.

Sometimes the simplest things entertain people. Like this wind tunnel… mind blowing fun.

Hey what you looking at buddy?

I long for a cup of Parisian coffee. Oh so good, just look at it, doesn’t it look superb?

Another one of the many churches to visit, this one is a top of hill that overlooks the city.

This gent had some serious skills with that soccer ball.

I wasn’t expecting this type of gathering up top but if you look around this photo you’ll see a band playing the guitar and singing while everyone enjoys the music.

A maze of people on a busy side street.

You know if there was one talent I wish I could have it would be to draw and paint. It stays with your forever no matter what age you are.

So awesome, the skill it takes to create that from memory is mind boggling to me.

Care for a Nutella crepe?

No matter what restaurant or crepe stand you go to, Nutella is sure to be stocked in large quantities.

Almost ready for consumption.

I couldn’t help but admire this hand written menu.

Or this cafe tucked away at the bottom of a cobble stone street.

It looks like someone made a mold of their face and added some creative work to it.

Watch your step, its a long and painful tumble.

I’m not sure what I like more about this photo the red cafe or the gentleman wearing overalls and stripped shirt. Where’s Waldo right?

The French men have got it easy with the ladies, with places like these all around its gotta help their cause.

Another one of the infinite amount of stairways found in and around the city.

Commes des Garsons is a boutique shop that’s pretty popular worldwide. Small and simple is the way to go.

Another colorful store front to draw the eye in.

Blocks of letters that were once surely used at a print press are now on sale in front of a thrift store.

And we disappear again into the depths of the Paris subway system.

We all wait patiently for our stop. Except me, looking for my next frame to paint.

Then it happens, I whip the camera around as a trains flies by in the opposite direction.

Some of the trains have manually opening doors. Just pull the latch and the door swings open.