March 2020 (near the beginning of the month)

I purchase a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L is II USM ( approx. 7

yrs. old ) from a new friend: Wow! Of course, on my 1/2 frame (cropped sensor) cameras, a 200 mm is equivalent to a 320 mm lens.

November 2019 (update)

This past summer I got a new camera: Canon EOS 7D Mark II I'm not sure if it will improve my success rate at capturing 'flying birds' but it does shoot 10 frames per second.

Also, I'm done with GIMP. Just couldn't find the support to get me past ...frustration! I've moved on to Photoshop Elements 2019. Got two books and quick reference guide. Hope to be posting some photos soon.

February 17, 2019

"Before I came to Flicker, I would remark that every beautiful photo in the world has already been taken. How wrong I was; I remain a life-long (struggling) student of life."

Retired seventy-three year old, living alone on a couple of acres of land, situated on the upper Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, Canada.

I live towards the end of a dead end road; in an agricultural area about 12 kilometers from town. I'm not on the water but only about a 5-10 minute drive from a couple of beaches at the edge of the Malaspina Strait. Actually, standing on those beaches, you'd look across to the inner side of Texada Island. Beyond Texada, you'd see the Strait of Georgia and way in the background, the inner side (east coast) of Vancouver Island.

For the past 5 1/2 years (since I moved back to this property) I'd been shooting with a Canon Rebel XS and its' kit lenses. About a year ago I got a Rebel T6i with its' 18-135 mm. and then added a Tamron 150-600 mm. telephoto. I believe the T6i lens is much sharper than the older XS lenses and sharper still is the Tamron.

In the 1960's I had a Minolta SRT 101 and then a Canon AE 1. I still have the AE 1 and stacks of 35mm slides.

Spring 2019, Trying to shoot more 'flying' birds and got a 7D Mark II (body only). It's interesting that, if you bought the Mark II w/ kit lens it's the same 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 IS STM that came with my T6i. Apparently, that lens, at less than $1000. Canadian, is fairly quick to auto focus and track.

"You miss 100 percent of the shots you didn't take!!!" Wayne Gretzky