I had been considering reviving it in a new form, but after a lot of soul searching I decided the best course would be to close it. I plan to keep the site up. You never know. Someone may be interested in buying it and turn it into the Edmonton news site it really should be.

So, why close YegNews? 

There are many reasons, but really it boils down to dollars and cents. It wasn’t turning a profit and I just couldn’t keep it going without any cash flowing from it.

The way the project started, I truly believed it would have been making money in a reasonable amount of time. And really, it would have. Enough to vacation in the Caribbean? Not right away, but I think it could have provided a modest income as it grew.

When my project partner decided to bail that threw a serious wrench into the works, and dramatically changed the nature of the project and my role in it. It’s a shame too, because we got a great start out of the gate and a huge amount of traffic to the site in the first weeks.

A few weeks after that I almost closed YegNews and really I probably should have. It’s not easy, because I don’t give up that easily. In fact, it’s been a major step for me to take, and certainly quite a public one.

I’m sure there will be some analysis (thanks Karen!) and second-guessing about what we did wrong, the mistakes we made, etc, but I’m not worried about that.

As for mistakes, well, there were definitely many made! I am hoping I’ve learned my lessons, but at least I gave it a shot. As the old saying goes, better to have tried and failed than to never have tried at all.

Fundamentally though, it virtually wasn’t making any money at all. Believe me, Google Adsense did not pay well, though that wasn’t the revenue model we had planned to rely entirely on.

How can online media work?

If I had it to do over again, I would look at the original online media model I proposed. I just think that would work much better.

I’ve worked as a journalist and even volunteered my time (quite willingly) but I do believe journalists should be paid. That is something we were working towards at YegNews. While I wasn’t ever really happy with not being able to pay our contributors, people are willing to write for free and do so for their own reasons.

It’s obvious I have an entrepreneurial spirit, because ever since I made the decision to close YegNews, I’ve been thinking of how I could correct mistakes and what I could do better. It’s not going to happen any time soon, at least not unless the conditions might be right to do it.

There is a place in the Edmonton media landscape for a daily online newspaper that only publishes online. In the shrinking media landscape we could use more, independent voices and diversity of opinion. Competition in the media is a positive thing and having a range of story angles and voices is sorely needed. I’m not a pack journalism kind of person and would actively discourage that.

Like any startup, funding is crucial and YegNews was underfunded. We did it on a shoestring but I thought we could work around that. I realize now what a mistake that was. If I had the $3 million budget I discussed, that would be more than enough to have a really serious newsroom. By really sharpening the pencil and tightening things up, you could still have a solid operation on a lot less money. And, to make website visitors happy, no ads! I think a subscriber-only model can work.

I’m still considering approaching investors who might be interested in funding a venture like this. Know anyone who might be?

And now?

I’ve certainly made a huge sacrifice for this project and right now am in recovery mode. I am looking for a day job and/or contract work and a chance to replenish my neglected bank account. My SEO consulting business has suffered as I have devoted to YegNews a good portion of my time since March.

I feel much better having made the decision and feel as if a weight has been lifted off me. In fact, I’ve had several personal situations resolved this fall too, so I feel really positive going forward!

It was pretty good. I had the opportunity to meet a few MLAs (Dave Taylor – Alberta Party, Kent Hehr – Liberal Party, and Jonathan Denis – Conservative Party) and chat with people from those parties as well. I was surprised I didn’t meet anyone from the Wild Rose Party, but I didn’t meet everyone there either.

What I so often discover from casual, in-person discussions about politics is that our differences usually aren’t that far apart.

I prefer these types of discussions to online political discussions. The trolls usually don’t come out to these events, preferring the perceived anonymity they possess behind their computer screens and pseudonyms.

What’s in a name?

I had fun prodding a few of the Alberta Liberals in the room. We got onto the topic of changing the name of the provincial Liberal party, which apparently has little connection to the federal party.

I still find it odd that the Alberta Liberal party is so stuck on keeping the name, when it’s so obvious that it’s the biggest impediment to their political success in this province right now (leaving aside the issues of ineffective leadership).

The provincial Conservatives love to bring up the 1980s National Energy Program, signed by Conservative premier Peter Lougheed. When the NEP is mentioned, there’s a collective knee-jerk around the province, and it’s never good for the Liberals, despite the fact the provincial Liberals probably had absolutely nothing to do with it. The truth has nothing to do with the issue.

The rationale I heard was that the Alberta Liberals are worried their stream of donations would dry up if they were to change their name. I countered that it would likely increase as they tapped new sources of donations.

I have to respect the Alberta Liberals for manning the helm of their swamped ship to the bitter end, but a touch of Machiavellian sensibility wouldn’t hurt. Would a name change mean a complete abandonment of their principles? Absolutely not. Why would it?

I heard something interesting too, that nobody has ever presented a motion at a party convention to change the party name. About time it happened, but it won’t be me doing it. So, what should the name be?

The Prairie Party

I thought this would make sense, because the Alberta Liberals, according to what I heard, are a truly provincial party with few ties federally. It’s the same in B.C., where the B.C. Liberals are really Conservatives and have few real ties to the federal party.

Albertans, and here I’m stereotyping a little, tend to be quite patriotic about their province, and a name like the Prairie Party could be appreciate by many in the province, particularly rural voters. I have never seen a province where its residents feel so strongly about their home.

My thought is that if you’re truly convinced your principles are worth fighting for and should be adopted here, why would something like a name change be so problematic? It is puzzling. In fact, it’s truly odd, considering so many political parties would be willing to force their mothers to work in a Chinese sweat shop if it meant they could get into power.

In some ways you have to respect that kind of conviction, but in other ways, it’s sort of dumb. Apparently Einstein was quoted as saying “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

I also came up with a cute slogan that captures why the name change should happen: change the name and you change the game.

Looking at it practically, a good portion of the voters in the province have grey hair, like it or not. Voter turnout here is pathetically low, but you can count on seniors to get out and do their civic duty. They don’t tend to be swing voters either. They’re loyal and often conservative. They also remember the NEP, rightly or wrongly, so if the Liberals (with that name) expect to form government here, it’s likely not going to be until the baby boomers are dead and gone.

The Saskatchewan Party

I used these guys as a good example for the Alberta Liberals to follow. They formed in 1997 and 10 years later they were in power. There’s so much wrapped up in a name and such a name has broad, subconscious appeal to Saskatchewan residents, obviously.

This is why the Alberta Party has a positive future ahead of it, no matter what their policies, no matter what they do, no matter who the leader is. The party has the right name. It’s all about the brand. That’s not knocking the positive things the Alberta Party is up to, but having the right name gives them a leg up on their competition. Right out of the gate they have an advantage.

There’s been some public bickering about parties merging, but the Alberta Party would be crazy to do it, if it meant adopting the Liberal Party name. If anything, the Liberals should merge with the Alberta Party and adopt their name.

The one thing the Liberals could do to counter the Alberta Party brand is to come up with one which symbolizes Alberta, and that’s the Prairie Party. I’m not going to launch into some poetic description of how the name represents the province, it just does.

The real question is, how long are the Liberals going to sit on the sidelines of Alberta politics as other parties pass them by? My prediction is that the Alberta Party will form the official opposition not after this election, but the election after that (sorry Wild Rose Party). Perhaps when the Alberta Liberals are down to their last member in the Legislature, they’ll consider a name change, but by then it will be too late.

Well, why shouldn’t we? Seems obvious, doesn’t it? I’m all for people and making room for them. I’m a person myself, most days, and I like my room too.

Except, what the author proposed is a little ridiculous, but I understand where he’s coming from. Jasper Avenue is a major traffic artery in downtown Edmonton and the author said:

“I would get rid of the on-street parking and narrow that six-block section of Jasper to two lanes. Doing so would create a hue and cry that it would make it harder to find a place to park and make it more difficult for traffic to move through that part of the city. My response would be that was exactly the intent.”

The author is in favour of transit, as am I, but the author thinks that any extensions to the LRT should come with corresponding reductions in parking downtown to “encourage” people to use transit.

Sorry, but that is just dumb. It’s like a doctor saying to a patient “sorry, but you’ve got lung cancer. To treat it, we’re going to cut off blood flow to your lungs. One possible side effect is that it may kill you.” Oops!

Jasper Avenue isn't the most attractive main street and could use a lot of improvement.

Doesn’t it make sense to treat the cancer but not kill the patient? Cars are not the cancer downtown though. Part of downtown’s problem is that there are more options for people outside of downtown, so they go there. Making it more difficult for people to travel and park downtown will not help downtown Edmonton.

Yes, expanding the LRT is good, depending on how it’s done, but it makes more sense to have a healthy efficient transportation system that is capable of handling as much traffic as possible. Why would you narrow the arteries in the heart of the city?

A people-friendly city is good, and there are ways of making it more people friendly without ruining the transportation system. I’m sure restaurant owners on Jasper would love the patio space, but it may come at the expense of having fewer customers to populate them.

As much as we’d like to have LRT all over the city, the fact remains that it’s not there yet. Cars are going to be the main form of transportation for the foreseeable future. They may run on gas, be hybrids, be electric and may eventually fly (God help us if Edmonton drivers could fly), but cars will be around. Edmonton’s 100-year transit plan predicts a population, eventually, of three million people in Edmonton. You think they’re all going to use transit?

No doubt with fewer parking spaces, those that remain will skyrocket in price. Of course with better transit options, more will use transit. Yes, more people should live downtown, close to where they work.

I think a policy to narrow Jasper Avenue would actually exacerbate Edmonton’s sprawl problem though. If driving downtown is such a pain, people won’t do it. I already limit my travel downtown and prefer meetings outside of it. I rarely go to any shops or the mall downtown. Why should I when I have options more convenient elsewhere?

I’m sure that’s not what downtown businesses want to hear. It’s already a pain to go there for a lot of Edmontonians, so they avoid it too.

The author suggested making changes to Jasper Avenue’s odd infrastructure and I totally agree. It’s not the best looking place and could use a serious spruce up. There’s not a huge amount of parking there, so one could eliminate some parking but still keep at least four lanes of traffic.

But, isn’t an LRT route proposed for Jasper Avenue already? That would eliminate at least two lanes of traffic right there. That’s a whole other topic, but I will say that street level LRT is insanity. Montreal and Vancouver have the right idea with a mix of above ground and below ground subways and Skytrains.

I also agree with the author about getting rid of sodium vapour lights. They are butt ugly. The new lights on 118^th Avenue from 82 Street to 97 Street are very nice. They’ve done a great job on there.

One of the most annoying things about driving downtown is the side streets. It seems like most of the lights are on a particularly long timer, which is nothing but frustrating. It would be nice if the city did some work on timing lights and installing more sensors throughout the city to help move traffic along more efficiently. It’s no wonder Edmonton drivers are an angry lot. It might even ease the load on emergency rooms. I’m sure many drivers come in with head injuries from smashing their head in frustration on the steering wheel.

Making Edmonton a more pleasant and liveable city is a laudable goal. What I hope our city leaders recognize is that our transportation system needs healthy arteries, giving it increased capacity as the city grows. Fail to do that and they may just kill the patient.

Stephen Mandel was re-elected as mayor of Edmonton.

While the results of Edmonton’s civic election Monday were disappointing in some respects, they were quite positive in others.

On Monday I talked about my choices for Edmonton city council, mayor and Edmonton Public School Board. Unfortunately only one of my three choices was successful.

It was a tough, bitter and divisive campaign with the Edmonton City Centre Airport being probably the biggest issue of the entire campaign.

Should it have been? I don’t think so. I think taxes, a new arena and the LRT are far bigger issues going forward, but leave it to a special interest group to hijack the entire election for their own purposes. I know we haven’t heard the last of this issue.

City council and the Edmonton Public School Board should also be working together on the issue of school closures.

City Council – Ward 7 Scott McKeen

I actively campaigned for Scott McKeen and unfortunately he fell short. I have to give Scott a lot of credit for his positive campaign, positive vision and putting together a great campaign team in a short period of time.

The incumbent won with 7,138 votes to Scott’s 5,269. My hope is that there will be another run, but only time will tell. I truly believe that Scott McKeen had the best vision for Ward 7 and I think city council could certainly adopt some of his ideas.

His ideas have certainly provoked me to look at my community association in a new light. Thank you for running Scott. It was an honour and a privilege to work with you on your campaign. Good luck in your future endeavours!

Public School Board trustee – Ward B

Unfortunately the candidate I chose for Ward B came in dead last. I really liked Darryl Lagerquist’s platform. I will be keeping an eye on the incumbent for the next three years though. I am not sure how many people who voted for him are aware of his voting to close schools. Perhaps they’ll be more aware in this next school review when he votes to close their school.

I think school closures are a critical issue in Edmonton and one that our new city council should be much more active in combatting. With flawed decision criteria, EPSB can destroy neighbourhoods with their decisions. EPSB can blame the province for flawed criteria, and no doubt the government of Alberta can take a large portion of the blame for crappy legislation and education underfunding.

One of Scott McKeen’s main planks in his platform was halting urban sprawl. School closures are really a direct result of sprawl as development occurs mainly on the outside edges of the city while older schools at the center of Edmonton languish. School closures in older Edmonton neighbourhoods will only accelerate the sprawl as residents evacuate Edmonton’s core looking for newer schools they’re sure won’t close.

Edmonton mayor – Stephen Mandel

Stephen Mandel was re-elected with a handy majority. As I stated before, if there had been another worthy candidate for mayor, I would have voted that way.  Mandel was the best choice this time.

One would hope that Mandel’s resounding victory would put the City Centre Airport to rest, but that’s not going to stop Envision Edmonton from suing the city or newly elected Ward 11 city councilor Kerry Diotte from pushing for an airport plebiscite. If this were Wheel of Fortune, the first three letters I’d choose are: W T F.

It’s time to move forward and make sure the development is all above board and strictly in the best interests of Edmontonians. Perhaps Kerry Diotte and Envision Edmonton didn’t get the message that all the incumbents won in Monday’s election.

Voter turnout was a disappointing 34.3 per cent for 2010, but it was an improvement over the 27.24 per cent voter turnout in 2007.

I feel positive about Edmonton’s future, and the next three years ought to be very interesting.

I haven’t been particularly involved in political debate about the issues facing Edmonton, but I have been active in helping Ward 7 city council candidate Scott McKeen in his campaign. I have to give Scott credit for running a positive campaign, not that there’s been any mudslinging in this ward.

The City Centre Airport issue has emerged as one of the big issues in the campaign, mainly due to the efforts of Envision Edmonton. Should this have been the main issue? In my opinion, no. The decision was made by city council in 2009 to close the airport and it should have been left alone.

US-style attack politics

If you’ve followed the issues on Twitter under the hashtag #yegvotes, you would’ve noticed a very negative tone to the debate, and I will attribute that in large part to Envision Edmonton and its tactics. They have certainly imported American-style attack politics. It’s a rather un-Canadian way of conducting political campaigns and it has backfired on them.

In the last week some of Envision Edmonton’s underhanded  tactics have come to light with the revelation that an Envision Edmonton spokesman and David Dorward mayoral campaign volunteer impersonated a Seattle Times reporter and attempted to interview one local council candidate.

Envision Edmonton also used their approximately 73,000 person failed petition as a phone list to campaign on behalf of pro-airport candidates. I’m sure anyone who had signed that petition hadn’t anticipated ending up on an auto-dialer.

On the doorstep: not negative

Having gone out a couple of days doing doorknocking on Scott McKeen’s behalf, I noticed a rather different tone on the doorstep. I didn’t have a single person upset with me and I heard from other volunteers of only a few people who were quite negative.

It’s easy to sit behind a screen and take potshots at opponents, but very different to debate face-to-face. I wasn’t out on doorsteps to debate anyway, but to get the word out. People did have some questions and I was happy to answer as best I could.

Politics in the age of participation

While social media has played an important role in politics, I think the most important part of any campaign is getting out and meeting people face to face. Scott has done a lot of that and it’s been interesting seeing the campaign from the inside. I’ve helped out on a few campaigns in the past, but never to the extent I have this time.

Working in online marketing, I know the necessity and value of online promotional efforts in a political campaign. Unless you’ve got huge name recognition though, you have to be active and get out of the campaign office to truly succeed. I have much more respect now for any politician who is out campaigning on the doorstep. (Doesn’t mean I’ll necessarily agree with them!)

With a well-coordinated campaign, social media and good Internet marketing such as search engine optimization and pay per click advertising can really supplement a political campaign.

Issues in Edmonton

I think the important issues in this election weren’t really talked about much, having been sidetracked by the airport issue. The next council has a number of important issues facing the city:

• Transportation – Don’t get me started on transportation: snow clearing, the Anthony Henday, $300 million interchanges, LRT, Edmonton Police Service guarding road construction and more. Edmonton is continuing to grow and needs a robust transportation infrastructure. Taking out half of a major commuter road (Stony Plain Road) to have in-road LRT is ludicrous and won’t make the transportation situation better, it’ll make it worse. This last council seemed to be in a rush to get it going in hopes of having it for their 2017 world’s fair bid. I could write a book on this one.
• Prediction: Current LRT model will get pushed ahead and Edmontonians will balk at the price tag.
• Taxes – Probably the main issue that upsets people: increasing property taxes. Edmonton has consistently seen fairly hefty property tax increases in recent years and I don’t know that the new city council has much more room to increase taxes. The city has lots of big ideas it wants to pursue, but taxpayers are tired of the increasing bite out of their wallets.
• Prediction: Council may get away with one more big increase, but after that they’ll be in line with inflation. (Hey, I can be hopeful.)
• Downtown arena – Oilers owner Daryl Katz is trying to convince the city of the need for a downtown arena mainly financed by taxpayers. This issue, I’m predicting, will be another contentious one. Edmonton’s taxpayers are eager for some relief and likely not too impressed with the idea of a massive transfer of their tax dollars to a private business. In the unlikely event that a slate of Envision Edmonton candidates make it to council, I’m predicting they wouldn’t send the issue to a plebiscite.
• Prediction: Council turns down Katz & he moves the Oilers to Hamilton.
• City Centre Airport: I said it before that Envision Edmonton wouldn’t take no for an answer, and I was right. They’re taking the city to court and I’m sure we won’t hear the end of it.
• Prediction: The million or so tax dollars the city takes in every year from business at the City Centre Airport will be eaten up in legal fees for at least the next five years. I bet Edmontonians never envisioned that.

Who did I vote for?

Well, I haven’t voted yet, but here’s the plan:

Edmonton city council Ward 7:Scott McKeen. I like Scott, and I like what he stands for, which is why I helped him on his campaign. This former Edmonton Journal columnist knows Edmonton and I firmly believe he’ll do a great job for Ward 7 and for the city.

Edmonton mayor: Stephen Mandel. To be honest, I’m not happy with ANY of the mayoral candidates, but Mandel is the best of the bunch, unfortunately. Dorward, aside from the Envision Edmonton BS, just isn’t leadership material from a mayoral perspective. I don’t like settling for a candidate, but in this case I am. Consider it more of a strategic vote. Also not fond of that.

Edmonton Public School Board Trustee Ward B: Darryl Lagerquist. I’m not happy with the fact that the incumbent Ken Shipka doesn’t have much to say about anything and he’s voted to close schools. I think Lagerquist is the best option. Closing schools just isn’t an option and I think trustees need to have the balls to take on the real culprit: the Alberta government.

Truth and reconciliation

Envision Edmonton has added a decidedly hostile tone to the political debate in Edmonton lately, and I’m hoping that is something that will change. Perhaps we should have a big Tweetup and a group hug and just move on. I have found that people who will attack me online really won’t do it face to face. I’m perfectly prepared for a fist fight, but would prefer a rational discussion over a few beers. : )

All kidding aside, I think it’s better for issues that have been dealt with to be put aside, fences mended, apologies made (on both sides), lawsuits dropped and everyone should look forward to the future.

If we want to conduct our politics like they do south of the border, expect the same results. The US is a disaster right now (economically and politically) and it’s hardly a good example to follow. Canadians, generally, are a more respectful and thoughtful bunch and politics by consensus has worked well for us in the past.

We can have vigorous political debate without viewing the other side as “the enemy.” If you feel inclined to hang on to the political past, heed the lyrics of The Eagles and get over it!

Last year I supported closing the airport and I still support it. Exactly what happens at ECCA, how and when, is something I am interested in.

It’s not often a city has a chance to redevelop such a large parcel of land so close to its downtown. It needs to be done right.

So, to summarize, here are the messages Envision Edmonton and its supporters are sending out:

• We’re worried about what will happen to existing jobs at the City Centre Airport
• There may be family upheaval
• People will die because medevac patients may take longer to get to the hospital
• The “average” person wants the airport to stay open

So, Mack, you know what your opposition to the airport is going to do? It’s going to kill people and force them out of work (not necessarily in that order)! (I am kidding of course, but this is the undertone of the opposition.)

How valid any of Envision Edmonton’s points are, is up for debate. I haven’t extensively researched what has been done to make the case for the closure yet, but I have some questions that I believe are important.

I would like to see an analysis of the business case for closing the airport, from the city’s perspective, and have some questions:

• How much does the city currently net from the airport? Does the city make anything on it in terms of property tax?
• Has the city done an estimate of how much it would net if the City Centre Airport were to be fully developed? How does that compare to what it currently nets? How much will the city make from the sale of City Centre Airport land?
• If an environmental cleanup is required on the site, how much will it cost and who will pay? And, if an environmental cleanup is required, why hasn’t it already been done if people are aware of that need?
• What will be done to ease the transition for the businesses affected? How about for medevac flights? For helicopter flights, can they land directly at local hospitals? It would make sense if they could.
• Has there been a realistic assessment of how the businesses at the City Centre Airport will transition? Which ones are likely to close? How many jobs are likely to be lost? What will it cost the city to break leases, etc?
• How many jobs are likely to be created during a reconstruction of the City Centre Airport lands?

From the city’s perspective, I suspect the business case is strongly in favour of the current course of action. It’s not like this kind of thing hasn’t happened before. Vancouver’s gone through redevelopments like Granville Island, Yaletown and the Expo lands. Any other examples?

Development that made sense in the past may not make sense in the future. Sometimes tough decisions have to be made and it’s not always the case that nobody will suffer.

It’s a personalized self-directed learning (PSDL) format school, so I was instantly suspicious that it’d be a way for him to further coast through school.

Today’s discussion and past discussions leading up to our allowing him to attend St. Joseph have helped to more than allay our fears that this would be the case. If anything, there’s actually far more structure in this PSDL program than a regular school program.

We met his teacher advisor this morning and after learning more about St. Joseph, I wished I had gone to this school when I was in high school. It’s a neat place and I’m really impressed by the hands-on approach the teachers take at the school.

Courtyard at St. Joseph High School in Edmonton

While they are hands-on and in regular daily contact with students (many times throughout the day), they really rely on student initiative to succeed. Students have to step up to the bar and take responsibility for their studies and everything surrounding school.

I think that this expectation will work well for my son, who is a smart kid, but really sporadically motivated. I’m not going to go into a rant about the public school system because there’s no point. I think it serves most students well and St. Joseph, part of the public but Catholic school system, will serve my son the best.

This is just one more reason we’re happy we moved to Edmonton. In smaller cities and towns this just would not have been an option. I know my son’s happy to go, but happy for summer holidays too. We can’t wait for September! I know my son is interested in the drama program at St. Joseph too. Should be an interesting year!

It’s a rare thing, I can assure you. Normally my opening paragraphs are the size of most people’s entire blog posts. I’ve become much better lately at producing shorter, snappier posts in the interests of (hopefully) entertaining my visitors and attempting to keep you awake.

I feel good that the weekend is here and I’ve actually accomplished a few things this week. I’m beginning my journey towards becoming an early riser. I’ve been a night owl since late high school, so this is like climbing Everest to me.

I’ve still been getting to bed a little later than I should, but getting up early so I’m sort of burning the candle on both ends.

But, the weekend is here! I always like to have images in my posts and what do I find when I search Google Images for “thank God it’s Friday!”? You’ve got to laugh at that one. At first I thought it was a Dutch site, but  I think they were Swedish.

Anything going on in Edmonton this weekend worth noting?

I don't encourage drug use, but I do encourage laughing and this picture worked.

I have a particular obsession for macro photography and I especially enjoy taking pictures of plants, particularly flowers. I normally enjoy taking photos of wildflowers most, but there are certain domesticated flowers I’m fond of, such as the irises we’ve moved with us from B.C.

I think I like taking pictures of wildflowers because of the thrill of finding an unusual specimen in its natural environment. I like to wander in the wilderness or forgotten places searching for these flowers. I may be the only one ever to witness a particular flower in its fleeting beauty. I can be a little annoying as a hiking partner if I’ve got my camera.

Tips for photographing irises. Check out more of the wildlife and flowers in my yard.

Admittedly, it’s partially due to my participation in Empire Avenue, a kind of social media stock investing community/game. The more active you are, the higher your stock value will get.

There’s nothing wrong with having a little motivation. Sometimes we forget about things that are important to us and in recent years I’ve gotten away from writing and photography, at least on a personal basis. I still write professionally, but it’s not always the same. You certainly don’t have quite the same freedom.

I’ve been documenting some major family events recently, such as my uncle’s memorial service in Spokane, my daughter’s graduation in Williams Lake and my son’s grade 9 farewell from a Catholic junior high.

I’ve been putting as many photos as I can up on Flickr. As I say in my profile, my Flickr account isn’t so much a gallery of what I’d consider my best work, but more online storage of photos I have taken. I weed out the truly bad ones.

I know I’ve got lots of good photos in there, but I really don’t take the time to tinker with them in Photoshop as I see many people doing. My Flickr account certainly doesn’t function as a resume of my best work in hopes someone will randomly wander by and offer me a job as a professional photographer. I’m a little ways off from that.

I think my Flickr account is more of a documentary of my life and those around me, for better or worse. I also have been trying to get other family members to connect to my account if they’d like to download any of the full size photos so they can print them themselves. That’s been more of a chore, which is a shame because I think that Flickr functions pretty well as a hub for family and friends to share photos.

Colour accuracy

One of the issues I’ve always had with digital cameras is colour accuracy. It can be so tough to accurately capture the colours you’re seeing. I shot a set yesterday that I wasn’t too happy with, looking at the camera. I was pleasantly surprised when I loaded them onto my computer.

The colours of the flowers in my photos are very close to what I was seeing. That makes me really happy! If you look at my photostream in Flickr, you’ll see a lot of flowers. I’m a bit obsessed by them, but I prefer wildflowers and it’s better when they’re in their natural setting. I do have a few DVDs worth that I still have to upload too.

Sunsets and sunrises are another of my favourite photography subjects. It can be tough to get the colours just right there too. I don’t like to have to Photoshop them to get the colour correct. I prefer it to come out of the camera looking as it should.

I’ve been using my digital camera for four years now and I would say I’m reasonably accomplished, but I still have a lot to learn. I just bought a flash a few weeks back and that’s a whole other area I’ve got to learn.

I would like to try doing portraits with studio lighting eventually. I don’t want to be a pro, but I want to give it a try.

New camera equipment

As for equipment, one of my favourite kinds of photography is macro photography, so some type of macro lens is in my future. I would like a good quality wide-angle zoom, like a Canon 28-70mm f/2.8, but a Canon 24-105mm f/4 is another one I’m considering.

I have a 70-200mm f/4 already, and the 28-70 would be nice to cover the range. I thought a 24-105 might be nice for the overlap.

Eventually I’d like to get a full frame sensor body like a Canon 5D MkII. Then I’d be able to do some video also. Once I’ve done that, I’ll invest in a good wide angle lens.

I don’t plan on doing any of these things any time soon. Still undecided and I’ll invest in more lenses before I buy a new body.

Any suggestions on what lenses might be better or other lenses I hadn’t considered?