The Brown Knowser

Not being a tall man, I always like to climb structures to gain a better vantage for my photography. Despite the temperature being around 40°C, I was never deterred from carrying my full camera bag and lugging around all of my gear. In 1989, visitors were still allowed to climb up the great pyramid at Chichen Itza and the structures of Tulum. On my current visit to Mexico, the only pyramid I'll be climbing is the great one at Cobá. Because I'm still on the Mayan Riviera and without access to my computer, you'll have to see my latest photos of my Mexican trip after I return, next Tuesday. In this photo, I have my camera bag strapped over my shoulder. It held two zoom lenses, a flash, and about a dozen filters. One of my travel companions used my Minolta X-700, which had the MD-1 motor drive attached. I believe my 50mm lens is mounted. You can also see my tripod, which I carried almost everywhere but seldom used. Around my neck is my secondary camera, a Nikon One Touc...

Every time I look, Ottawa gains another brewery. Or two. Or... I don't know how many. It's getting hard to keep track. At last count, we had almost 30 microbreweries in Canada's capital city, and there seems to be no end in sight. I'm not complaining. Ottawa has some of the best craft beer I've ever tried. But I wonder how easy it is for a brewery to do well, knowing that there are several more eager to take money from beer lovers. It's not enough to make good beer. You have to stand out from the other breweries, make people not only want to visit your brewery, but hang around and want to return. More and more brew shops are attracting customers with spacious tap rooms, where you can enjoy a pint or two, munch on some nibblies, and hang around for a couple of hours. It's not enough that you simply pony up to a bar, try a sample, pick up some cans or bottles to bring home, and leave. Think of brew pubs like Vimy, Tooth and Nail, Flora Hall, Stray Do...

The only women on this island, as far as I could tell, were the ones we brought with us. I had three with me. There were loads of others on the boat. Isla Mujeres, or The Island of Women , was our party destination for the evening. Just to the northeast of Cancun, Mexico, it was an up-and-coming tourist destination, and we were off to a beach party. Johnny Banana and his band was to perform live Caribbean music while we danced and participated in drinking games, all organized by a Cancun tourist group. My lady friends and I were drinking a lot over our vacation. And our drink of choice, surprisingly, was tequila. Normally, I can't drink tequila. It all goes back to an evening, in my teens, when some friends and I got into the stuff that we raided from one parents' liquor cabinet. We had already had a couple of bottles of beer—we had waited outside the Brewer's Retail store (now, The Beer Store), looking for someone who would buy us a six-pack—and decided to do a co...

Bags are packed, tickets and passports in hand. Muscle pain is under control . We're doing this! I have a couple of blog posts in the pike, for while I'm gone. When DW and I return, I hope to have stories and photos to share, as well as one or two videos. See ya...

I'm cursed. For many years, just before a trip, I have lower-back issues. In 2010, the family had planned a trip to New York City. Fourty-eight hours before we were scheduled to leave, I threw out by back and spent five days on the floor in our family room. We had to cancel our hotel reservation and vacation days, postponing our vacation for more than a month. I've cancelled more than a couple of trips to Montreal. In 2014, just a week before our family vacation in France, I was out of commission. I only figured out what I did this weekend, last night. We had a very mild Thursday. This winter has been especially cruel, with bitter-cold temperatures and a seemingly endless pile of snow, and when the temperatures climb above the freezing mark, it's foolish to not take advantage of it. Having been out of commission for most of the winter, with my recovering foot (it's getting better and better each week, by the way), my driveway has suffered somewhat. DD18 has ta...

I had a blog post by the same title in 2013 , but that's okay. One of the great things that I really like about my 360-degree camera is that the software that is used in post-processing removes the selfie stick that comes with the camera, which means that the resulting image looks like it came from a drone or from another photographer. When I made my first video with my Insta360 One X , I used four of the six scenes that I captured with the camera. But when the files were transferred from the camera to my smart phone, one of the scenes left a still frame in my Google Photos timeline. The photo captured me, as I walked to the first lookout point, at the bottom of the falls. It's shot from above, the horizon bending to the camera's fisheye lens. I took the still image and processed it with Prisma—a tool that I haven't used in quite some time—using the Dallas filter. It almost looks like a candid shot, as though I was unaware that an invisible lens, hovering ...

Apparently, I make a face when I eat kimchi. In 1999, as DW and I boarded our plane that would take us from Seoul, South Korea, to Vancouver, British Columbia, on the first leg of our journey back to Canada, I swore, "If I never eat kimchi again, it'll be too soon." Kimchi—a fermented cabbage infused with hot pepper paste—is South Korea's national food. It's eaten at every meal, is included as a side dish at every table in every restaurant, and is an ingredient in many Korean dishes. It has a pungent odour and a sour flavour, much like a spicy sauerkraut. In the two years that I lived in Korea, I never really developed a taste for it; though, out of politeness, I would have at least one bite whenever it was served to me. I liked kimchi when it was fresh, where the cabbage crunched when you bit into it and you only tasted the spice—not the sourness of the fermented leaves. So, when I said goodbye to Korea, I convinced myself that I'd never eat kimchi ag...

It's amazing when a world-renown, Juno-nominated artist takes the time and energy to give back to his community. Especially so when he does it for youngsters who hope to follow in his footsteps. #613FUTUREBLUES 2017 For the third year in a row, JW Jones is holding his #613FUTUREBLUES music jam for young musicians. And he's putting out the call for young talent. Jones is looking for Blues musicians between the ages of 12 and 18, who have knowledge of this music genre and are able to perform in front of an audience. He has opened up a virtual audition, where those who are interested must send a video or download link, such as wetransfer.com , in a private message to his Facebook page . The performance will be held on Sunday, April 14, at 2:00 pm, at Lone Star Texas Grill—1211 Lemieux Street, near St.Laurent Blvd. and the Queensway (across from the St.Laurent Shopping Centre). If you know a young musician who would be interested, please spread the word. Share this po...

I've made my first 360-degree video. It's very simple, but it's a start. This video was shot on Saturday, at Hog's Back Park. I walked on the snow-covered pathways along the falls and over the dam. It's three-and-a-half minutes long and involves four scenes. Post processing was performed with Insta360 Studio 2019 and Pinnacle Studio Ultimate. The music was picked from my playlist: "We Have Everything" by Young Galaxy . Let me know what you think. I have more experimentation to do with my camera, including time shifting. Shooting the video is easy: it's the post-processing work that is the biggest challenge. Hopefully, I'll have it mastered in time for my vacation, next week.

I just might try my hand at vlogging. (Is that a word?) Recently, I've lamented over what a lousy videographer I am, going back to the days when I recorded DW's and my typical day in 1997, in South Korea. With our upcoming vacation in Mexico, next week, and my solo return to Korea, in May, DW and I have wanted to capture some footage of our travels. I even want to share this footage on The Brown Knowser and some of my social-media accounts, including Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. For years, we've owned a tiny Sony video recorder but have rarely used it. My father, actually, uses it more: he owns a track car and mounts the camera on the roof or behind the driver's seat as he speeds around race circuits. The images are sharp and give a good perspective of what it's like to drive a race car. DW and our kids have taken the camera to the beach or to lakes, and have shot some footage of swimming with friends. But I can count the number of times in which they...

I don't tend to get excited when two breweries collaborate. The first time I tried a brew that was made by different microbreweries, I was disappointed. There was something mediocre, at best, about their product. The beer was so forgettable that I no longer remember which breweries had combined forces. I've had other collaborative brews since then, and while the beer was fine, I really felt that the breweries had made far better creations on their own. But last Friday, as I was enjoying an English bitter at Flora Hall Brewing , I noticed on their draft board that they had gone into cahoots with Stray Dog Brewing . Both Flora Hall and Stray Dog are among my favourite breweries in Ottawa. The name of their concoction also intrigued me: Zero IBU IPA. I just had to pick up a four-pack and bring it home. IBUs, or International Bitterness Units, chemically measure how bitter a beer can taste. The higher the number, the more bitter the flavour. The bitterest beer I've ev...

It ranks with one of the stupidest statements I've ever heard. I was already being cautious: still walking with a limp, I have to be careful with every step, especially when walking in snow. If a path is well-trod, I'm pretty good as long as the snow is hard-packed, but the natural unevenness still gives me pause, makes me plan my steps well. If I'm simply following in another's footsteps , it can be trickier and I'm more susceptible to losing my balance. After last week's trial and error, I've decided to avoid walking in snow this way. Last Saturday couldn't have been more beautiful. Plenty of sunshine and warm enough that you could endure the outdoors without wearing mittens or gloves—for a short duration, anyway. I had the added privilege of exploring a lovely and peaceful site in the Ottawa Valley, the Blakeney Rapids, in Mississippi Mills. Being a member of the Ottawa Photography Meetup group, I joined a handful of photographers and converge...