Lynnea Parker

At the beginning of February, now officially a month ago I graduatedearly from High school. I have always been excited for the time when I could put school behind be, at least for a little while. I will be starting Vancouver Island University in the fall attending the Bachelorsof Science program.

With my current free time, finding a second job has been on my list of things to do, but at the same time I have been trying to get out and do new things.

Just a couple weeks ago I went to the Nanaimo Art Gallery well dropping off resumes and inquired about getting some work put on display. That later developed to me now volunteering there and having three really nice works put up. So far I have Volunteered once, but in that time I have met some really nice people and look forward to reaching out into the art community more.

I am well on my way to making my first photography book. It features Landscapes and Wildlife along with some architecture and Still life. It is in full hard cover. The books are expensive, but they feature the best of my work from the last two years. Some of the photo's in the book are not featured on my website.

My Trip to Rabbit Island located just 20 out of Vancouver Island was amazing! I got to learn from five talentedphotographers from the USAand Canadafor a whole week. I have uploaded some photos in each of the galleries of mytrip. In the description is will say Rabbit Island '09. Kathy, theislands cook was amazing; the meals were great everyday no matter what it was.I would say I did learn a lot. I got to see what the other photographer’spictures were like and how I could improve in the future. I also got a goodlook at the camera equipment, and even got to try out a few new lenses and filters. 

Everyday we went by boat to new islands that surrounded Rabbit Islandfor picture taking. It was always go, go, go during sunrise and sunset. Wewould rest a bit and edit pictures during the day. We woke up at 4am or 5amalmost everyday to catch the perfect lighting in the morning and would shoottill about 7 or 8am. After breakfast we would head out again to a new islandand take pictures there till noon, when we came back for Lunch. After lunch theroutine would be to rest, walk around the island and edit pictures. Afterdinner we would all head out on the boat again to take advantage of thesunsets.

I do have to say that the mosquitoes were killer huge outthere. I didn’t know they could get that big! I of course didn’t botherbringing pants because the weather was supposed to be nice the whole week. Butbecause of that I got 20+ bites per leg! It’s all part of the experiencethough.

Our island manager and boat driver was Hugh, the cook wasKathy. I went along with professional photographer Don Gale (USA), Roy (USA),Bill (USA), John (USA), Steve (CAN.) and Me (CAN.) In the picture shown below, it’sme, Roy, Kathy and Bill. Everyone who went got along great and it was sad to leave on the last day.

Work on the Millstone River is progressing nicely, and last week we saw more fish coming down and into our traps to be counted, measures, weighed and released. I can only get out to volunteer on Sunday mornings because of school and work, but it is a great experience. I hope to get into the conservation/wildlife biology in university and this is a good introduction to the field. I love the hands on learning required in technician projects. Coming into May, Charles is expecting to see fish arriving in the hundreds, so everyone will be more busy. The fish we are most interested in are the Coho coming down the river and out to sea. These smolts have been in the river about a year now, and it is time for them to leave.

-Lynnea Parker

So I have been starting to get more involved in the environment by means of volunteer work in Nanaimo. The most recent was working with a Fisheries Technician on the Millstone River over spring break for two days. It was a lot of fun working in a small group planting native plants and trapping fish for data analysis. I learned a lot about the local ecosystems and water ways at the same time. The Millstone river is mostly man made over the last couple years and now it is complete. The goal of the river was to improve Coho Salmon stocks which were small because of the complicated waterfall blocking their paths. So far from what everyone has seen, there is already a significant improvement in numbers and health of the river. At the end I got a certificate as a "Vegetation Management Technician" with experience in many other areas such as invasive plant removal, fish trapping and sampling, identification ect.

Working with Charles Thirkill was great, he really knows a lot about everything.

I am now in the process of helping out at the ocean biological centre to help teach elementary kids about ocean life. That should start sometime before the end of this month.

Last week after a month of research into different models and sorting out canon vrs. Nikon problems I decided to go with the Nikon D90. It was a long time decision because I didn't know if I wanted to switch over to Canon and get the 40D or 50D. I decided to stay with Nikon primarily because all my equipment so far is Nikon and I do like the set up and feel of the Nikon products. The D90 by Nikon also had a far amount of impressive upgrades and capabilities compared to my old D40. A new twist to the D90 is that it can play Video. It is the first ever DSLR I believe to have HD video capabilities.I have started taking some pictures with my new camera and soon you will be able to see them on my site. I am also looking into turning my D40 into a infrared camera since I decided not to sell. It is really expensive to do though, so I will probably have to do with a filter instead.

-Lynnea P.

-Lynnea Parker

Things in the photography world are going great for me. Nanaimo has fully entered into fall now and the trees are just perfect for Photography. Actually last week was in my opinion the best week ever. All the leaves were golden but hadn?t dropped yet. This week more leaves are on the ground.
Along with photography, whenever I want to go take pictures i have to practice driving... its actually coming along good. not as scary anymore, ps. I was a hair away from hitting a buss on Sunday which was really freaky but I made it through.
Next week I am thinking of going up to Englishman River but that is an hour of driving on the highway.

-Lynnea P.