What a beautiful day for a walk.

I trundled off  after lunch to Bear Creek Park, near King George Hwy and 88th Ave in Surrey. The sun was out and it was fairly warm.  A nice change from the last week or so with the snow, ice, rain and cloudy skies.

While the main paths had been cleared at sometime over the last couple of weeks, most of the trails were still just paths cleared by stalwart, walking visitors. One path I followed had been cut by a skier and someone else walking the tracks.

I  took a few pictures and surprisingly, met a few people. It’s amazing how some things just seem to attract a conversation with strangers. A dog, a baby, or a honkin’ big camera all seem to do the trick. Ok, I can’t vouch for the baby, but from what I’ve seen…

I stopped to look for a picture at the station for the park’s miniature railway. A gentleman and his partner approached and said, “You’ve got a camera.”

Smiling, I said yes, and while he started reaching for something, he asked if I’d take his picture.

I thought he was going for a business card, so I could email the picture to him. Nope. He pulled out his Canon point and shoot and set it up for me to use.

There was no viewfinder on his Canon and I only had one hand free, so while holding the little LCD screen out in front of me, I took the picture. Didn’t tell him I’d been drinking coffee all day and that it was probably going to have a characteristic caffeine blur. . Sigh, there goes my cred as a photographer ;-(

They seemed happy though, and we talked photography for a while. He drives trucks and takes his little camera everywhere. She loves his pictures.

Later as I was leaving, I ran into another family. The gentleman saw my camera and he had to tell me that he had seen some owls hunkered down on the tracks under the miniature train. Then he pointed to some birds flitting around the bushes beside us and insisted I take a picture. Too bad the little birds were too far away, too small, in the shadows, etc. But I took a picture anyway. He seemed happy, even though he didn’t see the picture 😉

It was a beautiful day for a walk. I met a few people, and I learned a few things about shooting in the snow. What’s better than that!