Pointing and shooting. And running.

 If anyone reading this blog is in anyway considering advancing their photography skills but don't have an expensive camera or can't afford to get one, I'm telling you you don't need one to start out. I'm becoming hopelessly addicted to my point and shoot camera to a point where my Nikon D90 is probably feeling a bit neglected, you know, if it had feelings, which it does. I just LOVE it! It was a wee bit expensive for a compact camera but it has so many features and is so portable that you can throw it in a pocket and go and never miss a chance at a great image. It's loaded with settings that allow you alot of the manual functionality of a larger camera. I've used compact cameras in the past but this one is winning me over big time.

That said, this past weekend Ottawa hosted the annual event simply titled 'Ottawa Race Weekend'. Runners, walkers and wheelchair atheletes from around the world come to Ottawa to participate. The route is certified distance and a Boston Marathon qualifier. Elite runner Arata Fujiwara broke event records clocking times slightly over 2hrs for a 40k run and amputee athelete Rick Ball of Orillia, Ont. set a marathon world record of just under 3hrs. There is also a half marathon, 10K, 5k and the family 2k during the event with over 40 thousand people participating this year. Some people sign up to run as true competitors, however a lot of others run for fun, for exercise, to appreciate life, to honour a loved one who may be sick or has passed away. They are brothers, sisters, moms and dads, sons and daughters, husbands and wives, grandmothers and grandfathers and friends. Many years ago Steve and I ran the 5k and now were planning to try it again next year in the 10k or higher. Here is a link to the event http://www.ncm.ca/ and some pictures I took with my little Panasonic. Most of the shots were taken very quickly moving through a crowd so I had no time to compose anything. They were all very random and quick. You have to love it when a camera tries this hard for you.