Ten years ago today

May 14, 2013 by Andrew | Leave a comment

You know it doesn’t seem that long ago, to tell you the truth it feels like only yesterday but with a lot less memories.
I actually googled the date of May 14, 2003 and I found a CNN article stating that WHO (World Health Organization), declared Toronto was removed from the cities that are spreading SARS. It said 20 days passed since the last locally acquired case of severe acute respiratory syndrome was isolated in Canada, which meant “the chain of transmission is considered broken”. Toronto was considered the epicentre of the biggest SARS outbreak outside Asia of course. I don’t really remember that news, but I do remember that I was in a hospital that day getting even better news.
I do remember SARS and its effects on the world and the hospital I frequented around that time. I remember my brother was no longer allowed to accompany me and I remember having to wear gowns, gloves, eye protection and even face protection. I was extremely mad, they were extremely hot and uncomfortable, I was also mad that at the same time I was fighting for my life with a weakened immune system, I also had to worry fight to not contract this deadly worldwide disease.

As you can tell….I was one of the lucky ones to survive them both.

See a little over ten years now I had to man up, use every survivor instinct, be brave, keep my chin up and not let weakness or this thing called Cancer get the better of me. In my mind I failed miserably, but others saw differently. Now it is something I will never shake, never forget, and never ever stop thinking about it.

One day, ten years ago that is, I felt something pop through my ribs when I was roofing one day, I thought it was just a pulled muscle from the awkward positions I put myself in for the starters at the edge of the roof but I was wrong in the most unknowingly kind of way. When I went home and stripped down for a shower, there was a lump protruding from my ribs. It didn’t hurt or bother me so I figured I would wait a day or two to see if it would go back in and settle down. I went to my other job as if everything was fine, but after the second day I asked a friend to take a look. He immediately said I should go get it checked out, like that minute.

I went to the clinic (I really didn’t have a regular doctor, I never really needed them much growing up, a few doctor notes for flu was about it), I did see the same doctor the few times that I did go but he pushed on it lightly, asked me a few questions and immediately sent me to get an ultrasound.

After the series of appointments and tests my life was turned upside down. I ended having to endure 5 treatments of chemotherapy to shrink my Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma tumour that took out half of one kidney, the other has taken over and all is well there. It was by far a walk in the park as they hit it with a very aggressive cocktail but I tried to make it seem that way. I hated seeing pain in anyones eyes, worry or fear so I put on a show that I don’t think anyone saw through at the time. I was scared to death, but wasn’t alone.

I was very lucky my brother willingly took time off to stay with me during treatments and to make sure I was alright. He also kept my spirits up whether he knew it or not. I can never thank him enough and hope I never have to repay the favour, ever but if the day came, there would be absolutely no hesitation. We grew up together, lost the closeness for awhile but became best friends again and conquered Cancer together!
Thanks Chris!

The nurses at the Oshawa Lakeridge Cancer Clinic are topnotch as well as the volunteers. I saw Dr.Chang throughout and still see him every year. He is by far one of the best doctors I have ever dealt with. Thank you to all of you there as well.

Things have changed a lot from those days, I married the beautiful woman I started dating just before treatment and we have a son, a bun (in the oven), a dog, two cats, a house, bills, hopes and dreams just like everyone else and wouldn’t have it any other way.

I always remember those who weren’t as lucky as me and say each name aloud on the drive home to remember and never forget. I will share my anniversary with them, their families and friends as well as everyone else affected by Cancer.
Hopefully we can knock out Cancer soon and be able to treat it like a common cold so our kids and their kids do not have to endure what we have.

The movie 50/50 and other cancer movies are very hard to watch for a survivor, but tell a story best.

Posted in Life Tagged Cancer, Non Hodgkins Lymphoma |

Snapping Some Snapping Turtle Photos

May 8, 2013 by Andrew | Leave a comment

I was on a walk today in the Bowmanville Conservation Area and ran into a couple of people checking out a Snapper sitting on a rock enjoying the sun. I stopped to look and take a couple of pictures and my dog sat and expected petting from these two strangers. I told them last year (last June to be exact), I grabbed some pictures less than twenty feet from where this turtle was sitting in the creek. I’m glad to see him or her back but don’t know where they go for the rest of the year. I only see them for a short time and then they are gone.

Anyways here are all 5 photographs, these and the others I spoke about can be found here.

Posted in Photography, Wildlife Tagged Bowmanville Conservation Area, Bowmanville Creek, Bowmanville Ontario, Snapping Turtles |

Faces of the Bowmanville Zoo (Free Limba?)

May 2, 2013 by Andrew | Leave a comment

My family went to the Bowmanville Zoo last saturday and was quite unimpressed. The Zoo itself was great, they offered free admission and a show where they had to unfortunately bore the kids and defend themselves, but after said and done we had a good time. It was the people wanting to ‘Free Limba’ that really disgusted me not once, not twice but three times.

When we were driving there we knew we would have to park in the overflow parking across the street as the Zoo offered free admission. Well guess what….we couldn’t. First, there was a female on the street in the lane we were in as we were TRYING to get in to park, then these people BLOCKED the entrance so we couldn’t get in to park. After driving up the road and turning around we were able to find a spot on the Zoo property.

Some protester were blocking the entrance to the overflow parking.

As we were readying ourselves to enter I noticed that these protesters were yelling at the FAMILIES that had parked in the overflow parking making their way to the zoo, one woman was even using a megaphone. I mean these are families…with children.

Free Limba protesters were shouting at families and children making their way to a free admission zoo day.

Secondly, like I said the zoo had to bore the kids with a show where they were defending themselves for the first time in the history of the zoo and even had to put in remarks against accusations of paying people off for the sake of the Zoo. The show is meant for kids but because some people got together to form what THEY believe is right, the kids AGAIN SUFFERED.

The last disappointment came form a man that sat through the zoos show who wore a white ‘FREE LIMBA’ shirt. He came out and was waiting for the person he was with as they went to the washroom. I was there as well with my son waiting for my wife as this guy got on his cellphone to relay they zoos comments. I overheard this guy giving different information that I had heard in the very same show we BOTH were in at the same time. This guy was also swearing in front of my son. Mr.Righteous with potty mouth!! Again the kid(s) suffer. It’s not okay to keep the oldest captive elephant comfortable and happy, but it’s okay to spread inappropriate language to small children that pick up and repeat 99% of what they hear. Thanks guy!

You know everyone has their opinion, I express mine here. I see no wrong doing at the zoo. You may have more information than I do, but who’s to say it’s the correct information. As I mentioned above, I heard first hand information being twisted moments after the zoo gives it. I can see your passion, and that is the best thing to have, but is Limba really unhappy? Is Limba sad? Limba does work, if you call being social work. All I am really saying is that it cost money to keep these animals happy and feed and a lot of these animals are rescues that the Zoo went head over heels to make the lives of these unfortunate animals have a far much better one. They are in captivity but in my opinion, they do not know any other life and I can’t tell whether they are okay or not with it, neither can you.

If all of the protesters think they got our attention, or MADE our children see something your trying to push on them, on us…..you did it all wrong. I am fully disgusted in the mannerism of which your group acted. My son was just confused and lost out just a little on a great experience which was all thanks to the zoo. IF your group had of acted better, with more consideration to families and mostly the children, with maybe passing out pamphlets of information (created from your money, being your opinion) to let us decide for ourselves instead of having it pushed upon us, maybe you would have reached more people. I myself hate pushy people that have a one sided closed mind and will not persuaded to thinking what you do because of your actions.

There were two sides there, this side was for the Bowmanville Zoo.

Below are a sample of photos I had taken at the Zoo that day and the rest can be found on the Faces of the Bowmanville Zoo page.

On MY website, I WILL promote my opinion. Let you remind everyone that my opinion is the only one that matters haha, just joking. I do have to approve all comments before they appear on this page and promise I will NOT disapprove opposing opinions. I WILL NOT approve anything inappropriate for children to read. If you write a comment that is free of curse words and a within reason rebuttal, I will approve it. Same goes to those who take my side of opinion.

Posted in Life, Photography, Website Tagged Bowmanville Zoo, Elephants, Limba |

Happy Earth Day

April 22, 2013 by Andrew | Leave a comment

I have to say that I was completely surprised and amazed yesterday when I took my family to the trails that I frequently walk. We decided to do our part for Earth Day and clean up the trails of debris and garbage, even if it was a day early we wanted to teach our 3 year old the importance of this day and the importance of keeping our surrounding forest areas clean. I said to my wife that we needed to go to these trails because they in the worst shape and I know because I take my dog there almost daily, but to my surprise someone or a group of people beat us to the job.

I wrote about these trails, and the very few that look after them just last wednesday and the complete turn around of this area is just unbelievable. There were 2 huge piles of cleaned up garbage in two different areas, one was gone as of this morning and hopefully the other will be gone soon, but both from these trails that people have neglected. Even though it seemed spotless, we were still able to pull out a garbage bag full and a recycle bag full, but it was slim pickings for garbage to pick up. Like I said, I thought this area was in most need and it was, until now.

On my walk with my dog this morning, the forest seemed so different. I don’t know if it was coincidence but there were an abundance of sightings of animals, birds and even butterflies. The forest seemed alive and thriving. There were three very large Osprey Eagles hunting the creek which I only managed to get a few good photographs of, and more than normal Belted Kingfishers in the area that I spotted, and a bank swallow even landed on a branch close enough to pose for quite a few pictures. I saw two butterflies, I think they were White Admiral but will have to look them up after as well as well as a couple of rabbits running into the bush after hearing my dog.

Thank you to all that contributed to making this happen, who got dirty as we did, who donated precious time to take care of the Earth and this forest are, and who are the inspiration for more to come. They didn’t do it on Earth Day, either did my family, but we all did it for Earth Day. I know there are select few that put in time here and there, myself included, but that wasn’t enough. We all need to remember to take out what we brought into the forest to preserve it for many years to come.

Again, Thank You!

Earth Day Cleanup

Posted in Life, Wildlife Tagged Bank Swallows, Belted Kingfishers, Bowmanville Creek, Bowmanville Ontario, Earth Day, Nature, Osprey Eagles |

Rumble In The Shwa 2 Galleries

April 18, 2013 by Andrew | 1 Comment

As promised I have uploaded all the photos I have of this awesome night of entertainment. Each matchup seemed pound for pound non-stop action that kept people on their toes the whole night. Loads and loads of people packed the house to watch everyone that night. Like I said in a previous post, I was disappointed in the quality of my photos due to lighting problems at the event and hope for a chance to try again. If you are a fan and din’t go, it is a MUST SEE next time the event comes around.

There are 4 galleries of photos and a lot that were not posted in the Facebook folder that was posted. You can see them from my page Andrew Lahay Photography, don’t forget to like the page while your there. Here are a few samples and the galleries with these and the rest can be found by clicking here.

Posted in Photography, Sports Photography, Website Tagged MMA, Rumble In The Shwa, The Roi |

Spring Clean Up

April 17, 2013 by Andrew | Leave a comment

Today while on a walk with my dog, I happened to run into one of the many nature lovers/photographers I have met along the way this past year. I actually saw his truck parked so I knew he was down in the trails but when I saw him in the distance I saw that he was carrying a large plastic bag. He was doing what I have done only a few times this year and that was cleaning up garbage along the trails as he took his dog on a walk. I have seen a few others do this from time to time and it always makes me happy to see this. Not many care to do this or feel that it’s not their job to do it but who will do it if we don’t.

Most of the garbage is from people who don’t care about the area and are too lazy to carry their waste to dispose of it properly and the other is from recycling waste being blown from nearby neighborhoods. I can’t stand people that litter. I mean the things I see are ridiculous, diapers, empty pop and water bottles, chip bags and most of all, empty coffee cups. There are ‘Party Pits’ down there that are full of broken glass making it dangerous to all as well. Then there are the many fishermen and women that think its alright to leave their unwanted hooks, other fishing supplies, garbage, and even clothing.

It’s a good thing there are people like Rod and myself and the others that help keep the area clean for our children and all the inhabitants of the forest but I don’t think it will ever be totally cleaned up. There are even garbage bins in the area that can be used and extra ones placed there for both fishing seasons, so there should be no excuse for littering. It’s not hard to do the right thing, if you can carry it into the forest you should be able to carry it out if the forest, unless your the biggest idiot alive of course.

Anyways, thank you Rod and the others for caring for the future of the forests and it’s habitants, and thank you if you are one of the many that have common sense to keep your footprint to a bare minimum while visiting such places.

Posted in Life, Photography, Wildlife Tagged Bowmanville Conservation Area, Bowmanville Creek, Bowmanville Ontario, Salmon Run, Trout Run |

Rumble In The Shwa 2

April 16, 2013 by Andrew | Leave a comment

Recently I was lucky enough to get ringside for the second instalment of Rumble In The Shwa held at the Roi in Oshawa, Ontario on April 6th, 2013. This was an amazing experience both as a photographer and a fan of the sport. I’ve only really watched the big name MMA fights on TV in the past but after seeing this, upfront and close and behind the scenes, I’m definitely a fan and hope the have me back for number 3. I have to hand to to all the men, women and children in and out of the ring who helped make such an amazing show. I mean this place was packed and I was also told the first time was packed as well so it’s only upwards and onwards for this group and event.

Each and every match was packed with non stop action and none were boring in the least. There were even younger athletes who put their best efforts forward to give the crowd the best show possible, and succeeded. There were some last minute cancellations and it was a bit of a hectic time for weigh ins but once the show started it was smooth as can be.

Once I was introduced, each person was very helpful and informative. Brad DaSilva seemed to be the ‘go to guy’ before the show started, not because he had to because he made himself to be. He was even chatting with us about life and cars and such when he wasn’t busy. He was in the corner many times that night and not fighting so he wasn’t preoccupied with the fight but once he was asked to help with something he was gone. Great guy to have been introduced to, he definitely made it easier for us that night.

Another guy that was very helpful was another guy in the corners as well as taking on one of the MC roles for the night, Tristan Kalijundzic. I mean they are all just one big family and help out anyway they can. Tristan was of course busy helping to get things done and preparing for the night as well as helping his brother Brendan ‘RedRum’ Kalijundzic prepare for the main event.

I myself have never shot anything like this so it was a great opportunity and learning experience that I have learned a lot from. The photos did suffer a bit because of lighting problems they were experiencing, and out of respect for the fighters flashes were not allowed and to top it all off, I didn’t have the best lens for the job. All things considered I salvaged as many as I could after 9 days of going through the 1400 shots, tweaking and adjusting each one to be able to use them. I couldn’t believe how many photographs I had taken even though I barely moved from 2 or 3 spots around the ring as I forgot my pain meds and couldn’t really move that much.

The experience was something I am very grateful of and hope there are more like these in the future, I would gladly jump at the chance to do it again.

I have uploaded the pictures in a folder that can be viewed from my Facebook page Andrew Lahay Photography, and will be uploading them here within the next couple of days. I did make three YouTube slideshow videos in the meantime, the links are below. The music for these videos are just a couple of guitars tracks I threw down to test out my new computer and software, but I needed something to add to the videos, it will be better in the future. If you happen to stop by my Facebook page, don’t forget to ‘Like’ it while you there if you like it.

Posted in Sports Photography Tagged Mixed Martial Arts, MMA, Muay Thai, Rumble In The Shwa, Sports Photography |

Three New Species of Birds Listed

April 5, 2013 by Andrew | Leave a comment

This week I added three new species of birds bring a total of 47 species. I caught two pictures of an American Tree Sparrow while walking my dog in Bowmanville, eight photographs of a Brown Creeper while on a walk with my little son at Sir Wilmot Nature Area in Newcastle, and eleven photographs of a Saw Whet Owl while on another nature walk with my little guy at the Thicksons Woods in Whitby, Ontario.

These are a few samples and the rest can be found in the galleries linked above.

Posted in Photography, Website, Wildlife Tagged American Tree Sparrows, Brown Creepers, Saw Whet Owls |

Top 200 Updated

April 4, 2013 by Andrew | Leave a comment

Its that time of the month again, no not that time. Time to update my Top 200 which is always hard making room for the newer favs of mine and hopefully your. I did it tho and these are the newest additions to the gallery. I hope you like them as much as I do.

Posted in Photography, Website, Wildlife Tagged Andrew Lahay Photography, Barred Owls, Black Capped Chickadee, Canadian Geese, Coyote, Downy Woodpeckers, Ducks, Galleries, Top 200 |

This weeks photo updates….

April 3, 2013 by Andrew | Leave a comment

I have been a little late for this weeks photo updates but here there are.

This week I added 39 photos of some photogenic Downy Woodpeckers, 48 Black Capped Chickadee photos, 28 of the Cardinals out and about and 13 Pictures of Canadian Geese. I still have many more to upload and just do some here and there but they will all be eventually up, I can’t say I will ever be caught up as I love taking these type of photographs but I will try.

Here are some samples and the rest can be found by clicking on the names mentioned above.