Happy Holidays

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Gerber Daisies

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Rubber Ducky

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I've got a Secret

Dave's Aunt Pam and cousin Abigail at the family reunion this past summer. The two of them are very photogenic.

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God of the Sea

This little planter was located for many years in the Koning's gazebo. Dave and I both think it looks like Poseidon, though I am almost certain it is not supposed to be anyone in particular.

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50s Portrait

Erin Armstrong-Hivale as a 50s housewife for Hallowe'en 2008.

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Presenting Baby

Baby Olivia being held by her proud and adoring Uncle John. Though she doesn't look impressed in this photograph, I assure you she was giggling and laughing two seconds later when John kissed and tickled her with his mustache.

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Upright

We went to the Peterborough zoo last summer. While I took a lot of photographs of the animals, I believe I took more of the flowers and plants that were around the zoo.

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Coming in for a Landing

Yet another shot from the cottage. I took many photographs of the seagulls trying to get a specific shot - I didn't manage to get the one I had in mind but I got some good ones while trying.

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Violet

Some more photos from the backyard of the Koning's. I hope their new home has just as many beautiful things for me to photograph as the previous one did.

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Dog Tag

Another photograph taken at Long Point this summer. A beautiful soft-coated wheaten terrier, named Kaylee (don't know about the spelling though), owned by family friends of the cottage owners, spent some there this year. She was so delightful that I decided this was the breed I want to get when the time comes.

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Running in the Sand

A photograph I took while at Long Point, Lake Erie this summer. It actually reminds me of the pictures that come in frames when they are first purchased.

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Gerber Daisies

A shot of some very colourful daisies.

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Baby Face

Baby Olivia. Isn't she adorable?!

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Duet

A group of flowers from the Koning's old backyard. Every time I spent a few days at their house I would take hundreds of photographs of their garden. It is just so nice there.

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100

This post marks my 100th on my photography blog. These 100 posts came much faster than the ones on my regular 'basic life' blog (the great abyss). This is quite possibly because these ones are actually easier as I usually have a couple photos I can throw up here whereas I don't always have something interesting to post on my other blog (though the posts that do get up there, don't seem to be very interesting anyway).

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Swimming with the Otters

Last summer Dave and I went to the Peterborough zoo. We attempted to watch and take pictures of the otters but the small (and irritating) children kept getting in the way. Turned out that one of the best photographs to come out of the trial was one involving one of the small children.

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Kitten 101

We found this kitten and her brother outside in the cold one day. We sheltered them for a couple of hours and I of course got several photographs of them. This one was absolutely crazy, she didn't sit still for more than a minute and was constantly investigating everything - in other words, she was great.

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Multimedia

I registered for my second course at Algonquin College yesterday. I was initially planning on taking two courses this term but my workload at DST has increased tenfold and it doesn't look like it will be decreasing until last spring/early summer (good for work and my company in general - but bad for my photography).
I registered in a Multimedia course which will teach my how to use Flash and Dreamweaver (and other such programs). I know the basics of these programs as I used them a bit in high school and for fun since, but I am no pro and can't make anything that looks even slightly professional. The overall goal of this course is to be able to design a photography website for professional use. As I am currently looking into getting my own website started, I think this is a good place to start.
I decided to take a course which won't be photo based since I am not the greatest with winter shots and really have no experience in it. I plan on practicing this winter with manual shots with the dSLR so that next winter I will be more comfortable taking a photo based course during a snowy season.

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80s Portrait

This photograph is of Christine Sweeton. It was taken during a portrait session we had to fulfill the assignment I was given in my photography course. I think this set of photographs, though incredibly 80s looking, turned out really well - although to be honest, it wasn't hard to make Chris look beautiful.

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Where the Buffalo Roam

I promise to put up shots from places other than Parc Omega soon - but for now here is another one, this time of a buffalo. You weren't allowed to feed these guys and when this one came trotting up to the car I could see why - they could easily destroy vehicles since they are absolutely massive. I believe the pamphlet stated they weighed approximately one ton. Though they are impressive creatures, their dark fur and sunken features makes them a little hard to photograph.

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Deer Portrait

Another photograph of a deer in Parc Omega in Montebello, Quebec.

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Fallow Strut

This little guy came over with attitude to try and get some food from us - it worked and he received some apple. He then spent the next 3-5 minutes trying to eat said apple with his tiny, adorable lack of teeth.

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Cuddled Cuteness

Another photograph from Parc Omega - this time of a baby fallow deer (fawn) being absolutely adorable.

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Deer Coverage

This is a photograph of a deer taken in Parc Omega in Montebello, Quebec this past weekend. I really loved it there and would suggest that any animal lover make the trip.

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Parc Omega

We went to Parc Omega this past weekend and I took a ton of photographs, as per usual. I had a tough time with some of the situations though as there were Arctic Wolves on top of pure white snow and as I have little to no experience taking manual photographs in snow, I wasn’t able to get it right. BUT I am happy with the rest of the photographs.

Above is a photograph is a Timber Wolf prowling around its cage. It seemed as if they were expecting something to happen at this end of their habitat.

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Reflections

These two images were taken as I walked around downtown looking for photographs for my class. The reflections were so clear they were pretty much screaming for me to capture it on 'film'.

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Gamble II

Another shot of Gamble's tombstone in Beechwood Cemetery. I took this when my photography class had a field trip to the cemetery. I wasn't feeling that great as I was pretty sick, so I went for something easy, something I knew I could get a great shot from.

*Note* I am using this photo for my photography course at Algonquin College.

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Portrait Studio II

Here are a couple images from the portrait studio class that the photography course I am in had last Wednesday (I apologize to the models if I have mispelled their names - or if I forgot them since the class, I will try and find out the spelling and actual names themselves next class)

This photograph was taken using flash lighting. Two flashes on either side (one main, one fill) and the hot shoe adapator to have them go off in time with my camera was used.
The photograph of Jordan was also taken with the flash setup. She seemed to actually not mind being a model too much - not nearly as much as other students, including myself.
This photograph of Lucrecia was taken using available light (ie. no flash). We had two lights directed at reflectors (to soften the light) and had to adjust our cameras to deal with the low light settings. It took me a few shots to be able to get my camera set up just right for these situations, but I eventually got it. Lucrecia seemed to really enjoy being a model, actually she admitted that she was really liking it so I have quite a few good ones of her from the class.

Unfortunately, I cannot use any of the images taken during the studio class for my assignment, but lucky for me I have a friend who doesn't hate having her picture taken and she is going to be my model for me - Thanks.

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Portrait Studio

Last night the photography class was held in a portrait studio at Algonquin College. I was really nervous about it to begin with for multiple reasons.
1) I have never worked with studio lighting before,
2) I am not the greatest at directing people in terms of positions and feelings to express, etc,
3) There was the possibility I was going to have to model for the other students (eek),
and 4) I have never really taken pictures of people in non-candid. non-tourist scenarios before.

It turned out to be a really good experience and actually quite enjoyable. I didn't end up having to model for anyone as there were students there that seemed to enjoy being in the spotlight. The lighting situations were fun and made me use my camera settings in ways I never have before to compensate for the low or high lighting. I got to use a hot-shoe to connect to the professional flash setup which was neat as I have never used a hot-shoe or the flashes before. I enjoyed moving the lights around and eventually became more comfortable with doing so and with directing the model, though I never really did that too much as there were so many other people directing it wasn't entirely necessary for me to do it (kind of a shame really).

The only thing was that there were just too many people. It was hard to get the shot you wanted and whenever you did, someone would come up and mimic whatever it was that you just did - so that was frustrating.

A while ago I came up with this ingenious idea of making my own background setup out of PVC piping and some bed sheets and have had the love of this idea rekindled since last night. The idea would be especially appropriate since I now have a second assignment were I have to take 7 portrait shots of the same person under different lighting situations, with different outfits (to get the colour right on them as well as the person) and different places. I am really looking forward to this assignment as it is something I have never done before and will actually make me think and be creative. The first assignment was things I do on a regular basis with my photography and therefore no real effort was involved other than taking the pictures and making myself select a certain number of them. This one is going to be tricky though and will make me think outside the box and get out of my comfort zone and all those other things people say. :)

Now I just need to find myself a model...any volunteers??

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Waiting

I took this photograph on one of my walks along the Greenbelt trails. She was trying to lure a bird to perch on her hand and eat the seeds therein.

*Note* I am considering using this photo for my photography course at Algonquin College so any and all advise, comments and/or suggestions you have about it would be greatly appreciated.

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Nevermore

I took this several weeks ago at Beechwood Cemetery. Had to follow the guy and his friends around for a little while until they landed on something interesting.

*Note* I am considering using this photo for my photography course at Algonquin College so any and all advise, comments and/or suggestions you have about it would be greatly appreciated.

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DA Contributions

I have written an article on DeviantArt. If you want to check it out here is the link: http://news.deviantart.com/article/59744/. Thanks.

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Dragonfly

This little guy sat and waited for me to take the shot at several angles so patiently. I took it along the Beaver Trail, part of the Stony Swamp Conservation Area in the Greenbelt of Ottawa.

*Note* I am considering using this photo for my photography course at Algonquin College so any and all advise, comments and/or suggestions you have about it would be greatly appreciated.

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Civilization

This is the Museum of Civilization as seen from the Ottawa side of the river (Parliament Hill to be precise). I used to go to this museum every year with school but now that I live in Ottawa, and am older, I find I don't go here nearly as often as the exhibits don't change that often and the fun ones are really only fun once in a while. It is still a very good museum.

*Note* I am considering using this photo for my photography course at Algonquin College so any and all advise, comments and/or suggestions you have about it would be greatly appreciated.

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Assignment #1

We have been given our first assignment in the photography course I am taking at Algonquin College. I am actually pretty excited about it even though it is pretty basic and simple. The assignment has multiple parts to it so far and it will get bigger as the course goes on (so essentially we have one assignment with multiple parts only some of which we have been given so far).

1. Depth of Field
   a. 2 sets of photos showing depth of field (ie. take one photo in each set at the smallest and then the largest aperture to drastically change the depth of field).
   b. Two to three general pictures showing depth of field.
2. Motion
   a. 2 Freeze Action Photographs (Name pretty much says it all – capture motion in a single moment, all aspects of the photo should be sharp)
   b. 2 or 3 Selective Motion Photographs (Depicts motion by allowing some elements of the photo to be blurry (moving parts, etc))
   c. 2 Panning Photographs (Captures motion by having background blurred while moving subject remains sharp. This is achieved by moving the camera at an identical speed as the subject passes by (ie car, etc).)

I technically have all the photos I need to fulfill the assignment as I took shots for each category when I was downtown this past weekend, I just want to make sure I have the best and most interesting photograph for each one. I don’t want to have the same pictures as everyone else and at the moment my panning shots are nothing special – just cars passing by, though they do have the parliament buildings in the background rather than just trees or something else.

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Demonstration

The day I walked around Parliament Hill was also the day the group Sister Spirit (I apologize if I have gotten their name wrong) was there doing a demonstration of violence against women in the native community - mostly concerning how they believe it is virtually ignored by police and politicians.

*Note* I am considering using this photo for my photography course at Algonquin College so any and all advise, comments and/or suggestions you have about it would be greatly appreciated.

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Perched

Took this little guy's picture while walking along Beaver Trail, which is a part of Stony Swamp Conservation Area here in Ottawa. Never would have been able to get this shot without my new 70-300mm lens, so glad I got it.

*Note* I am considering using this photo for my photography course at Algonquin College so any and all advise, comments and/or suggestions you have about it would be greatly appreciated.

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Persons

I took this photograph last spring while I was walking around Parliament Hill. It is part of a display on women getting the right to vote. I plan on making another trip to Parliament Hill now that it is Fall - this display will probably be part of my walk again.

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Hogs Back Park

A quick look through my photo collection effectively shows that one of my favourite places to take photos is Hogs Back Park. I first went to this location as a reward for biking the along the canal as hard as I could – I got to stop and leisurely take pictures in a pretty setting. I later started going there on a semi-regular basis since I moved right around the corner from the park. It was fast and easy to get there and gave me something to do when I was bored or looking for creative release. There are the pretty standard animals, chipmunks, chickadees, crows, squirrels as well as the odd rabbit or raccoon. Of course the Hogs Back Falls are right there waiting to be captured on film and the abundance of trees, which are absolutely beautiful in the fall. Sometimes the paths can be a bit dark and hard to take non-flash pictures, but they are usually pretty well lit and wide enough to sit down on the side of them and set up some great ‘patience’ shots of more timid animals. I have found that one of my greatest tools when coming here is a container full of bird seed – though I have recently decided to trade up for a container full of sunflower seeds as the animals tend to just pick those (and the peanuts and corn bits) out of the seed.

Recently, I moved a little further away from the park and have found myself stopping there on my way back home from other locations. It is a great standard and if I am feeling a bit iffy on any shots I took other places I can always stop here and know I will get a couple good ones.

The above shot was taken at Hogs Back Park two weeks ago . I sat on the side of the path with some birdseed and my Nikon D80 and waited for the chickadees and chipmunks to get used to me and start coming closer. It was a great couple of hours.

*Note* I am considering using this photo for my photography course at Algonquin College so any and all advise, comments and/or suggestions you have about it would be greatly appreciated.

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Fountain View

Another shot from Beechwood Cemetery. This one is of the bird fountain with the crematorium in the background. Again I think the changing colours of the leaves add a bit more drama to the scene - maybe it's just me.

*Note* I am considering using this photo for my photography course at Algonquin College so any and all advise, comments and/or suggestions you have about it would be greatly appreciated.

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Gamble I

This photograph was taken on my first visit to Beechwood Cemetery here in Ottawa. I like it because of the bright fall colours in thebackground trees which I thinks makes this typical picture of a tombstone a little different.

*Note* I am considering using this photo for my photography course at Algonquin College so any and all advise, comments and/or suggestions you have about it would be greatly appreciated.

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The Weatherman

Unfortunately the weatherman was right. It rained and is raining and is dark and dreary and miserable outside. This doesn't make for good pictures. I do not like the weatherman.

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How 15 minutes turns into 3 hours...

The photography class I am taking on Wednesday nights is 3 hours long, minus a 10-15 minute sbreak halfway through the class. During that time we usually cover about 4 or 5 different topics and look at an abundance of photographs taken by the teacher. I have recently come to the conclusion that the information I have picked up from any of the classes I have attended so far could be taught to me in about 15 minutes, including the time it takes me find the buttons or other necessary features on my camera. Though it would be nice to save the time and magically have the other 2.75 hours back, I feel that I would not want to pay $280 for 3.75 hours of training (I believe there are 15 classes), so I guess I will stick with the 3 hours.

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Continuing to Learn

I attended Class #3 last night and I know believe I will learn one or two things with each class. This time the teacher spoke about ISO, file formats, depth of field and the hyper-focal point. I have always understood ISO (aka film speed or sensitivity) as I used to work with traditional film and it really was crucial then. When it comes to depth of field I like to think that I am quite learned and experienced. I enjoy playing with the depth of field in pictures and I find it useful when trying to get the viewer to see the image the way I intended it to be seen, so there wasn’t much new information here either. The new data I picked up comes with the other two topics: file formats and hyper-focal point.

In terms of file formats, it was not the actual formats that were new. Jp(e)g, tiff, gif, raw – I had heard them all before and used them as well. The new stuff came when he brought a raw file into Adobe Photoshop and showed us what it could do. He could basically ‘re-take’ the shot under any lighting situation he chose. He could warm up or cool down the photo, increase or decrease the exposure, fill in dark spaces, etc. He could even set the white balance to a certain spot on the picture and have the rest of the image change as required. He showed us an example of a jet engine testing area. Due to the lighting needed to protect the bulbs from the high temperatures, the picture came out completely yellow. By setting the white balance on a spot he knew to be white (from being inside the area), the entire image changed as if there were no lighting problems whatsoever. Walls turned yellow from the lights, went white as if there had been no problems at all. It was amazing!

The second new topic was the hyper-focal point. As I understood it, the hyper-focal point is essentially the distance at which one should focus their camera to have everything in the picture focused. In other words, you will have the greatest depth of field when you focus your lens at its hyper-focal point. It has to do with the depth of field ranging from 1/3 of the focal plane in front to 2/3 of the focal plane behind the subject (the focal plane is the area in focus). The hyper-focal point puts the end of your ‘2/3’ at infinity and therefore as long as nothing is between your camera lens and the 1/3 mark, everything will be in focus. We were given a term to Google to find websites that would give you the hyper-focal point for specific lenses, etc: depth of field calculator (original huh). Anyway, if you are interested in getting those great landscape shots, this is definitely something to look into.

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Already Learning

I have attended two of my photography courses so far and I have already learned several new things such as:
1. How to increase/decrease my exposure using the exposure button my camera (as well as where it is, etc.)
2. What the metering mode button does (and where it is on my camera).
3. How to use histograms generated by the camera.
So far, I have found number 3 the most useful bit of new information yet.

I went out both Saturday and Sunday of this weekend to take pictures for the class and though I took LOTS of picture I only have about 30 I want to work with to try and perfect. I am of course going to have to see if I can get the teacher's opinion on them - in advance of any marking of course, hehe. Once I decide that the photos are complete I will of course post them here for everyone's viewing pleasure.

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15. Food

So many pictures for this one - I love taking pictures of great food. Especially when you can take great macro(esque) photos!

Fresh fruit for breakfast.
Or how about croissants?Yummy toasted bagels anyone?Or how about a variety of fruit.

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14. Concentration

I really thought I would put a picture of people playing backgammon or some other intense thinking game for this one.

But when it came down to it, Chris making the sign for their "Canada Day" Party fit the bill the best.

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13. Butterfly

Oh no - my first (and only) missed category. Throughout the entire weekend I saw one butterfly - as we were pulling out of the driveway heading home. Evil butterfly just wanted to rub it in my face that he got to stay there and I had to go back to Ottawa.

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12. Bubbles

Ah bubbles - they are so great.

Yet again, not a traditional view of bubbles - but without a bubble set or the idea to make our own, this is as good as I got on the trip - air bubbles in the waves hitting the shore (and party streamers tangled in the drift wood).

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11. Mechanical Things

This category isn't really hard to fill really, it is just hard to find pictures of mechanical things when you are trying to espace from it all. So here are my two pictures for this category, both a little forced in my opinion.

The fan is mechanical - it has gears and runs on electricity.

The BBQ has many valves, which are types of mechanisms.

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10. Time Passing

A tricky category to say the least. I could of course play the "see number 8." card as technically that is two pictures of the same sand castles (the second just had some additions put onto the property), but let's see what else I have shall we.

Still somewhat tacky series of photographs to fill this category - but it seems to be all I got.

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