Category: Photography

Photo of the day: Stalking Chef Michael Smith at the Flavour Shack

Remember how my mom said I should call our trip to PEI “Stalking Chef Michael Smith“? Well we couldn’t very well come all the way here without making the drive up the coast to Souris, PEI, to see his brand new (9 days old!) shop the Flavour Shack, could we?

At the Flavour Shack

Is it ironic that my favourite photo of the trip is one I didn’t take? Not only are the peeps in the Flavour Shack the kindest, most friendly peeps in all of a province that seems to be swarming with kind and friendly peeps, but one just happened to be a photographer as well. And as we were posing, they were pulling out an apron for me to wear (I later bought my own!) and then suddenly Beloved was wearing the jacket of Chef Michael himself!

We loved the Flavour Shack, and I can’t wait to find five peaceful minutes to peruse my new (autographed!) Fast Flavours cookbook. I have tonnes more photos to share of Souris and Basin Head beach and our sea glass bounty too, but first I have to get organized for the long drive tomorrow. Last night in PEI, and it was a perfect day and perfect way to end the trip. Happy anniversary indeed!

The boys of Green Gables, Cavendish beach and more lighthouses

So this pretty much sums up our vacation so far:

No really, the clouds actually looked like this! ;)

Even though it was a longish drive from our rural corner of the Island, we couldn’t really come all the way to PEI without checking out Anne of Green Gables shore, could we? An hour and a half drive up the twisty, winding north coastal roads (because we hate to drive the same road twice if we can avoid it) brought us from the southeast corner of PEI to tourist central at Cavendish, and our first stop of the day was the famous Green Gables.

Cavendish, PEI

Cavendish, PEI

Cavendish, PEI

Cavendish, PEI

We decided to forgo the rather expensive Avonlea Village and opted instead to check out the kitschy shops of the Cavendish boardwalk, and explored Cavendish beach, where white sands meet red sandstone.

Cavendish, PEI

“Hey boys, see those red rocks way over there? We should go climb on them!” says no sane mother anywhere on a blazing 30C day with 60 km/h winds whipping sand. Except me.

cavendish

That’s at least a kilometer walk, maybe more, and at least half of it is picking your way from rock to wobbly rock. Unless you’re part mountain goat, which my eldest and youngest clearly are, because while I tottered and lumbered and held my camera wrapped in a bag to protect it from the sand, they leapt like gazelles with wings.

Cavendish, PEI

Cavendish, PEI

Cavendish, PEI

We made it all the way to the point!

Cavendish, PEI

And then back again.

Cavendish, PEI

And then back in the car, where we heard about the hurricane (!) bearing down on PEI. Seriously, what IS it about our family vacations and hurricanes? Oh well, we should be on our way home by the time it hits, but we may get brushed by it in Maine. Best to enjoy as much of the Island as we can while the sun shines. Hey, you know what’s a really good idea after the longest day of driving around the Island? Heading down to the most southesterly point of PEI to check out Cape Bear Lighthouse in the sunset!

Cavendish, PEI

Closed to the public by the time we arrived, but still a gorgeous drive through the most pastoral land we have seen on an Island that seems to be lousy with it. I want to live here please!

Cavendish, PEI

One day of exploring left! And I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of the day Beloved and I got married. Happy anniversary, sweetheart – I do love you so! xo

Photo of the day: Canada Day in Charlottetown

If you’re going to be in PEI for Canada Day, there are few things better I can think of doing than going to see Anne of Green Gables the Musical at the Confederation Centre for the Arts for their first performance of their 50th (!) season. That’s more than 2800 performances and 16 different Annes (with an “e”!) since 1964. We loved it, loved it, loved it. If you’ll remember, I had never read (oh the shame!) Anne of Green Gables before I read it to the big boys earlier this year, and so we had a nice mix of familiarity and unfamiliarity with the story among the five of us. Even Lucas sat (mostly) still and engaged through the whole thing. It was perfect!

So between the hour drive in and then back out of Charlottetown and the three hour performance and the obligatory stop for ice cream and a bit of wandering and dinner (BoomBurger, highly recommended! Best fries on the Island!) we don’t have a lot of photos of our Canada Day celebrating the sesquicentennial (150th anniversary) of the signing of the Charlottetown Accord, which gave birth to Canada. But a gentleman outside the was kind enough to act as a human tripod and take this one for us, and I think that just about sums it up.

Canada Day 2014

Look mom, I’m IN the picture!! 😉

Photo(s) of the day: Postcards from PEI

We made it!

Prince Edward Island - day 1

We nearly ran out of gas in rural Nova Scotia (that would have been an adventure I could do without) and I underestimated the first day of travel by about 90 minutes (which coincidentally was 90 minutes more patience in the car than the boys could achieve).

Prince Edward Island - day 1

We saw the the most terrifying moth I have ever seen, which has been identified as a Luna moth, and no matter how many people tell me we were lucky to see one is an experience I could have done without. A follower on Instagram helpfully informed me that they have no mouth or digestive tract – they live to procreate and then die. This makes them even more horrifically terrifying than I originally found them.

We cruised through New Brunswick in blazing sunshine, which was a lovely change from the hydroplaning ride of death from our last Maritime adventure in 2010. And the Confederation Bridge really is a spectacle to behold.

We’d been in PEI for about 10 minutes when we’d experienced lobster (thank you Subway), had our first Anne of Green Gables sighting, and enjoyed the ambiance if not the taste of Cows ice cream. Then we spent another hour and a half traversing the province to the southeast corner, down increasingly rural roads until we had to follow a rutted grass lane through the bush to get here, our home away from home.

cottage

From the same spot I was standing to take the middle photo of the cottage above, I swiveled and took this photo of the big boys playing in the ocean (and nearly doubled over laughing at Tristan sputter and cough “oh my god, the water is SALTY!” ha!) – it’s about 75 feet from the front porch to the sea!

Prince Edward Island - day 1

And as if that weren’t enough adventure for one day, we decided to explore the nearby villages for dinner. Apparently it is still lobster season, because the traps were piled high on the docks in Murray Harbour beside the fishing boats, looking ready for business.

Prince Edward Island - day 1

Prince Edward Island - day 1

Prince Edward Island - day 1

And finally, the one thing I’d been hoping for, planning for, dreaming of during six long months of waiting. Morning coffee in salty seaside air, watching the sun rise over the ocean. Mother nature sent me a pretty good sunrise for a welcome gift, don’t you think?

This is the sunrise over the ocean I watched with my morning coffee. :)

Let’s see: Confederation Bridge, lobster, seafood chowder, fishing village, boys in ocean, morning coffee watching the sunrise over the water… it hasn’t even been 24 hours and I’ve got most of my PEI to-do list accomplished! 🙂

(Nearly) Wordless Wednesday: A road trip to Perth

You know how much I love Manotick, but I fear there may be another contender in my heart for the loveliest town in Eastern Ontario. Hello Perth, where have you been all this time? I’ve lived in Ottawa for more than 20 years and yet this was the first time we spent any significant time in this absolutely adorable little town. If you’re looking for a day trip this summer, I highly recommend Perth!

Perth vignettes

For years, to me Perth was not much more than the fast food strip and last place to pee before Ottawa when traversing the Highway 7 route from southern Ontario. One miserable winter day last year, Beloved and I discovered the flea market on Gore Street and although we were barely in town for 20 minutes, it piqued our curiousity enough for a return visit. If you ever want to fall in love with a place, apparently there’s no better time than a brilliantly sunny warm Father’s Day afternoon in June.

We checked out a few of the antique shops, the flea market and a book store, which passed most of the morning in a leisurely browsey sort of way.

Father's Day fun in Perth

Father's Day fun in Perth

Father's Day in Perth

Father's Day in Perth

And then we had lunch on the patio of Mex & Co, overlooking the beautiful river. It really felt like a little prologue to our PEI vacation next month.

Father's Day in Perth

Father's Day in Perth

My only regret is that we had to hustle back to Ottawa after lunch, but even the drive along Perth/Franktown/Richmond Road is bucolic. I gotta admit it, I’ve got a bit of a crush on Perth and I’m looking forward to another trip later this summer. There were lots of interesting shops and beautiful green spaces we didn’t get the chance to explore!

Photo(s) of the Day: Catching Up

Oops! Fell out of that habit of blogging new photos as I was posting them. Here’s the last few.

Most of the photos I’ve taken this week are just puttering around the house anyway. Like Bella, Queen of the Porch, who has decided that the doggie bed is simply not good enough for Her Royal Doggyness.

Apparently Miss Bella is to fancy for the dog bed on the porch.

And of course, Willie gets equal lens time. The kids were on their way to bed when they hollered, “Mom! Come quick!” I was a heartbeat away from panic when they further said, “Bring your camera!”

Willie in the dryer

Silly old cat!

I had tried to post this one to Flickr, but apparently Flickr is neither taking calls from Instagram nor allowing me to post directly from my iPhone these days. Oh Flickr, how I mourn your wayward ways. Ahem, anyway, it’s interesting to see how many more locks there are on the Corkstown Bridge these days, which by the way is just about the perfect distance from my office for a lunchtime walk. 🙂

Quite a few more locks than there were back in August 2012 when I first photographed them, isn’t there?

Lovers' locks on the Corktown Bridge

Once this rain stops drizzling, I think this will be shaping up to be a very photogenic weekend – stand by for more!

Photo of the day: What do you mean you don’t keep your typewriter on the porch?

I found a new toy at a garage sale this weekend: a gorgeous vintage Olympia SG-1 manual typewriter, circa 1950. It’s a beast of a typewriter, I’m sure close to 30 lbs if not more. Beloved laughed at me for picking it up (“Don’t you already have one of these?”) but even he couldn’t argue with the $5 price tag.

Doesn't everybody keep their typewriter on the porch?

I just put it on the porch until I have the chance to give it a proper cleaning, but I gotta say, I kind of like it there. A typewriter makes for perfectly good porch decorations, don’t you think? And much as I love it, with its extended 15″ carriage, I’m not sure where else I can keep it – but I simply had to have it. 😉

Photo of the day: Lucas on the porch

One of my favourite models, helping me practice my on-camera fill flash techniques on the porch today.

Lucas on the porch

I have been swearing for years that I would learn off-camera flash. I have taken at least two workshops, read many books and countless blog posts. I’ve bought umbrellas, gels, softboxes, and modifiers, all chasing the magic key that would unlock my understanding. I’ve tinker with the flash every now and then, but I have never come close to being comfortable with the technique. Everything I read said I needed to get the flash off the camera, but there were just too many variables for me to control to consider using it for a portrait session.

And yet, when I looked back at a lot of recent work, I was able to see that this is a technique I simply must master. I spent a couple of years learning exposure and composition inside and out, and most of last year teaching myself photoshop and lightroom magic. This is the year that I internalize how to use the flash, on camera and off. This is simple fill flash from an external flash mounted on the hot shoe. It helps add a little light to Lucas’s face and that sparkle to his eye, and helps balance the bright light behind him.

Is it the most creative lighting ever? Nope. Is it flat and directionless, like most on-camera flash? Nope. Is it a good place to start? Yep. 🙂