Category: Photography

Wow, I wish I’d realized a year or three ago how much easier it is to take a photograph each day when you’re relying on your iPhone instead of your camera! There’s something a little bit more playful about the pictures I’m finding with my iPhone, and the fact that I’m using a lot of the Hipstamatic app means that I’m not spending a lot of time cropping or editing photos — I’ve discovered extra HOURS in each day. Hours that I could have used to do housework, or play with my kids, or find the cure for cancer, or follow more people on Pinterest. And what have I done with all those extra hours? Played in Photoshop, of course! I finally got around to building a timeline cover for my Facebook profile. What do you think?

Here’s the week in pictures. This was the Rideau Canal earlier in the week — before it got soggy and was closed just in time for the last weekend of Winterlude. I like how the arches of the Laurier Avenue bridge and its shadow create a frame that draws your eye right to the skaters.

A colleague left these out on Valentine’s Day. I really should go over and say thanks for the cookies, and let her know that they’re now for sale on Getty Images! 🙂

This picture makes me laugh because I thought it was okay when I first took it, but I didn’t love it. It was too green, thanks to the Hipstamatic filter I’d chosen, but I liked it a lot more when I pulled it into Photoshop and warmed it up to a nicer hue. It was really just a throw-away picture, though, and if I’d had anything else for the day I would have never posted it. Not only did jump right into Flickr’s Explore, but it won me the second round of a little competition I like to play in on Flickr as well. Lesson learned: one person’s throw-away is another person’s art!

The melty season can be such an unlovely time of year, as the snow compacts and condenses but doesn’t quite disappear entirely. That’s the wet, icy feel I had in mind with this one. (I don’t know why I’m fixated on ditches with weeds in them, but I do seem to be.) I lined up the composition so the bullrushes moved on a diagonal, which is more dynamic than a straight line, and held my phone at a higher angle so the stalks were against the uncluttered snowy background to make them stand out more. And, to crop out the garbage in the half-melted snow.

The gas station at the corner has been out of use since we moved in, but these pumps are still standing, getting rustier and more vintage-looking by the day. I’ve looked at them dozens of times, thinking of photographing them, but the bleak day and the melting snow finally seemed like the right conditions to capture them.

I haven’t abandoned my Nikon entirely, though! In fact, I’ve spent WAY too much time last weekend reading my (gasp!) camera manual and a couple of books about using flash on and off camera. In fact, for Valentine’s Day Beloved got me the reflector kit and stand I was going to buy for myself, so instead I bought one of those Gary Fong diffusers. I have to say, I’m delighted with the reflector kit and completely underwhelmed by the diffuser — so much so that I’m thinking of taking it back.

The idea behind the diffusers is that direct flash light is harsh and unflattering, but by diffusing it and making the light come from a larger and more disperse area, you make the light softer and more flattering. You can achieve similar effects by bouncing the light off the ceiling or a wall, but I’d heard about the Gary Fong diffusers for years and thought I’d try one. The darn thing was hard to put together and difficult to put on, and when I used it I found the light was still as flat as it would have been with the pop-up flash on my camera.

See how Lucas’s face looks a little bit plastic? The straight-on light, even with the diffuser, takes out all the nuanced shadows that give his skin its texture. I converted it to black and white, which made it mildly better, but I’m still not thrilled with it. I do, however, like the big smile and the sparkle in his eyes. 🙂

This was the same. This is a cute picture and the expression on the cat’s face makes me chortle every time I look at it, but it looks like a snapshot to me, like something you’d take with a point and shoot.

So clearly, my spring project is more portrait strobe work. Kids, consider yourselves warned! 🙂 Lucky for me, they’re willing subjects.

Speaking of willing subjects, this is kind of funny. Yesterday, I got my monthly sales statement from Getty Images, and that darn cat has made his fourth straight appearance! Each month I’ve been with Getty, I’ve sold a different picture of Willie. This time, it was this picture of Katie and Willie sort of cuddling. It sold to a company in Great Britain, and someone in Chile bought a picture of our decorated Christmas tree from 2010.

And here I thought the pictures of the cute kids would be the big sellers. Maybe instead of more kids, I need more pets?

I‘ve still been taking more pictures with my iPhone than with my camera this week, partly for convenience but largely just because I am a sucker for the shiny new toy. I like the way I can go and revisit some favourite places and shots and get something a little different from them, like this shot of the Fairmont Chateau Laurier downtown. Doesn’t it look even more like a fairytale castle than usual in this hipstamatic take?

There’s a newish meme that’s been going around, called “from where I stand” or #fromwhereistand. I noticed it recently and thought it was a kind of a fun idea, so I contributed a couple this week. The idea is that you take a picture of your feet, wherever you are standing. Sophisticated, right? Hey, it’s not always rocket science. First, one with the Nikon that I called, “Is it spring yet?”

And this one. I like how the cat can telegraph his disdain so clearly no matter what angle I capture him from. 🙂

(I like this meme. Expect to see more of these in the future!)

There will be a full blog post about this one soon, but in the week of crazy I haven’t pulled it together yet. Consider this a teaser! 🙂 Did you know Fisher-Price now makes DC Superfriends Little People? This one is Wonder Woman in her invisible jet. How awesome is this? Best! Little People! EVER!!

I’ve been thinking a lot about self-portraits lately. I follow a few women on Flickr who do an extraordinary job with them, but it’s something with which I’ve never been comfortable; I’d rather take a picture of a stranger than myself. I can’t quite silence the voice that wonders why anyone would want to see more pictures of an aging mother of three when I can show you pictures of the kids, the Mill, and the other shiny, pretty flotsam and jetsam I see. And yet I love the self-portrait work of others. I know that you should conquer that which makes you uncomfortable in order to grow, so I figure taking more compelling self-portraits is a good challenge for me in the next little while.

Given all that, I played with this set up for a while. Not exactly a self-portrait as it could be any woman, and I don’t really even like it that much, but I spent long enough putting it together and playing with the remote that I’ll include it here. I do like the quote I had in mind when I was putting it together, though: “The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.” ~ Dorthea Lange

Speaking of cameras, did you hear the news yesterday that Eastman Kodak is getting out of the camera business? After 132 years, the company that made photography accessible to the masses will never make another camera. Here’s the various models of Kodak from my little vintage camera collection (and a visitor I didn’t expect, but who adds a little je ne sais quoi to the tableau.)

This is my favourite picture of the week.

Cuteness trumps all, yes?

It’s a little bit ironic that now that I have a more comfortable versatile carrying strap for my Nikon, I’ve fallen in love with taking pictures with my easily-pocketable and much less bulky iPhone — no carrying strap required!

My parents got me the Black Rapid camera strap I’d requested for Christmas. It took me quite a bit of waffling to get used to the idea of carrying my camera suspended upside down by the tripod screw, and a few weeks to convince myself that it was safe dangling over my hip like that, but now that I have used it for a while, I love love love it! The accessory strap that comes with the D7000 was good, but the Black Rapid strap is longer, and makes for an easy cross-body carry without pinching the, um, girls, if you know what I mean. Not to mention the fact that when you’re a busty girl, most cross-body straps are a little less than flattering. I like to carry the camera resting just to the side of the small of my back, and the Black Rapid strap is fully adjustable. The only annoying bit is that when I’m walking at a good clip, I tend to somehow trigger the video feature on the camera, so I’ve come back from photo safari walks with photos interspersed with short bouncy video clips of my feet and people walking past on the sidewalk — all upside-down.

Ahem, all that to say, while they each have a place in my heart, I have been enjoying the convenience of mobile photography this week. While it’s not unheard of for me to take the DSLR with me to the grocery store, I didn’t have it with me last Saturday. I hadn’t realized when I left the house how sparkly and gorgeous the world would be when the sun shone on the ice coating all the branches from the storm the day before. I like this photo, but I love the quote I found to go with it: “Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand-and melting like a snowflake…” ~ Sir Francis Bacon

These were surreptitiously snapped in the Bulk Barn while I was shopping for candy Lego pieces for Simon’s birthday party. I put them together with a fun app called Diptic.

This week was Simon’s birthday, and we invited the Lego Guy back for another successful Lego party. He is really amazing — I think this party was even better than the one he did for Tristan’s birthday two years ago. Ian is a natural teacher and strikes a perfect balance between instruction and play. Simon happily declared this the “best birthday party ever” while I learned that you can host a party or photograph a party — but it’s a challenge to do both!

Unfortunately, it wasn’t a perfect week. Lucas has been very sick since Wednesday — in fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him quite so sick. He’s had a fever that tops out around 102F and just won’t stay away, and a terrible juicy cough. I finally brought him in yesterday to see the pediatrician, and he’s got enough of a crackle in his chest that we ended up with antibiotics in case it’s pneumonia again (he had it not all that long ago.) It’s just not right seeing my energetic boy taken out like this.

And if you live in Ottawa, you know that this weekend is the official launch of Winterlude. I took a lunchtime walk on the Rideau Canal skateway (world’s largest, if not longest!) and got some fun shots with both the Nikon and the iPhone that Getty Images snapped up.

And last but not least, no piece of photographic gear is truly considered broken in until I can take it for a test drive with my favourite local attraction, Watson’s Mill in Manotick.

I’d say it passes the test, eh?

Oops, has it really been a week since I’ve put up a new blog post? That has to be a new record for me. Sorry about that, I’ve been knocked on my keister by a cold and a migraine and kindergarten registrations and the preparations for birthday season, which begins here this weekend.

I did still manage to keep taking pictures, though! The absolute highlight of my week was spending some time with the kind and talented Ottawa photographer Christine Denis, assisting while she took portraits of these nine-day-old twin boys. *melt*

Isn’t it almost enough to make you want to have more babies? They were so calm and docile and delicious, and I learned so much about newborn posing and portraiture from Christine. Wow, is it ever a lot of work, but oh my goodness, how adorable is this?

I’ve got a few more I hope to share later in the week, but I think those were my two favourites from the session. From warm and fresh to old and cold — I was delighted to find what I think is a pretty unique view of the Peace Tower when I was out on a walk downtown. This is the ruins of the former carbide mill on Victoria Island, build in 1892 by Thomas “Carbide” Wilson. I noticed the windows and shifted my perspective back and forth a bit (“zoomed with my feet” as they say) until I had the Peace Tower lined up in one of the windows.

We visited friends who foster reptiles on the weekend, and they introduced us to Edgar, the Florida King Snake. Tristan, Lucas and I thought he was pretty cool, but Beloved feels about snakes pretty much the same way Indiana Jones does. (“Snakes? Why does it have to be snakes?”)

The rest of the week was all-iPhone, all the time. You know I love my vintage typewriter, and I finally got a Hipstamatic print of it that I like.

This was one of the days I was home sick. It was literally the easiest shot I could compose, short of lying on the couch and shooting a picture of the ceiling. Lucas draws at least half a dozen or so pictures each day, lately almost always of characters from Club Penguin (which he is not, ironically, allowed to play.)

I’ve had these silk daisies as a centrepiece on the table for nearly a year and taken quite a few pictures of them, but never any I liked enough to keep and none that capture what I like about the colours and the glass vase and the bits of sea glass in the bottom of it. The late-afternoon light was hitting it just right, though, and I’m really happy with how this one came out.

And finally, a shot from the snowy, blustery drive home yesterday. I don’t know why I am so fascinated with rural mailboxes, but I am. Maybe I was a country girl in a former life? I called this one “mailbox minimalism”. I don’t ordinarily like the dark frame film on Hipstamatic but I think it works well for this one.

I promise to be a little more diligent about getting you some fresh content for next week!

My friend Heather thinks I owe you a retraction. Remember this post, where I congratulated myself for my level-headedness and maturity in managing to pull myself out of a frenzy of consumeristic covetousness and NOT impulse-buy a new iPhone 4S? She thinks I owe you a retraction because I went out and actually did buy the new iPhone four days later. I think I deserve a medal for waiting for four whole days. And pro haggler that I am, I managed to wrangle a deal on my data plan so that I’m actually paying less per month for wireless than I was for our ancient non-data-plan Krazr, so we’ll save the price of the new iPhone in about a year and a half. Yay!

And oh my sweet lord, what a treat is the new iPhone 4S! I have only barely begun to figure out the voice-activated Siri stuff, but the camera? Wow! Well here, don’t let me tell you — let me show you!

“Hey, look Willie! Mom got a new iPhone!”

I went out for a drive on Sunday to take some pictures and started playing with Hipstamatic, an app I’ve had on my iPhone for more than a year but never warmed to. I’m kinda digging it now! (Do you like the digital sticky tape holding the collage together? I added that in Photoshop.)

This was the view from my office window when the sun hit an icy tree on Sussex Drive, also via Hipstamatic.

And this one is straight-up out of the iPhone, no app required. (I have been coveting a wide-angle lens for my Nikon so I can do this kind of big-nose distortion, but the iPhone’s angle of view is just wide enough to satisfy my creative urge for now!)

And speaking of the Nikon, I didn’t abandon it entirely this week. I’m glad I had it with me on Monday when this spectacular sunrise lit up the sky over the Byward Market. No colour enhancement on this one, I just pointed my camera and clicked.

You might have seen this one in my post yesterday. It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while, but only recently had enough skill to be able to make it come out like I planned in my head. The text is actually added after the fact in Photoshop, which means I can put up just about any message I want. I’m thinking it might make a fun new blog header one of these days.

As I said on Flickr, stand by for the “I am so much more than just a mom with a camera” version. 😉 Speaking of which, I’ve made a few allusions recently to Internet drama. I thought you guys would get a kick out of this. I got tangled up in a war of words on a Flickr forum recently with Ottawa photographer Paul Couvrette, who called me a “mamarazzi” and criticized me for (among other things) undercharging for prints and making my pictures available online. While the criticism stung at the time, especially since it was more or less unprovoked and definitely overly vicious and personal, the apology he later posted was laugh-out-loud funny. I had no idea at the time, but apparently he had “personified [Dani] as an icon of the ill direction towards which I believe photography may well be headed.” Nice, eh? I’ve never been called an icon of anything, let alone the downfall of an entire industry. And I thought I was just taking pictures because it made me happy. So if I hike my prices next year, you can blame Paul Couvrette. 😉

Mostly, though? I still just love taking pictures.

And hey, this made me feel a lot better. I got my Getty Images sales statement at the end of the week, and this picture from October apparently ran in the Wall Street Journal during December.

And this picture of Willie was bought by a company that makes greeting cards and calendars with titles like “Napping Cats of 2012.”

Hmmm, can you guess which one I’ll be adding to my “as seen in” portfolio? I mean, the WSJ is great, but the Napping Cats of 2012 calendar? Does it get more prestigious than that?!