Category: Photography

Wow, this week I posted the 300th picture in my second 365 project! Funny, now that I’ve relaxed my own rules a bit (it’s okay every now and then to post a picture today I took earlier, for example) I’ve taken all the angst out of the project and enjoyed it a hell of a lot more.

Speaking of bending rules, this is a stretch even by my own standards, but Saturday was so crazy at the Blissdom Canada conference (I still have that last post pending, I’ll get to it eventually, I promise!!) that I would have loved to set this up and take it myself, but it was just easier to hand off the camera. So this is a sort-of, not-quite, stretching the rules to the breaking point addition to my 365 project, taken with a little help from Sarah at Mom Central: me in the giant bouncy chair in the Fisher-Price suite at Blissdom:

Speaking of busy and Blissdom, I didn’t put up a 365 post last week because I’d already posted a lot of the pictures from the (very photogenic!) weekend, so here are two lonely leftovers from last week. I loved the dramatic sky churning up over the farm in this one, so I processed it in black and white to emphasize the shapes and lines.

Someone on Flickr called this one Catasaurus Rex, and I thought that summed it up just about right. 🙂

After the intensity of the weekend, I couldn’t be more grateful for the quiet solitude of this leafy tunnel through the trees. (I desaturated it a bit to make it feel calmer. The riotous greens and yellows were a little too energetic!)

We took the boys to an antiques and collectibles show on the weekend. Imagine my squee of delight when I found this collection! They were ridiculously overpriced, though, and I can’t justify spending more than a couple of dollars on cameras that will only be used as props and toys, so I didn’t end up taking any home with me. (Also, I already own one of at least four of the cameras shown in this picture!)

I didn’t realize until I was putting this post together that I spent at least two days looking skyward with my camera this week. I like how you can see the individual maple leaf outlines in this, and the range of colours on the tree. Did you know that the yellow and orange fall colours are simply the absence of the green chlorophyll, but the red is sugar trapped in the leaf?

I never stop being in awe of the Parliament Buildings, but it’s hard to find an angle that hasn’t been done to death. I like this first one and think that hint of cloud cover is what makes the shot, but wish I’d backed up just a wee bit more to get that back gargoyle in the frame.

And speaking of frames:

This was a quick shot on a busy day, but the light on the pumpkin stems caught my eye enough to make me grab the camera.

And speaking of eyes, is this not the definition of “evil eye”? He’s a caiman, and he almost bit my leg off as I was traversing a swamp in the Amazon jungle we met him thanks to the traveling show from Little Ray’s Reptile Zoo at the boys’ school Halloween party.

I enjoy writing these weekly posts because I can often see themes emerging, and love how they present themselves. This week’s pictures, though, exactly reflect the disjointed busyness that was the week itself. A little bit of this and that, with no time to stop and think about any of it.

Here’s hoping this coming week is a little calmer, if not a little more thematic.

I was really, really excited and really, really nervous by the time Saturday rolled around last week. I’d been in contact with a sweet couple that had asked me to photograph their wedding, and by the time the wedding rolled around I actually had butterflies in my tummy. (Can I say tummy? It seems like a bit of a silly word, but “butterflies in my stomach” just doesn’t roll off the tongue the same way, does it?)

Anyway, the day was grey and freeeeeeezing cold – at least, freezing in comparison to the sunny, mild September we’ve just enjoyed. I was a little concerned that the light would be flat and dull, and the ceremony was scheduled to end just a few minutes before sunset. I kept a wary eye on the forecast all week long.

And just look at what Mother Nature gave us!

I swear, I was even *more* nervous about not screwing up the rainbow shot than I was about not screwing up the ceremony shots!! No pressure there, no siree. (Eek!) Aren’t they just an adorable couple, though? They made me feel like a part of the family during the wedding.

And then I spent the whole day on Sunday playing with the pictures I’d taken, so much so that I didn’t have a chance to take any new pictures at all, so I stole another favourite from the wedding as my picture of the day for Sunday, too. (Hey, my project, my rules!) I love love love this shot, from the light to Erin’s expression to the girliness of all those ruffles. I guess I needn’t have expended all that angst over the light, eh?

It was, on the whole, a rather dull and rainy week. Rain can lend its own flavour to a scene, though, like the drops on this web and fence. (Yes, I am fixated on a few key elements lately. Rural shots, fence shots, and textures. Fixated may not be a strong enough word for it.)

Oh right, here’s another fixation: vintage anything! (Surprise – with texture!)

You can’t really blame me for being fixated on the fall colours right now. This is such a photogenic time of year – it’s hard to take a bad picture. (Oh look, more textures!) (I really like this one. I think it’s the best texture work I’ve done recently.)

Enough with the textures? Okay, some straight-up cuteness for you. I love that he so loves flowers!

(Doesn’t he look so grown up in that one? I am always intrigued by photographs of kids where you can see the grown-up lurking inside and peeking through!)

And finally, this one with some of my favourite toys. I’m heading out to the Blissdom Canada social media conference next week (squee!) and as I make checklists in my head about what to bring (iPhone? Check. Camera? Check. Laptop? Check.) this picture came together. I called it “Road trip, vintage style!”

I dunno, you think I can fit it all in the overhead bin on the plane? 😉

Maybe it’s the warm, saturated colours that come with autumn, but I noticed that I have been completely fixated on the colour red in my pictures this week. Reds with green, reds with purples, reds with blues — it’s been a very red week!

Like this one – clearly, it was red laundry load day for this family. (As one of my friends on Flickr pondered, “Wonder if they were all red going into the washing machine?”) What is it about laundry lines? I love them, and this one in particular.

The reds are a little more muted in this one. This little pot of flowers has survived the whole season, from drippy spring to droughty summer. I fear the porch picture season may be drawing to a close!

And completely by fluke, I picked up on almost exactly the same colour palette when I found this colourful wall in the Byward Market. (I really had to resist the urge to straighten that lamp in photoshop. It’s still irking me!)

On that spectacularly summer-like Sunday we had, I had the pleasure of meeting this family of five. I’ll have a few more pictures from their portrait session to share soon. Aren’t they lovely?

It’s been ages since I’ve been out to Dow’s Lake, and they’ve got things moved around a bit. I snapped this sunset shot while I was waiting to meet with the bride and groom to be for a wedding I’ll be shooting later today. I’m so excited!

The fall colours are really starting to show off now. I loved how a quick break in a dark day gave this ordinary-looking field a bit of drama.

And finally, the only picture of the week that doesn’t feature the colour red: poor Katie, who’s face clearly says to me, “He’s TOUCHING me!” Funny, when we adopted Willie last spring, I knew that we’d have no trouble with Katie adapting to a new pet, but I have been surprised that it’s been her who is resistant to cuddling. Despite many efforts on Willie’s part, this is the first time I’ve ever seen her tolerate him cuddling with her.

I think autumn may well be the most photogenic of all the seasons!

This week’s photographs are a tribute to the beauty of the late-summer / early-autumn season we’re in. September is just such a gorgeous month. (And also? A little crazy!)

How’s this for an autumnal shot? I carried those acorn around in my purse for half a week, and then found the oak leaf 20 km away when I was finally ready to take the picture. And yes, I continue to be a little bit obsessed with adding texture to my pictures. I think this one got it right.

I simply love this stretch of picket fence. I’ve photographed it before! I think maybe the texture is a little too heavyhanded in this one, though. Hmm.

Oh look, more textures! I called this one “I heart vintage cameras.” I had the idea for a long time, but couldn’t quite force it to work in the way I’d imagined. Close, but not quite.

Nature provided her own texture for this foggy shot. Wednesday was actually my day off, the only day of the week I wouldn’t be driving through this neighbourhood at dawn on my way to work, but when I saw that delicious fog I snuck out (still in my pajama pants, no less!) to capture a few shots before I had to get the boys and Beloved off to school and work.

This wasn’t even a photo of the day, but y’all seem to love the cat pictures, and I thought it provided an appropriate post script to my last post. So did you know that when you neuter a cat, he eliminates the residual testosterone in his system by spending one to two hours every damn day running around the house before dawn like a rabid monkey? At least, that’s what Willie’s been doing. It’s his ultimate revenge, I think. Clever little bugger, knows exactly what my weakness is!

Yesterday was the first official day of autumn, and a particularly photogenic day in the Byward Market. Love all the orange tones — so seasonal!

I hemmed and hawed for a while on whether to use the storyboard or this sunflower as the picture of the day yesterday, so here’s the sunflower, too. Lovely, isn’t it? And yes, more texture!!!

These last two go back to our weekend of pre-autumn family fun last weekend. On Sunday, we took the boys and Granny to the Richmond Fair. I love it, it’s the perfect size for us. I had some fun lensbaby shots I took, which you can see on my Flickrstream if you like, but my fave of the day was this random cuteness of two adorable strangers, clearly on their first date. 🙂

And finally, speaking of adorable… on Saturday we took your recommendation and went to the Mountain Orchard for some apple picking. It was crazy busy, but we only found out when we got there that their bountiful crop this year had been decimated just a few weeks ago by a killer hail storm. We had to search hard for apples that hadn’t been pummeled, split or bruised by hail — it was really kind of heartbreaking to see all the ruined apples — but we still managed to easily fill a 10 lbs bag and have a fun day out.

And yes, those cinnamon doughnuts *were* worth the drive! Gold stars to the bloggy peeps who recommended Mountain Orchard!!

Joy and sorrow and beauty – that pretty much covers the emotional spectrum, doesn’t it? That’s what this long, exhausting week was like. As if early September weren’t crazy-making enough on its own. That’s the thing about this daily photo project — since I’ve fallen out of the habit of daily blogging, I can look back and see how the flavour of each day adds its own filter to the photo of the day.

On Saturday, we got the call that Beloved’s mother was very sick and not likely to make it much longer. She had been in the hospital for a week or so, so the news wasn’t a huge surprise, but it was still a terrible time for the family. Beloved made the trip across the province and arrived in time to say goodbye. And then, while he was still away, I got word that the older sister of a pair of very dear old friends had also lost her long battle with cancer, leaving three young daughters behind. It was a sorrowful week, and even though these losses were really only tangential to me, affecting those I loved far more than they affected me, I still felt buffeted by death and grief. It didn’t help that this was all the same weekend as the poignant flashbacks to 9/11. In the worst of it, I posted this picture, because I really did just want to curl up and hide until it was all over and we could go back to being happy again.

This one, too, was more or less on the same theme.

The funny thing about kids, though, is that they won’t hang around and wait while you wallow in your sorrow. Especially with really young kids, even when they understand the concept of the grief, they can’t live in it for long. Follow the children and you’ll find your way to life, to warmth, to beauty, like sunshine on a late-summer day.

And you can count on a mischievous cat for some distracting shenanigans. I was just walking past the kitchen when I noticed he had filched the stuffed Elmo out of Lucas’s room, and just had to drop to his level and click the shutter while he provided the entertainment. (I love the look on Katie’s face in the last frame: “You’re so gonna get in trouble for this one!”)

And there’s no real story here, except I caught sight of myself in the mirror and liked the light and the colours. Call me Narcissus. And really, this is where my camera spends the vast majority of its time, when it’s not plastered to my face. Is this what they call ‘shooting from the hip’?

I’ve been working with textures a lot lately, exploring the effects they can have on an image. This week I have two, one that I adore and one that I don’t. This is the latter – the more I look at it, the more I wish I’d dialled down the opacity a bit, especially in the darker parts of the image. It’s sort of in the direction where I wanted to go, but to be honest, I simply ran out of time and the dog needed to be walked and homework needed to be checked and lunches just weren’t making themselves. Oh well, they can’t all be winners.

This one, however, I truly love. This was my happy place this week. This one also has some texture work, but it’s much more subtle. I was dropping the kids off at daycare and school on Monday morning when I noticed this amazing vintage suitcase sitting out beside the neighbour’s trash. (Remember “crazy garbage picking wife”? Oh yes, so totally true.) I was so excited and delighted by my discovery that I actually looked over my shoulder as I loaded it into the car, thinking there might be dozens of people on my sleepy street lining up to grab my treasure away from me. These beauties sell for $50 to $100 on eBay and Etsy – gorgeous!

It was late in the day before I could stop to properly examine it. I haven’t been able to pry open the locks just yet, and it has rivets instead of screws holding them in place, so I may have to bust the locks if I ever want to open it. The concept for this picture arrived almost full formed in my head the moment I saw the suitcase on the side of the road. The only thing that caused me trouble was the map — I couldn’t find one in the house or the car. Who doesn’t have a map — any map! — stashed away somewhere? Then I remembered the various boxes of paper clutter masquerading as souvenirs I have stacked in my closet. This map of the Paris metro was in a collection that from our honeymoon that I haven’t looked at in nearly a decade. See, being a packrat DOES pay off!

I love this picture partly because it makes me laugh, but also because it was very intentional on my part, from the props to the set-up to the colours and tones. I’m usually a sort of a grab-and-go photographer, finding and catching images on the fly. I’m pretty chuffed that I’ve now come to a point where I can come up with a concept and execute it and have it come pretty darn close (in this case, maybe even better!) than the original vision. It’s now one of my favourite pictures ever.

It was a long week, for sure, full of sadness, but also of beauty and love.

Isn’t it funny how some days (weeks, months) you seem to be in a creative drought and can’t wring a drop of creativity out of your soul, and other days you can’t stop the deluge of ideas and inspiration? Lucky for me, this has been one of those weeks where I’m practically swimming in a tsunami of inspiration – I can barely keep up with it all!

It helps when you start the week with an adorable baby. I know you’ve seen these pictures already, but I had to include them in the official 365 record, right?

Aside from the soft sweetness of the baby (delicious, isn’t he?) I’m pretty pleased with myself over the frames for these ones. I’d seen something similar on another site and decided I wanted to learn how to create my own, with my little shooting star insignia.

And speaking of repeats, there’s the misadventure of accidentally enrolling the boys in dance camp. (Oops!)

And the last of the repeats for this week… I have to admit, I love this picture of Lucas and his new favourite camera, from my comparison of the Nikon D7000 and the Fisher-Price Kid-Tough Digital Camera.

But look! There’s fresh material here too, that hasn’t been blogged already. For example, the sunrises have been absolutely spectacular this week. I loved the texture in the clouds on this one. This hasn’t been processed at all, save for a little crop and a slight fix on the exposure – there’s at least one benefit to being awake and on my way to work before sparrow’s first fart.

And speaking of sky, did you notice how the clouds have been just spectacular this week? This is the totem pole on George Street, in front of the Ottawa School of Art. As I said when I posted this one on Flickr, sometimes the sky just invites you to leap up and soar away!

I called this family portrait “Happy Last Day of Summer.” I know, I know, summer isn’t officially over yet, but it’s more about how the days feel than what the calendar says, right?

And of course, the last day of summer is followed immediately by the first day of school. *wipes away tear of nostalgia*

From portraiture to snapshots, it was a very picturesque week!