Category: Photo of the Day

Photo(s) of the day: Pumpkin picking 2015

Ever since we moved to Manotick, one of our favourite family traditions has been our autumn trip to Miller’s Farm to pick our Halloween pumpkins. I don’t know whether it’s the October light or the fact that the boys genuinely love the excursion, but there are always fun photos to be found.

I particularly like this one: which one is the jack-o-lantern with the gap-toothed smile?

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He’s almost as tall as his dad, and can carry his own (ridiculously large) pumpkin.

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They’re still pretty patient about posing for me. And cute, to boot!

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We interrupt this post for a flashback to 2011:

302:365 The boys in the Pumpkin House

Oh my goodness! Just a few changes in four years, right? Sigh. Some things don’t change, though. The boys went to play parkour on the hay bales while I entertained myself taking photos of not-them with my fish-eye lens.

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And since I’m searching the archives, here’s another pumpkin trio — from 2009!

271:365 The cutest pumpkins in the patch

I am grateful to have such sweet boys to indulge me, for family traditions, and for this blog to archive my memories and share them with you. 🙂

Photo(s) of the day: Autumn abstracts

Although one never really gets tired of taking photographs of beautiful autumn leaves, sometimes it’s good to find new ways to approach them and stretch one’s creativity. I took these photos with a slow shutter while moving my camera slightly (or not so slightly) so the autumn trees are intentionally blurred and rendered somewhat abstract.

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I happen to be a reasonably literal person without formal art training, so it’s hard for me to evaluate what makes an abstract painting work. I can tell you that they have elements that most photography books will tell you are pleasing: repetition of pattern, rhythm, motion. The colours and tones are pleasing. In two of the three, it’s quite clear that you’re seeing an abstraction of trees, and it’s not hard to guess with the third what you are seeing.

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Still, I’m not sure. Are these good? I think they’re interesting, at least. If they made you pause for a second and study them, wonder about them, then that’s good, right? But what story do they tell?

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Hmm. Art. The more I know, the more I feel like I have so much left to learn. What do you think?

Photo of the day: Autumn glory on the Rideau Canal

A few days ago, I posted a beautiful (if I do say so!) image of autumn leaves reflected in my end of the Rideau River, up near Watson’s Mill. Here’s a shot of the downtown end of the river, or more specifically, the Rideau Canal.

Autumn on the Rideau Canal

Golden and amazing, right? It’s like a parting gift from summer, bidding us adieu until the yellows of April’s flowers.

Photo of the day: A rainbow over the Rideau Canal

It’s dark this time of year when I leave for work, but light creeps into the sky as I make my way downtown. On this particular morning, I had a feeling that sunrise would be spectacular – even before the sun broke the horizon, I was intrigued by the textures of the clouds that mostly covered the deep gray sky.

By the time I’d parked and was walking to the office, the clouds were afire with pink and orange. I had my camera with me, as I’d been thinking of shooting some pretty leaf shots on my lunch break, and I started looking for a good spot with an open sky and interesting downtown skyline for the foreground.

Instead, to my delight, I found this!

Rainbow over downtown

Look at the light on those Gatineau hills in the background! I actually kept walking, after fawning over the rainbow for a while and actually stopping passers-by to point it out to them, and tried to get a better vantage spot to photograph the hills. Hmmm, where near the Canal and downtown can I get a clear shot of the Gatineau Hills? And off I ran to Parliament Hill. Like, RUNNING, because that light was not going to last. And to my great dismay, the construction on the Hill had completely blocked off all access to the view across the river and on to Quebec. Boo!

Also, more than one person has asked me if I’d ever consider giving up my dSLR now that camera phones are so sophisticated. It’s true, the iPhone 6S has 12 megapixels, same as my trusty old D40 starter dSLR. I would never rely solely on an iPhone, unless it was the only camera I had with me, no matter how big the sensor – here’s why:

It looks a little bit like the fountain at the Lac Leamy casino has gone nuclear, doesn’t it?

The dynamic range, the subtle variation from one tone to the next, is just non-existent in low light for the iPhone, as compared to what my D600 can do. But you sure can’t beat it for instant gratification! I had to download the “good” photos from my camera to my computer, edit them and then upload them, so it took more than 24 hours so I could share them with you.

And rainbows at sunrise are definitely worth sharing, right? 🙂

Photo of the day: Watson’s Mill in autumn splendor

I have a lot of photos of Watson’s Mill in Manotick. No really – a LOT! And yet, this might be my favouritest one yet:

Watson's Mill in autumn

Bright autumn colours, brilliant cyan sky, calm reflections on the Rideau River, and all those converging diagonal lines drawing your eye right back to the beautiful mill. I don’t think it gets any better than this! (Heh, but that won’t stop me from trying.)

I like having photos like this one in my collection, because people have been asking me for gift prints they can frame and give as gifts for retirements, congratulations, thank you gifts, etc. If you’re interested in purchasing a framed gift print, please get in touch. I’m building a gallery of photos I think will work especially well for this purpose. Stay tuned!

And speaking of Watson’s Mill, did you know it’s hosting three “haunt nights” next week, on October 22, 23 and 24? Check out the Watson’s Mill event page for details.

Photo of the day: Autumn tableau

I picked up these sunflowers for my porch portraits earlier this week, and when I was cleaning up afterward I started playing with the placement of the sunflowers, a couple of pumpkins I also picked up for for porch decorations, and my little vintage step ladder. There’s nothing more fun than having a few minutes to play and work a scene.

Autumn tableau :)

It’s a lovely little Thanksgiving still life, isn’t it? I’m very thankful for pretty colours and fresh vegetables and happy sunflowers!

Photo(s) of the day: Headshots on the porch

Most of the time when people come to the porch for portraits, there are little monkeys that I have to chase, cajole, and wrangle. You can imagine how lovely it was, then, to work with this pretty lady on some headshots for her website. Not once did I have to wipe her nose, make a raspberry noise to get her attention, or ask her who has the stinkiest feet in her family to make her laugh – but I did haul out one of my stinkier knock-knock jokes, because the session just felt incomplete without it.

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The funny thing about the photo above, which is my favourite of the day, is the brick wall. When we were talking about the look she wanted to achieve, she’d said how much she liked the feel of the porch from my portfolio photos, and we joked that what she didn’t want was something “in front of some brick wall in retro black and white.” Well, it IS in colour, a least! 😉

The vibe we were going for was cozy and comfortable – I think we nailed it here.

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And sometimes it’s just nice to have a simple photo of a pretty lady.

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It still surprises me sometimes that people actually pay me to come to the porch, hang out and chat for a while, share a few laughs, and let me take pictures of them. Is that not an awesome job or what? And let me tell you, when there are no toddlers in the picture, pardon the pun, it hardly even feels like work at all! 🙂

Photo of the day: Portrait of a fall family walk

This photo was taken at the tail end of summer, but doesn’t it have a lovely fall feel to it? Perfect to celebrate the first day of autumn!

Portrait of a family walk

I had a great time working with this fun family on a portrait session in the park. They wanted a mix of candid action shots and informal posed photos, but wrangling a preschooler and a toddler who had their own ideas proved to be an adventure all on its own. When that happens, all you can do is roll with it – literally, in this case with my trusty wagon. Luckily, they had a great sense of humour and we all ended up having a fun play in the morning sunshine.

Aren’t they a beautiful family?

Photos of the day: 18 months of adorable

There’s no greater honour than a repeat customer. This fellow came to visit the porch last year when we was barely old enough to sit up on his own. A year later, he can sit up, walk, and run away like this every time he saw the photographer coming to pester him again!

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That may be one of my favourite outtakes ever!

Poor guy, we had to work hard to make him comfortable and find ways to pose him, because he did not want to be out of reach of his mom. Finally, we found ways to compromise.

Holding on to mom

Don’t you love those soulful brown eyes?

Ah toddlers, you make me work so much harder – and the results are always worth it!