Project 365: In which she crams in news, updates, and oh yes, a few pictures too

Remember last time I did the 365 project, and I ended up having 366 pictures in it because I lost count? Yeah. The hardest part of the 365 project was counting to 365! And now, I’ve somehow gotten myself all out of sequence in being so behind. I’m on track for numbers, but somehow ended up with a week that has an extra day. Hmmm. Oh well, so this catch-up edition of my weekly 365 post is a little longer than the others.

Anyway, you can see why I went into communications and not, say, astrophysics as a career. I actually find astrophysics absolutely fascinating, but you probably need to be able to do things like, um, count. And keep track of things with a modicum more accuracy than I seem able. “We found an extrasolar planet with an atmosphere remarkably similar to the Earth! Where is it? Um, somewhere to the left of M31, give or take forty light years…”

Speaking of the intersection of paying work and photography (also good that I don’t rely on my segue ability for a paycheque, isn’t it?) I have some exciting news this week. I’ve been approached by Getty Images to license some of my photographs. Fun, eh? Stock photography doesn’t pay exceptionally well, mostly a couple of dollars per licensed image from what I can tell, but it’s more than what the photo was making just sitting there looking pretty on Flickr. I’ve seen some photographers making in the hundreds of dollars per month, but they have a lot more images and frankly, some pretty amazing work.

This is the first image up for licence, and there are about half a dozen more in the works.

Who would have ever guessed at the beginning of my first 365 project in 2009 that it would lead to all these paid photography gigs? I can’t believe how much things have taken off this month — it’s very exciting!

Speaking of 365 projects, didn’t I say this was supposed to be a post about catching up? Here’s what I set out to show you today. When I went downtown for my job interview with the CRA, I was sitting at a traffic light and admiring this view of Parliament Hill. I never fail to be humbled by this view! (Even though I am not really looking forward to the commute back downtown to the Market from Manotick, I am looking forward to all the gorgeous downtown photo opportunities!)

I was going for a sort of a chiaroscuro effect with this one – just a little bit of low key light on his face. Not entirely convinced it worked, though!

This too is a bit of a play with chiaroscuro – I’ve been thinking a lot about light lately!

I haven’t had as much time as I would have hoped to play with my camera even though I’m on vacation because I’ve been spending at least an hour or two each day studying for my infernal French exam. (I went to write it yesterday, managed to write the grammar test and then they sent us home because the AC was broken and they were shutting down the building!! Gah! I have to go back today to write the reading comprehension test!) Anyway, if you’re going to spend hours of your vacation studying for a French exam, there are worse places to do it than on the porch!

I love this picture so much that I almost hate to bury it deep in an extended 365 post. I’m betting you can figure out where I took it! 😉 (Have I mentioned how much I love the Agriculture Museum lately? If you haven’t gone recently, you must!)

You know my life is a little out of control when something as wicked-cool as the Social Capital conference happens and I can’t even get around to writing a blog post about it. But it was a week ago Saturday and it was *awesome*! One of these weeks I hope to write a proper blog post about it. This is from the round-table discussion I hosted on photography and Flickr — it was a great little chat!

Did I mention it’s been insanely busy? French test, conference, interviewing and scrambling for new job, and two (TWO!) portrait sessions for Mothership Photography this week. Yikes! This was from a session I did at a local park on that day when the heat blazed its way well past the 40C mark. It was crazy hot, but I had a great time with this toddler, his parents and his grandparents, chasing him all over the playground. Picture a not-quite-two-year-old on the loose in the playground wearing nothing but his diaper and a kilt. I know, adorable, right?

This was from a porch portrait session I did last weekend. The kids were all dressed up for family portraits, but once we had the formals done, their parents let them have some fun on the playstructure and the treehouse in the back yard. I love love love this — there’s something dreamy and lovely about it, don’t you think?

And finally! We ordered Chinese food one night, and Tristan didn’t agree with my fortune cookie, so he made me up one he thought was more appropriate.

Good fortune, eh? I’m a lucky girl.