Seasonally inappropriate!

Okay, so for day 104 I did something I was going to save for a more appropriate season. It kind of falls into the 'trick' photography category I suppose, but really it's more of 'not-what-it-seems' type of subject.

Here's the shot:



Merry Xmas in April! Flatleaf parsley, raspberries, a cinnamon stick and a whole star anise were used to make the tree. Either this is a silly photo or the start of an awesome sounding salad. Maybe both.

Side note, the shot from two days ago of the hot sauce bottle has made it's way back the bottler and they are looking into using it on their site! Yay!

The World in White.

Day 19, and nature provided for today's shots.

Last night we had a lovely blast of warm humid air which became an ice fog and left the entire city coated in hoarfrost this morning. It was a busy day, but I managed to squeeze in some time for a walk around.

I found a good walking area just off of a major road not too far from home. I had taken some other shots in the area around the house, but I wanted shots without buildings everywhere. The area in these shots is actually surrounded by power lines and apartment buildings but I was able to choose my shots and keep the backgrounds mostly clean.

I still need to work on my landscape composition quite a bit, but these shots are decent, I think.

#1:

ISO 200, f/4.5, 1/1600th

#2:

ISO 200, f/4.5, 1/1250th

#3:

ISO 200, f/11, 1/160th

Story time by the tree.

Day four of Project 365, and I'm four for four! Will wonders never cease!

I wanted to get a few portrait attempts in this week, it's something I would like to have some preparation for before attempting to shoot our family friends. I'm sure they have limited expectations, and I appreciate that :)

My original idea for my shot today fell through. Let's just say four-year olds, blowing bubbles and bathtime makes for a very challenging shot! I could never quite get the framing and focus right since I had the camera on the gorillapod and I was firing with my wired remote. This was necessary since I was also blowing the bubbles at the time. Basically, a disaster.

So option two was a quiet shot at story time by the Christmas Tree. This is one of the last chances to shoot it anyhow since it will come down this weekend. It worked out much better.



I got the catchlights in her eyes that I was looking at, but her toothy grin isn't ideal. I also noticed after the shot that an ornament with her picture features rather prominently in the background. It's a bit distracting, but all in all, I like the picture.

Merry Christmas!

Just a quick two shots from the day.

A nice little ornament hanging by the prismatic garland we purchased last year. Just a nice, pretty, festive shot.



And another shot of my son, sitting in my lap, chewing on the first present of his first Christmas. A hard shot to centre since I was holding the camera at arm's length and aiming back at myself. Still, I like it.



OM NOM NOM!

A little piece of summer.

Last night we had one of those lovely dense snows that coats everything with thick, clumpy crystals. It's not quite hoarfrost, but it still transforms the skeletal winter trees into dazzling white firecrackers.

Imagine my delight and surprise arriving to work today when I realized that some of the trees in my office courtyard still had deep red berries hanging from the branches. Here is a last little piece of summer hanging on in the face of inevitable winter.

A few shots of the week.

So, another week with not much shooting, but as I mentioned before, this is about learning. Here are a few more other shots I liked this week.

One more shot from my training sessions at Riverview Health Centre. This one is a tight shot of a wonderful Blue Spruce on the grounds of the hospital itself.



I was hesitant to post this shot earlier, because the composition is not particularly strong, but I think the pale foreground colours work well with the darker background. Not a great shot, but not a bad one I hope.

This morning, my wife and I took the kids to a craft show at the Winnipeg Convention Centre, and there were some limited opportunities to shoot. I didn't bring the big flash (should have) so I had to rely on the pop-up with a the puffer for diffusion. The lighting was less than optimal even with the flash though, so only one salvageable shot:



I liked the deep colours and the repeating shapes. If you blow it up though, the focus was a bit too much on the back row, and the DOF was too narrow. Still, it kinda works.

Somedays, you just have to take the 'kinda' shots :)

A walk along the river...

Today was the first day of a new training course that I am attending at Riverview Health Centre, a building I actually worked at for short while a few years ago.

One of the nicest features at this facility is, as one would guess, the view of the Red River. Given the current season, however, the view is rather less green and lush than usual. Still, given fifteen extra minutes at lunch time, I grabbed my camera and went shooting.

There are communal vegetable gardens along the berm that separates the river from the facility, and beyond that a strip of forest filled with trails used by joggers and bikers whenever there is no snow on the ground. Although we have dodged the snow, the temperatures are still just above freezing, and the trails are lonely at the moment.



One of the nicest features of these little trails and paths are the handmade birdhouses that are literally everywhere. I counted at least fifty in the ten or so minutes I had to actually shoot pictures. The birdhouses, like the trails, are waiting for the spring to return.





All these shots were taken with the 60mm macro. I honestly don't think it's left my camera since it arrived.

My last shot for today didn't come from the river walk, but from a quiet moment with my daughter.



I went monochrome with this shot again. I'm not sure how you decide which shot should be converted to mono, but this one is more moving in mono. Maybe that's the only criteria?

Anyhow, I think it's important to point out that the dog's tongue is being coloured purple. I wish I had a purple tongue.

More shots from the weekend!

Day two of the lens rental started with a quick jaunt down to the park at the end of my street, a trip to the local conservatory, and a drive into the country for pumpkins. All the following shots were taken with the 70-200 even if it wasn't the 'best' lens for the job. Consider it my attempt to get my money's worth.

The first stop was just a half block away. We live near a man-made lake and at this time of the year that means migrating geese. Lots of migrating geese. I have been using them to practice my panning, and I got a few shots that I thought were worth keeping. I should brought my shutter speed up a bit, so there is some light motion blur at the wing tips.

Not much to say about each specific shot so here they are as a group:







The second stop was the local conservatory for the 'finch and canary show'. Big waste of time, unfortunately. Small birds, lots of small wires on the cages, too close to focus through... No bird shots at all, but I got a few nice shots in the conservatory itself. The flowers themselves were not labeled so I dont know the names of all of the flowers, so once again here they are as a group:









I was happy enough with the lens, but shooting flowers with a telephoto is limiting. As soon as the 60mm Macro arrives, we are going back! There is a sharpness missing from the 70-200 for this application.

There is one more shot from the conservatory, the 'Hobbit Door' which is tucked away in the heart of the conservatory. It's a charming little touch, and I tried to get some interesting framing for it. I know I can do better, I'll be sure to try and re-shoot it on our next visit.



Finally, our afternoon took us on a drive into the country in search of pumpkins for Halloween. We bought our gourds at a little roadside wagon, and it turns out the farmer there buys and restores antique tractors. Can you say photo op?!



I have seen a lot of 'abandoned rusty tractor in a field' shots, so this is a bit of a riff on that. My tractor is clean and shiny. Take that, all you other photo jerks!

Finally, on the way home, I saw a tree. An evil tree. The devil's own damn tree. This tree is sitting, on it's own, in a large field. There are hardly any other trees around, and none within a few hundred feet. So, of course, I pull over and walk out there.

As I get closer, I realize that there are a dozen or so crows sitting in the murder tree looking at me. Damn things wanted to eat my eyeballs. I could feel them desiring my tasty, tasty eye meats. I snapped a shot, and left before the bloodletting could begin.



I think the shot is suitable darkened and monochromed to let you know just how sinister this tree was. Damn thing is probably hiding in my back yard waiting for me to sleep.