Canadian Museum of Nature - Looking forward to May 22, 2010

This post was started in November and I figured I should finally finish it.

My best friend and I decided on a whim to visit the Canadian Museum of Nature on the 18th of November. The Museum is currently in the last leg of a huge building wide renovation and has opened one wing on each floor for visitors during the renovation.

We only had an hour to burn and what we were able to see in that one hour definitely left us wanting more. The elevator was down for the day so admission was a donation amount of your choice.

There was a security guard following us around so I was really only able to snap the picture below.


The most awe inspiring room of the rooms we saw was the Talisman Energy Fossil Gallery. I got shivers when we first walked into this room.

Photo courtesy of the Canadian Museum of Nature

What little bit we saw of the Museum left us both wanting more and we can't wait for the rest of the Museum to be completed. If what we saw was any indication, the Canadian Museum of Nature will soon be at the forefront of the top national museums in North America.

---

The Grand Reopening is scheduled for May 22, 2010.

Visit the Museum of Nature online at: www.nature.ca

Engaged!!!

You may or may not have seen me mention a little something about a ring in my Twitter feed a couple of weeks but I'm engaged!

My boyfriend proposed to me on the Friday of the Thanksgiving long weekend in October. We've decided that we would do as much as possible ourselves, from designing the invitations to the table numbers to the centerpieces. We've also decided to enlist the help of friends with creative talents such as my friend Jess who'll make jewelery and any other baubles we may want.

My Dad's best friends have already offered to make our cake for us!

We've set a tentative date in October next year so there will be a lot of work to do from now until then.

Let the fun begin!

Maternity Photos

I was able to sneak in a quick maternity session with Mel & Jay. A couple of the pictures didn't turn out the way I wanted so I'll have to go back to PS and make the appropriate adjustments.

I'm having trouble right now getting my Canon Selphy photo printer to read the appropriate colour profiles. I may have to visit my local photography shop to print some better pictures.

Here's mash-up of the two best photos I took. Thanks to Mel & Jay for letting me boss them around after the baby shower.

Kids Portraits

This picture, from the wedding I shot in August, has kicked off a keen interest in children's photography.

I don't have a lot of friends with young children. Just a cousin here, and a friend there. Although that's about to change come January when my best friend has her first baby and then again in February when another close friend has her first baby.

The more I photograph kids, the more I like photographing kids. Instead of trying to hide their personalities, stiffly trying to fit into the photograph, they're just themselves and that comes out so well in their photographs.

Keep my fingers crossed that I get to do more photos like the one above in the new year!

Vin & Jen's Wedding Part Deux

Finally finished the wedding pictures. Final photo count was 372. Many of them are multiples with an image in colour, a colourized/colour fade and a B&W. I also made a handful of triptychs and a larger multi-image collage.

Can't say that I won't do another wedding. In reality, I'd love to do another wedding. I had such a blast with the wedding party and their families.

My next project is a baby shower at Thanksgiving.

Vin & Jen's Wedding

I shot my best friend's brother's wedding last weekend and I had a blast!!

They were so easy going and happy to be photographed that I forgot I was working!

I should have their pictures done by the weekend but I just had to post some of them now.

From Jen & Vince

From Jen & Vince

From Jen & Vince

News

Well I'm back from vacation and a round with the swine flu!

I haven't done much in respect to my photography education. I did shoot a wedding shower in July and I just finished filming a wedding on August 8th. Yes, I'm back on that old horse again.

I'm also reading up on and practicing some new Photoshop techniques as well as working on my collages.

Here's one that I did for the shower in July.

If you're viewing it in full, I apologize for the low quality. Compression is terrible.

Concert Photos

Concerts are always so hard to shoot especially if you can't bring your dSLR with your. Life would be so much easier if I had a media pass. A girl can dream, can't she?

So instead of my Rebel XT, we brought my boyfriend's FujiFilm point'n'shoot to the Disturbed et al concert the first week of July, and well, I couldn't use it to save my life. I kept trying to adjust all the controls to give me an experience that resembled by dSLR.

Finally after the first two bands had played, I said that I was done with his piddly camera and that he should take the pictures he wants. This was more of out of frustration with myself for not being able to take good pictures than his camera being a piddly piece of equipment.

Nonetheless, my boyfriend took some great pictures and I'll give him full credit for them too.

From Disturbed

From Disturbed

From Disturbed

Think about this before you buy your next lens

Over the past month or so, I've been toying with the idea of upgrading to a full-frame camera but will probably put that off until 2010. In the meantime however that doesn't mean that I can't browse and ask questions about my future purchase.

I went to a camera store this week to purchase a Gorillapod and started quizzing the sales rep about my future purchase. We're talking about my needs and my possible future needs and everything sounds promising then I ask can I build my lens collection in the meantime?

He asks "Well do you have any EF-S lenses?"

I say "Yeah, the stock lens with my Rebel XT."

He says "Hopefully that's your only EF-S lens because full frame cameras use EF lenses."

Now luckily I've only just recently started to invest in my equipment and haven't made any serious purchases but then I remembered that I bought a telephoto last year and all that was running through my head was that I had spent $400 on a piece of equipment I won't be able use! How am I going to justify buying a second 300mm lens when my boyfriend knows I already have one!

When the sales rep and I finish our conversation, which after the lens discussion is kind of a blur to me, I thanked him for his time, got on the next bus home, went straight upstairs, opened by lens case, and lo and behold, I read on my lens two little letters "EF".

I was relieved and oh so happy...and felt a little guilty that I hadn't did more reading up on the subject when I bought my first dSLR.

What I learned:

• When buying your first dSLR think about your current needs and any possible changes to those needs down the road. If this is just a hobby for you now, but you'd like to upgrade to professional level equipment think about what will help you now that can help you in the future.
  
• Map out those needs in a 1-year to 5-year plan including an equipment wishlist.
  
• Do your own research first, talk to friends who own their own dSLRs or visit a camera trade show. Bring all that knowledge and your questions with you to the store to speak to a sales rep.
  
• Whenever you're in a store, even if you're just browsing, don't be afraid to ask questions. The sales rep I spoke to knew I wasn't buying a camera right then but the time he took to talk to me that day laid the groundwork for me coming back in with more questions, and most likely an eventual camera purchase.
  

From the practical to the unique, Photojojo has a little something for everyone.

I’ve been receiving Photojojo’s newsletter for about six months and each month I’ve been surprised by either the product, the how-to or DIY topic spotlighted in the issue.

Last week, Photojojo had a piece on copyright free photos. The Best Free Photos on the Web (Where to Find Them and What to Do With Them)

Most photography website forums seem daunting at first, not Photojojo’s as experience levels from beginner to professionals and cameras models from P&S consumer cameras to the bigger DSLRs.

Interesting and innovative products:

Bottle Cap Tripod

Doodle Frame

Super-Secret Spy Lens

A watermark and a "backwards" compliment

My best friend (we'll call her Nicole) was married in August 2007 right around the time I got my first digital SLR.

She had enlisted her uncle, a photographer with 30 years experience, to do her wedding. I was asked by Nicole and her uncle to take the bridal shower pictures as well as some photojournalism-style photos at the ceremony to help round out his staged portraits and ceremony photos.

Two years later and Nicole still hadn't received more than the 30 or so photos in an album where her uncle had chosen the pictures for and the layout of the album, and a few prints of a handful of the dozen portraits he took that day. The reasoning was to protect his rights as an artist.

After much chagrin and going back and forth and no hope in sight, yesterday, Nicole received a couple of CDs filled with her pictures!!!

So Nicole called me at work and she was gushing over the great pictures he took and all the portraits, ceremony and reception photos she never got to see - especially the one of her grandmother who passed suddenly the following year. So she ooh-ed and ahh-ed over her pictures describing the ones she liked the most and said how surprised she was that he was there to take this picture or that picture and how great this picture was and that one was. She was finally happy!

Ten minutes after we ended our conversation, she called me back and said "You know, he didn't send me all his pictures."

I said "How do you know?"

She said "Well this picture and that picture was taken after the dinner, they were gone by then. And this picture was taken before they showed up."

And then it dawned on me, they had given her my pictures mixed in with his without so much as giving her a note explaining what they had done!

Now Nicole doesn't really know if she has all her pictures from her uncle, or if he padded the CD with my pictures!

What I learned from this experience.

• Make a watermark as soon as possible!
  
• Experience doesn't always mean business sense.
• Don't underestimate yourself, the simplest pictures can mean a lot to your clients.
• Take the compliment, the uncle providing the bride with my pictures shows that some were good enough to potentially pass off as his. ;)
• Be up front about what I'm providing to people. Nicole thought she was getting a package comparable to other professional photographers, but her uncle's old school view of client/photographer expectations disappointed her terribly.
  

Mozart

Not the composer, the cat.

At my sister's request, I've been taking a lot of cat pictures lately. And I have to say it's much harder than photographing dogs because they do so very little during the peak hours of the day.

Here's my sister's two other cats (Mozart and Skeeter) to complete her collection and fill our her multi-photo picture frame.

Postcard or Poster?

I took some pictures of my sister's cats a few weeks ago and her mother-in-law said I should make a poster out of the one of the big fluffy orange cat.

I know a guy, who knows a guy - well I know him - he's my printing house account manager - wonder if I should get a couple of postcards or posters made up.

A cause worth noting

Since 2004, there has been a decline in bee colony health across North America and Europe. As we all remember from grade school science class, bees are an important part of the agricultural cycle. No bees to pollinate vegetables, fruits and other plants means no food, clothing and other products derived from plant fibres for us.

For more information:

David Suzuki - If the bees disappear, we'll all be stung

HelptheHoneyBees.com

cbc.com - Parasite behind European honeybee colony collapse, researchers say

Chicago

My favourite musical is coming to Ottawa this June!

Celebrity Gossip AND Photoshop

I told myself I wouldn't post celebrity gossip, but in all truthfulness this is a Photoshop post:

Star Magazine has a picture of Rupert Everett from the Martha Stewart Show saying that he's gotten some crazy plastic surgery procedures done.

One look at the picture and my head was screaming "Bad Photoshop job!" So I went to Martha's website watched the video of his appearance and the picture Star Magazine doesn't even look like the video. Click here to watch the video. The photo has definitely been altered, all the shadows on his face have disappeared, giving him a flat plastic looking face and the contrast is cranked up making everything seem darker and lighter than they truly are.

I will note that in the video it looks like Rupert Everett has gotten veneers. Unless medically necessary veneers should never be an option - they can change the way a person looks and smiles and in this case I don't think it looks right on him.

It's negative images like this that make me wonder why I actually want to learn how to do these things in Photoshop. But then I remind myself that, as in much of life, anything can be good in moderation.

New Pictures

I was able to snap a few pictures over the Easter weekend - and played around with my flash a bit.

I had the flash set to auto just to see when it would decide to go off or not. To be honest, it probably only went off less than half the time.

I also realized looking at my pictures over the weekend that I like the warmer look to my photos which can mess around with skin tone but gives my pictures an earthy and homey feeling . Don't know if that's a good thing yet but I just can't seem to get away from it.

Here's my baby cousin, Jordyn.

My Brand New 430EX II

Bought my first flash yesterday! I was able to find a great price at Vistek, here in Ottawa. www.vistek.ca

I hope to get some great practice shots in tomorrow. I don't know where to go first with it! I've got some errands to run tomorrow morning so I might stop by the school on the way home and take some pictures of the empty jungle gym. I've always found an empty jungle gym to be more than a little sad. Fingers crossed, I'll be able to capture that aura tomorrow.

Projects Update

Just a little update on what I'm doing in my spare time at the moment.

A friend of mine has asked me to repair and edit her wedding pictures. I'll be working on that for the next few weekends.

I haven't asked permission to post my work on this project yet but I hope to have something soon.

Never Too Latte

My best friend's café was highlighted in the Ottawa Citizen over the weekend.

I couldn't be more proud of her and her husband.

Read Five worth the drive at ottawacitizen.com

Never Too Latte's website:www.nevertoolatte.ca

Tombs of Eternity: The Afterlife in Ancient Egypt

Canadian Museum of Civilizations
2008-2009: Special Exhibitions Gallery A

"FOR ANCIENT EGYPTIANS, DEATH WAS NOT THE END OF LIFE,
BUT THE BEGINNING OF A NEW EXISTENCE."

The Canadian Museum of Civilization's museum curator, Dr. Matthew Betts and his team have done an amazing job illustrating the scientific and cultural importance of the funerary process in ancient Egypt.

Many day-to-day items such as jewelry, clothing, furniture and toys are on display. The one common thread between them all is that they are, or should I say, were used as part of the Egyptian funerary rites.

The exhibit also discusses the science behind mummification - explaining what processes were undertaken; why wrapping individual fingers and toes was so important; how organs were removed and how they were kept intact; and so much more.

The layout of the exhibit was well thought out as we walked from room to room until in the final room, we came across a burial room filled with sarcophagi. I won't give any more details here because going in without any preconceived notions will greatly enhance the experience.

I thoroughly enjoyed the exhibit with one exception, that caused my friends and I some grief - there were just too many visitors allowed in the exhibit at one time. We constantly felt herded through each room as everyone wanted to see everything but by the same token not take the time to actually see anything as people rarely stopped to read anything. If we did stop to read something, we felt guilty that we were holding everyone up.

If you have the opportunity to spend the afternoon at the museum, try to see the exhibit and the IMAX film. There are also special events that will take place over the course of the exhibit's run. Check the CMC website for more information.

The micro-site that the Canadian Museum of Civilization created for the exhibit is great. Make sure to play Mummy Jeopardy before you go.

Exhibit Information
Dates: December 19, 2008 to August 16, 2009
Audience: Adult Children Family Youth
Event Details: http://www.civilization.ca/cmc/whats-on/event-detail&EventId=314

Coming Up

A review of the Tombs of Eternity: The Afterlife in Ancient Egypt Exhibit at the Canadian Museum of Civilization.

TGIF

Pearls Before Swine is probably my favourite comic strip at the moment. A lot of the humour comes from the artist's ability to depict many of the sayings, double-entendres and catch phrases in a literal fashion.

The panel above is from today's paper. I absolutely love the interactions between rat and pig.

TGIF!

New Name

Okay, so we've got a new name!

Hopefully this one sticks.

It's whimsical, it's creative and it lends itself to a multitude of possibilities!

Next step: Site Banner...CS3, here I come!

What's in a name

Ugh - I just found out that Sunflower Works is already the name of a media company in the States and my second choice "As I Type" is already taken too.

I need help with a new name STAT!

Wedding Season is upon us!

You can smell it - spring!

And like every other spring before this one, it's wedding season. At the moment, I'm not engaged, but I have many a friend who is engaged or has recently taken the plunge into marriage.

What is it about the change of season that gets everyone on the wedding train. Bridal shows, magazine editorials and gown sales are just everywhere. For one, most weddings take place in the summer and spring is the most logical time to make reservations, send out invites and make purchases. My other guess is it might have to do with a more animal instinct.

What ever it is, good luck to all the ladies and their gents taking the plunge this summer and congrats to those who have recently become betrothed.

Here's a picture from a wedding I was at last June. The triumphant look on the girl's face afterward was enough to make her boyfriend run in the other direction. All in jest, I hope.

430EX or 430EX II Speedlite

I'm in the market for a gently used flash for my Canon Rebel XT.

If anyone has a 430EX or 430EXII that they're looking to get rid of, send me an email.

Or if you know of a great local store or website that sells refurbed or used camera supplies let me know!

Printed and framed this photo for my aunt Heather and my mother-in-law. Both have them hanging in their living rooms. :)