Day 31 - Tootsie the Turtle

This is Tootsie and her tikes. She is a member of the Quarry Critter gang. We found her at our nearby garden center a few years ago. We LOVE the expression on her face. Peg says it reminds her of her dad. He would sometimes stretch out his neck and make what he called his goofy face. Tootsie sits on the floor in our living room and makes us smile every time we see her. Hope this pic gives you a smile too.

Day 30 - Bohemians on a Wire

Our beautiful Bohemian Waxwings were back to snack on the apples on our Flowering Crab Apple tree. It was pretty cold and since I'm kind of sensitive to the cold right now I couldn't get as close as I wanted. I did manage to sneak out on the deck for a minute and snap a few shots. I caught this bunch of bohemians taking a break on the wire. You can't tell from the pic but they're very colourful birds. I've posted some closeups before. I never get tired of seeing them.

Day 29 - Marvelous Muffins

Sorry, I'm behind on my blogging. I'd like to say it's because I've been busy but it's really because I've been spending a lot of time sleeping. The good news is that I am starting to feel better. I'm hoping to get back to school on Thursday.
While taking my nap today (Saturday) Peg was doing the cooking for the week. Among the delicious dishes were these White Chocolate Blueberry Muffins. The recipe is from "Taste of Canada" by Rose Murray. I managed to wake up and take a few pics while they were still warm. And yes, they are as delicious as they look.

Day 28 - Rounded Vision

Was wandering around the house looking for photo possibilities. Of course I found one in the least likely place, the bathroom. We have two little glass bottles on the windowsill in the bathroom and the lid is a glass ball. When I looked at one closely I realized I could see the backyard in it. The image in the ball was upside down so I flipped it while processing it in Lightroom. Always fun finding the unexpected.

Canon XSi
Lens: 100 mm
Focal Length: 100
F/stop: 2.8
Exposure: 1/500
ISO: 200

Day 27 - Curvy Cure

Well, after coughing for two weeks I finally got my fanny to the doctor. Turns out I have pneumonia. I'll be off work for a few days and as the pictures shows, I'm also taking some significant sized antibiotics. I didn't picture them here but I also have some pills to help out with the coughing. So, hopefully with some rest and medicinal help I'll be back on my feet and running soon. By the way, today's daily shoot theme was to make a photograph that features a very distinct curved line or surface. I figured this pic would fit.

Canon XSi
Lens: 100 mm
Focal Length: 100
F/stop: 2.8
Exposure: 1/250
ISO: 200

Day 26 - YAK fun

Today we had another YAK activity for students who had succeeded in speaking English inside and outside the school over the last 6 weeks. We have these activities every 6 weeks or so. As I've mentioned before, we're an English school situated in a French city and most of our students are French Mother Tongue. When students are 'caught' speaking French they get a YAK ticket. We set a limit and if students manage to receive the limit or less they are invited to attend the activity. This activity was skating and sliding behind the school. The rink and hill are situated in the middle of the field where we do Walk Around the World. The ice is maintained by the city but we have been given access. As you can see in the pics the students who attended had a wonderful time.

Day 25 - Attraction

Today's assignment was to make a photograph today that illustrates attraction. Pick whatever definition of the word you'd like. My students were very helpful, suggesting all kinds of possibilities for this one. This one demonstrates the attraction between friends and their willingness to stick together no matter what.

Canon XSi
Lens: 100 mm
Focal Length: 100
F/stop: 4.5
Exposure: 1/40
ISO: 200

Day 24 - Shadow Bookends

Today's assignment: Use hard light that casts sharp distinct shadows in a photograph today. It's VERY cold here today (-40 with the windchill this morning). It warmed up to -31 this afternoon so we put the dogs' coats on them and took them out to the back yard so they could get some fresh air, very fresh. Although it's cold, it's very sunny so getting shadow pictures today was quite easy. I got Sadie's front and Dexter's back side and tail as they were standing next to the pool. Peg had the idea to put them together as book ends. I played a bit in Photoshop and voila.

Canon XSi
Lens: 70-200 mm
Focal Length: 70
F/stop: 4.5
Exposure: 1/100
ISO: 200

Day 23 - Smiling Eyes

Celebrate the pretty things in life. Make a photograph of the most beautiful thing you see today. Anyone who meets Peg always comments on her eyes. She has what I call smiling eyes. You can tell she's smiling just by looking at her eyes and when she smiles her face lights up. She grudgingly agreed to be my model today and I even managed to get her to smile. I played with the photo in Photoshop. I was hoping to bring out the green in her eyes a bit more but it's kind of tricky as the green is close to the gray.

Canon XSi
Lens: 100 mm
Focal Length: 100
F/stop: 2.8
Exposure: 1/25
ISO: 400

Day 22 - Stripes

Wasn't sure what to capture today until I visited Kristy's blog. I saw that she went with a stripes theme so I decided to look around and see what I could find. It's amazing how many stripes I actually found. They're on sheets, place mats, ladders, books, windows, curtains and... Well you get the idea. It's just another example of how this project makes me stop and really see what's around me and I'm grateful for that. Thanks for the help Kristy. By the way the above photo is the vertical blinds in front of a window looking out to the backyard. I liked how the sunset colours were starting to appear. I added the Golden Vintage preset in Lightroom to bring out the colours a bit more.

Canon XSi
Lens: 100 mm
Focal Length: 100
F/stop: 2.8
Exposure: 1/320
ISO: 400

Day 21 - Nope, not Captain Crunch!

Since the camera was still setup on the tripod from last night's session, I decided to continue playing with exposure. I left the lights on this time and chose Sadie's kibble as the subject. I set the exposure to 2 seconds, picked up a handful of kibble. After pushing the button I threw the kibble into the measuring cup. I thought it gave it an interesting effect. Kind of looks like the bottom of the cup is transparent and the kibble's underneath.

Canon XSi
Lens: 100 mm
Focal Length: 100
F/stop: 4
Exposure: 2 sec
ISO: 400

Day 20 - Ghost Change

Did some more playing with my macro and the Photo Soft Box Pro this evening. We have a little coin bowl we keep in the cupboard for when change is needed. I decided to take it out and see what I could get. The photo above is the result of setting the exposure time to 6 seconds and then throwing more coins into the container after about 2 seconds. The transparent coins are the ones that were thrown in after wards. I like playing with exposure this way and am always looking for new ways to do so. I'm open to suggestions if you have any.
Speaking of suggestions, thanks to all of you who gave me feedback on my signature. I have decided to change it but haven't time to really play with it. Hopefully, I'll get to that this weekend. For now I'm such using text on an overlay layer.

Canon XSi
Lens: 100 mm
Focal Length: 100
F/stop: 4
Exposure: 6 sec
ISO: 400

Day 19 - Does it bring tears to your eyes?

I seem to be in a bit of a photo funk. Having a hard time 'seeing' pictures in objects these days. Luckily for me Peg is always ready with ideas. She brought me this cut onion while making supper this evening. I think it might be a bit dark but I like the lines and the shades of caramel.
Now, it's time to ask for some feedback. As you've noticed I have a new signature for 2011. I like it because it's fun but I'm not sure if it's the best one for photos. Some viewers find that it detracts from the photos and draws their eye away from the subject. I've made it small and lighter in this pic but am not sure that's the solution. I'm open to ANY ideas or suggestions, including changing the font. Help, please.

Canon XSi
Lens: 100 mm
Focal Length: 100
F/stop: 4
Exposure: 1/13
ISO: 400

Day 18 - It's Snowing!

For awhile now this is the only kind of snowman in Quebec. We've only had about 2 cm of snow since December. However, they're announcing 20+ over the next few days. I took this little guy outside and put the bench legs in the eaves. Initially I wanted him there to get the snow in the background but in the end I think I like the effect of the fallen snowflakes all over him. I processed the photo in Lightroom. I used the Color Isolate Red effect.

Canon XSi
Lens: 100 mm
Focal Length: 100
F/stop: 4.5
Exposure: 1 (Bulb)
ISO: 400

Day 17 - I only have eyes for you

Had robotics club tonight so I pulled out the camera and took some pics. I chose this close up and then did some processing in Lightroom. I used the Alien Hangover effect. It looked kind of funky and the name seemed appropriate.
Sorry, haven't posted camera settings the last few days. I'm on the mend so I figured I should get back to it.

Canon XSi
Lens: 100 mm
Focal Length: 100
F/stop: 4.5
Exposure: 1/10
ISO: 400

Day 16 - Spacey!!!!!

Shelley took the picture but I'm writing today. You may remember from a previous post how much Shelley despises cough syrup. In an effort to be helpful, I managed to find her syrup in pill form so she would not have to gag down the liquid stuff.
Well...the pills have worked however she has been very spacey all day. You know...lights on but nobody's home? So the picture of the day is fitting.
Here's hoping she's feeling better tomorrow. By the way, this is a picture of her iPad screen. She had the Photo Soft Box Pro open and the lights off.

Day 15 - Wooden Artistry

While walking the pooches at the farm today, I spotted this broken tree trunk just over the fence. It kind of mirrored my mood today. Feeling under the weather, brittle, old and dull. I love all the lines, textures and natural artistry of the trunk. If it were smoother, it would almost look like driftwood.

Day 14 - Surface Area and Volume

We've been working on surface area and volume in math. Using manipulatives like these unifix cubes helps but it's still slow-going for the kids to get their heads around these concepts. Volume seems to be somewhat easier for them. I haven't finished marking their quizzes so time will tell as to their comprehension at this point in time.

Day 13 - Love of Books

Em was hanging out with me at lunch today. I had some photocopying to do in the library so he tagged along with the camera. He prefers my zoom lens but decided to experiment with the macro. He wandered around looking for things to capture. Books were one of the obvious choices. I love reading and work hard to to hook my students on reading so this was my pic for today. Thanks Em.

Day 12 - Music to our Ears

One thing I like about teaching is the opportunity of having previous students come back and visit. It's fun to see how they've matured and grown. Today a few of our alumni returned with their high school band. Not only was it fun to tap my foot along with the music but it was great to see some of our 'old' students sharing their talents. The younger students enjoyed the music and it allowed them to see opportunities to explore in the future.

Canon XSi
Lens: 100 mm
Focal Length: 200
F/stop: 4
Exposure: 1/60
ISO: 400

Day 11 - Mexican Iguana

A friend and colleague of mine spent part of his Xmas holiday in Mexico. While he was there he picked up this cute, colourful, crafted iguana. I love the colours and patterns created with beads. I'm not a lizard fan but this guy's okay in my books.
To take the picture I took the Xmas cactus out of the living room so that the iguana would appear to be surrounded by greenery. I then turned off all the lights and used the Photo Soft Box app on my iPad. I was home alone so it was a bit tricky. I set up the tripod and then held the remote control in one hand and the iPad in the other. I held the iPad above the iguana and set it on yellow so it would appear as the iguana was sunning himself. See some things to improve but overall I'm happy with the shot. I really love my new app.

Canon XSi
Lens: 100 mm
Focal Length: 100
F/stop: 4
Exposure: 3 (Bulb)
ISO: 400

Day 10 - Brush it off

Yes, another macro shot. I guess I'm getting a little carried away with using this lens but I just LOVE it so much. I will take the other lenses out soon though; wouldn't want them to get jealous.
I thought this picture was fitting as it was a busy day with a lot going on. When I got home I just needed to brush it all off and change gears. Picking up my camera and taking some pics definitely helped. I guess sometimes we just need to look at things a little differently in order to change our attitude.

Canon XSi
Lens: 100 mm
Focal Length: 100
F/stop: 4
Exposure: 1
ISO: 400
Lightroom Preset - Focus Colour Ring (BL Sample)

Day 9 - Mystery Plant

Another shot from the farm. I'm not sure what this plant is but there are patches of it all around the pond at the farm. I like its softness and the different shades of brown on it. I was trying to capture the snowflakes that were landing on it but it was a bit tricky as there was a bit of a breeze. Oh well, it wouldn't be fun if there weren't any challenges, right?

Canon XSi
Lens: 100 mm
Focal Length: 100
F/stop: 4
Exposure: 1/100
ISO: 400

Day 8 - Frozen Fungus

Peg saved the day once again with a 'fun'gus find. While walking out at the farm she found a Puffball about the size of an orange. Normally, when you step on one it ejects its spores in the form of a puff of smoke. Since it was frozen we weren't so sure if we'd get the smoke. We had to work a little harder to get it but as you can see we did manage.

Day 7 - Collage

Just updated my computer which means I now have access to the new Apple app store. Yahoo! They have all kinds of interesting apps. Of course I checked out the photography ones first. I found a very cool one called Collage. You can choose an unlimited number of photos and it will put them in a collage for you. You can then do a bit of moving around and adjusting, save it as a jpg and then all that's left is putting it on your blog. I spent some time playing with it and decided to choose some of my pics from 2010 and create a blog. It's kind of cheating because I didn't take these pictures today but I did create the collage.

Day 6 - Closer Look

Sometimes looking at everyday things in different ways gives us a new perspective. I was playing with my macro lens after school. I tried a number of subjects and then took my glasses off to take a bit of a break. While pausing I had the idea to try using my glasses as a subject. When I showed Peg the picture she thought it looked a bit like a vase. I'm not sure I can see that but I guess we all see things in our own way. What about you? What do you see?

Canon XSi
Lens: 100 mm
Focal Length: 100
F/stop: 4
Exposure: 1/80
ISO: 400

Day 5 - Rolling on

Like the title suggests, we went back to school today and we're rolling right along. We had meetings in the morning and then time in the afternoon to look at our prep for the new year. I'm grateful that I managed to get a little bit of work done during the holidays as it lessens the shock of going back. It's always difficult to get back on the work merry-go-round but at the same time exciting to look forward to new opportunities. Tomorrow the kids are back and we'll all be rolling along together. Here's to a fun 2011 full of adventure and learning.

Canon XSi
Lens: 100 mm
Focal length: 100
F/stop: 4
Shutter Speed: 1/60
ISO: 200

Day 4 - Reflections

Most of the pond surface is frozen but there's one section that is not. While out walking I caught Dexter 'looking' for the other dog in the pond. Specialists have told us that Dexter is definitely blind. His retinas were never attached and he has cataracts in both eyes. Fortunately, I don't think Dexter realizes this. He runs around and plays like any other dog would do. We've noticed that he reacts to shadows and reflections so perhaps his sight is limited to that. He continues to amaze us and show us what's possible when you don't let your limitations get in the way. An important lesson, especially on more challenging days.

Canon XSi
Lens: 100 mm
Focal length: 100
Fstop: 2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/80

Day 3 - Watch that first step

We pass this building every time we walk the dogs at the farm. We actually park just past it. Today Peg commented on the number of doors and windows on this side of the building. She thought it would make a good pic. So, I pulled out the camera and took some pictures. I find the blue very interesting. It looks like I did some post editing but that really is the colour; no touch ups this time.
Peg laughed when she saw the picture. She said the upper doors look like mother-in-law doors. Apparently, that's what elevated doors with no step or platform are called in Newfoundland. I don't think you need any explanation about why they're called this. If you'd like to know more about where these doors come from check out this site.

Camera: Canon Xsi
Lens: 70-200mm
Focal Length: 70
f/stop: 4
Exposure: 1/100

Day 2 - Hibiscus

Once again I was looking around for something to shoot. Peg noticed that her Hibiscus was open and suggested that I use it as a subject. Got out the macro and took some shots. This one's my favourite. I like how the dark centre is focused while the light surrounding area is soft. It was nice to focus on some colour on a gray day.

Day 1 - Hands of Time

Had all the godkids and their parents over for New Year's supper this evening. We had a great time playing, chatting and of course eating. Since it's the first day of the year I came up with the idea of showing the passage of time through hands of different generations. The final product wasn't exactly what I had in mind but it follows the theme. The hands, from right to left, are 3 years old, 23 years old and 50 years old. Thanks to my helpful and patient models. This idea is still rolling around in my head so I may try it again. But for now this is it. Also, with a new year comes a new signature.