Great Expectations (and fog!)
Hi guys! It's been a while. Things are going well here, school is busy but ok and the centipede population in my apartment has greatly decreased. I find that I'm just not getting my camera out as much as I used to day-to-day, but I'm hoping that over the next couple of months I'll get better at that again. I'm loving being here though. I've been thinking about things that have happened here that I wasn't expecting, there are quite a few. I guess expectations are really just fears, so it's cool when you don't have to be afraid of things anymore..
- I wasn't expecting everyone here to be so nice: Ok, I'll admit that sometimes it's a little weird. I know more store clerks' life stories than I ever have before. But it's also very nice! I know I can't go anywhere without people smiling and saying hello. And people in stores are starting to remember me, which has never happened to me before. The only bad part is that I feel even more guilty if I leave home without washing my hair.
- I wasn't expecting to make friends that I hope I'll know for life. At least not so quickly... I tend to take a while to get close to people, but I already have a few friends here who I know I will be friends with for a long time. And who will tell me if I have something stuck in my teeth.
- I wasn't expecting to feel so comfortable here. I walk down the street and feel totally normal and relaxed. And sometimes when I pay for something at a store, I get surprised that I'm using American money.. I must really feel at home!

I have my first American Thanksgiving with a friend's family tomorrow, so excited! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I went out with my camera when it was just getting dark last night. It was so so foggy out there... These are different for me and definitely not perfect, but I've never really tried taking photos in the dark before, so I'll cut myself some slack. I followed the girl with the umbrella for two blocks, I hope she didn't see me!

At the construction site across from my house:

85mm, f.2.0, 1/160, ISO 1600

85mm, f.2.0, 1/160, ISO 800

85mm, f/2.2, 1/100, ISO 1600

85mm, f/2.2, 1/100, ISO 800

85mm, f/2.0, 1/125, ISO 1600

85mm, f/2.0, 1/80, ISO 1600

A real subject!
Woohoo! I actually had a real person agree to some pictures today. It was like Christmas morning! Lol. We only spent about 5 minutes since we were on our way out, but still. It's something. As soon as Nikki showed up at my house with this blue sweater on, I knew some photos were in order. Aren't her eyes beautiful? They look so awesome with the sweater and her hair.. So gorgeous!

I was definitely a little rusty with these.. I've hardly shot adults period, and none at all for a few months. So I had a hard time telling her how to stand. I also had some trouble focusing, not sure why.. The full-body shots were way soft, and the ones I tried up against the brick were messed up as well. But I got a few that I like, and it felt really good to be processing photos of a person! Yesterday I was considering posting a blog retirement announcement, but I think I'll keep it going for now. I'm sorry I can't visit your blogs as much as I'd like to.. Grad school is crazy! But if any of you with kids ever have any questions about speech/language development, please feel free to ask me :)

Thanks for looking! CC is welcome. I posted some of these on ILP but haven't gotten any responses, so if you have any thoughts please let me know!

All with my 85mm 1.8 at f/2.2, ISO 100 and shutters around 1/125 - 1/200.



(Super soft!)



And one of me, courtesy of Nikki! I got the shot set up for her then we switched spots!

Busy + Ugly + Beautiful
Hi guys! How are you? I hope you had a good week. Mine was ok.. Getting real fall weather here now, busy with school, my mom is here visiting. I haven't had time to do much of anything, but it's been nice. I've been so frustrated though! Every day after school the light has been beautiful. I hurry home, grab my camera, and it's gone! But I really don't want to lug my camera around at school, so.. Maybe one of these days I'll make it in time. Although I guess the tilt of the earth is working against me right now... Anyway, yesterday after I missed the nice light, I went out and tried to work on some of my goals. Then I broke all my own rules because, you know, I'm a rebel. Lol.

Trying for lots of DOF (with motion blur - the first is handheld at 1/6) - notice the mostly in-focus foreground and background? These were with my 30mm, I need to break out the super wide soon.


Then I got frustrated, so I decided to just photograph boring stuff with a shallow DOF, my old standby lol. Here are some shots from the alley!





(not so shallow, but they reminded me of fallopian tubes haha)

Now, check out these beautiful things that came in the mail today! Play food cakes and cookies from Etsy! I was sooo excited, they came so quickly and they're gorgeous. They're a birthday present for one of the kids I babysit back home. These are from Mon Petit Soleil on Etsy, you should definitely check out her shop - very reasonable prices, awesome product, and amazing customer service!









p.s. Lottie and Lulu, I'm going to call Scotland Yard (do they still exist? lol) to search for you if you don't post soon. Seriously, you're missed.

Food, glorious food
Sometimes there's nothing more beautiful than something to eat. You know those times, when it really doesn't matter *what* it is, just as long as it's in front of you and meant for your consumption. On Saturday after a long day of observing therapy sessions (I have to do 25 over the next while so that I can start actually performing speech therapy), some friends and I went to Panera for a bite. And let me tell you, it really hit the spot. It wasn't just that it was good (which it was, although I'll argue that my black bean soup is tastier!), it was that it was warm, available, and mine! And that was the best. While we were in line, I was admiring all the textures and tones of the bread on display. It all looks so beautiful, and of course tastes amazing (although again, I'll argue that the bread I baked from scratch the other day was actually more delicious than the loaf you'll see below... It was ugly though, so no pictures). So I picked up a few items and decided to photograph them this morning before they were sliced and put in the freezer. I was going for detail here (remember? One of my challenges) and placed the bread on a wooden chest that I thought would compliment the tones of the bread. I thought a deep conversion worked well with these (it's actually Brenda's b&w II with various changes), but please do critique this. I still don't feel confident at recognizing what's good and what isn't in black and white images. I think I may put a couple of these in my kitchen, so let me know which is your favourite! I'm really looking for hard critique this week, so don't hold back :)

As always, thanks for visiting! I'm going to go into last week's comments and answer questions now, so if you asked one go back and check!

A trip to the beach
Because my bedroom windows face east, I'm waking up earlier than I ever have before. It's good though, since I have to be at school quite early every day. I wasn't quite so happy last Sunday morning though, when I woke up and the sun hadn't even risen yet. I'd been wanting to see the sunrise for a while though, so I packed up my camera and headed out. I didn't end up with many shots I was happy with, but got a few! I'm definitely going to try again sometime, the next time I'm awake at sunrise. You may have to wait until I'm up at night with my first child. Lol!

Geese flying over the water:
No swimming!

Seagulls basking in the morning glow:

A building.. With cool sunrise refections in the windows..


I've decided that I really need to try to take my photography to the next level technically since I've been at a standstill for a while. Over the next while I'll be working on capturing a narrow tonal range (I love contrast, but want to aim for increased detail here), practicing using lots of depth of field (hyperfocal distance) since I usually rely on a narrow DOF for a photo's "cool" factor, and practicing bracketing exposures. Obviously not all at once, but those are the things I have on my list. If anyone wants to join me in these or other goals that would be awesome!

Have a good week everyone!

Live from Chicago
Hi everyone! I know I've been away for far too long. I've been so busy that I really haven't even picked up my camera.. And I guess I don't really know what/where to shoot right now, so I don't have much to show for my.. two? three? weeks. However long it's been..

I love my apartment, I really do. I think it was a good decision to get one on my own, I don't think I would have been as happy living with random people.. I'm with people I don't know all day, so it's nice to be able to come home and have some time to myself. Except for the part that I live in fear every night because these little ****ers are crawling all over my walls! It's so scary and gross.. Some of them are the size of my middle finger! I sleep with the light on and have a shoe near me for crushing at all times. I think it's starting to improve though.. Maybe they're getting the message that I'm a serious killing machine! Haha. Hmm, what else? Oh, there's some really nice construction going on near my apartment right now, so I'm woken up every morning to the lovely sound of a wrecking ball. It's great! Built-in alarm clock :)


Here are a few photos of my new place.. It's looking a bit more organized now, but I still have work to do. I did finally order a couch though! So I'll have to clean up the living room soon so they can deliver it.

Nice and serene, my bed:


Aaand the not so serene part of my bedroom:


Eat-in area of the kitchen:


The rest of the kitchen:


And the dreaded living room:


It really is very spacious though, I like it a lot.

Oh I got a new roommate! Here's Carol.. She's very quiet :)


The other living things in my apartment right now:

(Think I can eat these?)

My new collection of spices, from an awesome store that grinds them fresh every week:




And one last pic from my last days in Toronto, just for fun!


I did take some pics at the beach the other morning, so I'll post those within the next couple of days. Otherwise, I'll probably be posting about once a week for a while.. School is crazy and I need to get back into the swing of things. And I haven't been to any other blogs in weeks, but I will make the rounds as soon as I have the chance.

Thanks for visiting if you're reading this! I really do appreciate it and I've missed finding out what's going on with all of you. Talk soon!

Saying goodbye (or starting to)
I said goodbye to some of my babysitting kids the other night. It was sad, I've known them since the oldest had just turned 2! So I've really watched them grow up. I spent almost every day in the summer with them for years, I've known their teachers, friends, and family. Of course I'll see them when I come back home for vacations, but still.. They're going to grow and I won't be there! They know my program is 3 years, so when I was leaving they said (from oldest to youngest) - "see you when I'm 11!," "see you when I'm 9!," and "see you when I'm 18!!" Lol. I don't know where she got 18 from, she's only 4. But at least I can take comfort in the fact that I'll be gone for 3 years and not 15! Lol.

We took some pictures so that I'd have one of the three of them to put somewhere in my apartment, and just had a really fun night.

I couldn't get the colour right on this one, but I still love it. I may go black and white I guess.

30mm, f/2.5, 1/100, ISO 200

What do you think of the conversions on these next 2? I know they're sort of dark, I was trying something new to go for a more deep filmish b&w look. Well, sort of trying, sort of accident. Feedback would be great :)

30mm, f/2.5, 1/200, ISO 200

Of course we had to try out the self-timer.. This was the only semi-decent one, I don't like it of me but the idea of it is nice lol.

30mm, f/5.0, 1/100, ISO 400

I know he looks a bit goofy here, but I still love this one.. His eyes in it are so cool! I finally believe the people who say they didn't do anything to the eyes, because I didn't do anything here. The blurry gray thing is his sword :)

30mm, f/2.5, 1/200, ISO 200

Poor C had to get her hair cut off due to the recent lice problem. It looks pretty cute though, and luckily she loves it!

85mm, f/2.0, 1/250, ISO 400

A decided to get out her camera, so I had to shoot her shooting me :)


Then we had cookies.. Mmm, cookies...


And then we played Sorry. I was in a moody/grainy b&w mood when I processed these. Her pj's have been through all 3 kids, and she was playing with her feet for the whole game. Love this kid!


I'm going to try to post once more before I move on Friday! Working hard to get *OUT* of the funk for good. Thanks for all your encouragement!