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!