173: Balcony Planting

So I weeded and dug up some slower boxes that we haven't used in a few years. I managed to unearth some little insects that weren't happy I had just dug up their homes. We have no idea what they are, but they just kind of buzzed around while I was planting. They didn't bite, thank goodness, but we wanted to try and get rid of some of them. So, my brilliant boyfriend brought out the shopvac and we vacuumed them up. It took a little bit of practice to not vacuum the plants and vacuum the bugs, but we did get rid of most of them.

I know, we're terrible people for vacuuming bugs! If it's any conselation, when we humans are all gone, the bugs will still be here laughing their little heads of at how they survived and we didn't.

172: Torrey Pines

Torrey Pines State Park in San Diego. I know I should clone out the wire barrier, but I'm to lazy. I discovered the soft light blending mode and I had lots of fun with that!

Torrey Pines are reknowned for there ability to survive under harsh conditions, and this Park and one island off the coast of California are the only places left where these pines grow.

I apologize for not posting this yesterday like I am suppose to.

I will soon resume taking pictures everyday since I'll have the time this summer.

Go Ghana!!!

171: World Cup Fever!!!

Since these are the last games in each group of the World Cup, they play the games simultane- ously. We're lucky enough to have two televisions, and a way to watch both games at the same time. We put the sound on for the one we're most interested in (in this case Sweden/England) but we can watch the other one at the same time.

That is called World Cup Fever, my friend!

I'm sorry Ecuador lost, and Trinidad and Tobago are down 1-0 at the half, but anything can happen. Go Trinidad and Tobago!!

170: Bokeh

This was taken at Torrey Pines State (National?) Park. The out of focus background is (I think) known as the bokeh, and in this particular picture, I think the out of focus flowers mimicing the curl of the main plat add a nice touch. To bad this was taken before the Bokeh challenge at DPC was announced.

That being said, the hard core people who are researching it would probably give this a Does Not Meet Challenge because I don't have little circles in the out of focus background. Well, I sort of do. Oh well

Back to Torrey Pines. Even though I'd grown up in San Diego, I can't remember ever going to the Park. It has some nice walks. They call them hikes, but the one we went on was more of a walk :-) Since it was beginning of summer, lots of flowers were blooming, so I ahd fun shooting them. Thanks to Emily for being so patient while I kept wandering off the path and stopping to get some of the shots. I didn't really wander off the path (I know that's bad), but I did step over the barrier to get that 'perfect' shot.

169: Children

Whoops! I'm so caught up in World Cup fever I forgot to post something yesterday. In return, you get two pictures. These were children on the streets in Baja California. Their mothers were asking for change, and also getting their kids to beg as well. My dad's wife always has some change and a few singles for the children, so I would snap a few shots of the children.

RANT ON

I got berated by some random guy while in Baja. I was taking some candids of the children, and was reviewing the pictures, and a guy came up to me. He said something along the lines of - you're gonna give those kids your taking pictures of some money, RIGHT? I was doing candids, and the kids, once you gave them money, would tend to pose for you which for that particular shot wasn't what I wanted. What bugged me the most about it was his tone. It was incredibly condescending. I understand that a lot of people new to the area/photographing unerpriveleged kids might not know about the unspoken etiquette of giving someone a bit of money in return for taking the picture, but geez, DO IT IN A NICE WAY. I really wanted to slap the guy, but I figured it wasn't in my best interest to do so. And anyways, if he'd bother to open his eyes, he would have seen that someone in my group WAS giving the kids money as he was berating me.
And FWIW I do know that giving a little bit of money to kids/homeless people/street muscians, etc. in exchange for taking their picture is common practice. Sheesh, I felt bad for taking a picture of some buskers once when all I had on me has a big bill. I still look for them so I can drop them so change next time I see them. I just found his tone so presumptuous and superior, it really irked me. Maybe next time I'll take his picture and give him some change.

RANT OFF

It's amazing how much those of us in first world countries take everything we have for granted.

167: Turtles!!

Taken at the mercado in Rosarito in Baja California. Very sad that Cote d'Ivoire lost in World Cup today. What a game though! Very exciting, and it looked like the Dutch were on a roll, but les Elephants came back with a vengeance. Oh well, this is the excitement of World Cup!

166: HUGE Crab!

While on the southwest side of the island, we went diving. On the second dive, our divemaster showed us an undercave where there were lots of HUGE crabs camping out under there. My boyfriend took this shot, but the crabs sure looked like they would have made a yummy dinner!

165: Dive Bomb!

Some pelicans just outside of San Juan. There was a nice beach, but I made my boyfriend stop when I saw the pelicans. Bonus was that they were feeding as well so I got some great dive bomb shots!

164: Sunset

Sunset from one of the forts in old San Juan

163: Cabo San Rojo

Cabo San Rojo lighthouse. I experimen- ted a bit in photoshop with this picture to give it a slightly darker feel and really try and bring out the textures in the ground and the clouds. Hope you like it!

162: Dancing!

At one of the old forts in Old San Juan, once a week they put a demon- stration of of their traditional dances and music. It's lots of fun, and the dancers are very exuberant, and have beautiful costumes. These are a few that I took that I liked. They have live muscians as well, which is very neat. It included a singer, a Spanish guitar, a smaller guitar (I forgot the name) and one section also had live drummers.

161: Old San Juan

These pictures are also from Old San Juan. They are taken outside the remains of the old wall that goes around the old city. In the top picture, the little turret-like thing is where the Spanish guards would keep watch for enemy ships, and would attack from there as well. They were tiny little things, as the men were much smaller back then. This is why eating your fruits and vegetables and getting enough calcium is important!

160: San Juan

First, a thanks to Alfresco for not only keeping up his excellent PAD, but for using the same numbering system I do so I know what number to use on my posts when I take a hiatus!

This is a picture from Old San Juan in Puerto Rico. This is ths site of the original pier where in the 16th century the Spanish officials used to diusembark from their ships and enter into the city.

Since I made this blog an upload a picture a day, you will be seeing lots of pictures from Puerto Rico, California, and a few from Baja California as well in the next week or two.


Bonus picture! This placed in the top ten (whoohoo!!!!!!) at DPChallenge in the Beatles Challenge. Completely unexpected, but absolutely thrilling, none the less!

150: My New Pet

So I am back home after a fabulous week in Puerto Rico, but I leave tomorrow again for a week and a half.

I've started processing the pictures, but there are a lot, and I'm also trying to catch upon some projects I started before I left.

We got in two dives off the southwest coast of the island. We rented all the equipment except for the shortie wetsuits and our masks. We completely lucked out. The first dive shop we went to was full and sent us to another shop. That shop was doing shallow dives, and recommened a different shop down the road. This shop was associated with a fancy resort right on the coast. So we called them and they said no problem, show up at 7.30am. We get there, and find out they were only expecting four people (my boyfriend and I inclusive). Only one of the other guys showed up, so there were only three of us on the dive boat! The one that was full had 13 divers (if they all showed up).

Some very nice stuff to see, with a couple of nurse sharks, some HUGE crabs, lots of fish, corals and sponges, and what I would love to have as my new pet. I'm holding a sea cucmber that the dive master said I could touch. If I recall correctly, some cucumbers have irritants on their skins. Anyways, for those who dive, you know they always say don't touch anything if you don't know what it is. However, since the dive master said I could, I did. He (it?) was nice and squishy, and slimy, too!

This picture was taken with a canon powershot A70 in an underwater casing by my boyfriend.

Now back on hiatus until June 9th or 19th

Hiatus

So I'm heading out of this city this weekend, and then I'm heading out of the country on Monday. When I get back, I turn around and head out of the country again. So, this blog is going on a hiatus until June 9 or 10 depending on when I can get through my pictures. If I can, I'll post pictures between my out of coutnry visits, but I can't make any guarantees as I'll also be doing mundane thigns like laundry

Cheers and enjoy the beginning of summer! Hope the weather improves while I'm gone...

139: SUN

So I came out of the basement and I looked out the window and I was practically blinded by the sun that mysteriously appeared after being hidden for well over a week. A truely crappy, snapshot picture of my neighbors terrace, but you can see light! Anyways, it's suppose to rain again tomorrow.

Blah. I thought May was the month for flowers, not showers

138: Liam II

I visited a friend of mine today, and we had a nice lunch and spent time talking and palying with her beautiful son, Liam. I've posted his picture before, so you may reocgnize him.

He's changed so much just since the last time I saw him. He's only about 27 months, and speaking full sentences and telling me what all the different cars in his train set carry (like coal)

This is pretty much straight out of the camera. It has been rainy and dreary for over a week now up here in Montreal. Yech

137: Challenge Outtake

Once

again

a

silly

long

post

in

case

you

accidently

stumbled

upon

this

and

are

voting

on

a

current

DPC

Challenge

136: Perspective

Detail from the churhc I was at this Saturday.

135: Untitled

I apologize for the terrible colour casting. I fiddled around with it and got fed up with trying to correct it.

Her expression cracks me up. She was passing around little tissues at the wedding I was at yesterday. I can't tell if this is determination or a pout.

Some PP and a run through neat image since it was a low light situation

134: Ewwww!

Wedding Dress: Some money
Church: More money
Suit: More money
Bouquets: Money

Kids going ewwwww on your wedding day: Priceless

I apologize for the crappy crop. I'm revamping my workflow, and doing the cropping at the end which means I often forget to do it and am to lazy to go back and fix it.

Click for a larger view!

133: Ominous

Well, not really ominous. It's another from my river study series that got a brutal pounding of post processing. It was a gllomy, overcast day, so the clouds were interesting looking. Still getting used to the heavy PP stuff, so this is close to what I wanted. Gotta practice!

Click for a larger view

132: The Road to Nirvana

More ladybugs. I had originally found four, so that's what you see here. Had bad backlighting as you can see, so I apologize for that. This was more an exercise in DOF and composition more than anything.

Yes, the wine was good as well :-)

131: Ladybugs Know Best

So while sweeping up in the country, I came across a bunch of ladybugs. Yes they were already dead, so I can honestly say no bugs were harmed in the making of this picture.

This is inspired by a few photos over at DPC that involved gluing dead bugs and taking fun photos and leaving everybody wondering how they got the bugs to cooperate like that.

Anyways, you can't tell, but two of the bugs are missing their heads. I found them like that! I swear!

The wine was really good, too. I nice Italian wine that my boyfriend has reviewed on his wine blog. Link is on the right.

Click the picture for a larger view

130: Toronto Skyline

Yah Blogger is working now! CN Tower in all it's glory, the Rogers centre where the LEafs play (I think) and Lake Ontario!

I'm heading out of town to dial up land for a few days. I'll be back on the weekend to update. The full Toronto gallery can be seen here if you feel inclined to check it out. They are pictures from the DPC GTG on MAy 6. Great to meet a bunch fellow photographers, joke around and take pictures.

129: Sail Away

Beautiful boat that was cruising through the harbor in Toronto.

I'm not nautically inclined, so I know nothing about what type of boat this is, but I thought it was neat

128: Wide Angle

So one of the fun things about these get togethers is seeing what other lens (or is it lenses) people have, and trying them out. This is my lens, but I had the opportunities and time to really try my wide angle fish eye out.

The interesting thing about my fish eye is that there is not that much distortion. This shot has very little distortion compared tos ome fish eyes shots I've seen. But it does make great 'from the bottom up' shots.

And just because I feel like it, another bottom up fisheye shot


I checked on a fellow PAD blog and noticed I was off by one on the numbering of the posts, so that is why there is a random gap in the numbering

126: En Route

I am not so hot at bird shots. I got one decent one in NY because they are accustomed to humans and fly away. Now I understand why everyone who shoots wildlife loves those (heavy) 500mm lens.

Not a greta shot, but I like the opposite way the wings are, and the shadows in the water.

125: JUMP!

This is Joey Lawrence

A very talented, young photographer who was willing to humour us with jumping over Di's rubber duckie.

The duckie is on the floor, in all its duckie glory :-D

124: Hogtown!

So I spent the weekend in Toronto. I stayed with a good friend of mine who I used to work with in Montreal and his girlfriend (a friend as well :-) ). They have just moved into a cute apartment right downtown.They have a view out their window of the water, and a fabulous open concept apartment.

This particular shot was taken with my 16mm fisheye lens. I had intended this for the night challenge, but the fisheye distortion doesn't quite work in this shot. The only thing really fish eyed is the CN tower, so it just sort of looks odd

This is the view from my friend's terrace on a terrace of the building. Not to shabby! The terrace has a backgammon and chess table (bring your own pieces) and little picnic benches as well. It will make a fabulous place to chill on a summer afternoon.

123: Wine...

For a real comparison review, you must check out my boyfriend's wine review blog here. I preferred the merlot. It was interesting because he gave me a true blind taste test. Normally, I would not consider myslef a big merlot fan, but I enjoyed it more than the cab/shiraz blend.

The picture is a quickie edit, just some WB adjustment and contrast in RAW and some levels in PS

I am heading to Toronto tomorrow, and my friends I am staying with have just moved, so they I don't know how much internet access they have.

When I get back on Monday, I will update the blog with (hopefully) fantastic photos from the DPC Toronto GTG and whatever else I happen to take pictures of!

See you Monday!

122: Sun Goddess

This is our sun goddess, Callye! She was the one who provided all our wonderful reflected fill light. Thank you!

121: Pensive

Yah! Blogger is working. So, a re-edit from the studio shot. One light with snoot and a reflector for fill. Some hard core editing since the background was white. Ended up grey in the picture, so lots of tweaking and masking in PS to get it here. Covnert to B&W and voila!

120: Pyramid

OK, having fun again! Cheers!

119: Callye's Bobo

This is Callye's bobo, or booboo. Here in Quebec, you get a boo-boo, it's called a bobo. Boo-boo is actually a derivative of bobo, which is French. Google is great!

The piece she is rehearsing requires her to jump up and hang onto a tall wall. The way to get up involves running towards the wall and then doing a sort of pseudo climb up the wall. This means her left knee gets knocked into the wall at high velocity.

Knee + high velocity + wall = HUGE bruise. She showed me the bruise and I said, we HAVE to take a picture! It will probably only turn more pretty colours this week!

Yes I"m holding my awesome remote in my hand :-P

118: Jean Seb

So, one thing we discovered was that we were placing our models too close to the backdrop. This picture seems to have vignetting, but it's more because the backdrop we were using was dirty where Jean Seb was sitting than because of lighting problems. We pulled our model several feet from the backdrop, and it solved a lot of the problems we were having earlier. Thanks John!!

The other thing we discovered was that the reflector is more than just a really cool wind generator for making someone's hair fly around. This time around, we used the gold side mostly. We used one light as our main source, and used the reflector, which made a huge difference in shadows on the model. We used two other lights for the backdrop.

117: Studio Revisit

So, this is being posted for Friday, but reality is this was taken Saturday.

We (Jean-Sebastien, Callye, and John) and I went back to the studio again. This time, since we had an idea of what studio stuff is, we decided to focus on more technical things, like 'Rembrandt lighting' and other classic portrait studio things. We also learned a couple of great lessons.

This, however, is me being a goof. I was showing off my remote shutter as we were getting ready to do some fun group stuff. As we were switching lights, we figured it made a good refreshment break as well ;-)

We don't wear our shoes (in less you are the model) on the paper, since it's white, so I've got my boyfriends nice and comfy wool socks on. Glad I brought them!

116: Real picture of the kitty

So after yesterday's debacle, you get a realy picture of the kitty.

115: What to do with a baaad picture

Typical of cats. There is a cat in our neighborhood who meanders around, and will even walk into your apartment if the door is open. She (I think) was sitting on my neighbors porch, so I thought, cool, snap a few pictures and I've got my PAD (well two since I missed this one).

Of course, the cat gets up and starts coming my way. Decided I was hers and did the rubbing thing, and of course, then proceeded to stretch with her behind to me.

So, I took an out of focus picture, and butchered it, just for the heck of it. I think it's horrific, but the best part, is I get to call it 'art' because I created it!

114: 1 done, 3 to go

Today I wrote my last exam for this year. One year down, three to go. So what you're staring it are my notes and textbooks from this semester. I know, lots of paper. I'm a nerd and type my notes because otherwise I wouldn't be able to study off of them.

Next semester will include organic chemsitry, molecular biology, laboratory techniques, biometry (statistics), and either an essay writing course or a management course. CAN'T WAIT!

Next semester will be tons of work. In the meantime, I get to go to Puerto Rico and volunteer in a lab. Plus I get to enjoy the summer in Montreal :-)

113: Challenge Entry

This is a challenge entry

This will be erroneous double spaced nonsense

In case someone stumbles upon my blog

And is hugely offended

I posted my picture

And destroyed all anonymity

And am trying to have

An undo influence

On the voters

Who are oh so easily swayed

If I asked them to change their vote

On my picture

I actually think if I asked people to change their vote on my picture, they'd vote me down.

If you still want to see the picture

Go ahead!

112: Intensity

This isn't my picture. It's a picture my mother brought back with her from Nigeria when she was there in the 60's. I'm 90% sure she took, but I can't remember.

The men are about to engage in a wrestling match, and you can see the crowd behind them. I've always loved the expressions on their faces.

It looks terrible because this is a snapshot through a frame, and thus the wonky relfections which I am to tired to PS out. Well, I would PS them out if I had the time and I knew how to do it. Knowing how always helps.

I just want to say something regarding my post yesterday. The people I was referring to (who seem to objectify women based on what they wear) are the ones who will swagger into women and make fake licking moves at them, or hoot and holler out the windows of their car as they drive. As Matt pointed out, looking at someone because they have a nice body, or work out, or whatever, is perfectly normal. Sexual selection at it's best! :-D I just wanted to clarify I was referring to the slimier jeers and looks. Looking is perfectly normal, and I apologize for not making that clear.

111: Gratuitous Behind Shot

Now that the weather is warmer, all the layers of clothing are coming off as well.

I love people watching, and I love to sit in a pedestrian traffic heavy and watch the people go by. As the layers come off, the rubbernecking gets its own workout. I've noticed that the number of men who will turn to look at someone's behind is generally a higer number than a women who will turn to look at a males behind. Granted, a large part of this is because women wear those TIGHT, low riding pants. For the record, I can't stand them (those pants).

Anyways, the title reminded me of an episode of the current Amazing Race where there was a gratuitous butt shot of one of the more shapely women in the competition. I guess the camera man was happy he had a telephoto zoom lens. It made me laugh because it made no attempts to hide what kind of shot it was - a shot of a woman's butt, and it was a blatant shot for the folks who like to look at butts. No generalized genders or sexual orientations will be mentioned.

It's funny. Women today are taught to be confident in themselves - proud to be a woman. Many will dress to show this off, yet it seems to end up objectifying them as sexual objects to be ogled at. I dunno. Seems like women can't win. Be proud and show off your feminity, but be prepared to be drooled on and looked at as a sexual object of desire.

My rant for the day is done. Go take a pretty picture :-)

110: Spring is bustin' out

Shot out my backdoor. Complete snapshot. Quick PP so I know it looks odd. Oh well.

109: Me II

So, way back when it was still cold and there was snow and ice all over the place, I had mentioned the idea of doing and on again off again project of sort of self portraits of me sitting in a chair in random places.

Well, this is one more for the series, though in a not terribly creative place. Don't worry, I have some better ideas!

I now feel like I can resume this PAD with a fresh eye and new start now that the bulk of my finals are done. I have one more one Tuesday, and as you can see, I am studying for it.

While in NY, I picked up a remote trigger for my camera, and can I just say it is REALLY COOL! No more running back and forth in the ten second alotted timer time! No more prefocusing on something, switching it to manual focus, and then pushing the shutter! And if you're wondering, it's in my right hand.

Winter is officially over as I was able to wear sandels to all three of my exams.

About the picture: I apologize for the blown out highlights on the right side of the picture. I had the sun on my left, and the picture was taken out my front door hallway.

I have to say it's nice to take pictures again :-)

Soon...

Almost done...
Last of three in a row in tomorrow... well, later today.

I have one on Tuesday, but the killer was this stretch
Physics on Tuesday, Chemistry on Wed, and Bio on Thursday

Don't get me wrong, I'm loving being back in school, but it's a lot of work studying for three exams abck to back. It's actually harder than having two exams on one day I am finding.

C'est la vie!

In retrospect, I think it's good I took a small (unplanned) break from photography. I think I'll get back into it witha freash perspective, full of ideas of molecular biology and how to synthesize DNA :-)

106: Finals

Fooled you!

No pictures
I have three finals this week, and I'm barely going to be able to find time to shoot for Terry's MS bracketing tourny.

Will catch up after I slog my way through this weird stuff called science.