Fotoless Friday – Camera necessary, motivation optional

A lot (not to be confused with an alot ) of photography sites, on the subject of getting better, tell you to have your camera with you as much as possible so you can whip it out whenever there’s a photographic opportunity. With this in mind, and a desire to improve my craft, I brought my camera to work the other week. It was a beautiful sunny day and after lunch was enjoyed outside on the grass, it was time to take pictures.

But a funny thing had happened. I found I didn’t WANT to.

After I had taken the time to bring my camera to work, carefully padded in my backpack for the bus ride, I sat there not quite sure what to do, not quite sure if I really wanted to. But it seemed like such a waste to not take a single shot – it was time for ‘fake it till you make it’.

I looked around.

A few meters away from the lunch spot was a beautiful flowering shrub, seemed like as good a place to start as any. Lugging a lot of gear on the bus wasn’t what I’d had in mind, so I limited myself to one lens – my 50mm macro lens. Since it was a nice sunny day, I didn’t have to worry too much about shutter speed, meaning I could set a low f-stop, have a large aperture opening with a shallow depth of field. Macro photography fascinates me and I was hoping some close-up flower shots to get my creative juices flowing.

And it helped. A little.

The shrub I was photographing was on a fairly steep little hill, making it difficult to get some of the angles I wanted to get. After a few shots, it was time to move on.

The High Level Bridge usually provides a lot of opportunities, making it my next stop. I decided to try playing around with my shutter speed, going for motion blur shots of the vehicles on the bridge. Again, it provided a short burst.

The final stop was along a the south side of the Legislature. The sun was shining through the branches of a tall tree, and I was suddenly determined to get a shot of the shun through the branches. After a few attempts, and not a few large spots in my vision! I was satisfied with my excursion.

The real test came later, when it was time to look over my pictures on the computer. I was shocked. Despite not really feeling it that day, I was happy with most of the results. I’ve already shared one of the flower shots and I’m working on posts for rest of the pictures.

Guess I succeeded in ‘faking it till I made it’. And I guess those photography sites know what they’re talking about 😉

 

Pretty in Pink

1/250 sec at f/11, ISO 100, Sony a5 w/55mm macro

 

Fotoless Friday – A moment

Ever have those moments? You know, those moments when the stars align and everything seems perfect, if only for a moment? I had one of those last night.

It was after little Munchkin went to bed, I was in the greenhouse moving some herbs into a larger pot. The air was cool, and fresh from the rain. Outside, it was calm – a pleasant change after the vigourous winds of the afternoon, which were just as rushed as the people bustling here, there, everywhere.

Pitter patter went the rain on the roof, a soothing melody as I worked the dirt. The earthy smell filled me up and I felt a sudden urge to take off my shoes and plunge my feet into the soil, to feel it between my toes.

At that moment, I was at peace.

 

Because SUMMER!

Ah, May long weekend 🙂 The un-official start of summer and the sign that it’s time to plant the garden outside. Time for gardening, camping, fishing and generally enjoying the outdoors without a million layers 😉

I meant to post this on Friday, at the start of ‘summer’, but summer got in the way. Because, you know, SUMMER!

1/125 sec at f/5.6, ISO 400, Sony a55 w/ 50mm macro

This was my start to summer, after work sangria with awesome coworkers! In a KING jar, no less.

1/100 sec at f/5.6, ISO 400, Sony a55 w/ 50mm macro

*sluuurp* ahhhhh!

Galaxy S3 cell phone

 

My pretty kitty

I love her eyes!

1/100 sec at f/2.8, ISO 3200 w/ Sony a55, 50mm macro

 

April lunchtime stroll

Spring this year has been sporadic – one day it’s sunny, warm and fantastic; the next, snowy, blowy and cold. Did you see the joke going around, the ‘Failed to install spring, spring is not available in your country”? That about sums it up. So when it was a sunny, warm day I just had to get out of the office and enjoy some natural Vitamin D. Here are some of the pictures I took with my new cell phone (that’s a whole other story!).

From the downtown side of the High Level Bridge, looking towards my alma mater (University of Alberta).

After crossing the bridge, I headed down towards the river and was intrigued by my new perspective. I really like the lines in this one.

I met this little guy in the river valley. I think he thought I was going to give him a treat!

This shot was from the pedestrian walkway underneath the LRT bridge. I’ve been on that bridge when there were so many people on it, it was swinging! It was steady that day, thankfully 🙂

From the end loop of the LRT bridge, looking back at two Canada geese enjoying the open water.

 

Tea Time

I was lucky enough to get another tea advent calendar for December 2012. I’m a little slow with the review, but in the meantime, I give you pictures of some of the teas 🙂

Read My Lips – this tea was in the calendar last year, and is still one of my top 5 teas. It’s so, so yummy! And it looks pretty neat too.

You can see the little lips from the tea’s name, and the teeny chocolate chips 🙂

1/40 sec at f/5.6, ISO 1600 – Sony a55, 50mm macro

This one is called ‘Glitter & Gold’, it was new to me and another yummy tea. You can see the glitter – the gold balls and the little silver flecks. I’m not sure what they were, but probably some sort of sugar, lol.

1/30 sec at f/7.1 ISO 3200 – Sony a55, 50mm macro

Goji Pop – another new one, and I really liked the fruity taste. The fruit bits and flower petals add some fun colour.  This is one that would make a nice iced tea.

1/25 sec at f/7.1, ISO 3200 – Sony a55, 50mm macro

Kiwi’s Big Adventure – still another new one. I enjoyed this one, although the only words that come to mind to describe it are ‘leafy’ and ‘tropical’, lol.  Although, looking at the tea, those words fit!

1/60 sec at f/7.1, ISO 3200 Sony a55, 50mm macro

 

Snowfall

The city really does look pretty, with it’s fresh blanket of snow. Since I’m working downtown now, and a block away from the Alberta Legislature, I decided to bring my camera to work and go for a stroll over lunch. It was too bad that it was still snowing, it really made the for some flat light. I would love to go back when the sun is shinning!

1/50 sec at f/13, ISO 200 – Sony a55

I love how the flame give this great pop of colour!

1/60 sec at f/10, ISO 200 -Sony a55

You can *just* see another flame way down the path.

1/80 sec at f/11, ISO 200 – Sony a55

The river valley

1/125 sec at f/11 ISO 200 – Sony a55

 

And snow it begins…

Up to 25 cm of snow landed on my fair city today. It was the kind of day that made those trying to get around go insane, while others made snowmen out of the situation.

Here are the first snow pictures of the season. If I know me, there will be more!

Looking up at the snow collecting on tree branches.

Cell phone picture

Knee deep in snow!

1/50 sec at f/3.5, ISO 400, 5mm – Pentax Optio

 

Happy Halloween!

Yes, we’re a bit nerdy over here 😀

6.0 sec at f/11, ISO 400, 28mm – Sony a55 w/tripod