Project 365 - Day 364 - Bronte Harbour

For the second last day of this project, I decided to go back down to one of my favourite haunts.  I went down to Bronte Harbour.

The ice in the picture is quite thin, to the left of this shot the water is open and moving.  The geese shown in the lower right hand corner are actually standing on the ice itself ... not swimming in it.

It just might be time to fly south birds ... :-)

Project 365 - Day 363 - No Rest for Santa

Well, today marked the last of the Christmas festivities that we had planned this year.  4 Christmas dinners, and one open house, and we got to see a lot of friends and family.  It is now time to start planning for next year.

This got me thinking about Santa.  It must take him forever to make all the toys for the little boys and girls, so he must have to start right away.  I am sure he takes Christmas day off, and maybe Boxing day as well, but he is probably back at it again on the 27th, making toys.

I have a figurine that I painted probably 12 years ago of Santa making a dollhouse.  I decided to do a portrait of him for tonight's shot.

Project 365 - Day 362 - Tree at night

Tonight I went back down to Coronation Park to shoot some stars.  I decided to use my tree as the foreground for some start shots.  It was really dark due to the lack of moonlight, so it was really hard to focus.  I ended up bracketting my focus on a number of shots and picking the best one later when I could see what the focus was doing.

Project 365 - Day 361 - Snow and running water

One of the things I like about early spring is the melting of the snow, and how the creeks and rivers start to carve their way through the ice and snow.  Today is a very nice day, it is sunny and hovering around 0 deg - the perfect ingredients for open water in the creeks and rivers.  This is a shot I got this morning around the corner from my house - I love the reflections in the pooling water, just before it goes down the little mini rapids.

Project 365 - Day 360 - Coronation tree from another angle

This shot is of my favourite tree in Coronation Park.  You can see that the remnants of the ice storm are pretty much gone from our neck of the woods.  We went to see my sister this evening for Christmas dinner and she still has a lot of ice on her trees.  Her neighbourhood is just north of us, about a 10 minute drive.  It is really strange how different the results of the storm are from area to area.  I guess there is something about living closer to the lake - but it usually feels colder around the water.

Project 365 - Day 359 - Luca and the Nerf Gun

So this is my cousin's son Luca.  I had him pose like this, and used a small aperture to blur his face while I focused on the barrel of the Nerf gun.  The gun was not loaded, and neither my camera nor I was in any danger during this time.

Project 365 - Day 358 - One more ice storm shot

This was shot on the way to a family dinner, the first of four Christmas dinners this year.  Yum.  Anyway, this is up in Brampton, along highway 407 where the ice on the trees and bushes is still pretty thick.  You can see a lot of ice build up on the transmission towers.  These lines all survived the storm, but some are still coated in ice even though it is sunny outside.

Many thanks to my patient wife for pulling over on the side of the highway so I could get this shot... :-)

Project 365 - Day 357 - Covered in ice

Today I was doing some last minute running around, and I stepped out of Staples at Dorval and the North Service Road.  The sun was out, and it had lit up the field of grasses beautifully.  So I raced home and grabbed my camera, only to find out I missed the show.  I waited this time, and sure enough, as the sun started to drop it lit up the field again.  I snapped a couple of pictures.

This is an HDR of 4 shots.

Project 365 - Day 356 - Ice

So, those in the GTA will recognize this photo.  It's something that they are looking at themselves, in their backyards, front yards, and even in the planters in their balconies that they have neglected to clean out this fall.  This is a shot from my backyard during today's ice storm.  Currently we are at the tail end of the storm, and it is warming up a bit so the ice should begin to melt off the trees.  There are a number of trees down in the area, some parts of the GTA are without power and will be for a while, but here in our immediate area there is not much damage - yet.  We're still hoping that this will be the extent of the storm.

This is one of my many spruce trees in the backyard, the branches are hanging a lot lower than usual, so I was able to get a pretty close shot.  No macro today, the wind is too strong making longer exposures impossible.

Project 365 - Day 355 - It's all over but the wrapping

Spent most of the day today shopping - but it's almost all done now.  All we have left is wrapping.  Usually, I wrap all the presents while Sonia does the last finishing touches on the shopping but since we're finishing a little earlier this year than usual, I might actually have some help in that department.

Project 365 - Day 354 - Leaf on Snow

Well, not a very imaginative title I know, but it actually describes the shot perfectly.  This is a leaf from my Japanese Maple that decided to fall AFTER the snow last weekend and subsequent melt today.  This guy is still wet as it is still raining outside.  I was hoping it would freeze, and make for some good icicle shots off the branches, but no such luck.  I guess it's really a good thing, as if the temp were to drop below freezing now there would be a lot of accidents.

Project 365 - Day 353 - Santa came to my house early this year

We got home later than usual today, and we found a present under the tree.  It wasn't from Santa Claus, but it was from my sister, Heather.  Heather had been posting on facebook about an ornament that our mother had made a long time ago - she made a bunch of these ornaments and sold them at a craft sale.  My sisters bought some of these ornaments, and Heather dug one out of a box for me to have, asI didn't have one of my own.  It was truly a nice surprise.

Our tree is full of ornaments that we have received from friends and family, ones that we bought while traveling on vacation or for work.  Each ornament on our tree means something to us, and when we put the tree up every year we get to relive those memories - "remember this trip?" "Were did we buy this one?" and so on.  We even have ornaments that remind us of Brodie and Leo, our dog and cat that have since passed on.

So today's shot is another ornament on the tree - but not just any ornament.  This is one my mom made.

Project 365 - Day 352 - Batteries Included

I remember one Christmas when I was a kid.  I was allowed to open one present on Christmas eve, and the rest would have to wait until Christmas day.  We were allowed to pick the present we opened, and I chose this heavy rectangular block that I had been checking out for weeks before.  My parents tried to talk me out of it, but I insisted that I open that one.  It turned out to be a lantern battery - part of another gift.  Now, my parents could have left it at that, but they allowed me to open the gift that went with the battery.  It was a wood burning set.

At this time of year we find ourselves shopping for kids gifts, and I know some people like to buy the cute outfit, or some clothes that the kid needs, but I'm more of the toy kind of shopper.  Usually, I check the side of the package and see if the toy requires batteries, and the more batteries it takes the better the toy inevitably is. 

Recently, Sonia and I were shopping for toys for a charity and we were specifically looking for things that did not take batteries, as these are consumable or luxury items.  Rechargeable batteries are an option, but if you have a toy that takes twelve AA batteries ( yes, I have bought a couple of these toys - as well as a case of batteries from Costco ) then this could get expensive.

As a photographer, batteries are a big part of my hobby.  When I go on a shoot I make sure I have my two camera batteries charged, and my AA batteries ready to go - at least two sets for the two flashes, two sets for the PocketWizards.  That adds up to a whopping twenty four batteries.  They are all rechargeable, so at least I'm not personally responsible for killing the environment ... :-)

This photo has the batteries included....

Project 365 - Day 351 - Snow on the Juniper

This is a macro shot of a spot of snow on a juniper bush in front of our house.  This was shot with my 60mm lens, side lit with a flash as it was getting late in the day  ( I had to keep adjusting my settings to account for the dying natural light).    This spot is no more than an inch square, as you can probably tell by the size of the juniper stems in the bottom right hand corner of the shot.

Project 365 - Day 350 - Shadows

When I got home tonight, I went around back to get the recycling containers.  I noticed the way the trees were casting shadows across the pristine, untouched snow in the backyard.  So I grabbed my camera and tripod and hiked around the back side of the backyard, careful not to disturb any snow.

Framing the shot posed a real problem, and after trying to crop and get it to work in post I came to a conclusion.  I should have gone to a park to shoot this where there was more room.  But I kinda like this anwyay...

Project 365 - Day 349 - Winter Night

This was shot tonight in my backyard.  The sky was so blue because of the reflections from the snow and the big bright moon.   No starts tongiht, it's just too bright outside.  But I wanted to capture the colour of the sky itself.  I shot the moon through one of the birches in the backyard for this picture.

Project 365 - Day 348 - Christmas Portrait

Today I spent the afternoon at Stonemill taking pictures for a Christmas event put on by Heather and Pat Belsito.  This was one of the subjects for today's shoot.  The pointsettia beside her is named Landon, who is her little brother - he was too camera shy to be in the picture.

Project 365 - Day 347 - Fun with colour and light

Today I was going through my gear for a photo shoot I am doing tomorrow, getting everything ready and making sure I had all my parts.  I was also thinking about what my shot might be for tonight.  I was playing with the camera, taking a test shot, and then realized that my shutter was at 30s.  I shut the camera off, thus closing the shutter, and turned it back on.  Just on a whim, I check out the picture.  It was kind of cool!  The camera was aimed at the christmas tree and I was moving it back and forth, so the colours from the lights were streaks.

I then began thinking of what I could do to incorporate this effect in my shot for today.  I remember when I was on a photo tour with The Mentor Series, one of the instructors told us about a technique where you hold the camera steady and zoom out over the shutter length.  So I tried this.  After a few shots, this is what I came up with.

A neat way to look at the christmas tree... :-)

Project 365 - Day 346 - Cloudy Cloudy Night

I attempted this shot last night, but there were too many planes around as it was too early in the evening.  I went out later tonight, and it worked out better for me.  Now, it's cloudy tonight, but the ceiling is high so I did get a nice view of Toronto, but the haze is still there.  You can really see the light fall off from the city into the lake.

The lake also appears to be freezing over, but that's because my shutter is so slow, it makes it look smooth.  A benefit from this is the reflection of the glow around Toronto.

Project 365 - Day 345 - Starry Starry Night

Okay, feeling much better tonight.  I also feel creative ... and that's a good thing!

Went to Coronation park tonight to get some stars.  Tonight was a clear night, the first one in more than a week, so I wanted to get a good shot while the getting was good.  I started shooting directly over the lake towards the US of A, and I found that there were just too many planes going by - not close enough to get a good shot of and not moving fast enough to keep out of the shot.  So I started playing with the angles.

This angle is right down the shoreline towards Burlington - or I guess more appropriately Bronte Harbour.  Shot at f/8 and 13s shutter at 24mm focal length using my 24-70mm lens.

Project 365 - Day 344 - Snow?

Okay, I will admit.  I was really drawing a blank today trying to figure out what to shoot.  Still not 100% so I didn't want to go outside - too cold.  So I went through the house with my macro lens.

This is italian white bread, focused really close at f/57.  It kind of looks like snow ... :-)

Project 365 - Day 343 - Ready for snow

This is yesterday's shot.  You see, I had a little .. ahem .. issue last night.  It seems that I had contracted a stomach bug that kept me on the couch and sometimes the bathroom floor for the last 24 hours yesterday.  It started just as I was leaving work and hit hard around 8pm last night.  Now I am starting to feel kind of normal, and hungry.  I shot this yesterday, but really didn't have the mental focus to post last night.

This is the birch trees in front of our house.  I like the way the black branches contrast with the light sky.  Kind of neat.

Project 365 - Day 342 - Colours

Today's shot is a different shot.  I wanted to catch the colours of Christmas again, but in a new and different way.  I took one of our reindeer that is covered in sparkles and placed it in front of the Christmas tree.  Then I shot it with my 60mm MACRO lens to catch the colours without seeing the entire figure.

Project 365 - Day 341 - SQUIRREL!!

This was yesterday's shot.  I shot it yesterday but didn't have access to any interweb to post it - it was a very crazy and busy day.

This little guy has been a focus of mine for a while.  I keep trying to get a shot of him - I did end up using one of his shots during the summer months.  Recently, he has taken up home in my metal shed.  He didn't do any damage as all the stuff in there is safely stored in hard plastic boxes, but he did build a nest with all his nuts and things.  I'll clear him out in the spring, but only if there are no babies.

Project 365 - Day 340 - Winter Berries

Posting VERY late today, I didn't have network access after I took this shot yesterday. 

I am pretty sure these are not edible, but then again I may be wrong.  There is a hedge along the walkway at work, and as I was leaving work yesterday I spotted this one bush that was covered in these berries - much more than the other bushes.  I guess that this one hasn't seen a lot of bird activity being so close to the front door.

Project 365 - Day 339 - Water Droplet Collision

Heh.  Yep, that's what it is.

I got this new device a couple of weeks back that had "some assembly required" and I finally had time to built it.  It's called a Camera Axe (www.CameraAxe.com).  Basically it's a controller for your camera, it controls the camera and a flash - more if you use a wireless system.  There are some sensors that you can make on the web site, such as sound, motion, projectile, etc.  Today's shot employs a valve "sensor"

The Camera Axe is set up to control the valve.  You fill this tube with water and then the valve opens and drops water into a dish.  Some of you might remember my first , manual droplet shot.  I didn't use anything for that and I got lucky, but repeatability was a real problem.  What this device does is let's you free up your hands for focusing and framing the shot, selecting the aperture and so on.  You adjust the delays and the timers (there are a LOT of settings you can go through) and you take the shot.  It's not like the box is doing all the work, but it takes the pressure off to allow you to set up the collision and then start playing with light and colours.

I am impressed with this device ...

Project 365 - Day 338 - Rudolph

I wanted to shoot something christmassey again and I was drawn, once again, to our tree.  I could have taken the standard triange shaped christmas tree showing all the ornaments, none of them in any kind of direct focus or anything.  That would be pleasing to the eye - our tree is cool - but I wanted something a little more personal - more close up.

This ornament is a recent one that I bought for Sonia two years ago.  Our tree is full of ornaments that mean something to us - ones we bought each other, ones we had purchased for us and ones that we got on vacation.  It's a neat little (standing at 7 feet tall) tree full of memories.

Project 365 - Day 337 - A different kind of snowflake

In Bronte Harbour, there are these decorations that hang from the lamp posts.  For most of the year they are an anchor with a rope winding around them.  For the holidays, however, the town changes them to snowflakes.  I have wanted to shoot these since I started this project, but the shot was just not there.  I took another stab tonight and I am reasonably pleased with the outcome.

I had to do a lot of cloning in this picture to get rid of lights of passing cars.  This was shot around 5:30 tonight, and it was the time that there was a lot of car traffic in the area making the shot difficult.

Project 365 - Day 336 - Big Christmas Balls

There is a Christmas tree in Town Square in Oakville at Lakeshore and George streets.  It's a pretty big tree, and I wanted to take a picture of it today.  I didn't want just any picture, I wanted a different take on the traditional christmas tree pic.  So this is what I came up with.

There are these giant gold and red balls on the tree.  Most of the balls had either no reflection or underwhelming reflections.  This was one of the balls with a good reflection - but the problem was that I was in the shot when I would shoot it.  Solution?  Shoot on an angle and use your tripod.

1 sec exposure - another reason for the tripod.

Project 365 - Day 335 - Happy December Everyone!

December 1st.  That means it is now legal to put up the Christmas Tree!  :-)   We bought a new tree this year, pre lit with LEDs on it, from Costco.  It's 7 ft tall - nice and big. The last one was only 6 1/2 feet tall, so this guy is bigger - but just about as big as possible for our house.

We have it lit and decorated, so I decided to take a shot of it for my Dec 1st project 365 photo.