Revisiting Donna

Well, it seems as though the world listened!  Back in October, Donna came and modeled for us on our day trip to Centre Island, however, I didn't really get much an opportunity to work with her and I had been hoping to get another chance.  Donna came into the studio and brought props!  A fancy old style hat & feathered fan.  She looked so cute!  In fact, I am of the opinion that she shares a resemblance with Kirsten Dunst in some of the photos. 

Donna is not an experienced model, but that worked out in my favour.  This gave me a great oppounity to practice speaking with the model, finding new ways to pose them, and make sure that I articulate myself well.  Obviously, this is something that I do with everyone, but is so much more important when the model is looking for direction.

Hopefully Donna will come visit the class once more before its over.  It's hard to believe that we only have 3 weeks left.

:) Roon-bop

Barbaro & Security

I am back from Ottawa!!! I had a great time visiting everyone, but I am very glad to be back home! Now I just need to find some food...

Until then, here are the last two pictures from the Sunday Centre Island trip. The last two models were a little late getting there, because they missed the ferry we took and then apparently they had some trouble with a grumpy ferry dock worker. The bad news is that because of that, I didn't get much time to take pictures of the two of them.

I feel really bad, because I have no idea how to spell his name and I'm too afraid to attempt to write it, so I'll refer to him as Security, because he is our wonderful night security guard at the school. I walked by him one class and asked him why he never modeled for us... and then when I get the chance, I have to go home. He brought with him a friend, Barbaro. They were both very, very sweet. But as I said, I didn't get enough time with them, and it started to rain pretty hard shortly after they got there. It would be nice if we had another opportunity with them. After I left, the class moved on to the animal farm. I'd love to see some pictures my classmates took from that portion.

:) Roon-bop

Neighbourhood Walk-about

Recently I spent the day with my friend and neighbour, Michelle. We spent the day walking around our neighbourhood in Toronto - Summerhill, Rosedale and Yorkville. There were lots of great photo opportunities. First we walked through Summerhill, then to Rosedale, stopped for lunch in Yorkville and made our way back home.

I think I should go on more photography walk abouts. They are fun. Its just a shame the camera weighs so much.... on a hot day, its a bit of a pain in the butt... but, well worth it. It was a great day. Here are a few of the pictures I took.

:) Roon-bop

Fashion - Bohemian

For this week's class we shot in Yorkville and with a Bohemian theme.  I had made the final decision for the theme.  I enjoyed the theme.

One funny thing to note.  I just watched an episode of Zack Arias' photo critic videos and he and his wife went off on a guy for taking slanted pictures.  My collection includes a tilted camera shot.  Hopefully I do not offend the masses by including it  :P She is falling off the planet and she is enjoying it!   lol

The class today has been good.  We've been discussing portfolios and websites and I have to say I'm starting to get really excited with the prospect of taking on clients.  I don't feel quite as scared as I used to.  Next up - - build a website, hopefully using Dreamweaver.

:) Roon-bop

Dogs and the People Who Love Them

I figure it is about time that I post the pictures from my Independent Study in Photog 5:

Dogs and the People Who Love Them

It is a collection of photos of people and dogs that I know. Some old friends, some new.

Please feel free to leave any comments, constructive criticism, etc. I didn't really get any on the last day of class, because my reviewer is too nice.

I hope you love the poochins as much as I do!

:) Roon-bop

Pics from Class

Well, it has been a while since I've posted any pictures. Mostly, because as usual I'm crazy busy, but never the less, the show must go on.

Here are some pics from last week's assignment at the Distillery District.

A big thanks goes out to my beautiful and talented models and make-up artists, without whom none of these pictures would have been possible.

:) Roon-bop

NerdBalloon.com

I can be found on a website, other than my own!

I took some pictures of a Pro Gaming League event in Toronto for an up and coming website, called Nerdballoon.com. They have just launched, and you can see my pictures on their site!

So, go visit, look at my pictures, and definitely listen in on their podcast teaser for the Lunchpail Platoon. It just may be something that interests you! It's all about video games and they don't hold back.

http://nerdballoon.com/

:) Roon-bop

Seriously, this is allowed?

So, I came across this truck today on my way home from School on St. Clair East. They were doing work in the mall. Seriously... who knew the Canadian Government would permit this title... seriously...

I don't even know what to think of it.

:) Roon-bop

Photoshop Class

Alright, well I am in class as I write this.  It is break.  I got called out today in class for this panorama I put together.  No skill was involved (automatic stitching) and it is far from perfect, however, considering the difficult of the shot (many seats, many people) it did a pretty good job.  The teach told the class to come 'round and have a look at my shot, which is both pretty cool & pretty embarrassing... such is life.  And of course, because of the width of the panorama, it will come up very small.

Now I shall share it with you.

:) Roon-bop

ZOMBIES!!!

Well, the question before us is this:

Who doesn't love zombies?

As such, I will post pictures I took, of zombies, at this year's Nuit Blanche in Toronto Ontario.

I'll repost my two faves. I love the first one because the way the two bodies frame the bottom of the picture. It makes it shows the people being attacked by the zombies, as well as the scary zombies as well. All in all, this was a pretty happy group of zombies though.

:) Roon-bop

Nuit Blanche

Every year in Toronto at this time is Nuit Blanche, which is a free all-night art festival, where galleries and museums open up and you can find art in the street from all over the world.

This year I went with my husband and a friend. We were out from 7 - midnight. We walked all over Zone A, because it was closest to our place.

We had a really great time going around. There were people everywhere! It was great. Below you'll find some pictures that I took. I would say the highlights of the festival were the zombies and the ROM.

I struggled with night photography. I still have much to learn. There were many times when I couldn't use my flash, which of course slowed the shutter speed, and I didn't have my tripod, because I didn't want to lug it around and I didn't want to slow us down setting it up and down constantly.

You will see two of my favourite zombie pictures below, but I will post a separate blog dedicated to the zombies.

:) Roon-bop

Blue Jays Baseball

Well, my husband and I were given AMAZING tickets to see the Jays play. We were right in front of the Jay's dugout... really wicked!

We had a great time, and of course, I brought my camera. I did have some trouble. Many of the pictures came back blurry, because of light and shutter speed constrictions... I'll have to work on that and figure it out.

In any case, I fooled around in Photoshop with these. It was fun. I enjoy playing in PS, but I don't want my pictures to look gimmicky... I'd rather just take really great photographs that speak for themselves. Still fun though.

:) Roon-bop

The Joker

Alright, well the other night when I posted my TIFF photos, I purposely left these two out because I thought I'd say a few words about them.

They are in fact, the exact same photo. I was enhancing the photo in PS, and then decided that I would fool around with it a little more, because it was a photo with many colours and is a photograph of street art. So, I was playing around with hue and saturation when I got the below result. What I love about it, is the maple leaves that just scream out at you... They are so obscure in the first photo and by playing around with the saturation I was able to have them pop out so they are the feature of the photo.

I just think its interesting to see the difference that can come out of the same shot. This may inspire me to use PS a little more dramatically in the future... we'll see.

:) Roon-bop