CONTINUAL LEARNING: A Summer Session With Daytripper Photo

Continual learning is important to me. You don't know what you don't know, so I'm of the school that the more I can learn the better off I'll be. :)

In August I did another session with Daytripper Photo. The session was held at Torrey Pines Stables and we had three assignments to capture: Colour, Time and Solitude.

What a beautiful venue. We broke into smaller groups and began the task of capturing our assignment photographs.

I found 'Colour' to be one of the easiest ones for me to work on. With such beautiful flora available on the farm, there was an abundance of colour. You've seen this one before as it was my 'Photo of the Week' from that week. :)

"Happy Yellow"

The most difficult of the assignments for me was the interpretation of Time. I suppose as I look back at the photos I took now, there are a few options I could have used for the Time assignment. I took quite a few of the horse trotting around the corral and I've stopped his action with the photo I've taken. (so froze a moment in time so to speak). But the one that I did take with the assignment in mind was this one.

"Sunburst"

The reason I had thought this one would work for the Time assignment was that I thought it looked much like the sun coming up in the morning (even though it was actually lake afternoon). To me it looked like 'fresh' sunlight waking up the forest. :)

The last assignment was to capture Solitude. I had two that I felt did this.

"Lone Sprinkler"

"A Quiet Moment"

In the second photo, it may be a little difficult to see the horse and rider on the left side. But I think that even if they weren't in the photo, it still reminds me of solitude.

In addition to the three assignments, we also had the opportunity to take some people pictures. We were lucky to have Tony (one of the guys who works with Bryan) bring out his wife and new baby. :)

Initially we were going to take the photos outdoors, but it was getting dark and the mosquitoes were quite bad. So we moved things into the barn.

In sessions like this, I find it more challenging to get the pictures I'd like to because of how many people are also there trying to do the same thing. But I love a challenge and did do some fun things in post processing that turned out alright. Not great, but alright :)

Here are a few of the people shots:

"Family Love"

"A Precious Little Package"

"Mommy Love"

"A Beautiful Family"

If you click on any of the photos above, you will be taken to a gallery that also has a few more photos in it that I have posted from that day.

It was another great session and I had a lot of fun. If anyone is interested in information about Daytripper Photo, you can contact Bryan Weiss through contact information on his web site or his Facebook Business Page.

Thanks for looking :)

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #17 - A 'Still' Moment

I have so many fun dog photos from the Aussie Bounce I was at last weekend (Post about that to hopefully come this weekend). This one is probably my favourite. It was a more challenging photo to capture than the ones of the dogs running around the property because it is rare that they 'stood' still. These dogs are very active and were having an incredible amount of fun running around together. :)

A Very Brief Stop

Thanks for looking.

-- Lisa P.

WEEKLY POLL #23: Spooky Halloween Pictures?

Do you love taking photos of Halloween? The pumpkin carving, costumes, ghosts, goblins, etc. etc.

I always seem to take pictures of the pumpkins all lit up.

"Crazy Faces"

How about you? Do you take pictures of your carved pumpkins? Do you take them in low light and use a slow shutter speed? Or do you use your flash so you can see the entire pumpkin?

New poll posted over on the right hand side.

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POLL RESULTS:

Yes, I take pumpkin photos with my flash 1 (33%)
Yes, I take pumpkin photos with no flash 1 (33%)
No, why would I take pictures of pumpkins?!?! 1 (33%)
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-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK: Week #16 - Two 'smiling' faces??

I knew when I saw this picture last week that it would be the 'Photo of the Week'. :) I think the reason I like it so much is because both of their mouths are open. LOL

"Smile!!"

Thanks for looking.

-- Lisa P.

WEEKEND COMICS: What The Duck

This one kind of reminds me of me and my hubby. ;)




"What the Duck" is an online comic strip by Aaron Johnson. Viewers are welcome to link, post, copy/paste, or save the strips to their own sites, blogs, forums, newsletters, etc.

WEEKLY POLL #22 - Sunrises or Sunsets?

I just realized that I didn't do a post to go with the new web poll. It's been a bit of a hectic week as my 5 yr old has been home sick most of it. I seem to be getting more behind in so many things, including my weekly posts!

The poll last week was pretty much a dud. Nobody cares about food! LOL :) So let's try something different this time.

What's your preference? Sunrise or Sunset photos? What would you prefer to see hanging on your wall?

"Sunrise Over Eagle Lake - Ontario, Canada"

I know that sometimes it's difficult to tell the difference, but if you HAD to pick one or the other, what would it be??

Poll can be found in the usual spot over on the right hand side :)

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POLL RESULTS:

I prefer Sunrise Photos 3 (50%)
I prefer Sunset Photos 3 (50%)
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-- Lisa P.

WEEKEND COMICS: What The Duck

"What the Duck" is an online comic strip by Aaron Johnson. Viewers are welcome to link, post, copy/paste, or save the strips to their own sites, blogs, forums, newsletters, etc.



Thanks for looking.

Don't forget to vote on the poll for this week. It closes tomorrow evening. :)

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK: Week #15 - "Gobble, Gobble"

Ben was sick at home a couple of days during week 15. Of course, he's too sick to go to school, but not sick enough to just lay quietly in bed so I can get some work done ;)

At one point he was poking his head through the bedroom window blinds to look out to the backyard. "Mommy come look!" "No seriously, come look now!!"

The week before Thanksgiving, and out in the backyard were about a half a dozen wild turkeys on their daily stroll. They are such scarey looking birds!!!!

"Gobble, Gobble, Gobble"

I took some pictures through the upstairs window and a few outside as we attempted to sneak out quietly. But........as soon as they noticed we were outside, they started making a dash down the hill for the meadow.

Thanks for looking.

-- Lisa P.

PHOTOGRAPHY FOR FUN: Thanksgiving Weekend Fun :)

"Photography for Fun" is the category I use when I just want to share photos for the fun of it. Usually the posts are more personal in nature. There's nothing 'fancy' about the pictures. As the category title says......"Photography For Fun!" :)

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We typically go camping on Thanksgiving weekend, but it's been a pretty hectic couple of months for me and I was just as happy to stay home quietly and catch up on some things.

We did allocate one part day to take Ben out for a little 'adventure' since there was an 'extra stay home day' on the weekend. (Gotta love 'stay home' days!!) :)

We started at McD's for some breakfast (no pictures there, sorry...haha). Then we headed down to Puck's Farm, which is very close to our house, just before you hit Schomberg. They are only open on weekends during October. It was a pretty chilly day, but it wasn't raining, so that made it not so bad to be outside.

There were a lot of ducks and geese at the farm:

The pony ride was a lot of fun and because we were there early, there was almost no limit to the length of Ben's ride. There were plenty of ponies to carry the number of kids in the line :)

There were other farm animals to see as well. This is probably my favourite picture of the day:

There was plenty of things to do to be silly:

And there were a couple of mazes to run around and hide in:

There were even a couple of little kid carnival rides, cotton candy, fun mirrors and french fries! Just enough fun for a 5 3/4 year old boy.

After we left the farm we went back to a place we had driven by the previous day and picked up some pumpkins:

So even though we didn't go camping, we still had a bit of fun outdoors. Ben loved the pony ride and the hay ride and pretty much everything else he did that morning.

For my family and friends reading this, there are more pictures posted on my personal/family photo site (you know where that is, but if you don't, drop me an e-mail), so hop over there for a peak if you're interested in seeing the rest.

Thanks for reading.

-- Lisa P.

WEEKLY POLL #21: Do you take pictures of food at dinner gatherings??

OK, I'm so guilty of this. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's because the food always looks soooooo good. Maybe it's because I want to remember how good it looked and how yummy it tasted! The pictures are usually not the highest of quality, but you can definitely get the idea that the food was good when you go back and have a look. ;)



Or....maybe I'm just crazy!! ;)



So how about you? Do you take picture of the food you're about to eat??

Let us know and go vote, vote, vote!!!! :)

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POLL RESULTS

Yes, it's common for me to take pictures of the food 1 (25%)
Yes, I sometimes take pictures of the food 2 (50%)
No, I'd rather just eat the food 1 (25%)
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-- Lisa P.

WEEKEND COMICS: What The Duck

I love how lately there has been a What The Duck comic that echos something recent that has happened to me or someone I know! heehee

This topic actually came up at the office with a colleague of mine this week. She was viewing an online friend's fitness competition photos when all of a sudden in the mix were apparently some clothing optional ones. Yikes!! Not too appropriate for viewing at the office. ;)



"What the Duck" is an online comic strip by Aaron Johnson. Viewers are welcome to link, post, copy/paste, or save the strips to their own sites, blogs, forums, newsletters, etc.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK: Week #14 - Field of Yellow

I know you've already seen this photo posted on here, but after going through my pictures from last week, this one is the one that makes me smile the most. :)

I have it as the background on my computer at work and every time I see it, it makes me smile and reminds me of how lucky I am to have such an awesome family and how extremely lucky I am to be able to work towards turning my hobby and passion into a career.

"Over Here!"

Thanks for looking!! :)

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: Catching up on posting boudoir shots

I'm so behind in posting photos from client shoots, so I thought I'd start doing them a little at a time. Thankfully, I have the most awesome clients who are very patient and understanding!! :)

I wanted to share a few more of my favourites from a previous boudoir shoot with Renee.

A Gorgeous Smile

One of my favourites

Soft Beauty

Quiet Contemplation

I find boudoir sessions to be more involved than a regular portrait session, as more time is required for preparation as well as editing. While a mis-cast shadow can be problematic in a 'normal' portrait shoot, in a boudoir shoot it can be disastrous.

Having said that, boudoir sessions also involve a lot of laughs and are so much fun to shoot. And sharing the end results with the client is most rewarding. :)

My goal is to enhance the beauty of my clients and provide them with results that show off their beauty, confidence and of course, their more feminine side. ;)

Soon I hope to add a separate boudoir portfolio to my web site in order to give you a better idea of the wide variety of shots that fall under 'boudoir'. So don't be shy! If you're thinking that you might want to try out a boudoir photo session, send me an e-mail and we can discuss the details. :) They are perfect for the winter because they are held indoors!!

Thanks for looking and as always, comments welcome.

-- Lisa P.

WEEKLY POLL #20 - Do you have a camera on your mobile phone?

Last month I got my Palm Pre. I finally have a cell phone with a camera on it. I wasn't sure how much I'd use it. I mean c'mon.....I have some really great camera equipment. What the heck do I need with a camera phone??

Well.....I love having it! :)

Impromptu Visit to the Beach

Being Silly with Family

What Did That Plumbing Look Like Again??

Need to Get More Stain

These are straight out of the camera phone. Yes, I know.....not professional quality. But for the purpose they were taken for, the camera phone was an awesome alternative to hauling out my D700!!

So, do you have one? Do you use it?? Go, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE!!!! :) (Just look over near the top right column)

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POLL RESULTS:

Yes, but I don't use it much, if at all. 4 (44%)
Yes and I use it ALL of the time!! 4 (44%)
No, I don't have a camera phone. 1 (11%)
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-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: A Sea Of Yellow

For me it's always so cool when my 5 yr old actually wants me to take his picture. :)

Even though he is VERY close family, I consider photo sessions like this that I take for family as client sessions. I like to give my family and my clients the same level of attention, although I do tend to have more patient with my clients than with my family! haha :)

There is a spot that I've used before in the summer, but for the past month it's been a beautiful field of yellow, especially when the sun hits it. I pointed it out to Ben a couple of weeks ago when we were driving by and he said he wanted me to take his picture there. <3

So finally we had a chance today. The weather was not the greatest and no sunlight was hitting the yellow field, but it still turned out pretty close to what I was envisioning and it was a fun time as well.

A Sea Of Yellow

I'm Taller Than Everybody!!

Where Did Daddy Go?

We're Over Here!

Peeking Through The Bullrushes

If you're local and are interested in some Fall family outdoor photos, don't wait too long to book. The colours are changing and my weekend dates are almost all booked up for October. Contact me by e-mail, phone, on Facebook or by leaving me a comment here. Just click the Contact Link at the top of the page for e-mail and phone info :)

Thanks for looking.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK: Week #13 - Family Times of Remembrance

The theme of last week was Family, Family, Family. My sister arrived on the Wednesday to help me clean the house in preparation for a few other family guests who were arriving a couple of days later. (Thank you Brenda!!!!)

Saturday was a get together at Aunt Phyllis' with family and close friends and Sunday was Uncle Pete's "Celebration of Life" Service and another family get together at Aunt Laura and Uncle Harry's.

The photo chosen for the Photo of the Week isn't conventional. I broke some of my 'rules'. But I think it's a good excuse to break the 'rules'. ;)

I wasn't able to choose just one, so I made a small collage. Also, I didn't take each of the photos. Thank you Marcia for following me around to get pictures of me with the family so it wouldn't look like I wasn't even there! :) Thank you Ben for taking the picture of Uncle Pete's photograph at the service. It turned out quite nice :) <3

Family Times of Remembrance

I think it definitely fits into the first two rules I have which are:

* be a good representation of what the week was all about
* be something that I have an emotional attachment to

The top left is of me and Aunt Phyllis (Uncle Pete's wife). The bottom is of Uncle Pete's brothers and sisters. The picture at the right is of course, Uncle Pete.

Thanks for looking.

-- Lisa P.

WEEKEND COMICS: What The Duck

"What the Duck" is an online comic strip by Aaron Johnson. Viewers are welcome to link, post, copy/paste, or save the strips to their own sites, blogs, forums, newsletters, etc.

When I saw this one today, I knew it was THE one for this week. This one is for my good friend Al M. Made me laugh out loud when I saw it!! ;)



Thanks for looking and don't forget to vote on the just for fun poll over on the right hand side. :))

-- Lisa P.