Happy New Year

This is has been filled with everything. A real ying-yang of emotion and I can say that I am glad to see it go. I am looking forward to starting fresh with 2011. Happy New Year to you and yours, may it be filled with everything you hope for.

You never know what's around the corner.

Unsilent Night

On December 20th Cambridge participated in Unsilent Night. I am so proud that our little city takes part in such a cool little art project. There were many art displays around the city, this was one of my favourites.

Blue Mountain

We drove up to Blue Mountain as part of my Christmas present. The plan was to take the kids to the tube park while mommy got to pick out a beautiful wool sweater made in Nepal. Insert hot chocolate, outdoor fire pits and dinner in there somewhere. Of course, you know what they say about the best laid plans.

We got lost on the way up thanks to a navigation system that showed a bunch of accessible roads, which were not in fact open in the winter. Coupled with 2 children who had clearly had enough of the long car ride and the ferocious winds howling through the Village, we lasted 2 hours and were on our way home.

I have to say, for families that are not able to ski/snowboard because of little ones, there is very little to do in the Village of Blue Mountain. To say I was disappointed is an understatement. They closed the tube park permanently. The horse drawn carriage rides were not operating and there is NOTHING else to do with children. Maybe next time we'll spend some time downtown Collingwood, any suggestions?

Happy Birthday Baby

Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year xox

The Orchard

I recently learned that apple trees have a shelf life for producing fruit. After several years "working" they must be cut down and new ones planted. If not, the quality of apples will be affected.

Small Bridge

I have been trying for over a year to take a picture of this small stone bridge, with no luck. There's always something off about it. I think I managed to capture it sufficiently in this image and had the fortune of including a lone jogger out for her morning run.

Shoe Tree

Was out and about on one of my famous "get the kids in the car and drive around until they fall asleep" runs when I discovered this lovely shoe tree.

You can read more about this strange phenomenon here.

Rail Trail

Since taking up running, I use a few different apps to keep me on track. One is the Nike+GPS and the other is a Counch to 5K program. The bonus is that I've always got my camera with me.

Change is good

Lately photography has changed for me. I use to have time to go out and dedicate myself to the task. Digital photography is a lot of post production work, as I don't usually shoot straight from the camera. I prefer to create images and generate artwork. With small children running around needing most of my time, I have very little left for me (or should I say photography?).

So i've been experimenting with my iPhone and it's various applications. I find I can still take great images and do all the post production work right there in a few minutes. It sometimes takes a bit in between shots to load/save the data but overall it's been saving me a lot of time and i'm quite happy with the results. It's also a lot simpler for me to maintain images with similar themes or colour casts. This just might help me get organized into having a solo show in 2011. Maybe...

Waiting

I don't know if i'm getting ahead of myself but when are the rest of the leaves going to fall? This is a shot of the trees in our back yard. We've already cleaned the yard twice and the city has begun the annual curbside leaf pickup. I have a feeling i'm going to be stuck with these until spring.

Quiet Moments

It's quiet moments like this that make me appreciate what I do for a living. Sometimes being self employed is the scariest thing in the world, with really high high's and extremely low low's. But I would never get to go out when I felt like it, if I worked for someone else. So for this I say thank you.

Fall Snapshots

These shots were taken last weekend at Yee Haw Adventure Farm. The weather wasn't the best but we had a good time. Carmel corn, chip truck fries, stilts, pig races, corn mazes and wagon rides.

Dr Seuss

This reminds me of the trees that appear in a lot of the Dr. Seuss books. Was he from Florida?

Lazy Summer Days

It's getting pretty cold here and I wanted one last reminder of what I consider to be a hot and hazy summer. Or lazy, whichever suits you best.

I started jogging, which is something I never thought I would do. This snap shot was taken on a run while visiting my parents. I am quickly discovering what I like and what I don't about the sport and have very specific tastes in order to consider a run successful. Having beautiful things to look at is one of them, and as you can see from this tranquil shot, I think success was achieved.

What do you do to relieve stress?

Old Country

Take a look at this and tell me what it brings to mind.

Pay Attention

"I cannot stress enough" was the most often used expression in my grade 5 Homeroom/English class. My teacher, who smelled like coffee and cigarettes (Mrs. Bowes) would lean down and hiss this in my ear using it to preface whatever it was I did that she disapproved of. I remember not liking her class very much because it was too rigid and restrictive, in my opinion English class should be creative and free (give me some Judy Bloom and Sweet Valley High books thank you very much). Anyways, I digress... It turns out years later that she indeed had a point.

Not that this related to my rant but I recently took a series of images and had the camera set TO THE WRONG SETTING. I shot, in my humble opinion, some of my greatest shots to date only to realize when it was too late that these were taken at the smallest resolution.

Let my mistake school you. Always check your equipment before you start a shoot. Always.

Dundas

Was out today with a friend for a photo shoot. I brought my Nikon but found that I used my iphone to take most of the shots. Not only could I take the picture but I could post produce the image immediately to my specs. Could this be the future of photography? I could surely jump on this band wagon, just need to figure out how to adapt it to clients needs.

On a side note this image has got me thinking that maybe I need to work on a series for the month of October. Halloween is one of my FAVORITE times of the year, my work tends to be dark in nature so why not eh? Any suggestions?

Swanson Lake

In all truth it's called Loon Lake but my friends who own a cottage there deserve to have some recognition. We were their first cottage guests (and hopefully not their last). It's a boat access only site and I was more than nervous to bring the "good" equipment with me so you'll have to settle for these lovely snapshots taken with my iphone.

Party Dock

Aug 2010

Return

Aug 2010

Launch

Aug 2010

My Summer Vacation

Magnum, 8 Months

Abby, 3 Years Old

Giraffes Running

Aug 2010

Reindeer in the Rain

Aug 2010

Mischief

My how they've grown up. The days are long but the years are fast...

My Summer

It's been a busy summer over here but I have been taking the camera out occasionally to experiment. For Canada Day celebrations we visited family in Toronto along the lakeshore. They have a beautiful home with a stunning view of the lake directly across the street, so after a lovely meal we parked ourselves on the lawn and waited for the show to start.

I don't have much experience with low lighting (non-flash) shots so I'm always eager to learn new techniques. I did some basic research before heading down and this is what I got.

This has to be my favourite so far. It was (obviously) taken a split second after the firework launched into the air. I love the mood of the photo.

And this lovely was a total accident. Am I supposed to admit stuff like that? Who knows lol. I was testing the light when my cousin set this off. With some minor cropping it turned out quite presentable if I do say so myself. Let's see what the next few weeks bring.

House

Have started a new project! It's hard for me to get out during the day when the natural light is good so I have begun taking pictures of my house. What's a 150 year old home good for if not a little inspiration right? I'll be uploading a few soon as well as a bunch that I've had sitting on my memory card forevah.

Decision

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about where I am headed and what I want to do with this so called photography career. I took the classes and I assisted and I got the gigs and I networked and I put myself out there. And then I had a baby and my time got eaten up, and then I had another baby and my time is even less that it was before. It took me a while to realize this but I don’t want a full time career in photography. It’s not that I don’t think I can do it and it’s not that I’m scared of the hard work, it ‘s that I don’t want to put the pressure on my creative life to make a living.

I have so few minutes in the day for me. I haven’t had a hair cut since October. If I want to shower everyday I have to do it at night after 8pm when the kids are in bed and I can’t stand going to bed with wet hair. I don’t think I’m alone in that sentiment eh? So I don’t shower everyday. I spend most of my days with the kids and sometimes I feel like a single parent because my husband works so hard to support us that he sometimes has no choice but to work a 12-14 hour day. I’m not complaining though because it’s this dream that puts food on our table and the occasional smile on our faces lol.

Anyways, my point is that I am letting go of the stress of trying to be something I am not. I still have to remind myself that there is nothing wrong with my not pursuing a professional career in photography. I am not letting anyone down by making this decision and I will be a better person (and photographer) because of it. Everyday this gets easier for me and it doesn’t mean I won’t be showing my work in galleries or participating in CONTACT, it just means that I will be doing things at my own pace.

Having said that I don't want to rest on my laurels. So I will be making a commitment to update this blog a bit more frequently as well as posting pictures I've taken. Here's to change!

Day Trips

We had a few days where we took impromptu day trips - the very best kind if you ask me. This picture was taken at Wasaga Beach around 6pm on a Wednesday. There were maybe 10 people on the beach, randomly scattered and we played in the sand. I bought Abby a rainbow coloured umbrella which she ran around with for a few minutes but not long enough for me to get a decent picture. Sometimes the attention span just isn't there but really, what can I expect from a 3 year old.

Spring has finally arrived and that puts me firmly planted in the garden, whether it be mine or a clients. A very busy time of the season - especially with kids - so my mom is back to helping out with Abby one day a week. If it wasn't for her I don't think I'd had time to buy groceries xox.

Maybe just maybe

Abby is spending the weekend with my parents and I am thinking I might just take some me time with the camera and take off for a bit. I feel like I'm going to burst out of my skin with the utter want of taking pictures and making art. I desperately need to connect with something solitary and real, to make it my own.

Light Show

These were shot at a local restaurant participating in Chinese New Year. It was too dark and I was without a tripod so I didn't actually get the shots I had in my mind, but I'm pretty happy with how these turned out.

I worked a few years at an importing/design company and we sourced much of our product from China. I hated the company but I grew to love the Chinese culture we were exposed to.

From the dozens or so of celebrations that go on throughout the year, this is one of the more beautiful.

New Life

You know the smell in the air spring brings when the earth is thawing itself and readying for a new year? The excitement of seeing seedlings burst from the ground and the noise of baby birds chirping amongst in the branches? The whisper of a warm breeze as it blows by your cheek? The electricity in the air as young love walks down the street?

I am SO ready for that.

Magnum Leigh Michael Szarvas

Here is the most recent member of the Szarvas family. Magnum was born on Dec 28 2009 and I haven't had a moment to myself since. It is so true what they say about the second one getting less and less than the first. I could have opened a photography show with all the pictures I took of Abby and poor Magnum only has a few.

I will have to make more of an effort to get my groove back. Errr yeah, we'll see about that.

TV

I was watching a show the other day. I can't remember the channel or the name but I've been thinking about it ever since. It had the most interesting concept. An interviewer spent time with a tribe from New Guinea at their home, learning about their culture and rituals. And then members of the tribe came with him to London, England to experience modern day culture.

They travelled all over the city learning about the Underground, canoe clubs, Christian churches and Buckingham Palace. The most interesting thing for me - aside from the comments - was the fact that they were given digital cameras to document the trip.

The program showed the images captured by various members of the tribe. Most of them were from the view point of "hunters" and you could actually see the subject being hunted in the photos. There was a primal quality to the images that went beyond inexperience...

I have a friend who believes that an image taken is exactly as it should be - no amount of photoshop (or traditional techniques of dodging/burning) are acceptable. What you see is what you get. And the men and women in the show did just that. I gained a different perspective that day.