37/365 Downtime



An exhausted Gabrielle winding down before bed



Today I'm linking up with The Long Road To China for Black and White Wednesday

36/365 Highlights and Shadows

I generally prefer to shoot outside, but with summer coming to an end, I thought it might be a good idea to practice indoors.  The light coming through my living room window during the "golden hour" was strong, but produced some interesting effects.  I found it a bit difficult to get a proper exposure, but it was definitely good practice.

Gabrielle with the love of her life...her bunny!

This rocking chair was another $5.00 yard sale find but Gabrielle loves it.  It's the
first thing she runs too when she wakes up in the morning or after a nap.

Day 32 Part 2 Late Bloomers

I was driving home from the grocery store the other day when I noticed something that actually looked like a flower in my garden.  My first thought was that I must be mistaken, since I haven't touched it since we moved to this house, and it has been completely overgrown with weeds all summer.  I hurried outside to take a look and realized that there were not one, but three, different types of blooms hiding amoung the weeds.  Sometimes it's the little surprises like this that totally make my day.

34/365 Imperfections

My favourite pictures today are full of imperfections; these are the ones with ketchup all over my daughter's face, hands coming out of nowhere, and messy clothes draped in the background.  They're not beautiful, as far as pictures go, but they're still special to me. 

Gabrielle trying out the miniature rocking chair that her Gran found for her at a garage sale



Gabrielle loved this toy highchair (also from a garage sale) and had lots of fun "feeding" her baby



32/365 Wasps In My Garden

31/365 Photo Flub Friday

Today is Photo Flub Friday, and the learning process this week has been all about focus.  After viewing several horribly out of focus pictures this week, I've realized that I can't reliably shoot with an aperture larger than F/2 (at least regarding my very busy toddler).  For the present, I can get better results by bumping up my ISO and closing down my aperture a bit than by using a lower ISO and larger aperture. Also, in accordance with my weekly reflection, I've decided to set a goal for myself each Friday.  I've been reading a bit about locking focus using back button focusing and I'm going to make it my goal this week to figure it out.

On another note, my little busy-body walked all the way to the park by herself today.  I love my stroller but it's really nice to be able to leave it behind somtimes.







30/365 Rocks, Rocks, and More Rocks

Gabrielle spent at least 20 minutes this evening transferring rocks back and forth from a neighbour's driveway to her shopping cart.  Sometimes I'd love to know what goes on in her little mind.  There always seems to be method and order to her games, apparent to her even if they don't make sense to anyone else.  She was so busy concentrating, that she barely noticed me snapping away while I was working on my focus.

This week's Small Style:

Shirt: Oshkosh
Jeans:  Children's Place
Shoes:  Adidas

29/365 Spot Metering

I've been reading a lot about metering lately, but haven't quite got the hang of it yet.  I recently took the first step by figuring out how to set the spot metering function on my Canon Rebel, and spent some time yesterday practicing on this lamp infront of my house.

28/365 Vegan Oatmeal Cookies

I made these vegan oatmeal cookies for Jeff yesterday, when he was craving something sweet.  They're pretty good considering they're made without any dairy products, eggs, or refined flour.  Leave a comment below if you'd like the recipe.

27/365 After The Rain

I found this snail on the edge of my driveway today after our huge thunderstorm.

 

We went outside to play today after the storm. 
She looks so serious here, but she was having lots of fun chasing Mommy and Daddy all over the yard.



26/265 Going Manual

I learned two significant things today.  First of all, I really need to get calibrated!  While viewing my blog on someone else's computer today, I realized that my pictures look completely different, and not in a good way.  Secondly, all those photographers who insist that it's better to shoot in manual are absolutely right.  I've generally been shooting in shutter or aperture priority mode because I've been afraid of missing the shot but today I took the leap and shot only in manual.  I've found the exposure to be much more accurate and the colours much more true to life.
 

A flower in my mother-in-law's beautiful garden



I had lots of fun practicing on this statue with my 100mm macro lens.
This statue was about a foot high.



Gabrielle loves to sit in this wicker chair when she comes to visit her gran.  It's the perfect size for her.

25/365 Play Date and Photo Flub Friday

Today is Photo Flub Friday, my reflection day to look back at some of the errors that I've made over the past week(s) in order to avoid them in the future.  My most regrettable ones so far include attempting to photograph some gorgeous waterfalls without a tripod, forgetting to switch my lens back to automatic focus after it has been in manual, forgetting to reset my camera settings before taking pictures in a new situation, and attempting to capture some landscapes with an aperture that is much too large.  Sadly, I've also avoided using my kit lens (18-55mm) in favour of my newer and better quality ones, and missed out on some interesting photo opportunities as a result (everything else I have is in the 50mm to 200mm range).  I suppose the upside is that I have learned a few things as a result of these mistakes, and hopefully won't miss out on as many opportunities in the future.

Our little adventure today was a long-overdue play date for Gabrielle.  She loves babies, even though she hasn't seen too many this summer, and she had a great time with Poppy today.  Sharing her toys was a new concept at first, but it only took us about 5 minutes to get over this little hump.  The park was a huge success, as always, and they both loved this car.

 I'm not sure what was going through my little babe's head, but she took this car-riding very seriously.

24/365 Port Credit

Today I met up with some fabulous women from Clickin Moms for a fun photo shoot in the Port Credit area.  Granted, I felt a bit like an imposter as a very green amateur amoung the pros, but I still had a great time.

23/365 Fun At The Park

This week's Small Style outfit:

Dress: Children's Place

Shoes: Stride Rite

22/365 Corn On The Cob

Gabrielle and I had another impromptu picnic in the front yard today while we waited for Jeff to come home.  She loves corn but this is the first time she's eaten it right off the cob (and she loved it).

21/365 Backyard Picnic

Gabrielle and I had a picnic in the backyard this evening, or rather, we ate dinner in the backyard this evening.  We would probably both have to sit down and eat together at the same time to actually qualify as a picnic.  I think she still enjoyed it in her 17-month-old way, even if she ate most of it on the run.  Her five second routine mostly involved banging her spoon on the plate a few times, stuffing a fistful of food into her mouth, and running away as fast as possible.  We're still working on table manners.

20/365 Settling In And Practicing Macro

Today was a great day and a frustrating day...but it's almost over.  I'm about ready to pull my hair out after dealing with my outdated computer and frustrating Lightroom trials.  I also can't figure out why my images look less sharp once converted to JPEG.  I guess I have a lot of learning left to do. On the upside, it's really nice to visit with family members that I haven't seen in a while and I had fun practicing some macro in my mother-in-law's beautiful garden.  I haven't had much success with gardening in the past, but macro photography makes me want to learn how to grow things.  I suppose it's too late this year, but maybe next.

Gabrielle reading at her Gran's house



19/365 Home Sweet Home!

We've been away for a month and I must say that it's good to be home!  Gabrielle christened the arrival by checking on all her toys, emptying the tupperware drawer several million times, and demanding to be read all the books that she hasn't seen in a month.  The moon was full and bright today, so I thought I'd christen our arrival with my first attempting at shooting the moon.  It's a little fuzzy because I'm missing a piece from my tripod (which means I had to do it handheld) but I wanted to try anyway.  I definitely want to try this again when I find (or have to buy) that missing piece!

18/365 Return to Cascade Alpacas

Jeff had fun feeding the alpacas



Gabrielle and one of the alpacas checking each other out



Baby alpaca enjoying some lunch

17/365 From The Top of Hood River Mountain

I don't know if what we did today qualifies as a hike since it involved not only a trail, but also a path through a meadow, and a gravel and paved road.  Regardless, it was still a neat experience to be on top of a mountain.  On the mile-long trail to the top, we saw lots of wild flowers and different types of berries (as well as bees!).

From the meadow at the top we could see Hood River in one direction, Mt. Hood and all the foothills in another, and the Columbia River as it flows through the desert mountains to the east.  The wind and haze made it difficult to take pictures, but the views were incredible.

A very hazy Mt. Hood

A lone tree enduring a very windy day

Gabrielle getting a snuggle before getting into the car to go home

16/365

Today was a day of lazing and enjoying the Hood River cuisine.  Gabrielle woke up from her nap in a very bad mood, throwing an hour long tantrum for no apparent reason.  I blame in all the tooth cutting that's been happening lately.  After the Tylenol kicked in we went for ice cream at Mike's and the day got much after that.  Later, we had dinner at our favourite Mexican restaurant (ironically, neither Jeff nor I can remember the name of it).  I'm really going to miss those fish tacos!

Gabrielle's new favourite "chair"

Happy to see Daddy

The poor kid keeps tripping in her excitement to get places.  She got this battlescar on her nose from a faceplant on the living room carpet.

15/365 Waterfall Extravaganza

The Oneonta trail starting at Horsetail Falls has probably been one of our favourite hikes so far.  It was so interesting to see the different types of waterfalls along the trail, and the mist kept us nice and cool through all the ups and downs.  Gabrielle was a trooper and simply enjoyed the view from the backpack.

Jeff and Gabrielle (in the backpack) by Horsetail Falls

Ponytail Falls

Behind Ponytail Falls

Ponytail Falls through the trees

Landscape of the gorge looking east from the trail

Above Triple Falls at the end of our hike

Looking down on Triple Falls