103/365 Soccer According To A Toddler

When I saw this little soccer ball at Toys R Us the other day, I just couldn't resist.  I love that it's soft and light enough to be used inside, yet durable enough to be used outside as well.  Gabrielle caught on to the game pretty quickly for a toddler, and had lots of fun kicking it around the yard.

102/365 Cutie Pie

The three of us visited a brand new baby cousin today.  This little girl is only three weeks old, and such a sweetheart!  We were all in love.

101/365 Vegan Cooking Day 2: Three Bean Chili With Sweet Potatoes

I made the mistake of showing my husband some of my pictures of today's meal.  Specifically, I asked him if my photos of this chili made him want to eat it.  His response?..."No, it looks like a heap of barf.  How could anyone make it look good.  It tastes good though".  As you can see, he really has a way with words.  In all seriousness though, he really did enjoy his dinner today.  This chili is really easy to make and is great for an iron boost (and it really does taste good, I promise).

100/365 Vegan Meals

This is my 100th post of my 365 day project, and for the next 30 posts I'm going to be doing something a little different.  Most people who know us know that we had to switch to a vegan diet six months ago.  We've been slacking a bit lately, but now we need to get back on track.  People we know often have a lot of questions regarding what a vegan diet is, and what we eat.  During the following month, I'm going to be posting our meals for anyone who may be interested in following along.  Food photography is not my forte, but hopefully I can work on that.  Today's dinner was simple and delicious!

Ginger Soy Stir-Fry With Millet

Gabrielle seemed to enjoy it too.  She doesn't follow our diet, but she certainly enjoys some tofu now and then.



99/Birthday Party Snapshots

Gabrielle just went to her first birthday party this weekend, and she had a blast!  Shooting in this setting was quite a challenge (indoors at night without a flash, and no natural light) but it was still fun to document the event.  Here is the adorable birthday boy.  He just turned one and he's such a cutie (Gabrielle completely adores him).

His mother made the best cupcakes, decorated like Sesame Street characters.  The kiddies loved them of course.  Here's the birthday boy enjoying his treat.

This pool full of balls was also a big hit.  I was playing around with the ISO expansion feature on my camera for this shot  (ISO 25600), hence the grainy quality.  Gabrielle was having so much fun that I couldn't resist, even though I knew the light was really bad.

98/365 Fall Waves

97/365 In The Evening

Today we had a beautiful sunset...

And I got glared at by a swan.

Only two of the reasons that it has indeed been an interesting day.

96/365 High Park

95/365 November Skies

94/365 Alone Time

I had some wonderful alone time down by the lake, with just me and my camera.  I didn't have my usual model with me, but this little guy let me get so close that he almost seemed like he was modeling for me.

I also stopped to take a closer look at something I've walked by a million times.

In the middle of the city is what looks like someone's personal houseboat.  I can't imagine someone living on this, but I think someone actually does.  This image makes me wonder what that person's life must be like.  Whoever they are, they seem quite innovative. 

92/365 Hiding

She was in a hood-wearing mood today.

Before and After Using Digital Photo Professional

There has been some talk on one of the photography Facebook groups I belong to about the differences between Adobe digital editing software such as Lightroom and Digital Photo Professional (the free editing software that is included with the purchase of Canon DSLRs).  At the moment I use DPP for all my editing, and so I thought it might be fun to post a before and after example of an edit using this program.

The first image below was shot in RAW, converted straight to JPEG, and posted without any adjustments.  The second one has been edited as a RAW image in DPP before being converted to JPEG and posted here.

Here are the steps that I took to edit this image in DPP:

1. Opened Adjustments and used the Tone Curve Assist-Standard tool

2. Opened the Tool Palette under View 

3. Adjusted contrast

4. Adjusted saturation

5. Increased sharpness

6. Adjusted exposure

7. Clicked on White Balance Adjustment and changed white balance using the Kalvin scale

For anyone interested in using this program, I hope this helps.  In my own opinion, it doesn't even compare to Photoshop in terms it's editing opinions, but it is useful for the initial processing of RAW images.

91/365 Mr. Potato Head

Gabrielle had her first encounter with Mr. Potato Head today at Gran's house.  I thought she did pretty good for a one year old (19 months) and actually managed to get the eyes, nose, mouth, and ears in the right spot a few times.  I think she just might be getting one for Christmas.

90/365 First Workshop

I'm very excited to be taking my first CM photography workshop.  I've been wanting to take one for a long time, but couldn't decide if I wanted to do it as a study-along or full participation member (in the end I opted for study along).  Without going into too much detail, this week's assignment involved shooting in different types of light.  Gabrielle occupied herself long enough with the neighbour's pile of leaves to act as my model for the first set of pictures.

Inside, I found it much easier to practice on her toys (if anyone knows how to persuade a 19 month old to cooperate by sitting just right in the best lighting conditions, please let me know).  The only problem was that Gabrielle kept trying to steal my models back.

Ninety percent of the time I love practicing on my little munchkin, but sometimes I'd really love to have a model over two years old.

89/365 Rained Out

I tested out a new camera today (I won't say which for the sake of my own pride because I don't think I can do it justice yet).  Gabrielle and I drove down to our favourite place by the lake for some experimentation with it, but unfortunately we got rained out after about 5 minutes.  This is all I managed to snap before the waterworks appeared.

By the time I drove to McDonald's for a caramel latte (my consolation prize) and then home, the rain had stopped, and we did get to spend a little while outside.  Poor Gabrielle has been couped up inside more than usual this week because I've been sick, and just seemed happy to be out in the fresh air.

This week's Small Style:

Vest: Joe Fresh

Mittens: Hand-me-downs from a cousin

Sweater: Old Navy

Leggings: Oshkosh

Socks: Oshkosh

Shoes: Maggie and Zoe

88/365 Pigtails

I've had to take a break from this project for the last couple days because I've been too busy fighting the troublesome virus that has been trying to keep me in bed.  I'm on the mend now, and when I came home and found Gabrielle's hair like this (courtesy of Gran) I had to take her outside for a few pictures. 

This totally reminds me of Pippi Longstocking!  Ponytails are about her limit now in terms of the length of time that she'll sit still, but I can't wait until she's old enough to play wither her hair a bit more.  She seems to like it, but still pulls it out after about 5 minutes on most days.