31 Day Photo Challenge - Silhouette - Day 15

Today's photo challenge is "Silhouette".  According to the Oxford Dictionary, a silhouette is a "dark shape and outline of someone or something [tree, building, or a person with a tree or building] visible in restricted light against a brighter background."  Now how do you get a good picture of a silhouette?

I found this post on How to Photograph Silhouettes in 8 Easy Steps by Darren Rowse who recommends that you:

• Choose a strong subject
• Turn off your flash
• Light the back of your subject and preferably with a sunset or sunrise, but he says any bright light will work
• Frame your shot so your subject is either hidden by the light or is in the background, but is not obvious
• Make your shape (a person or tree) recognizable, which can be done by taking a profile picture of your person rather than a straight on picture
• Trick your camera's auto metering mode so that it won't lighten your subject and to get your silhouette
• Use manual mode if auto mode doesn't work by changing the shutter speed and aperture
• Focus on your silhouetted subject by using manual focusing and aperture

Now it was time to put these recommendation to work.  It was a little difficult to find a strong subject today since it was grey, rainy and then pretty much overcast for the rest of the day.  I started to take Nutmeg out for a walk this evening when I saw the sun coming out so I ran back home to get my camera.  Two minutes later the sun was hidden behind a gigantic cloud.  We continued on our walk, stopped for a few minutes at our favourite bench along the Rideau River, then we carried on with our walk when I saw the sun poking out on the path and darkening the trees on either side.  This looked like a good opportunity to take a practice picture.

Practice Silhouette Picture

After taking some practice pictures, we went to the off-leash dog park for a short time so Nutmeg could run around and visit with people.  As we crossed the other off-leash dog park heading towards the street, I turned around and took more pictures of trees.

Silhouette Picture at the Dog Park

I continued to look for a subject with a bright light behind it on my walk home and decided to use a building for my next picture.

31 Day Photo Challenge - Day 15 - Silhouette (final picture)

Today's challenge was tricky, interesting and definitely something to keep practicing.  The above pictures are unaltered.  I would love to do silhouettes with a person.  Please let me know if you are interested in being my test subject.

31 Day Photo Challenge - Eyes - Day 14

Today's photo challenge is "Eyes". This challenge reminds me of one my favourite songs, Green Eyes by Coldplay from their A Rush Of Blood To The Head album.  This is one of their best albums because it had great songs and I loved Green Eyes, Clocks, Fix You, and Scientist.  I listened to this album so many times.  I've liked Coldplay ever since Yellow came out and before it was a big hit.

The first time I saw them live was in 2005 when they performed in Montreal.  No one wanted to go with me so I went by myself.  I don't remember if I took a train or bus to Montreal, but I remember following people to the Bell Centre and being really excited to see them and hear my favourite tunes.  They are fantastic live.  Once the show was done, I caught a bus back to Ottawa, then cabbed it home. I think I got in around 3:30-4:00 am and if my memory is correct, I went to work the next morning.  How did I do that?

The next time I saw them perform was in Ottawa and I went with my friend Vicki.  I remember giant yellow balls being thrown in to the crowd and pretty paper cut outs in the shape of hearts and flowers floating down.  It was wonderful.   It was at this concert that Chris Martin reminded me of Schroeder from Peanuts when he plays the piano.  He's bent over the piano keys and rocks back and forth on his bench.  I wonder if he's ever fallen backwards while playing the piano.

The last time I saw Coldplay perform was in Montreal with my friend Nina.  Her brother got some incredible tickets and we were row D from the stage.  Chris Martin was so close to me.



Everyone was given a bracelet as we entered the Bell Centre and they would automatically lit up during certain points of the concert.

 

I remember looking over at Nina and shouting, "this is so magical".  It truly was a magical concert.  If you ever get the chance, go see Coldplay in concert.  I promise you won't be disappointed.

Now back to my photo challenge for today.  I don't know about you, but I always see amazing, beautiful pictures of faces and eyes.  Not sure how people/photographers get these wonderful pictures, perhaps it's the tools they use, such as the camera, lenses, filters, and light.  I did a Google search today and once again the recommendations were to use a DSLR camera, a macro lens, natural light or a macro lens light.  Another recommendation if you don't have a DSLR camera is to take a portrait picture, then zoom/crop to the eyes.  Apparently, the suggestion for this is that if you zoom into the eyes first and take a picture, the eyes will turn out blurry.

This morning I asked one of my co-workers who used to do photography for advice.  I saw his eyes light up and the wheels turning as he started asking what colour of eyes and I replied, "mine, or maybe Nina's", and then he was talking about filters, lenses, and lights.  Then I hit him with the big news, I will be using a point-and-shoot camera.  The excitement drained from his face, and he said "a point-and-shoot camera?"  It was kinda funny.  He said he would get back to me, but he never did.

I took this picture of myself before I left work for the day.

My portrait picture to use for eyes.

I duplicated my portrait picture, then cropped the picture to my eyes.  I tried adjusting the photo using iPhoto's settings (it's my only photo processing tool), but it only changed my skin colour, it didn't enhance my eyes. 

31 Day Photo Challenge - Day 14 - Eyes (final picture)

31 Day Photo Challenge - Cannot Live Without - Day 13

Today was a dreary, grey, wet day.  It's a perfect day for staying home, relax, and catching up on things.  I took Nutmeg for a couple of walks when it stopped raining, and went to the grocery store for fruits and vegetables and a few meat things.  I have lots of veggies for awesome salads for lunch this week.   My lunches are already prepared for tomorrow and Tuesday.

Salad for lunch and fruit for snacks

I saw a container of Ontario cherries as soon as I walked in the grocery store and decided to buy them.  As soon as I got home I decided to make cherry ice cream, which meant pitting a cup of cherries and puree with coconut milk and hemp milk and I added the mixture to the fridge to chill for a few hours.   This was all done while watching the FIFA World Cup final game.  Next, I pitted and finely chopped another cup of cherries to add to the ice cream during the last five minutes of mixing.  This what your hands will look like after chopping 2 cups of cherries.

Cherry stained hands

Today's photo challenge is something you "Cannot Live Without".  How do you pick one thing that you cannot live without?  I know I can't live without family, friends, Nutmeg, food, lip balm, ice cream, books, and tea.  Most likely my friends and family would say I can't live without ice cream and tea.  What would I be like if I didn't have any of those things.  I'm sure I could cope without family, and that my friends would become my family unit.  My close friends are already like family to me.  Family and friends are there to support you, love you, laugh at you and with you, share moments together whether it's a meal, a bike ride, camping, building a fire, holding a sheet a plywood, laying sod, going to the movies, sit and talk, share secrets, watch sporting events, travel or just sit there in silence because sometimes nothing needs to be said.  As you know from my previous post for Day 9 - Someone You Love, I love Nutmeg and she's not the first dog in my life and she won't be last dog either, but to think of her gone brings tears to my eyes.  I do love ice cream and tea and whether you're having a bad day or a good day, a nice cup of tea will help you not matter what and ice cream just sweetens the deal.  I love lip balm and need it.  I hate feeling dry lips.  I have a tube of lib balm on my desk at work, in my purse, in a little bowl beside the door just in case you need some before you go, in the bathroom, and I have more stashed in a cabinet.  I love to read.  Books provide me a way to escape and put yourself in someone else's shoes.  Books also promotes  knowledge, inspiration, and adventure.

Speaking of books, have you read Wild by Cheryl Strayed? It's a non-fiction story of a young Cheryl and how her life spiralled after the death of her mother.  Although she has no backpacking experience, she later decides to hike the Pacific Crest Trail alone from Mojave Desert, California to Washington State and get her life back on track.  I really enjoyed this book and especially loved the time she spent hiking and her descriptions of the scenery and people.  I was sad it ended and suffered withdrawals for a while.  I couldn't bring myself to read another book right away.  Her story inspired me to hike this trail one day from the beginning to the end all 4, 265 kilometres.  Now I knew a movie was being made and that Reese Witherspoon is playing Cheryl Strayed, but I didn't until Vicki sent me a link that a trailer for it was ready and the film comes out this December.  I will definitely see it.  I hope they filmed it on the trail.  Here's a look at the trailer if you're interested.

However, the one thing I truly Cannot Live Without is water.  I need water to drink, to bathe, brush my teeth, wash the dishes, for cooking and cleaning, for tea, watering my plants.  Face it!  We all need it, at least half of our bodies are made up of water.

31 Day Photo Challenge - Day 13 - Cannot Live Without (final picture)

   

31 Day Photo Challenge - Sunset - Day 12

Today was a lovely day. This morning, I snuggled with Nutmeg, played with her, and then took for a walk before the heat and humidity set it in.

Next I spent a better part of the day with my friends, Vicki and Pam and it was a great afternoon.  We went on a little adventure on our way to the Capital Pop Up craft sale that supports local bakers, artisans and vendors. Next, we went to the Art Is In Bakery for lunch and they had so many options to choose from.  I ordered half of a AAA sirloin steak sandwich with a garden salad.  It was juicy and delicious.  I also bought a small loaf of walnut and fig sourdough bread.  I can't wait to try it tomorrow morning for breakfast.

After lunch we went to Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) to peruse the store and buy some things.  Did you know they now sell standup paddle boards (SUP)?!  They even have a couple that are inflatable, which would be awesome to own.  Vicki and I decided to start saving our pennies to buy one.  I looked at pannier bags for my bike because I need some new small ones, but didn't really want to spend the money for 2 plain, but utilitarian ones. I saw some other panniers that were very pretty and came with a strap to wear over your shoulder or cross-body for ease of shopping.  I did buy some hooks, D rings and nylon webbing straps for a possible solution to clip onto Nutmeg's harness and onto the D rings inside her bike trailer, so she can't escape.

My Fuji bike 

After out excursions, I went home to relax and spend more time with Nutmeg before I head out for today's photo challenge, which is "Sunset".  I had to make a detour to Vicki's before my photo hunting because she accidentally took the case for my sunglasses.  She tried to take my lipgloss this afternoon, but I saw it table and put it away.  Sometimes if she's at my place before we go out she will snag the lip gloss, and then haul it and apply it when we are out somewhere.  Vicki does this to get a rile out of me.

I biked along the river after leaving her place and first stopped at the Look Out on the Ottawa River that looks out to Gatineau, Quebec on the other side of the river.  I took some pictures, but it wasn't the best setting at that time, next I biked through Rockcliffe Park, and then to Rideau Falls to get my sunset picture.

Rideau Falls (East Dam) - Ottawa, Ontario

A picture of me on top of the Rideau Falls

Tonight was not the best night for sunset pictures because the sun was small and mostly hidden behind clouds.  I remember when my friend Pam and I went to Georgian Bay for a kayaking trip and the sunsets there were spectacular.  The colours were so vivid and the sky was wide open.  It was beautiful.  I would show you a picture, but those pictures aren't digitized.  One day I will take all my negatives and have them digitized.

I took a bunch of pictures of tonight's sunset, and then played with the settings such as the temperature, tint, contrast, and saturation on my computer.  This was my favourite sunset picture of the night. 

31 Day Photo Challenge - Day 12 - Sunset (final picture)

31 Day Photo Challenge - Something Blue - Day 11

Last evening as I was leaving to go out for supper with my parents, I picked up my Ray Bans to put them on and noticed a gigantic crack right through the left lens.  I loved these sunglasses and wore them all the time for the past 4 years.  Four years ago, I went to Vancouver to visit friends and to go skiing in Whistler.  It was a fabulous visit and great skiing.  While I was at the Vancouver airport waiting for my first of two flights home, I walked by the Sunglass Hut and noticed these Ray Bans with two-toned orange frames and it was love at first sight.  I didn't buy them because I didn't want to spend the money.  I arrived in Toronto and walked around the airport while waiting for my flight to Ottawa and I saw them again. I admired them and tried them on, but still didn't buy them.

Broken 2-toned Orange Ray Ban Aviators

One or two days after my return to Ottawa, I had a terrible day at work, then I wiped out on my bike ride and bruised the entire side of my thigh and butt, and when I got home I noticed a racoon got into my garbage can and garbage was everywhere.  After that day from hell, I said, "That's it!  I'm going to buy those sunglasses."  They have been a great pair of sunglasses and the perfect size of aviators for my face.

Last night after supper, my parents and I went to the mall and I tried on tons of sun glasses.  I had it narrowed down to 3 pairs and took pictures to get my friend Vicki's opinion.  The top 2 pairs were for fun and for these two pairs, Vicki commented "Oh Hell No", and "You look bat shit crazy". Ha ha!  I love trying on sunglasses and hats.

Trying on various pair of sun glasses

I chose the Ralph Aviators with polarized lens by Ralph Lauren.

Selfie wearing Ralph Aviators

Back to today's photo challenge, which is "Something Blue". I thought of taking a picture of the sky on my bike ride home from work.  The sky was a perfect shade of cornflower blue with big, puffy, cotton white cumulous clouds.  I mentioned my photo challenge to my neighbour as she was petting and scratching Nutmeg and told her I was considering taking a picture of the sky for today's challenge.  She advised against taking this picture because the colour wouldn't come out real blue at that time of the day.  She suggested taking a picture of my blue recycling box, but I didn't want to take a picture of that.  Don't worry, I thought of something blue.

31 Day Photo Challenge - Something Blue - Blue Flip Flops

The first thing to show you is my flip flops in blue.  I have many pairs of flips flops and in various colours and support.  I love wearing them in the summer and changing them up.  They are so easy to slip on and head out the door.  I wish I could wear them all the time.  Now I have a problem.  I don't have a closet anywhere near the door in the kitchen.  All of my shoes and coats and are kept in the spare bedroom closet.  Now I didn't want to have a pile of flip flops by the door and was looking for a storage solution.  I came up with the idea of using a metal pail to store them and it would keep the area tidy.  I told my mom this and she found this cobalt blue pail with a lid and it works perfectly in my kitchen.

31 Day Photo Challenge - Something Blue - A pail of flip flops

Here's my final picture of my "Something Blue" with a lid.  You can use anything for a storage solution, you just need to be a little creative.

31 Day Photo Challenge - Day 11 - Something Blue (final picture)