Even though the weather was quite cool today, apparently we are to expect some warm weather later this week, which I won't really mind because frosh week starts on Friday and it might be nice to not have to be outside in colder weather.
sitting and waiting and wishing and hoping
I put on tights today, and I felt this strange happiness flood through me. I've really missed tights; before summer started I wore them all the way from September until the very end of June. Although the break was good, I'm happy my old friends are back. I wore these simple black ones today since I want to save all my pretty tights for when school starts.
shirt, vintage. cardigan, vintage. shoes, Steve Madden. tights, unknown. headband, thrifted.
Peak of Action - Yawn
I don't typically come up with fishing when I think of "action" photography. Horse racing, bicycling and badminton tend to come in much higher up on the list. But, for every activity, there has to be some defining moment where you can nod your head and say "that was cool". Even couch potatoes must have their moment. When he/she settles into the couch in just the right position to be able to have a great view of the television and be able to reach both the remote and a beverage with minimum expenditure of energy. Ah, the glory of perfection. Today's image doesn't, itself, approach perfection, but that fellow on the right seems to have a mighty fine arc on the line as he's casting. Okay, he is flyfishing, so his line might be a couple of millimeters in diameter. The most important element in today's image (other than the people themselves) is that thin line slicing through the air. It defines the "peak of action". If either line lay limp, hanging from the tip of the rod to the water, there would be no "action". To get an idea of how the line takes on so much emphasis in this shot, hit the "read more".I've done a couple of posts on my basic workflow (link). How I use the saturation portion of Photoshop's Hue/Saturation Adjustment layers to control the intensity of each of the additive and subtractive colors (Red, Green, Blue and Yellow, Cyan , Magenta). Today's image needed an expansion of the basic workflow to include two Red Adjustment Layers, 3 Yellow and 2 Green ALs. Two of the layers are probably pretty obvious. One of the Red ALs is dedicated to the red fishing line and one of the Yellow ALs is the basis of the yellow line. The second Red AL is a "standard" adjustment of the overall image. There are two additional Yellow ALs. The second AL brings the reflection of the trees up in the water. The first pass showed that the amount of saturation that was good for the trees was too much for the water. The water would have looked slightly electric. So, for the Yellow ALs we have the line, the reflection and the trees. Each is a separate Adjustment Layer in order to have the masks for each on. Each mask had to have "holes" punched in them to let the lower adaption show through. The masks end up looking fairly strange.
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By breaking down an image and addressing each color separately, and possibly with multiple iterations, an almost infinite amount of control can be exercised over the force a color brings to an image.
the long and winding road
I went university book shopping today, although I only bought books for 3 of my 5 courses because I still don't know the books that I need for the other two courses. Before I ended up at the book store, I somehow got sidetracked into Kensington Market where I found myself infront of my favourite vintage clothing shop. Inside I discovered, buried behind racks of clothes, a deep yellow vintage Christian Dior skirt. It felt a bit like Christmas I must admit, especially because the price was simply amazing. After my little vintage shopping trip I got lost within Kensington Market due to the amount of people there. Yet, it turned out to be alright for I stumbled upon many wonderful things such as a life size scrabble board game in session, some music and dance shows, a $1 book sale (I didn't find anything I liked), and many other exciting things. The streets were crowded, I'd never seen Kensington Market so full before, but it was quite nice.
cardigan, French Connection. skirt, vintage. tee, Forever 21. shoes, Aldo. headband, thrifted. jewelry, gifts.
After finding my way out of the maze of streets I went to buy my books. Before going home I stopped to buy a green tea at Starbucks and take pictures outside one of the buildings in my university. I have to find out a good way to take my pictures without a tripod, so today was sort of a trial run.
Once home, I spent the day outside taking pictures and spending time with family, overall, a lovely Sunday.
Hope you all had amazing weekends! :)
don't fear death, fear an un-lived life
Tuck Everlasting is one of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen. The film deals with the idea of, if you could live forever, would you? The story is about a young girl named Winnie who stumbles upon a boy who falls in love with her, although she soon discovers that this boy cannot die and neither can his family. This is due to them drinking water from an enchanted spring. The movie follows Winnie after her encounter with the Tucks, and deals with her trying to decide whether she wants to become an immortal as well.
Whenever I watch this movie I feel as if I myself am Winnie, and her decision is the one that I must make. The cinematography is amazing, every scene is filled with magical brilliance.
This movie was originally a book. I'd recommend reading the book as well. It's really truly lovely.
My explanation does not do the movie justice, but it's a wonderful story. It makes you think about life, and if you had the opportunity to live forever, would you take it.
Ps. If you want to watch the movie, it can be found on google. Here.
the fountain of youth
Today was a wonderful day. Everything seemed to go my way. Work was bearable, my bestie came back from her trip and we went out for coffee, I finally bought the September issue of Vogue as well as finding 5 pairs of patterned tights all for $21. I also got some lovely gifts, one of them being a fashion book, another a pretty lilac coloured shirt, and some other little items. Even the weather seemed to cooperate with me. It's rather cool outside, but exactly perfect for me. It's not too cold yet, so I can still wear skirts with no tights, but at the same time I can wear tights and not be hot. It's become really noticeable how fast fall is coming but I'm anticipating the coming months with the falling leaves, and the autumn celebrations. I can't wait until I can go buy a pumpkin and walk along the street with the colourful leaves swirling around me, the sun shining bright, yet the air cool with the fresh autumn scent. Autumn is my most favourite time of year, yet it's also quite short, therefore, this year I'm glad I'll be able to document each day on my blog.
Paths, Roads, Roads, Paths - When Is One The Other?
Walking down a path in a park can often lead to an interesting photo opportunity. Walking down a road can also, but gives a different type of vibe. A path is friendly, a road is hard, A path is there for a slow meander, a road takes you somewhere. You might even pay to have the privilege of walking on a path (Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania comes to mind) where a road is utilitarian, it's there for purpose rather than pleasure. Years ago, at a company I was working at, we had a visitor from the west coast out to inspect a machine the company was building. Being the sales/quality control/field installation guy, it was my duty to babysit the fellow. The second day he was at the building I had to run out for an emergency service call on a piece of equipment at a hospital in northwestern Connecticut. I invited the visitor to accompany me. The company was in Woodbury, the hospital was in Sharon. You can use a mapping application to see what the most direct route would probably be. About half way along the route the visitor said "this is Connecticut?". I assured him it was and questioned why he had asked. His response was that west coasters always thought Connecticut looked sort of like an extension of Manhattan. Building after building and the only tress would be sequestered in pocket parks. As we drove along the Housatonic River has said the drive was more like going through one of the national parks rather than what he had imagined driving through Connecticut might be. Thinking about his comment later made me consider how fortunate the people of Connecticut, and the northeast in general, are to have such natural beauty all around us once someone takes the time to get off the highways. We are truly blessed. To check out where I'm going with this in relationship to today's image, hit the "read more" and I'll explain.Today's image is a combination of a road and a path. The road is Rockwell Road in Bethel. There's a nice bend with a small barn/garage at the vanishing point of the bend. As a side note, just beyond the small building is a full sized barn. The "path" portion of today's image comes from Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts. The paved road just wasn't working for me and I thought a dirt road or trail might look better in the shot. . The question I'll pose today is does the substitution of the dirt path change "the truth" of the image? The building, and the barn behind it, were there before the road was paved. So, did I alter the scene or did I create an image of what the area might have looked like 75 or 100 years ago? If the purpose was to document the road for an article in the newspaper of a magazine about the town today, yes, it would have altered the truth of the image. If a painted had his/her easel set at the same location as the camera and painted a dirt road rather than a paved road would anyone wag a finger at the artist? No! To many people get too hung up on things when the intent of the image is entertainment or visual interest. . Once I got into the image today I noticed a distraction along the bridge abutment. It was a tiny portion of the image, but it was white and red where white and red should not have been. Zooming in revealed a drink cup someone had tossed along the roadside. Had I noticed it, I could have moved it out of frame before taking the shot. I didn't, so I removed it with Photoshop. Again, it didn't alter the "truth" of the image, it just cleaned it up. In that case I would even have a problem it the intent of the image was photojournalism. Unless the article was about trash on the side of the road it was not a critical part of the story being told. The is a point that can't be crossed in photojournalism, but getting rid of the drink cup wouldn't be anywhere close to that line.
look ugly in a photograph
According to my dashboard, this is my 100th post, and therefore, I have a little video for you all. My first vlog, as promised ages ago.
I don't think I did that great of a job explaining why I named my blog what I did since I get really camera shy, even when it's just me. Anyways, to explain further, when I say fashion "restraints", I'm referring to the people around us. For example, in high school most kids dressed exactly the same. On non-uniform days students seemed to be more in uniform than on regular days. When I used to come to school dressed differently, people would look at me weird, therefore, being able to step out of this realm where people dress the same, is in a way breaking free of the fashion restraints that some put around us. Look Ugly in a Photograph initially represents all of the fashion bloggers who post their outfits to show the world their unique sense of style, and anyone who dares to dress in a way that may seem "different" to a majority of people. It's daring to not be afraid of looking "ugly" in the eyes of society.
Hope you all understood that!
Ps. Reaching my 100th post makes me feel as if I'm truly a blogger now. :)
Outfit details: dress, vintage. jewelry, gifts. shoes, Nicole. headband, thrifted.
I have decided to allow anonymous posting, so even if you don't have a blog you can comment :)
a white dove flies
Unfortunately I only have one photograph for you all today. My camera refused to cooperate with me. It goes all weird during night time. I think there's some setting I need to figure out.
blazer, Bershka. top, Forever 21. skirt, Marciano. shoes, Aldo. headband, thrifted.
Today I realised that I've become like a lot of the characters that exist in the books I have read. It's really made me think a lot about the books I'm reading, and whether or not some books influence me in a good way or bad. Have any of you noticed this about yourselves?
While at work, I got sick of the regular station I listen to on the radio. Every song sounded so repetitive, and it just got me annoyed, therefore, I turned to a classical station as it seemed the only station to house music that didn't make me want to stick ear plugs in my ears. My favourite piece played was from The Secret Garden. You can find that piece here. It's really worth a listen. Just close your eyes and listen to the music. It's truly amazing. It makes you feel like there is such magic and beauty in the world; it makes your heart feel as if it's floating on a gentle cloud, suspended within the heavens. I'm really keen to watch the movie now.
Finding Mysterious Places
I can't remember how many times, even with high gas prices, we've jumped in the car and driven hundreds of miles looking for a shot. It used to be just something to do. Today it takes a little more planning, what with the increasing price of almost everything. Flickr is a great resource for checking out images of places you might want to put on your itinerary. The state tourism sites can give you an idea what's going on in either your local area or wherever you're traveling. You can always drive around aimlessly thinking some spectacular vista will jump out in front of you (I wouldn't count on it). Or, you can get meticulous GPS coordinates to known locations of surefire shots. In order to find out what exotic location and fiendish technique was used to come up with today's image, hit the "read more" and I'll let you know.Yesterday was the first day of school around here. Our beautiful granddaughter, who absolutely hates to have her picture taken, was starting the seventh grade, so we had to go over to see her off. Much to her chagrin, I had my camera with me. (Notice there's never been a shot of her on this blog???? I've been banned from that activity.) Once the pix were taken and everyone went their separate ways I started my walk home. It's not that great a trek (only 2 miles) but it does help with the "get back in some kind of shape" kick I'm on. About two thirds of the way home I passed an old quarry I've known about since my high school days. Guys I knew in school used to talk about swimming in the quarry and claimed it was a hundred feet deep and had a steam shovel at the bottom. Nice story, but no where near verified. It's not like the quarry was a big detour or required tromping through some vast forest. Truth is that today's image was taken about ten steps off the road. It's not a picture that's going to hang in MOMA anytime soon, but it does illustrate a point. If our son's house is about 2 miles away and I was 2/3s of the way to the gallery, that means the shot was taken about 3500 feet from the gallery.
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Now, let's think about this for just a moment. We'll apply just a little bit of reasoning to this problem. We've driven hundreds of miles looking for "the shot" of the day and have been skunked more often than not. Today's quick "study" of a possible location looks to have possibilities and is "in the neighborhood". Therefore, the conclusion would be... leave the car in the garage and explore the area around where you live. Great shots aren't measured by distance travelled, they're valued by the impact they have on the viewer. A great image, shot in your backyard, will have far more personal value years from now than the drive you went on looking for an elusive vista. Think globally, act locally applies to photography and just happens to help the environment as well.
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I've been thinking about doing some bird photography lately. I thought if I could only find a broken tree branch or trunk I could set something up off the deck at the house. I've been keeping an eye peeled for possibilities along side the road as I've walked and biked. The other day, while brushing my teeth, I glanced out the window toward the treeline behind the house. An old tree had recently fallen and looks like it was sent as a gift for the bird project. Today's mission is to pull the broken shard of the tree down and set it up as a perch for birds to land on before dropping down to a feeder. Hopefully I'll be able to share some bird shots by this time next week.
cheer, cheer, cheer
I've been in a very back to school mood lately. This outfit reminds me of an 80's preppy cheerleader high school girl. I think it would have been really fun to go to high school in the 80's or 90's and be the preppy cheerleader who walked around the school acting as if she owned it. Actually, I really have no idea what high school was like in the 80's/90's in Canada, but I like to think that it was a lot like shows like Saved by the Bell.
shirt, vintage. skirt, Head. socks, Winners. shoes, Aldo. necklace, gift. headband, thrifted.
summer is slowly fading away
Today was just another work day. When I got home I went to the post office to mail a package, and I stopped at the book store to buy a book by Barack Obama and the newest issue of The New Yorker.
The weather is getting cooler which is indicative of the approaching fall months. I'm getting really excited though, because this means university is approaching. One week this Friday I will be attending my orientation week. I'm so excited to open this new chapter in my life.
I Must Be Thick, or Something???
People seem to be curious about some of the images created here at the gallery. They ask about how they were done and then tell me it can't be done (whatever it is that was done) like that. I find that a tad strange, because they, typically, are holding the print in their hands while they're saying "you can't do that"..
A good example is a print by "the better half". She had this beautiful 16 x 20 print of a corn field, a set of three silos and a cloud filled sky. With the print in hand, a self announced professional gushed over the image, noting that individual kernels of corn could be seen. He commented on the sharpness, the detail, the subtle coloring, gush, gush gush. He asked how many megapixels the camera had. When told the print he had in his hands was from a 4 megapixel point and shoot his immediate reaction was that you couldn't make a 16 x 20 print from a 4 megapixel file. News flash, if you're willing to pay for something, someone will be willing to produce it. I'm pretty sure he would have quit photography all together if he knew the image had been sent out for printing at 150 PPI. Too many people are confused by PPI versus DPI and don't understand the relationship (note to self: subject for another post). To hear about how this all relates to today's image, follow the "read more".
This is the third post on the blog about infrared imaging. When I show an infrared image, people ask if it's from a digital or an analog (film) camera, ask if I had the digital camera modified and then tell me I can't make an infrared image from an unmodified digital camera. I don't get it. They have a print in hand, I give them the lowdown and they tell me I can't do it that way. Am I missing something? Do people think I spend my nights dreaming up fanciful stories to trick them? Do they think I should be writing fiction? Maybe I could be the next JK Rawlings or Clive Cussler. Actually, I'd probably wind up being more like Michael Tougias, making true stories sound like high adventures. Whatever pipedreams I may have, I'm a photographer, not a writer. I'll keep buying Tougias' books and maybe one day he'll buy one of my prints. (Another pipedream I guess.)
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Today's image was taken with a unmodified digital camera. The trade off between a modified and an unmodified camera, for infrared use is time. With a modified camera, on a sunny day you can handhold the camera. With the unmodified camera you haven't a prayer of handholding a shot. If you have a camera that has a B&W setting, you can go directly to a B&W infrared shot. If the camera doesn't have a B&W setting you'll end up with a R&W (red and white) image. In that case you can use any method you like to go to B&W. (There must be a dozen ways to do it.)
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One giveaway for a lot of the digital B&W infrared I see is the lack of grain. Film infrared is, typically, pretty grainy. Luckily, Photoshop has an "Add Noise" filter. One of the effects of the "Add Noise" filter in today's image is to bring out the grass in the lower portion of the shot. Bonus!
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I don't know. There's an old Irish blessing that talks about putting a smile on the faces of our friends and breaking the ankles of those who aren't friends so we'll know them by their limping when they're coming. Would make things easier.
park avenue princess
Today I had to run some errands at my university, so my mum came along with me. After I had run my errands we walked down to Queen Street West so we could browse some vintage and thrift stores. We ended up stopping for a little treat at Second Cup, and after a bit more walking we went home.
shirt, Forever 21. skirt, Escada. shoes, Nicole. bag, no idea.
I loved this weekend because I love spending time with my mum. We've decided to hang out more often now. Next time we go downtown we want to go to this little crepe place for desert.
Hope you all had amazing weekends!
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