Churches of Manitoba Take2

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Selkirk, MB.  I happened upon this quaint church in a snow storm. I thought it reminded me of a church from a miniature Christmas Village set. Even the wreaths on the doors are so inviting.

Holiday greetings again! This has been the most interesting holiday yet! The past 2 weeks have been a blur of short trips out and about in Manitoba searching for that church with some character. Some of you enjoyed the first batch of church posting I did a few weeks back and I thought I post some of the ones I've shot in the last week and a half. The churches were the subject of my self assigned Digital techniques shoot week assignment. The goal was to create a small stock pile of church and church related images consisting of landscape/ architectural features. The idea being as with other photo stock piles such as www.fotosearch.com/photo's-images/church.html(This was my bench mark) that the images could potentially be used in various ways such as magazine photo's, advertising, brochure, and personal use. It was a fun assignment and I never knew Manitoba was so rich in historical churches. I only got around to shooting 9 churches in 2 1/2 weeks and I think it would be interesting to keep going -photographing at different times of the day and seasonal changes as well. It was also a neat way to spend time with the family doing the road trips and seeing a little more of what our province has to offer! hope you enjoy!

    St. Peter's Old Stone Church, East Selkirk, MB. Front split view

Saint Boniface cathedral. Night, Arch view.

  Saint Boniface Cathedral, side view (kind of reminds me of pyramid/ancient ruins lit up at night)

St. Peter's Old Stone Church, East Selkirk, MB. Above: graveyard/back view

Below:  Red River view

Below:Cooks Creek Church, MB., High Key Angel 

I was a little disappointed when I went out to the church as it had a high metal fence around it that was locked I had to shoot through the fence for all these shots.

Cooks Creek , Heralding Angels

Cooks Creek church:Above: Tower

                                     Below:  Front door to the church

N.K. Mennonite Brethren Church, Wpg, MB. Steeple backlit

 

50 mm Christmas!

I had a little holiday fun with my 50 mm 1.8 lens. It started  with me having to do Mandy's assignment with 3200 ISO film and realizing that I still needed a little more light to get hand held shutter speeds. So I thought this lens would also be a good chose for my digital as well. Here are a few fun photos I took over the holidays so far. I'm getting ready to pick my image for my next board assignment at school and I may need some assistance. Our board assignment is for our best holiday photograph and a little write up about why. I'm putting it out to any one reading this- please give me your feed back which one do you like the best?  

Holiday Delights

Fancy Apple

Mom and her Mittens

Silver Pinecones

Fancy nails

Red bow

Bad Holiday photo reinvented?

 Christmas Deer

Say CHEESE!!!......CAKE!

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!  So what's cheesier than a photographer giving away  a great cheesecake recipe! Say Cheese! In all seriousness I have enjoyed the past few days off of school and have spent time in reflection of things I use to do before I became a student. I use to clean my house and cook- yes, and even bake! Well the last week has been a blur of fall cleaning, moving furniture and I feel a little wall paint touch ups in the near future. But I have been making time for things I enjoy like entertaining and baking! The only difference now is that I can multi task-not only do I bake but I can take pictures at the same time! (Just don't ask me to chew gum while attempting the other two!) I hope the holidays are going great for you and that your all finding a little self time to experience those things you enjoy as well! I leave you with my favorite cheesecake recipe  it's really great- Hope you have time to try it!

ORANGE POPPYSEED CHEESECAKE WITH LEMON SAUCE

 CRUST: 3/4 cup graham wafer crumbs

                3/4 cup ground almonds

                 1 Tbsp. sugar

                 1/4 cup butter melted

Combine crust ingredients; press mixture onto bottom and 1 inch up sides of a 9-in. spring-form pan. Bake at 350F for 8 min.. cool.

  FILLING: 2 Pkgs.(250g each) light cream cheese(Can use regular as well), softened.

                     1 cup sugar

                      4 eggs

                      1 tsp. grated orange rind

                      3 Tbsp. all purpose flour

                      1/4 cup orange juice

                      3/4 cup whipping cream

                       2 Tbsp. poppyseeds

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar until very smooth. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until just blended. Beat in remaining filling ingredients. Pour into pan. Bake at 450F for 10 min.-reduce heat to 250F and continue baking for 35-45 min. or until centre is just set. Remove from oven and run a knife around rim of pan to prevent cracking. Cool thoroughly at room temp.. Chill overnight. 

 

GLAZE: 2 eggs

                3/4 cup sugar

                 1 tsp. each, grated orange and lemon rind

                  1/4 cup lemon juice

                 2 Tbsp. orange juice

                 2 Tbsp. butter

In a small saucepan whisk eggs until foamy. Combine with sugar, rind, juices and butter in saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until smooth and thickened. Cool. Just before serving, spread evenly over cheesecake.

DT shoot week assignment

Holy Trinity Catholic church

St. Nicholas Ukrainian Orthodox church

Above and below- Little Britain church.

 St Andrews Church on River Road: Looking into a church window-I discovered a stain glass window on the opposite side and also got the reflection of the trees behind me.

                                                         Open water on the Red River

Love the way the sun turned out in this shot!

I had a great day of shooting with Paolo as we travelled all the way to Selkirk , Manitoba to shoot Mandy's landscape film assignment and for me to begin work on my Digital techniques assignment. My self appointed assignment is to shoot churches of Manitoba and to focus on unique point of view. There are a number of surprisingly  unique little churches in this area! I thought I'd blog a few shots from today- I also had fun with post manipulation. ( I've got to start thinking outside the box!) If anyone knows of other churches with character let me know!

Holiday fun with the son! What a Ham!

Fun shoot with my son! He's always good for a giggle. I was actually shooting for Mandy's film  assignment and checking exposure with my digital. I asked Calder if he would give me something to work with- I'm thinking next time I'll have to be more exact with the expressions I'm looking for. He makes it so much fun to be on the other side of the lens!!

Ebonie's day out!

I decided today, that if I was going to have a crazy day shooting - I was at least going to enjoy it! I had to complete 2 assignments on film. The first was Craig's assignment of photographing my hardware and the second Mandy's assignment on Light. Light- Light sources? types of light? Light weight? Too much indecision! She told me to go and have a good time with it- so I decided to  go to a familiar place where I have spent a few summer's working. Lower Fort Garry was a great summer job-however I must say it is way quiet during the winter months in comparison to the bustling summer months. Yep- Just me and the trees and the snow and -20C temps! Funny thing this shoot- I had set my digital camera to white balance in my house to photograph my hardware and forgot it was on custom. It was a little scary seeing my pictures coming out Sepia- I was brain storming for about 20 min. as to what was happing. Could cold weather really do that to my camera????? Good thing I remained calm and eventually figured it out! ( Tooooo Busyyyyy!!!!) How do you like my new friend- He scared me to death as I was taking pictures in complete isolation and he snuck up behind me and swatted  the back of my hair!(Didn't see him coming!)  I think he was so excited someone was visiting and I know it felt good to me to have a little company. I gave him a little attention and he in turn did a little posing for the camera. There I was talking to a cat, only after about an hour of solitude- reminded me of a Tom Hanks movie where he's the only one on an island and he talks to Wilson his basketball- at least I got a few meows in response! I had a relaxing shoot- sure hope the film pics turn out as well as the digital!

Nightscapes

This weeks board assignment was Nightscapes. It was really interesting as it was a real learning experience. I went to Waterfront drive and took the shot looking toward downtown. It took about 20 shots and 2 trips to get good focus. I went back the second time after I googled helpful tips. I think the key was to not only use the tripod but also to set a self timer as to avoid any motion. I did think any slight vibration will also effect blur and I was on a small lookout platform in strong wind. I also had attempted a Nightscape in my home and tried a few ideas with the Christmas tree. Not a great Nightscape but some cool zoom effects! I especially like the way the needles and ornaments appear to be rotating around the tree, and you gotta love the neighbors snowman!).