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!).

The people I've met along the way...

I had a moment to reflect a little this evening and I was trying to made some sense of the whole craziness of this school experience. Sometimes I find myself getting all caught up in the stress of getting assignments completed on time, essays written, grocery shopping done, my kids gym clothes washed,.... and the list (that is far to long) just seems all encompassing and far to overwhelming. So I tonight I wanted to dwell on the great points of the last couple of months(I can't believe it's even been that long!) I think the best thing about photography is that it can be social. I've enjoyed getting to know others in my class and I've been able to spend some time with a lot of great individuals shooting their pics over the last few months, here are some of the memories....