Pam's Week 25: Strawberry Fields Forever

Oh, what a week.  I'm not really sure what it was but it just seemed like there was not nearly enough time all week to do what I needed to get done.  I would blame Sharon for making me stay up past my bedtime 3 nights in a row but I don't think it's entirely her fault.  I think part of it is just all the activities winding down in anticipation of summer.  Now if only the weather would cooperate....

I should warn you in advance that I am not overly thrilled with some of my photos this week.  Some of the problems were with inspiration but I think execution just ended up being the biggest problem.  I ran out of time so just shoved some pictures into the topics even though I really wanted to retake them.  Some of them were taken the wrong week as Sharon tricked me into taking Fireworks photos with her this week when it's actually next week's topic.  Anyways, without further ado...

I'm going to put the photos a little out of order this week.  As Sharon pointed out - it's my project and I can do what I want to!  (Did you read that in song?  That's how I wrote it!)

Starts with X

Obviously the first words that came to my mind were also x-ray, xylophone, x-acto knife, x-rated.  I then had an a-ha moment - xenophile:  a person who is attracted to foreign people, cultures, or customs.  I decided this could describe Robert and I but with his crazy schedule these days, there were no opportunities to take a photo of the two of us.  This week, though, a guy my brother went to Sunday school and maybe highschool with a number of years ago was visiting with his 2 kids.  His family was here a couple of Christmases ago and our kids got along really well.  His kids were excited to see mine again so we got together on Thursday night.  The plan was to try Disc Golf but Mother Nature thwarted those plans so instead we headed to McDonald's and then onto Elliot's Ice Cream.

These kids are all the products of xenophilia.  My kids exist because a Canadian woman and a Filipino man fell in love.  Kenji and Kaede have a Canadian father and a Japanese mother.

Silhouette

This ended up being more of a semi-silhouette but Sharon assured me that is a thing.  Just so you know - getting Riya to sit and stay while I squat in front of her and point a camera at her is no easy feat.  Multiple treats were involved in the making of this photo.

And yes she was sitting atop a picnic table to get her high enough to make the photo work.

A Field

Since the title song kept floating into my head every time I read the topic list, I decided taking a photo of a strawberry field should be my goal for the week.  Last night after dropping Danica off at her Brownies campout, I decided I should head to Thomson's Strawberry Farm on my way to Sharon's for Games (aka Blah Blah Blah) Night.  The problem - on the way to Danica's campout location, I picked up a large drink at McDonald's and proceeded to drink it.  As I arrived back in town, I contemplated stopping somewhere to use a bathroom but decided I could hold it.  I drove all across town, still thinking I should stop but didn't really want to, and to the farm.  I got out of the car to take a couple of photos but quickly decided one of them would have to do as there did not appear to be any place I could cop a squat and relieve myself and I was heading towards an accident.  As soon as I arrived at Sharon's, I jumped out of the car, ran past her and into the bathroom (thankfully Levi got out quickly as he heard my desperation as I explained to Sharon why I was being so rude).  It took me much longer than the 8 seconds Sharon has informed me a woman's pee should always be...

I thought I wanted one without the buildings but I liked the blue sky and white fence in this one.  (Geez - this was the first one I took - I could have saved myself some pain had I jumped back in the car right here!)

Swirl

It was clear to me that this had to be a photo of ice cream.  Luckily Sharon had a birthday and therefore needed an ice cream date to celebrate.  This is one of the photos that I imagined quite differently.  It lost something in execution but ice cream isn't particularly forgiving and sometimes you just have to make do...

Jump

As we dropped Duncan off at my parents' last night en route to Danica's campout, I made Danica get out of the car and jump a little for me.  I'm not going to lie and pretend I spent loads of time trying to get this to work.  As soon as I got a photo of her in mid-air, we were on our merry way.  Looking at it now, I realize that it's blurry and I should have tried again but I am now kid and dog-less and now about to take jumping selfies...

Bark

Yet again, I thought my idea was brilliant, my execution, not so much.  I decided to take a photo of Riya barking.  Did you realize how quickly a dog's mouth opens and closes during a bark and how difficult it is, at least with a point and shoot automatic camera, to capture that movement?

Wildcard

I have the same creepy ship in the fog and the rolling fog photos as Sharon but decided to go with this one instead.  It was taken out at Pointe Des Chenes as we searched for silhouettes.  I liked the bright orange tree in the middle of all the green, the reflections in the water, and the lilypads.  I just wish the blue sky showed up properly and didn't white out.

And that is all for this week.  Now I should go shower as we will be leaving shortly to head to Mount Pleasant to see Journey.  I'm just a small town girl.....he's a city boy.....we aren't going to Stop Believin'!

Sharon's Week 25: There Are So Many Colours In The Rainbow

Today, John would have been 26.  In honour of this, his first birthday since his tragic and unexpected death in October, a tribute.

My title is a lyric from the Harry Chapin song, Flowers Are Red.  The gist of the story, you can see from the chorus below, is about a boy who thinks outside the box.  It suited John perfectly.

Teacher:

Flowers are red, young man

And green leaves are green

There is no need to see flowers any other way

Than the way they always have been seen

Little boy:

There are so many colours in the rainbow

So many colours in the morning sun

So many colours in the flower

And I see every one

Pete spent a lot of time planning the music for John's funeral and this was the final song.  I had never heard it before but I listen to it all the time now...never without tears.

John was that little boy.  He didn't fit into any boxes...the educational system had trouble figuring him out, his family had trouble figuring him out and sadly at times, John had trouble figuring himself out.  Despite the societal brick walls that don't bend for people who see the world differently, John grew into a brilliant, creative, caring and unselfish young man.

I wish we had more time together, John.  I realize, too late, that I could have learned a lot from you.

About the photos, I wanted to make this blog as colourful as possible in light of my title.  I was limited by some of the topics but I did my best to see all of the colours of the rainbow.

I'll begin with my most colourful photo of the week...

swirl

I got out the light table, glass pyrex dish and food colouring again (thanks to Donna for suggesting that last year).  I had fun and made a lot of photos but wow, the flaws that show up on the computer screen...little tiny bubbles that settled on the glass, tiny cat hairs that floated into the water and small imperfections in the glass were invisible to the eye but magnified to immense proportions on the computer.  I did some corrections in Lightroom but that was tedious and since they are only for my use, I let many of them be.  Here is my favourite swirl.  I'll put several more at the end of this post if you want to have a look.

a field

I thought of more lupins but between last week and this week, they passed their prime and anyway, we saw lots of lupins in last week's post.  Here is a small part of a large field of daisies on the side of the road where the Fort Creek section of the Hub Trail meets Third Line.

silhouette

On Monday evening, Pam and I headed out to Pointe Des Chenes for sunset (we were out past my bedtime!).  There wasn't a lot to put in front of the colourful sky for a silhouette and I wasn't happy with anything I got so on Wednesday evening (after ice cream and before my birthday fireworks) Pam and I headed to the locks.  The sun sets behind the steel plant and I hoped for something there.  The sky was gorgeous but I only got semi-silhouettes again (I have been trying for four years now).  I adjusted this a bit in Lightroom to make it more fully silhouetted.

Funny story, we had to cross the train tracks from the train bridge to get where I wanted to go and while we were up there, a train decided to come.  We were stuck on the wrong side of the tracks after sunset, surrounded on three sides by water with no place to go, me without a jacket and with time running out before the fireworks would start (it turns out that even though it was a long train, we had plenty of time to get to a fireworks-watching spot because they were soooooo late - again, I was up past my bedtime).  What do you do when you're stuck with nowhere to go?  Take a picture of course.

starts with X

I have to credit my brilliant son for this idea.  Levi kindly helped me think of words other than xylophone, x-ray and Xerox.  He told me that xenon gas is used in neon lights so I set out in search of purple neon lights (apparently neon is a general term and the type of gas used affects the colour of the light).  I like this sign.  It has no xenon but it has personality.  Oh, yeah, I was up, yet again, past my bedtime that night!

This sign is on the side of Wacky Wings.  The word "crossing" is pale purple in real life but it doesn't show very purple in the photo.  Take my word for it or head to Wacky Wings on Lake Street for dinner and check it out.

jump

Levi wouldn't help out with this.  I didn't think you'd really want to see Smaug's food (live crickets) jumping in their container and I didn't have the courage to ask kids at the skatepark if I could photograph them.  When I was at Maxine's having my elbow taped, I asked her to help me think outside the box.  Instead of doing that, she volunteered to  jump off a swing for me.  We headed to the park behind her house.  The people there with their kids were four teachers that I work with and they thought it was pretty funny.   Now, teachers across the Sault will think that OTs are weird.  Thank you Maxine!

bark

This birch tree with the shadow caught my eye while we were at Pointe Des Chenes.

wild card

I've got a few.  Let's start with my birthday fireworks (officially Aboriginal Day - soon to be Indigenous Peoples Day - fireworks, but we all know they were for me 😁).

And we have the creepy ship in fog.

And we have the coolest fog ever!  Look at how it is floating in waves.

Here are some more of the swirly photos.

And now, just because it is my Friday off and I can, I am heading for a nap 😊.

Pam's Week 24: Don't Just Stand There, Bust a Move

There were so many songs that popped into my head for this week's post.  Sharon stole the line "I like to move it, move it" but there was also "Swing low, sweet chariot" and a 1992 favourite, "All I wanna do in zoom-zoom-zoom-zoom and a boom-boom" from Wreckx N-Effects "Rumpshaker".  Anyone who knows me well, though, knows that "Bust a Move" is my jam.  I know all the lyrics, it's a tune guaranteed to get me on the dance floor and I even have a shirt with the lyrics to one of the verses on it.  Clearly, it was a no-brainer.

This has been quite a week.  It started out beautifully with my accidentally stumbling across the perfect photo for one of the topics when I took Danica and her friend, Ila to the park last Sunday afternoon.  I was sure this was going to be the week where all my photos were done ahead of time and not left to the last minute.  Boy, was I mistaken.  I had googled some ideas for one of the topics but never got around to attempting to execute it until last night.  Some of the others required a photography dictionary as I really didn't understand what effect I was trying to achieve.  To make a long story short, Sharon texted me yesterday to invite me lupins stalking with her and essentially acted as my tutor and dictionary and helped me take most of the pictures.  Maybe my mom will be happy to know that I didn't just procrastinate while she was paying for my education; it's a life trait!

Between last night and today, I have spent approximately 8 hours organizing and cleaning the playroom, including steam cleaning the area rug (thanks Dad!).  I want to get started on my room and cleaning out my closet but felt like taking a moment to write and post this blog would give me a much needed break from dust and thinking of how to rearrange and organize things.

Usually I try to post the pictures in the order they are listed on the schedule but I'm going to shake things up a bit today.  I thought maybe I would start with my first photo taken this week as it may still be my favourite, and not just because it features my daughter...

Swings

I honestly was trying to think of alternative meanings for the word in order to be more creative but since this blog is PG, I thought taking a photo of swingers would be frowned upon.  Besides, where would I find swingers willing to pose?  There are many rumours of people who do such things in town but I'm not about to ask any of them if it's true and if I can document it with photos.  The thought makes me a little sick, actually.

Luckily Danica and Ila wanted me to push them while they were on this swing and I just couldn't help but whip out my phone to take a picture of the two of them.

These girls are seriously the cutest.  They have been friends for about 5 years now, which is an accomplishment when you're only 8.  They met at preschool and were basically the first friend each other ever made on their own (as in not family friends).  They've been in the same class ever since and even their teachers comment on what a refreshingly nice friendship it is, especially for girls as the girl drama starts so young these days.

Zoom In

You wouldn't believe how relieved I was to learn that this topic was just as simple as it sounds - zoom in on something.  I do this all the time!  I can do this!

While we were at the lupins last night, there were dragonflies and huge bumble bees that were flying among and landing on the lupins.  After waiting patiently for far too long, one bee finally cooperated and started taking the nectar from lupins that were nearby.  I've included two as I like the clarity of the bee and how you can see his wings in the first photo but I like how he's flying towards the lupins in the second.

Motion Blur - Object

Yep, this is the topic I needed translating and tutoring for.  Apparently Sharon was thinking there would be a nice breeze that would make the lupins move nicely and allow me to capture some nice motion blur.  Unfortunately, for the first time ever it seems, the air was still with nary a wind to be found.  Sharon then thought if I slowed my shutter speed and opened my aperture as far as it would go (I think that's what we were doing), I might get some nice blur; that failed miserably as too much light was allowed in with my limited aperture opening and I just ended up with white.  Not to be defeated, Sharon then pulled out her tripod and using her good shoulder (but bad elbow), she helped me set up my camera and proceeded to create lupin movement that I attempted to capture as blur.  Who knew this was so difficult?  I thought I was good at blurry photos!

S

I was just telling Sharon how I envisioned scroll work in an s-shape and voila - one appeared on the post outside someone's house in Echo Bay.  We stopped and in spite of feeling rather self-conscious standing in a stranger's driveway, snapping photos, I took a couple and then deciding the view from the reverse side would be better, I snapped another.  I then, of course, had to figure out how to flip it as I am no longer a young child who is making her 's's backwards still.

Peeling Paint

Like Sharon, I had an image of multiple layers of paint peeling back or at least an interesting looking peel but it was not to be found.  Reality was actually just fading paint or lots of rust, not at all how I pictured it.  Then I remembered that our front post is in desperate need of repainting and with Sharon's help holding back our overgrown burning bush, I found proof that we need to repaint the post.  I liked the effect of the black and white with the accent colour of the petunia.

Citrus

This is the topic I had googled for ideas and finally tried  to execute last night.  It didn't work out as I'd planned.  My microplane thing wouldn't slice through the lemon or lime skin and I couldn't slice it thin enough by hand.  I am also not blessed with a light table like Sharon so tried to create one using the glass out of a picture frame and a flashlight.  I should have gone ahead with the joke photo I'd sent Sharon earlier in the week of one of my other LCBO purchases a couple of Fridays ago.

Wildcard

This afternoon I decided to take Riya for a walk at Hiawatha as I love this part of the Pinder trail and I needed a wildcard photo and figured it would at least be something different for once.  I forgot, however, to bring bug spray and the mosquitos were out in full force.  I also realized I needed to pee and was not wanting to try out my "Whoa, Bear, I'm a human" line out in reality and had visions of getting lyme disease (thanks, Maxine).  Needless to say, the walk was much shorter than anticipated.

I was also kind of happy with how this lupins photos turned out so decided to include it here too when it could have counted as "zoom in".

Just a rather interesting aside (or I thought it was anyways), when looking through my lupins photos, I realized that I caught a spider on one of the lupin petals when attempting to catch the bee.  I hadn't realized it when I took the picture yesterday.

I guess I've been procrastinating long enough now, though, and should return to cleaning my room and closet.  Wish me luck!  Have a great week!

Sharon's Week 24: I Like to Move it, Move it

The countdown to summer is on...four more days!  Well, according to me, anyway.  When I was a kid, all the seasons changed on the 21st of the month so my birthday, June 21st, was always the first day of summer, longest day and shortest night (as I would tell you ad nauseam every year).  Now though, I have to check a calendar to see which day is the solstice and it varies from the 20th to the 22nd.  Regardless of the actual scientific start of summer, June 21st will always be the first day of summer for me so, Wednesday, it is...Happy Summer everyone!

Last week I mentioned that I wasn't sure why I put some of these topics in the project but I do know.  The idea is to take something ordinary or boring even (bike detail, rust, hair, just to name a few) and find a way to make an interesting photo or a photo that means something to me or tells a story or something like that.  This process takes creativity for sure and that really is what my photography projects are all about (I think).  Instead of just heading out back to photograph the rust on the barbecue, I have to think about where else I might find rust, where would rust be interesting looking and how will I photograph it.  This week I had to do that for "peeling paint."  It's kind of fun and frustrating at the same time when I think I have ideas but they don't pan out.  Anyway, there seems to have been a clump of these more challenging topics in recent weeks so I hope there aren't many of them left.

Let's see what I had to contend with this week...

wild card

I'm putting this one first because I love lupins and thought I'd warn you that this week's group of photos might just be a little heavy on the purple flowers.  I looked up the correct spelling and I found that it's okay to spell lupin with or without an e and since a silent e makes the i sound long, I choose without.  There's my grade three spelling lesson of the day.  These lupins are along the side of the highway and I pass them every year as I drive back and forth to Elliot Lake each week.  I always think that I should stop but I never do.  This week, I did!  The lupins were blowing in the wind and I figured I could get my "motion blur" photo (see below) but I didn't have my tripod with me and nothing turned out.  I went back yesterday with Pam but sadly, there was no wind.  I did get out my wide angle lens though and captured this.

motion blur - object in motion

I really do enjoy making these kinds of photos (both with the object moving and with the camera moving) but apart from the lupins blowing in the wind, I was rather idea-less this week.  I thought of a fidget spinner since they are all the rage right now and the other night when Pam and I ran into each other in the mall, I decided to buy one for this subject.  I will bring it to work now and I will be all my kids' favourite occupational therapist when I let them use it.  Note my thumb...still swollen, still shiny, still stiff and sore and still feeling funny.  Sadly, I appear to be a slow healer.

S

See above re: lots of lupin photos.

citrus

I made up this pitcher full of iced tea in order to showcase some citrus fruits.  I wish I had a smaller pitcher since now I have a lot to drink.

peeling paint

While out with Pam last Saturday I saw this peeling paint on an old piece of equipment on Topsail Island at Bellevue Park.  I headed back Sunday morning to photograph it.  All week I kept looking for another option...in my head I can see several different colours of peeling paint all together making an awesome shot but I can't find such an item.

swings

I brought Pam back home last night after lupin-stalking and she volunteered her children for my "swing" photo (fair's fair as you will see - I'm sure she will credit me in her motion blur photo).  Danica agreed and it turned out that we had exactly two minutes before the rain started.   

zoom in

I think that when I put this on the list I just meant to use a telephoto lens for getting up close but I decided to get the motion blur from zooming while the shutter is open.  This is a hibiscus in the greenhouse at Bellevue Park.

I also zoomed some lupins.

That's all folks.

Happy Father's Day, Dad.  I'll call tomorrow.  In the meantime, here are some pretty flowers for you.

Sharon's Week 23: Six Geese A-laying

Well, I'm not sure how many geese were a-laying to get all the goslings around here but there had to be at least six.  More on that later...

Happy Saturday evening.  I am feeling lazy - I was invited to a friend's games night (at which they actually play games, unlike our games night at which we eat, drink and chat but avoid any games since they require too much brain power on a Friday night) but I can't seem to make myself get moving.  Maybe in a little while...hmmm, not likely.

The photo topics this week were not at all inspiring and it was difficult to come up with ideas.  Luckily I was off yesterday so I had some time to wander around hoping that ideas would pop into my head.  As it turns out, none of the things I came up with were wonderful ideas but they were in fact ideas and this week's assignments got done.  I will say that this set of photos is probably my most disappointing yet - at least that's how I feel about them.  That being said, I have written before that I will not let this project bring on my negative side anymore so I will introduce each photo without any further disparagement.  In fact, I will try to act excited and see if that changes my attitude towards the photos.

blurred background

It's pretty easy to get a blurred background when using my telephoto lens.  Here's a little cutie who greeted me by coming up and licking (at least that's what I think she did) my foot.

family member

I have uncooperative family.  Not that I blame them...I too, hate having my photo taken.  Earlier this week Pam mention that the assignment wasn't specific and that the photo could be of any family member, in any family.  I took it a step further and decided that these geese are in families.  In this photo, there are either 16 or 17 family members (I counted 14 babies and Pam counted 15 - there may or may not be a bit of a head at the back in about the middle of the pack).

That family was at Bellevue Park.  This family was at Whitefish Island.  The babies here are a bit younger (and cuter).

rust

Rust??!!  What the heck was I thinking.  Be forewarned, peeling paint is on the list for next week.  Anyway, I found lots of rust but mostly only boring rust.  Then I found this nut and bolt on an old garden gate at the Superintendent's Residence at the Locks.

Here's a funny coincidence...I get regular emails from an online photography school and they often contain short videos with creative ideas or instructions about how to do something.  Yesterday, the email was about photographing rust - I am not kidding!

starts with G

Now, I never said that this project was strictly an English venture.  Here we have une grenouille.  The croaking sound has been added to the birdsong on Whitefish Island.

new

I did get new gardens this week however nothing is in bloom and there is still a lot of bare dirt so I wasn't interested in photographing them yet.  Instead, I found this new flower.  I am sure that the flower itself is not new since the shrub that produced it was rather large, but I have never seen it before so it is new to me.

Here is a close up.

bike detail

Since I said I won't say anything negative, I won't say anything.

wild card

Two weeks ago I realized that I had two vouchers for photobooks that were going to expire.  Luckily Pam could use one and I decided to make a book of spring with the other one.  I had a few pages left and I wanted to fill them with spring blooms - all the different colours of apple blossoms and all the lilacs.  I wandered through town on Sunday and trespassed at Maxine's when she wasn't home.  Look at this awesome kind of lilac.  I have never seen a two coloured flower before.

On Randy Bachman's Vinyl Tap tonight, the topic is songs with Saturday night in them.  So far, the best has been Stompin' Tom's Sudbury Saturday Night.  Well the girls are out to bingo and the boys are getting stinko...  

And now you are all singing it too :)