First Day of School: Survived

Well, somehow we all survived the first day of school, despite the fact that my kids are clearly nuts.  There were lots of emotions going on, and things began to fray around the edges in the late afternoon, but we did it.  Will started French Immersion and came home speaking "French" with all his cars (Je m'appelle Corvette!).  Cam found the huge bin of cars at his nursery school and was in heaven.  They also painted with cars, which sort of blew his mind - he did 4 paintings.  These photos crack me up, especially Cam's Zoolander face...

And another year begins... I am one lucky mumma.

Photo School V to Z

V is for Valentine

I have to admit, I definitely lost steam towards the end of the Foto School.  For some reason I just couldn't seem to find the same time to think up the shot, prep it, and edit it as I did at the beginning.  But I soldiered on and didn't miss a letter, although some of them are less than perfect (i.e. I wish I could have worked on them a bit longer!).  Here are the last of them, and I am throwing in a couple of extras I worked on but didn't submit.  I am also going to do another post and feature some of my favourites from the other class members (they were sooo good).

W is for Wedding Ring

W is for White Wine

X is for X-amining the Menu (yes, I know it isn't REALLY...)

Y is for Y-Stick (we have a collection...)

Z is for Zzzzzzzzzs

If you missed them, here are the links to my posts with the rest of the letters of the alphabet:

• A to D
• E to I
• J to N
• O to U

All in all it was a lot of fun and I can't believe how much I learned about my camera and about photo processing.  Thanks to Tristan and Michelle for all their hard work in coordinating it, and to all the other fun photographers in the group who kept me so inspired - I can't wait for the next one!

Photo School O to U

O is for Orchid

Wow, this photo-a-day thing is intense.  I spend forever setting up, forever taking photos and adjusting settings, and forever in photoshop making it just right.  I think my husband is going to be very happy when it is over.  That being said, I cannot believe how much I have learned this time around.  Practice makes perfect, and while I am far from perfect, I am certainly getting in lots of practice - on my camera and in photoshop - which is invaluable.  I realize my photos have no distinctive theme or look, but that is because I am experimenting so much with each one.  I have my favourites - when I get to the end I would love to know if you do too!  Here is my latest instalment:

P is for Paperbacks

Q is for Q

R is for Running

S is for Sand Dollars

T is for Tulip

U is for Upstairs

Photo School J to N

J is for Japanese Tea Set

Wow, this Souvenir Foto School* course is going quickly, and there are days it is all I can do to get a photo in in time.  I am actually not as happy with these as I was with the last batches - they were all rushed and don't feel like they are as good as I would have liked to make them, but that's life I guess - sometimes great, sometimes crap!  Fear not, I won't bore you with a litany of all the flaws I see in each one.  I do like the one of the boys, their expressions are perfect, and I want to munch on those chubby little legs**.  The 'M is for Music' one of course is me (I was holding the camera in the other hand to take the shot - rest assured it took more than one try to even get myself in the frame) so I don't like it.  Yes, I know I am too old to be so neurotic, but the truth is I am always shocked to see that what I look like is so different from what I think I look like!  I am sure if it was someone else's face in the same photo it wouldn't be so bad.  As a reminder, my theme is A Few Of My Favourite Things***.

K is for Kiddos

L is for Lemon Tree

M is for Music

N is for New Brunswick

*This awesome course is taught by Tristan of Besotted Brand Blog and I LOVE IT and her.

**What on earth is the connection of women wanting to EAT adorable children?  Rather twisted really...

***Do you have that song in your head now?  No?  How about now?  I do.

Photo School - E to I

E is for Elephant

Here is the latest instalment of my photo course* - E to I.  I have been spending more time thinking first about how I want my finished photograph to look, then setting up the shot, then editing.  I am happy to be able to put to use much of what I learned in my Photoshop Course at Toronto Image Works.

For E, I had a lot of elephants in our house to choose from - we must have at least 30 carvings, statues, photos, pillows, you name it.  I even did that painting for Cam's room.  But I had a vision of our soft little elephant that both boys snuggled with at some point, and I imagined a nostalgic, warm-and-fuzzy depiction of childhood/babyhood.  For F, I remembered the bright multi-coloured Mardi Gras boa I got on a night out with my friend Dan and decided on feather.  But the bright red was so unnatural, I pulled out all my photoshop stops and achieved more what I was aiming for - light, soft, etherial.

F is for Feather

The original image

For G, I started by shooting a vintage globe I have, which was fine, but I wanted to step outside the box a little bit, and ended up doing a self-portrait of sorts to capture my grandmother's gold necklace, something I remember her wearing all the time.  I am happy with this one - other than the sun damage it shows!

G is for Grandmother's Gold Necklace

H was one I knew I wanted to do - since my theme is My Favourite Things, I took the stone shaped like a heart that Chris found years and years ago while we were out for a walk and set it against the setting sun.

H is for Heart in Hand

While I was editing it, I could not get Jann Arden's song out of my head: Feet on ground / Heart in hand / Facing forwards / Be Yourself.  Aaaaand now it is back in there...

For I, I of course did my iPhone.  I once headed out of the house without it and just about had a panic attack/turned around to get it/pulled over and tore the car apart before I found it in my purse.  Yes, it's an un-healthy attachment.


So there you have it.  I am working on J tonight and am not feeling very inspired.  I was thinking jewellery, but I want to capture My Favourite Things, not alert potential thieves to Stuff Worth Stealing.  We shall see what I can come up with.  Let me know if you have any feedback or ideas for me!  There seem to be a LOT of letters left...

Photo School

A is for Apple (brass apple)

I have been having a ball with my assignments for the Souvenir Foto School I signed up for.  They each take forever by the time I set up the shot, take a thousand, choose a couple to edit, fool around in Photoshop, and finally upload them.  My theme has been "A few of my favourite things" which is a pretty loose and easy theme, really.  Shannon of 8foot6 has been doing "stacked" as her theme and her shots are amazing.  We are going alphabetically again (although you don't have to do them in order) and here are my first four.  I would love to know what you think and if you have any constructive tips or feedback!

B is for Buddha (antique statue from my father-in-law)

C is for Cole Haan (my most favourite boots in the world)

D is for Diary (my travel diary from my time in Southern Africa in 2000)

Souvenir Foto School

I am very excited to be partaking again in Miss B's Souvenir Foto School!  I had so much fun last year and learned so much about my camera and especially photoshop.  The other students are super-creative and talented people who help to critique your work and make it that much better.  I am not sure how many spaces there are, but you can sign up here (cost is a mere $30!).  Let me know if you will be joining too!  I will leave you with a few amazing photos created by Miss B of Besotted Brand Blog (she is so good!):