A Photo Course for Shutterbugs

Tonight was the first session of the photo course Cam got me for my birthday. I was super excited to learn from Andrew Kielbowicz, a professional photographer originally from Poland. He has thirty years of photography experience under his belt -- a treasure trove of information!

We learned about headshots... how to not over expose them (see below : P )... and how to keep them in focus.

and how to keep the focus on the eyes when taking portraits...

He was very organized too -- power point presentation, quick reference guides for our camera bags... it made learning so much easier. He covered everything from ISO, to ideal focus mode settings, to what to do in freak environments.

In short -- I can't wait for next Tuesday!

Feeding the Hungry

For Christmas, Cameron's parents got us a new suet bird feeder because the birds were not eating the mouldy bird seed we had left out for them. I guess they're picky.

In less than two days, we had our first visitor. At first, she scoped out the feeder from afar...

...before gradually inching closer. Jersey the cat watched hungrily from the window.

She checked that the coast was clear...

and finally sank her beak into the goopy, sticky suet.

Luckily all the other birds were in the bushes, eating boring red berries while she feasted all on her own.

And when she was done, she perched on a near by branch, her belly full to bursting.

Little does she know that Jersey has his eye on her...

Favourite photography sites

Here's a few of my favourite photography sites...

Digital Photography School -- some fantastic photo projects to try as well as great little tutorials.

The Pioneer Woman -- her photography section has some great camera tutorials in layman's terms

Ken Rockwell -- has a guide on pretty much every camera out there as well as some great Photoshop tips.

... and of course I'm always on the lookout for more!

Festivous for the rest of us

We had a lovely little Christmas Eve dinner with just the six of us (well, seven counting Jersey) out at Cam's parents' place. While mama Maysmith cooked up a delicious meal, Cam created one of his masterful desserts. It started out like this:

Then went to this...

And finally we have our masterpiece!

Christmas morning we were treated to a beautiful sunrise over the ocean, as seen from the house.

And everyone got what they wanted for Christmas...

Including Jersey... who got a full morning's nap.

We headed off to 20-person Christmas dinner at Aunt Margaret's house -- where there were little gifts at everyone's seat and Christmas crackers to boot.

Even Mulligan, the 18-year-old Christmas kitty, enjoyed the company.

... though she had her eye on the bird.

Some of us lasted longer than others though...

Happy Christmas and New Year!!!

San Jose / Palm Springs trip!

Click the link to see my facebook album of photos...

PHOTOS

Twins

It was a beautiful fall day today so we decided to journey down along Ocean Blvd. to see the sights before the sun went down.

The Assistant

Every good mechanic needs an assistant.