Monday, May 30, 2011

Spring Sprung?

pentax k1000 - "blossoms"

I'm not sure how I got this shot.  I must have had the aperture all the way down, and i'm pretty sure I was using my macro lens too.  We're going to put this on a 30"x 20" canvas with a print-shop here in Vancouver.  I pretty much gave them the original digital photo with a little color brightening, so hopefully the resolution is good enough to transfer well to the bigger size.

pentax k1000 "sitsit"

This was from one of our recent "spring" days.

- jroy

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Just Right Juxtaposition

My Olympus Pen F is a half-frame film camera. Basically, when I take a picture, the frame is half the size of a regular frame, and when I advance the film, it advances only half a frame. So for every frame, I get two shots (on a 24 roll of film, I will get 48 shots). Since I get my film pictures developed and put directly onto cd, I usually just crop each frame so that I get the individual shots.
On the last roll however, I had several frame pairings that I really liked side by side (as-is). Another reason why I love film and the little surprises that come along with it.

Daffodils

Finch's

Fountain

Walking Statues

Flying Rocking Horse

Peeling

That last one is my absolute favourite.
~ M


Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Walk this way

Remember these calf statues that used to be positioned near the City Hall stop along the Canada Line? Well, they have been replaced by giant human legs. I have to admit, I kind of like them, they remind me of a Beatles video circa Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
The photos are a little over exposed (the last shot more than a little), but I like the surreal quality it gives them.
Photos taken with Olympus Pen F film camera
~ M




Monday, May 23, 2011

Happy Victoria Day

Happy holiday Monday (really is there anything better than a Monday off?). Put away the to-do list, go out, run free, play, savour life like a child full of first experiences. That's an order.

"Les grandes personnes ne comprennent jamais rien toutes seules, et c'est fatigant, pour les enfants, de toujours et toujours leur donner des explications."

"Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them."
 Antoine de Saint ExupĂ©ry, Le Petit Prince


Did anyone else notice that I was actually brave enough to take a photo of a stranger? I am so determined to try out some street photography. I just need to get quicker on the focus.
Taken with Pentax K1000, fuji superia ISO 200 film. 
~ M

Saturday, May 21, 2011

WAW #10 & #11 People & Patterns

Like a very bad student, I have been falling behind on my Weekly Assignments. It isn't mandatory to actually complete all the assignments (my friend Michelle is the one organizing this whole thing and keeping us all on track... but she's little, I think maybe I could take her), but I am still determined to complete them all. Namely because I will feel vastly inferior to the very talented and very dedicated Michelle whom I admire so much if I don't... but also because I know that if I start to let myself slip, it will be the end (I'm an all-or-nothing kind of gal in that way). So I am pushing through with the knowledge that I will be very satisfied with myself and all the things that I have learned if I do.

I cheated a little on Weekly Assignment #10 - "People" (shhh... don't tell) because the assignment was given just after I had been visiting my family and I had spent a whole weekend snapping pictures of them. Every time I visit my nieces I am focused on trying to take better pictures of people, so it is like I was doing the assignment before it was even given. So, I think this counts.
I posted a bunch of pictures of my nieces playing with bubbles here. Here are a few more to count as my "people shots".

Capturing just one look can tell an entire story!


Kids with food on their faces are universally adorable!

I just want to eat her up!

For Weekly Assignment #11 - "Patterns", I had the pleasure of exploring with Michelle at the Burnaby Village Museum while we were there with some of our students for a History Fair (I know, sounds super rad right?). It was a wonderful day where the kids learned lots about our Canadian History (not an easy feat when we are so bombarded by U.S. media and literature all the time), and we got the chance to explore and take pictures.
I learned 2 very important things about myself and my digital camera:
#1 - I really suck at manually focusing my digital camera. #2 - My digital photos are super BORING! I took over 100 pictures that day, by the time I weeded out all the blurry, out of focus or poorly lit ones, I had about 50. Out of those 50, I'd say maybe 25 have any real interest to them. But hey, it's all about the learning right?
Here are a few that actually turned out and that met the criteria for "pattern pictures".

Pretty Patterns



Repetitive Patterns




All WAW photos taken with Digital-SLR Canon Rebel XS
~ M

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Lost that lovin' feeling

I am behind on my weekly assignments, I have been seriously neglecting posting my film photos,  I have two rolls worth of film pics that were developed weeks ago who have not received any attention, and my flickr account activity is zilch. Either I am falling into a rut with my photography hobby, or I have simply taken on too much. I am not sure if it is the overwhelming amount of digital photos I have accumulated lately (and my dissatisfaction with them), or a general lapse in interest in photography, or just too many things on my plate right now... but I am hoping it is a passing phase. I want to fall back in love with not just taking photos, but wanting to share them, discuss them, ogle them ;)
Well, I guess admitting that I have a problem is the first step... now to find a solution.

Solution #1 - Share some of those beautiful old film photos that I have been keeping all to myself. Here are a few reasons why I love my Olympus Pen F and my film cameras.
~ M



Wednesday, May 11, 2011

I am slowly going crazy...

This spring seems to have a serious multiple personality disorder. See photographic evidence:

March

April - Notice new snow line?

May!! - Is that snow on the roof?!

So I choose to address this season's mental disorder with a disorder of my own... delusion. 
See the pretty yellow flowers?



Weather pictures taken with Digital-SLR Canon EOS Rebel XS. 
Daffodil pictures taken with film Olympus Pen F.
~ Melanie

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Waw #9 - Candle light

This week's assignment was candle light. I learned so much about my camera settings and about shooting in low-light with this assignment! I wasn't sure how it was going to work out since I have had little success with low light shots in the past and always felt like I needed to use the awful flash on my camera. I played a lot with the white balance, exposure compensation and ISO settings. I ended up with a few shots that I actually like, and had a good time learning in the process. Yay learning!






All weekly assignments shot with my Digital-SLR Canon EOS Rebel XS. Next assignment - People!

Thursday, May 5, 2011

De la Fontaine

I love taking photos of water (as seen here, here, here, here, and here). I got back a roll of film that had pictures which spanned several weeks (it often takes me awhile to get through a roll since I often have more than one going at anytime in each of my cameras, also my Olympus takes 48 frames on a 24 roll film... that's a lot of frames!).
Well when I finally did finish off this roll, I noticed not 1, not 2, not 3... but 4 fountain pictures! Clearly I am a sucker for a sunny day and moving water.





All photos taken with my Olympus Pen F.
~ Melanie

Alley Paints

"325w" taken with pentax k1000

i like back alleys.  things which do not fit into the mainstream of the front yard find a venue in the alley.
- Jroy

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Tiny Bubbles... Make me happy

Last weekend we spent Easter with my family. It was an amazingly gorgeous weekend where we could actually sit outside in the sun in our shorts! We were like lizards soaking up the sun to warm our winter bones.
Well my nieces also got a pretty skookum bubble machine for Easter which provided hours of fun and photo opportunities. Although I had brought my Olympus Pen F film camera, I actually spent the whole weekend playing with our Canon Rebel XS digital. And though I am happy with how most of the pictures turned out, I had to be super picky about weeding through them (though I still ended up with about 100 shots from the weekend), and I did have to do some colour tweaking, but I think I may have forgotten to adjust the ISO speed - with all the settings on the digital I often doubt that I will ever actually master them all.









Grandpa wants to play too ;)

"Try to catch me Uncle Jeffrey!"