February 25 and 26

It is outrageously ironic to me that as I sit here, writing this blog post that is supposed to be about my photographic journey, I am procrastinating applying to my first photography job. Ever. At a newspaper. My procrastination is not driven by lack of discipline, but rather lack of inspiration. It is hard for me to describe in a formal cover letter the distance out of my comfort zone I am willing to go on any given day to get a shot I really desire and that tells a story, and isn't that the point of journalism?

Also, writing resumes and cover letters is awful, but that's besides my point.

This is only slightly spirit crushing. Considering the drive I feel when I pick up a camera, I have a hopeful feeling that one day (whether it is now, or later), that drive will get me somewhere. It has already gotten me places in the past few months I never thought It would, and I'm really looking forward to seeing where it takes me next.

A picture tells a thousand words, and so does this resume I am editing (probably), but I'm striving for my pictures to say no less than  5000 - 1 million words per shot, every time, and that, is how I intend to keep my trigger finger fueled.

I wish cover letters could be this poetic and expressive and fun.

That being said, here are my shots from February 25 (fifty-six) and 26 (fifty-seven)

fifty-six

Sometimes I wish I could live in black and white simply to see beauty where I sometimes forget it exists.

fifty-seven

Yet another creation that came out of a search for something else. I found myself in a spot on campus where the trees are lined up in rows along Gordon st. I have always wanted to capture this, instead I found the beauty to be a little bit of green in a sea of snow and slush and sad (but beautiful) winter ambiance. Yes, those are my boot toes peeking out at the bottom.

February 23 and 24

This is Erin Maloney and Maryse Darch. I love them. I hope we are friends until we are old and wrinkled (even then they will be just as beautiful), upon which time we will have races with our walkers, and shake our canes at reckless teenagers.

February 23

"What a beaut" is quickly becoming a phrase I use extremely often. Although, I don't often notice myself saying it out loud so much as in my head while editing. Maryse: What a beaut.

fifty-four

February 24

The only thing I regret about this photo is the fact that you can't see Erin's sweet headband. It really completes the look, but the sunglasses in all their glory take the cake.

fifty-five

February 22

 It's a cold one out there, friends. Time to bust out the hot cocoa. Or invent an invisible shield against the wind. Today, I ventured outside to take photos of these here aggressive icicles and almost got blown over. Even in my amazing onesie and boots the weather won that battle. Instead, I'm going to hide inside, and make a nest in my bed as long as possible.

Here's my numba 53.

And here's a shot I got before being violently attacked by the aforementioned wind. Look at that mother of an icicle. Don't want to get in it's way that's fo sho.

February 21

52/365

If my life was always as beautifully colourful as my parents' belated birthday gift-wrapping, I would be happy ALWAYS.

February 18

49/365 (If you haven't figured it out already. click the thumbnails for bigger images!)

Alison Purdon is the best. I didn't even have to ask her to take photos of her today. No wonder we are fantastic friends. She knows what I want when I don't even have to tell her. This even shines through in these photos of her beautiful self.

Taking photos of people is my favourite, but I have not yet mastered the art of directing my subjects. It is an awkwardness that I have not yet been able to shake. If I could put them inside my brain for just one second to show my vision, it would be easy to get the result I want... but then it wouldn't be worth it to share, now would it?

It would ruin the surprise. The surprise is the best part! 

On that note, what I imagine to be the beautiful outcome I hope for, rarely ever is. What I want doesn't happen, and what does happen is such a wonderful surprise to myself. 

 

It's no surprise Alison is a beaut, though. Am I right!?

Also, sunshine and snow at the same time is perfection.

ANOTHER THING about Alison is that she's always good at breaking people out of their shell. Me included. She helped me crack part of one of those metaphorical shells today as I tried to get over my shyness of directing her as a model. I think it worked!

Thanks for a beautiful day :)

Like what you see? I am ALWAYS looking for models who will let me awkwardly direct them.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

February 17

48/365

This is Toby. He is the cutest.

February 16

Regrettably, no photo happened today. However, I catered a beautiful dinner and only wish I had had my camera to capture it.

February 15

46/365

Habanero pepper juice - 1; Wendy's face - 0

February 14

45/365

Valentine's day was fun. Nothing like a night at the Albion. Nothing like coming home to crash a cute double-date. Nothing like blowing a fuse by running our toaster oven and microwave at the same time. Nothing like my half-popped popcorn and Jodi's "half-bageled" bagel. Nothing like friends, nothing like mason jars, nothing like mug-candles.

February 13

44/365

Today I worked in MSAC; the art gallery on campus. At the end of my shift I got to creep upstairs to look at a beautiful photography exhibit, but before that I spotted these skeletons chillin' out outside the window.... on the third floor.

February 1-10

February 2nd

I found this while walking home from taking photos of the 2013 Environmental Sciences Symposium. It was a long day, and although I loved doing it, I was yearning for a creative opportunity to express my feelings of the day, and the past week. I found it, and somehow found the courage to trespass onto someone's driveway and stand what was for me, a weirdly uncomfortable distance from their car. Really glad I did.


February 7
I should go to more art exhibits. I would likely do so in hopes that I would suck up some of the articstic talent I see because if I could make something beautiful with my hands instead of the click of a shutter I would really be pleased. The last time i attempted to create something of this nature without the assistance of technology, I was asked "How old were you when you made this?" a few months later. I answered, and to the person's surprise, I did not respond with age 5 or 6. Awkwardness ensued.
I attended an art exhibit this past week entitled "rewritten" (with artwork by Savannah Snook and Mary Stoyke). A few of the pieces encouraged you to interact, which is what I did. Through such interaction I found the beauty that is the photo below. Everyone had taken their turn writing their message, and I was lucky enough to find where my dear friend and roommate had left her mark (Colleen Lovegood). I immediately felt the urge to convey a vintage feeling.
There was also a balloon tree in which you could lie underneath. This was absolute bliss, regrettably I didn't ask anyone to pose for a photo to capture its complete glory.

February 9
The theme of this day was: Life is good. It may have been influenced by the fact that it was my birthday, but regardless, it seemed that the bustle of downtown Guelph was particularly joyful when Jodi and I took a nice little stroll there on Saturday. It may have been that there was snow on the ground and the sun was shining and that you could have easily walked around without a jacket. It definitely had something to do with The Beatles' music blaring over at the outdoor skating rink in front of city hall.
I had seen this particular scene (a bunch of junk by the side of the road downtown) about a week ago and desperately tried to capture it's beauty on a rainy night. I was unimpressed with the way the photos turned out later, and to be honest, I was a little bit bummed to realize that I could not recreate the vision in my mind. Little did I know I would return a week later and it would be like this, practically waiting for me, bike included. It's like someone knew I was coming and placed the mannequin on the bike just for me. I passed by the next day and the bike was gone.

Tito

At the end of December, I purchased a new friend. A Nikon D7000. With my unavoidable drive to protect it, I gave it the utmost protection. You might even say that said protection was comparable to the extent to which someone might protect their first born. I got my first DSLR four years ago, and regrettably denied it of any adventure, because I was worried of breaking it. Potentially comparable to other types of parents, no? Point being, with this purchase I almost immediately decided on a 365 project. I did not want this camera to lead the same sheltered life as my D60. I made a conscious effort to use it every single day, and now, on February 7, I am happy to say that I am impressed with my commitment, only missing a few days (I did, however,  neglect to update my blog that I also created..).

In early January a friend asked me if I considered my camera to be my child, or my boyfriend, to which I responded: "my child". Obviously, I thought... it's only a baby. I have to say, now, that after a month, it is much more than that. It is an extension of my hand. And if anyone asked me the same question now, I would undoubtedly respond with "my boyfriend", and then try not to feel weird about the fact that what was once my child is now my boyfriend. This seems appropriate considering the fact that I had to think long and hard on a name, and not rush it (which I have also done before, and gave my D60 the ungodly name of "Gertrude"...what?). Once it came to me it just seemed to fit: Tito. For all of you wondering how weird I have to be to name my technology, who am I not to? This little piece of love can do so many things that I, or my human eyes cannot. He helps me see how beautiful this world is (which I think we all tend to forget) and I think he deserves some recognition.

I'm thinking of naming my 35mm f/1.8 nikkor lens Banderas... for the final full name of "Tito Banderas" because it just rolls off the tongue. But I'm going to have to let that one sit in my brain a little while longer, I think.

The point: in this blog pose I included my favourites of my three-sixty-five Project photos from January. I'm still learning how to use this blog (I feel like an 80 yr old learning how to use the internet). I'm going to try to upload my favourites each week for the remainder of the year. And yes, I will even admit to missing a day if that is ever the case.

Fin.

February 12

43/365

My photo for today started out as an attempt at using superimposition. I should have realized by now that usually when I decide my photo of the day will be something, it never is. Long story short, I am not yet close to any kind of photoshop wizard and will not be able to harness my creative drive to the extent I desire for a while. For now, I just settled on mastering the simple technique of lightening eyes in portraits; something that will really help me in achieving what I want to do in the future.

February 11

 

 Twinkle lights are among my favourite things.