365 days later

On September 24, 2010, I officially finished a year of taking pictures. I can  hardly believe it.

The whole thing started out with an email from January to our group of photo friends. She asked if anyone was interested in a 365 days project -- taking a picture a day for an entire year. At the time I was on my Ireland/England trip for two weeks, so I was already taking a bazillion pictures a day. What was 351 more days? Right.

Anyhow, my first picture started with a bang, although a little foggy. The Cliffs of Mohr:



Things got pretty eclectic from there. Over the year, I've taken a picture of a complete stranger in the parking lot at Walmart, a minor celebrity (Anna Olsen), and too many pictures of my family to count. I've taken pictures of toys, tea cups, flowers, footwear, and food. I've also documented injuries, surgeries, and sickness.

Through the whole year, I've been posting my pictures publicly on flickr, which then show up in facebook. So, I've gotten some lovely comments along the way, and a few people "in real life" talking to me about photography when I least expected it. It's been a great learning experience, on the taking side and the developing side (Adobe Lightroom is the best software program EVAH!).

Lessons learned?

• Have a camera with you all the time. My cameraphone got me through many days. I even took to  driving to and from work with the camera in the trunk. 
• It's not the camera, it's the photographer (although good lenses really help).
• A piece of white bristol board and a willing assistant are a photographer's best friend.
• (Almost) anything can be a picture with the right composition.
• You've got to work at inspiration. Some days it just doesn't come to you, so you're sitting there taking pictures of marbles 
• I heart Adobe Lightroom.

The only bump over the 365 days, which I discovered on the last Friday of my project, is that I missed ONE DAY! I couldn't believe it, but April 3rd has no picture. I'm pretty sure I actually took one as it was Easter weekend, but somehow it either didn't get off my camera, or I accidentally deleted it. I have to say I was pretty upset when I figured this out. So, I vented to my photo friends and they basically kicked me in the butt -- what's one day in 365? I kept at it, which is what counts.

Oddly enough, the only day I really felt a lot of pressure to take a "perfect" shot was the last day. What should I do to end it all? I was talking to A. at work, and she nailed it for me. Self-portrait. So, here's the shot, me holding a mirror, standing next to my back patio window where I've taken many, many shots over the year, happy to be done.

Catching up on some birthday wishes

September was a bit of a crazy month, so I'm a little bit behind on the blog postings.

We had a couple of family birthdays in September. First, we attended a kid-tastic birthday party for my nephew, who turned 5 this year. The party was at one of those indoor play gyms where the kids can run around like crazy for 2 hours. Somehow we fit in snacks and cupcakes. The birthday boy actually doesn't like cake, so he ate cucumbers instead. (If you're a parent, this means you get to have a certain smug smile on your face when you say, "He hates cake, but he loves vegetables!")



The next birthday was my brother, Duncan. He's a year younger than I am, so I won't be revealing his age. But, as you can see from the picture, you can tell that Faith comes by the red hair naturally. (And, you'd be surprised how often I can say, "Faith gets her red hair from my brother" without getting some really odd looks.)

Sunday Stills: Red & Green

Someone asked me this week what this Sunday Stills thing is all about. Sunday Stills is a blog written by a couple of photographers. Each Sunday, they post a photo challenge. You have one week to get a photo and then post it on the blog the next Sunday.

This week's Sunday Stills challenge is Red and Green. Since it's not Christmas, I thought this one was going to be a giant pain, mostly because I'm only a fan of red and green together at Christmas time. But, then, I looked at the trees around our place, and their brilliant fall colors.

The  kids and I went for a walk Thursday night. The mission: find red leaves. We came home with handful, although by the time we got home it was too dark to get a decent picture. A nice reminder that fall equals shorter days. So, I wrapped them in some waxed paper and put them in the fridge. Crafty, eh? The next day I braved the wind and got a shot of the leaf in our backyard. The kids used the rest for a "craft project".

Sunday Stills: The Letter S

For this week's Sunday Stills challenge, The Letter S, I took the opportunity while I was waiting to meet some friends for supper near the downtown. 

The first one was stairs. These were on the side of a building that's being converted into condos.

The second one is, apparently, a "standpipe". It's also steel, so double-hit with the "s".

Sunday Stills: Flags

The challenge this week, Flags, had me on the lookout for flags everywhere I went. Strangely, I couldn't find many! So, the first one I took a little closer to home -- the back of my car. The reflection is purely accidental, but I thought it was a nice touch.



This one I took out the front windshield on the way home from a weekend in Kingston with my brothers and their families. Not too bad for a dirty windshield, speeding down the highway. (And thanks to George for spotting it for me.)

Grade 4

Faith started Grade 4 this week. (Grade 4!!!!) None of us were sure how it would go. Faith found out on the weekend that her best friend wouldn't be in her class, so she was pretty bummed and nervous about her first day. It didn't bode well.

But, when I picked her up at our sitter, Karen's, Faith was walking about 5 feet off the ground. Karen said she talked the whole way home, and I don't think she'd stopped by the time I picked her up. "My teacher was really FUN and my class is right next to L's and the classes do lots of things together and we've got two field trips already and we're going to the ZOO! and we've got a spelling test on Tuesday and ...." So far, grade 4 is looking like it will be a pretty good year.

Another weekend, another horse show

You may be detecting a theme this summer, and that theme would be horse shows. We've done three! This last one was at my hometown fair, so it was a great chance to see our families and see Faith, my dad, and Sydney show off their horse skills. George's parents even came up from Florida for the event. So, it was a mini family reunion.

First up for Faith was the carriage driving class. She drove Indigo, Sydney's horse, and for those horse lovers out there, they drove bitless -- no  metal piece in the horse's mouth. For this class, it's mandatory to have an adult with the kid, so Sydney is sitting next to her, holding the whip. As Faith explained, "That thing's too heavy for me." Faith's hands aren't big enough to hold the reins and the whip at the same time. But this year, at least, her feet can touch the floor of the carriage. She ended up with a second in the class, partly because she wasn't holding her own whip! (I could insert some sort of stage mother comment here, but I'll let the exclamation point speak for itself.) She did a great job!



Next up was the costume class. Thanks to the dollar store, we had lots of skulls, pirate hats, etc. to decorate Faith and Indigo, who was a very good sport about the whole thing.



Then it was Blake's turn -- stick pony race time! Note the pirate look. He was devastated when Indigo took his pirate hat, so he spent the previous 15 minutes crying (note the runny makeup). He snapped out of it as soon as he got his hat back, and wouldn't change out of it for the pony race. Just him and all the ladies.



He didn't win the race, but he gave it a good try. He should have won for fashion statement, at the very least. The spiderman face and pirate hat were priceless.



After a quick break, Faith rode Indigo in the next class. I know...she's on the lead line, which Faith finds particularly galling. ("I don't need a lead line!") But that's the only class she can ride in on Fridays, so lead line it was. Sydney had the honours again. And Faith finished third. Why? The judge told her she needed to be paying more attention. She was busy looking around at the great grandparents, her great aunt, her Nana, and Papa, her grampa, her dad, her brother...you get the idea. Basically, she was way too relaxed, which is kind of a good thing in my book. But, she was sitting up much straighter than at her first riding competition, which even the judge remarked on.



For her next class, Faith took the judge's comments to heart and actually paid attention! It was showmanship, and she got first prize because "I was the only one who knew my squares." (To which I replied, "What are squares?") From my meagre knowledge of horse showmanship (my years of dairy showmanship with 4-H doesn't translate), the class involves trotting the horse, walking the horse, and then standing it properly. The class was huge--about 10 kids--so Faith was pretty excited to get first. I think the skull and cross-bones on her cheek helped her along too.



Sydney and Indigo are both very good for Faith. Faith loves both of them and would happily spend every waking moment with horses and Sydney, so we really appreciate the time Sydney takes with her.

But of course, it wasn't just a show for Faith. My Dad had his two-year-old, Stormy, out again for carriage and showmanship classes. She was mighty pretty...Dad didn't look too bad either. But he's always so serious when he's driving.



And, of course, Sydney got her horse back to do her driving and showmanship classes, in which she won multiple prizes.





Not enough pictures for you? You can see the entire horse show/fair set on flickr.