I love the Olympics and am very excited that they will be starting on Friday in Vancouver! I can’t wait to watch the skating, skiing and anything else I can catch on tv. I have been searching for the Olympic mittens since Christmas and finally found them on Sunday! I am very excited! There is so much cheer gear out there but these mittens and possibly a mascot hat may be all I get…unless I get one of those wicked sweaters that lululemon has…or one of the Birks mascot charms…Valentine’s Day is coming! let the games begin!

For those of us who live in Ottawa, we’ve probably all heard in the news about the apartment building fire in the Glebe. It was shocking and sad to hear about all the people who were displaced. Today I happened to be nearby and got to see the destruction.

It was shocking to see – what would I do if suddenly everything I owned was gone? I have no idea. Read the rest of this entry »

Exciting news! We have booked our first trip to Japan (thank you Aeroplan miles!) and to say I’m excited would be an understatement – now our trip isn’t for a while but I’m trying to think ahead. All my initial research has indicated to me that I really need to pack light. Anyone who knows me will know that I require a certain amount of stuff to feel comfortable so packing light is pretty hard for me and I love traveling with several cameras – film and digital.

One thing I’ve started researching is the micro four thirds systems – compact camera with interchangeable lenses. When I got my new point & shoot camera it was love! (Thanks to the guys at u2 Gigs who turned me onto this camera.) Now, recently I read a review about the Panasonic DMC-GF1 in Popular Photography which has turned my mind to picking up this camera – although it wasn’t a perfect review it did seem better suited for me than other examples of micro four thirds and given my experience with the ZS3 I’m hoping that a test will show I’m right.

My dream camera is a Leica – I love the compactness of the M series and it’s high res and low noise…anyway….

Here are the features of the GF1:

Features

• 12.1 Megapixel 4/3-type Live MOS sensor
• Full-time Live View (3.0-inch, 460,000-dot LCD)
• Venus Engine HD image processor
• Supersonic Dust Reduction System
• 23-area Contrast auto focus
• High-speed consecutive burst shooting
• Intelligent auto (iA) mode
  - MEGA O.I.S. (Optical image stabilizer)*
  - Auto focus tracking
  - Intelligent ISO control with motion detection
  - Face detection AF/AE
  - Face recognition
  - Intelligent scene selector
  - Intelligent exposure
  - Digital red-eye correction
  - Automatic backlight compensation

Ok, well, that’s it for now…I’ve got cameras on my brain…also, wanting to pick up a Golden Half as my travel toy companion…but that’s for another day. Cheers!

To avoid this year being a groundhog day I have developed a useful list of things I want to accomplish. I have updated my list recently and added a few things, here it is:

1 . Publish an article [article coming out in the next issue of Light Leaks magazine!]
1a. work on more writing and publish more articles
2. Travel to Japan
3. Fast on all days of obligation
4. Do a solo show
5. establish my own workshops [update coming soon!
6. visit New York city [in the works!]
7. see a Broadway show
8. go to the top of the Rock
9. visit Carlos’ Bakery in Hoboken
10. Find the most peaceful place on earth
11. photograph it
12. Go to the movies (0/5)
13. buy new art (0/2)
14. organize the office
15. Buy a new Mac
16. go to the denist
17. go to the doctors
18. cross country ski (0/5)
19. visit Petrie Island (0/10)
20. sing karaoke
21. get my black belt
22. write a children’s book
23. throw a party [1/3]
24. don’t speak for an entire day
25. submit photos to a magazine
26. host a murder mystery party
27. read 5 books I already own
28. open an etsy/website store
29. swim in the ocean
30. organize old photos and negatives [I have started!]
31. do more silkscreening
32. maybe even make some shirts
33. shoot 1 roll of film a week [3]
34. learn to make moccasins
35. use all of my toy/vintage cameras [Jan 21 - Pop9, Jan - VivitarUWS]
36. paint the house
37. visit Hawaii
38. visit Orlando
39. use my stereo pinhole camera
40. build my Gakken TLR
41. use it
42. visit Cape Breton
43. make a 3 tier cake
44. take another cake decorating class
45. visit somewhere new
46. listen to new books on tape [2/10]
47. Organize my books
48. Get rid of books, etc…I no longer want or use
49. Create collaborative art pieces (0/5
50. buy a suit
51. do something spontaneous
52. kayak
53. take my vitamins
54. make ice cream (0/5)
55. learn something new
56. take a class [does work training count? my list...so YES!]
57. use my sewing machine
58. read the bible (or listen to it on tape
59. plant my garden
60. give Lily, my dog, a bath
61. Have a picnic
62. canoe
63. hike
64. say what I really think
65. create new prints (1/5)
66. swim with dolphins
67. swim with the manatee
68. blog and tweet regularly [I think so!]
69. take time out for myself
70. laugh, a lot [check!]
71. finish Lee Valley paddle
72. use it
73. Take part in a traveling camera project [I have taken my photos and passed the camera along to the next person! Check out our blog for more information]
74. Visit Toronto [0/5] definitely!
75. Upgrade my cell phone [on it!]

So the Traveling Toy Camera Project is now underway with the camera making its way across the country. I’ve posted a few photos from my first roll. Please check out the blog for more images!

So I’ve been referencing a project I was working on in a few of my posts – it was actually an article for Light Leaks magazine which will be in their latest issue. I was so happy to be writing again and about something I really love – so I hope everyone enjoys the article.  Click here for a sneak peak of the upcoming issue!

This week I got the traveling toy camera project off the ground and the camera is all boxed up and ready to roll! I can’t wait to see what kind of photos people will take and get my own roll back and be able to share the images on the Traveling Toy Camera Project blog.

My sinus/eye infection seem to be improving so it’s nice to be out and about instead of lying in my room. While I was off sick I took the time to get acquainted with my new Diana instant back – a very exciting prospect for me! I took a great instant photo of me looking pretty sick but I was happy that the back was working and I definitely look forward to testing it further!

This past week I’ve had an unfortunate cold and eye infection (I will spare you the details) but I have been rather excited because I’ve been organizing a traveling toy camera project with the cool kids at ToyCamera (which is easy when you are in bed all day).

What is a traveling toy camera project you might say? Well, it’s when a group of people from around the world share one camera. Each individual gets to shoot a roll of film with the camera before passing it along to the next person. After that each person develops their roll of film and posts the results to the blog: http://travelingtoycameraproject.blogspot.com/

I have always wanted to be a part of such a project but have never managed to learn about them in time to participate. For this particular project we have a few Canadians, plenty of Americans and some Europeans to get us started. And we already have a suggestion for the next traveling toy camera project!

For this project we are using a Vivitar UWS – it was suggested by another participant and since I’ve never used one I thought it would be great idea. Not only that but it takes 35mm film which is great since it’s affordable and accessible to those wishing to participate.

I really can’t wait to see what everyone photographs and watch it travel the world!