I was very happy with my new underwater toy camera – these were taken above water, and I love the results!

This is probably my favorite of the four. I definitely look forward to using this camera again – especially the underwater feature.

Everyday we drive by these beautiful magnolia trees. They are very large and have beautiful blossoms. We stopped one day to photograph it with digital and film cameras. Here are 2 of the digital ones. Can’t wait to see how the film turns out…

This past weekend I went to visit Niagara Falls with some of my family and my Golden Half. I haven’t gotten my film images back but here are a few digital ones. I’m very interested to see a comparison between the digital and film images.

I am also planning a Cape Breton themed 65th birthday cake so I will keep you posted on that too!

How do you write a love letter to a country? It’s hard to believe this beautiful country, that I visited this past November, is now being effected by this major natural disaster.

When I was in Japan I quickly fell in love with it’s beauty, the people and culture. People were friendly and helpful and the atmosphere exquisite.

I will never forget the friendly deer on Miyajima Island, fulfilling my dream of being up close to my spirit animal.

Visiting the iconic Tokyo Tower and seeing Tokyo for miles on that beautiful day. It’s hard to imagine that many of the sights we saw from the tower have been serious damaged by the earthquake.

Seeing the Golden Temple, visited by thousands every year. I met many fabulous people there and really enjoyed the beauty of the surrounding parks and learning about their spiritual practices.

Seeing children dressed in their traditional clothing celebrating the 7-5-3 festival.

So thank you Japan for what was a life changing experience for me and giving me 3 weeks of happiness and joy – taking photos, meeting people and experiencing the food, culture and traditions.

Please consider support the relief efforts for the Japan earthquake and Asia Pacific tsunami. Currently I’m aware of the Red Cross’ work in Japan but if I discover other good charities I will post them. You can give to the Red Cross here.

When people think of Japan they often have the iconic image of the cherry trees in full bloom. I know that I have always wanted to go to Japan in May to be showered with cherry blossom petals as they fall to the ground. What a lot of people don’t know is that there is a second blossoming in November and we were fortunate enough to be there to see it. Not all the trees will blossom this second time but the ones that did were beautiful.

Shorting and editing my photos has been an on going process – mostly because I’ve got over 1200 still that I am considering to print but I really need to cut that down to about 500.

All that to say here are a few photos for your viewing pleasure…I have an idea that I’m working on about my trip to Japan and of course, some of my toy camera images will be in the next issue of Light Leaks magazine.

The Nagoya Aquarium was really nice our host, A, took us around. It was very interesting and had sea life from Japan and the artificial surroundings they’ve create for the sea life in the aquarium.

I apologize for the poor image quality but here are some recent results from my Holga TIM. This graffiti wall I walk past nearly every day. I think it looks great in Holga form.

Bank St.

I love my Holga TIM – read by review here.

This coffee run wasn’t your average trip over to Bridgehead for a green tea latte but was a well organized cruise with Ottawa Porsche enthusiasts. The organizers map a route, no passing each other, one stop along the way for coffee and then we drove to a predetermined restaurant for brunch (this time in Westport) and then we made our way back.

It was a very relaxing morning and nice to be out when it was a bit overcast but not raining.

It was great to see older Porsches, newer Porsches. Fast Porsches, faster Porsches.

Several times the clouds cleared and the sky was a nice blue.

Once in Westport everyone found a parking spot and then we went to the Westport Inn for brunch. Locals were wondering what was with the influx of Porsches.

Unfortunately, the skies did open on the way home and we broke rank at the break to beetle home. All in all, it was a lot of fun and we definitely look forward to the next coffee run.

Hello Blog Readers,

I apologize for my absence but my work life has taken over my life and I’ve been pretty busy. Hopefully, I will be back to my regular blogging schedule.

So the Holgapalooza poster and website have been launched and I’m very excited to get shooting! All the themes are interesting to me and the prizes are awesome!

Check out the poster here:

hp-2010-poster

In other news, I’ve had a lot of feedback and emails regarding my cakes. I’m very flattered! Unfortunately, with my current state of busy-ness I haven’t done any cakes recently. I do look forward to doing some soon!

Soccer is taking over my life – I play 3 days a week and with the World Cup starting this Friday and going to see Toronto FC soon my love of soccer only grows! Who knew I could love a team sport so much?

I will have some photography projects coming up and look forward to old friends visiting next month and my 5 year wedding anniversary. I hope to have some interesting stuff to share with you soon!

I’ve been keeping busy with my photography which has been really enjoyable – I’ve been just loving my gakkenflex and caught Lily is a cute yawn that I just had to share! (This is a photograph of a negative which is why it looks a bit strange.)

Details of this project to follow. I’m also warming up the Holgas for some intensive photo sessions for this year’s Holgapalooza! I can’t wait!