59 - Winter Wonderland

'Nough said. =D Just wish I had had more time to make the most of the pristine conditions.

58 - Getting so much better

This is so much better than any other picture I took indoors of Ultimate. I think I may be starting to get the hang of this... A little bit at least. :)

57 - Oatmeal to heaven

Just cause. It was not an inspiring day, so I took a pic of some yummy food and a wondrous oatmeal stout. Yum!

56 - First portraits

Our class today was on portraits. A nice lady came in and was our model for the evening and this was really a self-discovery exercise. I think I can really enjoy doing this, it really surprised me that I had a good time.

I think what I really enjoy is playing with lighting. 

Getting better, slowly!

55 - Nom, nom, nom

Homemade scrumptiousness... Homemade pita's and sweet potato falafel. Yuuuuuuuummy. Again, food is hard to capture. I'm still a rookie, I'll get there eventually! need better lighting!

54 - Snow is really hard...

Dang, snow falling snow is hard to capture. Still got some bread crusts to eat. bwaha.

53 - Bike of life

Motorcycle show of Montreal. Even though there was hundreds of brand spanking new bikes, some chromed up, some with some serious paint jobs, this one was my favorite. Reminds me of me. Banged up but still going strong. Now that bike has been places!

52 - Bass hands

I LOVE this picture. Filters to the rescue. It looked completely trite in just real life, but with this filter, Wow. Just wow. Definitely a favorite. And I mean, the subject helps a LOT! =D

51 - Spices of love

So I ditch my wonderful man for 6 days, on Valentine's Day no less, and what does he do? Arts and crafts and makes an incredibly awesome spice rack! Those are small mason jars with orange painted rims and some chalkboard paint on the tops, the better to write on!

I love him so much, the spice of life and the spice of love. I am so lucky. Soooooo lucky!

50 - One of the top 10 beaches in the world

Number 50!  I am really happy this is the picture for my first mile-stone. One of the 10 beaches in the world, according to National Geographic (http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/top-10/beaches/)?

Not bad. Welcome to Lanikai beach.

Can't really argue with the top 10 I guess, but I much rather a more private remote beach than the tourist attractions. However, I mean, it is truly beautiful, far from complaining.

This was my last stop before the airport, so yeah, awesome. =D Thanks Chris!

49 - Time to say goodbye, one more time.

A cloudy day for a good bye. This is the other side of the beach, my goodbye to this heavenly beach, until next. Here's looking at you, kid.

48 - Best of 350

Gawd, action shots in sports are hard. Especially when you have to be right next to the action cause your lens just does not cut it. However, out of the 350 some pictures of ultimate play, this is by far my best and pretty much the only one I'm happy with.

It was a real challenge, with the continuing change in lighting, cloud cover to sun to semi cloudy... All in seconds. Add to that the timing factor, milliseconds too late or too early and the picture is just bleh.

Really happy with this. I hope it's just the beginning!

So lets see, tripod, lights and a new lens. I think I'm going to need a mortgage.

47 - Slip n splinter

 Well, this was really hard to photograph. But I think I did the best I could considering. Had to immortalize this moment. Hard core. Hard. Core.

46 - Paradise

Got to love this beach. Waimanalo bay is just one of the most beautiful places. Should have really tried to get up for a sunrise. Next time.

45 - Teenage sunset

It's so nice to come back home. I will never get enough of Hawaii. It speaks to me and will always shine in my heart and soul. 

I went for this "teenage" sunset, not so low and not yet yielding it's rainbow of colors. I love the contrast between warm and cold, yellow and blue. I also decided to center the horizon, to keep the feeling of the vastness of the ocean. A favorite picture for sure.

44 - Start of something beautiful

In the bus... Heading to Burlington... Final destination: Hawaii.

Booking your ticket 6 hours before departure and enjoying a Grolsh on your first leg. Awesome!

Guess what kind of pictures are coming up. =D

43 - The most beautiful subject

This was my first real "photo shoot". I set up a set on my kitchen table, with the white back of Christmas wrapping paper, a head flashlight, the desk lamp and my brothers tripod.

I really enjoy this picture, but I wish I had an extra lamp to highlight the Belle Province more. I do enjoy how the glass came out, so beautiful.

Dang, this new hobby is going to be expensive!

42 - What a hunt!

Playing with lighting of small objects during class. I had so much fun and am so happy I understand lighting better.

I think this will really help me be more mindful of the surroundings.

As for this picture, I think my unicorn looks bad ass, the shadow especially.

41 - The Colonel

It's as if he was posing for me. His piercing yellow eyes were sizing me up.

I should have used a shallower DOF to really highlight the eagle and have the back be more blurry. My brain knows this information but is not processing it in the "field".

Boo. Must think more when taking pictures!

40 - Alohashot

Not sure why I can't flip this bloody picture, but yeah. Again more fun with filters, I enjoy contrast and reversing colors. This is one of my favorite mementos from Hawaii. It's as if I had a premonition about where I was about to go... :)

39 - Fun with filters

I'm discovering more and more of the filters on my camera, to give a different look for pictures. It does amaze me how much it can add to a picture. Some of them coming up really didn't look good until the filter was on.

I just don't think to try to use them more and more importantly, I don't know how to utilize them well ahead of time. I don't see the potential in situations where the filter could really pay off. All in good time.

38 - Something new, something blue.

It is tricky to take a self picture with this kind of camera, without a tripod at least.

Time to get shopping... :)

37 - Bad timing

Just as I was getting my camera out,  there was a massive bird flight right over my head, the lighting was just perfect.

Two minutes and this picture would have been epic. That is both the beauty and the frustrations of photography. Got to think like the scouts: "Be prepared".

Next time hopefully.

36 - Furry eyes

My favorite pictures up to now are those that I let my creative self express and experiment as it wishes (see 22). This is a really good start, I'm so exciting to finally have a means to express my somewhat original mind.

Furry eyes are a definite favorite!

35 - Focal dinosaur

Another in class snapshot. We were testing out focal lengths and I truly enjoyed our model Calvin, the dinosaur. I like all the fuzzyness going, how the dinosaur is the only one in focus.

Another skill that will lend more complexity to my shots. Exciting!

34 - Just Blue Friend

Another homework, we needed to find letters in the city. Can you see both letters?

This was actually a mistake, I hadn't adjusted the white balance yet, so my actual homework I gave in was with the right balance.

But, I really enjoyed the blue effect. Unfortunately, I had also forgotten that I was on Manual focus, thus the fuzzy letters.

Must learn to check all settings before snapping!

33 - C is for Cannibalism

I f'ing love our Cookie family. :)

32 - Kniefed Nuance / Couteau Nuancé

Fun, fun, fun!!! I was at Place des Arts in the corridor between salle Wilfred-Pelletier and Jean-Duceppe. 

It is a picture of a animation and the wall just kept changing, I was practicing my setting adjustment speed and for this one, the timing was awesome!

31 - I give you, BASS

This was fun. Really fun. Part of another homework, we had to take wither a low or high angle shot.

I had wanted to take a shot of the my man's bass, but couldn't find the right inspiration to make it cool.

This homework was perfect!

I spent 45 minutes on the floor, twisting, moving, adjusting both myself and the bass. That circle thing under the pickups is the ceiling light, and it was a bitch to deal with.

I tried to incorporate it in the concept, but it was not working at all. This was finally the best I could do to hide it to keep the angle and not have it overwhelm the shot.

This picture is the start of a new love affair... I hope my man won't mind, after all it's his fault!

I ♥ bass's!

30 - Ulti Homework

Well, here is my Rule of Thirds homework. Considering the overall difficulty of the setting, I was really happy with the result. In class, the teacher put a grid to show if we hit the guidelines and intersection points and I was extremely close.

Again, considering the speed with which people were moving, I was really happy!

29 - Corrected homework (see 24)

Do-over! Now that I've learned how to calibrate my white-balance, I am one happy monkey! This one is a bit off because I was also practicing mt manual focus.

It's fun to see that only 5 days later, I've added another "skill" to my repertoire, sort-of. But hey, it's a start!

28 - Rule of thirds - Baby steps

This is a colleague in our photography class. We were practicing the Rule of thirds and I'm quite happy with this picture. Not all my settings are well set, but I love the composition.

The blurry wall to the right, the sense of depth, her off-center and the horizon line just seem to really please my eyes. Happy!

27 - Coulda, shoulda, was not what I wanted.

 My first try with the tripod. I just don't have enough knowledge and skill yet to find the proper settings and exploit this beautiful scene to its justice. I'm getting my class on night photography in a couple of weeks, so hopefully, next time I get a full moon backlighting a tree, the picture will be more like how I saw it in my head.

Also, I should mention that it was -Stupid degrees outside so experimenting for a long time was not feasible.

Oh and I have no clue what that greenish spot is next to the moon. Its on my "must google" list. :)