Cariwest Parade

Dragon Boat Races

Airtime!

A lot of the pictures I took of the parade are mediocre at best, because there are street lights and power lines in the way. (The joys of shooting through an office window!) But there are some shots that are improved by the height:

I saw the Edmonton Eskimoes Cheer Team setting up, and I just pointed at them and hit continuous shot - which resulted in this great shot. I'm very pleased!

1/250 exposure (0.004 sec), focal length 45.6mm, aperture f/5.0, ISO 80. Nothing else fancy!

Parade Day!

I love parades. I think they are a ridiculous amount of fun and silliness. Consider yourself forewarned for a few days of parade-ness!

Before a parade, you often find different costumed people, clowns, etc. wandering around entertaining the waiting crowds. Here we had someone in an awesome snail costume! Note the brilliant skateboard under the snail shell, to keep it from dragging on the ground.

Taken from an office window, a block away, and then cropped to reduce the busy-ness.

Interesting portraits

I saw this little article today and I just love the idea! These are photos taken of various individuals in and out of their work uniforms - out of uniform means they are in their ordinary street clothes, not nude! The eclectic nature of the jobs is wonderful, and include a bishop and a geisha!

http://www.photozz.com/fizz/28212518.aspx

Scale

I was taking a series of images of several large pieces of equipment. Starting up close, I would move back and take another picture every few steps. I held the camera at the same position throughout, without recomposing the shot. Several times I paused to allow people to pass easily, including for this man.

Except as he passed, he stopped and asked if I wanted a picture! I said sure, if he would like, and he happily walked up next to the huge tire. I did stay with my same purpose, and I did not recompose the shot. I actually think it looks neat with part of it cut off on the top and right. And the man in the picture really gives it a sense of scale. He's also got such a pleasant, easy smile. I got one shot and said thank you quickly as he carried on his way.

1/200 sec exposure, f/4.0 aperture, ISO 80, 5mm focal length

Looking through lines

This man spent a few minutes joking with me and teasing me good naturedly as I took pictures of some large machinery in a downtown square. When he left, I set up a shot through these tubes and wires, only to have him pass on the other side. He made a joke about being in my way, but he really made the picture!

I loved the idea of shooting through the linkages, but there was nothing really to focus on on the other side. The other picture I took just looks messy and confused. But with his great, laughing face in the middle, this man gives a bit of focus to the other side of the tubes.

1/200 sec exposure, f/4.5 aperture, ISO 125, 25.2 focal length

Chess... as it would be in Alice in Wonderland

As I mentioned last week, there are some great games brought out to the square outside my office each summer. Sometimes, this includes a rather large chess set. Over the course of the day, I caught several different groups using it.

I seem to have caught these two right at the end of their game, and it looked like they were cleaning up. Thanks guys!

Then I caught these kids...

They were obviously having fun, although no chess playing occurred.

These gentlemen seemed to be having a pretty serious game - they even brought chairs!

Anyway, it's always fun watching the comings and goings on the square, and as it's the centre for many summer events, you may well see more pictures of it on these pages in the future!

A view of the future?

It's a grey and grumpy day, so I thought a happy type of picture was in order!

These two girls were enthusiastically (and badly) playing a game of pick up hockey in the square the other day. Perhaps we are getting the first glimpse of the next Olympic champions in women's hockey!

1/800 sec exposure, f/5 aperture, ISO 43.4, 80mm focal length

Table Tennis from above

I was recently reading a book from a photographer who has a strong preference for shooting from above. This got me intrigued, and I also wanted to try it, however, I do not have the resource (or the nerves of steel) to rent a helicopter and strap myself inside the open door to shoot like that. I do, however, have a 6th story office window that overlooks a popular downtown square. A safe and easy place to start! So over the next couple of days, I will share with you some pictures I took from my window, all the while feeling like some kind of stalker! (Please note in advance that my zoom is not really powerful enough for what I was trying to do, but it's not bad!)

Every summer some lovely organization brings out various games and toys each morning that stay in the square all day. This even includes a Table Tennis (Ping Pong) Table! These two guys were quite good, and I'm very pleased you can actually see the ball as a ball-like object, not a vague blurr! (If you haven't spotted it yet, it's yellow and on the left side of the table, coming at the man in the plaid shirt.) I like action shots, I like sunny shots, and this fits the bill. I don't like the guy in the top left who is yawning, but I couldn't crop him out effectively.

1/640 sec exposure, f/5.7 aperture, ISO 125, 100mm focal length

Smiling Victorians

These are some great pictures from Victorian times.

Smiling Victorians

Self Portraits

One thing that often turns up on photo challenges is a self-portrait. I find these particularly difficult, as I'm relatively self-conscious in front of the camera at the best of times. If you're like me and need some inspiration, The D-Photo has shared some great examples from several different photographers. My favourites are from Dustin Diaz (about half way down the page).

Reflections

This picture actually has 2 reflections in it. One is fairly obvious, the other, not as much. Can you figure it out?

The trick of taking a picture of a reflection, rather than of the thing, was taught by my first photography instructor. She didn't have a lot of time, but she was trying to give us some easy tips to take more interesting photographs, and this was an example of looking for things in unusual ways.

Have you spotted the 2 reflections yet? The first and obvious one is the person. The second is the vehicle's side mirror. No? You think that's the real mirror? Consider how useless a mirror would be to the driver if it was positioned in that location and at that angle - it's a reflection!

So many levels of wrong

I'm posting this one in order to make myself list everything that is wrong with it, in the hopes that that will drill the mistakes in to my head so I won't repeat them.

Too dark: this was caused by me not checking a couple of different settings - one, it was on -1 in whatever that setting is called that allows you to darken or brighten a picture as you take it. Two, I wasn't using my now-regular camera, so I didn't think to check the flash and it went off. Three, my bf used this camera last, and it was still on a program mode that let him preset several settings - to things that were conducive to his needs, not to my mall shot.

Too far away: this could be fixed by a simple crop, or I could have used the zoom that the camera is equipped with. The first solution is an acceptable one, as you can crop things out, but you can't put them in if you never took them.

So a few successes, partial successes, and an epic failure mark the end of this foray in to people photography for me. I'm not sure what's coming up next, but I'll figure something out!

Watching a watcher

I'm sure a philosopher could come up with something very "meta" about this, me watching a man watching a cat. I wonder how long he sat there, because I found it cool but not cold, however he was quite bundled up.

Caught!

 So I'm snapping a couple of shots across the square of these two kids. The one on the right was doing something with her cell, the one on the left seemed to be playing with a loose string on his sleeve, or something equally exciting. then the girl leaned over and...

I got a great shot! Perfect timing, although that was basically a fluke. You can't see his face at all, but when I zoomed in, she's got this little smile... very sweet.

If I were to do it over...I'm not sure what I'd change. It's a bit on an angle, but I think it works - almost makes it look like she's falling in to him. The lighting is good. Bright enough, but no flares. And since I can't move them away from the garbage can, I think this one I'd keep as is.

A little windblown

I don't know what it was about this woman that spoke to me, but the photo still has it.

The screen on my camera decided to give me a gift and start working again, so I was able to take this with the camera hanging around my neck rather than up to my face. That means it's more on the level she was sitting at, rather than looking down at her, and I definitely like that.

If I were to do it again, I would put her to the left of the photo, to capture more of her shadow. The rule of thirds is proving to be one of the hardest things for me to get a hang of! (And I'm trying not to cheat by cropping these photos in to "perfection" - or something like it. Maybe later I'll explore what I can do with photo editing by comparing before and after photos.)

Basking in the sun

What a gorgeous fall day. Hard to believe this kind of mild weather is coming in Alberta, in November. We may as well take advantage of it while we can, photographer and (unknowing) subject alike!

This lady looked so relaxed, so peaceful enjoying the sun. I did take a closer version, but it had more power with the context provided by the building.

If I were to do it over, I would try moving directly in front of her. I'm not certain I would like that better, but I'd like to compare. I would also not put her in the center of the photo, maybe more towards the bottom, bottom-right.

A new series - People!

I asked my friend the other day for some ideas for a theme I could use when I went out to take pictures that lunch. She came up with several great ideas I was tossing around (and will keep for later), and then she gave me one that made my blood run cold.

People.

Normally, I resist taking photos of people, because I'm very afraid that people will think I'm a creepy stalker. I also have a wonderful tendency to catch them with funny looks on their faces, or strange background objects.

Therefore, this seemed like the perfect challenge for me. Something to push me out of my comfort zone. So over the next few days, I hope you enjoy my forays in to stalker-dom, as I try to capture some pictures of people.

The first shot I'm posting is not actually the first one I took. The rest of the person is actually sitting in a little alcove, but from the angle, you can't see that. What you do see is the reflection of his legs, making it look almost like there are just 2 pairs of legs, from the knees down, lying on the floor.

There were tricky lighting issues because of the windows, which was probably good - my instinct had been to go full zoom and stay far away. But the picture was terrible. So it forced me to get closer to a subject who wouldn't even know I was there, and likely wouldn't care (since he is completely unidentifiable.)

If I were to do it over, I would step slightly to the left so as not to cut off the toes in the reflection. And I would try taking the picture from the other end of the hall, by the red planter, for comparison.

The kick!

Overall, this is not a great photo. Nothing about it is really in focus. I was a split second too late and the ball is already out of the frame.

What I like about it: I was fast enough to catch him at the peak of his kick - that man is flexible! This was a particular accomplishment since I was wearing mittens at the time and couldn't actually see when the ball was snapped back to the guy who holds it for the kicker. I also like the way it's framed - a bit of field all the way around gives it context. And I like how very blurry the opposition team members are, since it helps indicate how fast they were approaching.