A new year

Hi all,

The past year has been a great experience for me, and I hope you guys enjoyed the ride (and by you guys, I mean all three of you that read this - Hi Ma!) I've learned a lot about photography and have got a lot of really great positive feedback from you all. So first off, thank you all for your support and comments through the last year.

I've been thinking a lot about what to do next - whether I wanted to do another Project 52, Project 365 (one shot a day), or pack it in entirely. While some weeks resulted in some great shots, many of which adorn my walls (see below), some weeks were more about finding something interesting to photograph so I didn't fall behind. Both have been useful and helped me develop my skills (pun intended); the former from an artistic perspective where I had a chance to actually plan and take a shot, the latter from a more esoteric view, where I had to "see beauty in the boring, normal, little things." Yes, that sounds cheesy. No, I don't care.

So. I'm going to continue taking photographs. If I've learned one thing over the last year, it's that I really love taking pictures and capturing the moment. I'm going to continuing uploading my new shots here on the blog, as well as on the facebook page (link here) and hopefully you guys will stick around to see what I come up with. While this will result in fewer shots, I think they'll be better quality and so the trade off is worth it.

So again, thank you all for your support. It's been a great ride, and I'm glad to have had you guys with me. I'm going to leave you with a selection of my favourite shots in the past year, as well as this quote from Pulp Fiction:

Vincent: "I think we oughta leave now."
Jules: "Yeah, that's probably a good idea."

Week 1: Taken at my friend Becky and Kyle's wedding, back in December 2009.

From Project 52

Week 6: Fireworks launched from Alexandria Bridge to celebrate Winterlude. This shot was taken from the Museum of Civilization.

From Project 52

Week 8: Adorable little baby Brayden, who decided that me taking photos of him was less interesting than being asleep.

From Project 52

Week 21: One of my favourite shots was a random one taken of the fountain outside the American Embassy in Ottawa. I was walking around with a friend, and this just caught my eye.

From Project 52

Week 30: This shot was taken in Toronto outside a friend's garden.

From Project 52

Week 43: Lemoine Point Conservation Area is a great place for those who just want to get away from everything. One of the highlights of Kingston is being able to drive for 20 minutes in any direction and you'll hit a conservation area. Drive an hour north and you're in a provincial park. I particularly like the water at Lemoine Point, and this was a beautiful day to go for a hike.

From Project 52

Week 52: December 26th, 2010

So this picture was shot and edited on my trusty iPhone. Using the built in iPhone camera and the Photoshop Express app, I tweaked the saturation/contrast levels, and then added the vignetting. It's incredible to think that the iPhone is several times more powerful than the first computer I owned - an ancient Acorn Electron with a tape drive. Yes, tape drive. That isn't a typo.

Anyhow. I wanted to do this entire blog post from my iPhone, but couldn't figure out how to/forgot/got distracted by Angry Birds (mostly the latter) and so this is a *little* late.

I'll have my final post up by the end of the week.

From Project 52

Week 51: December 18th, 2010

Gather round children, I have a story for you.

So the week before Christmas is my birthday. I usually don't do anything - people are either out of town or doing last minute Christmas shopping, and so I always say I'll celebrate in January. The new year starts, we get busy with classes and school, and I end up forgetting about it. The most I'll do is dinner with some friends.

Well, this year a friend of mine took it upon herself to make sure we had cake on my birthday.

The day before, we all were out for dinner for a friend who had successfully passed her PhD thesis proposal (Yay MJ!). After dinner, the waiter walks over carrying a cake, and they all start singing happy birthday (they were all in on the devious plan).

I had no idea it was for me. So I did what anyone would have: I joined in singing happy birthday, thinking it was for someone else.

So I'm belting out happy birthday along with everyone, wondering whose birthday is today and why everyone is looking at me like I'm an idiot. Then the dude puts the cake down in front of me. Then the lightbulb went off.

Yeah. I'm smart like that :)

Thanks again to Mariane for the cake, and to everyone who made my birthday weekend so much fun :)

From Project 52

Week 50: December 12th, 2010

So we're closing in on the end of the year. And, as mentioned in a previous post, that means the combination of schoolwork kicking into high gear as well as Christmas approaching. Well, the Christmas season now starts November 1st (thank you Halloween, the final bastion protecting us from Christmas sales in August), but until Starbucks and Second cup start their Christmas drinks, it really isn't Christmas.

So this shot is of the Candy Cane Hot Chocolate offered by Second Cup. It's a great drink, but the people at Second Cup put a ridiculous amount of whipped cream on top.

For those interested, that drink is 490 calories, 23 g of fat, and 52 g of sugar (about 1.5 times a can of coke). But man oh man does it taste delicious (message to my obesity research peeps: don't judge me).

From Project 52

Week 49: Sunday, December 4th, 2010

So I uploaded this photo a few days ago to Picasa, thinking that I'd write the blog post later, and then I forgot about it when I got buried in work. On the plus side, my stats assignments are done! Wahay!

So this pic is of my guitar I've had since I was ... 14? I've had it for a while, but having one for a long time doesn't make you any good unfortunately. I used to play back in the day, but that fell by the wayside once I started undergrad and grad school.

From Project 52

Week 48: Sunday, November 28th, 2010

So I'm a little behind on blogging at the moment. End of semester madness this year is two presentations, 5 stats assignments and a writeup for my seminar course all due next week (and a paaaatridge in a pear tree...). As a result, I haven't had much time for photography and blogging. However, I am hoping to have this weeks' pic up by tomorrow night.

I enjoy cooking, and this week's shot is from dinner the other night - six bell peppers thrown into a stir fry.

Technical deets: ISO640, 1/30 s, f/4.5 @ 30mm

From Project 52

Week 47: Sunday, November 21st, 2010

This weeks shot was taken at the Montreal Metro. I love the Metro - reminds me a lot of the Tube in London and how awesome a system it is for moving people around. My hometown of Ottawa has had plans to build one for a while (and they did! It goes from South Keys to Bayview! Which helps ... students of Carleton U who live in South Keys?) Hopefully the new Mayor manages to get the project started. While there are many benefits of a good public transport system, I'll let more knowledgeable people than me talk about those (fellow student and friend of the blog Travis has a great post up here, while fellow Epidemiologist Megan makes a great point here). Personally, I just enjoy riding the train :)

From Project 52