Featured by Schmap!

So a little change from the usual posting to let you all know that one of my photos has been chosen by Schmap to be on their online guide of Ottawa! For those of you who don't know what Schmap is, it's like Lonely Planet, but online and free. Link to the post below:

http://www.schmap.com/ottawa/sights_parks/#p=158309&i=158309_109.jpg


Here's the shot in its full resolution glory:

Week 32: Monday, August 9th, 2010

Hi all,

So I'm returning from the Canadian Obesity Network's Obesity Boot Camp currently, and I'm writing this from the train. The past week has been an absolutely phenomenal experience and I've got to meet some pretty cool people, all passionate and interested in various aspects of the obesity epidemic. It's been a real privilege to spend time with all of them, and I hope to continue working with them in the future.

The Boot Camp was held up in Station Touristique in Duschesney, which is about 40 minutes outside of Quebec City. It's an absolutely beautiful resort and so I've got about 600 shots between both of my camera's to go through. I'm hoping to get to those this week, so keep an eye out for that update.

So onto this week's shot. The resort had an incredible chef, and, being a foodie, this meant great things for me. Three course meals for lunch and dinner, combined with some of the most exotic foods I've seen meant for a very happy Atif. This week's shot was the shrimp stir fry, served as one of our lunch meals. Yes, it came in a little boat. No, the boat was not edible (neither were the flowers, but I *might* have found that one out the hard way ...)

From Project 52

Technical details: Take with a Canon SD750, 1/160s, f/3.2, 7.1mm, ISO80

Week 31: Monday, August 2nd, 2010

Quick post today as I'm at the Canadian Obesity Network Boot Camp all week.

I took this shot at a friend's wedding, held this past Friday. I really enjoying learning about different traditions and customs at weddings, and this picture is of the unity candle - which is meant to symbolize the blessing of both families and the joining of them through the marriage of their children (one candle for each set of parents, and one for the couple).

Finally, congratulations to Marianne and Matt, and all the best to the two of them as they start their life together :)

Back in a week!!

From Marianne and Matt's Wedding!

Week 30: Tuesday, July 27th, 2010

So I spent the last weekend in Toronto, and so didn't get a chance to update my blog on time, and then spent some time working on a blog redesign that is finally live (see betaphotos.blogspot.com for the updated design).

Anyhow. Without further ado (for both people who read my blog) here is this weeks shot.

From Project 52

Week 29: Sunday, July 18th, 2010

So I managed to catch Rush, Capital Grass and the No Men and Santana at this years Bluesfest. For those who don't know, Bluesfest is an annual two week, open air concert held in Ottawa. While it is not nearly as large as Osheaga or Glastonbury, a lot of top tier musicians have played in recent years (notable ones include Kanye West, Iron Maiden and KISS).

So in order to keep the crowds happy, a number of vendors set up shop to sell food - everything from The Works, Subway to Lebanese and Italian restaurants.

I was a happy camper :)

From Project 52

Week 28: Monday, July 12th, 2010

So this week I was hoping to get some nice shots at Bluesfest.

I was going to take my camera with me, get up close to the stage, and capture Neil Peart rocking out on his ridiculously extravagant drum kit, or Santana playing a face melting guitar solo.

But today, when I left the gym, this thing rolled up against my foot when I stopped my car at a traffic light. I know it came from somewhere in my car.

I don't know what it is.

I don't know what it does.

But it looks like it might be important.

Uh oh.

From Project 52

Week 27: Tuesday, July 6th, 2010

Hey all,

I had some more technical difficulties with this week's post. I decided to stretch my knowledge of Lightroom and Photoshop to create some panoramic shots, and my poor PC just couldn't handle working with 2 gig TIFF files. Well, it could, just reeeeaaaaallllyyyyy sloooooowwlyyyyy.

Anyhow. So this past week (for all my international readers ... both of you ..) was Canada Day, a day to celebrate Canada coming into existence. Part of Canada Day involves a giant party, held on Parliament Hill in our fair city of Ottawa. My favourite part of Canada Day for me is how everyone comes out and there's this great feeling of camaraderie and friendship that just seems to permeate the air. And the impromptu renditions of "O Canada" that happen at random times (with increasing frequency as the night wears on).

So with these two shots, I have tried to capture the sheer number of people present at the Canada Day celebrations (official estimates place the number at 100,000+ on the Hill, and that doesn't include the people in the downtown core past Wellington). The panorama really helped to capture that.

If you click on the photos, then on the magnifying glass, you can scroll around to see everything.

Sparks Street:

From Project 52

Parliament Hill:

From Project 52

Technical details: The first shot was made up of 15 shots stitched together, while the second was made up of 6 shots.