The World According to Mer

A Study in Lines

2007-11-10T10:41:00.000-05:00

I was out in the backyard, cleaning up the gardens for fall (you know the rote, put things away, last weeding effort, etc.), when I spied this scene down by the pond. I loved the colours and the way that the lines in the patio stones and shadows (created by the deck ballisters) intersected each other making for, in my mind, a pleasing composition. The leaf position allowed me to crop in close with the camera (no, I did not stage the shot!).

Keep Your Face to the Sunshine . . . It's What Sunflowers Do - Helen Keller

2007-11-09T23:12:00.000-05:00

I had a particular story in mind when I decided that I wanted to donate a pic to my 25th Remission Lunch. On my way to the Doctors' I had noticed a couple of fields of sunflowers near Wallacetown. Hmmmm, I thought, GREAT! but the sunflowers were all cheery and happy their heads pointed towards the sun (as is their ilk). I wanted a scene where most heads were down, droopy, to convey exactly what I wanted. It had rained a couple of days later, so off Rob and I headed. I shot many pictures, and scanned the field for what seemed like hours, before capturing this story. Kristen Brady won the picture, which I had framed, and many thanks to The St. Thomas Photographic Guild for graciously donating the paper and printing of it.

September 30, 2007

2007-11-09T21:58:00.000-05:00

On the date noted above, my Ovarian Cancer Support Group, in conjunction with OCC (Ovarian Cancer Canada), held a 25th Remission Celebratory Lunch in my honour. In April of 1982, I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer - you're welcome to read about my ride with this insidious disease on the link posted. I was so happy that all my friends and family were on hand to help me celebrate this most auspicious milestone in my life. I would like to thank the following sponsors, who generously donated a door prize or food gift:
Capo Foods - Beautiful and delicious cake

Loree Dubuque - Gorgeous hand-crafted necklace, bracelet, and earring set (in ovca teal)

Lisa Greenaway - Bath Set and Body Shop Nail Care Kit

Stephanie Holt - Unique and beautiful Hand-crafted Card Set, Bookmark, and Photo Frame

Canadale Nurseries - $25 Gift Certificate and Full-Colour Gardening Guide

Crabby Joes - $30 Gift Certificate

Cats Kaboose - $25 Gift Certificate

Arthur Voaden Secondary School - $30 Diva Spa Package (as well, Mrs. Franklin, the Cosmetology Dept. teacher, held a Spa Day on Oct. 1. Proceeds benefited OCC - thank you!!)

Bodies by Paton - T-shirt and 1-week Trial Membership

Tommy White Sports - Baseball Cap

The St. Thomas Photographic Guild - Paper and printing of images that I gave away as door prizes, as well as generous money gift donations for framing from various members

Forest of Flowers - 2 dozen of the most sweet-smelling, and beautiful red long-stem roses

Smith Fruit - Produce for Crudites and Fruit trays

Loblaws - $30 Gift Certificates, which were used to purchase food items

I would be remiss in not thanking the following people for helping me put on this event. Without their help and dedication, I would not have been able to pull it off: Vince, Diane, Kelly, Roger, Cathy, Pat, my husband Rob, my step-daughter Tatum, and of course, the great driving force behind it all, Harold. Our guest speakers were Doug Daye from Toastmasters, who gave a rousing and inspirational story about all the inspiring people who have impacted his life, and Dr. Monique Bertrand - Supervisor: Head, Division Gyn Oncology Ovarian Cancer Research, who gave an interesting talk about ovarian cancer statistics and the impact of them amongst the different demographic and geographic regions in Canada. I was so pleased with the day!! It was very successful. We were able to raise $647.57, portions of which were donated to OCC and The London Ovarian Cancer Support Group. I cannot say anything more about that, I am just so overwhelmed by the generosity and kindness of everyone!!!!!

Painting With Light

2007-11-09T21:54:00.001-05:00

I cannot believe that I have not yet posted this image to my blog. I took it last year as part of my personal program with the St. Thomas Photographers Guild. It took me many, many attempts, over several nights, to achieve my vision of what I wanted to convey. I had tried many other "painting with light" scenerios, but failed at them. I will try again at some point. I really enjoyed the many frustrating hours it took me to get this image. I am very pleased with the effort (especially seeing as I was learning something new - learning curves are always difficult).

Finally!!!

2007-11-09T21:21:00.000-05:00

These two images are my attempt at creative photography. I had about 10 minutes to shoot something of my grandchildren before my husband, Rob (anxious to get on the road back home from Brooklin, ON), really started to have kittens. He wanted to beat the Toronto traffic home before it got too busy. Goodness knows, I had all weekend to spend some leisurely time photographing Emily and Spencer. But I got so busy being a Grandma, I left all the photography to the last minute. My bad! I was getting direction from my daughter-in-law, Jennifer, as to how to pose the kids, and of course, they were just being themselves (uncooperative). Rob was by now having 50 fits, so my attempts were not really what I wanted. Oh, the drama of it all!

Photographic Scavenger Hunt

2007-08-15T20:00:00.000-04:00

Our assignment, at Waterworks Park, this week, was to capture a set list of pictures - a Photographic Scavenger Hunt, if you will. The criteria was simple - find the following: An "S" shape; A reflection; An interesting piece of bark; A hole in something (can you guess what mine is? (And yes, I took it at the park last night!); Words; Something old-the car is kinda cliche, eh?; Something blue; Something sad; Something new - what better than a handsome couple who had just exchanged their wedding vows?; and Something alone - again, I took this one at the park, but in a most unusual place. As you can see, yes I did spend SOME of my time shooting, but also spent SOME of it chatting, gabbing, and talking, so didn't get enough time to shoot the last four scenes before it got too dark (and the lineup at Tim Horton's got tooooooo long - have to beat the crowd). Must FOCUS to task on hand (pun not intended). Maybe get out another night to shoot the other four.

Random Images of Summer

2007-08-13T09:37:00.000-04:00

I probably should have called this one "Tears of Joy" (or something like that), but wasn't smart enough to think about it at the time. This is a close-up detail of one of the blooming water lily flowers, that I have in my pond.

So . . . Rob and I were out shooting my Heritage Trees at the St. Thomas Cemetary just this past Sunday. I spied this scene on our way out. I asked Rob to stop the truck so that I could take a picture of it. He thought that I was outta my mind, 'cause he didn't quite get my humour until I told him what the name on the tombstone was. Call me a sick pup, but I couldn't let this photo opp pass me by!
In the summer, I spend most of my time out in the garden - you know, weeding, watering, futzing, and generally getting dirty. I love the feel of soil beneath my fingertips, and derive much satisfaction from the beautiful bit of paradise I have created for me and my family to enjoy. While out one morning, I espied this scene. It is the quintessential amphibian on a lilypad (in this case, a toad). The femaile had just finished laying her strings and strings of black pearls, which she decorated the undersides of the Water Hyacinths. I quickly ran indoors, fired up the ol' camera, and snapped a few off. Luckily for me, Mr. Toad had decided that the top of the lilypad was a comfortable place to reat, and allowed me to take a few pics of him.
This is a detail of one of those "Pocket Rockets" that some people enjoy riding. The young fellow driving it was dressed in an outfit matching his bike. I thought that rather funny, but different strokes, eh?

Introducing . . .

2007-07-27T08:49:00.000-04:00

I am proud to introduce you to Emily Colleen Audrey Whitbourn - born July 24, 2007 @ 8:21 am. The pictures posted show her at 1-1/2 hours old. Rob and I are one team of proud grandparents. We share this honour with Greg and Colleen Tresnak, Whitby, ON and Fred and Marie Whitbourn of Alvinston, ON. Other Emily stats: 20-1/2 inches long / 7 lbs., 14-oz. Mom Jennifer, Dad Gary (my son), Poppie Rob, and Nannie Merilee all pose for a bedside pic with Emily.
Emily's big brother, Spencer, is more interested in the GIANT cookie Grandma Colleen gave him, then in his little sister.

Digital Group Black & White Assignment

2007-04-10T18:24:00.000-04:00

So, the assignment for this weeks Digital Group, was to choose a picture that we would like to convert to black and white using PhotoShop, Elements, or other digital manipulation software. Armed with some instructions, I used Channel Mixer on PhotoShop CS to convert this picture of my grandson, Spencer, to black and white. My son, Gary, his wife, Jenny, and Spencer visited us in August. We took them all out to dinner at Timbers Restaurant. Instead of placing a lemon in our water glasses, we were all given limes. Well, me being a nasty Grandma, I decided that it was time that Spencer was introduced to limes. We all laughed and laughed at the faces he was making, so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to click a few snaps of him with his sour face on. The son-of-a-gun of it was, he wouldn't let any of us take the "forbidden" fruit away from him, so he happily gummed away at it until all that was left was the rind. Silly, silly baby boy!! Grandma loves you sooooooooo much!!

2007-04-06T09:13:00.000-04:00

This is a detail of yet another gravestone. I love the serenity on the cherubs' face. It too, was taken with a piece of plastic wrap fastened over my lens hood to give it a softer look. I loved Ians' personal program on Pinhole Cameras and got my brain to thinkin' (uh, OH)! I thought that the images he presented had a romantic feel and would lend themselves well to an old-fashioned sepia tone.
This was a fun shot to do. My husband had received a 5-light LED lamp (the kind you place on your baseball cap) for Christmas. I took plastic wrap and elastic banded (word?) it over the individual lights. I then took magic markers and coloured over the plastic to produce coloured light. I then placed the camera on BULB, then waved it in front of the lens. After that, I tried all kinds of light sources (laser pointer, bicycle flasher, etc.) and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I spent many a sleepless night "painting with light".
I was trying out the on-board macro setting on my camera, adjusting depth-of-field and trying many angles in order to achieve this shot. It is a simple image, but I had never explored this setting before. It was taken a couple of falls ago, just after acquiring my DSLR.
I just loved the curves and colours this image produced. I was testing out the new polarizing lens I purchased from EBay, but caveat emptor it is a linear one instead of a circular, so you could imagine my frustration in trying to "dial" it in - it simply wasn't doing what I wanted it to do. I spoke with Don about that later on, and he told me what the problem was - I didn't know that there were two kinds of polarizing lenses! I am now on the path to purchasing a "proper" one. Ah me, more money spent on my craft.

2007-04-02T11:10:00.000-04:00

I've entitled this one "Cinnamom Hearts", because of the stylized heart-shape that the cinnamon sticks form. I finally broke down and purchased a light box system from Henry's (my old lights broke - guess I'm too hard on my toys). I really enjoy taking pictures using the light box - kinda allows me to just play around with different props I have lying around. I was busy taking light box shots (in my 'jammies, of course), when I noticed that it was snowing outside. I adjusted the tripod and camera to point out my studio window, and focused on the back of my van. I like all the lines that the ice, light, and window create. The added blobs of snow created an interesting texture.
I should have cropped the left-hand side of this picture to give it more balance - I may yet. The white in the left corner is a bit distracting. Anyway, it is a detail of a gravestone in the Old St. Thomas Church Graveyard. As far as I know, the grave belongs to the first minister's wife, who was purportedly a very pious woman. Upon her death, and after the erection of her gravestone, the marker immediately turned black. It was then replaced a few years later, but again turned black. Myth tells that the person buried beneath a stone that turns black was a witch in life (and that's why it turns black). That was the story as it was told to me. Take from it what you will, but it makes for an interesting picture and story.

2007-03-29T08:32:00.000-04:00

I managed to capture this image using modelling clay and a wire fed up through the stem of the African Violet. I fussed and fussed with trying to keep the flower stem upright in the egg shell. It took awhile, but this is what finally came out. I removed some undesirable elements in post production, but other than that, this is what my camera caught.
I shot this one last year. It was an assignment photo from the time I took the Introduction to Photography course from Phil Bell. Esthetically, I think it's rather pleasing, although maybe I should have removed the bench.
This is my cat, Mrs. Weezer A'Wiggins. Huh, I just realized that she weighs as much as her age (which is 14)! She's like most cats, aloof, BUT she comes a'runnin' when the Whiska Tasty Temptations bag is shaken. It is then that she's put through a battery of tricks. She's sooooooo smart. She shakes both paws, sits pretty, waves "Hi", lies down, gives kisses, and falls down "dead" when I say "Bang!" We also own a couple of tub chairs. One is HER chair. She loves to get spun 'round in it. What a goof! Sharon, you'll like this one, we adopted her when she was two, from a foster parent, who was a member of Animal Aide.

Apres Personal Program

2007-03-27T08:28:00.000-04:00

This stand of birch was shot in Waterworks Park, I have it copyrighted 2006, but it was actually taken this year - in fact, all the images I've posted, and will post, were taken this year (guess I'm still in 2006 mode). Anyway, this was one of the last shots I needed in order to complete my personal project. It was a sunny, although cool day, but undaunted, I shot on. In order to create this image, I used a small piece of glass, which I borrowed from an unused picture frome. I smeared vaseline on the diagonal, placed the underside of the glass (unsmeared part), on my 18-55mm lens, then snapped a few shots until I was satisfied with the outcome - viva la digitale! I didn't notice the wooden fence in the right corner of the pic, not sure if I like that or not.

This is Dylan Drew. His dad calls him "Double D". I wanted to get some baby shots for the softness portion of my personal program. I used a DIY diffuser (made from bristol board and a piece of white satin), which I placed over my 420EX flash. Dylan was 5 months old when I took this pic. I just let him do what babies do, and shot him all the while. I was quite happy at my first attempts at portrait photography. Not sure why I don't like taking pictures of people - too animated, I guess. He's a wiggly, jiggly, drooly cutie, and was totally uncooperative - too many new and different sights, sounds, and textures to discover. Out of approxiamately 50 shots, I did manage to get about 15 good ones - giggly, wiggly, jiggly!
I shot this pic on another cold, yet bright day. My husband, Rob, and I drove around to the various graveyards around town, looking for the most interesting gravestones to shoot with a piece of Saran Wrap over my lens hood. I actually used two layers of wrap to get this shot. I used my fingernail to roughen the plastic, and scrunched it up as tight as possible to give it some texture. I love the softness around the picture that using the Saran produced. I really enjoyed discovering most of the new techniques I learned from the article that I chose for my personal program. I will continue to use these things as the shot dictates, and they are now valuable additions to my camera kit.

Yummmmmmm, Lychee!!

2007-02-14T20:50:00.000-05:00

Oh, I got all excited last night after our Digital Club meeting at Grant's place. I had taken a few shots last week of lychee fruit (my VERY most favourite - to me, they're like potato chips - can't stop at one). Anyway tonight, with there not being anything good on the tube (is there really anymore?), I decided to spark up the ol' computer, and try some of the skills I learned last night. Now, my last night brain and my tonight brain have not yet meshed together, but I did manage to render this shot in PhotoShop. Thanx to a mag I borrowed from Jim, I learned the new skill of doing a two-photo effect. Not being fully versed in Photoshop (I keep saying that, don't I??), I probably added too much colour, and over-emphasized what shouldn't have been, but at least I'm experimenting with this most powerful tool - this is the end result. Yay! I managed to size the image for the web. Thanks Jim and Dan for that lesson, and thanks to Grant for the paper copy. So now, when I get a free minute, I'll have to do the same to the rest of my pics on this blog. Whew!

On Hold for Now

2007-01-18T20:28:00.000-05:00

Well people, I've been busy working on my personal project for the Photography Guild, so pictures are not coming as fast and furious as I want. I also did not have an opportunity to photograph the lovely after-effects of our recent ice storm, because I could risk a slip and fall - damn this osteoporosis! Anyway, here's a shot I took a couple of nights ago, kind of a tease of one of the pics I have chosen to include in my personal project. Picasa is a wonderful software tool, I'm really enjoying using it. I hope to post more pics in the near future.

Experimentation With Cherries and a Cup

2006-12-23T12:35:00.000-05:00

I watched a program a couple of weeks ago on The Food Channel, which showed a feature on Food Photography. As a foodie, I got kinda excited about that. I searched the internet for food photography examples, and thought that I would like to try my hand at them. Although I had planned on shooting outdoors yesterday, I neglected to check the weather. It rained like cra-zzzy! So, inspired (by the television program), I got out some fruit and other props, and started shooting. The lighting wasn't the best, and my PhotoShop skills are still kindergarten. After taking about 250 pictures, these three are really the only ones that I'm happy with. There are a couple more pics that I like the composition of, but take a little more advanced skills at PhotoShop to improve. I think I've found my photographic niche. This is an area I definitely will experiment with and concentrate more of my efforts on. I will, however, be shooting nature, etc., as I need to improve my skills on those areas as well.

2006-12-12T09:46:00.000-05:00

Light Box and View From a Skylight

2006-12-09T11:14:00.000-05:00

I had made a light box a couple of weeks ago, with instructions that I found on the web. It didn't cost very much to make, but am having loads of (frustrating) fun learning to work in this new environment. My problem is trying to get the lighting right. I am using a couple of compact flourescent bulbs, but think I will have to change them to incandescent, as they throw out too much yellow light.

Yesterday morning, after our big storm, I was making my usual cup 'o tea, looked up into the skylight, and this is what I saw. Although it looks like clouds in the sky, it's actually snow that had accumulated overnight on the skylight.

Waterworks Park and Home

2006-11-23T12:43:00.000-05:00

I wanted to take advantage of the frost this morning. Boy! were my fingers ever cold! Hopefully the pics are well worth the effort. I was fiddlin' with the light as well, hence the reposed pic of Bairn.

"Double Exposure"

2006-11-21T16:41:00.000-05:00

I was goofing with shaking the camera on purpose (to an otherwise mundane still life of an apple and three bananas). This is what I got.

Zoom "N' Jiggle Technique.

2006-11-18T13:25:00.001-05:00

"Water" Assignment 1.

2006-11-18T13:24:00.004-05:00

"Patterns" Assignment.

2006-11-18T13:24:00.003-05:00

Trying out a new angle.

2006-11-18T13:24:00.001-05:00

Saw the footprints, liked the composition.

2006-11-18T13:23:00.003-05:00

Hey Jim! Thanks for the quick lesson on Zoom Burst.

2006-11-18T13:23:00.001-05:00

"Lines" Assignment.

2006-11-18T13:22:00.001-05:00

Just liked the flower.

2006-11-18T13:21:00.002-05:00

"Water" Assignment 2.

2006-11-18T13:21:00.001-05:00

Trying out the black reflector I made.

2006-11-18T13:20:00.001-05:00

Another try at flower shooting.

2006-11-18T13:19:00.000-05:00

Trying out the zoom lens.

2006-11-18T13:17:00.000-05:00