hey everyone,
just a quick update to say thanks for checking out my blog! there has been just over 200 visitors since i started it :)
i know it hasn't been too interesting as of yet, i have been really busy as of late! i am working on writing some reviews of my stuff at the moment, those will be up soon. anyways, take care everyone, and check back soon and hopefully i will have found some time to update the site
craig
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Thursday, September 11, 2008
all hail the mighty spoon
here is my latest favorite pic of Levi! I was trying to get him to feed himself, he was more interested in the spoon than the food! Oh well, gotta start somewhere, right?
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
blue colored berries
just testing the 'blog this' button in flickr! i shot this at the cottage trip while hiking through the forest
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
New Stuff
Good morning
Okay, so a couple more things:
I can now make prints for anyone who is interested! I am able to make prints on high quality photo paper, or even canvas! I can get them mounted on a variety of frames or have it shipped rolled up for you to mount or frame! This is very exciting news, and I hope that some of you readers out there support my hobby enough to get a print done! So, I don't really have any prices off the top of my head, but if you head over to my flickr page, you can pretty much pick any of the images and contact me and we can work out the details on prices, paper, mounting and all that exciting stuff! I was playing around with Photoshop and realized I can do some pretty large prints if you are so inclined :)
Okay, so a couple more things:
I can now make prints for anyone who is interested! I am able to make prints on high quality photo paper, or even canvas! I can get them mounted on a variety of frames or have it shipped rolled up for you to mount or frame! This is very exciting news, and I hope that some of you readers out there support my hobby enough to get a print done! So, I don't really have any prices off the top of my head, but if you head over to my flickr page, you can pretty much pick any of the images and contact me and we can work out the details on prices, paper, mounting and all that exciting stuff! I was playing around with Photoshop and realized I can do some pretty large prints if you are so inclined :)
Friday, August 22, 2008
Just got back from a vacation
Hey everyone!
Its been awhile since I have posted anything. I have been a very busy man the past couple of weeks. I am off work this week and the family and I made it up to a cottage on Chandos lake and had a great time! I got many nice shots of sunrises over the lake and I went on an adventure through the forest and got some good shots of some mushrooms and other forest like things. I had my tripod strapped to my back, and i guess the leg got caught on a tree while i was hiking around and snapped off. I didnt hear it because I was listening to some music, so now i have no tripod. We also went to vist my aunt and uncle near Toronto and had a great time there as well.
I am slowly but surely processing the images from the cottage and also the ones from the Olympic Flag raising on the 8th! Hopefully by next week i will have them up and ready to go. I dont have time to link the pics in this post, so as usual, go to my flickr page and look in the set "Summer Vacation 2008" and "Olympic Flag Raising". I will most likely edit this later and embed the images tonight.
I also changed the blog title picture to one i particularly liked from the cottage of a sunrise and some fog over the lake. I converted it to black and white in photoshop.
bye for now, enjoy the last week of summer! :)
Its been awhile since I have posted anything. I have been a very busy man the past couple of weeks. I am off work this week and the family and I made it up to a cottage on Chandos lake and had a great time! I got many nice shots of sunrises over the lake and I went on an adventure through the forest and got some good shots of some mushrooms and other forest like things. I had my tripod strapped to my back, and i guess the leg got caught on a tree while i was hiking around and snapped off. I didnt hear it because I was listening to some music, so now i have no tripod. We also went to vist my aunt and uncle near Toronto and had a great time there as well.
I am slowly but surely processing the images from the cottage and also the ones from the Olympic Flag raising on the 8th! Hopefully by next week i will have them up and ready to go. I dont have time to link the pics in this post, so as usual, go to my flickr page and look in the set "Summer Vacation 2008" and "Olympic Flag Raising". I will most likely edit this later and embed the images tonight.
I also changed the blog title picture to one i particularly liked from the cottage of a sunrise and some fog over the lake. I converted it to black and white in photoshop.
bye for now, enjoy the last week of summer! :)
Friday, August 1, 2008
been busy!
Hello everyone
I have been busy the past couple of weeks with work and the family. but we did get to go to Huntsville, Ontario to see my fiances aunt this past weekend! so we got to drive through Algonquin park which was very nice. of course i had my camera and got some really good shots. her aunt has an insane garden and i went a little nuts in there with the camera! but, came away with a ton of beautiful flower close ups!
i am going to link a couple here and you can check out the rest on my flickr page!
I tried to take some pictures of the stars while i was there, but it proved to be a little more difficult than i thought it would be! plus its hard to take a long exposure with no remote shutter release, so i will hold off on that for now!
Here is a neat little shot i did up of dayna and levi. i was going for a sort of 'Dave Hill' look, but i added a bit more softness to make it look a little more dreamy!
Awhile back, we had a family gathering at my folks place, and my grandfather was there. i had my camera around my neck the whole time and he got to calling me "Karsh", who was a famous canadian portrait photographer (more information) who photographed the famous winston churchill picture and many many others! all his work is very dark and moody black and white photos. while portraits arent really my thing, i really do like his work! so i thought i would create a karsh inspired photo of my grandfather! i think it turned out ok, it was color to begin with then i messed around with it in photoshop to alter the lighting and the color.
well, thats all thats new for us! next week there is a wushu demonstration in ottawa to commemorate the beginning of the olympic games in beijing! so my kung fu club is going to do a demonstration for the public and the politicians! i am hoping to get some photos of that which i will share with you all!
have a good weekend! i wont, i am working nights for the next 3 days, ugh :P
I have been busy the past couple of weeks with work and the family. but we did get to go to Huntsville, Ontario to see my fiances aunt this past weekend! so we got to drive through Algonquin park which was very nice. of course i had my camera and got some really good shots. her aunt has an insane garden and i went a little nuts in there with the camera! but, came away with a ton of beautiful flower close ups!
i am going to link a couple here and you can check out the rest on my flickr page!
I tried to take some pictures of the stars while i was there, but it proved to be a little more difficult than i thought it would be! plus its hard to take a long exposure with no remote shutter release, so i will hold off on that for now!
Here is a neat little shot i did up of dayna and levi. i was going for a sort of 'Dave Hill' look, but i added a bit more softness to make it look a little more dreamy!
Awhile back, we had a family gathering at my folks place, and my grandfather was there. i had my camera around my neck the whole time and he got to calling me "Karsh", who was a famous canadian portrait photographer (more information) who photographed the famous winston churchill picture and many many others! all his work is very dark and moody black and white photos. while portraits arent really my thing, i really do like his work! so i thought i would create a karsh inspired photo of my grandfather! i think it turned out ok, it was color to begin with then i messed around with it in photoshop to alter the lighting and the color.
well, thats all thats new for us! next week there is a wushu demonstration in ottawa to commemorate the beginning of the olympic games in beijing! so my kung fu club is going to do a demonstration for the public and the politicians! i am hoping to get some photos of that which i will share with you all!
have a good weekend! i wont, i am working nights for the next 3 days, ugh :P
Monday, July 21, 2008
A brief history of..me
So, I thought I would share a little history about myself and how I got into photography.
My father was always into cameras and photography. I remember him using his old Nikon ‘F’ for family portraits and such. I recall enjoying even using disposable cameras when we were on vacations when I was a kid and was always taking weird and wonderful shots. One day, when I was around 13 or 14, I wanted to use my dad’s camera. He wouldn’t let me (understandably :)). But he went digging in the basement and came up with something better than letting me use his camera…he gave me an old Olympus OM-1, in a vintage camera bag stuffed with goodies!! I couldn’t have been happier! Inside the bag was the camera with a 50mm f1.8 lens, a Makinon 80-200mm lens, cable release, some filters, an old copy of the National Geographic Photographers field guide, and an off camera flash mount! I couldn’t have been more excited. So I go buy some film and start shooting everything I can!
My best friend happened to have the same camera (in silver, so we could tell them apart) and he had a wide angle lens for his. So we would wander around my hometown, finding fun and exciting new places to take pictures! I still have a lot of them, so when I get a scanner, I may find the time to upload them. As I got older, and technology advanced, I got my hands on my first digital camera, a Panasonic DMC-F7. This camera was a little cheaper to operate, seeing as by now I was about 16 or so, and had more teenager-ish things to put my money towards ;). So I used this for awhile. It was a very good camera for its time, it had an excellent Leica lens and was great for macro shots. A year or so after I go that camera, my father had gotten a new digital camera, and I inherited his old one, a Nikon Coolpix 4300. This was an awesome camera. It had full manual control if I wanted it, excellent IQ and it was relatively small.
Now, I have never really known what I wanted to do in life, some people have it planned out from childhood. But I always knew I wanted to do something with photography, even if it was just to take a course in school for it to learn some fundamentals. Well, that wish came true in 2007. My lovely fiancé, being the super thoughtful person she is, enrolled me in an online photography course through ICS Canada! When I am done, I will have a Career Diploma in Photography. The course is a little old school, but that’s okay, it covers developing and all the essentials on the fundamentals of photography (the stuff that never changes anyways). And, that’s why I wanted to upgrade to a DSLR, because I have a little more freedom to play around and experiment with pictures and not have to worry about wasting film and not knowing what the image looks like until I process it. Don’t get me wrong, I still love my OM-1 and will still use it when I want that nostalgic feeling.
So, before I got my D80, I had done extensive research on new cameras and thought I wanted to stick with Olympus. I had my heart set on the E-510. Then one day, we go to my parent’s house, and he had just bought a Nikon D60. I tried it out, and instantly loved how it felt in my hands and the layout of the menu and all the controls! So I flip-flopped back and forth with the idea of the Olympus E-510 or the Nikon D60. I went to my camera store and held the E-510, and it didn’t feel as nice in my hands, and I found the menu system not as intuitive. So I ruled that camera out. I went back to the drawing board, and started researching the Nikon’s. I took some more time with my dad’s D60, and while I liked it a lot, thought I might want something more advanced that would let me grow a little more into the camera and its functions. That’s when I found the D80. It had everything I wanted and then some. I went to the camera shop and held it. The decision was made right there. Roughly the same ergonomics as the D60, but a bit bigger, and more direct access to all the settings, plus a top LCD. Also, more autofocus points, and autofocus support for older lenses!
So, now the problem was funding. I had been laid off from my job at Dell in January. And we had just had our son, so money was a little tight to say the least. I started a camera fund, and put all my spare change into a container in the hopes of being able to put some money towards it by the end of the year. My birthday came around in May, and I asked if I were to get anything, it be a gift card to the camera shop. Well, at the time, I was spending too much time researching, and looking at lenses I wanted for a camera I didn’t even have yet! My fiancé and my baby wanted me back. So she started a fundraiser. She sent out a letter to all our family asking to put in money so she could get me a gift card so I can finally get this camera. Well it worked! I got from work on my birthday, I had a vague idea of the fundraiser plan, so I was expecting a gift card, for maybe a couple of hundred dollars. I got lead upstairs, and there are 2 boxes on the bed. They are both bigger than a gift card. I am speechless at this point. I open them up as fast as I can. Inside, is the Nikon D80, 18-55 VR lens, am 8GB SDHC card, and a Lowepro camera case!! Holy crap. First I get the gift of our beautiful baby boy, then this! I am very lucky, to say the least. I think I said thank you to Dayna more times in the weeks to follow then I have ever said in my life. And the rest, as they say, is history :)
Thanks for reading my long post! As a reward, here are some new shots!
My father was always into cameras and photography. I remember him using his old Nikon ‘F’ for family portraits and such. I recall enjoying even using disposable cameras when we were on vacations when I was a kid and was always taking weird and wonderful shots. One day, when I was around 13 or 14, I wanted to use my dad’s camera. He wouldn’t let me (understandably :)). But he went digging in the basement and came up with something better than letting me use his camera…he gave me an old Olympus OM-1, in a vintage camera bag stuffed with goodies!! I couldn’t have been happier! Inside the bag was the camera with a 50mm f1.8 lens, a Makinon 80-200mm lens, cable release, some filters, an old copy of the National Geographic Photographers field guide, and an off camera flash mount! I couldn’t have been more excited. So I go buy some film and start shooting everything I can!
My best friend happened to have the same camera (in silver, so we could tell them apart) and he had a wide angle lens for his. So we would wander around my hometown, finding fun and exciting new places to take pictures! I still have a lot of them, so when I get a scanner, I may find the time to upload them. As I got older, and technology advanced, I got my hands on my first digital camera, a Panasonic DMC-F7. This camera was a little cheaper to operate, seeing as by now I was about 16 or so, and had more teenager-ish things to put my money towards ;). So I used this for awhile. It was a very good camera for its time, it had an excellent Leica lens and was great for macro shots. A year or so after I go that camera, my father had gotten a new digital camera, and I inherited his old one, a Nikon Coolpix 4300. This was an awesome camera. It had full manual control if I wanted it, excellent IQ and it was relatively small.
Now, I have never really known what I wanted to do in life, some people have it planned out from childhood. But I always knew I wanted to do something with photography, even if it was just to take a course in school for it to learn some fundamentals. Well, that wish came true in 2007. My lovely fiancé, being the super thoughtful person she is, enrolled me in an online photography course through ICS Canada! When I am done, I will have a Career Diploma in Photography. The course is a little old school, but that’s okay, it covers developing and all the essentials on the fundamentals of photography (the stuff that never changes anyways). And, that’s why I wanted to upgrade to a DSLR, because I have a little more freedom to play around and experiment with pictures and not have to worry about wasting film and not knowing what the image looks like until I process it. Don’t get me wrong, I still love my OM-1 and will still use it when I want that nostalgic feeling.
So, before I got my D80, I had done extensive research on new cameras and thought I wanted to stick with Olympus. I had my heart set on the E-510. Then one day, we go to my parent’s house, and he had just bought a Nikon D60. I tried it out, and instantly loved how it felt in my hands and the layout of the menu and all the controls! So I flip-flopped back and forth with the idea of the Olympus E-510 or the Nikon D60. I went to my camera store and held the E-510, and it didn’t feel as nice in my hands, and I found the menu system not as intuitive. So I ruled that camera out. I went back to the drawing board, and started researching the Nikon’s. I took some more time with my dad’s D60, and while I liked it a lot, thought I might want something more advanced that would let me grow a little more into the camera and its functions. That’s when I found the D80. It had everything I wanted and then some. I went to the camera shop and held it. The decision was made right there. Roughly the same ergonomics as the D60, but a bit bigger, and more direct access to all the settings, plus a top LCD. Also, more autofocus points, and autofocus support for older lenses!
So, now the problem was funding. I had been laid off from my job at Dell in January. And we had just had our son, so money was a little tight to say the least. I started a camera fund, and put all my spare change into a container in the hopes of being able to put some money towards it by the end of the year. My birthday came around in May, and I asked if I were to get anything, it be a gift card to the camera shop. Well, at the time, I was spending too much time researching, and looking at lenses I wanted for a camera I didn’t even have yet! My fiancé and my baby wanted me back. So she started a fundraiser. She sent out a letter to all our family asking to put in money so she could get me a gift card so I can finally get this camera. Well it worked! I got from work on my birthday, I had a vague idea of the fundraiser plan, so I was expecting a gift card, for maybe a couple of hundred dollars. I got lead upstairs, and there are 2 boxes on the bed. They are both bigger than a gift card. I am speechless at this point. I open them up as fast as I can. Inside, is the Nikon D80, 18-55 VR lens, am 8GB SDHC card, and a Lowepro camera case!! Holy crap. First I get the gift of our beautiful baby boy, then this! I am very lucky, to say the least. I think I said thank you to Dayna more times in the weeks to follow then I have ever said in my life. And the rest, as they say, is history :)
Thanks for reading my long post! As a reward, here are some new shots!
Saturday, July 12, 2008
a bit of a disappointing day
So, my local camera shop, Henry's, was having a big gift certificate giveaway today. they were giving out 99 gift certificates with values ranging from $10 to $500(!) to the first 99 people through the door! So, i wake up extra early (for a day off) and head out with book and mp3 player in hand. I got there at around 8:15am (doors open at 10am). I was the sixth person in line. I tried to not get my hopes up on getting the big gift certificate because I didnt want to jinx it. But in my mind I had visions of getting a lens, or a new camera bag, or the D80 battery grip! At around 9:15am, my fiance calls and offers to bring me some water and a couple of cookies, i accept. she packs up the baby and comes and meets me, and being the loving person she is, she offers to stand in line at the end and get another certificate for me! Anyways, i finally got in, and picked my gift certificate, hold my breath and open it, and its for $10!!! Ah well, there is still Dayna's, right?? Well, she got a $10 dollar one as well. So, in the end we got $20 bucks. No lens for me. I got a lens hood for my 18-55 lens, and a Giottos rocket blower to go with my lens pen. Better than nothing, but i was a little disappointed to say the least!
I took a couple of shots over the last few days, mostly of Dayna and Levi. Here are a couple:
Well, thats if for today! I am trying to make it downtown to take some building shots and the likes, hopefully i can do that this coming week! And if anyone wants to donate to my cause, let me know (ha ha)
I took a couple of shots over the last few days, mostly of Dayna and Levi. Here are a couple:
Well, thats if for today! I am trying to make it downtown to take some building shots and the likes, hopefully i can do that this coming week! And if anyone wants to donate to my cause, let me know (ha ha)
Monday, July 7, 2008
andrew haydon park and a spider
finally got around to uploading some pictures i took at the park! have a look..also, while eating breakfast, i saw an awesome looking spider on the kitchen window and i had to take his picture as well...here are the links
I find myself taking more and more macro shots all the time...i definetly want a macro lens as one of the first ones i am going to buy! so it will be the sigma 150mm macro or the sigma 10-20 as my next lens! i can't wait :)
i have the majority of this week off, so in between hanging out with my fiance and son, i will try to make some wallpaper sized backgrounds of some of my pictures and put them up for anyone who wants to d/l them!
I find myself taking more and more macro shots all the time...i definetly want a macro lens as one of the first ones i am going to buy! so it will be the sigma 150mm macro or the sigma 10-20 as my next lens! i can't wait :)
i have the majority of this week off, so in between hanging out with my fiance and son, i will try to make some wallpaper sized backgrounds of some of my pictures and put them up for anyone who wants to d/l them!
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