Blogger's Remorse

What does a blogger write about after 3 years. Photography itself is a tough topic to write about and more so when you're an amateur. I have been somewhat busy in the last 3 years but seemed to neglect this particular blog. Lack of topics or maybe a phase? Yes, I would think so but I am back with three blogs including this one and each one about different aspects of my life.

www.theworriedtraveller.canuckstravel.com is about my travels, personal experience and tidbits of info for travellers.

www.wehavetodeal.blogspot.ca is my Personal blog and explores life experience and everyday topics.

As I look back at this blog, I'm regretting not keeping it up. It was an exciting part of my life and at that time, photography was a big part of my life. I brought my camera with me everywhere and now, sometimes I stare at it on my computer desk. It makes it to the odd function if I'm asked but otherwise sits in its case.

Since the latest entry back in 2011, I did a few jobs and one being a wedding for 150. My partner Bob (he's made it to a few entries on this blog) assisted me that day and thanks to him, I made it through without losing my mind. As a head shot and landscape photographer, you can delete and edit or keep to yourself a lot of pics. You can't do that with wedding shots as anyone knows who has shot a wedding, you can't miss a moment. I deleted photos of course that didn't make the cut and those being the ones that were out of focus, aimed in the wrong direction etc. I found the post production to be lengthy and difficult to see in the eyes of the couple. What would they like? For the first time, I believe they were happy but there were elements I would and would not do going forward. Question to myself would be, would I ever do another wedding? The answer is yes. I need to do some research and be a little bit more prepared in the sense that I should have numbers ready and take a little more control of the situation. A list of 10 and I probably missed 6 or 7.

In the blog, you'll see the female model Kathryn and I had the opportunity to photograph her solo and it turned out to be an amazing day. She hired her own make up artist and the end result was that she was very happy with her shots. The first time and that post in particular was of Kathryn and her son. They were naturals. Kathryn has since asked for another photo shoot in the coming months, so we'll see how she's changed.

On my most recent trip to Italy and Greece, I switched out my telephoto lens for my wide angle 10-20mm. What a difference and probably one of the best choices I made for landscape photography.

Maybe reclaiming this blog will inspire me to do some more photography and switch up the mediums a bit.

Adam and Dave Wedding 2012

 Kathryn solo photo shoot 2012

Tuscany trip, 2014

I'm riding a bike to Montreal!!!!

My intention for this blogspot was to showcase my photography, which I have done in a few of my posts as you can see.  This year for the blogspot I wanted to post something a little different.  From the heading above you can see that I am riding a bike to Montreal.  Now for people who know me they may think that this task is impossible.  Not so much!  I've proved to myself in the past that I could run 2 half marathon's back in 2008 amd with the proper training, your body can do anything.

The Bike Rally was introduced to me last year as a volunteer and I am glad that I did it.  It opened my eyes to what capabilities I have and what I feel is important to me and how I can help others.  In the final day of the rally, a large group of us were waiting patiently for the 300 plus riders to cross the finish line.  A sea of purple jerseys came towards us with a police escort and proudly awaited their audience.  The tears, the hugs and the joy that these riders just finished cycling 660km from Toronto to Montreal was incredible.  I wanted to be a part of that in a big way.  I made it happen in 2011 with a lot of support from my partner Bob, my family and friends and of course me.

My first was of course the registration which I did at Woody's bar in Toronto along with many of my peers and then I was to attend a few important seminars and workshops to make sure I was up to the challenge.  The next big step for me was to buy a bike.  It had been 30 years since I purchased my last bike and because of inflation, I'm sure I would be shocked.  The bike and accessories were quite expensive but going forward I have a fancy, smancy bike with some sexy spandex and tight shirts (lovely!!!).

FUNDRAISING

Definitely not my strong point!!!! This part of the journey I'll be honest with you is not something that I have favoured.  As a minimum, each rider has to raise $2200 by June 30th in order to participate and thank you to some wonderful friends and family I have reached this goal with a few more bucks to get to my ultimate goal of $3000.  Thank you again everyone for donating to this wonderful cause.  I would do things a little bit differently the next time if I decide to participate in the following years.  Let's just put it down to a learning experience.  I'll wait a few years I think to give everyone a break.

TEAM VELOCITY

Our team name!  We have a total of 33 members on Team Velocity with 5 of them being volunteers.  We've had quite a few meetings, plenty of posts and a bunch load of emails to make the decision on our name.  We like the name and to make it even more fun, we were able to pick our own special names with the word "Velocity" in it.  It's official!  My name is "FUELLED BY VELOCITY".  Everyone on the team has their own unique twist on the names and to top it off, fancy new shirts with our logo created by are very own  Mark Fisher and James Forrester.  We are almost there!

TEAM EVENTS

Very exciting events planned for the Bike Rally and some of the ideas are brand new and quite complex.  Red Dress Day, Talent night (did someone say Lady Gaga and Madonna?), Disney day and 101 dalmations to boot.  Look out for Cruella DeVille!

THE TRAINING RIDES

The training rides would be a true test of my abilities to see if I could actually ride a bike, change gears and change a tire, phew!!!!  The rides would gradually increase from week to week and planned so you could be prepared for hills and endurance.  I will provide a list of all the rides I've done to date totalling 720km.  I won't tell you about all the cursing I've done when I've experience all those wonderful hills east, west, north and south of Toronto.  This is a G-rated blogspot.  Since the inception of the training rides, a group of us in our team have decided to do more endurance based rides on our own.  Most recently 121km. Our group consits of Harvey Malinsky, Chris Jones when he's not working, David Embleton, Rob Venoit, Kevin Levesque aka Miss Conception (yes we have the most fabulous drag queen riding with us) and Kevin Romaine, the most recent registered rider and myself.  Sometimes we've had the pleasure of David McNaughton and a friend of his Ben, who snuck in some Hills and Skills training because deep down we knew that we probably not attend the workshop.  He knew it!!!

Headshots

It's been another few months since I've posted on my blogspot.  I wanted to include some of the headshot photo shoots I've done this year and last.  The first one being my good friend Shannon Scott.  We worked together in the past and I love her energy.  I always tell her that she is the most positive person I know.  Her dream is to be an anchor or a TV host for a show, maybe one of her own. With her permission I've included some of my favourite shots as well as a blurb about herself.  Enjoy!

Shannon Scott is a Multimedia Journalist studying New Media at Sheridan College.  She is the host for Live at 5 Thursdays, and is also a contributing writer for neweasel.com and Pundit Magazine.  Shannon comes to the world of new media from the world of theatre, and one of her greatest joys is seeing great theatre whenever she can.  If asked, Shannon will refuse to show anyone the contents of her Ipod as her music collection is almost entirely made up of songs from musicals, with some Jason Mraz thrown in for good measure.  Shannon also strives to live as green as possible but finds it very hard sometimes.  You can follow her success and failures, as well as learn how to make a newspaper liner for your compost bin on her blog noteasylivinggreen.com


You can follow Shannon Scott on this link shannonscott.ca

C'est la vie

It's been another few weeks since I've posted on this blog so let's get busy.  I wanted to move a few days to the end of our trip and make our stop in Paris, France.  We've heard so much about this lively city from a few of our friends and family and 100% of it is true.  The trip overnight on the train started in Venice, Italy and it was interesting to say the least.  Keep your eyes open and watch your luggage.  That's all I will say about it.  We met a wonderful couple from San Francisco and they kept us entertained for the trip.  We actually spent our last evening with them in the French Quarter and it was wonderful.  Paris in a nutshell was absolutely wonderful.  I loved the architecture in this city, the buildings were beautiful and consistent with its amazing variety of restaurants, cafes and bars.  The cafes I was most interested in because they place the chairs in the same direction so everyone can people watch.  We made some tourist stops to the Eiffel Tower, L'Arc de Triomphe, The Catacombs and The Montmartre.  We left out The Louvre because the both of us have seen The Louvre and The Prado Museum in Madrid.  I was so impressed with the food in Paris and there was plenty of variety to choose from.  The locals were quite pleasant and they appreciated my attempt at French.  Merci!  For those of you who wish to travel to this wonderful city, take advantage of walking through the streets and different communities available.  Plenty of different music awaits you and if you have the time, jump on that tourist bus that you can jump on and off and enjoy the views.  You can pick it up at The Eiffel Tower and other spots throughout the city.  Bon Vacances!

Travelling in Italy, destination Rome

I've been away for a bit so I wanted to come back with some pictures from one of the most historical and vibrant cities in Italy.  I loved Rome and it was the second stop on our trip to Italy in 2010.  We spent three wonderful nights in the city and arrived in the evening to a somewhat intimidating train station.  Before we arrived in Rome, we took a train trip from Siracusa, Sicily.  The trip lasted 12 hours but it was wonderful to see southern Italy and all the great coastal cities that Italy has to offer.  A friend of ours mentioned that our train was going to ride on to a boat in Messina, Sicily and I couldn't believe it until it actually jumped on.  It was a quick 45 minute ride and we were off to Rome.  We met a wonderful couple from India and they had mentioned that there son was marrying in Europe and they had already been to Rome earlier.  It was great to meet them and they were able to tell us what to watch for and visit the great tourist spots in the city.  We arrived at night and we followed them to the taxi stand. Just as an fyi, we were told to take the taxi's from the taxi stand because if you take a random cab, you could pay a high price to your hotel.  Our taxi fare was 18 euros and about a 20 minute ride.  The first thing we noticed was the vespa drivers. We were going to rent them in Florence but quickly changed our minds.  We stayed in a B&B just outside of Vatican City and our host Stefan, a sailor was very accommodating and made some great recommendations while we were there. The name of the B&B was Villa Pamphili - Piccolomini.  The website is http://www.b-b.rm.it/. We stayed in the Levante Double Room with a cute terrace to sit out and enjoy the views.  The breakfast was very personal with an assortment of pastries, cereal, espresso of course and juices.  Our first day started in the Vatican City and I'll be honest, I was glad we had reserved tickets for the tour because the lines were very busy.  We had a wonderful tour guide from Fort Lauderdale who was doing an arts degree in Italy and her Italian was amazing.  She was very informative and knowledgeable to say the least and kept us entertained throughout the tour.  I can't express how beautiful The Vatican museum is and St. Peter's Basilica.  I think I took 700 pictures alone in Rome.  A short ride to a piazza and we visited The Coliseum and The Forum. Incredible to think that this structure is in the middle of a very busy street in Rome.  We were told by our guide Christine, originally from Rome that this city has 2700 years of history.  Unbelievable!  The next two days would take us to The Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, the neighbourhood of Trastavere and the many incredible restaurants Rome has to offer with some stops at a Gelateria.  We had Gelato in every city we visited, delicious!  Please enjoy my pictures of Rome and make this one of your next stops when you travel to Italy.  Make sure you take the time to enjoy each location and plan your trip well.  You don't want to jump from place to place too quickly as you will miss many opportunities to see the locals, the architecture, the piazzas and the many wonderful pictures you will take. Buon viaggio!

Macro Photography - Hydrangea Flower

I started experimenting with macro photography quite early with my original Panasonic Lumix camera and when I purchased the Canon Rebel XSI, my macro lens was one of my first purchases.  I am fascinated by the explosion of colours as well as the close-ups you can achieve with this great lens.  Off and on I will be showcasing these wonderful variety of flowers on this blog and I wanted to start with the Hydrangea because of it's vibrant colours and the way it's presents itself.

We move to Cinque Terre Italy

What a fascinating group of villages in Northern Italy.  Cinque Terre is known world wide for its wonderful vistas as well as its amazing hiking.  As a photographer I can assure you that you will get some of the best pictures that you can imagine.  The idea is to start at Riomaggiore and hike to each of the cities on the way.  The next is Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and finally Monterrosso.  Each of these tiny village offers the same luxuries as a major city with some wonderful restaurants, shops and the amazing locals of course.  It is impossible to compare the differences because each one is so unique.  Monterrosso offers two beaches with a great backdrop and Corniglia is way up on the cliff of Cinque Terre.  In my opinion Riomaggiore and Vernazza offers the best views and of course the best photos.  So many colours it's hard to keep track of which village your in and what landscape you're looking at.

In Toronto I have visited quite a few unique shows showcasing artists and everything you can imagine under one roof.  I remember years ago being fascinated by a specific acrylic picture and I recall it being Riomaggiore from above.  This picture could only be taken by a hiker and someone is not afraid of heights!  Please enjoy the selection of my pictures of Cinque Terre and fall in love with Italy again.