Joel's Birthday

My little cousin turned 4 years old today. He's really into ninja turtles, swords, and cars. We had a small birthday get together with mom's side of the family. He has a "kids" birthday party next week. 

South Asian Wedding Reception at Berber Social

I was invited to a South Asian wedding reception recently at BerBer Social in the heart of downtown Toronto. There was an open bar, multiple speeches, a Bollywood dance performance, Belly Dancing and delicious cuisine. What I found interesting was that the wedding ceremony and reception actually took place on two different days. 

I took photos with the Canon SL1 with a 24-60mm f 2.8 lens and I loved  the effect and bokeh produced by this lens! 

Blue and Yellow Bridal Shower

I've been practicing with my SLR camera as much as possible recently. I've gotten better with taking macro photos with bokeh effect, however, "scenery" photos are much more challenging. I have an upcoming trip to Asia; so I want to be able to take good scenic photos. 

I used the program Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 to fix the highlights, shadows, and exposure. 

North Indian Music and Dance: Tabla and Kathak.

I had the opportunity to sit in a Tabla and Kathak performance with vocals this past week organized by Toronto Tabla Ensemble. It featured and was attended by Tabla and Kathak students. 

The traditional Tabla is a membranophone "drum". There are usually two drums, of different sizes. The musician uses the fingers and palms, with the used to apply pressure to the drum to change the pitch as the fingers produce the "tap" or "bol" that you hear (source):