Halifax, Nova Scotia

I was in Halifax, Nova Scotia for an academic conference. Its my first time in the Maritimes, and really the first time outside of Ontario (except for Montreal, Quebec, but thats so close to Ontario it almost doesn't count). For the most part I did travel alone, and although I had some reservations about this I actually really enjoyed it! I travelled at my own pace and did the things I wanted to do without obligation to stick to someone's schedule.

I was staying at an Airbnb by the downtown Halifax harbourfront and its beautiful here. The owner is an architect and has fantastic taste in home decor as I've slowly been taking my own little notes here and there for ideas on my own place.

My host gave me a quick tour of Halifax after picking me up from the airport, we drove through Darmouth, which he dubbed "the Dark Side" and he said its much like the "Scarborough" of Toronto. This area is not as affluent as downtown Halifax and tends to be considered a bit more sketchy by the locals. We crossed the McDonald toll bridge (lo and behold, a toll bridge).

Here are my photos from the trip:

Halifax Seaport Farmer's Market

Rochester, NY

My friend and I drove up to Rochester New York to go outlet shopping. We found this nice venue on the way and decided to snap some shots. Pictures were taken with 50mm.

We played around with different poses and effects. It was a lot of fun :)

Fan Expo: Day 1 of 4

Fan Expo is taking place in Toronto and covers vendors, events, panels for five genres including comics, sci-fi, horror, anime, and gaming. A great perk? The cosplay! I rushed over after work to line up and get my tickets. 

I had the opportunity to take pics of quite a few cosplayers that I got to take pics of. Apparently Saturday (Day 3) will be a big day. 

Here are my other photos:

Photographing the Night Sky

My friend and I set out about 1.5 hour away from the big city to find a remote place where there was very little light pollution. It was so remote I could hear cows mooing in the distance. We setup our tripods and proceeded to take photos with shutterspeeds of 30+ seconds. The results were beautiful.

The Milky Way

I still cannot believe thats a photo I took. At first I thought my camera screen was fuzzy or the lens was dirty, but then I quickly realized that it was in fact, gas clouds from the milky way.

The Big Dipper

Niagara-on-the-Lake: Wine Tour

Me and the the girls from grad school that I keep in touch with went on a wine tour at Niagara-on-the-Lake. This is becoming an annual event.

When I did the wine tour, I was a complete wine virgin. I couldn't really distinguish between wine tastes - I only knew that white wine was just a bit sweeter, red was more bitter than white wines, and dessert wines were very sweet. All red wines tasted the same too.

Since last year, I've had some wine on social occasions and have finally acquired the taste for it (beer.. is a different story). So I was excited to try the different types of wines on this trip!

My friend Melinda did research on each of the different wineries and selected ones that were in close vicinity and had good ratings. Each winery we went to had $2-3 wine tastings (sometimes $3 for three wines, or $2 for an ice wine tasting). Overall it was a very good deal! 

My approach to wine tastings: White wine first, red wine, then dessert wine. 

Hanami 2: Shoot in High Park

I had the opportunity to take some pictures in High Park, Toronto. We had taken a few photos, hoping for better weather but unfortunately it rained and I got pretty drenched. The photos turned out pretty nice:

Hanami 2014: Part 1

Hanami is the Japanese custom of enjoying cherry flower blooms. Each year, there is a period of one week where the cherry blossoms come out to bloom. In Toronto, hundreds make the pilgrimage to High Park to see the cherry blossoms bloom.

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! 

Bloor-Yorkville's Icefest 2014

This past Saturday, my cousin Cindy and I met up to take part in "Ice Fest", where ice sculpture competitions took place. The temperature was about 3 degrees Celsius above 0, but the organizers were able to keep the sculptures cool. We took this opportunity to practice our photography skills and to catch up together.

Equipment:

Camera: Canon EOS Rebel SL1 f 18-55 mm

Edited with: Adobe Lightroom 5

I tried to keep in mind things I had learned from photography composition: specifically rule of thirds, including textures, patterns, and perspectives. I'm hoping that with more practice I can get better

001. The Theme: "Heat Wave": All of the sculptures were related to something tropical.

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. 

DJ Skate Night at Harbourfront

Other than Nathan Phillips Square, the Natrel Rink at Harbourfront Centre is certainly a beautiful sight-seeing destination in Toronto. Hundreds flock to the ice rink by the lake to lace up and skate to music.

Saturday evenings are reserved for DJ-spun mixes while you view the pretty lights and the lake view. The DJs featured come from music scenes that are prominent in Toronto's clubbing culture. However, there are skaters of all ages that come to these skate fest. 

Photoshoot at Brookfield Place

I took the opportunity to take advantage of the beautifully lit interiors of Brookfield Place in Toronto with the new SLR camera I got.

Camera: Canon Rebel SL1
Location: Brookfield Place, Toronto, ON

This is one of my favourite photos, it reall looks like a scene out of a movie:

SLR Camera Basics

I'm in the process of getting into photography and taking the initiative to learn from camera savvy friends as well as learning what I can online.

I have my eye on the Canon Rebel SL1, a light weight camera, and good beginner SLR camera.

{Canon EOS Rebel SL1}

Nikon has a great SLR beginner's tutorial which I have been learning.

Anatomy of a Camera

{Nikon Tutorial: Digital SLR Construction}

---

View Finder / Eye Piece

The area that you look through in a camera that frames the picture. Just like peering into an "eyepiece" of a microscope in order to view an image that is being magnified.

---

Image Sensor

The image sensor picks up the light filtered through the camera (past the lens, aperture and shutter) and is what ultimately creates the picture.

---

Shutter Speed: Control for Blur

The shutter "curtain" covers the image sensor. When you press the "Shutter-release" button, the shutter curtain is raised allowing the light onto the image sensor to the take picture.

Shutter speed is measured in fractions of a second, 1 second, 1/4 second, 1/500th's of a second. Therefore the larger the number, the slower the shutter speed. The prime symbol "f" is sometimes placed for shutter speeds less than 1 second instead of displaying it in fraction form.

 A "fast" shutter-release means that the image sensor is exposed to light for a short period of time. You get a "frozen-in-time" effect of an object that is moving, good for taking pictures of moving subjects:

{Nikon Tutorial: Exposure - Shutter Speed}

A "slow" shutter release means the image sensor is exposed to light for a long period of time. The image will appear blurry:

{Nikon Tutorial: Exposure - Shutter Speed}

---

Aperture: Depth of Field/Distance of Focus

Aperture adjusts how much light is able to filter through, very similar to the size of our pupils. A larger aperture size means more light is allowed in and for the human eye, this occurs when a room is dark and we want to let in more light so we can see more. A small Aperture size allows very little light in; and for our eye, the pupil size gets smaller when we are in a room with bright light in order not to overexpose or overwhelm our eyes with too much light.

This is often expressed as an "f" number. Changing "f" number changes the size of the aperture and therefore the amount of light that is allowed into the camera. Small apertures means MORE light is let into the camera; where as larger f-number aperture means LESS light is let into the camera.

{Kathy Sheridan Photography: Comparing the Human Eye to a Camera}

A larger aperture size (smaller f-number) allows you to focus on objects in a further distance, whereas a smaller aperture size (larger f-number) allows you to focus on a particular point whilst blurring everything else.

{Exposure Guide : Focusing Basics} DOF = depth of field

To Achieve Bokeh Effect:

• A high Max Aperture (LOW f-number e.g. f/1.8) giving us a shallow depth of field (DOF)
• Lens - a larger focal length for macro photography

Basics to Photography Infographic

{Dell Forums}

Niagara-on-the-Lake

This was a beautiful photoshoot that took place at Niagara-on-the-Lake near the Hydro towers. We played around with some really neat camera effects around sunset - it made for beautiful lighting :) 

Toronto Travel: Leslie Spit

So its been two months since I've moved into my downtown Toronto Condo and I've had the wonderful opportunity of bicycling through to Leslie Street Spit, a man made headland that extends into Lake Ontario.

The last time I biked was for a fun bachelorette wine tour at Niagara-on-the-Lake. So I believe I was ready for the 3-4 hour bike ride from Harbourfront to Leslie Street Spit.

Barrie Roads

This shoot took place in Barrie and was very unexpected. I was picking up Charlie and bringing him home from a rabbitry in Barrie. We saw this empty paved road and decided to take pictures. It was beautiful too (at sunset). 

Hamilton at 3 am

Posing for photos under the bridge in North Hamilton at 3 am.