The Votes Are In!
07 Feb 2010 Leave a Comment
in 1, Photo of the Day, photography Tags: blog, images, photo, Photo of the Day, photograph, photography, vote
In December, I asked readers of my Photo of the Day section to tell me which of my images (2009) they thought were the best, and, to be fair, which were the worst, and why. Everyone was very kind, and no one told me that I had a any bad images (very sweet of you all), but there was a brave soul who said that some of my images, although well composed etc, were ruined because they were blurry or unfocused. I have battled with my camera’s autofocus millions of times, trying desperately to focus on a part of the composition, while my Coolpix decided that, no, it would be much better to focus over there. In time I shall be able to correct this too.
But no more waiting. Here are, in no particular order, my five top images of 2009 as voted by you:
Xmas Light Experiment VII Posted Dec 21.
Purple Light Posted on Dec 5
Mmm! Posted Sept 3
View from Acropolis Posted on Aug 10
Fire and Light Posted on Jan 19
Thank you to everyone who took the time to look through my images and give me some feedback. This is why I love the internet so much!
Flashback Friday
22 Jan 2010 2 Comments
in Photo of the Day, photography Tags: flashback Friday, photography
Last weekend I decided to scan an old photograph I took in high school that was fading on my wall. Just to preserve the colour. Then I though, Hey where did the negatives go, and dug through my old art books. Not only did I find some negatives (but not the right ones!), but I also found some things that are no longer done with digital photography, like this contact sheet:
And my test strip:
So, this little trip down memory lane, lead me to leaf through some of my old film prints and scan those too. And I though, why not dust them off and share them. So I decided that every Friday on my Photo of the Day I will do my best to post some old pictures from the era of film. For as long as I have them, anyway!
If you would like to participate then you can leave a link in the comments section below, or in the comments to my Photo of the Day. And please, tell me what you think!
Science World
08 Jan 2010 Leave a Comment
in Canada, Photo of the Day, photography Tags: false creek, Photo of the Day, photography, Science World, seal, Travel, Vancouver
Here begins my mini-tour of Vancouver. This trip home I brought my fiancé with me, which gave me the chance to revisit some of the more famous touristy places in Vancouver, that I hadn’t visited since I was a kid.
One of these is Science World, or as it is now called the Telus World of Science. I hadn’t gone since I was in elementary school, and found a lot of things had changed, while others had remained the same. It is a fun trip to take with or without kids, although it is clearly catered more to children than to adults. There are interactive games and challenges to take; and a lot of information about each and every display.
A new thing that has been added is a little cinema which shows documentaries every 45 minutes about many many different topics from science to nature to geography. We got sucked into two in a row, and they were both pretty neat to see.
Of course, Science World’s crowning glory is the Omnimax Theatre. If you look at Science World from outside it looks like a giant golf ball, and that golf ball is what makes the Omnimax so special. Besides being a giant screen, it is also spherical. Movies are filmed with a fisheye lens as opposed to the wideangle used to film regular IMAX. It is even more amazing to watch a film in Omnimax because the screen is all around you – up, down and to the side. You feel like you are right inside the scene, so much so that sometimes your head starts spinning from all that movement. This was the hightlight for my fiancé…he talked about it for days!
After the visit, it is also nice to take a walk around the area and take a look at False Creek. If you are lucky, like me, you might just get to see a seal in the water!
Just in case someone is interested in learning more about Science World, here is the link to their site.
Also, please take a look at the pictures I posted on my Photo of the Day feature, just a few to give you a rough idea of some of the things you can find there.
The Best and The Worst
01 Dec 2009 Leave a Comment
in Photo of the Day, photography Tags: best, opinion, photo, Photo of the Day, photography, worst
December – the month of the year where most people decide to tally up all the things they’ve done in the past year and see how to change them in the next. So here goes for me – my Photo of the Day. I started posting one picture a day (more or less) in January on Aminus3. I feel I have learned a lot but know I can always learn more, so I ask you, dear readers to help me 
Could you take a few minutes to look through my photos and tell me which five you like the most (and why) and which five you like the least (and why).
You can either write in the comments section to this post, or under the photos themselves, or, if you prefer privately via the contact form.
THANK YOU EVERYONE!
The Longest Woman in the World
09 Sep 2009 Leave a Comment
in Photo of the Day, Wales Tags: Aberystwyth, photo, photography, Wales
Here she is: The Longest Woman in the World!!! Thanks for the picture Mel!
Guest Photographer
08 Sep 2009 Leave a Comment
in Photo of the Day Tags: guest photographer, photography
Today is the big day folks! I am officially Peter Carey’s Guest Photographer.
THANK YOU PETER!!!!
The Carey Adventures
28 Aug 2009 Leave a Comment
in Daily Life, Photo of the Day Tags: carey adventures, guest photographer, photograph, photography
This is going to be short, and sweet. A while back, Peter Carey, author of The Carey Adventures Blog, started a new section on his blog, that of Guest Photographer. It was fun, interesting, informative and inspirational. He asked photographers of every type to write a bit about themselves and to send a week’s worth of pictures, which he then posted.
This year he’s doing it again. And I. HAVE. BEEN. CHOSEN!! I was so excited to see his email in my mailbox and gladly wrote back as soon as I could! I don’t know what week he will be having me, but, the Guest Photographer section has begun again, and while you are waiting for me, take a look at the rest of the blog and the other guests.
Super excited!
Delphi
20 Aug 2009 Leave a Comment
in Greece, Photo of the Day, Things to See Tags: Delphi, Greece
Delphi. Home of the Oracle. Much smaller than I imagined…we arrived late at night and got off the bus. This wonderfully illuminated road greated us, bubbling with life. We dragged our tired selves through the crowd to our hotel and collapsed on the bed.
We woke up around 930 the next morning and opened the shutters and saw …no-one. Hardly a soul in sight under the baking sun. Strange…we went down to the lobby and asked where we could have some breakfast. The bar next door was suggested. We obeyed. The bar was an amazing surprise. It seemed dark and empty when we came in, but when we asked for breakfast we were led to a beautiful shady terrace overlooking the valley right to the sea. Our jaws dropped. We were served a wonderful breakfast with coffee, cookies, jam, toast, eggs, and fresh fruit, picked right off the tree next to the terrace. Magnificent.
We then braved the heat and headed out to Ancient Delphi. The heat waves were rolling off the road and the dust was everywhere, but we, and all the other tourists, waited in line patiently to enter and enjoy the marvels of the ancient city. Like many Greek ruins you feel very very small looking up at them. You are not allowed to walk around in them (in fact we were witnesses to a huge screaming match between a custodian and a dancing tourist) but you can still feel their power.
Ancient Delphi is not for the faint of heart. It is hot and all UPHILL, but the Greek are smart and put water fountains all over the place with fresh spring water (never tasted water so good!)
Below Ancient Delphi is the Gymnasium and the Tholos. The Tholos is probably the most famous symbol of Delphi. It was the temple to Athena, and has been partially reconstructed. The gymnasium is fun though, the track is still complete and there is still a pool (empty of course).
The heat was still oppressive so we escaped by going into the museum (thank you air conditioning!) and enjoying the thousands and thousands of pieces. We left the museum as the sun was going down and noticed the streets coming alive – and not with tourists. All the residents thrive at night (no wonder – the heat is incredible during the day – you would never believe that in SNOWS in Delphi and people go skiing in the winter) and the restaurants and streets were packed, the lights were all turned on and real life began!
We enjoyed our last evening in Delphi and were very sad to leave it early the next morning. We returned to Athens, spent the night in our hostel, and went off to the airport the next morning back to Italy and leaving Greece behind, taking only our memories and thousands of pictures with us.
Greece
10 Aug 2009 Leave a Comment
in Greece, Photo of the Day, Things to See Tags: Athens, Greece, photo, Photo of the Day
Today’s Photo of the Day is a photograph I took about a year ago and is the beginning of my new series – last year’s trip to GREECE!
Now is the vacation season, and to honour that I decided to put up last year’s shots, seeing as this year my holiday will be in September, not August.
So, first stop: Athens. What to say about Athens? Home of the Acropolis, the National Museum and traffic; lots and lots of traffic. I swear, it beats Italian traffic, and as a tourist you learn to keep eyes and ears wide open, because that green light that claims you can cross means nothing to local drivers. Andrea and I learned it after the first ten minutes of setting foot on Greek soil, when we nearly got ourselves run over for having a split-second doubt. Be decisive is my advice to you.
Visiting Athens takes about two days. The museum itself takes nearly a day and is chock full of very interesting archaeological finds. You are even allowed to use your camera – no flash. Oh, and never ever try to make fun of a statue by emulating it in any way. The ladies have a very sharp eye and will make you delete the photograph. We got yelled at but one person actually had their camera taken from them and their photos deleted right in front of their very astonished eyes. Besides the museum adventure we enjoyed a very hot and dusty day at the Acropolis and its surrounding area. It is well kept and amazingly cheap, all things considered. You can buy one ticket that allows entry into all the sites for only €12.00 if I’m not mistaken (don’t take my word on it, I’m going by memory). There are tonnes of restaurants nearby and the waiters wait for you to stop and glance at a menu, then come up to you speaking a series of languages till they get the right one and try and convince you to choose their restaurant and not someone else’s. It is quite frustrating because some of them really press you super hard, others are nice and let live. I chose them of course.
There are also the National Gardens (probably better seenin the spring, they were pretty dry in August), and the changing of the guards in Syntagma Square. The change occurs on the hour and is excruciating to watch. The guards drag their feet in a slow deliberate manner making their heels click and shaking the pompoms on their shoe tips. Like in London, tourists enjoy being photographed with them. Another thing that is nice in Syntagma Square is the Metro station under it. It has pieces of history all along its walls, and one of the most interesting clock designs ever!
All in all Athens doesn’t really have all that much else to offer. If you go outside the tourist area, keep a sharp eye out for pickpockets, most especially on the Metro. I enjoyed it very much however, and would like to go back, maybe in a cooler season!
Lago del Brugneto
22 Jul 2009 Leave a Comment
in Italy, Photo of the Day, Things to See Tags: Brugneto, Genoa, Genova, hiking, Italia, Italy, nature, Photo of the Day, photography
At the beginning of spring my fiancé and I decided to adapt the usual Italian Easter Monday habit of Pasquetta sui Prati [Easter Monday in the Fields]. Traditionally, Italians usually pack a very elaborate picnic and go eat in the meadow on Easter Monday. We decided to pack a simple picnic and, seeing as the weather was perfect, clear and crisp, decided to go for a hike. After a one hour drive we reached the Parco dell’Antola and the lake of Brugneto.
This is an artificial lake and is used to give the city of Genoa its drinking water. Apparently it is not always full, but being early in the season we were lucky and it was full of incredibly blue water! The colour was amazing, as you can see in my multiple pictures of it starting with this post.
There is a path all the way around the lake about 13 km long. Needless to say we didn’t do it all, but we have planned to brave it with some friends one of these days. It is nice and quiet and you can hear the birds singing, as well as apparently there being many wild boar and deer, although I didn’t see any. When we went, it was just the beginning of spring and a strange phenomenon had taken place – where the trees were exposed to the sun they were all budding, and where they were in the shade they were bare without a sign of life! So in the space of two feet you could go from winter to spring!
Anyway the day was wonderful, I filled my camera with a gazillion photographs, and was happily exhausted at the end of it. Another day well spent exploring!
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