My darling first-born daughter Isla is four years old today.  I can hardly believe it.  Four years ago at this time, on a dark and stormy Hallowe'en night, I had been pushing for an hour, with another hour to go.  I was eyeing the clock.  At 11 days late, I had felt that she was meant to be a Hallowe'en baby and midnight was my goal.  And finally, there she was.  At 11:58 p.m.  Beautiful and healthy and ours.

And now here she is, sleeping in her room in her big girl bed after a day at kindergarten and a night of first-time trick-or-treating, our amazing four year old sweetheart.  The kid with a million questions and dance moves, silly and giggly and loud, learning about syllables and writing her name and telling me her baby sister was the baby she always wanted.  The kid who is so proud to finally be able to say "breakfast" instead of "breakfick", who opened a talking Tinkerbell card that told her that her "wish would come true" and questioned "How does she know that?".  The kid who told her Auntie Leah today that a kid in her class was away from school, and was probably in Halifax visiting his Auntie Leah. 

Four years old and growing up much too quickly.  But she still calls the sun room the "sum roon" and pistachios "mustachios" and she still wants "Twinkle Twinkle" at bedtime and I hope she still will a little while longer.

We celebrated with a party with family yesterday and again, I won't share photos of the girls but I give you cupcake photos in their stead.  I made these!  Yay!  And little ones for her classroom because I'm trying hard to become "that mom" that the other moms hate.  I really don't think I'm better than you; I just like to bake cupcakes.  (Oh also, she said smugly, I made these Martha Stewart owl wings for my girls.  No big deal.) 

Yesterday morning, while D watched the girls, I took my camera out for a walk downtown.  I had a little walk around some townhouse-style condos by the marina, an area I have driven past before but never explored.  It was very lovely and peaceful.  I then decided to head over the Lasalle Causeway towards the Royal Military College, another place I'd driven through but hadn't ever taken the time to explore on foot.  The K-Town Triathalon was in full swing and I watched some of the cyclists ride over the causeway on their home stretch.  On my drive downtown, I passed some people cheering on the runners with some awesome signs, including "Go, Random Stranger, Go" and "Toenails are for Sissies!"  My favourite though was "You've Got Stamina!  Call me #...". 

Anyhow, these are a few of the photos I took.  I had my telephoto lens this time as I now have a bag big enough to carry it, and I have to admit that with my long lens and large bag I felt like quite the photojournalist.  Unfortunately the resulting photos make my amateur status rather obvious, but I'm learning and there are a few in the bunch that I think turned out decently. 

I'm trying to challenge myself to take more than close-up shots, and the telephoto lens is coming in handy for this.  I'm most attracted to close-up shots, particularly close-up nature shots that fill the whole frame, I think because of the detail and boldness of colour.  I find it rather difficult to take landscape shots which I think is partly due to my nearsightedness - I just can't see things in the distance clearly enough to judge if I'm getting a good shot or not - but I also find it more difficult to make landscape shots interesting.  So that's my new challenge. 

I imagine with some editing, changing brightness and colour, I could make them so, but although I have no issue with using a computer program to remove the evidence of lens dust in a picture, or to slightly adjust a horizon line, I'm quite hesitant to do more than that.  I don't know if it makes me a bit of a purist, but I feel like photo manipulation is another art form all on its own and seperate from photography itself (which is not to put it down - I have seen some amazing things done with photo editing and really do think it is an art form).  To me, though, a photo should really represent as closely as possible what was actually visible, with the "art" coming from the photographer's choice of technical settings on the camera itself, combined with the choice of how to frame the shot, which angle to take, and the choice of subject itself.  So I'm striving to get the best possible shots I can with the least amount of post-production.  None of these photos here have been edited at all.   

The wind turbines offshore on Wolfe Island.  They have caused a lot of controversy and I can understand why - I don't think I would want one in my backyard - but I do think they can be rather pretty:

I'm not a big boat or water person, but on such a nice day as it was, I can absolutely see the appeal.

I tried to get all artsy taking photos of the bridge...

...and through the bridge.  You're almost there, random stranger!

Kingston is pretty.  I'm rather happy I took the time to starch and press that Canadian flag for this shot:

This is my favourite of the lot, taken at RMC.  Probably one of the better shots I've taken in a long time.  I think there's just something peaceful and kind of quietly expectant about it:

This screamed out "linearity" to me, which was a quality we worked on in my photography course.  And I was happy to see some bold colour too:

RMC is built on Point Frederick, which used to be the home of Fort Frederick and is still the home to one of Kingston's Martello Towers (seen below), built during the Oregon Crisis in the 1840s (dropping some Kingston history knowledge on you!).  There also still remain some tunnels through the wall surrounding the tower, which is where I got this shot:

Fort Frederick Tower, with RMC behind: 

So I had a really nice morning and a lovely long walk, but I think that on these photo shoot mornings I might be trying to cover too much ground and take shots of too many different things.  It would do me some good to take a few hours to do a study of one particular place or object.  It would give me more time to really play with finding different angles and trying different apertures, rather than just busting my ass to get to the next point of interest. 

And for the love of all things hydrated and unburnt, I need to carry with me some water and slap on some sunscreen.  I'm currently a walking ad for what not to do, children.

(What's this all about?  Read here.)

I've been interested in photography since I can remember.  At some point in my childhood, I was handed down my mom's tiny instamatic camera, similar to this one (it's moderately depressing that things from my childhood are now called "vintage").  I'm pretty sure I still have some undeveloped 110 film cartridges lying about somewhere; if I can find a place that would still process such a thing, it would be fascinating to see what's on them.  I took a lot of photos through my teens, on a 35 mm point-and-shoot, mostly of my friends and their hilarious antics.  Here we are eating lunch in the hall by the auditorium!  Here we are hanging out eating chips in someone's basement!  Wild and crazy times, all thoroughly documented for posterity and/or Facebook. 

But there's only so much you can do artistically with a point-and-shoot so about 10 years ago my husband bought me an APS film SLR.  I took a few photography courses and eventually upgraded to a digital SLR (all hail the advent of digital photography and making mistakes for free!).  I think I have some natural talent for the artistic side of photography but I'm definitely still a novice on the technical side.  I really just need a lot more practice.

14. Set aside a morning or afternoon once a month to go out on a photo shoot

I take lots of photographs all the time.  99.9999% of them are of my children.  And most of those are taken on automatic because children will not sit still for a photo no matter how many Smarties you ply them with.  When I took the photography courses we went out on photo shoots at various locations around the city and it was amazing to have the time to search for interesting subjects, the beautiful hidden in the commonplace, to set up the shot and try it at different settings, and to simply take some time for photography for art's sake.  I need to build in some time for this now. 

How will I know when it's complete?  I've tried not to include too many "once a month" Things on my list because, of course, if I miss one month then I fail the entire task.  But I really think it's important that I make time for photography on a regular basis.  This will be considered complete when I have indeed done exactly what the task requires:  I'll have dedicated a child-free morning or afternoon once a month to taking photos.  I want to work on photographing small objects in an interior setting too, but for the purposes of this task I need to actually get out of the house.  I'll post the results of my efforts here.  And I'm happy to say that I've already accomplished this for July!  I might be what they used to call a keener.

15. Participate in 6 photography contests

Similar to my writing contests Thing, I think that producing work for submission to photography contests will be a good motivation to get out there and get shooting and try out new techniques.  I do not expect to win anything at all; that's not really the point.  I just like the idea of having a goal, and of getting my photographs out into the world. 

How will I know when it's complete?  I'll have submitted photos to six contests.  What happens after they're submitted is out of my control.  I think I'll feel pretty satisfied no matter what. 

16. Go to at least one meeting of the Kingston Photo Club

I have heard many great things about our local photo club and I have long considered checking out a meeting and becoming a member.  But truthfully, I think I've been rather daunted.  I'm still an amateur and I'm a little worried about feeling way out of my league.  That said, everyone I've ever met who is a part of the club has been very friendly and encouraging and I gather that it is that type of environment.  And second to getting out there and taking more photographs, I can't think of any better way of learning about photography than surrounding myself with other photographers.  I don't think they're a particularly vicious bunch. 

How will I know when it's complete?  This is fairly straightforward, I think.  I expect that once I go to one meeting, I'll be going to more, but I'll be happy to at least have taken the step of going to one.  Because how hard is that, really.

17. Have cards made with my photo prints
18. Post my photos on a stock photo site

At some point I would really like to do something with my photos, other than keep them in files on my computer.  On the artistic side of things, I think it would be nice to make some cards with a few of my nicer efforts.  In particular I have some floral images which I think are rather pretty. 

And then there's taking things to the next level: actually seeing if I can make some money off of this little hobby of mine.  My husband has been encouraging me to get some of my photographs on to stock photo sites, similar to this one.  I need to look into this, and read up on guidelines for stock photography, and then perhaps use my photo shoot afternoons to focus on taking shots suitable for these sites.  I do not in any way see this as being a big money maker.  But if a few of my shots could be making a few pennies on offer online, rather than sitting in a computer file, I say why the heck not.  

How will I know when it's complete?  I'll have a set of cards with my photos on them in my hot little hands.  And I'll post the link to where you can buy my stock photos for all your many stock photo needs.  And I'll guilt you into doing so.   

 

Huzzah! 

My youngest daughter, Evy, turned one today.  I can't quite believe that a year has passed already, and yet it feels like she has been a part of our family forever.  She's an incredible little being and I'm continually amazed that my husband and I have managed to create not one, but two fantastically funny, sweet, stunning wee ladies. 

I could go on and on, and I have.  But I'm rather exhausted tonight, and admittedly a little teary that my babies are not really babies anymore.  This time is going by altogether too quickly for my liking. 

That said, I'm excited for what's to come, and looking forward to learning more about just who our darling Ev is and what she's all about.  It's like the beautifully slow unwrapping of the most incredible gift.

As I've said before, I'm not comfortable with posting photos of my daughters online, but I'll share with you a photo of the cupcakes and octopus dip from Ev's party on Sunday.  I thought they came out rather well, if I do say so myself (with credit to big sister Isla for her expert sprinkle deployment).

I'm not sure how parents, particularly single ones, manage to stay sane if they do not have any family around for support.  I would have lost my mind a long time ago and I absolutely wouldn't be the mother that I am if it weren't for my wonderful family, in no small part due to their willingness to babysit, and give me some time to decompress and relax and only be responsible for myself for awhile. 

Feeling that I was getting a bit short on temper and patience lately, I asked my in-laws if they would like to spend some extended time with their granddaughters.  It wasn't a tough sell.  So I dropped off the kids at their place yesterday for an overnight stay, and I had a whole 28 hours to myself!  I hardly knew what to do!

For a few brief moments I thought that perhaps I should use my free time to get some stuff done around the house and run some errands.  But then I quickly convinced myself that what I really needed was some time to relax and do what I wanted to at whim.  Also not a tough sell. 

After dropping the kids off, I did a little shopping.  I'm not a big shopper but it was a luxury to have the time to browse, and try clothes on, and wander bookshelves.  I then headed back home and lounged about, watched grownup TV in the middle of the afternoon, and after dinner, my husband and I went out on a date!  We walked by the waterfront downtown and had a drink in a bar overlooking the marina.  All very lovely.

This morning I thought about sleeping in because there is almost nothing more glorious, but it was an absolutely gorgeous morning so I decided instead to get up and head downtown to the farmer's market with my camera.  I'm really glad that I did.

Before I made it to the market stalls, I noticed a little bird keenly posing for me on a tree by city hall.  I had to work quickly to get the shot so it's a bit darker than I would have liked, but I still rather enjoy it:

And then, the pretty colours of the market! 

I asked the stall owners before I took photos of their wares and I also bought something from each of them, as it seemed it would be rude not to.  These are called garlic snapes, the flower of the garlic plant.  I have no idea how to cook with them but I bought some to try out, because look how lovely they are:

I also had a walk around City Hall, the marina and the residential area nearby.  I was kicking myself for not bringing my new telephoto lens (I don't yet have a camera bag big enough to accommodate it).  Next time.  There will be a next time, right?

Some geese and ducks approached each other tentatively, and I secretly hoped for a West Side Story-style dance off (waddle off?) but it was not to be:

We came across this tall ship when we were walking around last night so I went back to see it today.  Clearly the guy up on the rigging is the least popular of the crew.  A special mention goes out to the brave young man sporting the "Forward Seaman" t-shirt.  Best of luck to you.

None of the photos I took in the old residential area are particularly noteworthy, but it's hard to take a bad shot of flowers.  There are some seriously good gardeners in this city.  I am not one of them.  I'm considering blowing up these shots, laminating them, and staking them in my flower beds.    

Okay, I meant that as a joke but now I'm really thinking that that would be awesome.

Wouldn't it?  Almost like art or something. 

After my walk I picked up some Thai food and had a picnic by the water.  I even did a little writing, making some headway on Thing 7.  And I was also the moron taking photos of herself, hence the new profile photo.  I rather enjoy how I look like I'm trapped in that box. 

The whole 28 hours was all that I needed it to be: a chance to clear my mind, relax, and let go of some of the weight of responsibility for a short while so I could reset and come back to my kids with a little more serenity. 

And a sunburn.  I've got one of those now too.  But it was totally worth it.

The lack of updating on this site is already making me feel guilty.  That doesn't bode well.  Here, have a picture of a pretty tulip:

There.  All better.

No seriously.
(Photo upload test complete)