#199 - Bikini Barbie

#199/365 - This shot was inspired by all the images of fruit being dropped into water I have seen here on flickr. I wanted to try it but with a different twist. Now that I think of it I didn't check to see if it has been done before, oh well if it has - DOH! If it hasn't - WHOO HOO!

Strobist: SB800 and SB600 on either end of the fish thank at 1/16 - triggered wirelessly by cheep no name triggers. A 20 year old Minolta flash with a very frustrating slave and blue gel pointed at the background. It only fired every 4th try - ARGH!

#198 - Free Wifi

#198/365

I liked the motion in this shot. I took it from my car while I was sitting at a red light. It was -30 degrees Celsius outside and this guy was happily trudging along to get somewhere. Well maybe not happily but he didn't seem to be bothered by the cold.

Happy bokeh Wednesday everyone.

Owen

#197 - Christmas Casualty

#197/365 - Every time this year old toys are replaced with new ones. This poor little guy has seen better days and I guess some little boy or girl decided it was time to let him go. More than likely it was the parents that tossed him away behind some poor unsuspecting kids eyes. Kinda reminds me of Toy Story when Buzz and Woody thought they were going to be replaced and forgotten. Makes you think that for all those happy moments on Christmas morning, someone is going to pay the price :(

Actually I thought it would make a cool picture so I grabbed one of my daughters old toys, tossed him in the trash and shot away. The people that lived there must have wondered why I was taking pictures of their trash, I'm surprised they didn't call the cops on me. Pluto was her first and favorite stuffed animal when she was little. Don't worry, I brought him home after the shoot, even though we have a room full of old stuffed animals from four kids that are all teenagers now.

Owen

#196 - Make a Splash Canada!

196/365 - This shot was inspired by an image I saw from www.flickr.com/photos/isayx3 in his project 365 that he just completed a few days ago - congrats Ed. I changed it up a bit and instead of doing a cookie/coffee shot I decided to use some limited edition Olympic Coke bottles that my kids gave me for Christmas. I am a big time Coke guy (Coca-Cola) so every once in a while my kids grab me something as more of a gag gift than anything else. Tomorrow at my son's school they actually get to run with the torch during the cross Canada relay as it makes its way to Vancouver for the start of the Olympics. The glass just happens to be a limited edition coke glass from the 1976 Olympics that were in Montreal that I got as a kid, I wonder where and when I got addicted to Coke (Coca-Cola) hmmmmm.

D300, 50mm 1.4 - 1/800, f1.4, ISO 800

Strobist: Static Ikea light with daylight balanced CFL bulb above and at 7 o'clock, sun through window as rim. Technically that's qualifies to be posted as a strobist shot, doesn't it? I did alter the scene through artificial light just not a strobe :)

Owen

#195 - Your Turn

I don't play enough chess. My wife got this as a Christmas gift a few years ago and I don't think we have used it yet:(

D300, 50mm/1.4, 1/40 sec, f4, ISO 200

Strobist: SB800 in Ezybox above at 9 o'clock, SB600 on floor with red gel shooting up at BG bare bulb 12 o'clock

#194 - Blake's World

Brad & Genevieve Engaged!

You all met Brad and Genevieve last week when I posted a couple sneak peeks of their live engagement at the Legislature Grounds. It was a chilly night but Brad was still able to convince Genevieve to go for a walk so that he could surprise here in style. Brad was the ultimate romantic, getting down on one knee an everything. He had been planning this for a while and even organized for a photographer, that being me, to be there it capture the moment. Brad and I met a couple of days prior to plan and scope out the best vantage points, and I have to say it went off with out a hitch. Genevieve was surprised and she couldn't stop smiling even through the chattering teeth.

Genevieve is currently going to school in the States and Brad, again the ultimate romantic, is moving there next week to be with his new fiance. They are such a great couple and I can't wait till their wedding, it promises to be something spectacular.

Congratulations Brad and Genevieve!

Beautiful location, The Alberta Legislature Grounds.

Waiting for the right moment.

True Romance - taking a knee and asking the woman he loves to marry him :)

Happiness!!

After we almost froze, we headed over to the Sugar Bowl to warm up.

#193 - Air Hockey Night in Canada

My son has been asking me how come I have only been taking shots of all the girls in the family and none of the boys. He's right so I decided to start off the year with one of him. I is more into Xbox but I havn't figured out how I am going to capture him in action on that yet. I was trying to replicate the spot lights that they use at NHL games when the players hit the ice. The reflection was just a nice bonus.

D300, 17 - 55mm 2.8 - 17mm, 1/250, f2.8

Strobist: SB600 snooted 1/128 7 o'clock and SB800 snooted 1/64 4 o'clock

#192 - happy New Year

Happy New Year Everyone.

My Mom and Dad stumbled upon a guy that painted figures on corks one day and picked up a pair. They asked me if I wanted to try to use them in an image for New Year's Eve and I jumped all over it. Add a little champagne and some bokeh and you got yourself a party.

Owen

D300, 50mm 1.4, 1/250, ISO 200

Strobist: SB800 1/128 at 9 o'clock in Lastolite Ezybox - white foam board at 3 o'clock for fill.

#191 - The Beauty of Destruction

I was going to title this "The Beauty of Construction" but for some reason destruction came out. Don't worry, I'm not going to go off on a rant but as cool as this looks, it makes you wonder what we're doing to our planet.

The cool thing about this image is that it isn't a HDR and I didn't add the starburst, this is what you get when you shoot at f22.

While we are all thinking of what our New Year resolutions might be, perhaps we all should have at least one to do with the environment. Our family has been making a conscious effort all year to reduce, recycle, and re-use but I am sure there is more that we could be doing.

Owen

#190 - Midnight Crossing

#189 - TV Time

I think this has to be my Wife's favorite thing to do. It must be seeing as though she does it every night. She loves her TV and so does her dog, Oscar.

I tried to recreate the light that would come from our TV using just one strobe. I put a CTB filter on it to give the light a slight blue tint so that it would be closer to the real thing. I snooted the light low so that it would run the length of her body, however it didn't agree too much with a white dog, a little blown out for my liking. Looking at it now I wish that I could have used a grid instead to spread the light a little more. I would have liked the couch to show up instead of just her head floating in black space. It didn't look this dark while processing but the all powerful flickr Gods made it darker when uploading. So why didn't I use a grid, well I don't have any yet. That's next on what my wife calls my never ending wish list.

Owen

D300 - 70-200 2.8 @ 70mm, 1/250, f22 (to get the dog as much in focus as I could), ISO 500

Strobist: 1 SB600 snooted 1/64 @ 6 o'clock

#188 - I'm a Lucky Guy

Well boys, you can all just eat your hearts out. This lovely girl is married - TO ME!!

This shot was inspired by Nathan Elson who took a similar portrait of his wife back when his career was just taking off. I have yet to shoot with Nathan or have even met him yet but we are kind of acquaintances through some photographer friends we both have in common. He is an awesome photographer and I look forward to shooting with him one day. If you have a chance you should check out his stream. www.flickr.com/photos/nathanelson/

One of the things I enjoy the most about my project 365 is that it is forcing me to try shots that I probably would not have done. This shot was taken with just one strobe fired into my new Lasolite Ezybox that I got for Christmas. I would have just bounced it off of the ceiling but we have a crazy bulkhead in our bathroom and it was giving me some very funky shadows. Awe, let's just face it, anything to play with my new toy.

Owen

D300 - 17-55 2.8 - ISO 200, 1/100, f5.6

Strobist:
1 SB800 shot through a 24x24 Ezybox, at 9 o'clock - sorry I can't remember the power setting, I was experimenting. I think this one was shot at 1/16

#187 - Daddy's Not-So Little Girl

For Christmas this year I was lucky enough to get some gift certificates to a local camera store, so what else was I to do on Boxing Day but to use them as quickly as I could?!? I have been wanting a softbox for quite a while and was planning on getting a Wescott Apollo 28x28 softbox but unfortunately, no one in the city carries them so I decided to get a Lastolite Ezybox 24x24 softbox instead. I guess I could have ordered one online but then I would have had to have waited and I wouldn't have been able to use my gift certificates. Like a kid with a new toy, I had to play with it as soon as I could. After turkey leftovers, I dragged my youngest daughter away from the home theater and voila! I had a beautiful instant subject - the advantages of having kids.

D300 - 50mm 1.4, 1/100, 1.4, ISO 200

Strobist: SB800 in, you guessed it, a 24x24 Lastolite Ezybox at 5 o'clock, 1/128

#186 - My Bokehiful Wife

#185 - Sweet House

My Dad won this big gingerbread house in a draw and brought it over for the kids to enjoy. Before they get to dig in to it tomorrow I wanted do grab a shot. I put it in my DIY lightbox and started to shoot, I started with the typical strait on shots but the house was so big I wanted to get right inside the thing. I could not get close enough with my D300 on a tripod so I pulled out my LX3 and gorillapod and was able to get much closer. Who says P&S cameras are only for snapshots. The macro on the LX3 is surprisingly good and I use it often when I can't get into a tough place with my big daddy.

Merry Christmas Eve everyone, I hope Santa is good to you all and you get at least one thing photography related for Christmas.

Owen,

Strobist:
DIY Light tent/box
4 static work lights with daylight balanced CFL bulbs in them.

#184 - Snowy Kiss

Here is another sneak peek of Brad and Genevieve, the couple that I had the privilege of shooting their engagement on Monday night. I will have the rest of the set posted tomorrow - Christmas Eve - yay! For the shoot I rented a D700 for the first time which was a big mistake cause now I have to have one - $$$ I have read many reviews over the past few months but had no idea that it would make that much of a difference and the low light focusing was amazing, aside from the tricky falling snow.

D700 - ISO 1600 (tee hee), 1/200, f2.8

Strobist
1 SB 800 in DIY Beauty Dish 1/128 at 8 o'clock.

I would have rather of used a 2 light set up with umbrellas for softer light but the wind was too strong and with the cold shooting conditions I had to move quick and light so I was limited to one light on a stick. I am planning on buying a softbox but I assume the wind would affect that as well. Any suggestions on what kind and what size of softbox I should get for my first one. I plan on using it for my Nikon flashes and would like it to be easy to transport.

Owen

#183 - Horse Crossing

#182 - Evening Stroll

Tonight I had the pleasure of sharing a moment in time that is so special in a couples relationship. As they were walking down this path, Genevieve thought something was up bit didn't know for sure. Brad had made all the arrangements including having a photographer, that being me, to capture him asking his love to be his wife. It was a chilly night but that was all forgotten when Brad got down on one knee and popped the question . . . awe, how romantic. This is just a little sneak peek, I will be posting the entire evening, including the question, later in the week. Congratulations Brad and Genevieve, you are an amazing couple and this is just the start to a long and happy life together as Mr. and Mrs.

Owen

#181 - Winter Wonderland

Another shot from yesterday's early morning snowfall. It sure reminds me that Christmas is just around the corner - only 5 more sleeps :)