Photography Challenge - Day 9: Someone You Love

Taking a photo of Kevin is hard. He does not like having his photo taken…so I have to be sneaky! Well, he calls it sneaky - I call it capturing the moment.

Anyway, here’s my handsome man reading at my parents’ house. We’ve been spending a lot of time at my parents’ house lately, as my cousins are visiting from England.

Photo stats:

• I took this photo with my new Nikon D5100.
  
• F-stop: f/5.3
  
• Exposure time: 1/3 sec.
  
• ISO: 3200
  
• Focal length 40mm
  
• No flash

 
If you want to check out my previous photo challenge photos, here are the links:
Day 1 : Self Portrait
Day 2 : What You Wore Today
Day 3 : Clouds
Day 4 : Something Green
Day 5 : From A High Angle
Day 6 : From A Low Angle
Day 7 : Fruit
Day 8: A Bad Habit

If you’re working on a photography challenge, let me know! I’d love to hear about your photos.

Emily-Jane

My New Camera: Nikon D5100

If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter, you may have already seen that I bought a new camera… and I’m SO FREAKING EXCITED ABOUT IT!!! I bought the NikonD5100. I’d been tossing and turning between Nikon and Canon, but honestly it was price that ultimately won out in the end. I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited over a purchase. I got home, tore open the boxes and then rolled around on the floor in excitement, while unbeknownst to me, Kevin got it on video!** LOL

I’m hoping this purchase will give me some new motivation for my photography challenge!
Anyhow, here are some of my photos so far! I’ve played around with other people’s DSLRs a couple of times, but this is my first time playing around for longer than an hour or so. I’m surprised at how easy it was to start using! And it takes great shots in low light! Side note: As previously mentioned, I’m clearly a cat lady (and pets don’t complain when you photograph them!) so don’t judge the number of cat photos I have! Also, if you’re not interested in seeing pet/family photos, stop now. You’ve been warned…

One of the first photos I took: Riley! And she does NOT look impressed lol
Jesse, my mom’s Scottish Terrier
Giles, my parents’ cat
Marty McFly, my sister’s cat



**My mom’s reaction to the video Kevin took of me when I brought my new camera home.
Mom and Dad
My sister, Michelle with Giles
More Riley!!!!




I've been googling around for photography tips, but I'd love to hear yours! Or maybe you have a go-to site? 

Realtor Photos

My landlord's realtor came by this evening to take pictures of our apartment. I rushed home to do some quick cleaning up before he came because Kevin said he couldn't find his August metropass and tore the apartment apart this morning looking for it. I thought he was kidding - he was not. It literally looked like we'd been robbed when I came home. Like the apartment had been RANSACKED! If I hadn't been in such a rush to clean it up before the realtor arrived I would've taken a picture.

This isn't our place, but if you replace the baby toys with flyers and clothes it's pretty close to how it looked when I got home!

{via}

I had planned  to use this opportunity to take pictures of the apartment too... but then I asked the realtor if I could see his pictures (because he had a very fancy lens on his very expensive camera) and they were waaaay better than any pictures I would've taken! His lens was super wide so he could practically get the whole room in one shot. I asked him if he could send them to me - he (begrudgingly) took my email address, so I'll share those once I get them.


Also, the Realtor tried to tell me our apartment is 650 square feet - Ha! Yeeeeah RIGHT! I've measured the unit, room-by-room, wall-to-wall and it came out at 504 square feet. That's including non-usable space like where the counters are, the stairs, closets, etc. He said square footage is calculated by measuring the maximum length by the maximum width of the dwelling. Is that true? If it is, that sucks!

St Lawrence Market

Every other month or so, my friend Gary and I will take an early Saturday morning trip to St Lawrence Market together. We went there this past Saturday to grab (a very unhealthy) breakfast and to pick up some meat and cheese. I try to get at least one month's worth of meat from the butcher in one trip. The one I go to, White House Meats, freezer packs any meats you want, so it's super convenient. 

Here are some pictures from our trip:

This is a pasta-cutting machine - you can see the fusilli on the board.

I don't wanna say Gary ran to get a peameal bacon sandwich... but he pretty much ran. He had blinders on for that place! He's the one standing just to the left of the stand that says "Breakfast on a Bun"

Here was his sandwich. I don't eat bacon, but if I did I think I would've had to try a piece. The whole market smelled uh-mazing! I wish I could make the next pictures scratch-n-sniff 

My "breakfast" consisted of this olive, feta cheese and spinach bureka (to the left).... and 1/2 of this strawberry and cheese danish. I twisted Gary's rubber arm and he ate the other half. 

We passed by this cute little stand, called Lemon Tree. The woman was selling macarons and cupcakes. I'd never had a macaron before so Gary bought me one

 They were all so delicious looking, but Gary and I both settled on... 

 Pistachio! SO DELICIOUS!

 Cheese and Pate

 Flowers

 Gary and me as we headed on home :-)

Stripe Mania - Bloggers Wearing Stripes

Holly Becker, over at Decor8, is hosting a virtual Stripe Mania party. What a good idea!


I always feel awkward taking pictures for a known purpose (driver's licence, passport...ugh!), but at least I was able to incorporate a cute striped red and white dress in my photo :-) Stripes are my weakness when it comes to clothes!


I know I didn't get particularly creative with accessories.. I'm kind of a plain Emily-Jane when it comes to jewelery. But if you look in the back of the photo to the right (on the coffee table) you can see the cabinet door I was working on. I was checking out the smooth finish right before taking this photo :P

Doors Open Toronto

I feel like most Torontonians know about Doors Open Toronto, but if you're not from here, or are and just haven't heard about it, here`s some background: It's an event that occurs one weekend a year, when roughly 150 buildings of architectural, historic, cultural and social significance open their doors to the public. A lot of the locations have guided tours, displays or activities for the visitors.

That`s what I got up to on Saturday and here are some pictures from the day. I've been practicing my photography skills. I'm very amateur, but Im playing around with the functions trying to see what does what. In case you're wondering, my camera is a Samsung WB550 (it's a point and shoot - nothing fancy!)

Here are some nature-y shots - flowers, trees, that kinda stuff...

This tree had silver round ornaments in it! So pretty

Here's a close up of one of the ornaments

This house looked like it belonged in The Hobbit - it's like a mini castle with the circular section.. I love the round porch and little round window in the next photo. 

I love that these lawns are grass-free. Shrubs, plants and trees are so much lower maintenance. The root systems are usually stronger, therefore less weeds! And much more beautiful than plain old grass.

Overcast at the beach (Ashbridge's Bay)

This clock was made of teacups! It immediately made me think of Alice in Wonderland

Cool mural. It's got the Queen St E fire station and the Jazz festival in it :-)

You gotta love a red door!

This reminded me of the Leslieville mural

My sis and me at the CAMH wall (built in the 1800's by unpaid patients & it's still standing!)

Oasis in the City

Several of my friends and I participated in something called Jane's Walk on Saturday. The walk we chose was called Belt Line Railway and was led by Adrian Lightstone. The weather couldn't have been more accommodating and our guide did a great job.  The walk started at Eglinton West Station and ended at Don Valley Brick Works. I've lived in Toronto almost my whole life and  I didn't even know there was trails through there. I love hiking/biking/rollarblading through pretty areas like what we saw on Saturday, so I'll definitely be making a return trip there at least a couple times this summer! Check out some of my photos:

Kay Gardiner Beltline Park Sign, highlighting the route to Mount Pleasant Cemetery

Kay Gardner Beltline Park plaque

Davisville TTC Station

A sign at Mount Pleasant Cemetery

Moore Park

Pretty tree @ Mount Pleasant Cemetery

More pretty trees @ Mount Pleasant Cemetery

Westen Quarry Garden

Have a great week and enjoy the wonderful weather :-)