Spurred

Sep

19

Grilled Peas, Rain, & Alien Blood

Spurred Posted by Sara / 4 comments

I totally missed Caturday but I promise to make it up to you. (I have a few ideas already stirring.) Strange coincidence for you, as I was compiling this post I realized it is also raining and I was thinking of making that very meal (Grilled Peas and Soup) today because it’s chilly and gloomy. I never posted the recipe here, so I’ll do that later this week as well. It’s delicious!

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Ours was busy but fun. Saturday we had lunch with one of Tom’s relatives who was here for a layover on a connecting flight. (He works for the UN and basically bounces all over the place.) And yesterday we went over to Tom’s father’s house and used their waffle maker for one of the cookbook recipes and it received two big enthusiastic thumbs up from both Tom and Jim. (I am allergic to one of the ingredients so I couldn’t have any. Boo! It sure did look good, though.) We had a lot of fun making a little party of it and I really liked that.

Anyway, my favorite photo in this batch is Tom and I because I luff him. Haha, okay, I also like the crop and the lighting. (My second favorite is the one of Morn and my mom’s blanket!) My least favorite is… I guess the “Gross” photo, only because it’s the one I like the least. It reminds me of alien blood cells or something. Ahem. Right.

The photo for “Whole” was taken quite simply. I saw that the light was hitting Tom beautifully while we were making lunch and I simply set my camera down on the counter, checked the viewfinder and then put it on a timer and clicked before joining him in the photo. I only took one, and this was it, and I loved it.

“Copy” (May 16th)

While we could just make grilled cheese with vegan cheese, Tom and I try to make new staples and alternatives rather than just copying the “old” stuff. We’ve dubbed this rosemary and lemon grilled chickpea meal, “Grilled Peas and Soup”. Har har.

“Blood” (May 17th)

“Words” (May 18th)

Birthday gifts from Bronwyn. (Thanks again, Bronwyn!)

“Hand Made” (May 19th)

This is Morn’s favorite blanket; it was a graduation gift from my mother and no matter where I put it Morn will follow.

“Fancy” (May 20th)

We don’t have a lot of room in the apartment, so I’m using this wooden Christmas decoration as a holder for my necklaces. I like it so much I’m not sure I’ll be able to part with it come Christmas time.

“Whole” (May 21st)

Making breakfast always requires two.

“Graffiti” (May 22nd) & “Gross” (May 23rd)

The prompt for the first photo was “graffiti”, but I left the house at 9 before checking the prompt. We were out all day and this is a photo I really liked! Oh, well!

Sep

12

The Beginning Of May

Bah, I’ve had this page open for quite a while because I’m not sure what to say with this post. I am so tired lately but I really feel like I’m in the home stretch. September is really crazy, the cookbook photos must be done by the end of the month, there’s a wedding in two weeks and I’m still trying to keep up to date in my project (and working on a new action set)! I’m pushing it to the limit but loving every second of it. That said I can’t wait to take a vacation after this month is over.

My favorite shot here is Morn’s eyeballs because I think his face look funny (in a cute way) in it. My least favorite would be “Sporty” because I was lazy in taking it and it was last minute. (I’m starting to see a pattern here for my dislikes!) And for “Future” I was actually just testing the lighting for a different shot entirely, but I ended up liking it better for the prompt so I went with it.

“Hug” (May 8th)

“Sporty” (May 9th)

This is one of my favorite shirts to wear when I work out.

“Read” (May 10th)

“Eyes” (May 11th)

Sometimes he reminds me of a lioness. I’m sure if he had a mane he’d remind me of a lion, but you know how it is.

“Adult” (May 12th)

Fifteen stories up and they hardly ever wash the windows outside. Morn doesn’t seem to mind.

“Future” (May 13th)

“Baked” (May 14th)

Strawberry birthday cupcake from Sweets Of The Earth. (For Bronwyn’s birthday.)

“Company” (May 15th)

Sep

07

Bronwyn’s New Bathroom, House Talk, and More Spurred

Canon 35mm 1.4 / Canon EOS 7D / Spurred Posted by Sara / 15 comments

Yikes, suddenly it’s Wednesday?! With that holiday weekend I got all confuzzled and didn’t end up posting yesterday like I should have. Some exciting things are happening over here for us, one of them being potential (very potential) house shopping. I love our little apartment but I’m ready for a house to call our own. I’d love a little vegetable garden in the back yard and to paint the walls. (We could paint here we just don’t have the energy when we’re potentially moving so soon.) So, any advice for first time home buyers? This isn’t something we’re rushing out to do, but we’ve decided we’d start keeping our eyes peeled. It’s also made me realize I must take a million photos of our little apartment before we move. Of course I have to remember everything, it is our very first apartment, after all. I never want to forget that. Perhaps I will post photos and things of the apartment if you will all forgive me the terrible decoration, or lack there of. I hope my North American readers had a very fabulous, fun and safe holiday weekend.

Oops, I almost forgot! My favorite photo in this batch is the one of Bronwyn making a ridiculous face in her new bathroom, even though it’s blurry. Initially I wanted to get her and I in the bathroom but I liked this one of her making a face best. My least favorite would be “parallel”, even so much so that it wasn’t in my set, I had to go and find it. And, the trivia is not related to photo taking, but that my guitar “Binn”, is Irish Gaelic for “melodious sound”. (Or melodious.) I brought him home when I was fifteen. When I could bring only a car load of things up to Canada, there was no question that he was coming with. (My electric guitar, and 12-string Fender, however, did not make the cut.)

“Bathroom” (April 30th)

“Cut” (May 1st)

Bruno. I had to cut off some old dead leaves but otherwise he looks really healthy. I’m pretty excited.

“Parallel” (May 2nd)

Making asparagus quiche with tomato and tarragon.

“Borrowed” (May 3rd)

Free seven day rentals from the library!

“Rest” (May 4th)

“Muted” (May 5th)

“Song” (May 6th)

“Candid” (May 7th)

Aug

29

Fog, Boots, and The Last Typewriter Factory

August Break / Canon 35mm 1.4 / Canon EOS 7D / Spurred Posted by Sara / 2 comments

Wow, compiling this week’s post of the Spurred project almost gave me a heart attack. Normally I just open my Spurred set on Flickr and just grab the next eight on the list from where I left off, but when I did that the dates were all out of order and some were missing. I thought I’d missed two days and was so upset, but then I realized that I’d uploaded them, I just forgot to put them in the set. Whew, crisis averted.

My favorite photo in this set is “Home”, because even though I talk a good game, I really did enjoy that fog. My least favorite is without a doubt flower- because I didn’t have the energy to think of something better (or shoot an actual flower, since it was raining) so I just took a shot of my umbrella. But I didn’t even bother going outside because it was raining and I’m still terrified of protecting my camera- even though it’s weather sealed.

I’m having a hard time remembering a factoid for this set, so if you have any questions about how I took these photos, let me know and I’ll be sure to answer.

“Food” (April 22nd)

“Window” (April 23th)

More faux film actions in the making.

“Focus” (April 24th)

“Famous” (April 25th)

The world’s last typewriter factory shut down this week.

“Artificial” (April 26th)

First time I ever painted the french tip on myself. I really like it because it looks natural and even more so because I used a creamy off white instead of white. I also filed them down pretty short because I’d be helping a friend move on Saturday and don’t want them getting in the way.

“Home” (April 27th)

I had such a beautiful shot in mind for home, but this fog had to go and spoil it.

“Shoes” (April 28th)

I considered the name “Boots” when I first brought home Pumpkin because he has perfect white shoes on each of his paws, but I didn’t end up going with it because it wasn’t unique enough to him. I brought him home in October, he was a beautiful autumn orange, and I wanted his name to reflect my favorite season. (I went with Pumpkin Cider, because I felt badly naming a boy “Pumpkin”, but it truly fit him and everyone just called him Pumpkin and so over time it was just shortened to Pumpkin.)

“Flower” (April 29th)

Aug

22

Chili, Weather, and Faux Double Exposures

August Break / Canon 35mm 1.4 / Canon EOS 7D / Spurred Posted by Sara / 5 comments

This past weekend, although busy, was a lot of fun. We had a chance to see Tom’s sister on Saturday and then rescued Jim (Tom’s dad) from boredom on Sunday and perused the local Mac store and discovered that a Whole Foods has opened near Square One! (A really huge shopping mall here.) This next month will be incredibly busy for me as I try to hit the deadline for the vegan cookbook I’m photographing. 25 photos doesn’t seem like too much at first but then you think that’s 25 meals and set up and I don’t do it on rainy days… all that to say, really, thanks for putting up with my posts with text that’s kind of all over the place.

My favorite shot in this bunch is the one of Morn and Pumpkin for the “Alone” word prompt. I like it because when I saw them laying there like that with the city lights behind them, the blue sky and their static fur, I wanted to capture the feeling I had- and this was it. Rarely ever does a photo turn out exactly how I see the scene in real life. They may be technically the same but the mood isn’t the same, or I capture a mood but the light doesn’t show through. Anyway, this one did and I really love it for that. My least favorite is the “Full” photo of the chili. Tom and I had gone to a local burger joint to celebrate vegetarian week. They offered veggie burgers and chili, and we had fun, but the photo just didn’t quite turn out.

And a bit of trivia: The reflective portrait in the “Time” photo was taken on April 18th of this year (of course), but the floral overlay was a photograph taken on April 18th 2010 and that’s how I made it relate to the word prompt.

“Sky” (April 14th)

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.” (April 15th)

“Alone” (April 16th)

“Smile” (April 17th)

“Time” (April 18th)

“Full” (April 19th)

“White” (April 20th)

“Sign” (April 21st)

Aug

15

A Bunch Of Favorites And A New Lens

August Break / Canon 35mm 1.4 / Canon 50mm 1.4 / Canon EOS 7D / Spurred Posted by Sara / 8 comments

Oh my word, I love so many of these that it’s hard to pick a favorite. In fact, I can’t because every time I try I end up saying, “No wait.” Not to toot my own horn or anything, it’s just sometimes you just have a good streak when you’re taking photos. Lots of creativity flowing easily, etc etc. Okay, now I feel like a cocky turd, so I’m going to have to pick one. Relax, Water, and Technology are my favorites. (Hey, I tried!)

My least favorite is “Green”! To be honest I had so many cool ideas for that prompt but then I had a busy day and sometimes I just have to realize that I won’t be able to take the one I want every day. And at the very end of these photos I picked up this new lens and I pretty much haven’t taken it off my camera since. Sort of.

“Blur” (April 6th)

“Relax” (April 7th)

“Corner” (April 8th)

“Journey” (April 9th)

“Water (April 10th) Day 100”

“Technology” (April 11th)

“Green” (April 12th)

“Door” (April 13th)

*Final two images photographed with the 35mm 1.4, all else 50mm 1.4

Aug

08

Tom, Macro Tubes, and New Puppies

Canon 50mm 1.4 / Canon EOS 7D / Spurred Posted by Sara / 3 comments

Over the weekend I was linked to The August Break Project, started by fellow photoblogger Suzannah Conway. Basically the idea is to post a photo a day, as often as you can, whether you use a digital camera, your iphone or a point and shoot, for all of August. I think I post pretty frequently, and it’s usually more than one photo, but I’m still going to see if I can throw a few other posts in there. Basically I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing, but use this wonderful project as a chance to find some new photobloggers out there I might otherwise have missed. There are hundreds of participants so I imagine I won’t have any problem fattening up my Reader.

Also, I apologize for not being on top of the blog comments recently- I’ve been so busy that I miss a lot of them, but I won’t forget- and I am trying to catch up. Thanks for being patient with me. =)

My favorite photo here is the last photo of Bronwyn’s new puppy, Cider. I just got incredibly lucky with that one.
I actually don’t have a least favorite, I like all of them in this batch. (I hope I’m allowed to do that.)

I shot “Sparkle” and “Energy” using macro extension tubes on my 50mm. You should really use a tripod for something like that but I tried it without anyway. For $15 they are certainly fun to play with but they don’t come close (obviously) to a real macro lens.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

“Hero” (March 29th)

“Pen & Paper” (March 30th)

“Comical” (March 31st)

“Sparkle” (April 1st)

“Energy” (April 2nd)

“New” (April 3rd)

“Gear” (April 4th)

“Used” (April 5th)

Aug

02

News, Tea, Cats & Yoga

Canon 35mm 1.4 / Canon EOS 7D / Spurred Posted by Sara / 4 comments

Sorry that I didn’t post this yesterday, it was a holiday here and it also just happened to be Tom’s birthday, and I had the entire day planned away. I thought I might be able to get some time to prepare the post over the weekend but we were so busy seeing everyone and grocery shopping and adopting a rescued kitten that I didn’t get the chance. (WAIT, WHAT?) Now you may have already seen me tweeting about it on twitter, and I’ll save the full story for a post later this week, but we were picking up cat food for the boys and Toronto Cat Rescue had in a bunch of new rescues. Well, all the kittens were sick and had been there for almost a month with no luck and this little guy was absolutely wonderful and his story made me cry (no really) so we decided we’d bring him home. Right now he’s quarantined in the bathroom until his vet appointment this afternoon, since he’s sick and we don’t want him to pass anything on to the other two furballs in the house. Tom and I took turns spending time with him all weekend and I think he’ll fit right in with Morn and Pumpkin. =)

Anyway! The Spurred project, yes. My favorite photo in this batch is definitely the tea cups! I wasn’t expecting the glass to turn out the way it did and the saturation is great and I like where the tea cups are positioned. My least favorite is the bottle of water because I think it’s boring and honestly, I was just too tired to do something else for the prompt. I hate it when my laziness wins over potential. I do like my water bottle, however.

critique: In the photo with Tom and I, if it were an editorial shot, or a photoshoot, I would have cleared off our bedside table and maybe just put a vase & flowers there. Sure, that’s not really realistic to our life and I’d put everything back when I was done- but it’s those background details that really take it up a notch. That said, it wasn’t for a magazine or anything, and I like taking photos of our life for details like that. I will look at this in three years and go “Wow, remember that apartment” (assuming we don’t live here anymore) or “Remember when we shared that tiny bedside table?”

And finally, a behind the scenes tidbit. We’ll go with the same photo. While I composed the shot and readied the tripod and camera, the remote was having a hard time registering with the camera in my hand, so Tom is actually pushing the button in his right hand.

Gosh my hair was long.

“Bed” (March 21st)

“Bottle” (March 22nd)

“Balance” (March 23rd)

“Play” (March 24th)

I admit, I have been having a lot of fun playing in Photoshop making these actions. I don’t do a lot to my photos anymore and doing this has forced me to fiddle and I’ve found it’s quite a lot of fun.

Processed with Oolong from A Colorful Morning

“Basket” (March 25th)

“Found” (March 26th)

“Flutter” (March 27th)

“When the heart is at ease, the body is healthy.” (March 28th)

Jul

25

Food, Helping Japan, and Still More Snow

Canon 50mm 1.4 / Canon EOS 7D / Spurred Posted by Sara / 11 comments

I’ve been really struggling with what to say with these Spurred posts. I don’t want to just post the photos and entries because, well, the text that goes with the photos is usually old and I feel like I’m not connecting with you then. Is that weird? I feel like Monday mornings I should actually connect with you guys, not just post old stuff. Tom suggested that I tell you what my favorite picture is in the set, my least favorite, and maybe something randomly related to how I took one of the photos. I really liked that idea so I figured I’d start including that, as well as any critiques I might have for myself! It’s already made me a lot more excited to share these older photos, so here we go!

My favorite photo in this set would have to be the last photo with the scarf or the pie and ice cream, because I like how the pie is not perfect and how soft the scarf looks in the photo. My least favorite would have to be the burgers, because I should have increased the f/stop to about 3.2 or so to get more of the burger in focus.

And, random fact: In photo #5, the remote for the camera is actually up my sleeve.

“Before” (March 14th)

I am such a burger hog. But those pre-made vegetarian patties from the store just aren’t as good (not even remotely) as these home made ones. My diary says, “Tom and I made our first black bean burgers with gluten free potato wedges. They were SO filling I couldn’t even finish the second!” I’ve been hooked ever since.

“Frozen” (March 15th)

We tried the new dairy free ice cream by natur-a and we were pleasantly surprised by how much we loved it!
(They make a maple version that is my favorite.) Also, that is raspberry pie. It is delicious.

“Tiny” (March 16th)

I took this picture to use for a post on St. Patrick’s Day. (I like to have these things done a day or two before and let them autopost early in the morning.) But when the time came to post the entry I just wasn’t satisfied, so I scrapped it and started over.

“Seam” (March 17th)

“Work” (March 18th)

Gathering postcards for the disaster relief in Japan. We ended up raising nearly $300.

“Mess” (March 19th)

Look at this mess. Blizzards aren’t supposed to happen once the snow’s all melted.

“Tied” (March 20th)

My favorite scarf. =)

Jul

18

Moments From March

Canon 50mm 1.4 / Canon EOS 7D / Spurred Posted by Sara / 4 comments

Can you believe half the year is already over? I look at these photos from March and I just can’t believe it. It feels like ages ago that there was snow on the ground. (Especially when it was so hot yesterday.) I have our fans going on full blast and am enjoying a homemade green smoothie. My mother tells me that they had a huge thunderstorm last night and my experience tells me that we’ll probably get that storm tonight sometime. In the seven years Tom and I talked online before meeting in person, I’d always tell him the weather and he’d get it a day or two later. It feels neat (and weird) being on the receiving end. Anyway, enough about weather- onto some photos!

“Lace” (March 6th)

“Modern” (March 7th)

“Spots” (March 8th)

The best kind of spots.

“Warm” (March 9th)

Staying inside wrapped in blankets and sweaters.

“Sour” (March 10th)

“Vacant” (March 11th)

Actions: English Breakfast & White Peony plus unreleased Light Leak and Film Grain

“Fresh” (March 12th)

“Through” (March 13th)

Jul

11

I Always Feel Like These Posts Are Boring

Canon 50mm 1.4 / Canon EOS 7D / Spurred Posted by Sara / 5 comments

I spent the tail end of February and the beginning of March with bronchitis. The doctor had me on bed rest for two weeks, and it was awful. For the first half of these I just took pictures of me things near me in bed, or by the couch, because I didn’t have the energy to turn on my computer and check the prompts. But I still wanted to shoot “a photo a day” so I made sure I took photos of something.

(I hope everyone had a grand weekend.)

“Round” (February 26th)

“Liquid” (February 27th)

“Rock” (February 28th)

“Growing Up” (March 1st)

“Symmetry” (March 2nd)

“Dark” (March 3rd)

“Weathered” (March 4th)

“Culture” (March 5th)

Jun

21

Bread Disasters, Laundry, and What If

Canon 50mm 1.4 / Canon EOS 7D / Spurred Posted by Sara / 2 comments

Sorry friends, I was supposed to post this yesterday and then share our Father’s Day dinner with you today, but I’ve been so incredibly busy this weekend (and yesterday) that I didn’t have the time! Friday I did a fifty minute work out, which I don’t think I’ve never ever done in my life. At most I run 3 miles, which is about 23 minutes for me, and I don’t do that very often at all. I was beat! Then we had a busy weekend and yesterday we went for a two and a half hour hike in the woods! (Ahem, but the light was absolutely incredible so hopefully I have a fun photo set or two to share with you all later this week.) Right now I think I’ll go take a nap so my body can catch up with me.

These are from February again, right as I came down with bronchitis!

“Reminder”

Well, I’m really not sure how this applies to the prompt but remember that gift card I mentioned for National Sweater Day? No kidding, we won!

“Bitter”

I’ve been pretty bitter since my last attempt at making a bread loaf in our new bread maker failed that I haven’t really made time to try again. (Definitely user error, I promise. It’s cutting milk and white sugar from the loaf that’s killing me!) But I thought for sure I had it this time. Except I forgot to add the water. So being the nutter that I am, after it kneads the whole thing and cooks for about an hour and a half, I add the water.

I’m such a klutz in the kitchen, it’s really no surprise. I’m not giving up, though! Plus, this looks way better than last time. And it tastes pretty good too. It’s just a little doughy, obviously.

“What if?”

I think about this a lot sometimes. What if I decided I was too scared to move to Canada? Where would I be? What if I didn’t take that leap? Then sometimes I cry because I am so thankful that I did. I won’t bog you with sap, but this is very true. I don’t do it as much as I used to in the first two years that I was here, but I still do it on occasion. Boy am I ever glad I did.

“Drive”

Hey, wanna go for a drive?

“Fold”

My least favorite chore is folding laundry. I’ll take dishes, vacuuming, mopping, loading the laundry, whatever else have you. Folding is so boring!

“Game”

At this point I was pretty sick with bronchitis (although I didn’t know it yet) and I didn’t even check the computer to see what the prompts were, so I had to rely on memory. And some days I didn’t even leave the bed or the couch but I still managed to snap at least one photo every day. I know this kind of defeats the purpose of having prompts, but I didn’t want to fail the project just because I was sick.