What do you think Al whispered to get her to laugh this much?
When I met Al and Maria for the first time to discuss what I could bring to their wedding, I immediately knew I wanted to be their photographer. Getting to know your client can be a bit tricky sometimes, but with Al and Maria, I felt a connection as soon as they sat down and began discussing what they wanted out of their pictures.
Marble on my table!
I still find it hard to believe how, the smaller things are, the more detail they end up having! Macro photography allows you to take small things and blow them up (in a picture!) so you can see all those little details you may have missed. I was lucky enough to borrow a macro lens from a friend, as they are not cheap, and after finding all the small things I had in my house, here’s what I have learned about macro photography: Continue reading
A mother and daughter skate on the Ottawa Canal
For the past few years, I have had a very hard time enjoying the wintertime in Ottawa. The cold wind, having to always look at your feet to make sure you don’t trip or slip on some snow, those 5 minutes that seem to last hours while waiting for the bus on a freezing night. It’s hard to imagine how some people love winter so much. But as luck would have it, my wife is one of those people, and slowly, she has been helping me enjoy the season a bit more! Continue reading
When you come back from a vacation, or traveling, the most popular question people inevitably ask is always “What was your favorite place?” It’s a very hard question to answer, because there are so many places I traveled to, and each one brought something different to the table. However, in the spirit of trying, I have made up a list of 7 places that truly captivated me! This list is in no particular order, since anyone who has traveled extensively knows that it’s impossible to do.
1 PARIS
I’d wanted to visit Paris since as long as I can remember. I had built it so much in my head that I arrived expecting to be a bit disappointed. I was very wrong, and it was fantastic! Everything they say about Paris is true. The lights, the buildings, the wine, the romance, the charm and the snobs! The Eiffel tower is a wonderful sight to admire, especially at night when it does it’s light show! My wife did not enjoy the catacombs, but I was amazed that underneath the city streets there are kms of trails full of skeletons and bones, neatly stacked up into shapes and walls! It rained on us a couple of times, but that just made for some great photography. After all, clouds in the sky add something to a picture! The food is delicious, the people were very friendly, and the city breaths life at all hours.
2 KO PHI PHI
Welcome to Ko Phi Phi, one of Thailand’s best islands! The water is crystal blue when looked at from a distance and clear as glass when you want to go snorkeling, or scuba diving, or swimming or cliff diving, or turtle watching. I guess my point is that there is ALOT to do in Ko Phi Phi. Some days we would just sit on the beach and watch the monkeys play fight and attack tourists (myself included lol) when they got too close to them. Other days we would go for a walk in the jungle, and sometimes we enjoyed the nightlife of the island, complete with buckets full of vodka and Redbull. There’s always a restaurant open so you will never go hungry (which is good because the food is amazing!) and everyone is there to have a good time! Maya Bay is especially impressive, although I recommend going very early as it gets packed by noon! We planned on staying a couple of days and ended up staying a week and a half. It’s hard to leave when your hotel is a bamboo hut overlooking the town and the ocean!
3 CAMERON HIGHLANDS
Cameron Highlands was a very different treat for me. We had been going from one island to another all over Thailand and through part of Malaysia, soaking up the sun on all the different beaches. So when we decided to take a bus, through a very windy road, up a mountain, to a small town, that was at least 10 degrees colder than what we were used to, I was not impressed with the idea lol But this place is beautiful. The scenery is spectacular, from the waterfalls, to the 3 hour trek through the jungle, to the vast fields of tea plantations. It was a surprisingly welcome break to the beach life that we had begun to get used to. For anyone who actually has read some of my other posts, this is the place where my camera broke for the first time! If you have the time, go to the cloud forest! It is an entire forest covered in moss. The trees, the bark, the floor. Everything is covered in it! A really unique experience!
4 CHIANG MAI
Chiang Mai is a city that feels like a town. A very intimate town. With 1000 temples to visit. The city was very welcoming and friendly! I visited many temples, spoke to a monk, saw traditional dances, had fun with my camera and ate like a king. It is one of the most culturally important places in Thailand, and you would be a fool not to go if you got the chance. Go out for a walk and get lost. It’s amazing what you can find when you don’t have a destination! We also rented some scooters to go to a temple up the mountain, but if you keep going, get ready for some amazing panoramas of the city!
5 ROME
Rome is in ruins. As in, every 2 blocks there is another piece of architecture, or statue or fountain that is 2000 years old. You can’t walk for more than 3 minutes without stumbling into something ancient and amazing! There is so much to see in Rome that anything less than a week won’t cut it! Surprisingly, I felt that the Colosseum was in pretty bad shape considering that it’s one of the main attractions. But it was still fantastic to be in a place with so much history. I could almost hear the crowds shouting from the stands, until I realized it was a group of children lol The Trevi fountain is beautiful, and I would highly recommend you go early in the morning (7ish) to avoid the enormous crowds that gather during the day. I’ve counted the Vatican as part of stuff to do in Rome, because seriously, who goes to the Vatican without visiting Rome? No one, that’s who.
6 LONDON
It’s like I stepped into a Harry Potter movie. And I loved it! The city is rich in history, and apparently wealth, because all the museums are free! Big Ben, of course, is a wonderful sight, as is the London eye, especially at night! We even tried to locate some of Banksy’s graffiti art! Sadly, we only found 3. London is amazing, with lots of culture and fun people! The mall before reaching Buckingham Palace is fantastic, as is Buckingham Palace of course. Funny story, this is the place where I lost my wife for over an hour. She went chasing a horse (taking pictures of it) and disappeared! I was starting to actually worry after a while, but we found each other at the mall!
7 SIEM REAP
Enjoy getting lost in temples? This is the place for you! Siem Reap is the entrance city to all the Angkor temples, and trust me, you want to visit them. After travelling through many cities in south east Asia, you can get a little templed out, and when we came to Siem Reap, we kind of thought that it was going to be more of the same stuff. But these temples have so much character, so much history and so much beauty, that when someone asks me about the temples on my travels, the first ones that come to mind are these ones. The city itself is also fun, with lots of bars and restaurants, and a bit on the outskirts there are lotus flower plantations, which are amazing to see during a sunset. You may be told about going to Angkor Wat early in the morning to see the sunrise and wonder if it is worth it, and the answer is yes for 2 reasons. One- Seriously? How many people get to see the sun rise at a 900 year old temple? And two- once the sunrise is over, the temples are almost empty, so you can take your time and really soak up the importance of these places. Get a book explaining the carvings and structures, they sell them outside, and if you know how to haggle, you can get it for as low as 5 dollars ( I paid 10 and my tuk tuk driver told me I got ripped off! The same book is worth 20 Dollars at a book store)
So there you have it. 7 different places I loved. I could have done an article about 20 of them, but I don’t have that much time on my hands! If I could give you one piece of advice from all of this, it would be to stop making excuses and just go out and travel! It brings adventure to your life, knowledge to your mind, happiness to your stomach and excitement to your body. Trust me, I’m a doctor (got my diploma from a guy who printed it out right in front of me in Thailand for 20 bucks lol)
Something that I’ve toyed at while editing photographs is adding in some color to an otherwise black and white picture. I like the idea of someone’s eyes being drawn to a splash of color in a picture full of grey, black and white. It’s also not really hard to do lol which is a bonus. But I also believe that maybe it can be just a gimmick that helps people turn a boring picture into something a bit more artsy, as I did with this picture of the motercyle.
I had seen a picture like it and wanted to imitate it. As it turns out, imitating someone is a lot harder then I thought it would be! In a city full of scooters (Rome) I had trouble finding a decent setting to snap away at. Maybe it was because I was trying to be too specific, maybe I was being held back because of the task I had assigned myself, but probably it had something to do with being uninspired to actually do it well. If someone has already done it, what’s the point? Maybe to make it better, or perhaps to add a new element or twist to it. But I wasn’t feeling it, so the picture looks forced (and way over hdr’d, but that’s a post for another day!)
I think I’d like to try a bit more with this type of photography. Anyone who has any tips or tricks is welcome to do it in the comments! The only thing left to do now, is keep on clicking!
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