Build you own Ring Flash...

So there are a number of blogs out there on the web that specialize in giving tips and tricks to the digital photographer. With the prices dropping fast and furious along with the availability of "pro-sumer" DSLR's, more and more people are making the jump. The great quandry of course though is: is this saturation of new users lowering the quality of pictures taken? Are we as a society decreasing our intelligence by increasing our need for the "snapshot?" I will let the others dispute these thoughts until the cows come home. That's not what this blog is about.

What I thought I would do is start to include links to other blogs that introduce cool new ideas into the realm of photography. So, as we roll in 2007, you will start to see some links to other cool blogs and websites. I will try to feature something new every day or so.

Today we start with a really neat feature I found on the "DigiHack's" blog. The author gives a great tutorial on how to build your own ring flash. For those of you who don't know what a ring flash is, it is a device that is typically circular that you put your lens through which allows for a very flat, illuminated subject without any shadows. You will see this used in fashion photography quite often. To top it all off, the catch lights that are created in the eye of the subject are really cool.

So if you have a moment and are interested in building your own budget ring flash, have a wander over to: DigiHack

At the bottom is a good example of the quality of light produced by a ring flash.

Cheers!
t.

Uncle Trevor? I think I like it!!!

So this was a pretty good Christmas. No, this was a pretty awesome Christmas!! Dana's sister (my sister-in-law) Alison and her husband Arek gave birth to a little baby girl on Christmas Eve! At 4:41pm, December 24th, 2006, Julia (pronounced Yulia) Cur came in to this world. Alison was a real trooper through the whole experience. Actually, I think she probably had one of the best birthing processes you could wish for! That's good because she deserved it! We can only hope Dana and I get so lucky (when our time comes of course - I am not using this opportunity to tell you that we are having a baby so stop asking!!!)

Alison called me Uncle Trevor at the hospital on Sunday and it was the first time I had ever been called that. Really cool experience!

Below are some pictures of my beautiful niece. What a great Christmas present for all of us!

t.

the "Mothers" getting the good news:


the happy Father and his Mom:


our first glipse of Julia:


the cute little Santa hat the nurses put on her:


Mother and Daughter:


Father and Daughter:


a very proud Aunt:


an equally proud Grand Dad:


what's this? A yawn? Sooooo cute!

Eilean Donan Castle

This is one of the beautiful castles Dana and I saw while on our honeymoon in Scotland. As you can see, it is quite picturesque and has been maintained very well. We learned that over the years, the castle had been expanded and contracted with the tennants that occupied it. At one point, it was much larger than it is today. We were able to walk through most of the rooms and the courtyard within the castle, learning about the hardships it has been through over the years.

This picture was taken with the Canon 350D and a Tamron 19-35 lens, shot around 1pm in the afternoon. I absolutely love the reflections in the water!

Cheers!
t.

Reminiscing is fun!!!

Over this past weekend, friends Sharon and Brian had some of us over for a Christmas Party. While there, Jay unveiled his long-awaited wedding DVD of Yvan and Kathryn's wedding last September (2005 that is). I thought I would include a couple pictures from that fine, fine day.

The happy couple:



Their beautiful cake:



And Leigh ROCKIN' out:



Ahhh, good times!

t.

One Sexy Beast

Annabelle is my girl. She may be a little big bone(ded) but I love her nonetheless.

I had a chance to use Canon's 70-200L F2.8 for a bit and man, what a wonderful piece of glass. The clarity is outstanding, the USM is dead silent, the focusing is quick and painless, and the consistent 2.8 across the entire range is just to die for. This is the first piece of "L" glass that I have had a chance to use and I don't think I can go back!

Love it (and her too)!

t.

Oh how I miss this drive!!!

This morning I woke up to rain and fog and it got me a little down but not for the usual reasons rain and fog get me down. Normally rain and fog means lots of traffic and idiots on the road for my mornings drive to work. Today wasn't really any exception but that's a story for another time. No, today reminded me of the exquisite landscape that we saw in Scotland. The low-lying fog that hung over the tops of the mountains as the sun tried ever-so-hard to peek through. It was amazing then and it's still crystal clear in my memory now.

Here's a little glimpse in to what we enjoyed on our honeymoon!

t.

Marcelo's Office...Round Deux!

Hey Kids,

Well not 24 hours after I asked "what would be next?" to happen to Marcelo's Office, the battle continued. This time, "Marcelo's Petting Farm" was turned into "Marcelo's Winter Fantasy Land!" It was quite hilarious but you must see it for your own eyes!

Enjoy!

t.

Marcelo's Office

So there is this battle going on between a couple of guys at work where they do fun stuff to each others office's. Nothing really harmful, just playful banter. The pictures I have included below are from the first time something MAJOR happened to one of their office's (I say office but it is really a cubicle). This was November 9th...I give you "Marcelo's Petting Farm!"









I wonder what will be next?

t.

The Rush is on...

So, I have been neglecting you again. So sorry am I! Despite having promised that I would try harder, I simply haven't. But there's a good reason my friend: there just isn't enough time! Dana and I have been busy arranging the last minute details for our impending reception this weekend and it seems like there hasn't been even a moment for fresh air. I certainly would love to post more, but I simply can't. Not now anyways.

Give me a week and then we will see just how frequent things are!

(that is of course if you are still visiting by then?)

t.

CK with....hair?

So in starting this blog based around my photography, I am forced to look back into the vault, something I haven't done in a long time. A quick scan this morning found an interesting picture of my buddy Chris. You see, Chris hasn't had much hair for a while.

Insert Exhibit A:



So when I saw the picture below, I couldn't resist! It was taken at our good friends Yvan and Kathryn's wedding last September. At the reception, Chris had to sing a song and part of the act that the DJ made him do was wear a wig and a big set of lips. I believe he was singing a Stones song but I could be wrong. Chris, if you are around, pipe in and let us know!

Anywho...enjoy today's picture.

t.

From the Photo Vault!

Back in Autumn 2005, my then fiance now wife was in a community play called Taking Sides. This play ran for (I believe) 3 weekends at the Dundas Theatre in Dundas Ontario. "Taking Sides is a 1995 play by British playwright Ronald Harwood, about U.S. accusations against German conductor and composer Wilhelm Furtwängler of having served the Nazi regime." The cast was excellent and their performances were stellar.

So I thought today I would post a picture that I took of Dana in that play.

Enjoy!
t.

Photoshop and the "Art History" Brush

So believe it or not, I have had a little bit of spare time over the last two days (I KNOW EH?). And when I have some spare time, I enjoy reading tips and techniques to better my photography. Upon reading PBase's latest electronic magazine (www.pbase.com/magazine), in the Photoshopography section (Page 14 onward), there was an interesting technique by Stephen LeQuier explaining how to use the Art History Brush. It is a pretty indepth technique so I won't go into too much detail here but I decided to try it out on one of the pictures I took in Scotland. In lamens terms, the technique allows the user to "paint" over an existing image using the data and colours below it. You are essentially creating an electronic painting.

If you are into this sort of thing, I suggest you try it out. It's a pretty cool technique.

Here is my first attempt.

The Picture:



The Painting:



That is definitely a technique that I would like to get better at. I believe that a Graphics Tablet would come in real handy when trying to paint those thin edges. Of course, maybe I just picked a really difficult image for my first attempt. Oh, well, who's judging?

t.

The Best Band in the World!

Ok, so everyone has their favourite band. Everyone thinks that their favourite band is the best band for whatever reason. This is no different. Ever since I can remember, I have been listening to a Canadian band called The Tragically Hip (www.thehip.com). The have been together for 20 years and have just released their 13th studio album. They have evolved over the years (like any good band does) but they still remain untouched in my mind. Their music is poignant, historic, moving and poetic, all at the same time. There are not a lot of bands out there that have had the same 5 members for their entire career and it shows. These guys truly are family.

So enough about the history, let's see the present. The band is currently on a "Multiple-Show Small Club Gig" tour in Canada. This doesn't happen very often because here in Canada, they sell out 20,000 seat arenas in less than a day. I was lucky enough to be able to go to the 4 nights that they played at the Phoenix Concert Theatre (The Phoenix) here in Toronto. I was also lucky enough to be able to shoot all 4 shows. Below are just a couple of snaps I took over the 4 nights as well as links to the full galleries.

Please enjoy and if you haven't heard The Hip yet, please do yourself a favour and pick up one of their CD's.

t.

Night 1: Sunday October 22nd, 2006.



Night 2: Monday October 23rd, 2006



Night 3: Wednesday October 25th, 2006



Night 4: Thursday October 26th, 2006.

Too Long I know...

Hi all,

So I'm back from the wedding in Scotland and it was fantastic! Sorry that it has been pretty infrequent on this blog, I promise it won't be that way from now on!

So, the wedding, well, yeah, what really can I say? Perfect Day, perfect weather, great hospitality, beautiful castle, the best family and friends...and one beautiful bride.

The picture below pretty much sums it up for Dana and I...we had our very own fairytale wedding!






More soon!
t.

I'm Leaving On A Jet Plane!!

So it's already been a while between posts. Sorry. Lots on my mind these days. Why you ask? Well, because I'm getting married in a week. I'm off to Scotland today! Woo Hoo!

So I promise that I will be a little more consistent with my posts when this wedding is all said and done. And at that point, I should have a ton of photos and new stuff to show you all...whomever you are!

cheers!
t.

Marriage

So, anyone that knows me knows I am getting married in less than a month. My fiance Dana and I have been planning this wedding for over a year now and it is hard to believe that all these plans are about to take action.

One of the last things that has come up is that we have a reading to pick for the actual ceremony. Dana remembered a fabulous passage from Khalil Gibran's "The Prophet" that I would like to post here for you all to read. It goes a little something like this:

Khalil Gibran… “On Marriage”
…Let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together, yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.


I believe that one of the greatest things that weddings do is that they allow the people involved to be touched my external factors. What I mean by this is that when I think about Dana and my relationship with her, I think about all the great things that I am thankful for. And as our date gets closer, it seems that many external factors will trigger my thoughts and emotions towards her. It could be as simple as reading the passage above. Or a song on the radio that reminds you of a special moment you shared. Or a family member welling up with emotion because they are so happy for you. All of these things bring joy and love greatness to our lives.

...now wouldn't it be great if we could remember these great feelings always? Block out all those greedy, egocentric, manipulative thoughts that so many have and focus on the good.

I believe it was the great John Lennon who said: "All you need is love." How very true!

t.

Understanding all of this...

To understand this picture, you have to understand my family. I live with three females...my fiance and our two cats: Annabelle (the white one) and Molly (the tabby). At the best of times, I will get along with two of the three. I don't think all four of us have ever been on the same page. I just don't think that can happen in our situation.






And that's why this picture is soooooo funny. Annabelle and Molly are actually sitting beside each other and being civil. And please understand something, if I could read minds, I might be able to tell you that they are not liking this setup one bit. But, because they both want to be in this blanket and because it isn't spread out, they will put aside their differences (however briefly) to have a common goal.

Now what makes this blanket so special? Who knows.
And was this an isolated incident? Nope, it happened again last weekend when Dana had the blanket out on the porch.

...females....

t.

Rock Point Shore Lunch

So, this post hopefully accomplishes two things: (1) It gets a photo of mine up on my blog and (2) it allows me to see exactly what image sizes work and which ones don't.

This image was taken over a 4-day long weekend in July spent at my family's cottage. This year was a reunion of sorts as it was the first time in about five years that both the Hodgdon & Connell families were up at Chiblow lake at the same time. As most of us are all grown up now, it was an interesting time. Lots of laughs, a few heated discussions, and even a few tears.

This image is of the master of the Hodgdon clan, enjoying the view of the lake after a delightful meal out on the rocks. It very much encapsulates the tranquility that is this area in Northern Ontario. With a little White Balance adjustment, some cloning, a slight s-curve, and a little burning, I believe I have arrived at the desired effect.

C&C's always welcome.

t.

There's a first time for everything...

So...here we are.
I'm officially entering the world of Blogging.

...should be fun.

t.