B& W Project 52 - Week 9

B&W Project 52 - Week 5

B&W Project 52 - Week 3

Thanks, Jim, for finding me my shot for the week! :)

Natural Horsemanship @ Punkin Patch Farm

Natural horsemanship is the philosophy of working with horses by appealing to their instincts and herd instincts. It involves communication techniques derived from wild horse observation in order to build a partnership that closely resembles the relationships that exist between horses. - Wikipedia

Last Sunday, my friends and I had the opportunity to visit my colleague Wolfgang and his partner Kathy's farm in Rigaud, QC.  And the farm has the cutest name ever - Punkin Patch Farm.  It's only an hour away from Montreal and 1 hr and 15 mins from Ottawa.

You must visit, if you are in this region, or even if you aren't, make the time to do so.  Please check out their website for more information on schedules.  The owners are very happy to show you around, time permitting, although it's best to call ahead and make an appointment if you don't want to be disappointed.  They're extremely busy caring for their own and others' pets, so do call ahead.

If you're just looking around and not taking riding lessons, please leave a small donation towards the upkeep of the farm.  All the animals are given treats for the little tricks they perform, and it would be a nice gesture if you did that.

The barn at Punkin Patch Farm

It was a gorgeous day when we visited, and I was accompanied by my son and some friends who drove with me from Montreal, and others who drove in from Ottawa.  So, to start with, the company was great.

The greatest thing was however, the experience we had at the farm.  Let me introduce you to Wolfgang & Kathy!

Kathy & Wolfgang in front of the barn

Kathy is the owner and the head trainer of the horses and has spent decades working with these gentle and beautiful animals.  And it's not surprising that she does this with a passion - she's one of the most patient, gentle and kind persons I've met!  And her passion for her beloved horses, shines in her eyes when she's with them, or merely talking about them.

She spent hours regaling us with stories about the horses she has or has had on her farm, stories about how she trains them or cares for them.  My friend's kids listened to her with rapt attention and I wasn't surprised when they lovingly brushed the horses down when Kathy and Wolfgang let them do so - they'd already built a bond with Punkin, who's the star of the farm, and Toby, the shiny black horse.

Kathy brushes Punkin down before the ride

Since they believe in raising and growing everything organically, Kathy & Wolfgang don't believe in using chemicals.  Therefore, to prevent mosquitoes and flies from harassing or biting the horses, she likes to have a fly mask on them (instead of using bug repellant), which are removed only when those pests are absent.  We, unfortunately, didn't get to see the beautiful eyes of the horses, but I'm definitely planning to go back to visit them at a time when the fly masks can be removed - maybe when it's cooler?

Besides the horses, there were chickens and a couple of roosters, cats, and Roland, the wolf.  I had mostly wanted to visit the farm for the new chicks that were born recently, and I had gone with the impression they would be running around being cute and fluffy.  They were definitely cute and fluffy, but were nowhere near running around.  They had to be kept warm under a heat lamp.  (Us, city folks, are pretty ignorant about farm life, aren't we?!  tsk tsk)  As a result, I couldn't get good photos of them because the coop was only illuminated by the red light coming from the lamp.

Little chicks keeping warm

The batch of chicks that were older were milling around each other in another enclosure, but it was way too dark again for a good photo.

We were told that Roland was a cross between a wolf and a husky, because it's against the law to keep a wolf as pet.  Roland had incredible eyes - one brown and the other one blue!  And what a handsome guy he was!  I wish I were brave enough to get behind the mesh to get a clear shot of his eyes.  :(

Roland

Kathy and Wolfgang grow their own vegetables and if they have some leftovers, they are happy to sell them to you.  Every summer, Wolfgang brings fresh veggies and eggs from his farm, and I have to say that I really wait for the eggs!  I absolutely love eggs and they are extremely fresh, being less than a week old, and they taste and look great on your plate.  I'm already looking forward to this summer's supply! :)

I have tried my best to summarize my experience, but no amount of summarizing does justice to the real experience of spending a day at their farm!

I have uploaded a lot of pictures to my Flickr stream, so please feel free to go and take a look.  And I highly recommend that you go and visit the farm and help support local farmers by buying their produce.  During times when we are all concerned about global warming, Nature conservation, eating organically grown food amongst other things, you can help immensely by supporting your local economy!

Berry Nice Parfait

I did say I would start doing some serious food photography.  So, I decided to start, without much ado.  We have been having incessant rain and bad weather for the last 4 days, and it doesn't show any signs of letting up.  I was going to do a team photo shoot at work, but had to cancel because of the rains.  It's almost summer, but where are the summer temperatures?

So enter the summer fruits!  A parfait, made with fresh berries, yogurt and granola is by far my favourite breakfast cereal or even late-night snack.  I sometimes add sweetened coconut or some honey to the parfait, but for this shoot, I didn't want to mess with the honey and get my camera sticky like the last time.

I bought a ton of berries over the weekend, and therefore, you're going to possibly see some pictures of those over the next few days till they finally get consumed.

The issue I'm having with photographing food is that my kitchen is the only spot where I get a really good quality of natural light, but unfortunately the work area is so small, it's becoming a great challenge for me.  And I should have chosen my furniture wisely - I have a tall bar table and chairs, which raises the height so much, that unless I'm standing on a ladder, I can't get a proper bird's eye shot of anything.  And I don't even have a ladder!  So, I have to stand on a chair, and then stand up on my toes to gain some extra height.  I could put the food down on the floor, but I wouldn't dare do it for fear of spiders and other bugs getting into it. 

I used my 90 mm lens through the entire shoot with a varying aperture of f/2.8 or f/4.0, but mostly used it at 2.8.  

I have challenged myself to now take shots that I will touch up only minimally, including cropping.  I will definitely have to crop my images of birds, because unless I invest in a $8000 lens of 800 - 1000 mm, I don't think I have the faintest chance of getting a shot that doesn't need chopping up.

I took all these shots from different angles, and by varying the set-up and I think I'm pleased with the outcome.  I've taken a load of food pictures in the past, but they were mostly hurried and done in a specific way for my cooking classes.  But it doesn't have to be that anymore.  

I'm only warming up, right now.  Wait till I start posting some real food shots with real recipes! ;-)

My New Birding Blog :-)

I decided to set up my birding blog sooner than later.  It's still a work in progress and I'm sure it will see a number of changes in the next few days, but if you would like to check it out, please feel free to do so.   I plan to update it as frequently as time and opportunity permits, but that is one blog that will keep growing.

Day 365 - And Here the Journey Ends to Begin Again!

I want to take this opportunity to thank you, all my blog readers, for being there, giving me your feedback and cheering me on even though my energy and motivation were in the pits from time to time.  I know that I haven't given my best over the last month or more - I've been battling health issues, and other things, but I really appreciated each visit and each comment you made on my posts.  For all that - THANK YOU!  I hope I have been able to give some of you some insight into my photography along the way and I hope to be able to share many more in the future as I change gears. 

I would also like to thank a few of my friends (and you know who you are) for keeping me on track - some of them coaxed and cajoled me into doing portraits, some of them downloaded my photos and saved them to their computer desktop at work to give me the exposure, some of them visited my blog and commented on my Facebook page, and yet some others religiously visited my Flickr posts and left me encouragement and kind words.  I think I had a whole battalion of friends and well-wishers following my footsteps, making sure I didn't fail.  My hats off to you! 

This is my last post for this project and what a project it has been!  I still can't believe it's over - well, how can I, considering I've been doing this for so long now?   I am certain that I will feel the loss sometime soon, but I definitely feel that the wrap-up was long overdue.  Seriously, it was.  It took me over a year from missing days due to illnesses and other personal issues.  But I think all's well that ends well.

It has been a great journey for me, and as I mentioned in my last post, I will put together some thoughts and write it all up - soon!  As soon as I've had some time to recover and enjoy my  freedom from the all-pervading stress of having to get a shot for the day.

I had been brainstorming with my friend Rajiv (who has modelled for me in the past) and with my son (he comes up with really great ideas and therefore, I sometimes turn to him for inspiration) about what the last post should be to commemorate the event.  My son's idea was to use fireworks (sparklers, in this case) to mark the celebrations.  Rajiv suggested using tealights to write 365 with (I was thinking candles, but thought it might be too clumsy) or to take a picture of something that was indicative of how monumental this task of taking a shot a day was.

I loved all three ideas, but unfortunately, I didn't find a monumental subject I could shoot today, nor did I find tealights at my local superstore.  Fortunately, I found sparklers!  Therefore, sparklers it had to be!  I had planned to do both the sparklers and the tealights but I guess availability of one took over the non-availability of the other!

I want to end this by saying I really loved and hated this project!  Let me leave you all with that thought, so I can come back and explain it better.  I'm a little bit overcome with mixed emotions right now.

Day 361 - Studying a Dahlia

Quick post

Day 360 - Ottawa Tulip Festival

I went to see the tulip festival with a few friends, and was greatly disappointed - didn't get to see as many tulips as I've normally seen in the past.  Admittedly, we didn't end up going to the park where I normally go - Dow's Lake, but the festival locations in downtown should definitely have had a lot more.

I think I probably took about a dozen shots of the tulips in all.  The flowers were mostly all dried up and in pretty bad shape.  I had to look hard to find a few nice ones to photograph.  I have only processed one for now, but I'll definitely post a few more on Flickr later.

Day 359 - Photoshop Experiment

Playing around in Photoshop Elements 8 and trying out some textures.

Day 358 - Edge of Light

These shots were taken of my dahlias on the balcony.  I noticed how the last rays of the sun illuminated the petals and dived for my camera.

Day 357 - Dull, Dreary, Damp!!

That's what the weather has been like here.  I was supposed to present some tips and tricks on how to do flower photography to my photo club at work.  I had a ton of ideas, but not enough time to make the sample images I would have liked.  It was a last minute decision to do the presentation, because after looking at the forecast, it didn't seem like we would be able to go outdoors to shoot.

I needed a few images to demonstrate what effect the choice of aperture has on DoF and went out after work to do that.  The sky was dark grey, light was failing, and I didn't have the opportunity to venture far.  Therefore, the plans went down the drain as I saw that the light was way below par.  But I took a few shots for myself anyway - needed the shot of the day, after all!

 

Day 352 - Utterly Exhausted

I am frequently overpowered by these waves of exhaustion where I feel totally out of it all.  This was one of those instances where I didn't know or couldn't care what the subject for the day would be, so I picked up the first thing I could find - chocolatines.

Day 351- Pouring Honey

Tried to get a shot of honey pouring over my breakfast, but couldn't quite the effect I was after.  I ended up trying the shot about five or six times, thereby, sweetening my cereal a bit too much.  I had to decide to stop at this shot!  And I also got quite a bit of honey on to my camera and the dining table in the process. :(  A right sticky situation!

P.S. Had a bit of a Photoshop challenge when I tried to remove a drop of honey that fell on the edge of the bowl behind the stream of honey.  Cloning is très difficile!

Day 348 - Mallards

Down by the riverside for a quick photo session.

Day 347 - Osprey

I was supposed to have made a trip to a friend's farm along with some other friends, but didn't end up going because of my poor health.  I'm feeling far from okay, but I just couldn't bring myself to be stuck within the four walls on such a gorgeous day as today, considering we're getting a lot of rain this Spring.

I spent a little while in the forest at the back and tracked down an Osprey couple on lunch patrol.  I also got a few shots of a Tree Swallow and a Myrtle Warbler, but the Ospreys were the stars of the day!

I got a few really clean shots as they came up right overhead, but the ones that would have been the best ones, I didn't have much luck with as they were too far even for my long lens.

If you'd like to see more of these Ospreys, do check out my Flickr photos.

Day 346 - Pink Mums

Now that I finally see the light at the end of the tunnel (read as the completion of my 365 project), even wild horses can't keep me away from the shot of the day!  I want to get this over with now, and I'm almost there!

I took about five shots, and I decided to try different processing on these two.

Day 345 - Easy Sausage Skillet

I was forced to cook dinner because I didn't want to order another take-out.  I remember being as sick as a dog - running a temperature and my sore throat was even more sore from the probing of the doctor and the nurse to see what was troubling it.  But when you have another mouth to feed, you have to do just that - feed that other mouth.

Sausage stir-fried in olive oil with onions, mushrooms, red pepper, celery, salt and ground pepper.  I served this over a bed of steamed rice.  Although I didn't have much of an appetite, since I had practically eaten nothing all day, I found it really delicious!

Day 344 - Fast Food Take-Out

Too sick to cook, too sick to think of the shot of the day.  This was one of 4 shots of the Pad Thai dinner I bought on my way back from work.

I usually love the Pad Thai from this fast food joint, but everything tasted like chalk that day.  Dinner gone to waste!

Day 343 - Cepacol

Allergy season seems to have gotten to me pretty bad this year.  I had somehow escaped being afflicted last Spring, and was only slightly affected.  But this time the allergies are so bad, my throat is severely inflamed and sore and feels like someone has thrust a ping pong ball down it.  I'm staying alive with Cepacol right now...  no voice and I feel really miserable! :(