Saturday 31 October 2009

The Unicorn


Lexy was a cute little unicorn for Halloween this year, Quinten was a lion and Aiden was a transformer character.  Quinten even helped Nana to make apple crisp - he peeled the apples - what a great helper. The kids had a great time making their jack-o-lanterns and going out for goodies.

Tuesday 27 October 2009

Refined Portrait Technique

I have refined my technique for taking portraits. This picture was taken with window light as the main light, but with flash bounced off the left wall to lighten the shadows on the left side of the picture. If I had used straight on flash, the picture would appear 2 dimensional - you need shadow and detail in the shadow to make a good portrait. I also did a bit of skin smoothing in photoshop to bring back that youthful appearance. The key success to this picture is the fact that flash was used, yet you cannot see a flash shadow. I have been studying for the last couple years to develop this technique and now I believe I have it - just need more practice.
Posted by Picasa

Sunday 25 October 2009

Playing With Leaves

I tried to hire a couple of kids to help with the leaves but they have a whole different idea of work than I do. Click here to see a few more of the pictures. Remember you can click on the picture above to see it full size.
Posted by Picasa

Friday 23 October 2009

A Hole in the Head !


Aiden wanted to show us his cavity where a tooth once happily lived. This tooth has been hanging by a thread for a week and yesterday he became parted with it. While we were visiting we took some pics of the rest of the young ones. Quinten is always very expressive and Lexy seems to be the new Disco Queen. Click here to see the slide show.  You may need to click on the triangle at the bottom to make the slideshow run. To see Aiden's picture on this page full size, just click on his picture above.

Monday 12 October 2009

A Visit to the Apple Farm



It was our friend Merna's Thanksgiving with her family and we were invited along to take pictures.

Saturday 10 October 2009

Model of Railway Station


Greg, a friend of mine came in to the Historical Room on Saturday to show us a model of the old Grand Trunk Railway station that was constructed in Newcastle in 1856. The actual railway station has long since disappeared from the local landscape. Greg's model station is part of an HO model train project that he is working on.
Click on the picture to see it full size.

Tuesday 6 October 2009

Nanna with Kids



Now that Aiden is attending school full time, mornings are with Quinten and Lexy. While Lexy just loves books and would have you read to her for hours, Quinten is more into puzzles and games. Click on the picture to see it full size, then  Click here to see more of the kids with Wenda in the mornings.

Thursday 1 October 2009

Naked News Interview


We had a fun day down at the CNE - exhibition grounds visiting the Home Show. All of a sudden I saw a media personality and asked if I could have my picture taken with her. If you have not heard of this news organization, you can see their website at naked news.com. It is a bizarre news organization in which the women news reporters strip down to nothing while delivering the news. Fortunately, my interview with Roxanne did not require such gimicks.
We had a great dinner with friends at "The Old Spaghetti Factory" before doing 'the grand tour' up Yonge Street.  Click here to see more.