Theme #4 was Black & White, and I was really interested to see what everyone would do. So here they all are and let the voting begin!  Please indicate your first and second choice, and share a little about what you like, some constructive suggestions. or some questions.

But first, please let me make a note of something.  Out of the 14 pictures submitted I had to resize 2 and rename 7.  Naming your file as the name of the photo was never a rule before, but it is now. Please review the Rules!  If you are having problems with any of these requirements, like the resizing of your photo for example, you should ask for help.  We really won’t mind! I’d rather spend time conversing with you and helping us all learn something than resizing and renaming your pics for you!  You can post a question about that or anything else as a comment and perhaps one of the rest of us can maybe provide a solution.  That conversation between us can help all of us learn.

Lastly, the theme for Challenge #5 is “BIRD“, set by Donna Williamson who was the winner in Challenge #3.

The deadline for submissions is Wednesday September 15 at 7:00 pm.

Enjoy the pics!  And remember…

“Don’t just take pictures, make pictures!”  -Scott Bourne

Have you heard? There’s going to be a municipal election!!!

No, no, not just for the position of Mayor of Toronto! I know that’s the impression you’d have from the main stream media, but there’s an election coming in whatever town you live in as well!  (Well, if you are reading this from Ontario, that is.)

So the question is, do you know who is running in your town?  For Mayor? For Council? School Board Trustee?

Here in Aurora, the list of registered candidates can be found here.

With less than two months to go, I’m starting to educate myself on who all of these candidates are, why they are running, and their credentials for the office. I still need to find out when the local debates will be, perhaps look up some opportunities to hear these candidates speak to a crowd, and also see if I can ask them a question or two.

So far I’ve sat down with Geoff Dawe one night after work and Nigel Kean came by my door the other evening and we had a not-s0 brief conversation.  I have not yet met Roger Clowater and, of course, I know Phyllis from the last election and the 4 years in between, so we don’t really need to talk.  But I sure would like to hear her views on the goings on in Council over the past 4 years and how she justifies that vs the decorum I expected when she was elected. Don’t know about you, but I’ve felt pretty let down for the past 4 years.  I’ll have to find an opportunity to hear her address that.

BTW, does anyone know what Phyllis is using for a campaign website, ’cause I couldn’t find one?

And I’m just getting started on looking up the people running for Council.

Given the opportunity, I’d like to have a conversation with each of these candidates for Mayor and Council, an question them on how they think the town might move foward given the upcoming energy-constrained future. I’d want to know their vision on infill development, transportation, pedestrian priority, bike lanes and facilities, walkable communities, the farmers market, community gardens, the list goes on and on.

That’s a lot of research to do between now and October 25! I’d better get started!

Anyway, the ballot box is coming your way October 25, and I hope you all get an opportunity to find out more about who is running to lead your town for the next 4 years, so that you can make an informed decision.

(For those that are counting, you may have noted that I’m just assuming all of my readers will be voting. Nuff said.)

One of the upsides of being a commuter is having time every day to take in some reading and audio books and podcasts.  Lately I’ve been fairly absorbed in photography related podcasts and blogs, obviously, and there are a couple that I’d highly recommend.

Scott Bourne is a well known photographer in many genres, particularly wildlife, and for some time has been running the blog at photofocus.com with photography related posts and tips almost every day.  He also hosts a free podcast of the same name (usually with another pro photographer as a guest host) which is entirely a Q&A format.  I’ve been reading the blog for a few months and listening to the podcasts as they come out (5th, 15th and 25th of each month) as well as catching up on old episodes.  I highly recommend this podcast and site to all my photo friends.

I’ve been interested in getting a fast (ie wide aperture) 50 mm lens since buying my D90, but I wasn’t sure whether this was the right choice for a crop sensor camera, as the advice to get such a lens comes from pros who shoot full frame. Does the advice to use a 50 mm still hold true for DX cameras? Or should I be looking at the 35 mm which, with a 1.5 crop factor, would have an equivalent focal length of approx 50 mm?

Confused? So was I.  So I decided to pose the question to Scott.

And wonder of wonders, if you listen to episode #48 of the podcast my question is answered.

Incidentally, I went ahead with my purchase and now have the Nikon 50mm 1.4 AF D.  It’s very cool, and I’m looking forward to experimenting with it!

I found this little video on Chase Jarvis blog, and it really struck me that I’d never stopped to consider Polaroid before and the amazing things they gave us.  I mean sure, I’d marvelled at the engineering, the fact that Polaroid was able to put a little development lab in everyone’s camera. But I’d never thought about the social impact these camera’s had by allowing photo’s to be viewed almost immediately with the same group of people who were in the picture, in the moment, or the freedom that must have been felt by photographers who could work on their artistic craft without the massive learning curve of the dark room process.

We’re all so used to digital camera’s with LCD’s and instant feedback now.  Polaroid was the digital before digital.

So was Polaroid an engineering marvel? Or a tool for artistic freedom?  I say both.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Incidentally, my friend Stewart pointed out Poladroid to me, which is a nifty way to convert your digital pics into Polaroid-like images.  Very cool for party pics!

UPDATE Aug 25: The winner for Photo Challenge 3 is Donna Williamson! Congrats Donna! There are no prizes, LOL! Donna will be choosing Theme #5, which will be revealed when all the pics from Theme 4 are posted.  I’ve also updated the gallery below to include all the photographer names, so if you have any questions about how the shots were taken, please join the conversation!

Lots of great entries for the latest photo challenge! The theme was BLUE (chosen by Donna Williamson, winner of Theme #1) and I’m predicting a close race!

Those who entered, please vote for your first and second choice.

For anyone else, welcome! We’d love to hear your comments and your favourites as well, as your votes might determine the tie-breaker.

And now a new rule for voting… Voting will close in 1 week or as soon as all the entrants have voted, whichever is sooner.  I’ll update the post then with all of the names and other photo details that were sent to me.

Theme #4 is “BLACK & WHITE“, set by Jeannie Gane who was the winner of Theme #2.  Be sure to check out the Rules post before you submit a photo, as I’ll be updating it in the next day or so. You’ll risk getting your photo rejected in future if you don’t stick to the rules and it makes more work for me. Photo’s for Theme #4 are due Wednesday September 1 by 7:00 pm.

Click to see a full sized photo.

I’m considering whether this post should be the start of a series.  It would be categorized as “We need a bylaw” or “Gaps in logic” or something like that.  At any rate, it’s a brief rant about a specific situation I’ve faced daily for many months and which is also likely a common occurance in your life as well.  And it really ticks me off.  (Whether this becomes a series, only time will tell…)

I walk a lot.  My typical day (in cooperative weather) includes 15 minutes from home to the Aurora GO station, 15 minutes from Union Station to my office and 30 minutes to do the same in reverse, plus some walking during lunch hour.  For months now, I’ve been witness to the construction of the new Aurora GO parking facility as I walked by in the morning and afternoon.  This is not a comment on the facility itself as I’ve never actually parked at the GO station, choosing instead to walk most days or take the bus in bad weather.

For long stretches of time during the facility construction I’ve been faced with this sign:

Road Closed

You can’t read it, but the fallen down part says “Pedestrians Use Other Sidewalk.”

Now, I’m sure you’re wondering why this particular thing would be cause for a rant. After all, the sidewalk is closed for my safety, right?  Shouldn’t I be grateful?  Well, to answer that you have to consider this map:

Aurora GO Station

The green circle is the GO station.  The red circle is the sign location.  The sidewalk which has been “closed” for months is on the south side of the street, the same side as the GO station which is the destination of a great number of pedestrians who might actually be walking there.

So in effect, this sign is essentially telling me to cross to the north side of the street and then take my life in my hands to cross back to reach the train station since there is no safe crosswalk.  If you’ve ever been to this part of Aurora you know what a risky venture that would be!

In my professional career I’ve been around a lot of construction, including work along public roadways.  The Highway Traffic Act and other safety legislation is quite specific about safe signage and passage for vehicles.  Under no circumstances would a contractor get away with not providing a safe route for cars past a construction area.

So why do pedestrians not deserve equal consideration?

To add insult to injury (actually, this is about avoiding injury), this is only one of three identical situations on my walk from home to the GO station.  There were/are others for the new condos on John West Way and the new Catholic High School just east of this map.  The High School, incidentally, is on the north side, so to navigate according to the signs and closed walks I would have had to cross Wellington Street three times.

The point of this is that pedestrians deserve safe passage past construction zones, and contractors should be obligated to provide it rather than just closing sidewalks and letting pedestrians fend for themselves.

The theme for Challenge #2 was “Summer.”

After a real squeaker in the voting, the winner this time out was Jeannie Gane with “Summertime on the Farm.” Contratulations Jeannie!

Jeannie will be choosing Theme #4.

Click to see a full sized photo.

Summertime-on-the-Farm // ©Jeannie Gane

Miss Kitty's Virginia Summer // ©Kate Potter

Summer Swim // ©Donna Williamson

Summer Sunset - Lake Kagawon, Manitoulin Island // ©Dale Tiller

pomme d'amour // ©Krista Faulds

Summer Abyss // ©Amanda Berloni

The Skiers // ©Glenn Hubbers

Echinacea // ©Mollie Fisher

The fresh taste of summer // ©Wendy Taylor

Backsplash // ©Lorne Jordan

Summer 'Air' // ©Sara Beasley

The theme for Challenge #1 was “Circles”.

Thanks, in no particular order to Ted, Donna, Dale, Marie, Jeannie, Lorne, Karen, Wilson, Mollie and Maddy for playing along.

Our obvious favourite this week was Circle of Life from Donna Williamson. Congrats, Donna. Good work! Donna gets to pick theme #3, which will be revealed very soon.

Click to see a full sized photo.

Circle of Life // ©Donna Williamson

Westjet Boeing 737-800 // ©Lorne Jordan

Birth to Death - Full Circle // ©Dale Tiller

A Secret // ©Ted Williamson

Wheels of Commerce // ©Glenn Hubbers

Air Vent // ©Maddy Hubbers

Sunny Circles // ©Mollie Fisher

The CIRCLES of Life // ©Marie Bridel

The Thousand Islander // ©Karen Jordan

Water Lilies Dancing in the Sunlight // ©Jeannie Gane

Spider // ©Wilson Tan

My Photo Challenge is for my family, friends, aquaintences, etc.  If you feel like you want to play please contact me via email or the contact link above.

Updated September 1, 2010.

Rules of the game.

(Rules are subject to change, so check back here periodically for updates!)

• The challenge runs on a two week cycles.  I’ll post a theme for our photo’s and we all need to go out and take pictures relevant to that theme.  Some interpretation of the theme may be required, and I don’t propose to give any more info.  You have to interpret it for yourselves.  This is about creativity as much as skill, so get creative!
• Note the deadline for submissions on each theme!  Being late creates more work for me and is pointless once the voting starts.  I’ll post the pics as soon as I can after the deadline, but I guarantee nothing.  If your pic gets to me before I do the post, it stands a good chance of being included.
• Only one submission allowed per person.  Part of the exercise is learning to choose!
• I’m handling this through email for the time being but that may change.  Stay tuned.
• Everyone who submits a photo comment or has submitted within the previous two rounds is eligible to vote.  Voting is done via the comments on the blog post.  Pick your first and second choice from the group but you can’t pick your own photo.
• The winner with the most votes gets to pick an upcoming theme.
• Anyone who didn’t submit in the current or previous 2 themes are still welcomed to vote / comment, but your votes will be used only as a tie breaker.
• Voting will close after all eligible voters have voted or 1 week passes, whichever comes first.  At this time I’ll edite the post to include the photographer names, so be sure to come back and join the conversation.
• I encourage everyone to ask questions or make comments when the vote.
• After the voting closes and the names are posted, I encourage everyone to come back and answer any questions asked about their photo, or engage in some dialogue about the composition, techniques, what you tried that failed, etc.
• This is about learning, and we will all learn more if you include details such as camera, lens, exposure settings (ISO, focal length, aperture, shutter speed), filters, photoshop processing, etc. as well as your thought process on composition.

Required Info:

• PLEASE resize your photo no larger than 1024 px in either direction.  Not doing so creates work for me, and I don’t need more work to do!  I may start rejecting photo’s that don’t conform.
• Your photo must have a name. Please name your file to be the photo name.
• Send it in via email to me with the subject line “Photo Challenge – theme” for the current theme.

Starting a new hobby tends to make one fairly self absorbed.  You go through a time when it’s all you want to talk about, hear about, read about, and you can’t really understand why others don’t share your enthusiasm. This time round it is my new obsession with photography and taking in as much knowledge as I can, as fast as I can.

All that enthusiasm needs an outlet, and if that burden all lands on your spouse you quickly find that you need to shift gears, start talking to other people about your newfound addiction, and try to get back to (at least) equal air time for your spouses endeavors.  In my case, Mollie is working on her writing and working toward recording a CD this year which is a fairly overwhelming project on which both of us need to remain focussed for it to be a success, so that deserves more than equal time.

In addition to my new photo hobby, I’ve also been regretting the fact that I’ve been ignoring this blog for some months and looking for a reason to get back into it, so I thought the solution might be to combine the two.

In talking to many of my friends and family who are recent entrants into the world of photography, I frequently hear the complaint that they want to learn but don’t know what to take pictures of or how to focus their learning.  The word “photography” encompasses such a wide variety of things that this is extremely difficult until you figure out what you want to do with it.

So I’ve started a Photo Challenge for my family and friends and will be posting the results here.  They know who they are and if you feel like I should include you then go ahead and contact me.  Here’s the rules of the game.

• On a two week cycle, I’ll post a theme for our photo’s and we all need to go out and take pictures relevant to that theme.  Some interpretation of the theme may be required, and I don’t propose to give any more info.  You have to interpret it for yourselves.  This is about creativity as much as skill, so get creative!
• At the end of the two weeks, I’ll do a post with all the pics submitted in the order I receive them.  There will be an official deadline for each challenge.
• I’m only posting one submission per person.  If two are submitted I’ll take the most recent one up to the deadline.  After that, thanks for sharing the cool photo, but it won’t count.
• I’m handling this through email for the time being, and I’ll provide additional details via email.  If it get’s larger I may have to start a Flickr groups or something like that.
• Everyone who submits a photo and makes it into the post should comment and pick their favourite from the group but you can’t pick your own.  You have to pick your favourite from the others.
• The winner with the most votes gets to pick an upcoming theme.

I’m hoping this turns out to be as fun as I think and as little work as I hope so that I can spend more time with my camera than my computer even thought I’ll be posting more often and, most importantly, Mollie can get to concentrate instead my listening to my ramblings.

Now let’s get out there and shoot!