Sunnybrook sunburst fall smiles

Sunnybrook fall smiles - #330/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

After a long walk in Sunnybrook park I took a few portrait shots with this warm yellow tree backdrop. As I was shooting into the sun, I decided to use it for effect and allow it to burst through and use flash to brighten my kids' faces and bring out I nice glow.

Someone's late

Someone's late - #329/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

The fall colours come and go so quickly here in Ontario so I've been snapping quite a few shots this weekend while the weather is beautiful. Some trees are in full fall colours, some have already lost of a lot of leaves and many still haven't shown any interest in changing yet. This tree is on my regular dog walk route and I liked the contrast of green outcropping with the sea of orange. The shot is quite close to horizontal and the dark tree branches provided a nice frame for the leaves.

Electric focus

Electric focus - #328/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

My good friend was visiting this weekend and he brought along his electric guitar so he could jam a little with my son. I've tried to play a few musical instruments in my life, but I've never been able to get past real beginner levels. So I'm an awe with musicians at all levels, including my son who's been learning for about a couple of years and my fiend who's recently picked it up again. Just like the concert photography I enjoy, I find taking shots of any musician interesting. The combination of beautifully designed instruments with the concentration, focus and all manner of facial expressions makes for wonderful photography subjects.

Walter's smile

Walter's smile - #327/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

Walter Gretzky is perhaps one of the best known and most loved sports dads. The NHL season kicked off today and there was a large Face-Off 2010 event happening at Yonge Dundas Square. Mr Gretzky was being interviewed along with old Maple Leaf players, Darryl Sittler and Jim McKenny (see here for other shots of the event). This is the first time I've heard Walter speak in person and he came across as such a nice man, comfortably talking about his love of hockey and of course his son, Wayne.

Kooper yawn

Kooper yawn - #326/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

We're still struggling a little trying to control our 18 month old Australian Shepherd. One of his favourite spots is sitting on top of the back of the old (luckily) leather armchair by our front window. It provides a very comfortable view of the street so when I was flaked out on the couch and saw him up there, I let him be for a few minutes and grabbed a few shots. Kooper is a tri-colour (black, white and brown) Aussie so I often shoot him in black & white to accentuate his lovely high contrast coat. I guess he was a little sleepy like me late in the afternoon and I liked this capture of his wide yawn.

Raj

Raj - stranger #73 and daily photo #325/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

On the way home I noticed a new neighbourhood dollar store and its window display with Halloween costume displays. I thought the costumes may work for my daily shot, so I was considering my angles, when I noticed a man standing by having a cigarette. He was obviously a little curious about what I was doing. He owned the store and asked if I was interested in anything. I explained my interest from a photography point-of-view and I introduced myself. His name is Raj, he lives in Milton and recently opened this dollar store with his wife. This is the second dollar store Raj has opened, but he actually has a degree in civil engineering from Western. He was doing contract work in material engineering for US customers, until the economy worked against him. I liked the bright colours of his sign as a background and I used the pop-up flash to light his face better than the ambient light was providing. I took quite a few shots and paused on occasion as I tried to put him at ease, thanks for being patient with me Raj - good luck with your new store.

Along with my photo of the day, Raj is also #73 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at www.100Strangers.com.

Old glass door knob

Old glass door knob - #324/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

This is a very close macro shot of an old glass door knob in my house. As you can see, there is some deterioration of some kind, but actually it adds a little colour to the shot.

I took over 35 shots over about 15 minutes. My Speedlight external flash (+1.0 EV, 24mm manual zoom) was positioned about 4" above the knob point directly down. The pop-up was set at -1.3EV and the lens was about 1" from the knob using the a 10x close-up filter. Other settings: Flash WB;and custom optimization (+1 sharpness, +1 tone, Auto saturation and IIIa colour). This filter does produce very soft edges, but I think it creates a more abstract shot in this case.

Snake, up close at the zoo

Snake, up close at the zoo - #323/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

It was a bit of a toss up deciding on today's shot from The Toronto Zoo, but I chose this one over the jelly fish because you can always grab a shot of them, but the snakes are not active that often. I took a chance with a very high ISO (2000) and I'm pretty pleased with the clarity of the shot, especially the details of his scales zoomed in 200mm.

Old Georgetown reflections

Old Georgetown reflections - #322/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

While visiting Washington, my mom and I took a walk over to Georgetown and it's old canal. The still water and bright sunshine produced some nice reflections of the old buildings, bridges and the runner in red.

Workshop ceremony on TV ?

Workshop ceremony on TV ? - #321/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

I shot this through an opening in my brother's photo booth project in his workshop. MY brother was telling us all about this very impressive, new CNC machine.

As the inside frame of the booth got overexposed it works well with a blended white page background (like in Flickr). The overall faded, somewhat nostalgic feel and the serious poses away from the camera looks like some TV shot of a weird workshop religious ceremony.

Barefoot on her opening night

Barefoot on her opening night - #320/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

My sister-in-law had her opening night for her "Portcards To My Parents" (www.postcardstomyparents.com) exhibition at Washington DC's Fathom Gallery and it turned out to be a wonderful evening with lots of family and friends. This shot was taken later in the evening when the crowd was thinning and Carolyn was relaxing with her friends. I didn't get the best exposure with my control on the flash, but I really like the composition and her playful pose.  One inconsequential cheat on this is that I think the shot was taken after midnight.  I took lots of other shots early in the morning, but I like this one the most.

September blushing sky

September blushing sky - #319/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

One of those days when I didn't find a lot of time to take many shots, then just after dinner my wife yells out about the beautiful sky. I grab the camera and start shooting right outside my house as the colours quickly change. I used a vivid setting to get the most of the gorgeous colours and used a centre weighted exposure setting to make sure the sky was correct and accepted the tree silhouettes.

I love to...

I love to... - #318/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

Another rainy day in Toronto. I turned my camera up to vivid to accentuate the metal framing and reflections.

Jumping Boxer

Jumping Boxer - #317/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

The Boxer Rebellion lead man, Nathan Nicholson catching a little pogo air at The Horseshoe Tavern. I always like taking shots at The Horseshoe because you can usually get close to the stage and they have no problem with you shooting with a DSLR (although you often need earplugs). As usual, I used my nifty 50 and decided to use in-camera B&W for a few shots. With fixed 50mm and being at the front of the stage was a little limiting, but gave me this unusual shot trying to capture his Nathan's frequent pogo jumps.

Next Mexx

Next Mexx - #316/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

Mexx are opening a new uptown mega store and I thought the architectural lines and muted tones were interesting and I used a lamppost to steady by nighttime shot.

Bobby

Bobby - #315/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

Bobby organized our team for the North American Grand Masters (40+ years old) Ultimate Championships in Montreal. Bobby is 62 years old and played tirelessly on day one of play, and on many occasions played many consecutive points without substituting off. Over beers I learnt that Bobby is a very accomplished harmonica player and played on stage with the likes of Jackson Browne and on one occasion accompanied Janice Joplin ! I didn't get a lot of action shots (as I was exhausted during my sideline rests), but the thing I like about this one is that although the disc is long gone, the focus in Bobby's eyes is pure sportsman.

I wondering whether to include Bobby or any of my new teammates in my stranger project, but thought they'd fit into some kind of new set like "new found friends".

Red rocket man

Red rocket man - #314/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

Although it's obviously not a very clear shot, I quite like the composition, converging lines, colour patterns and the ceiling reflection. On the way home, I used manual setting and adjusted at each station until I had a decent balance of exposure and motion blur.

Harold

Harold - stranger #72 and daily photo #313/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

I've seen this man selling t-shirts at the corner of Yonge and Dundas for many, many years, but I never knew his name. I think I bought a Zidane head butt t-shirt from him 4 years ago as a gift for my brother. He always shows up at the corner later in the afternoon and I finally got to meet him. I knew he'd make a great stranger with his grey rasta looks.

His name his Harold and he came to Canada from Trinidad in 1968 when he was 17. He learnt from his father how important a honest living is, so when he arrived on a Friday, Harold started his first job in Canada on the Monday, and he's had a job ever since, including working as a welder. Harold is a true entrepreneur and has lots of projects on the go. His latest project is trying to motorize his t-shirt cart. Harold even builds guitars and compares the curves of the guitar body to a women's figure. He said that when I take pictures of women and should include their whole body, not just their head and shoulders !

I took a few shots of Harold and trimmed a couple with a tighter crop which I'm starting to do a lot with my portrait shots. But with his white locks and beard, the shots look quite odd so I kept these more traditional head shots.

Along with being my daily photo entry, Harold is also #72 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at www.100Strangers.com.

Mont Royal view of Montreal towers

Mont Royal view of Montreal towers - #312/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

I was in Montreal for business and visited Mont Royal which overlooks the city. There was a lot of trees blocking wider landscape shots views from the edge of this observation area. As I moved around I found this angle where I could isolate a few of the taller building and by zooming in from quite a way back I could condense the depth of field.

Tip toes Old Montreal photographer

Tip toes Old Montreal photographer - #311/365, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

When I'm in Montreal I always like to walk around Old Montreal. The old architecture, narrow streets and cafes are beautiful and produce a very European feel. I spotted this lady as she stopped her bike and took a photograph. She looks like she could a local, which would be nice as locals so often don't recognize the beauty of their own city.