Downtown and Erik's Swim meet

It was a beautiful Saturday morning when we woke up.  We were going to watch Erik swim downtown at the U of T pool.  We decided to get up early and take some pictures at the lake (we were there the night before as well) and then ride the subway and see what other opportunities presented themselves to us.  We had so much fun!  I really like it that Ralph comes with me to do this.  It's a hobby we can share.  I think he has a better understanding of Aperture values and ISO than I do, which is helpful.  We are learning from each other.

Here are few that we took on Friday evening...

We got up early on Saturday morning (around 5:30) and headed down to the lake. It really was going to be a beautiful day. It wasn't too cold for taking pictures and they were forecasting for the temperature to go up through the day.

 

 

We then headed downtown by subway.  This was fun. I haven't been on one for quite a few years.  We stopped first at the Museum station.  This is nice decorated and we thought it might be nice to take some photo's here and also practice some motion shots.  I'm quite pleased with the results.  Regrettably we were asked by the TTC security to stop taking pictures as we didn't have a permit to do so.  We weren't aware that a permit was required.  They were very nice about it, so we packed up and left.  We are still quite happy with the ones we got.

 

From Museum Station we went to Union Station.  We wanted to try to photograph the train station and use a method to make people disappear from the picture. This can be accomplished using a timed exposure.  You require a tripod to do this type of photo.  As were we setting up, we were once again approached by security and advised that we could not take any photo's using a tripod - it was ok to use a camera but no tripod.  They also stipulated that you could not brace yourself against a wall or place your camera on your camera bag.  Hmmm, this was going to be a challenge.  Unfortunately with this constraints we couldn't get the picture that we were attempting to get, but Ralph was able to still get a nice one.  The challenge here was that you needed to keep the lens open for a lengthy time, but now allow too much light in from the window to over expose the picture.  A neutral density filter helped with this picture.



Next we headed to Spadina St.  This is where the pool is that Erik was swimming at.  We had about an hour to spare, so we walked around and took some photo's in the area. 

After enjoying a nice lunch with Fred, Anna, Erik and Kristen, we headed to the pool. We watched Erik prepare for his race which was a 400 IM - quite a challenging swim!  Erik did very well.  We really do enjoy going to these swim meets and watching the kids swim. It brings back memories for me.

Early morning sunrise

Ralph and I were up early this morning, so before church we decided to go down to the Lakeshore.  While I was taking pictures, he took Oakley for a walk.  It was a beautiful morning.  There wasn't a cloud in the sky.  As a result the pictures don't have as much character and I was trying something different. I'm not as happy with these as the ones taken the other day, but that's part of the learning. I know what I did wrong and what I need to improve.  I was leaving the lens open too long.  Not a good thing when photographing the sun coming up!  I have to wait till next weekend to try again!

Out and about

Today, Ralph and I took our cameras downtown to the market and then later on we went back to the lakeshore to take some pictures.  What a fun day we had. It was nice to explore and test newly learned things on the camera.  We both took lots of pictures.  Here are a few of the shots that were taken.

It takes a little practice

I have signed up for photography lessons at Henrys.  I'm really enjoying the classes and the homework that we get each week.  This weeks focus was on "Manual" mode and how to control the shutter speed, exposure and aperture.  There are many things to remember while taking a picture, but I find that the more you do it, the easier it becomes.  I'm quite impressed with the examples that everyone brings to the class.  What I like is that our work is critiqued and suggestions are given to help you learn along the way.  Here are few examples of this weeks homework. 

Highway 401  8:15 p.m.

Happy birthday Brody

Today we celebrated Brody's first birthday.  What a fun day we had.  It was nice to have both families together.  Brody was in good spirits all day and certainly loved all the attention.  Laura did a great job organizing the day and there was fun and games for the all the kids.  Everyone enjoyed themselves. 

Yummy that cake was good!