365 #28

 

Date: 2010/01/28 11:40
Model: Canon EOS D40
ISO: 400
Exposure: 1/30 sec
Aperture: 5,6
Focal Length: 85.0 mm
Flash Used: No
White Balance: Flash
 

Date: 2010/01/28 11:44
Model: Canon EOS D40
ISO: 400
Exposure: 1/30 sec
Aperture: 5,6
Focal Length: 83.0 mm
Flash Used: No
White Balance: Flash

Date: 2010/01/28 11:35
Model: Canon EOS D40
ISO: 800
Exposure: 1/15 sec
Aperture: 9
Focal Length: 85.0 mm
Flash Used: No
White Balance: Flash

Theme for you capture was “color” and I had way too much fun with my camera. That’s why I’m sharing three photos instead of the usual one. That was the GOOD news.

Now …
The BAD news is, I won’t be online for the next three days. We’re off to the South of the country and we’ll  (hopefully) be taking lots and lots of pictures. I will be posting them on both my blogs when we get back. I’m keeping my fingers crossed and I hope to get some snow, I never thought I’d hear myself say so, but that would really be wonderful.
See you on Monday, have a great weekend!

365 #27

Date: 2010/01/27 13:47
Model: Canon EOS D40
ISO: 400
Exposure: 1/25 sec
Aperture: 10
Focal Length: 41.0 mm
Flash Used: No
White Balance: Flash

This is the last entry for Thematic Photography, “I’m hungry”. It’s been fun!

This is a page from an old culinary weekly magazine “ Journal de la Cuisine”. They’re bound in books and this is the oldest volume, it dates from 1890. I really love to leaf through them from time to time. I think they paint a pretty neat picture of what life in Belgium was like in that era. There’s always something that catches my eye. Like these statistics on import and export between Belgium and France for instance. I think it’s interesting to know we exported slightly more than we imported. About the same amounts of kilos of meat, butter and eggs went back and forth across the French border. We loved ( and I guess we still love) French cheese and the French seemed to be eager to import our live stock and fish.
Oh and we exported 2.637.000 liters of our milk.
Hmmm? This makes me wonder …
Perhaps they used it to make French cheese?

365 #26

Date: 2010/01/26 10:05
Model: Canon EOS D40
ISO: 800
Exposure: 1/15 sec
Aperture: 6,3
Focal Length: 85.0 mm
Flash Used: No
White Balance: Manual

"The potato, like man, was not meant to dwell alone."
Shila Hibben

I’m not sure how many entries I’ve already posted for Thematic Photography, but I’ve played with this “I’m hungry” theme all week.
Not that I’m THAT hungry, but this theme seems to keep my inspiration going.
I wonder what I can come up with tomorrow?

365 #25

 

Date: 2010/01/25 12:07
Model: Canon EOS D40
ISO: 800
Exposure: 1/30 sec
Aperture: 8,0
Focal Length: 47.0 mm
Flash Used: No
White Balance: Flash

 

"Recipes are like poems, they keep what kept us.
And good cooks are like poets;
they know how to count."
Henri Coulette

 

This is something I treasure, my handwritten recipe book.

Today's entry for “I ‘m hungry”.
This week’s theme for Thematic Photography really inspires me, does it show?

365 #24

 

Date: 2010/01/24 14:17
Model: Canon EOS D40
ISO: 800
Exposure: 1/10 sec
Aperture: 7,1
Focal Length: 53.0 mm
Flash Used: No
White Balance: Flash

Life is uncertain.  Eat dessert first. 
~Ernestine Ulmer ~

365 #23

 

Date: 2010/01/15 20:57
Model: Canon EOS D40
ISO: 800
Exposure: 1/25 sec
Aperture: 5,6
Focal Length: 35.0 mm
Flash Used: No
White Balance: Manual

 

"Non cooks think it's silly to invest two hours' work in two minutes' enjoyment; but if cooking is evanescent, so is the ballet."
Julia Child

 

 

This is my third entry for “ I’m hungry”, this week’s theme for Thematic Photography. Since there was not enough time to play with the Big Guy today and Carmi said he was curious about the lobster, I’m using a photo  from my D40 archives today.

365 #22

 

Date: 2010/01/22 14:23
Model: Canon EOS D40
ISO: 400
Exposure: 1/800 sec
Aperture: 5,6
Focal Length: 50.0 mm
Flash Used: No
White Balance: Manual

 

“There is nothing like a plate or a bowl of hot soup, it's wisp of aromatic steam making the nostrils quiver with anticipation, to dispel the depressing effects of a grueling day at the office or the shop, rain or snow in the streets, or bad news in the papers.”
Louis P. De Gouy, The Soup Book (1949)

 

Find more “I’m hungry” themed photos for Thematic Photography here. 

365 #21

 

Date: 2010/01/21 13:15
Model: Canon EOS D40
ISO: 800
Exposure: 1/13 sec
Aperture: 5,6
Focal Length: 28.0 mm
Flash Used: No
White Balance: Manual

Thematic Photography’s theme for this week is “I’m hungry”.
I think I can come up with a few ideas to meet this challenge, starting with the smoked herring I had for lunch today. 
Not every day is a day to eat lobster, now is it ? 

The sea hath fish for every man.
~ William Camden ~

365 #20

Date: 2010/01/20 12:39
Model: Canon EOS D40
ISO: 400
Exposure: 1/400 sec
Aperture: 5,6
Focal Length: 50.0 mm
Flash Used: No
White Balance: Manual

 

Bread baking is one of those almost hypnotic businesses, like a dance from some ancient ceremony. It leaves you filled with one of the world's sweetest smells...there is no chiropractic treatment, no Yoga exercise, no hour of meditation in a music-throbbing chapel that will leave you emptier of bad thoughts than this homely ceremony of making bread."
~M. F. K. Fisher ~  The Art of Eating

365 #19

 

 

“ The water is the same on both sides of the boat.”
~ Finnish proverb ~

365 #18

 

Date: 2010/01/17 14:33
Model: Canon EOS D40
ISO: 400
Exposure: 1/250 sec
Aperture: 5,6
Focal Length: 59.0 mm
Flash Used: No
White Balance: Custom

 

 

 

 

 

"Ecstasy is a glass full of tea and a piece of sugar in the mouth"

~ Alexander Puskin ~

365 #17

 

Date: 2010/01/17 14:54
Model: Canon EOS D40
ISO: 400
Exposure: 1/200 sec
Aperture: 5,6
Focal Length: 85.0 mm
Flash Used: No
White Balance: Flash

 

 

The shortest period of time lies between the minute you put some money away for a rainy day and the unexpected arrival of rain.
~ Jane Bryant Quinn ~

365 #16

Date: 2010/01/15 19:11
Model: Canon EOS D40
ISO: 800
Exposure: 1/60 sec
Aperture: 8.0
Focal Length: 70.0 mm
Flash Used: No
White Balance: Custom

“Time will show as the Lobster said
when they assured him he would become red if he fell into the boiler.”
~ Edward Lear ~ English artist, writer (1812-1888)

365 #15

Date: 2010/01/15  00:24
Model: Canon EOS D40
ISO: 400
Exposure: 1/60 sec
Aperture: 5,0
Focal Length: 35.0 mm
Flash Used: Yes
White Balance: Flash

 

Happy Birthday Darling!!!!

365 #14

Date: 2010/01/14 10:15
Model: Canon EOS D40
ISO: 800
Exposure: 1/20 sec
Aperture: 7,1
Focal Length: 83.0 mm
Flash Used: No
White Balance: Custom

Drinking a daily cup of tea will surely starve the apothecary.
~ Chinese Proverb ~

365 #13

This tutorial by Lotus Caroll on Blissfully Domestic is very useful if you want to master the art of capturing “ze splash”.
Mind you, it takes a lot of patience to get it right. I took at least a hundred today.
Maybe I should show you some of my bloopers and share what NOT to do, eh?

Here is the first thing you don’t want: Your splash needs to pop more, you need a darker background for it. See what I mean?

There. That’s better.
Now... Make sure you hold your camera straight! ROFL!!
You don’t want the water running uphill, now do you?

Pay attention to the composition of your photo. Use some color.
Now, you said you wanted water drops? And you might want a lemon or two in the picture as well but what you don’t want is a picture of your kitchen sink, right?
How about a perfect droplet and blurry lemons like the one below? ROFL!!

Just make sure you focus on the right spot.
Oh yes, you might want to edit them a little. Adjust brightness and contrast, zoom in and crop it. You can find how to do it here.

So there …

Date: 2010/01/13 16:45
Model: Canon EOS D40
ISO: 400
Exposure: 1/60 sec
Aperture: 5,6
Focal Length: 78.0 mm
Flash Used: Yes
White Balance: Flash

Date: 2010/01/13 16:39
Model: Canon EOS D40
ISO: 400
Exposure: 1/60 sec
Aperture: 5,6
Focal Length: 59.0 mm
Flash Used: Yes
White Balance: Flash

I told you all I know up until now. It’s up to you now!
Remember … be patient!!

365 #12

Date: 2010/01/12 14:55 
Model: Canon EOS D40
ISO: 400
Exposure: 1/60 sec
Aperture: 5,6
Focal Length: 85mm
Flash Used: Yes
White Balance: Flash

- splash someone or something up:
to scatter a liquid onto someone or something. Don't get that stuff all over. Don't splash the place up! She splashed up the kitchen when she washed the dishes.

- splash someone or something with something:
to scatter or slosh someone or something with a liquid. The whales at Sea World splashed everyone in the audience with water. I splashed the side of the stove with pancake batter when I dropped the bowl.

- splash something (all) over someone or something:
to cause a liquid to overflow or engulf someone or something. Tony splashed water all over Nick. Who splashed milk all over the table?

- splash something about:
to scatter or slosh a liquid about. Please don't splash that about. It will stain anything you spill it on. Don't splash that stuff about!

- splash something on(to) someone or something:
to make a liquid scatter onto someone or something. Accidentally, the lab assistant splashed acid onto his arm. He splashed something on the counter.

- splash about and splash around:
1. to move about in a volume of a liquid, splashing. The children splashed about in the pool. They splashed around for an hour.
2. [for a liquid] to move about, splashing. The water splashed about in the bucket. It splashed around as I carried the bucket.

- splash down:
[for a space capsule] to land in the water. The capsule splashed down very close to the pickup ship.

- splash on someone or something:
to scatter [a liquid] on someone or something. Try to keep from splashing on anybody. Don't splash on the wall!

- splash over:

[for a volume of liquid] to overflow its container. A lot of the coffee splashed over before I got to the table with the cup. Don't fill it so full and it won't splash over.

- make a splash :
to get a lot of public attention It wasn't a best-seller but it did make quite a splash in American literary circles.

365 #11

 

Date: 2010/01/11 13:39 
Model: Canon EOS D40
ISO: 400
Exposure: 1/125 sec
Aperture: 5,6
Focal Length: 61.0 mm
Flash Used: No
White Balance: Flash

 

 
Mondays are always busy days for me, today was no different. There was not a lot of time to play with my camera today. What I’m trying to do here  is to post a picture a day to witness the progress I make in getting acquainted with the Canon D40, my “Big Guy”.
Now I KNOW I am very ambitious but I do believe it would be a utopian dream to want a GOOD picture each and every day. Today was one of those days nothing really seemed to want to work. The light was too poor to shoot inside early in the morning, what was left of the snow on the patio was not photogenic at all. I even ended up trying to photograph reflections from the pots and pans in my dishwasher! Yes … well … I was THAT desperate! 
It was past noon and I had to go to work in the afternoon so I decided to leave a little earlier and walk all the way to work.  I did not expect any grand photography today anyway, but at least I would be making some progress because I’ve hardly used it outside my home up until now. Taking the Big Guy for a walk in my own neighborhood is a new challenge for this greenhorn. 
I  took a brief stroll  along the canal and saw this lady with a puppy dog coming towards me. The puppy was an apprentice too and somehow that made me a little less shy. I asked  her if I could take a picture of her cute dog and she happily made him pose for me.
He was the sweetest cutest and smartest dog I’ve ever seen. He turned his head and looked straight into the lens because he heard me laugh. Another thing I learned is to use my voice next time to deliberately attract attention …

 

Always two there are, a master and an apprentice.
Frank Oz

365 #10

"'When you wake up in the morning, Pooh,'
said Piglet at last,
'what's the first thing you say to yourself?'
'What's for breakfast?'
said Pooh.
'What do you say, Piglet?'
'I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?'
said Piglet.
Pooh nodded thoughtfully. 'It's the same thing,'
he said."

A. A. Milne, 'The House at Pooh Corner'

365 #9

 

 

 

I want to turn the whole thing upside down
I'll find the things they say just can't be found
I'll share this love I find with everyone
We'll sing and dance to Mother Nature's songs
This world keeps spinning and there's no time to waste
Well it all keeps spinning spinning round and round and
Upside down
Who's to say what's impossible and can't be found
I don't want this feeling to go away

 Upside Down
Lyrics: Jack Johnson 

365 #8

 
Photographing teddy bears is not the easiest thing in the world. The light in my living room is very poor, so it’s hard to get clear pictures, even when using a tripod. That’s why I had to transform my kitchen into a photo studio.
Just to remind myself, this is the setup I used to get the picture below. The aluminum foil I ended up using was a little less wrinkled than this one was though. I used it to reflect the sunshine from my kitchen window.

 

 

 

"Anyone who has looked a teddy bear in the face will recognize the friendly twinkle in his knowing look."
-Harold Nadolny

365 #7

Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, and grow old wanting to get back to.
~ John Ed Pearce ~

365 #6

When grating blocks of cheese, I spray the grater with nonstick cooking spray.
The grated cheese seems to flow right off, and there’s a lot less waste.
Cleanup is a breeze, too.

~ Rochelle Hoover ~
Rapid City, South Dakota

365 #5

The color of springtime is in the flowers, the color of winter is in the imagination.
~ Ward Elliot Hour ~

365 #4

This guy found a bottle on the ocean, and he opened it.
Out popped a genie and he gave him three wishes.
The guy wished for a million dollars, and POOF! … there was a million dollars.
Then he wished for a convertible, and POOF! … there was a convertible.
And then, he wished he could be irresistible to all women.
POOF!
He turned into a box of chocolates.

~ Anonymous ~

365 #3

 

 

I value my garden more for being full of blackbirds than of cherries,
and very frankly give them fruit for their songs.
~ Joseph Addison ~

365 #2

 

 

I have six locks on my door all in a row. When I go out, I lock every other one.
I figure no matter how long somebody stands there picking the locks,
they are always locking three.
Elayne Boosler

365 #1

The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity.
The creative mind plays with the objects it loves.

~ Carl Jung ~