I feel like I haven’t posted photos of Teddy in a while, though I could totally be wrong. Despite what it looks like, it’s actually impossible to get him to look at the camera. A lot of shouting and waving things around is involved. Here are some shots of him basically blending into the basement carpet.
Tag: photography
Niagara Falls in Autumn
We had a guest stay at our house from Chicago over the weekend. What do you do when you have guests from another country? Take them to Niagara Falls. I made a vlog of the day and check out some photos below! The full set is available on Flickr.
Taken with my GoPro Hero 3+ Black:
Taken with my Canon 60D:
Halton Hills Conservation Area
On Monday, the weather was still nice so we headed up to the Halton Hills Conservation areas and hiked in a few of the parks. Check out my Vlog of the adventure and photos below.
Cheltenham Badlands & Forks of the Credit Provincial Park
My search for fall scenery led us to the Caledon area. We visited Cheltenham Badlands, a small series of soil erosions which turned into beautiful scenery and also Forks of the Credits Provincial Park for a mid-afternoon hike. Check out my video log of the day and some photos below.
Tacos @ Seven Lives
I finally visited Seven Lives in Kensington Market and tried their seafood tacos. The place has very little seating so we ordered a few to go.
I had the Pulpo On Mole Verde, an octopus taco with a pumpkin seed mole; and the Baja Fish, deep fried mahi mahi with cream sauce. They were both $5, but well worth the price considering I was stuffed from the two tacos. The fish was moist and reminded me of some of my favourite fish and chips (minus the chips). The octopus was not tough at all and I liked the texture of added pumpkin seeds and uh, CHEESE.
Nash ordered the Gobernador with shrimp, smoked marlin and cheese; and the Mushroom and Cactus with grilled cheese. I’ve never had cactus before this but I tried a bite and it reminded me a lot of this Chinese pan-fried bean dish.
Oh Seven Lives, I think I’ll definitely be back to eat everything else.
Shoe Museum, Weird Stuff and More at Nuit Blanche
On Saturday, I attended Scotiabank’s Nuit Blanche, the all-night art event in Toronto. I’ve been a couple of times in the past few years but never into any of the museums. This year, I checked out the Bata Shoe Museum and the Art Gallery of Ontario along with the weird Nuit Blanche exclusive exhibitions. Here are some of my favourite photos from the night.
My full Nuit Blanche set can be seen on Flickr.
The Beginning of Fall
Fall is upon us. The weather might still be warm, but the trees are already turning colours. Here are some photos shot at a local park.
I also saw this playground and decided to give it a spooky feel.
The Konstruktor- A DIY 35mm SLR
I first learned of the Konstruktor’s existence via Laughing Squid. The idea of a DIY camera was so cool so I ordered myself one from Lomography.
It’s basically like the IKEA version of a camera. The camera light chamber comes premade but there are instructions on how to build it if you ever feel like taking it apart. The body is plastic and most of the parts you have to twist from the plastic moulding. It also came with a screwdriver and stickers for customers to add their own personalizations.
The box claims that the camera can be built in 1-2 hours. However, it took me 15 minutes to distinguish the screws the first time I built it.
The instructions for the most part are pretty clear. The diagrams are easy to follow but must be looked at carefully. The first time I missed an arrow pointing from end of a spring to a little nook.
The reason I had trouble building it the first time was a defective light chamber. The springs were not strong enough to activate the shutter. I spent 6 hours thinking I built it wrong before considering that it was defective. Luckily Toronto has a Lomography store and I ended up exchanging it. It was a little bit of a hassle to do that though because in-store they claim their inventory doesn’t have any affiliation with the online (even if it was shipped from there).
Anyways, the second time around I built it in 45 minutes.
Here is the camera decorated! I was a bit sticker happy…
I’ve never really owned an analogue camera so the thought of not being able to see photos until later is so nerve racking. I bought some ISO 800 film from Lomography but right now I’m purposely experimenting with (unopened) expired film I found around the house. I made a couple of film winding mistakes in the beginning so it will be interesting to see how those turn out. I’m hoping that having to think more about composition will make me a better overall photographer!
Despite the weird mishap, I do recommend the Konstruktor if you’re interested at learning how cameras work. The top placement of the viewfinder is a cool experience. I can’t vouch for the quality of photos though because I have no idea yet! Don’t worry. I’ll definitely be posting some scans when I get the film developed.
Flowers Flowers Flowers
Summer means tons of beautiful flowers are in bloom. Here are a few from my yard and local parks.
Weekend at the Harbourfront & Toronto Island
On Sunday, our family went down to the Harbourfront Centre to check out the Tall Ships at the Redpath Waterfront Festival. Teddy also came with us. Either we thought the boats looked the same as regular boats, or we were on the wrong side of Queens Quay but we couldn’t find too many to take photos of.
Since we had the dog with us we ventured into Paws Way. Inside was a cafe where you could share your food with your pet, a store and walls full of random beloved pet stories. To play in with the Tall Ships theme, in the event/activity room there were dog breeds that sailors used to bring on ships.
Since we seemed to fail at finding boats, we decided to go the island. It was somewhat cloudy so the sky in photos looked a bit boring.
Oh and here is Teddy checking out girls
and his reaction:
Tiana Feng 