Emily’s Ice Cream + Canon’s Blogtography Program

Last night I had dinner with the other 4 Canadian Canon Blogtography Ambassadors and some great people involved in the program from Edelman Toronto and Canon Canada. We arrived at The Drake Hotel not knowing what they had planned for us. Each of the Canon sessions we’ve attended over the past six months has had a different theme where we learned tips and tricks from professionals similar to what video production companies austin texas employ in their work to try with our cameras. Over the last six months I’ve really learned how to take photos. I mean, I’ve been using a camera as long as I can remember but snapping shots is different than knowing how to use a camera outside of the auto. I took that photo above. We were on the trolly in High Park this summer and Emily had just gotten this massive ice cream with sprinkles, it was hot and about to drip everywhere. I cropped it and used one of the filters in my Canon Rebel SL1 then sent it off to Canon as part of my 20 favorite photos. Last night they gave each of us one of our prints, blown up and in a frame. The image was printed using a Canon printer which, in true Oprah style, we each got one. (Imagine “You get a printer and you get a printer”, it was kinda like that.) We were all amazed by the high quality, shocked by the generosity, and extremely grateful. As you already know, Canon is very famous and has been loved by many people over the years. You can look for Canon printer cartridges compatibility online at stores such as Toner City so that you are never without cartridges to print off all your amazing pictures. After almost a decade…

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Canon Blogtography: Holiday Portrait Session

I  LOVE the holidays! Nothing like meeting up with friends, letting your hair down with colleagues, boxing day deals, and making memories. In our most recent Canon Blogtography Session at Herman & Audrey, I was pleasantly surprised to see Christmas decorations, a tree, and lights.  It may have only been November but there was no stopping me from putting  on the Christmas music! You can bet I started with Mariah! In this session we learned how to take portraits. It was my most favourite session all the ones we’ve had so far. We went over a variety of ways to shoot perfect holiday portraits and what lenses to use. We worked on depth, putting things in focus, and shooting under low light. ex. candle light. I’ve been taking my own portrait since 2004 when I started this blogging so it was really wonderful to learn how to actually do it right. Our session was lead by top Canadian portrait photographer Steve Carty.  He’s taken a few of my portraits before, see here and here for video. Tips on Taking Portraits from Canon Canada My Portraits from Our Session We were encouraged to snap shots of each other. These are a few of my favourite shots from the session. I’ll share some they took of me before Christmas comes! Andrew Dobson  Corinne McDermott Steve Carty Nelia Belkova It definitely helps to have a tripod when you are shooting group shots like this around the table for example. You can pick up a tripod from any camera store. I love to use a tripod and the self-timer for taking self-portraits and making sure I’m included in group shots.  Aren’t they cute? 🙂 For more tips and tricks on taking great photos visit canonoutsideofauto.ca and check out Steve Carty’s portraits for creative inspiration. Happy Holidays…

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Bring on the Holidays! #canonblogtography #elf

Last night the Canon blog crew met up for a photo session on portraits with a holiday theme. We had turkey dinner, a tree, and I busted out the holiday tunes starting with Maria of course. I love the holidays! Decorations, music, giving presents, seeing friends, family gatherings, and the food. Here’s a little sneak peek of some photos from last night. We were getting tips from Steve Carty at Hermann & Audrey. See my photo tips by the last session with him here. I took this one of Andrew. Some cute ones Andrew took of me. I am overtired. Love the tree one. <3 CASIE buy doxycycline no prescription buy finasteride no prescription Buy flomax no prescription Buy fluoxetine no prescription

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WMCFW: Tips on Shooting Fashion from @SteveCarty & Canon Canada

I recently met up with the Canadian Canon Ambassadors for a professional photo session with Steve Carty (you’ve seen him here on the blog before!). I’m really getting the hang of using my DSLR! It may sound silly but it took me a while to get shutter speed and aperture. After the last session, I finally hold my camera like a professional and not a n00b. No really though! In this session we learned how to shoot moving subjects on the runway, portraits, and about the built in filters on our cameras. To be honest, I discovered  the filters in my Canon Rebel SL1 right away! I’ve been using Canon since I got my first digital camera pre-blog back in 2004 and I’ve  always loved the creative filters. [Way to be ahead of Instagram guys!] A Word About Fashion GIFs I really love GIFs as you know.  I took all these photos the night of our fashion photography session with Carty and made them into GIFS to see the differences with using the Canon filters. Please note, photo quality was drastically reduced when I put these together. I need a photoshop session before I learn to make high quality GIFs! I think they’re fun. I love when designers and bloggers put out GIFs from runway shows so I wanted to test my skills. Scroll down for some tips from Carty and Canon! 1. Try Canon’s Creative Filters Canon’s Creative Filters can be applied both before and after shooting and can take a photo from average to spectacular You can also stack the filters and create your own unique combinations like Miniature Effect + Soft Focus or Toy Camera + Grainy B&W (The order that you apply the filters also makes a difference in the final output!) If you’ve snapped a photo that seems unsalvageable, try out some…

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Canon Photo Session with an Award Winning Photojournalist

Recently I had a session with a professional photographer as part of my Canon Blogtography Ambassador program. It was all five Canadian Canon Ambassadors in the beautiful Distillery District for dinner and working photo session. We were joined by  Steve Russell, a Toronto Star photojournalist who walked us through some tips to improve our photos. Over dinner, he shared stories of travel and celebrity encounters over the course of his career. Steve has not once, but twice won Photojournalist of the year! Canon Blogtography Photos by Casie Stewart I really love the Distillery District for it’s sheer beauty. It’s filled with heritage and  old buildings. I’m pretty creative, as you know but I’m trying to show that through my Canon photos.  I snapped pix of things I found interesting and tried to take a different perspective, focussing on little elements in the area. We were there during sunset ‘magic hour’, a great time to get outside and take photos. This man was sitting alone playing guitar, there was something magical about him. Steve helped us with how to set our camera to take photos of moving things in order to keep them crisp. I need more practice as you can see this lady on the bike is looking pretty fuzzy. Some Tips I Learned from A Professional Photojournalist There were lots of take-aways from our dinner and photo session but below are some of the things I learned from Steve.  How to hold your camera so you don’t look like a total noob – put the camera flat on your hand, don’t hold your pinky up like a dork, don’t be afraid to lean into the shot Rule of thirds – this is key to composing beautiful shots Squaring up your photos – match straight lines, think about composure Cropping your pictures –  you might…

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Canon Blogtography – Step Outside of Auto!

A couple weeks ago I announced my partnership with Canon as a Brand Ambassador and over the past month  I’ve been playing around with my new DSLR. The Canon Rebel SL1 is a compact 18 mega pixel camera with touch screen and whole bunch of features I’m not quite versed in yet.  I have heaps to learn.  Canon has awesome resources and I’ve been playing on canonoutsideofauto.ca but the real way I’m going to learn is TAKING PHOTOS. I’m just getting used to using a DSLR. I’ve got a pretty good eye for composing a nice shot but right now aperture and ISO feel like new languages. Once I  learn and understand exposure (ISO, shutter speed and aperture), I’ll be in business. I know it won’t take too long! I’ve been playing around with ISO and exposure. It’s super neat how one photo can be so different by changing just one or two things. This little Rebel has built in filters too. So, naturally I took a few selfies in the park to test them out. This weekend I’m shooting Digital Dreams music festival and in August I’ll be shooting Disneyland and California! Staring in next month have a weekly fashion column for Dose.ca. This is where those Canon skills will really come into play. I’m excited to take my blog to the next level! Below are a few photos I took using (gasp) auto to get used to using the camera.  One of the most beautiful things, a perfect avocado! Limba the 50 year old elephant at Bowmanville Zoo. A baby giraffe peeks out his head at Bowmanville Zoo. I need to work on depth and focus. Flower pot at the cottage in Muskoka. The dock and boat at sunset in Muskoka. Gonna to practice camera settings in nature. Over the next couple months I’ll be…

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Canon Canada 2013 Ambassador – Casie Stewart

This is my new Canon Rebel SL1. It’s the worlds smallest and lightest DSLR. I’m super excited to have received it last night from Canon as part of their first ever  ambassador program. They’ve chosen five top bloggers in Canada to learn to use different Canon cameras in different ways. From now till December, I’ll be stepping up my photo game and learning how to really use this thing.  I’m amazed at some of the features and stoked to take my skills to the next level. I’ve never had a DSLR before! My first ever digital camera was a Canon Powershot and I replaced it several times after losing and breaking it beyond repair. Looking forward to taking you on this journey with me. Thank you Canon for picking me, I’ll make you proud! With love, CASIE  

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World Elephant Day – Throwback to Visiting Maesa Elephant Camp

In honour of World Elephant Day, here’s a throwback visiting an elephant sanctuary in Chaing Mai,  Thailand.  ปางช้างแม่สา aka Maesa Elephant Camp is like a retirement camp for elephants that aren’t able to go back into the wild after they’ve worked. There are over 75 elephants and they do activities like soccer, basketball, and painting. I was so impressed with their painting skills!

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Blogger Essentials: What’s in My Bag + New Shades

As a blogger there’s a few things you need to have especially around fashion week, camera, phone charger, biz cards, stamina, and a good attitude. It can be really exhausting! Tonight I’m meeting Lauren at the WMCFW tents to attend the VAWK show together. In my purse you’ll find ALL these things: Canon Digital SLR – mine is Rebel SL1 GoPro camera Boxed water – gotta stay hydrated! Sunglasses – never leave home without them! How amazing are these bright orange ones!?!? They’re from Polette Eyewear in France. See more about my partnership with them HERE. Packet of Dermalogica PreCleanse wipes – on the go makeup fix or when you get home realllllly tired. MyTagAlongs SOS Beauty Kit – safety pins, nail file, tweezers, sewing kit. This little pouch has everything! Love this new lip stain by BITE Cosmetics.  It’s the colour I was wearing on set yesterday for the ‘secret project’ show I was filming at NKPR. I was also given the Line & Define lip primer, feels great on and smells nice too. Learned about this awesome product from my makeup artist yesterday Jodi Urichuk. It’s amazing for giving your skin a nice GLOW.  Get it here -> PRTTY PEAUSHUN Skin Tight Body Lotion. Get out and enjoy some of that sunshine today. Hopefully it will start feeling like spring SOOOOOOOON! With love, CASIE

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#TIFF14: The Annual Essentials Lounge #ESSENTIALSLOUNGE5

Yesterday I went to the Essential Lounge by EGPR and at the Templar Hotel, Toronto. I can’t lie, going to lounges is one of the most fun parts of TIFF! It’s a gathering of media, friends, brands, and it takes a great PR team to pull it all together. We get a glimpse of how the stars in town for TIFF are treated and to see what brands are gifting. I love rummaging through the goodies and sharing them with Mum, my sisters, bf, friends that come over. Here’s some of my fav moments all shot by Ryan Emberley. You’ll recognize a few faces! I started out with an express facial by Skinceuticals and went on to have my makeup done by tarte Cosmetics and hair by Schwarzkopf. I was gifted a fantastic new bra from Calvin Klein and switched into it, tossing my old one before picking up a cute new pair of flats from Rockport.   Lauren O’Nizzle, BFF from CBC & laurenoutloud.com Liem Vu from Global’s Morning Show Nelia from styleblog.ca The essentials lounge happens right before TIFF to hook up press with products that’ll help them survice the TIFF madness and recover after the whirlwind.  and a swift recovery. Canon Blogtography crew Andrew Dobson (Metro & dobbernationLOVES.com) & Nelia Thank you Esther, Jess, and EGPR’s team far having me! Here’s to Essentals Lounge 6 and a happy TIFF ’14! <3 CASIE

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Mellow Yellow Monday

It’a super nice out today. I took off my jacket to snap some photos on my way to work and the sun was already beating down. I heard it might get up to 20 today. It’s about time I start using my Canon DSLR now that it’s nice out. Last summer I was just getting to learn how to use it as an ambassador w/ Canon for the Canon Blogtography program. I’m happy these pants still fit, I really need to get my summer bod rockin’. Since the winter was so long and cold I managed to stay inside and hibernate for months which also meant a million movies, snacks, takeout. These jellies were sent to me by Narrative PR & Call It Spring, I feel like a kid when I wear them. Especially with my backpack on. It’s a great feeling really 🙂   Our quick visit to the cottage yesterday was ok, the lake is still frozen and it’s still winter up there. The snowbank was too high to put the car in the driveway.  The water is going to be so cold this year! Luckily I have my garden at our house in the city to work on before getting into full cottage mode. It’s much more fun up there when it’s warm! Thinking of my friends in Boston and everyone in the marathon today. Last year Sean and I were in Boston that weekend and downtown right were the bombings happened the day before. I knew a couple people running and it was pretty scary. I hope everything today goes fine ad everyone is safe. Thinking I’ll venture out into the sun over lunch, check out the hood. Try and find a good photo spot, maybe read some of my book. Have a few cool things…

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Making Memories

Over the last six months I’ve been learning how to use a my first DSLR through my partnership with Canon Canada. As one of 5 official Canon Blogtography Ambassadors I’ve learned how to take portraits, shoot a runway, properly focus, shoot in different lighting, and most importantly the beauty of photos taken with a Canon Digital SLR camera. In our last session of 2013 we sat down for dinner at The Drake Hotel with our reps from Canon and Edelman Toronto. In effort to help us step up our photo game one more level, they hooked us each up with new printers (yes, plural!) AND gave us each a framed print of one of our own photos. It was like Oprah, “You get a printer and you get a printer!”. We all felt super touched when they revealed our gorgeous gallery style photos, printed from the exact printer we were just given. It was a magical moment (see mine in a previous post here). Meet My new Printers Stepping up my photo prints game. Unboxing this Canon Prixma Pro-100 right now. #canonblogtography #earlychristmas pic.twitter.com/D5p2q2tQxz — CASIE STEWART (@casiestewart) December 16, 2013 Prints from the Canon Prixma Pro-100 I was trying to print for a specific frame so they aren’t full size on the paper. Beautiful though. Some of My Fav’s Shot w/ Canon Rebel SL1 Below are some of my fav photos taken since July 2013. They span from Toronto, to California, Thailand and back. I’m quite excited to print a bunch and frame them. We’re all so digital now, it’s easy to forget how lovely a nice framed photo is. Huge thank you to Canon Canada and Edelman for creating this program. It’s been an awesome learning experience. We chatted about next steps and hope to expand it so YOU…

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Year in Review from Facebook + YouTube

This year has been an exciting one! Had a couple small trips to NY, and big trips to California and Thailand. Started a new job and worked with some really great brands like HTC, Canon, and Ted Baker via my blog. Closer to New Years I’ll round up some of my most fav moments but Facebook does a handy job of rounding them for you. See my Year in Review by clicking this link facebook.com/yearinreview/casiestewart or check out your own by visiting the same link from your profile. Facebook’s Year in Review Video via TAXI YouTube’s Year in Review 2013 via The Next Web buy celexa without prescription buy cipro without prescription Buy cozaar without prescription

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Travel | Good Time Adventures in Koh Tao, Thailand

We went on an afternoon snorkelling cruise with Good Time Adventures around Koh Tao, Thailand. It was absolutely amazing! Our crew was so much fun and we drank, swam, jumped off the boat, and visited beaches. The shot of Jenni above was assisted by our Tour Leader, Luke, way to go! These photos were taken with my Canon Rebel SL1. To see the group I was travelling search #ContikiThai on Twitter or Instagram and visit this Twitter list. Thank you to Contiki, Tourism Thailand, and Good Time Adventures for this experience. It was absolutely amazing. I’ve got a few more pic from this cruise on my Instagram here too. Hope this warms up your Monday! <3 CASIE

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