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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Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Duckface at Disney!

Can you believe we met Donald Duck and made duckfaces? Oh yeah, it happened! This was right near Ariel’s Grotto in Disneyland Adventure Park. We had a cocktail and went on some roller coasters. Love Lauren’s selfie w/ the Duck himself. Disneyland was SO MUCH FUN! Deff worth going on a vacay there without the kids for some fun in the sun. It was wonderful to let loose and be young again! See the entire set here, all photos with Canon Rebel SL1. Thank you again to Disney Canada for sending on the trip of a lifetime! Enjoy the day! <3 CASIE

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2013 Chevy Camaro Convertable in California

We had so much fun cruising around in the 2013 Chevy Camaro Convertable in California. We randomly decided to get a rental once we got to the hotel and I’m so GLAD they had this. It was $25 more per day than a compact car  from Hertz and so totally worth it! You deff need a car in LA. I can’t imagine being on vacation or living there without a car. I loved hitting the open road and driving to the beach, top down of course. I loved Venice Beach the most. It reminded me so much of where I lived in Bondi Beach in Australia. Did you know that the real Abbot Kinney was a tobacco millionaire who founded it in 1905? Oh the things you learn on Wikipedia.  

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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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