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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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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