You’ve been in my thoughts since before I was fully conscious.
Longing. Reminiscing.
I get up. Go through my morning routine. You never leave my thoughts.
It’s all about getting to you.
Finally I have you.
In the car, driving.
You’re beside me. I can smell you.
Keeping my eyes on the road I reach for you. Touch you.
Search for the opening with my tongue. Carefully keeping my eyes on the road.
And swallow.
Nobody makes a latte like Peter at Sunny Joe’s Cafe. 
Some of you may know that I’ve been doing a little community management on the side with Artbombdaily.com. Things have been going really well and this week we rolled out a brand new format.
Thanks to Joshua Murray for taking the time to write about what we’re up to. I’m a big fan of Joshua‘s and if you like what you read… you can read more, here ->
http://thereviewsarein.wordpress.com/
Congratulations to our friends at ArtBombDaily.com on their new website launch and the opening of the Montreal, West Coast and East Coast markets!
ArtBombDaily launched in late 2011 in Toronto as a new website that offers art by talented Canadian arists to Canadian art lovers by online auction. What started as a 1 piece offering, 5 days a week, has turned into a 7 day a week operation with up to 3 pieces available per day.
With the recent expansion the ArtBomb team has grown to include 4 curators who are doing a great job of finding interesting, eclectic and exiting pieces.
Toronto: Lisa Campos Aziz
Montreal: Holly Friesen
West Coast: Mary E. Shaughnessy
East Coast: Teri Walsh
All 4 curators are passionate about their work and are encouraged about the opportunity that ArtBombDaily.com brings to each of their markets. And if this first week is any indication, there will be no shortage of great art to come from each one of them.
Note: A hat tip to Matthew Potter for his work building the new website.
There is a lot of excitement within the ArtBomb team about the expansion and it’s easy to see why. Sales numbers continue to grow and their project has grown exponentially since the beginning. And in even better news it looks like there may be room to grow even further.
ArtBomb also continues to grow within the arts community and is connecting with more people every day via social media. Community Manager, Trish Cassling hopes to soon reach the 1000 Likes plateau on Facebook and 1,500 followers on Twitter.
However, with the expansion and the growth, ArtBombDaily.com still offers the same 2 week delivery time and all art comes ready to hang just like you see it in the photos with the chair.
Keep your eyes on the website every day to see what’s available and place your bid. And remember that signing up for the daily email with all of the information you want and need is as easy as click, click, click.
Stay tuned my art loving friends, ArtBombDaily.com isn’t slowing down any time soon!
It’s been a very, very busy time. Getting things ready for Canada Blooms has been an all encompassing experience for the staff at Toronto Botanical Garden (and I’m sure all the other people involved with the show).
Things you might not know…
This is the 17th Canada Blooms.
This year’s theme is “Magic in the Garden”.
There are 20 Feature Gardens.
The show covers more than 6 acres.
Canada Blooms is host to Canada’s biggest floral competition.
Parking is free after 4:00 PM
The show runs until March 24, 2013
They have some of the top names in gardening including Mark Cullen, Frank Ferragine, Paul Zammit, Chris H. Olsen, Denis Flanagan, Veronica Callinan, Helen Battersby, Carson Arthur, Sandra Pella and many, many more (check out the schedule). They’re talking about all things gardening.
Come out… enjoy the magic of spring!
Future Gardener perhaps?
Lucy Goodyear’s adorable birds in the Toronto Botanical Garden booth. 
All things bee! Local honey, soap, candles, etc. 
Close up. I couldn’t resist. 
This sure doesn’t look like it’s inside. 
Spring flowers.
Giant paper flowers.
Sea monsters at the Ireland garden. 
Nature provides the best slide material.
Green outdoor wall
This made me want to go home and curl up in bed.
We’re heading into the final weekend. I’ll be heading back tomorrow. Maybe I’ll see you there.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, friends and family of all ages, the time has come for me to venture back out into the world in search of new employment opportunities.
It's an exciting prospect, in the way that excitement can encompass many feelings and feel like many things all at the same time. Since late 2011 I've been very fortunate to work with a great team at The Blog Studio on some pretty cool projects.
Amazing Adventures – February 2013
I’m guessing that at some point, anyone who picks up a camera for any length of time, discovers that they prefer to shoot some subjects over others. During my time in Costa Rica with camera in hand, I found, I always, always ended up looking at the people. One of my tour mates commented that they thought my shots had a “street” look to them. Tonight I present you with some of the shots I took of “The People of Costa Rica”.
Wondering who these Amazing Adventures guys are? This is what their About page says…
At Amazing Adventures Ltd. we offer an impressive program of photo-focused adventures for you to experience. Accompanied by experienced instructors, travelers will explore some of the most photographic places in the world, experiencing their cultures, colours and sights up close and through the lens.
Whether you’re a professional photographer or a novice with your first camera, there is a trip for you. The journeys with Amazing Adventures Ltd. will ensure a real life experience with not a care in the world, so all your energies can be poured into your photographs. The itineraries are designed to take in the country’s most photographic sights, making the most of the light and our photographer’s expert insight into the art of travel photography.
Whether photography is your future or you simply like to get the most out of your traveling imagery, then these may be the trips for you…
At Amazing Adventures Ltd. we offer an impressive program of photo-focused adventures for you to experience. Accompanied by experienced instructors, travellers will explore some of the most photographic places in the world, experiencing their cultures, colours and sights up close and through the lens.
Whether you’re a professional photograhper or a novice with your first camera, there is a trip for you. The journeys with Amazing Adventures Ltd. will ensure a real life experience with not a care in the world, so all your energies can be poured into your photographs. The itineraries are designed to take in the country’s most photographic sights, making the most of the light and our photographer’s expert insight into the art of travel photography.
Whether photography is your future or you simply like to get the most out of your travelling imagery, then these may be the trips for you…
A group of practically strangers with a common interest
Arriving at the San Jose, Costa Rica Airport
The Girls after our Visit to Moya’s
The Boys after our visit to Moya’s
(It’s not your eyes… it’s blurry.)
Crazy photographers after a primo crocodile shot
We came a long way in 10 short days. From strangers to friends. I’ll be posting individual shots next and a little about my experiences with each of the individuals/couples.
The Final Day and the Long Trip Home
Well… we made it home. There was a bit of a delay in El Salvador (where we switched planes) but we only arrived 10 minutes past our scheduled arrival time.
It’s been a very long day and I have to say, I was very sad to say goodbye to my new friends. I think we really hit it off. We learned from each other, we appreciated each other, we supported each other. We ate together, we swam together, we, of course, took many photos together. I will miss them all. I am expecting to receive more photos from everyone and I’ll be adding those to the Facebook Page. While I do have a few photos from today, I didn’t have the opportunity to pull them off the card and sadly, the camera has been returned to it’s rightful owner. Thanks for the loaner Catherine! I’m not sure what I’ll do without it. I will be saving for my first camera.
There will be a more posts as I have time to sift through the multitude of pictures I’ve taken over this trip. I know there will be. I think my editing skills have improved as well as my camera skills. That is in large part to the great lessons learned during this Amazing Adventure. Tonight… I will post my favourites in sequence.
I have to say, it was a bit of a shock to actually see the snow on the ground. Brrr… I miss the sand already.
The biggest lesson I learned at the bridge… I need a bigger lens. Above are my best two shots of the crocodiles but fear not blog readers, there were other photographers on hand. Clark Lloyd offered up some shots for our viewing pleasure. Note – there are more pretty cool shots available if you follow his link.
photo by Clark Lloyd
This was Clark’s “shot of the day”.
Personally speaking, that was too close for me. Here’s a shot from the bridge of the group heading to take these shots. Note – I don’t recommend this. Crazy photographers!
Want to know what happens when things move in the water? See the next photo.
photo by Clark Lloyd
And last but not least, my “shot of the day”. I snapped this on the drive back to the hotel. We were moving pretty quickly. It was shot at 1/4000th of a second, at f / 5.6, ISO 1000. I think it’s pretty cool. Love the shape of this tree.
We wrapped today with a two hour session, complete with an Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 demo, lead by Navy Nhum (pronounced Na-vee Newm). Navy is part of the Amazing Adventures Ltd team and we’re lucky to have her along. I had downloaded Lightroom the day before and was thrilled to be shown how to move through the basic menus. It’s a pretty cool, new tool and who doesn’t like that?
Tomorrow we’re supposed to head to the airport. We’ll be checking that our flight is still scheduled early in the morning. Last I heard the rain turned to snow had turned back to rain but we’ll see what the morning brings.
Today I took some time to relax. There was some time on the beach, an unhurried lunch with a fellow member of the group, an afternoon nap and oh yes, of course a photo shoot!
Today’s theme was “Pin Up Style” and our model Johana looked adorable in her red and white polka dot two piece swim suit. Pedro didn’t look too bad either. The lesson today was shooting in the sun with flash and reflectors.
It was hard. Really hard. I am my own worst critic and today really put me to the test. At tonight’s review I couldn’t bring myself to pick a photo of the models. I did however, manage to find something I liked. A shot of the pier. I really liked the reflection and the lines.
Wish that blue boat wasn’t in the background.
And this is what it looks like if you zoom out.
Tomorrow… crocodile bridge!
I woke up feeling pretty chipper. Awake before the alarm went off. Always a good sign. Headed off to breakfast where I had a very light breakfast and then we were off to the pier to meet up with our hosts, Calypso Cruises. We were on the Manta Raya which is 71 feet long and 32 feet wide. She is equipped with two giant hammocks stretched between twin hulls and two fresh water pools, perfect for sightseeing and sunbathing on her expansive forward deck. Their most helpful staff made our day with them unforgettable.
We spent five hours on Tortuga Island. They were fun, busy hours. Calypso offered snorkeling, swimming, banana boat rides, hikes, and lunch. Lunch was completely prepared on the island and watching them set up was breath taking. A beach with a few huts became a beautiful campsite complete with full kitchen where they made an amazing chicken with coconut and papaya curry sauce, rice, veg, salad, dessert, coffee. It was impressive!
In addition to the regular activities we had two shoots planned. One was a “Trash the Dress” shoot which was so much fun and then we had a bohemian style woman and man shoot.
I think I promised you models. Here they are.
Bonus shot of a parrot.
And I believe I also promised you a better sunset picture. I have some!
Amazing Adventures is living up to all it’s hype… IMHO. I’m learning so much! It’s like photography boot camp.
Tomorrow’s theme… pin up shoot!
