Lomography

I usually prefer “straight-out-of-camera” photos. One of my problems with altering my pictures is that once I start altering I can’t stop myself. I’m a perfectionist so I keep seeing flaws with the picture I’m working on and by the time I’m done altering it, I realize I’ve been working on it for a long time and I usually prefer the original version. Oh well. I do use basic editing software from time to time, usually for some collages or if I need some vintage-looking pictures.

Yesterday, I was playing around with some pictures I had taken over the weekend, converting them to black and white, when I discovered an effect called “lomo-ish”!

It gave the picture I was playing with exactly the look I was looking for! The colors were over-saturated and the edges were faded and blurry. I had no clue what “lomo-ish” meant so I googled it and discovered “lomography”!

According to Wikipedia; Lomography emphasizes casual, snapshot photography. Characteristics such as over-saturated colors, off-kilter exposure, blurring, "happy accidents," and alternative film processing are often considered part of the "Lomographic Technique.

Lomography means you are using a Lomo LC-A camera. But you can also use a digital camera and “lomofy” it using editing software. Some basic ones like Piknik will do it for you or you could use Photoshop and edit from scratch. To get a digital photo to look Lomo, you need to fake the cross-processing effect (E6 film in C41 chemicals). Since I don’t even own Photoshop and am not very good playing with the color contrast and saturation (which is what gives the pictures the lomo look), I used Piknik J

(Note: Lomos uses color slide film and cross-process the film in C41 chemicals. That’s how to achieve that look. For those that don’t know what cross-processing is, it’s when you develop film in a chemical other then what it was made for. Standard 35mm film is usually processed in C41 chemicals and Color Slide film is usually processed in E6 chemicals.)

Now this is the type of easy altering I like! Thank you Piknik! Here’s Emma enjoying a day in the sun, lomo-style. Enjoy!

Boston Bruins Stanley Cup Cake!

After baking a Bruins cake last month, I told Anil that if the Bruins won the Stanley Cup I would make a Stanley Cup cake. The un-thinkable happened and after 39 years the Boston Bruins finally won another Stanley Cup!

I’m slowly building my cake decorating stash but I wasn’t ready to decorate a cake with fondant so I decided to go with icing again. The first step was to buy the ingredients and the decorating supplies for the cake. I have to admit that I’m lazy and I didn’t make the actual cake from scratch. I bought Duncan Hines cake mix because I actually think that it tastes better than some “homemade” cakes.

The second step was to bake the cake. My first attempt was an epic failure; I wasn’t used to the cake pan and I ended up overcooking it. When I took it out of the oven it was a huge mess. Noob.

My second attempt was much more successful. I was angry at the “white cake” mix for not cooperating during my first attempt, so I used “spice cake” mix for the second attempt.

The third step was to cover the cake with vanilla icing.

The fourth step was to make a stencil of a Stanley Cup on a 18X12 paper sheet. This was the only way to make sure that my Stanley Cup didn’t look a Stanley Bowl. That was actually the hardest part.

Step number five was to decorate the cake. That was the fun part. However, it turns out that you can’t buy gray decorating icing (why??) so I had to mix white and black decorating icing together and add some silver pearl dust to the mixture... Tricky!

The sixth and most important step was... EATING THE CAKE!! Once again, Emma thought I did an amazing job. I love that baby!

Next time I’ll tackle fondant. I’ve never used fondant before so it should be interesting! Let’s see, whose birthday is next?  

Beach bum for life!

I’m a beach bum at heart. I discovered this when I was 18 years old when my mother took my brother and I for a week to the island of Margarita in Venezuela. I fell in love with the palm trees, the beach and the ocean. So much so, that the following year I moved to Puerto Vallarta in Mexico and stayed there for 2 years, working as an activities & entertainment staff member for all-inclusive resorts, which allowed me to be on the beach every single day. Since then, I’ve been travelling “down south” at least once a year. Taking it a step further, we even got married on the beach! But I’ll keep that story for another time.

Last October, we introduced Emma to the beach bum life. She’s a natural. I think she inherited my beach bum spirit.

We took her for a week to the beautiful and secluded island of Cayo Guillermo in Cuba. I was extremely nervous about the plane and bus ride to the hotel, but she was amazingly calm and happy during the whole trip. She became baby-beach-bum.

We are now planning our next vacation and I can’t wait to see how she will react this time. Last time, she couldn’t walk, nor could she really enjoy the sand and the ocean. I can’t wait to see her eating some Caribbean sand and drink some salty water ;)

Being a beach bum is a state of mind. It helps to have a beach to bum on but since I won’t have one for a few months, I’ll continue to day-dream about palm trees, waves, white sand and hammocks while listening to my Bob Marley CDs.

Life isn’t easy; enter the Beach!

Summertime Fun

Warm weather is finally upon us and Emma is discovering her first summertime fun. Through her eyes we are re-discovering it as well. Her first discovery was the sandbox. Since her favourite thing to do is put everything in her mouth she HAD to put a handful of sand in her mouth. I figured she would realize quickly that it didn’t taste that great (which she did) so we let her try it.

She also discovered a fantastic place called “The Playground”. More specifically, the baby swings. I say specifically because she didn’t seem impressed with the slides and other playground classics but she did love the swings! I expect her first words will be “I want a swing set” to which we’ll respond “ask your grandma” ;)

 

We now get to go play outside every day, whether it’s at the neighbourhood park or in our backyard. Her first experience with grass wasn’t quite successful. She seemed the think the grass was the enemy but she is slowly making friends with it. Speaking of grass, looks like we’re slowly winning the turf war going on in my front yard!

After a day spent playing outside the best thing to do is ... nap.