Let's show off those awesome photos!

Thought I would share a few ideas for displaying all those wonderful family photos, maybe taken by yours truly :)

1) How about framing and displaying? Here's a personalized Christmas ornament that is super easy to make and is also a great gift ...



I used 83mm balls and they are just right for displaying small photos.
Get acetate paper from your local art supply or office supply store.
Cut out a circle to the diameter of your glass ornament.
**Make sure to leave a small tab at the top which will go in the neck of your ball and prevent your photo from sliding around inside the ball.
Use vellum tape to adhere small photo prints to the acetate. I printed my photos out with my local inkjet printer. The resolution doesn't need to be stellar as the print is tiny and it's inside the ball.
I did one photo on each side of my acetate cut out.

Roll up the decorated sheet just enough to slide it inside the ball. The acetate is firm enough that it should regain its shape once it unfolds.

Finish off by adding some festive beads or bits of garland and replace the metal neck. Take care not to bend in the prongs of the neck cap.

** the acetate can be quite staticky, I noticed the interior of my ball seemed to get coated with this static electricity and then the little snippets of garland stuck to the walls of the ball. I have read that you can wash your sheets of acetate with soapy water to remove this and I suspect that just running a dryer sheet over them might help too.

Enjoy!!

Laila and Alex | Engagement Portrait

So excited to shoot this engagement session with Laila and Alex. Such a fun, sweet couple. They recently returned from an adventure to Machu Picchu where Alex proposed to Laila. They are planning their destination wedding for Winter 2013! Congratulations you two :)

Time Lapse - Ottawa Canada

I was recently surfing the internet and noticed the new trend towards time-lapse photography, I think it has evolved over time to become a way to showcase a city or region in a unique and captivating way. I used to think of time lapse as a way to capture a process that would normally be too lengthy to observe with the human eye , such as a flower blooming or the motion of the sun and stars. But now with creative photographers taking breathtaking photos, there are a multitude of videos that feature major urban cities like Paris, France or New York City. I decided to try my hand at it and went out with camera and tripod to see if I could uncover my local town of Ottawa Canada and bring it to you in an interesting and entertaining way. My shots were all around the downtown core of Ottawa and the daytime shots of Parliament Hill were during lunchtime yoga on the hill, sponsored by lululemon .



I took roughly 2000 images to make a video of 2.5 minutes. I used Corel VideoStudio to stitch them all together and embed an audio track (on a side note I had to recreate the video using new audio because it was blocked due to infringment on EMI). I must say I'm pretty happy with the results and would like to do it again with other locations in the city and will make more of an emphasis on the photography, rather than the point-and-click approach I used for this first try!

International Greyhound Planet Day | Ottawa Dog Photography

aCUBED studio has certainly seen a growth in pet portraits this year. That doesn't just include our equine pals but our pooches too! That's right, we've gone to the dogs.

We participated at the International Greyhound Planet Day this year, our set up was a mobile studio that consisted of 2 softboxes, a white muslin background, a brown chair that I brought from home and 23 grinning dogs! Yes, we were booked from the moment we walked in the doors until we left at 4pm! What a fun day. We raised $140 for the Greyhound Supporters!! At $5 and $10 a mini-session, that was some serious fundraising! Thank you to all my victims , errrr models for the day.

Pretty soon we will be announcing our Mutt-Cracker spectacular in time for the holidays :)

The lovely greyhounds that graced us with their presence:

The other fun-loving photogenic doggies that came out for their close-up:

Ragan and Lilly | Ottawa Equine Photography

Ragan impressed me with her horsemanship. Lilly was by far the most misbehaved of all the horses I have photographed and this young lady handled her beautifully! Well done Ragan!

Dee - lightful | Ottawa Equine Photography

Wow another great session this fall with fantastic young rider Kenzie and her horse Dee and family!

Dear blog, it's me, Alissa.

Dear blog, it's me, Alissa.

I have a confession to make. I don't like my day job. Like REALLY don't like it. A little of my soul dies every day when I go into the office and sit there staring at lines of code. A little more of my soul dies in every business meeting I have to sit through . My soul dies from not talking to people, not collaborating and not truly contributing anything, and watching as years and months go by and seeing progress happen at the speed of a glacier. Bitter? Probably. Definitely.

Dear blog, I don't think I am cut out for this.

For I like to smile and laugh. I like to bounce yes BOUNCE and I find my smile from ducking and weaving with a camera in hand and a smile on my face, looking, NAY(!) searching for light and the right angle and the perfect composition. I am creating when scouting for an interesting background or street or field.  I am ALIVE when I talk to people and relate to people and have an opportunity to demonstrate my skill and get admiration for the pretty thing I have created. I love the 'cookie', that minute in time when I get to show the wee LCD screen after the shot and see my client's appreciation for the beauty I have captured/created, get the virtual pat on the back, the 'GOOD JOB'. I love the feeling it gives me, pride and joy and excitement. I feel CREATIVE! I feel COMPETENT! I feel CONNECTED! I feel jazzed up, juiced up, in the flow ....

The thrill doesn't end there, oh no ... back in the (digital) dark-room I get to see each image unveiled and my little office evolves into a sort of art gallery. I get so excited that sometimes mid-processing I just HAVE to share a sneak-peek, sometimes even if it means staying up too late or posting images before the whole set is ready. I wait with baited breath for the virtual world's feedback, anxiously clicking 'refresh' until I see the flood of 'likes' or praising comments and THAT'S when I know I did good, that my work means something to someone.

The connection to the universe happens over broadband,  because sharing THAT moment in that photograph that I took, that I witnessed first-hand, that I got to be part of,  THAT photo of a moment of triumph, or a girl and her horse or a bride and her groom,  allows others to share the moment too. I am enabling that connection with the universe. The Aunt in Saskatoon and the cousin in Halifax can witness that moment for themselves and be 'part of'.

And then! The best part! The unveiling! Delivering the portfolio to the client and watching the expression, each click-through, next, next, next, and the flood of appreciation, the little smile, the 'oh wow', the 'oh I like this one too', the 'oh I LOVE this one'. and ultimately the 'OH I am FRAMING this one' (haha the pinnacle of success for a photographer : TO BE PRINTED). (only topped by the inability of the client to choose JUST ONE to get printed … the true evidence that I was able to capture the shots they hoped for)

Being a photographer to me means being about to collaborate with people who share my desire to create, people that are alive, enthusiastic and interesting. Not just clients but other photographers, make-up artists, hair stylists, lighting professionals, event organizers, directors, producers, advertisers ... to name a few ...  in a word: artists.

I am photographer.  FO-TAH-GRAF-ER.  And that is great for my soul.

Halloweeeeeeeeeeeen :)

Busy busy bee, working away on many fall photo shoots. Photos edit, Photos edit, Photos edit, Photos edit ... that's what I am up to these days. Very soon I will be posting some of the fabulous images captured over the last month. In the meantime, I wanted to inform you that you can find me this Friday at the Great Pumpkin Charity Ball!, a Halloween Costume Party in support of the Canadian Cancer Society and the Canadian Association for Disabled Skiing.



Tickets are still available at Malabar's and Audrey's. There is a live band AND DJs/dancing throughout the night and there are TONS of door prizes to be won (see the facebook page for an UNBELIEVEABLE list of prizes). 8pm to 2am at St. Brigid's Castle in the Byward Market ( Cumberland at St. Patrick ). I will be one of the staff photographers, so if you see me, SMILE and you'll find your smug mug on the Great Pumpkin Charity Ball website/facebook page after the event.

I am a HUGE halloween enthusiast, as a child I went trick or treating for as many years as I could get away with it, I just love dressing up (and the free candy didn't hurt). Nowadays I live vicariously through my fur babies, my Misty has been a greyhound bus and last year she went as a racing greyhound. (complete with jockey of course)



Just wait and see what my horse Ransom is going to be this year ;)

How photoshop saved the day!!

Over the years I have been able to see first hand how effective and critical a tool photoshop can be. Now, that is not to say that I try to make up for poor photography habits with a whole bunch of post-processing. I try really hard to have a good eye on site to spot potential items that will later have to be removed digitally, and of course I know the technical aspects of lighting/composing a shot in camera. However photoshop can certainly help, to enhance or correct images where certain factors just couldn't be avoided.

Here are 4 stories of triumph! [use the slider over each image to see the before and after edits]

First ... a creative that never really .. popped! This was a project I set up many years ago that involved quite a lot of effort and collaboration to set up, but the final product , well , left a lot to be desired. The makeup application was a little boring and the model had facial piercings which I thought would add to the look but then later decided it detracted.

For this equine portrait, the dad was enlisted to help still a fidgety horse, as a safety precaution. It saved me from having a shot of a frisky pony dumping it's 2 riders but it also sort of ruined what otherwise would have been a lovely image.

This shot is an example of HDR , which isn't available in-camera on my Canon 50D. I decided to try it out in post-processing to see what sort of look I would achieve. These sorts of adjustments are very much analogous to what we would do in the old days when selecting a film to use, choosing the processing method, and perhaps making and developing the print. For these sorts of adjustments, Photoshop is a thoroughly legitimate choice.

Finally this large family portrait grouping didn't work for me as the dad and his wee daughter were just too far outside to my liking. So I digitally shuffled them closer to the group, removed a distracting pair of sunglasses from grand-dad and then adjusted lighting and noise.

Panning ... aka hand-galloping your way into my ❤

For those who don't know about panning, here is wikipedia's explanation: "refers to the rotation in a horizontal plane of a still camera" . "In still photography, the panning technique is used to suggest fast motion, and bring out the subject from other elements in the frame. In photographic pictures it is usually noted by a foreground subject in action appearing still (i.e. a runner frozen in mid-stride) while the background is streaked and/or skewed in the apparently opposite direction of the subject's travel." lol complicated much?

Ok what I wanted was to capture the speed of a horse hand-galloping across a field. Just so happens I had many to choose from as the riders at Stubbe Horse Farm were out enjoying a late summer day and they were happy to oblige me by going back and forth at break-neck speeds until I got the shot I wanted! I believe my best exposure had a setting of f/8 , 1/40s , ISO 100, lens:70-200mm 2.8@200mm... And here are the very fun results:

Reasons to hire a photographer for your family portrait

A few reasons to think about when deciding whether you will book with aCubed for your family portraits:

1) You will capture your family as they are TODAY. Won't it be a great keepsake to look back wistfully on that day when your little girl was riding that adorable little pony, now that she's riding the 17HH mare and launching herself over 4ft jumps?! Tomorrow will bring change, highschool or university / changing faces / changing horses ... it's amazing how fast time flies!

2) You will have a family portrait as a fantastic Christmas gift to send to Grandma in Saskatoon and cousin James in Halifax! It can seem expensive but many photographers, aCUBED included, have promotions on and/or packages to fit every budget. A professional photographer will be worth the investment and a photo session can actually be a more cost effective choice than trying to buy gifts for the whole family, especially when you think about aCUBED's really inexpensive print pricing.

3) It will be FUN! When was the last time you had your portraits done? When was the last time you got dressed up as a family and went out to do something really entertaining together. aCUBED is FUN to work with and you will go away smiling. Just ask any of our other clients ....

4) It's beautiful outside! As I am writing this it's early October and here in Ontario Canada the leaves are starting to change colour but the grass is still green and lush. I couldn't manufacture a more lovely backdrop. The colors of nature are the perfect outdoor studio. But no matter the season you will find gorgeous locations all over this region. Winter is a unique time of year to get portraits done and the cool white light will frame your family perfectly. Summer pictures are relaxed and the kids can go barefoot and the girls can wear their airy summer dresses. Any location where you feel relaxed, that showcases your family, that says something about you(!) is the perfect spot!

And don't forget about aCUBED's fall promotion, 50% off packages. Time is short, before long the trees will be bare and the grass will be brown! So book now and preserve your family's memories.

Beauty and her Beastie | Ottawa Equine Photography

What a busy time for aCubed! So thrilled to be chosen as portrait photographer to so many Ottawa families. My special pleasure of course, to be booking so many equine-rider portraits. My favorite things : photography and horses! The latest rush of course is due to the onset of the beautiful fall colors and the fast approaching deadline of leaf-less trees and brown grass! And what a beautiful time of year, the leaves are starting to change to their gorgeous Autumn hues and my riders are leaving their shorts and tank tops behind for jeans and cozy flannel shirts and fabulous tall boots. I should be a fashion photographer with all these great looking young ladies modeling for me!

Last weekend aCubed was out at Stubbe Horse Farm with a lovely young lady and the beautiful horse Dee. We spent a few hours wandering around the property , there were too many perfect backdrops to choose from and my assistant and I took advantage of many of them. And of course we jumped at the chance to get just a few with our model and her beautiful sister too. I am blessed!

So much to say, so much to do ...

Well, I am pretty excited about having my very own blog to share with you the latest and greatest of all the happenings at aCUBED. I've come a long way since my beginnings as an assistant photographer! Thanks to those who tolerated a camera pointed in their face or an opportunity to photograph their family or their baby belly or their wedding! I would have to say that the Ottawa photographer community is swelling with talent and creativity and I am lucky to be part of that. The feedback and encouragement of my peers has helped me develop and progress and I can say I am very proud of quality of work I am delivering to my clients now!