Inspiration: Creative Technology

Technology never ceases to amaze me. One of the newer pieces of technology that has been released lately has been the Apple iPad. This little gizmo has some pretty cool features. Which mixed with some brilliant minds has created this awesome video. Please go check it out. I would love to hear what you think of this.

I admire so many different forms of creativity. It's obvious that one of my absolute favorites is photography but creativity can come up anywhere in our lives in all different shapes and forms. I think using resources that are available to us to create something new and exciting is absolutely inspiring. This video is one of those pieces that I adore. I hope it challenges the way you think and the way you look at the tools you have available to you. :)

Inspiration - Week 15

The past two weeks I have been addicted. Addicted!! I do not have an addicted personality but occasionally I have these phases where all I can do in my spare time is read. This past week alone I have read 5 books. It can get kind of ridiculous sometimes. It literally consumes my life.

The particular series is called Fever by Karen Marie Moning. Below is a photo of the 4 books so far in the series that I have read. The last I actually read in less than 24 hours. For those of you that know me know I love Twilight, but I think this series might be better. How can this be? I have no freakin' clue. I identify with so many personality traits of the main character (Mac) that it almost feels like I am in the book. Silly I know but it's true. When I finished reading Dreamfever I felt like a something was missing. Like I lost a good friend. Karen is a fantastic author but I found she ended Dreamfever in a frustrating way. In my personal opinion, if someone has made it to the 4th book in a series, they are going to continue reading it when a new book is published. She ended Dreamfever in the middle of a critical scene in the plot. Absolutely no closure. It is SERIOUSLY frustrating. Now I have to wait until December when she releases Shadowfever (the last book in the series) to find out what happened. Oh well. Like I said, Karen is a fabulous author and I completely recommend this series and her other set of books, the Highlander series as well.

These are the next books I am reading by Janet Evanovich. I am about half way through the top book (Eleven On Top). There are 20 books in total I think. This series isn't as good as Fever but I still really enjoy reading them. They are definitely an easy, entertaining read. Hopefully I'll be able to get them all completed before they are due back at the library (a week from now!!).

As a little side note I am pretty close to meeting a personal goal I made for myself for 2010. I wanted to read 25 books before the end of the year. Currently I am on book # 22. Maybe I'll be able to hit 50 this year? We'll see :) If you want to see my reviews and keep track of my progress head over to GoodReads. I LOVE this website!!

Inspiration - Week 14

Not to point out the obvious but I decided to take a week off of blogging. I officially started a new position at the "day job" so last week I was focusing on getting organized. And since I have been doing so well the past few months, I decided I deserved a break.

This week I'm inspired by bringing out the kid in me. Matt and I had a date day on Saturday. It was much needed and such a great day. The first thing that brought me back to my childish roots was yoga class. We worked on doing handstands against a wall. I haven't done those in years! They actually feel phenomenal. Like back bends, it is really a freeing posture. Gets the blood moving, heart pumping and a smile on your face :)

Then later in the day we went to see How To Train A Dragon in IMAX 3D. I have never seen so many kids before. I think we might have been the only people watching the movie that didn't have kids with us. After getting over the original disorientation of the 3D we were really blown away with the whole movie. My favorite childhood movie is The Little Mermaid and I really think How To Train A Dragon is pretty close to the top with it.

Sometimes life can real drain the life out of us. We tend to get so caught up with our jobs/commitments/hobbies that we don't just enjoy the moment. I challenge all of you to take even just a few hours out of your day and become a child again. Watch a favorite childhood movie/show. Do a finger paint piece of art. Build something with lego or play doh. Do something that made you happy as a child.

To start the ball rolling, here is the trailer for How To Train A Dragon.



PS-Lots of photos coming in the next few days!

Inspiration - Week 12 & 13

Wow. This past week has definitely had it's up an downs. There hasn't really been one thing in particular that has inspired me these 2 weeks so I decided to pick a general topic and a few people that have helped me with it.

In the summer I think I had mentioned at some point that I had attended a hot yoga class at Moksha Yoga in Halifax. Well every 2nd Sunday since Christmas my sister and I have been going to the evening hot yoga class at the Breathing Space yoga here in Bedford.

Before I go much further I thought maybe I would give you a brief description of my physical history. I have always been active. Start with gymnastics for a few weeks. Then I played competitive soccer year round for 11 years. My schedule got to busy to commit to soccer anymore so I became a gym freak. And as I have posted about last summer, I was into distance running for a while there. But none of this can compare to the past 3 months of yoga I have done.

I have never been a spiritual person but yoga has opened that door for me. I concentrate so hard in class that I can't actually think about anything else. In a way it is like meditation. I have become so much more in tune with my body and have a MUCH greater appreciation for it now. I am hoping that with some changes in the next few months I will be able to start going every Sunday. It has added so much to my life and I really wanted to thank a few people for helping me with this part of my journey.

To start I have to thank the lovely and inspiring Michelle Hicks. She is the owner of the Bedford branch of Breathing Space and she is the only instructor I have taken classes from. And I will only ever go to her. She has such a beautiful sole and brings so much to every class. No two are alike. I am always excited for each class because I know I will learn something new. If you are in the HRM area definitely take one of her classes and you will see what I am talking about.

The second person I want to thank is Kathryn Budig. Lately I have been spending a lot of time on Youtube. I found her channel a few weeks ago and have been glued to it ever since. Kathryn is a phenomenal yogi. She makes advanced poses look so easy.

And last but not least, Dashama. I actually stumbled onto her Youtube channel today and I have watched a ton of her videos since. She is a really great yogi and I can't wait to hit the mat in the morning and try out some of her routines.

If any of this interests you at all please watch the two videos below. The first one is of Kathryn and the second is Dashama.





Namaste :)

Inspiration - Week 11

I figured this might happen eventually. The week would come that I would not be inspired. This week was not very good at my "day job". Because of that I was a little blue this week. I haven't really been inspired by anything this week artistically but I did buy a new CD that I have stuck in my head.

I found this artist through the lovely Jamie Delaine. She photographed this musician multiple times and did the cover art for her CD. Laurell is a phenomenal musician. When I saw on Facebook that she released an album in the past month I checked out her music on Myspace and was pleasantly surprised. Her music kind of reminds me of Sarah McLachlan. I think my two favorites are "It's Dark Out", "Can't Stop Falling" and "In The Air". Check it out on her Myspace page and let me know what you think :)

Hope you all are feeling more inspired than I am. Here's to a fresh and new week full of happiness and sunshine.

Inspirtation - Week 10

I can't believe I'm already at the 10 week mark for my inspiration posts. It feels like just yesterday I was making this post about some paintings I had seen online. Time flies when you're having fun :)

Today I wanted to talk about something that is approaching very quickly and I will be welcoming it with open arms. It's SPRING TIME!! I like winter when there is always a fresh snow fall. But when the streets and snow banks start to get really dirty and everything is covered in gray I get kind of under the weather. That is until the sun starts to stay in the sky longer, the trees force the buds onto their branches and the tulips fight for the surface.

Spring time always brings me so much happyness. I get so inspired by mother nature bringing life from a seemingly dead Earth. I love waking up with sunshine on my face and hear the birds chirping outside my window. It is guaranteed to always bring a smile. Unless those birds tend to be crows. Then I throw rocks and slam my window shut. (Don't worry, I have a horrible throw)

Here is a photo I took 2 years ago (I think) from my parents back yard at about the same time of year. I love the colors and contrast in this image. It makes me dream about spring :)

Inspiration - Week 9

Your weekly inspiration post is brought to you by the colors PURPLE and GREY. I promised in my last inspiration post that I would talk about something photography related this week. And this is... sort of.

Currently I am going through and branding my business. It is a fun and interesting process where I am learning lots about myself. During this process I have found that the colors that best suit me are purple, grey and white. I figured, why not try a post about the colors? So here is what I came up with.

I searched on Etsy.com for all things purple and grey and below are my favorites with their respective links.

Enjoy :) I challenge you to pick one color to describe your personality and why that color?

1. Moons creation's
2. The Victorian Vanity
3. Busy Knitting Bee
4. Simply Basic Designs
5. Petalmix
6. Sweet Harvey

7. Red Hot Pottery
8. Replicca
9. Betsy3
10. Holzfurhaus
11. Homelab
12. Red Hot Pottery

Inspiration - Week 8

My inspiration posts have gone on a tangent away from photography and towards life inspiration. I guess it all combines together in the big picture but next week I plan on doing one specific to photography inspiration.

That being said, this weeks inspiration is farmers markets. We have one here in Halifax that Matt and I are going to more frequently now. Last week we watched Food Inc. and then went to the Halifax Farmers Market. We got talking to some of the vendors that were there and learned so much about farming that we didn't know before. Although Matt and I live in an apartment, I want to make my own garden this spring. I'm thinking of buying or making some big pots to put out on our balcony to grow some veggies.

Anyways, if you haven't seen Food Inc. we both recommend it. It didn't really turn me off of eating meat, it just opened my eyes as to how most of our food is treated while it's alive and challenged me to make better choices. Here are some photos of the market. It's a lot more full and alive in the summer though.

Oh and here is the trailer for Food Inc.

Inspiration - Week 6

Is it tacky to do 2 inspiration posts in a row? It is? Oh well ;)

This week’s inspiration post is about being environmentally friendly. Being responsible about recycling, usage and disposing of materials makes me happy. When I’m happy I am more productive. Matt and I have taken a number of steps to better support our Earth in our own home.

We only use energy efficient light bulbs like these. These bulbs use up to 75% less energy than regular incandescent ones and they last up to 10 times longer. Not only are you saving a lot on your power bill, you are also being an efficient user and helping the Earth.

We also recycle all cans, bottles, plastic containers/packaging, paper, paper products and compost! I think that on average if we didn’t do any recycling we would probably product about 2 bags of garbage a week. Right now we produce around 1 bag every 2 weeks! Just by recycling we stop almost 80 bags of garbage from going to the landfill. Think about it, recycling doesn’t cost you anything. If you bring your bottles to a bottle depot you even get money back.

We also have reusable drier sheets that are good for up to 500 loads each. All of our cleaning products are biodegradable. We keep all of our thermostats to 15 degrees Celsius in the winter. My motto is if you get chilly, put on a big comfy sweater. We tried turning up the heat only when we were home but then we would forget to turn it down and my heaters would be pumping out heat for 8-10 hours a day when no one was there. To me that is such a HUGE waste of electricity.

Here are some green videos that Moksha Yoga puts out every month. There are a lot of surprising facts in these videos and great tips for being more environmentally friendly.

Water Conservation



Eating Local



Minimizing Waste



The Little Things



Paper



Plastic Bags



Plastic Bottles



Cleaning Products



VOC Free Paint



I hope these gave you all some inspiration to change your habits and was educational :)

Inspiration - Week 5

I forgot to post last weeks inspiration yesterday so I'm going to do two this week to make up for it. I am currently reading the book Style Statement by Danielle LaPorte and Carrie McCarthy. I looked up Danielle online and found her website WhiteHotTruth and fell in love. This website is definitely my biggest inspiration this week. Danielle is an amazing author and the content on her website is really powerful. I recommend checking it out and reading some of her articles.

This one in particular caught my attention:

11 slightly scary ways to become a better you

1. Work with people who are smarter or more accomplished than you.
In the last month or so I've advised a mega-website/magazine that has the #1 community forum on the world wide web, a super savvy duo who are #1 in their industry and have one of the finest business plans I've seen; and a kick-ass forum of some of the most savvy marketers, motivators, and communicators in action. In every case I had to leap further to meet my intuition, dig deeper into the industry, and listen more actively. They made me sweat. I learned some new kung fu.

2. Solicit opinions from a diverse audience. Nothing like asking a twenty year old and a seventy year old what they think about your stuff.

3. Solicit opinions from experts. Ask a gifted writer what they really think of your material. Take your CEO to lunch for a preemptive performance review and some tips on how to sail up the ladder. Hire a stylist to eyeball your fashion fabulousness. It may sting, it may be a major gust of wind beneath your wings, but either way, an expert opinion will motivate you to get on top of your game.

4. Stand naked in front of the mirror and don't leave until you can say three deeply loving things about: your physique, the miracle of your health, and your qualities as good human being.

5. Fire your most annoying client, team member, or nasty friend. You'll wished you'd done it a long time ago.

6. As the Dalai Lama says, "Love until it hurts." For me that would mean volunteering at an old age home. I can hardly bear the wastage and scarcity of dignity that makes for most nursing homes. It slays me. I always leave a total wreck.

7. Choose silence. Turn off the TV. Commute without the car radio on or your i-Pod earphones in. The silence may unsettle you. With our addiction to noise and distraction held at bay, our anxiety, painful beauty and genius has room to surface.

8. Underachieve. This is especially for all the A Types and workaholics. Slack. Don't finish the book. For one week, do not do a to-do list. (I know, your palms are sweating at the very thought.) Be late just because you wanted an extra five minutes in the hot shower.

9. Take an improv class. It could teach you more about innovation, relationships, success, and sexuality than any therapist or self help book.

10. Say no. Only offer the simple explanation that "it just doesn't feel right."

11. Say yes. Just for the hell of it. Whimsy is a direct route enlightenment...or peril. Either way, you'll come out stronger.

As you can see, she is brilliant. Check out her stuff, I promise it's awesome!

I will be reviewing Style Statement a little bit when I'm done reading it. Keep you eye out in the future :)

Inspiration - Week 4

Wow. A lot has been inspiration to me this week.

I guess the most important is kindness. Over the holidays I chatted a bit with the ever fabulous Gail Werner. She had attended a Dane Sanders workshops and had blogged about it in this post. I mentioned how I really want to get a copy of his book Fast Track Photographer and her response was "Here you go :)". She emailed me a copy of the ebook. I was COMPLETELY floored. Gail was a complete stranger and she reached out to a complete stranger with nothing but kindness and sincerity. It may sound strange but she really did make my day. With the amount of conflict and prejudice in our society to have someone be so nice without knowing who I am was the best thing that happened to me that day. Scratch that, the best thing that happened to me that week! Gail, I want to thank you for all of our lovely email chats and for having such a genuine, lovely soul.

Go team Jacob!! :P

Here's a sneak peak at what's coming :)

Inspiration - Week 3

Hello everyone and Merry Christmas! Well I guess I should be saying Merry early Christmas. I don't know about you but I am sooo excited about this Christmas. I'm kind of waiting for it to finish though so I can get back on track with photography and work and life.

This weeks inspiration I think is videography/vlogs. I have been watching a lot of channels on youtube lately and after watching them + a few other videos on peoples blogs I really want to try experimenting with video in the future. I really want to upgrade to a Canon 5d MK2 (which has HD video) but until then I only have my Canon point and shoot for videos. I am hoping to take lots of photos over Christmas and to also take some videos. I don't have any video editing software on my Mac though so if someone can hook me up with a free software please comment below!

The second half to this weeks inspiration is candle making. I decided to get crafty this year and make candles for family and friends. It really isn't that hard to do but the start up costs are not cheap and it can be time consuming. Here are some photos of my candle making. I didn't think to take the photos until I was almost done my last bit of touching up. I'll still explain the process though.

To start you will need some wax. I chose solid wax for molds but there are lots of different kinds (gel wax, wax crystals, soy wax, etc). I bought an 11 pound bar which was HUGE and I only had maybe a 1.5lbs left. You'll either need to shave down the wax into small pieces or sort of chisel at it and make smaller chunks to melt.

You will also need candle scent and dye. You can get them both in either liquid or bar form. These are vanilla scent and red dye. Make sure you read the instructions on how much to use depending on how much wax you are using.

If using jars as the containers you will have to glue the wicks and wick base to the bottom. I used a hot glue gun but you could probably use crazy glue or buy glue specifically for that purpose.

Then you double boil it until everything is melted and it hits a certain temperature (depends on the type of wax and how you are making it, be sure to read the instructions).

This is what it looks like in the pouring pot. I didn't actually start this batch from scratch. The reason being is that if you are making the candles in jars or containers like I did, when it cools you get like a sink hole in the middle (you can see small ones below). Once they cool you need to pour in more wax to fill in the hole. This is what I was doing today tonight to finish them up.

Again, they are only sunk in a little bit but how much sinks in is different for each.

Topped off (different candles).

To keep the wicks straight I do this. It looks strange but it works for me.

Til next time Merry Christmas!! I hope to post some vlog style posts next week about Christmas. :)

Inspiration - Week 2

Last week I posted about something that inspires me – painting. I decided this week I would post about someone that has inspired me. This special someone is Me Ra Koh. She is a professional photographer in the US and has put together the Soar! Scholarship. She has partnered with companies like Sony, Adobe, SmugMug, ShowIt, Pixel2Canvas and ShootQ to reward three lucky women that need the resources to start their photography business and set it on the track to success. I originally thought about enrolling but now I’m not so sure. On the website you can actually watch some of the video entries (2min video is required to enter) and I can’t help but think that so many of those women deserve it more than I do. I am lucky enough to have a full time job that keeps food in our stomachs and a roof over our heads. I also have an amazing support system (Matt, family and friends) to help me reach my goal.

Needless to say, Me Ra Koh has been my inspiration this week. She has inspired me to help others with their photography and to inspire them. It is people like her that really light up this world and make it a better place to live. I can’t wait to see who she chooses to get the scholarships and to watch their progress next year. They will go to conferences and have one on one sessions with business people and photography people. They will get decked out in Sony gear and Adobe software. SmugMug is hooking them up with websites and blogs. It will be so much fun to learn more about the photography industry through their opportunities.

Here’s to Soar!

Inspiration - Week 1

With the winter months comes a slow photography season. As you can tell by looking at my archives I have not been keeping to my 101 in 1001 goal of blogging 4 times a week. So I have been thinking of topics I can discuss on here to beef it up a bit over the Christmas. One thing I have been really wanting to do is an inspiration post. My Google Reader is full of photography blogs, finance blogs, health/fitness blogs, and some fashion blogs. Every day I am reading other peoples updates and looking at their photos and products. Some of what I read really sticks out in my mind. Once a week I will be posting an inspiration post. It will consist of anything "artsy" I can find that I love.

Not to long ago the fabulous Jamie Delaine posted about creativity being a muscle. Since then there have been a few things I want to get learn and do more of. This list includes knitting, writing, cross stitching and painting. Last Christmas my parents bought me two big black canvases that I haven't ever taken out of the plastic. In the next few months I really want to start panting more. I think my problem right now is that I don't trust myself to start painting on something so big when I have no idea what I'm doing. To solve this problem I will start off small and work my way big. I have a few little canvases (maybe 5x7?) that I will put my ideas on and if I like what comes out I'll do something similar on the large canvases.

As you can probably tell this weeks inspiration goes to painting! Here are some pieces of art I have found on the internet that I absolutely love.

The last 5 paintings were done by Dan Lafferty. The rest I found on kijiji a long time ago.

Cans for comments will be continuing until Dec.15th as I was sick last week and didn't get a chance to post anything worth commenting on. Keep the comments coming people :) Remember it's for a good cause!