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September, 2009

  1. A Call For Wedding Dresses

    September 30, 2009 by Gail

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    I know what you’re thinking. What on earth are they WEARING?!?

    Remember back in June, when I did Relay For Life and I asked for sponsors? You guys really came through for me — I raised hundreds of dollars for the Canadian Cancer Society by walking around a track overnight for 12 hours with Neesa and Natalia and others wearing some pretty fugly outfits. Believe me, we wouldn’t be caught dead in these threads if it weren’t for a good cause!

    I just attended a volunteer meeting at The Brides’ Project tonight and one of the items on the agenda is that we are very low on dresses right now. Due to economic factors we aren’t receiving the same level of donations from salons that we have in the past, but we have more appointments than ever. Since we were featured on the CBC in June our dress donations from individuals has increased, but it’s apparently not enough. CityTV was at the shop today and will be mentioning us either tomorrow or the following day, but I don’t have a TV… watch for me, please! (Not that I’ll be in it, but you know what I mean.)

    It’s such a weird title for a post, but this is a call for wedding dresses! If you just got married, or have a wedding dress that’s less than five years old, or know someone who recently married and would like to donate her dress to a non-profit bridal salon that supports cancer charities, send her to our website to learn more about what we do and how to go about donating her dress:

    http://www.thebridesproject.com

    I’m the webmaster, the in-house photographer, and I also volunteer in the shop, so if she wants to know more I can certainly tell her all about it — by phone, email, what-have-you. I’ve been a volunteer at The Brides’ Project for exactly a year and supporting cancer charities is something very personal to me, having lost the love of my life to cancer only a couple of months after our wedding. Tomorrow would’ve been our four-year wedding anniversary had David survived. I can’t get those four years back, but I can certainly do this…

    We call the dresses that have been down the aisle more than once our “Good Karma Dresses” and some of them have even been down the aisle several times. One bride in Saskatchewan wore it again for a “Trash the Dress” photo session, sent it through the washing machine (it came out perfectly clean), and declared it “durable — just like my marriage”. Yes, we’re environmentally friendly, too!

    If you decide to donate your wedding dress, you can leave a note for the next bride and share in the joy, knowing that your donation will go the mile towards supporting Camp Quality and other cancer-related charities. And it will very likely encourage the next person to do the same. See? I’ve got dozens of stories just like that volunteering at TBP over the past year. Be the next one!

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  2. Speed Dating

    September 29, 2009 by Gail

    wind me up

    Yesterday I received an email from a friend inviting me to go speed dating with her tonight because she had a free double pass. I mulled that over for a bit, couldn’t think of a compelling reason why not, and now I’m trying to figure out how to write my impressions about it!

    I need a minute…

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  3. Brassaii

    September 28, 2009 by Gail

    Brassaii

    As you can probably guess, I’m in editing mode at the moment. Editing, editing, and more editing. When I’m not shooting I’m editing, and when I’m not shooting or editing I’m preparing for a shoot or post-editing packaging in some form or another, or emailing about it, or figuring out what equipment I’m going to use and arranging for it, or answering inquiries about my work, or updating the websites, or handling the business side of it such as contracts or quotes or setting up meetings. There are hardware issues, software issues, product issues, client issues, and wondering if I can grow some extra appendages because I don’t have an assistant.

    The latest good news is that I’m now officially a permanent part-timer at The Firm, so if I lose an important appendage or two, you won’t find me under the Gardiner Expressway holding a cup out with my prosthetic limb when the lights turn red. (Actually, I was given benefits on Day 1, but I haven’t claimed any yet.) Benefits such as disability insurance, dental coverage, and extended health insurance sure come in handy when you’re freelancing. Especially for such things as getting a massage because I feel like a creaky old lady after shooting the boxing event on Thursday and the wedding on Saturday, carrying heavy equipment around for five hours at a time. Anyway, just thinking out loud.

    Let’s show a photo, shall we? All this thinking out loud is… too loud. I was trying to find a detail shot from this wedding that I could share and I think I’ve found it — a bit of the brunch reception loveliness at Brassaii on King West following the ceremony. More to come after I get through more of that aforementioned editing.

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  4. Pedestrian Sunday, Kensington Market

    September 27, 2009 by Gail

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    It’s taken me all summer but I finally went to Pedestrian Sunday in Kensington Market, which happens on the last Sunday of every month in the summertime. This summer has sped by, and every Sunday I’ve either been out of town or working at The Brides’ Project. Between that and all the photography work, most of my friends are beginning to wonder where I’ve been lately! Today I even forgot it was the last Pedestrian Sunday of the year, except I was meeting Jan and Natalia for brunch and they told me about it. I suggested we have brunch in the market today so I could finally get to P.S. and see them at the same time.

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    It also gave me the opportunity to take the rented Nikon 85mm f/1.4 for a proper spin, since the shooting conditions of yesterday’s wedding were such that I used the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 exclusively. (I think I took only one photo with the 85mm.) The reason why the 85mm worked better at the market today is because its focal length (85mm x 1.5 since the D300 is a DX/crop camera) is generally better-suited to street shooting than my 17-55mm f/2.8. With a field of view equivalent to a focal length of nearly 128mm, I can stand far enough away from the subject that I’m not so obvious, and the fact that it’s a prime lens (not a zoom) means it’s not nearly as bulky or as noticeable. Shooting with a prime lens gives great bokeh, but without a zoom you need a lot of space to move around and this doesn’t work so well if you’re in a crowd. Anyway, enough tech talk, on with the photos!

    Kensington Market

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    For the full set, click through the Pictobrowser below (there’s also a slideshow option — the play button is beside the word ‘Link’), or check out the set as [thumbnails] or a [full-screen slideshow]:

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  5. Hot Water Back Yet?

    September 27, 2009 by Gail

    Why, yes it is… get out of the sink, Xena!

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  6. Previews To The Previews

    September 26, 2009 by Gail

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    I’m between functions at the moment, which means I should be napping but I’m uploading a couple of photos first. This week’s been unbelievably crazy-busy, which means I haven’t been able to do anything with last Saturday’s photos of Beth and Shawn and their kids in High Park except do backups and make a contact sheet. Here’s one photo of Beth and Shawn I will be enlarging and displaying at their upcoming wedding. Call me biased, but I love this picture!

    And here’s one photo from the wedding I shot today at Brassai on King West. It was a FAB-ulous affair, with the funniest officiant ever, plus a robot, cat, owl, sailor, and… well, I shouldn’t say anymore — this is a pre-preview, after all.

    So many details about this wedding won me over, but a wedding brunch? GENIUS! I dug right into the croissants, bacon, eggs, and easily the best granola I’ve ever eaten (with macadamia nuts and coconut–yum!). This pancake tower is a work of art:

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    Wait’ll you see the rest of the pictures! Let’s see if I can get any sleep before the post-wedding party…

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  7. Human Cat Perch

    September 26, 2009 by Gail

    This tuxedo cat reminds me so much of Beano! Who happens to be sitting on my lap right now, watching the video…

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  8. Fight For Independence 6 – the preview

    September 25, 2009 by Gail

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    I shot over 600 photos on Thursday night at Steam Whistle Brewing for the city’s annual charity boxing event called “Fight For Independence” to benefit Nazareth House and The Hospital for Sick Children Emergency Department.

    Check out the official website for more information: http://fightforindependence.com

    I learned of the fundraiser through The Firm and immediately sent an email asking who the coordinator was, and the rest is history… That’s how I managed to shoot my first boxing match — which should’ve been in Havana, Cuba, in December 2006 but I could never get into the training centre no matter how hard I tried. Luckily for me, it was much easier in Toronto.

    Wow, what an experience! I’ll have to write more about it later after some sleep. Here’s the link to the growing photo album for this event (fight shots will be added over the weekend — check back for updates): Fight For Independence 6

    To view as a slideshow via Flickr: Fight For Independence 6 – slideshow

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  9. Yonder

    September 24, 2009 by Gail

    Day 3: yonder

    I’m posting this on the fly (yes, another photo from Fire Island, there are plenty!), after showering in my neighbour’s suite (yes, still no hot water!), off to pick up the rental lenses from Vistek (yes, broken filter is still stuck on the 17-55mm!), after a flurry of computer activity this morning (post-wedding client meeting follow-up from last night), a small Photoshop project this morning (I can’t show you yet!), and trying to figure out what to throw in my bag to wear to the charity boxing match after work…

    I’m posting this photo from Fire Island because it looks a little unreal. It’s processed that way, too, but it matches how I feel this week: that my life is a little unreal, but in a positive way. I’m doing what I love, I feel challenged but not overwhelmed, I’ve met some truly wonderful people through photography, my website, The Firm, and being out and about. Life is good.

    And I’m looking forward to see what’s over Yonder.

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  10. A Hint Of Heaven

    September 23, 2009 by Gail

    Day 3: a hint of heaven

    I was moving my cursor around in Lightroom and as it skimmed over the high contrast setting I saw this as a thumbnail reminiscent of those ’80s movies (shows? SNL skits? I can’t seem to recall, exactly) where heaven is blinding white and Chevy Chase is wearing a white suit.

    I like how there’s just a hint of a horizon here, the water seems to go on forever with no sight of land, and the sun is glinting off the foreground.

    View larger on my photo site:

    www.gailatlarge.net/2009/09/23/fire-island-new-york/

    In other back-to-reality news, the latest update is that my hot water heater needs to be completely replaced, which means no hot water for the time being as the landlord sources a new one! My neighbour has graciously given me the spare keys to her suite so I can go downstairs for a hot shower, which is what Alvin did last night. I dropped him off at the airport at 6 o’clock this morning without having to make him take yet another cold shower, which is what I’ve been doing for the past three days. I’m hoping a new hot water heater will result in a lower energy bill this winter!

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