One Hot Mess

Posted on May 26, 2018 by Mama Cormier

….day 96 of 365 days of art

Not everything that I paint or draw will be pretty. In this piece I finally got back to playing with ink and watercolour and experimenting with how they interact. You can see that I got a little carried away but I wanted you to see that I haven’t given up on my personal art challenge.

Playing With the Zoom Lens for an iPhone

Posted on January 28, 2018 by Mama Cormier

…..it’s a bit tricky holding the iPhone with this long lens attached

I was very excited when I received all those wonderful lenses for my iPhone at Christmas. I used the fish-eye lens first (which I promptly lost) and posted a few of my experiments soon after I received them.

A couple of days ago I headed out for a walk with my trusty iPhone in hand and the zoom lens in place. I came across a group of birds, flying back and forth and hopping from one branch to another. This is the best I could do.

As I got closer to the park the wind picked up and the temperature fell. I came across some ducks, some in the lake and others in the pond.

I tried using the zoom lens for some landscape shots, sometime focusing on the branches in the foreground and other times on the background.

I’m not sure why it’s happening but can you see how the horizon line in the second set of photos is bowed?

Here are a few more photos taken of objects and scenery in the distance.

The only disadvantage of taking photos in January, even on a relatively mild day, is that your fingers freeze very quickly. Did I mention that the winds picked up and the temperature dropped? If I didn’t feel frostbite coming on I would probably have stayed out longer. As you can see from the last shot I was losing the light anyway. If you have any suggestions about using the lenses for an iPhone I’d be very appreciative.

Cheers!

Fun With My iPhone

Posted on October 16, 2016 by Mama Cormier

….my new camera is not working properly so I’ve gone back to my iPhone

I’m not sure what’s wrong with my good camera but it is completely unusable. Last weekend my brother-in-law gave me some great lessons on using my camera and when he left, the camera ceased to function. So I picked up my iPhone today and played with it in the backyard.

My Happiness File

Posted on March 10, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…. I’m going to try something new

I came across an interesting article about the benefits of gratitude. The author, Linzi Wilson talks about how every day she writes down three things that make her happy that day. It could be as simple as a smile from a stranger, a compliment from a friend or enjoying a favourite food. Perhaps you received an unexpected gift or achieved a goal that you’ve been working on. The idea is to write down what makes you happy.

Here is a list of Linzi’s benefits of recording your happy moments:http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-8048/want-a-5-minute-practice-that-will-change-your-life.html

Here are my top three reasons for starting your gratitude practice today:

When you get into the habit of appreciating things, you tend to see life with a fresher, more optimistic perspective. Who doesn’t want that?
You’ll start creating a blueprint of what makes you happy. Certain things will keep popping up again and again. They say success leaves clues… Well, happiness does too.
Your journal will serve as a beautiful reminder. Whenever I’m having a sucky moment, I can take some time out and read through random entries. It always brings a smile to my face.

I’ve decide to use this blog to record my “Happiness File”.

Here is one thing that made me happy so far today:

Recently the school was gifted a large number of cheap digital cameras to use with the students. I didn’t have very much success with the camera itself until today. I’m happy to say that I was able to get some pretty good pictures from this simple, shoot and point camera. Now I have to come up with a project that uses these cameras. Suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Here are a few pictures from the camera.