Technical Difficulties

Sorry for the delay in posting January’s tutorial and photo assignment but I’m having some trouble getting photos to upload – and it’s hard to post a tutorial without photos!

Because we’re knee-deep in magazine progress (and we know you don’t want us to delay that!), I’ve decided to combine January with February’s tutorial, which will be posted on or around Feb. 1st.

If you want to get a headstart, read my article in your Winter 2010/11 issue and start snapping! January’s topic will be Symmetry and Patterns, and February’s topic will be Leading Lines. Only photos taken between January 7th and February 28th, 2011 will be accepted and posted for this assignment.

Cheers,

January tutorial…

will be delayed a few days!

We are in the middle of a server change and to avoid any trouble with lost posts or images, I will be posting the tutorial later this week.  Don’t worry – we’ll allow extra time for the delay!  But if you want to get a headstart, the tutorial will be on symmetry and patterns – and I’ll allow all photos that were taken between today (Jan 10th, 2010) and the deadline!

Thanks for your patience!

Cheers,

December 2010 Winner!

Thanks for all of the fantastic submissions we received for our December photo assignment on Cropping!

Here’s a peek at all of them again:

Thanks again to all of our submitters this month!

Using a list randomizer, a winner has been chosen:

List Randomizer

There were 34 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

1. Margaret Stewart, AB
2. Lynette Parent, AB
3. Lee-Anne Thorton, AB
4. April Childs, AB
5. Jill Sparks, ON
6. Teresa McNutt, NS
7. Brae Montgomery, ON
8. Lee-Anne Thorton, AB
9. Brae Montgomery, ON
10. Shannon Celeste, ON
11. Lee-Anne Thorton, AB
12. Agatha Wiebe, ON
13. Jill Sparks, ON
14. Heidi Brand, ON
15. Jaime Matthews, ON
16. Nicole Alvey, ON
17. Mindy Smith-Bernard, ON
18. Jill Sparks, ON
19. April Childs, AB
20. Lisa Malette, ON
21. Jill Sparks, ON
22. Maxine Lozinski, AB
23. Jill Sparks, ON
24. April Childs, AB
25. Lise Malette, ON
26. Sharon Peters, AB
27. Carrie Butterwick, AB
28. Lise Malette, ON
29. Bethany Hoskin, AB
30. Bethany Hoskin, AB
31. Jill Sparks, ON
32. Agatha Wiebe, ON
33. Nicole Alvey, ON
34. Agatha Wiebe, ON

Timestamp: 2011-01-07 02:10:03 UTC

Congratulations, Margaret! Your prize pack will be sent out shortly to the address on your submission form!

Stay tuned for our January tutorial to be posted on or around January 8th, 2011!

Cheers,

Final December submissions

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and wishing you all a very safe and happy 2011!

I’m back from a self-imposed computer break and I have to say, while I missed it, it was nice to kick back and relax!  However, now I have a MASSIVE pile of submissions to share with you so it’s your turn to kick back, relax and enjoy our readers’ photography.

Jaime Matthews, of ON, sent me this adorable photo of one of her five children, Spencer:

 Look at those dimples – thanks for sharing, Jaime!

Sharon Peters, of AB, shared this photo of her daughter-in-law, Rachael, and grand-daughter, Mary:

I love how the cropping brings the focus onto their beautiful faces.  Great job, Sharon!

April Childs, of AB, sent me this abstract photo, creating bokeh from her Christmas tree lights (see our December 2009 tutorial for more info on bokeh!):

Lovely – thanks for your submission, April!

Next, I want to share this colourful photo by Lynette Parent, of AB:

I love how the yellow just POPS - Great submission, Lynette!

Agatha Wiebe, of ON, sent in two more submissions this month – the first is a fantastic shot of an ornament that she made with her children:

How cool is that?  I’m going to have to make those next year with my kidlets!  I also want to share this submission from Agatha:

Love how you captured the well-loved look of your bible – thanks for your submissions, Agatha!

The next two submissions come from Brae Montgomery, of ON.  I had the pleasure of meeting Brae this fall at the CreativFestival in Toronto – I spent all of my hard-earned money at her booth!   Brae’s first photo is an extreme close-up:

Love it!  Great depth of field, too, by using a smaller aperture of f/4.

Brae’s second photo captured their Christmas traditional Elf on a Shelf – his job is to report back to Santa at night while the family sleeps! 

I think we need one of these at our house…   Thanks for submitting, Brae!

Jill Sparks, of ON, sent several photos this month, as well, capturing a Christmas treat and her family this year in the snow:

Looks like everyone had fun – thanks for submitting, Jill!

This next beautiful image comes from Margaret Stewart, of AB:

So pretty!  Thanks for your submission, Margaret.

Check out these next two photos from Nicole Alvey, of ON:

Hee hee – love your little assistant, peeking over your shoulder!  

Great use of natural light, too!  Thanks for sharing, Nicole!

Lise Malette, of ON, sent in these photos, taken on a recent trip to Florida:

I can almost imagine his whiskers twitching!

Pretty – Thanks for submitting, Lise!

As we come into the home stretch, I want to share this one sent in by Shannon Celeste, of ON:

Love this candle!  Thanks for sharing, Shannon!

Teresa McNutt, of NS, sent us this photo of her youngest daughter, who turned six on Dec 31st:

Happy Belated Birthday to her – and thanks for your submissions, Teresa!

Lastly, I have two adorable images to share from Bethany Hoskin, of AB, of her daughter.  In one, she is digging into some Oreos:

 Oh, I can relate, my little friend – they’re my favourite, too!!  Yum!

About the next image, Bethany writes, ” a photo of my daughter, inspecting our Christmas decorations, shortly before removing as many as she could reach, of course!”

 That made me smile – been there, done that!  Although my kids usually just tried to stuff them in their mouth – or that of the dog, who was only too happy to oblige!  Thanks for your submissions, Bethany!

Whew!  What a great crop of photos we had this month!  Thanks to everyone who submitted – I love seeing your photos and sharing them with our readers.  Stay tuned for an announcement of our December photo assignment winner in the next day or two – and watch for our January tutorial to be posted on or around January 8th, 2011!

Cheers,