So I have been slacking with my Blogs of Note so I spent a few hours surfing the net finding some really interesting sites…this is one of them.
LoopyBoopy is a blog showcasing Art Dolls created by Colleen Downs. They are slightly creepy and very odd and actually remind me of Tim Burton characters…perhaps that is why I like them and find them very interesting.
Whenever I randomly draw things, I end up drawing them in 3D. I will draw a box around an important phone number or person's name when I am on the phone and then make that 3D. So this little video is even more neat...but really it is just super cool all on its own.
Near Clearwater, Florida is Safety Harbour. Inside this area is not only a lot of cute shops and cafes and a really great pier from which one could see manatees (we didn't see any when we went unfortunately) but also a really interesting house.
On the corner of 12th and 3rd Avenue there is a really neat, but weird looking house I am affectionately calling the Strange House. The Konings had been here before with some friends who winter in Florida as well and knew that Dave and I would love it. We arrived early in the day and got a ton of really great shots that I am just starting to go through. I have included a couple in this post, but I am sure many more will be posted on my Photography blog (as well as my Flickr account).Around the perimeter of the property were painted bowling balls, which were incredibly photogenic. 
There was so many things to see here that one could make a million trips here and still see something new. There were creatures and objects in every nook and cranny. The following two guys were my favourite (that I saw while I was there) quite possibly because of the frog-like creature on top with his little camera.
It doesn't take too long to get to the house, nor does it take very long to take a few shots here. The hard part is leaving because as you walk out you are bound to see something you want to shoot and then something else immediately after that. The Konings must have been sitting in their car for nearly 15 minutes waiting for me to walk out of the yard. Definitely a must see if you are in the area.
Michigan Avenue is the major north-south road in Chicago. It is home to the Art Institute of Chicago, the Magnificent Mile, Millennium Park and the Chicago Water Tower. It also happens to be the place I visited the most during my time in Chicago. This was mainly because it was the easiest place for me to get to as it was literally around the corner from the hotel. It also because Michigan Avenue happened to be incredibly photogenic. I really enjoyed walking the street and since it was populated at all hours, it seemed relatively safe even at night.
The Art Institute of Chicago is absolutely enormous and has some stunning works of art. Some of its more notable pieces include Van Gogh's Self Portrait, Gustave Caillebotte's Paris Street; Rainy Day and Grant Wood's American Gothic. I did my best to see as many of the notable pieces during the 3 hours of free admission on Thursday evenings, but the place is huge and it seems impossible to get everything in on even a month worth of free nights than on the one that I had to spend there.
The exterior of the building is just as breathtaking though. I passed by it several times as I walked around Michigan Avenue and each time I had to stop to take it in.
The Grand Staircase was the first place that I got lost. I guess I misunderstood the layout of the building and I ended up walking around them at least twice before I realized where I was and where the areas I wanted to visit were. I wish I could have spent more time there and been able to take things in better.
Those of you who know me, know how much I love Impressionist art - Monet in particular, so that of course was the first place I tried to get to. I walked slowly through the Renoir room, the Van Gogh room and the various artist room (including Edgar Degas) and then got to a room that made me want to cry - The Monet room. Not only did this collection have the Water Lilies, but it had not one, not two but six haystack paintings. 
These paintings were created by Monet in the Autumn and Spring of 1890. There are 25 of these paintings and this is the largest number of them I have ever seen at once. As simple as these paintings are, they are my favourite impressionist paintings. One on its own is good but multiple paintings arranged together is so beyond words beautiful.
Millennium Park is located along Michigan Avenue in Chicago and is the spot I spent the most time taking photos during my visit. It was only about a 15 minute walk from my hotel room and I was able to go there 4 times both during the day and at night.
According to the website, it is an award winning centre for art, music, architecture and landscape design. I can vouch for the art, architecture and landscape design, but unfortunately I did not have the opportunity to listen to any of the concerts which take place in the large amphitheatre.
It also happens to be the place where I completed my first assignment for my Composition and Design course. The below image is the large mercury orb, which is actually called the Cloud Gate, that was the primary subject for my urban landscape photos. I am unsure as to what the 10 means on the building in the background. The next night, it displayed a 9 so obviously it was some sort of countdown, but I don't know what it was counting down to. I can't seem to find any information about it online either. 
I think this was my favourite spot in Chicago. It was free and opened most hours and was of course beautiful. Even with the large number of people walking about the park, I was still able to get a great deal of shots with little to no people in them, which is always a big plus in my books. Returning to this location again and again during my trip did limit the number of other locations I was able to go to, but I thought it was worth it.
I feel a massive thank you is in order to those who visit my DeviantArt site - particularly those who comment or fav my photographs. So for those of you who go there from here or got here from there, thank you. I really do appreciate any and all comments and suggestions about my work - I feel it will make me a better photographer in the end.I finally sent pictures to the printers. I have been holding on to tons of pictures from different events in the last year and have been waiting until there was a enough of them to send in. Well, after the London trip there is finally enough - to say the least. I had 214 from different events over the last year (museums, family reunions, parties/gatherings, and thet ulip fesitval) and then another 194 from the London, England trip. Wow - so many pictures. I am really excited to pick them up. The first set is already done and waiting for me but the second one hasn't been compelted yet. I will probably pick them up tomorrow and then spend the rest of that night playing with them - getting them in frames and albums and deciding how I am going to arrange my London ones. I have been thinking about a hefty scrapbook seeing as how I have so many odds and ends from the trip but not sure if I have the stamina to make through the whole trip with the high quality it deserves. I will think it out. :)
This weekend Chris came over again - we went to Mountain Equipment Coop where I bought a crapload of stuff including adapters for electrical outlets, a travel pillow (so soft) and other such travel thingies for London. I also bought myself a nalgene which I love and will drink from all the time now. We then went to the Rideau centre where Chris bought a bandeau dress from American Apparel which can be worn 15 different ways. This picture is thirteen of those ways as two of them were skirts and we didn't have a matching top to the dress and so we left them out (Dave helped us put them together into this collage this morning). We had pizza and talked all night long until I was worn out so I went to bed. Today we have been playing with the pictures uploading them everywhere! We also sent in some pictures to the american apparel and this amateur photography thing they have up there - which I thought was really neat and everyone should check it out. So much fun.
I love this site. People are already reading my page and viewing my pictures and adding them to their favourite lists -- yay! What makes matters even better -- people leave comments (unlike some sites I have...) I am so glad I chose this way of displaying my photography -- though I do hope to keep this blog up and going too...perhaps I will get more readers here because of the art site who knows :) Now all I need is a new and better camera -- I really want a dSLR (digital SLR) but they cost about 1 to 2 thousand dollars. I am hoping to ask my parents if instead of getting me a school ring or something along those lines (like they did for my brother) when I graduate, if maybe they can give me some money towards a camera. But that won't happen until atleast December so I guess I will just deal with the equipment I have now. Though according to Justin I could turn my computer into my own server and create a website that way - I decided on using DeviantART.com to display my photography. I am using a free account for now (I am not sure what the benefits of a paid account is just yet) and don't really have much posted there (since I am currently at work and all of my work is at home on my computer not here). Feel free to visit it: http://stephaniebeach.deviantart.com/
I have also been looking for s tore or business or something that will make greeting cards and whatnot out of personal photos. I know places like Wal-Mart and whatnot do it but they ahve tacky borders and other things that I do not want. I want just a white border (or no border at all) around the photo and haven't been able to find a site that will do that. I suppose I could get a program that would do it...but then I would need a decent printer which would mean I would need some decent ink cartridges all of which would cost money and I am not really fond of spending lots of money...so yeah any ideas for that would be appreciated as well...thanks.
OK so I have looked up website options and determined that the free sites don't have large enough data transfer rates available to be able to have a photography site. I have thought that I could create a new blog in which I only post pictures...but that isn't exactly what I want. I could also fork up the 5 to 20 bucks a month to have a decent sized website of my own or I could use one of those kind of tacky photo album sites which is also not exactly what I want.
So I have put up a poll (a new feature on the blogger site) so that everyone can vote anonymously - so please vote :)
For my birthday (a few months ago) Chris gave me a gift certificate to the Mud Oven - a place where you can finish ceramic pieces, paint them and then get them glazed and fired in a kiln. I have made three pieces so far. The first piece was a vase that was painted with basic red and blue shapes on it, the second was a sugar bowl (which I am adapting into just a storage container for small items) which I painted blue-grey and walnut brown with pussy-willow like flowers on it and the third piece was a bowl I painted with a Davinci style background and brown designs of helicopters on it (obviously for Dave). The third piece is my personal favourite because it came out exactly like I wanted.
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