It’s Alice’s 1st Birthday today, how appropriate that’s she’s a Leo! Alice is a very much loved member of our family, just as much as the first day she arrived at her new home last October (my how she’s grown!).

Here are a few images to commemorate the occasion.

She received a toy rat as a birthday present:

A few from the home office, first two shot & processed on the iPhone 4:

(Except where noted, images of Alice were captured with the Canon 1D MkIV and the Canon 24-70 f2.8L lens. See “My Camera Equipment” in footer section for links/more information on camera equipment used.)

Before I captured the raccoon’s outside Rebecca’s bedroom window (see the previous blog posting), Noah spied one of them in a tree, so captured these shots from our back deck:

(Shot with the Canon 1D MkIV and the Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS lens. See “My Camera Equipment” in footer section for links/more information on camera equipment used.)

This is fast beginning the summer of the iPhone 4 as I continue to enjoy using it as my simple ‘pocket camera’. With the apps available you can have some fun with the image you’ve shot and create a more artistic version of the shot.

(All of the following images were shot and processed on the iPhone 4.)

A shot of Old City Hall in downtown Toronto, taken at the same time as the images in the last blog posting, but developed with a different app:

I went back to visit the clock tower this weekend, this is a fave:

These shots were all taken the same evening (same as the one above), interesting to me all the different looks I can achieve from the same scene depending on how I processed the image:

While I was standing there, photographing the clock tower, my first photography client came by. We already have a shoot booked for later this month, but it was my first time meeting the newest member of the family, Laszlo. He was difficult to photograph with the iPhone as he moves so fast! I am looking forward to photographing him and his family later this month. Along side Lazlo I have posted some shots of Alice snoozing on my Apple Air Port/Time Capsule. She loves the heat it gives off, crazy kitty! lol

Speaking of animals, Rebecca came downstairs the other day to usher me upstairs to see these visitors right outside her bedroom window. So glad I had my iPhone to grab a few quick shots, as they didn’t hang around for long before departing to the roof:

And last, but not least, a few more random shots from the week:

You can see by the number of photos below that I have been greatly enjoying my new iPhone 4 with its much improved camera! All of the images posted below were shot with the iPhone 4 and processed with apps on the iPhone as well.

Shot at the park in Yorkville:

Had just dropped my son off at ROM camp, morning light was shining west across Bloor Street:

Loving the sun flare that the iPhone produces, though it has been enhanced somewhat in this image:

Think I will have to make another evening trip to this location for some more shots, loving the nighttime lights:

At my mother’s for dinner I captured this shot of Milo:

Downtown on Queen Street West with the kids, caught this shot:

Subway tracks:

Yeah! So happy to have finally lucked out on some cool converse shoes for Rebecca! We tried twice to order online from Getoutside Shoes, both times the size we needed was not available. Then we saw the Dr. Suess Converse shoes, and knew we had to wait for them. Stalked the store on facebook to watch for word that they had arrived, called and had Rebecca’s size set aside for us, whoa! Cool shoes! Noah ended up snagging a pair as well!

More shots out & about in the city:

Caught Noah on my bed with his laptop, only illuminated by the screen. Alice was illuminated by two laptop screens. Then some shots from downtown, out & about, and our ‘hood:

I stood in line last Friday at the Apple store in the Eaton Centre to upgrade to the new iPhone 4, what a HUGE difference from my 3G! It is an amazing phone, and, no, I am not seeing any “antennagate” issues.

This is one of the last photos I took with my old 3G, processed with a newly acquired photography app:

I created a custom Gelaskin for my new iPhone 4, love that the company is located right here in Toronto!

Here are a few shots from the new iPhone 4, processed with apps on the iPhone. The new camera is so much more responsive, I was actually able to capture my son as he jumped! But it’s almost too sharp for the photography I like to create with the iPhone, so takes a bit more time in iPhone apps to create a more artistic look.

Bit of a catchup for the month of July, out & about with Rebecca and Noah.

Under the local bridge:

The other weekend we went down to Kensington Market and had dinner at The Grilled Cheese (btw, we were not impressed, we make better grilled cheese at home!), first image was shot/processed on the iPhone:

Noah at the park riding his ripstik (first image shot/processed on the iPhone):

Out & about this past weekend with the kids, Yorkville and our local park:

The following were all shot/processed on the iPhone:

I haven’t posted images of Alice lately, so thought it was time for some new ones, and to mix it up, quite a few are shot and processed on the Apple iPhone.

Really love this one, she is at the front window watching life go by:

(shot & processed on the iPhone)

The camera in the iPhone 3G isn’t fabulous, so I use iPhone apps to give the images a vintage ‘toy camera’ look:

(shot & processed on the iPhone)

My new faves for the iPhone are BlurFX and PictureShow. Blurring the background of the iPhone photos helps to bring the focus to the subject and smooth out/de-clutter the “everything in focus” aspect of the iPhone camera. PictureShow is great as there are SO many options from different effects, frames, light leaking, and noise, the only downside is it can take a while to decide on your fave look for the image!

This is a goofy photo of Alice, who was hanging out with me in my office, when she heard my daughter coming. She sat up straight and got this crazy wide-eyed look on her face, Rebecca and I laughed!

She was still keeping an eye on Rebecca, before she settled down on my Apple Airport to snooze. The last image was a shot I captured of her snoozing on my daughter’s shoes?, you can see the iPhone version above, cats sleep in the strangest places! lol

Well, from my previous post on the Robin’s nest in front of our house, you know there used to be two babies, but the smaller one disappeared.

Shot with the Canon 1DMkIV with the 70-200mm f2.8L and the Canon 100mm f2.8 macro, we see the father keeping watch, below that the mother on the nest, the baby on the nest and then out of the nest:

(See “My Camera Equipment” in footer section for links/more information on camera equipment used.)

Last shot of the baby Robin as he heads out into the world, shot and processed on the iPhone:

Another yummy EatSavvy shoot, peaches were the theme this month.

Peachy French Toast:

Pork Tenderloin in Peach Marinade:

Grilled Halibut with Peach Salsa:

I don’t know if this is the same mama Robin from two years ago, but I was really hoping she had learned that Avenue Road is not an ideal location for a nest. Given that there are five eggs, I fear there may be a repeat of the sad “survival of the fittest” situation.

First there was one, then two, three more eggs to possibly hatch:

Last week I attended an amazing workshop with Nichole Van, and I am missing the beautiful weather in Utah, a nice DRY heat rather then what we are currently experiencing in Toronto.

Here are some images I captured during the workshop. The first series is with models she organized for us at her home outdoor studio (her backyard):

The next day we moved to an off-site location. This image was shot with off-camera light that Nichole set up:

The rest of the images, from that shoot, were natural light:

On the way back to the hotel, one night, we stopped to photograph some beautiful horses, and the landscape:

I traveled down to Utah last week for a photography workshop (more to come from that!), and used my iPhone camera/app to shoot and process the following shots. For me great photography apps on the iPhone make all the difference, it’s such an easy camera to pull out and have fun with!

Shots from the plane on my connecting flight to Chicago:

Shots from the plane much closer to Utah:

A few at the photo shoots in Utah (more to come from my Canon equipment):

From the car window while traveling around in Utah:

Shots from the plane, from Utah to Chicago:

Chicago to Toronto, note the Toronto skyline in the last two images: