LERtastic And The Other Wonders Within

Chasing...

noreply@blogger.com (Cyler Parent) — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 01:38:00 +0000

Everything seems to look the same these days, and I am so bored with it. One of my friends is thinking of moving out to Toronto, and I have to say that I would love to move away from Calgary. I know this city too well, I've covered a lot of ground in the 3 1/2 years I've been doing deliveries. I want something new. I would move to Vancouver in an instant if I knew I could make it as a photographer out there, but I'm not ready. I still have a lot to learn about running a business.

This time of year always messes with my mind. It makes me sort of melancholy. The beauty of late summer and fall mixed with the dreary truth that winter really is coming again.

I'm chasing a moment, but I can't tell what it is. It's out of focus and too far away, but wanting to reach this moment is what drives me forward.

It's been a while...

noreply@blogger.com (Cyler Parent) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 21:56:00 +0000

Things have been going well recently. I have started my photography business and am focusing on mainly weddings for now. I built a new website for it at http://www.cylerparent.com and it's finally a website I feel comfortable sending potential clients to. I am doing a wedding at the end of August, and hopefully more throughout the year. I would like to slowly phase out how much I work my regular job, and phase in full-time photography. That is my plan anyways.

I stopped my picture a day project a while back because I feel it served it's purpose. I am still going out and shooting, but more time is being focused on the business side of things now. The site is still up, and I post pictures there every once in a while, but I might shut it down and just use my Flickr account instead.

I feel like I've been discovering a lot about everything lately, and things just feel good. I know that this will end at some point, but I am trying to take every advantage I can before it does.

I hope that all of you are doing well, and if not, just know that things will turn around eventually. :)

The Intersection...

noreply@blogger.com (Cyler Parent) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 21:42:00 +0000

An intersection, three ways to go
I just sit here, gazing into the unknown
Hoping I choose the right path
Where am I headed? I really don't know

The rain starts to fall
Droplets on my skin
Thunder takes the sky
I look back to where I've been

The road I've followed
Always crumbling behind
I can never go back
To what used to be mine

This storm seems so perfect
Full of power and strength
Surging through my body
Through it's entire length

I am ready to choose
To make my decision
My goal is so simple
To make it to heaven

Kat & Aaron...

noreply@blogger.com (Cyler Parent) — Thu, 01 May 2008 00:31:00 +0000

Here are the photos from Kat and Aaron's wedding. Click here for the rest of the photos.

Seperation...

noreply@blogger.com (Cyler Parent) — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 20:39:00 +0000

Right now I feel like I'm walking slowly away from a lot of bad habits. It feels good. Being off work has been really good for me, it's forced certain situations on myself that I would have otherwise been able to avoid.

It has also made me realize that I have become complacent with my job. It's an ok job, but there really isn't too much future for me, so instead of waiting until next year to start a business, I am going to put more effort towards making money with my photography now. As I have been going through the photos from Kat and Aaron's wedding, I have slowly become more confident that I can deliver great quality images every time. I am looking forward to this next page in my life (not a new chapter, just a page).

The Amount Of Equipment...

noreply@blogger.com (Cyler Parent) — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 00:28:00 +0000

So this is most of the equipment Lauren and I used at a wedding we shot last weekend. There was a Canon 20D equipped with Canon 50 1.8 as well. It sure is nice to be able to have friends to borrow equipment from. Thank you Jono, Jordan, Lauren, and Caitlin.

Click here or on the photo to see the image with notes added.

I believe we had a total of 20 GB of CF cards and we had a bunch of stands and lighting stuff as well.

3000 photos and 25 GB later we had a wedding captured. Still have a ways to go with the editing.

February Photo Dump...

noreply@blogger.com (Cyler Parent) — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 05:36:00 +0000

Ok, so this is a little late cause I forgot about it, but here are my PAD favorites from February.

Shots of Nature...

noreply@blogger.com (Cyler Parent) — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 00:04:00 +0000

I went for a walk today to try and get something a little different for my PAD project on February 29. Enjoy.

Love Wars Concert...

noreply@blogger.com (Cyler Parent) — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 03:19:00 +0000

So Trevor's youth group put on a concert in the basement of their church. It was pretty sweet. Elevated stage, light show, nice loud volume level (but not ear-shattering loud), along with some fog for the last band. The bands that played were 2.5% Chesterfield (Half of 5% Chesterfield was sick and unable to preform), Light Rising, and Love Wars.

Check out the photos

Our Day In Canmore...

noreply@blogger.com (Cyler Parent) — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 06:00:00 +0000

We were initially going to make our trip out to Canmore on Saturday, but it was -17C so we decided to wait until Sunday when it was going to be much warmer (High of -2C).

Click here or on the photo to go to the gallery.

PAD January Photo Dump...

noreply@blogger.com (Cyler Parent) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 05:09:00 +0000

At the end of every month, I'm going to be posting a bunch of photos from my Picture A Day project.

Music I've Been Listening To...

noreply@blogger.com (Cyler Parent) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 20:44:00 +0000

So since I haven't posted anything personal lately, I figured I'd let you know what has been played recently on my iPod.

Top 5 Recent Favorite Albums (in no particular order):

Chase This Light by Jimmy Eat World

Year Zero by NIN (Nine Inch Nails)

Vheissu by Thrice

Light Grenades by Incubus

Crisis by Alexisonfire

These are all incredible albums, and if you haven't given them a listen, you should.

I know there hasn't been any photos being posted here, and that's cause I've been posting them to my Picture a Day project.

One Laptop Per Child

noreply@blogger.com (Cyler Parent) — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 23:01:00 +0000

I read about this a while back when the laptop was still in the design process. It looks like they are well on their way, and I want to urge you to browse around the site and see what they are doing. It's a pretty sweet idea, and I think it could really help.

http://www.laptopgiving.org/en/index.php

What Is RSS?

noreply@blogger.com (Cyler Parent) — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 00:22:00 +0000

Well, as promised, here is some info that anyone using the web should know. Honestly... if you don't know what RSS Feeds are, you need to, as it will save you LARGE amounts of time. I don't even know half of it and it's made surfing the net ALOT easier for me.

The following video explains RSS in plain English.

I use Google Reader, as it was the first good reader I found. If you search "Google Reader" on YouTube you can find a bunch of helpful videos helping you get started and teaching you some of the advanced features.

I've added a subscription field on the side of this blog.

Some of my other feeds:

2008 Picture a Day Project
My Gallery

New Web Site...

noreply@blogger.com (Cyler Parent) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 07:46:00 +0000

I finally spent some time today and made myself a new website. Let me know what you think.

www.cylerparent.com

(I am probably going to add more to the services page.)

Picture a Day 2008...

noreply@blogger.com (Cyler Parent) — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 23:33:00 +0000

Happy New Year!

I'm doing a project for 2008. I am going to be posting a different picture every day for the entire year. I have made a photo-blog strictly for this. It can be viewed here:

http://pad.cylerparent.com

I have put a link on the side, and I will be doing a post on RSS feeds for people who don't know what they are or how to use them (it will change the way you surf the net, honestly).

To start things off, I will post today's picture here, but after this, all the photos will just be appearing on the Photo A Day 2008 blog.

Oh, and this was the first portrait with my new lens.

Fixed...

noreply@blogger.com (Cyler Parent) — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 01:29:00 +0000

Well, I had to completely re-install my gallery, but it's back up. All the photos and links will have changed, so there will be holes throughout my blog now. Ugh, lesson learned.

I did however reorganize it, and took off a bunch of redundant and bad photos.

Oh... and look here on Jan 1st.

Oops...

noreply@blogger.com (Cyler Parent) — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 09:05:00 +0000

So I killed my gallery tonight while trying to upgrade it. Hopefully it will be back up soon, and hopefully I don't have to redo the entire thing.

Re-editing one of my favs...

noreply@blogger.com (Cyler Parent) — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 07:33:00 +0000

Tonight, while talking with Andrea, I decided that I would re-edit the picture of her at Dalhousie Station, starting from scratch. I did do a few things almost the same, because I did like the overall feel of the first edit. I am going to be practicing editing a lot more now, so you may see a few more re-edits, although they may be more drastic than this one was.

Original Photo:

First Edit:

New Edit:

My New Toy...

noreply@blogger.com (Cyler Parent) — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 01:41:00 +0000

For Christmas, I recieved this new lens from my parent's and my Grandma. It's not a super expensive lens or anything, but it's super fantastic. I don't have any shots from it yet, but I will post some soon.

Click on the picture to see the set-up for the shot.

The Harder I Fall

noreply@blogger.com (Cyler Parent) — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 06:52:00 +0000

Can I do it?

Am I capable?

What about others who are better than me?

Will I ever be good enough?

Wanting and wishing

Longing and yearning

Digging deeper each day

It’s who I am

I want the beauty

I want the love

I want the recognition

I want it for the rest of my life

So insignificant still

Slowly building myself up

Will I make it?

Or will I just fall?

The higher you climb

The higher you aim

The louder you call

The harder you fall

Some Photos...

noreply@blogger.com (Cyler Parent) — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 05:08:00 +0000

So, because I didn't have anything to do today, I decided to go edit all the photos from the past month I hadn't edited yet. Included in the set are my photos from Nolan and Sherry's engagement photo shoot, a photo shoot using mostly natural light with Suzy, my dad showing off his golden balls, and a couple others in there too.

Click here or on the picture to go to the slideshow.

The Powder Princess Turned 21...

noreply@blogger.com (Cyler Parent) — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 21:31:00 +0000

So here are my photos from Shandell's surprise bday party. Prints will be available for order soon. I will let you know here when they are.

Click here or on the pic to take you to the gallery.

Strawberry Dreams: Volume 1

noreply@blogger.com (Cyler Parent) — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 03:42:00 +0000

Click here or on the picture to view the slideshow

Phew...

noreply@blogger.com (Cyler Parent) — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 05:50:00 +0000

Well... I am done school for this semester as I finished all my exams today. It was a fun, stressful, angering experience. I will be taking at least the next semester off to be able to focus more on photography. If I do go back to school, I'm not sure if I will go back for the same thing, and I'm not sure if I'll go back to Mt. Royal (not due to any fault of theirs). I will also need to be in a much better financial situation.

What I am sure of is that I am going to make a few New Years Resolutions. A couple of those will be photography orientated at least. I know that I have to set goals for myself so I don't loose interest in photography like I did this year between Feb and Aug, and so I can continue to get better. If I am taking this seriously enough to leave school, then I must take it seriously enough to practice all the time.

If you read this, let me know whenever you're willing to model for me and we shall go shooting. Don't be afraid of the camera, it captures beauty in ways our eyes can never see.