Berisman’s Neighborhood

Don't adjust your computer. This ia a picture of my Christmas tree! I had a happy accident with the camera and was really chuffed when I saw what it looked like so of course I fooled around a bit more. Basically I moved the camera around as the shutter was going off. Not rocket science but fun to do.The room was too dark for anything but the lights to register.

This one is a picture of our tree topping. I snapped and quickly tilted the camera down as I was taking the pic:)

We have a gigantic storm bearing down on us. I was looking at the radar and it appears as if we are going to get a LOT of snow. Click on the wee arrow above the radar picture to see it animate.
I've been to the store and stocked up on goodies, filled up the car and now am firmly ensconced awaiting the big blow:)

I am keeping this here on my blog until Dec 30th. The BustaMove BIG PRIZE DRAW , hoping that you might be interested in donating $10 to help purchase a digital mammogram machine & be entered in our fabulous draw. Help make the boobs of Nova Scotian women merry! Thanks to all of you who have done so already:)) Prizes are continuing to be added:) Latest is a CD by Shannon Quinn! Winner takes all. Great odds!

December Views

just came across the review of Leica X1 from dpreview, this camera really impress.

The sharpness, noise, design... every single thing from this camera really worth the price (USD nearly 2K). Hope to get one when it reach Malaysia market!

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Today,when my wife and me went for our morning walk at Taman Botani,Putrajaya.We came across a family of one son and three daughters cycling.My wife was inspired by their family outing together and asked me whether she also could ride a bike.Of course,"You can!",I replied.By the way,my wife belongs to the old school of the 50's where ladies were discouraged to ride bicycles.On arriving home, I conspired with my son on how to teach my wife how to ride and get her to cycle with us.

Love this picture! It is a print in my shop called Winter Bunnies. Notice the snowman:)

I am weary right now, late night, early morning and lots of good stuff in between! Our pancake breakfast was another success:) I just wanted to log on and thank everybody who came! It is always a fun event but..... smiling, talking, cooking, tidying and enjoying everybody makes one sleepy by the time 3pm rolls around. Dare I take a nap? After all it is Saturday. I am not a napper by nature but I might just pop into bed with The Scarpetta Factor, P. Cornwell's latest book and a cup of Tazo Chai. mmmm.

Finally got our tree up and it looks warm and festive with it's twinkly lights and decoration. Now if I could only get to my Christmas cards! Maybe I'll do them tomorrow as the snow falls.

Now that the Pancake Breakfast is over, I am focusing on this wee draw. Please think about donating:) I will keep this here on my blog until Dec 30th. BustaMove BIG PRIZE DRAW For $10 you can help purchase a digital mammogram machine & be entered in our fabulous draw. Help make the boobs of Nova Scotian women merry! Prizes are continuing to be added:) Latest is a CD by Shannon Quinn! Winner takes all. Great odds! Thanks to those who have purchased:)

December Views

Ok, so we won't have a view of cattle, and we won't be serving in a log cookhouse, and there might not be cowboys but.........we will have delicious pancakes and coffee and it will be all you can eat for $5 and your money will be used to purchase a digital mammogram by the BustaMove charity! Served up by the #Halifaxchicks team:)

8:30-12 noon
Sat 19th December
Clayton Park Sobeys, Halifax

See you there!

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More Bike Babes

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In Note & Diary Style Book volume 4, a magazine I love, there are 3 pages covering how Spanish photographer Itxaso Zuñiga recorded her journey to Gobi desert in a Traveler's Notebook.  I found some interesting techniques by just looking at the way she did it and I'm sharing with you all photo journaling lovers.

Mongolia Diary 1 - from Note & Diary Style Book vol.4

1. Play with cut-out window of a page to show part(s) of a photo beneath that page.  It can be as simple as the example on page one of the magazine, but you can have a lot more fun doing something more complicated, e.g. shoot a photo from inside of a beach house looking through the windows, take another shot of the beach from outside, use the first photo with cut-out windows on a page to show part(s) of the second photo in the next page.
2. Take a lot of people photos with shallow depth of field, select one as the key image on one page, put a collage/mosaic of the rest of the people photos on the opposite page.  This creates a simple 2 pages of lives you met in your journey, which already tells a lot of the place.
3. Use the same technique above but change the topic to "Sky", "Cloud", "Flower", etc.
4. Intentionally take a lot of sky, eye-level and ground photos.  Use these stock photos to compose a collage, say 5 x 7 photos.  On the top rows you put various sky shots, on the bottom rows ground shots.  Put either one large photo of an eye-level shot or just follow the grid to fill in photos of objects/scenes/people you shot during the trip.  This creates a collage with a central theme but not as obvious because the whole collage is obscured by "background" shots.
5. To match a rough theme using a Polaroid (soon to be reproduced again!), peel off the white protective frame to make a square photo which the unexposed chemical formation can be seen on the edges.
6. Keep the words simple.  A few keywords which capture your feeling is already enough if you decide the journal is more visual.  In an example of Itxaso's page, beneath a Polaroid of the Mongolian family she wrote "Nomads Generosity Strong Hospitality Humble Pride".
7. Put glue evenly on a page and sprinkle sands and dirts on it.  You brought back a piece of the land you once walked on in the journey.  Same trick works for plants, feathers and human hairs :P

Mongolia Diary 2 - from Note & Diary Style Book vol.4

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Lastly, as I often mention in our Travel Photo Cafe talks, to create a beautiful photo journal, equip yourself with a few layouts in mind before the trip, this will help you take more useful shots, collect more interesting objects and create better layouts because you are effectively stocking up useful contents all the time.

Mongolia Diary 3 - from Note & Diary Style Book vol.4