Life « Holly Sisson Photography

July 27, 2009

Trip to Ward’s Island: Toronto, Ontario Photographer

Filed under: Blog,Children,Lensbaby,Life,Out & About — Holly @ 9:40 am

A few weeks ago a friend and I took my kids and went across to Ward’s Island. Despite the ongoing Toronto strike, it was not at all difficult to get across to the Island as there is a smaller ferry (water taxi) that makes regular trips to and from the Islands. Public washrooms are also open on the Island.

I decided to bring along my Lensbaby lens for a change.

Caught this one of Noah as we were in the ferry about to depart to the Island:

Noah braved the cold of the water right away:

Equipment Used: The following were taken with the Canon 70–200 f2.8L IS lens.

It was an absolutely PERFECT day! It was breezy coming across on the ferry, but once we got to the beach there was no wind to speak of, a beautiful summer day, which have been in very short supply here in Toronto this summer!

Rebecca decided the water was way too cold, she enjoyed the beach:

Noah brought toys from home to play with:

Then he and his sister enjoyed the beach together:

The long zoom of a 200 mm lens is perfect for shots like this! Well away from the splashing of the water!

Rebecca returns from a washroom break:

Noah really braved the water at this point! Right in there swimming:

He was freezing when he came out, I think he was glad I insisted that he bring a warm jacket!

For the trip back I changed back to the Lensbaby lens again, caught these two sunset skyline shots on the way across to the mainland:

The Lensbaby lens is especially fun for evening/nighttime shots as the lights in the background create such cool bokeh.

Ward’s Island is a wonderful way to spend a beautiful summer day! Let’s hope we have more beautiful sunny weekends like this one, rather then what we’ve had this current weekend which is lots of rain and thunder!

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July 1, 2009

Hero, one very sweet cat! Toronto, Ontario Photography

Filed under: Animals,Children,Family Pet Photography,Life — Holly @ 7:26 pm

We had a VERY special visitor come to our house the other day, this is Hero, a beautiful lynx point “Neva Masquerade” Siberian. The breeder was kind enough to bring Hero (who is 4 1/2 mths old) for a visit to see how Noah handles the breed. Noah has an allergy to cats and Siberians are known to be much easier to tolerate then an average cat. (Equipment Used: All images were taken with the Canon 85 f1.2L lens.)

Hero belongs to a very nice breeder located here in Toronto, and what a sweetie he is! Not only is he beautiful, but he has the most amazing personality of any cat I have ever met!

He was amazing with Noah, very tolerate of being handled and held:

Look how relaxed he is hanging out with my son! It was wonderful to see Noah having the fun and enjoyment of playing with him:

Of course Rebecca also adored him:

The lynx point has colour on the face, paws, tail which is striped, like a tabby, which creates a gorgeous cat:

He is such a beauty, he is going to make great kittens:

Just before the breeder left she demonstrated the ‘cat-show’ pose, no complaints from Hero!

Siberians are heralded as the “dog of the cat world”. They bond with their owners and want to be with them. They do not run and hide when visitors arrive, but instead come and greet them, as most dogs do. They are also known to be lap cats, honestly I don’t think I could ask for anything more personality-wise! I am very excited and happy (as are my children) that we have placed ourselves on the waiting list for a kitten, which will hopefully arrive early in the new year.

I am very hopeful that Noah will be able to tolerate the kitten and we will have many happy years with the new addition to the family. I will be taking additional measures to ensure the success of this venture, such as bathing the kitten from a young age, keeping her out of my son’s bedroom, etc. I believe that growing up with a wonderful pet, such as our kitten will be, is a fun and valuable learning experience for a child to grow up with.

Of course watch for the many photos that will be posted to this blog when the new addition arrives!

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June 8, 2009

Turtle, Softball & Fun Fair: Toronto Family Photographer

Filed under: Animals,Children,Life,Out & About,Project Love — Holly @ 1:17 pm

We actually had a beautiful night for softball last week, and as we passed a local park, on the way to the game, I saw my neighbour out with his turtle, Rusty, so stopped and grabbed some very quick shots:

Then we continued on our way…

Though had to pause for a moment to tie up our shoes…

Then we were flying down the stairs to the game:

Only a few more games left. I brought the Canon 24–70 mm f2.8L lens for a change rather then my usual Canon 70–200 f2.8L IS lens:

This past weekend was the yearly ‘Fun Fair’ at my son’s school, so here’s a few shots from the day. Noah volunteered for the dunk tank, his sister and her friend from school hit the button to dunk him:

Afterward he dried off:

Rebecca also took a turn in the dunk tank, but I missed the big event, BOO!

This was really funny! Aiden Orange, who was recently on The Ellen Show, was performing at the school Fun Fair! The kids and I just recently saw the episode, I didn’t recognize him until he started the lawnmower trick! The BIG dream of my Project Love event is to photograph Ellen & Portia for their upcoming one year anniversary on August 16th. You can see the youtube video about my quest here. Or read more about the Toronto part of Project Love here.

Here’s a shot of the lawnmower trick:

The Fun Fair was a fabulous success, and the weather was perfect this year! Once the fair is done I just know that the end of the school year will be here before we know it!

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May 27, 2009

Beach Shoot: Toronto Natural Light Photography

Filed under: Animals,Friends,Life,Out & About — Holly @ 6:20 pm

Had an AWESOME evening out with some follow photographers. Met up with Leigh, Nicole (Leigh’s friend/assistant) and Rebecca, and did some shooting on the beach before going for dinner.

Captured this shot of Leigh as we sat for a few minutes, upon our arrival, discussing our plan of ‘action’. I started out shooting with the Canon 24–70 mm f2.8L lens:

As we wandered down the beach we spotted this adorable puppy named “Trooper”, so CUTE!

This shot made me wish that I had brought along my Canon 70–200 f2.8L IS lens so I could have really zoomed in on him as he ran, unfortunately I left that lens at home (it’s rather heavy!), so had to crop in the frame for this image (but still, so CUTE! Look at those ears!):

Eventually Trooper had to go home, sniff, but we were not lonely for long as we came upon these cuties, who were obviously ready for their close-ups:

I really like this shot, angle, shallow depth of field, beautiful dog:

Like this one very much too!

Then we turned our attention to photographing each other, you can see Rebecca’s ‘bump’ in this shot, believe she said she’s just over three months along…her daughter will have a sibling soon to play with! I have switched over the Canon 85 f1.2L lens for the next shots:

We were enjoying the backlight, perfect light!

Caught a few more of Leigh:

And Nicole! I can’t believe this is the only shot I captured of you! Holding up the reflector! I’m going to capture your beautiful blue eyes next time…maybe I’ll bring the Canon 100 mm f2.8 macro lens! 😉

Whoa! Serious backlight! LOVE!

Then we brought out the good stuff, bubbles from Germany! (And now I know where to find them too!!!)

After all the fun of shooting we finished up with a FAB meal at “The Nose” (Gio Rana’s Really Really Nice Restaurant, 1220 Queen St. E.), the food is amazing! Think we’ll be going back there on our next outing as well! The restaurant has these amazing large images throughout the restaurant, very cool!

Looking forward to our next get-together Leigh, Rebecca and Nicole!

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May 20, 2009

Mother/Daughter Day: Toronto Family Photographer

Filed under: Children,Food,Life,Out & About — Holly @ 11:50 am

Noah was out for the afternoon/evening at a ball game and dinner to celebrate a classmate’s birthday, so Rebecca and I took advantage and had a wonderful mother/daughter afternoon on Bloor Street. I took the Canon EOS-1D MarkIII and the Canon 24–70 mm f2.8L lens along for capturing some photos.

On our way with the lights of Avenue Road in the background:

Liking how the cherry blossoms play off the pink of her shirt and jacket:

We stopped at a great used book store (BMV on Bloor) for some book shopping. Rebecca ended up with a huge pile of books, unfortunately I couldn’t find any of the current ones on my list in stock.

We were going to head over to another used book store, but decided (with light rain falling) that it would be a good time for a lunch break (and it was 2 pm by then too!). We started out on the covered patio, shot this close-up:

Then zoomed out for the wide angle shot:

Then it REALLY started to pour, so we decided we would be more comfortable inside, yummy latté (but not as good as the ones I make for myself!):

Our table full of food. Rebecca shared with me, but really just wanted toast so she could enjoy/indulge in eating peanut butter (which isn’t allowed in our house as Noah is allergic to peanuts/nuts), as you can see from the last shot of the four, she enjoyed!