Updates About Everything!

Hello all! Now that October is almost over, I figure it's about time for another update.

It's really been a hectic few weeks for me but I'm finally able to sit down for a few minutes and type about my life. The past two weeks have been especially busy with the completion of midterms, papers and photography assignments. Today, I have to get ready for my grad photos, and then have a hopefully relaxing weekend.

Last Friday, I was able to travel down to Waterloo to celebrate Emma's Convocation with my parents and Aunt and Uncle. After five years of hard work, it has come to an end. Now she's on to bigger and better things! Congrats, Emma!

This past Sunday, I had the opportunity to photograph a wedding inspiration shoot for my friend. She has recently gotten into event planning and had an amazing idea for a butterfly-themed wedding. This inspiration shoot will be printed in a wedding magazine, sometime next spring. I can't wait! I will post pictures later, once I know the publish date.

I was contacted by my work from the summer with exciting news that my IP is finally ready, and should arrive in the mail shortly. This means I can finally include images from my work into my personal portfolio. I'm looking forward to receiving a hard copy of the final Swag Catalogue, which will be a great piece to include in my portfolio. Here is a picture of the Creative Department from my work:

Speaking of photography, my Photo 4 class will be having a show in the new year, probably around March. I'm so excited to be a part of it! Also, I will be submitting work for the Grad Show which will be held at UTM's Blackwood Gallery. This will also be in the new year. These shows will be a great experience for me.

Well, that's all I can think of in terms of updates. Bye for now!

Week One: Done!

It's Thursday night and I've completed one week of my fourth year classes. This year should be full of fun things and also a lot of hard work. I have six classes in total, which is one more class than I usually have. Most of my classes are art-related, but I also have a geography class I need to fill my social science requirement. I am taking Photography 4 and Sculpture 3, which I am really excited about. I also have a visual culture course, a course about photography and new media, and a course about curatorial practice.

Right before summer ended, I was able to get my website created and up and running! If you haven't been there yet, check it out! A big thanks goes out to my dad, aka "Techno Dude" for all his help!

In other news, today marks five years of dating for Paul and I. This is exciting because although it feels like I've known Paul my whole life, the past five years have flown by! I'm so glad to know such an amazing guy! :)

August

I've been meaning to blog for such a long time now. I can't believe how fast time has gone. Things have been crazy in my life recently.

As you can probably tell by my lack of blogging, I got very busy with work. I spent around 3 hours commuting to and from work each day, which meant that I had little time for myself and anyone around me too. I had a great time at work and learned so much about photography, editing workflow, lighting and so much more. I feel so blessed to have been able to be a part of such a valuable experience, and a big thanks goes to my parents, because without their support it would not have been possible. Through work, I discovered a passion I have for working in the studio, and I will definitely keep that in mind when looking for a future job.

Last week, my family and I rented a cottage in Stokes Bay (on the Bruce Peninsula) to take time away from lives and relax. It was also a celebration of Emma completing her last exams of university for good, and also me completing work. We made several day trips to Tobermory and its gorgeous beaches —both sandy and rocky, and also spent a lot of time at the cottage playing games.

Now that we are back home, and Emma will be here for a while, we are switching back our rooms, which we had changed when Emma first went to university. It is a long process for us because we find so many fun memories when going through diaries and things in our closets.

I am also hard at work revamping my website. At work, I learned a lot about portfolios and the importance of keeping a professional portfolio website available which represents who you are as a brand. I will keep my current photography blog and Word Art Wednesdays, which I am in the process of moving over to a Blogspot site. I enjoy Blogspot much better than Wordpress because it is much more customizable with headers and fonts. Under www.rebeccadost.com will be a new portfolio site which is clean and simple. I have a mockup below of how I hope it turns out:

In a nutshell, that's what's been going on in my life. Thank you for taking the time to read it, and I hope you have all been enjoying your summers too!

June

Hello World! It feels like life has been whizzing by for the past couple of months. I haven't blogged in a while so I figured I would share what's been going on in my life.

Work has been busy, busy, busy, which is definitely a good thing! I've been working on some really cool projects which I'm so excited to add to my portfolio once I'm done my tenure. One of the things I worked on was the Swag Catalogue, where I photographed  and edited around 100 items. They were all edited to the result of a white background, photoshopped shadow, and reflection. In total, I probably took close to 1,000 images, and edited over 150 of the selected photos for the catalogue. Two associates and myself even won awards for the work we did on the catalogue. I've also been busy in the photo studio with lots of fun shoots, and lots of really cool prospective assignments coming up.

iStock has been very busy also. I love being an exclusive contributor because my images get approved within 2 days (it used to be up to 2 weeks!), and downloads seem much more worthwhile. I have tons of images to be uploaded and so many photo shoot ideas floating around in my brain. Although working full time conflicts with my dedicated iStock time, I'm trying to make it work and stay encouraged.

I have also been researching to find out how I can get my Word Art Wednesday images printed so I can get that part of my site ready to go. I love creating word art and can't wait to see where it can take me.

Weekends have been usually spent away from my temporary home, which has been really fun, but gets me behind on doing little things like cleaning, going grocery shopping, and doing laundry. I look forward to the next weekend I can relax and get caught up on things.

I was able to go home for Father's Day, which was really fun because we got to go sailing. I love being on the water. Last weekend I visited Paul in Wasaga Beach and enjoyed the nice weather (and air conditioning!). This weekend I am going to visit Emma and the dogs in Waterloo. I can't wait for the fun times I know we will share.

In other news, Paul graduated and got his very first paramedic job in the same day! It's a part time 1-year contract with the ER Academy, based out of Toronto. A big congrats to him!


Anyway, what I thought would be a quick update has turned into a short essay, so I will make this short. Thank you for reading about my life these days and I hope you are all doing fantastic!

Then and Now

When my parents visited for my 21st birthday, we decided to enjoy the beautiful weather and walk along a park we used to visit when we used to live in the city. While we were walking, we stopped by a certain jungle gym where we had taken a photo of us at least 14 years ago, and since I had my camera, we tried to "recreate" it. Here is our shots put together:

I couldn't remember what the original picture looked like at the time this photo was taken, so I find it very interesting that I decided to have my hand on the railing.

It's so amazing to see how we and others change over the years. So much has happened within the 14 or so years between these two photos that has transformed our lives. I can say though, without a doubt, that I'm thankful for every one of them.

Hope you are all having a great weekend!

Exclusive!

I got home from work a short while ago. When I checked my email, I saw that I had gotten a reply to my exclusivity application. Three months ago, I applied but got denied because I had some files for sale on a partner site to Veer.com, where I had tried selling my photos for a while. I asked for my files to be removed from Veer, but they didn't drop off of the partner site (which I wasn't even aware of) in time for my application to go through. Before I was able to apply again, I had a waiting period of 90 days. I was so disappointed that I hadn't caught those images which prevented me from becoming exclusive. Waiting 90 days was no easy job, either!

Today, I can now finally say that I am an exclusive contributor to iStockphoto. This means that since I only sell my photos on iStock's site, I get paid more for each download. The little crown icon below represents that I am exclusive. I'm so glad that I stayed determined to keep uploading and waiting for downloads. Hard work does pay off!

Thank you so much to everyone who had helped me, encouraged me, and of course, modelled for me! None of this could have ever happened without you. :)

Birthday Weekend

This past weekend was my birthday. I turned 21 and had the pleasure of celebrating it over the entire weekend with my roommates, boyfriend, friends and family. On Friday night, Paul drove up and my roommates took me out to a local bar. I don't really go out much, but it was really nice to have a break from work and get out of the house to go dancing!

On Saturday, my sister took a bus to come visit me, and my friend from Burlington stopped by quickly with her adorable pup Lola. Then, Emma, Paul and I went to a "family fun" day to see my friend Rebecca who was working at the event. We also saw an Emergency medical team do an extrication demonstration. Or, in other words, the too apart a car with the "jaws of life." It was so neat! Shortly after that, we went to meet up with my parents and the dogs, who had driven up for the day. We walked around a local park we used to visit often when we lived in the area. After we were tired of walking and talking, we stuffed our faces at a delicious thai restaurant! That night, after my parents left to head home, we met up with Paul's friends from college at Playdium for some games.

On Sunday, Emma, Paul and I met up with my friend Emily for a lunch date. It was so much fun! Later that day, Paul and I drove Emma back to Waterloo and had dinner and desert there. I'm so thankful I was able to see so many amazing friends on my special day!

Mother's Day Weekend

This weekend was a good one! I completed my very first week of work, which was so much fun! I'm really looking forward to what exciting projects I'll be working on and what I'll be learning. My co-photographers are also amazing, which makes things awesome!

On Friday evening, Paul visited and was able to meet some of my co-workers at a 'goodbye' meet up for some associates who were leaving. Then, we did some grocery shopping and went out to a small get together with some friends. Saturday, we went out to run some errands. We went out on a nice walk to enjoy the beautiful sunshine before making a delicious dinner!

On Sunday morning, Paul drove me to the bus stop before he went to go to a St John's Ambulance duty. I went to Waterloo to meet up with my parents, Emma and the pups for mother's day. We went for brunch at a renaissance-themed cafe and then walked around the mall and a beautiful waterfront park. It was an excellent weekend! Emma and I will both be going home in Friday for the long weekend - can't wait!

Super Moon

Last night, my roommate Chev and I went outside to see the super moon. It was supposed to appear something like 14% larger and 30% brighter. I couldn't see a size difference, but it was definitely brighter! Of course, I took my camera along on the trip, and got some really neat pictures. Night photography is very difficult, but I somehow managed to maintain focus in some of them. The picture below is not featured on my photography blog post, but I loved how the aperture rings created a "sun-like" effect on the moon.

My First Sale!

On Wednesday night, I checked my email and noticed I had an email through the "Contact" page on my site. It was from one of my followers, and he was requesting to buy three of my photo prints. The email started with "I've been a fan of your site for a while..." and I immediately recognized the email address—he was also the very first follower of my blog.

After reading the email and digesting everything he said and was requesting, my first instinct was to panic. Having just made an announcement my gift shop's opening the day before, I had absolutely no supplies for making and matting photo prints whatsoever. What had I gotten myself into? Then I started to get really excited, because of the realization that this person, who I have never met before in my life, discovered my site, likes my photography and wants to buy prints. It's truly amazing to know that I have fans out there!

The next day, I woke up early and started phoning around to see what stores close to me had the supplies that I was looking for. I also had to find out where I should my photos printed, and how to put them together. Then, I had to go out and actually get the things, print the pictures, put them all together, and send them on their way. It has been a long and tiring process. I'm so happy to have had the time to complete everything and grateful to have had this experience. I can't wait for the next order!

Here is a picture of the final product:

Blue Jays Game

On May 1st, Emma, Paul and I went to see the Blue Jays vs. Rangers baseball game at the Rogers Center.  We had been debating whether or not we should go, but finally decided to go for it. We bought less expensive tickets the night before, but ended up having a great view of the field. After having gone, I can say that I'm definitely glad we went!

It was a really intense game, which was tied 7-7 at the top of the ninth inning. When the Jays were back at bat at the bottom, they managed a saving home run which sealed their victory. There was a total of three home runs for the Blue Jays that game!

Baseball is one of the few sports I enjoy following and watching. A major plus for me is that it is a no-contact/fighting sport. I'm looking forward to following the Jays this season!

Check out my photography blog for some of my favourite shots from the game!

More Exciting News!

Some hours after I posted my excitement that I had seen one of my images on that website on Facebook, I got an inbox message from a friend telling me she had seen a picture of my dad and his sailboat in the Canadian Tire Outdoor magazine.

I quickly called my dad to tell him and we looked up the magazine online, and sure enough, on page 26, there he was! It's so exciting to know that one of my images is so readily available and being distributed all over Canada.

Here is a screenshot of pages 26 and 27:

Exciting

Excited is the word I would use to describe my current state.

I just completed my very last exam of third year. Now, I'm packing and getting ready to move in to my new house for the summer. I also get to start my internship, which is a photographer position for Bell Canada. I'm really excited to learn more about commercial photography and gain so many incredible experiences through that.

Last night, Paul sent me a message containing a link to a website. That website included one of my iStock pictures of us! I can't tell you how exciting it is knowing how one of my images has been used. It's on a site for eating disorder treatment, and we're on the left-hand column. Right underneath our picture, it says "McCallum Place uses expert clinicians & evidence-based care to treat Eating Disorders and other co-occurring issues..." so that must mean we're supposed to represent the expert clinicians. This is really neat because it's the last place I expected to find this picture!

http://www.eatingdisordertreatmentinformation.com/

Now, I'm off to get my room packed and ready for my mom to show up. We're going to do some city shopping and have a mother-daughter sleepover before I go home for a bit!

Easter Puppies

Even the dogs are ready for easter! Thanks to my mom who helped me capture these too-cute pictures!

Easter Preparations

I can not believe it's April already! This school year has flown by and I have completed all of my classes for third year, and all I have left is two exams. I have been extremely busy up until now with my classes coming to a close. I've also been interviewing for some positions this summer and my friends and I finally picked a house to live in next year.

I am home (at my parent's house) for an early Easter, and will be here until Sunday or Monday. Now that I finally have time to sit back and relax, I realize there's even more to do!

I've been doing a lot of Easter preparation for iStock over the past few weeks, and when I got home, I helped my mom get some Easter cupcakes ready for her website. It has been so much fun! We are also making a lot of do-it-yourself things for the home. I'm so excited because I love making things! I also plan to get the "gift shop" segment of my professional photography blog up and running soon.

Here are some Easter-themed iStock pictures I created:

Ballet and Birthdays

This weekend, my parents and Emma came to Mississauga early Saturday morning. My mom, Emma and I got ready and then headed over to the GO train which we took to Union Station in Toronto. We were going to see The Sleeping Beauty Ballet at the National Ballet of Canada. We met up with four of my university friends there too, which was fun. The ballet was absolutely beautiful, and I'm so glad we went. All of the dancers did such an amazing performance!

When we got back to Mississauga, we met up with my dad (who had been speaker shopping while waiting for us) and went out for a buffet dinner to celebrate his birthday! The rest of the night was spent hanging out and sharing our pictures from our family vacation in February.

On Sunday we went to the Meeting House which was really fun, especially since my parents had never been to the Oakville site before. We went for a quick shop after that and then my parents left for home. Emma stayed for a bit longer and accompanied my friends and I to view a potential rental house for fourth year. It is a really nice place and I hope everything works out! It was a very short visit, but definitely very fun!

Now, I will spend the rest of the night prepping and resting up for my interview tomorrow morning! I'm looking forward to getting to know a little more about the position.

Birthday

This past weekend, I went to my friend Chelsey's house to celebrate her 21st birthday. The theme was "candyland," which meant that there were vibrant colours everywhere and delicious food to try. Chelsey made candy-flavoured alcoholic beverages, and so many fun candy dishes. My personal favourite was the candy sushi, made out of rice krispie treats, fruit roll ups and other yummy gummies. It doesn't sound like the greatest pairing, but it was so delicious! I'm so glad to have such great friends in my life to celebrate things with :)

Weekend

This weekend was another good one! Not as exciting as being in the Dominican, but it was definitely fun.

I usually bake dinners on the weekend that I can freeze for the week, but when people visit me, I like to make extra special things. Paul drove up on Friday and we made spinach lasagna rolls for dinner, complete with homemade mozzarella sticks. We and my friends went to a birthday party that night which was close by, and it was so much fun!

On Saturday, we went to the mall so I could pick up a couple of things, and then to Toronto for dinner with some friends (the girls I will be living with next year, actually—so excited!). When we got home, Paul and I made a delicious blueberry lemon loaf and played video games.

We discovered and amazing thai food restaurant when we went out for lunch on Sunday. We tried the thai iced tea, which is red iced tea sweetened with cream. It was a perfect offset to the spicy food they had. After that, we attempted to go on a photo adventure, but it was freezing and we weren't prepared for the cold weather.

The Greatest Break

Today I woke up and couldn't believe I was back in my townhouse in Mississauga. The past week just flew by and now, unfortunately, I must get back to reality.

On Saturday, Emma, Brenda and I flew to the Dominican Republic and met up with 11 family members. On Sunday, our two cousins met up with everyone, making a total number of 15. We got to re-meet four family members from Germany, which was amazing considering we hadn't seen them in probably 11 years!

On Monday, the first full day with all of us together, the adults had booked a sunset cruise, where we went on a party boat around the ocean. We boated by a shipwreck, and the dolphin and shark tanks, and then stopped for some snorkelling. After that, we went to a little cove where we could wade in the clear water. The theme of our trip was "Funstorm," a term we used for a much smaller family gathering in the summer. Last term, I had silkscreened everyone on the trip a shirt with a Funstorm logo I made, and we gave them out to everyone on the boat ride back.

On Tuesday we booked a parasailing excursion for all who wanted to go. It was really terrifying but so much fun all at the same time! When Emma and I went, we were able to get an amazing view of the beach and the island.

On Wednesday morning, my dad took my cousin James and I sailing on a catamaran. We were actually able to 'surf' on the waves and go really fast! It was so much fun. In the afternoon, a bunch of us walked along the beach to a local market for some shopping.

Thursday was a sad day because that meant my parents, aunt and uncle and German relatives had to leave. This meant that there were only five of us left — Emma, Brenda, Eric, James and myself. It was nice to have some time alone, but it made it a lot easier to leave on Saturday.

Between boat tours, parasailing, and shopping, you could find us sleeping on the beach, swimming, tanning, eating and laughing.

It was hands down the greatest vacation I've ever been on.

Almost

It's been a crazy week!

On the weekend, I participated in my school's 11th Annual Arts Festival. I showed four of my artistic works from over the years in Photography, Print Media and Sculpture—my paper phone casts are below. I took pictures for the Arts Fest posters, and I was asked to take more pictures at the event. It was really fun, and great event photography experience! I was also able to meet and discuss my work with a really nice man who considered my photography pieces two of his three favourites in the show. It was so encouraging to know that I can reach people I don't even know through my work.

On Monday, a bunch of my friends and I went to the Mandarin to celebrate our friend Siobhan's birthday. It was really nice to get out of the house and have a good visit. Other than that, the rest of the weekend was spent working on homework and trying to relax in between. I had a research paper for my Consumer Culture class and a Midterm in my Art Since 1945 class to study for on Wednesday. I also have things due after reading week which I want to get a head start on.

Wednesday afternoon, Paul visited me after my midterm for a quick "Valentine's" visit before I leave for vacation. We went out for sushi at our new favourite place in Mississauga. It was such a nice surprise to see him :)

I can't believe reading week is so soon! Emma, Brenda (Emma's friend), and I are flying down to the Dominican Republic on Saturday to meet up with a whole bunch of our family on my mom's side. I have been packing here and there throughout the week, but I don't think the fact that it's happening so soon has hit me quite yet. I'm still in school mode right now. I'll be taking my DSLR camera on the trip and am so excited for the picture opportunities that will be there!

I also received my 200th iStock download today! I can't believe it's already 200, considering my 100th download was only in September. Once I have 250 downloads, I can become an exclusive contributor to iStock, which is very exciting. This is download #200:

Hopefully you are all doing well, and I can't wait to share my pictures with you when I get back!

Winterlicious Weekend

This weekend was a good one. Paul came to visit me on Friday, and we went to the mall for a bit to pick up a few things and watched a movie. Then, on Saturday, we went to Toronto with our good friends Chelsey and James. We had reservations at Quinn's Steakhouse for a Winterlicious meal. It was delicious, but not very wintery out that day. Paul and I went to dinner for Winterlicious last year, and this year we decided to keep the tradition going.

On Sunday, Paul and I went to Snake Falls in Flamborough to take some pictures, and while walking to the falls, we crossed an awesome wooden bridge with train tracks running across them. I got lots of great pictures for both iStock and my photography blog which I'm really excited about.

After that, we went to Chelsey and James' place for a Superbowl party. I'm not much of a football fan, but I learned a lot about the sport and had fun talking and eating all the delicious treats!