Blog Tips, Daily, Geek Speak

Taking blog photos indoors

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Let’s face it. Photos add interest to one’s blog. If I see a volume of text on one’s website without photos, I’m less inclined to continue reading more than one or two posts. Simply out of visual boredom.

I rarely take my blog photos outside, and prefer not to use artificial light. I’m here to help you how to make the most of your time, and tell you my tips I’ve learned along the way.

Know when and where to take your photos

When I worked, I took blog photos on the weekends for the upcoming week. My balcony was the only place that had decent light so I worked between 11am − 1pm. I’m not working now, but I still only take blog photos once a week, and try to get it done within an hour. At our new place, the perfect time of day for photos like these are between 1pm − 3pm on the upstairs landing.

Make your photos visually interesting

Clean up your area before you photograph. Garbage in the background, dirty plates, stacks of paper, it doesn’t add much to a photos appeal. You don’t have to style your images as they do in magazines, but have fun with what you’re photographing. Be unique, take photos from different angles.

Use a backdrop

When you see that I have a plain white background in photos, it’s because I’m using a painters canvas as the background. Something more cost efficient but not as durable, is plain white printer paper. You could also grab a colourful placemat, a piece of wrapping paper, or even books.

Edit your photos

If you’re stuck inside with artificial light, try your best to light your subject with light bulbs that don’t have yellow undertones. Then go into Photoshop and play with the layers. Here’s an example of a photo edit before and after.before-after-poutine

Hope these tips help you out!

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Climbing, Fitness, Photos

Climbing out of my comfort zone

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I think I will always be a little shy. I’ll never truly grow out of it. Which is why I did something out of the ordinary for me, two days ago.

Last week, I received an e-mail from a long time reader of my blog, introducing herself as someone who lives sort of close to me in the Bay Area. She knew I was a climber, and suggested we meet up and go for a climb at the local indoor rock climbing gym. It caught me a little off guard since I never receive e-mails from readers, let alone a reader wanting to hang out with me! That, and she never left a comment on my site before so I didn’t really know who I was meeting. We added each other to Facebook first, so at least I had an idea as to what she looked like :)

It took me a few days to get the courage to write her back and tell her I’d join her at Planet Granite for a climb. I AM SO GLAD I DID. I was totally on the fence for a moment there. I mean I’d be afraid to contact a person who’s blog I’ve been reading, asking them to hang out — it’s not something I’d think to do. I’m just not that outgoing! I’d be so afraid of rejection hahaha.

Looking back, I wished we had taken a few photos together, or at least a photo of the place inside so I could show you how amazing “my” new climbing gym is. I can’t wait to go back already. You’ll have to deal with this selfie, that I took after we climbed for a few hours.climbHer and I are on the same climbing level. Meaning, we climb the same route-difficulty as one another. Which is such a good thing to find in a climbing partner. It’s not as much fun when you climb with someone who is just a beginner, where you have to teach them technique and ways to position themselves, or someone who is a powerhouse and can climb 5.13’s with ease. That being said, I’m surprised at how strong I still am. Considering I haven’t really climbed hard, and regularly for about 10 months. So I managed to do one (or two) 5.10a’s that afternoon and it felt amazing. #StillGotIt

Next time, I’ll take photos while inside. I think I’ll head in for a bouldering session within the next few days. Already itching to get back at it.

Have you ever tried rock climbing?

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Food

Easter was postponed

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We postponed our first Easter dinner as a married couple. With good reason.

During the weekends, The Guy likes to get a couple of long bike rides in. Last weekend he biked 30km up a mountain while I drove up it just 30 minutes quicker. That’s how fast he is. Mind you, I did only end up going no faster than 25km/hr due to the fear factor of me not wanting to drive straight off the cliff. I felt so stomach sick, I was that terrified. The switchbacks were frequent, the roads were narrow. It took ages to get to the top.

But this time he was invited to go on a huge bike ride with a friend and he took the opportunity to do so.  I told him to go on and not worry about dinner because he works such long hours, I find that he doesn’t have as much fun as he should. Plus, we could have it the next night.

They went for 5+ hours with a group of cyclists and did some major ride around the area. When he came back he jumped in the shower for a quick scrub, then I drove him to downtown San Jose for an NHL Sharks game! I’m personally not into watching hockey on TV but if I’m there in person, I find it way more interactive, and entertaining. Unfortunately his co-worker’s friend couldn’t make it to the game and only had 1 ticket to spare. He asked The Guy if he wanted it, thus the rush for me to drive him downtown in time to make it to the game.

Monday night I ended up making our Easter dinner. I believe this was the tastiest Easter dinner I’ve ever had the pleasure of diving into. Gotta say, I am a pretty good cook when I want to be! Hashtag brag. Probably all thanks to my meat thermometer I got for Christmas. I can now leave stuff alone instead of constantly cutting into the meat and having the juices evaporate out of it and potentially ruining it.

Mid-cooking selfie.

easter dinnerI served up our plates with tons of cooked vegetables and delicious ham. I made scalloped potatoes, tri colour carrots (from Trader Joe’s), cauliflower, and broccoli. On the side we had spinach salads where I dumped anything and everything from the kitchen sink into it. Bell peppers, tomatoes, pecans, cucumber, cheese… I don’t even know what else. For dessert, simply cut up fresh pineapple and strawberries.

Easter DinnerI scarfed it down in no time. As you would. I posted two pictures of the same meal, different angles. Am I a food blogger now? Just kidding :)

So there you have it, a little postponed, but still pretty special. We had leftovers for days. I hate leftovers.

Come back tomorrow and I’ll tell you how I did something completely out of my comfort zone the other day! No cheating, if you already know :)

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