This time, the joke's on me - while shooting some family-type photos last weekend my daughter decided it was time for someone to shoot me - something you'll rarely find is me getting on the flip-side of the camera. I am not particularly photogenic, so I tend to run when someone else is pointing the camera. While I was busy shooting the kids, she was busy shooting me - frankly, I don't think she got my best side:

Having recently had a conversation with a fellow photographer about frames and mattes, I figured it was about time to post this. One place I find really great for ordering pre-prepared greeting cards with spaces forphotos/art is the Photographer's Edge - you can order from them by catalogue or on the internet; superb card-stock with a method for inserting your photos that is more professional than most I've seen - you can also order the cards with pre-printed backs that have your business info & name on them.

But probably my favourite shop for buying pre-cut mattes for smaller photos is the dollar shop on Mississaga St. in Orillia. You can buy 8" X 10" mattes (usually in pink, blue, black, red and ivory) with the opening cut to display a 5" X 7" photo - this size comes at $1 each matte - some have oval openings and some are square. They also have 5" X 7" mattes cut to display a 4" X 6" photo - these are usually 2 in a package.

The Dollar Store is probably also my all-time favourite place to buy 'props' for photo shoots - over the course of a year they have a large variety of small decorations, decor objects, garden trinkets and other paraphernalia that is perfect for small shoots - include in that list some interesting "junk jewelery" that looks good in a photo. They always have at least one aisle of 'holiday' fare - right now they have this holiday aisle filled on one side with Halloween related objects, and the other side has Christmas stuff already. For the stock photographer this means you can buy well in advance of the holiday in order to shoot and upload your stuff before the holiday arrives. The other thing I like about this shop is their "after-holiday" sale. If you wait til the holidays are over you can often buy some of the left-over or slow-selling stuff at 4/$1, and sometimes 10/$1, so you can buy after holiday and pack it away til you want to use it. I'll often do this; I bought some things last Christmas at 4/$1 and put them in my "tickle drawer" (sort of a take off on the old "tickle trunk") - a couple of drawers in my office I keep filled this interesting minutiae of things to photograph when the mood strikes.

Apart from the obvious for a photographer, you can also buy most office supplies here too - all manner of envelopes, paper, pens, pencils, art pencils and artists erasers, sketch pads (some pretty decent ones), measure tools of all sorts, stamps and stamp pads, scrapbooking supplies (for those who are 'into' that), ruled paper, notebooks galore - almost everything a small business needs to keep their office running - a smaller business doesn't need five thousand paper clips, even if they are a good deal - so it's nice to be able to buy things (like ballpoint and felt pens - even sales books, message pads, and fax papers) in smaller quantity as I need them.

The things I buy frequently in here are sunglasses (loads to choose from, often quality glasses like Foster Grants - at any given time I probably own at least 10 pairs in different styles with different lens colours) and reading glasses. I need glasses to read smaller print these days, but my vision doesn't seem to have changed enough for my eye doctor to order me up a prescription, so the dollar shop glasses fit the bill pretty well. Different frame styles and colors give you 'something for every outfit' for very little money - oh, and they make great props too...not to mention that if you happen to be like me (I can misplace a pair the minute they come off my face) you can leave a pair in every room in the house, and always have a pair at hand.

Let's see...oh yeah...this year I also got some really great t-shirts - white - in kids and adult sizes. Not the undershirt-type, but a nice soft easy-wear cotton blend t-shirt, which I use to iron on my business logo, web address and sample photos. I wear them when I am out shooting (for fun...I dress for business shoots), or when I am working out, when I am just out walking, or working in the garden - when we go for a drive - pretty much anywhere. It's good advertising for $1 a shirt

I also bought my granddaughter a very nice dress (brand name, which I won't mention) - black velvet with cute 'floatie' sleeves with bows on the ends; sometimes I can get good tank tops there for workouts - recently they've got some black "bbq" style aprons which would be good for promoting a business once you get your logo on them, and some heavy canvas shopping-style (re-usable) bags - blank - that you can do the same with.

Hands-down, this has to be my all-time, mostly-shopped store on the main street, or 'downtown'. (Don't forget your toothpaste/toothbrush, hair essentials and snacks while you're there!)

This is interesting...I can find no way to edit an already published blog entry...what's up with that?  Once again MS pretty much sucks at what it does...

The website link for The Computer Smith's was obviously wrong. Here's the right one:

The Computer Smith's website

Recommendations: The Computer Smiths

Here's a local business that gets my business all the time. The Computer Smiths - they run a "repair" shop to help your ailing computer, but it's much more than that. They also do upgrades, look for software when you can't find it, make housecalls, offer IT service, and generally just offer pretty good service period, at a time when customer service is lacking in many businesses - oh yeah, if you really want, he can even build you a computer.

Tom Smith owns the shop, and their offices are located on Mississaga Street - a few doors "up the road" from my house - which makes life even easier for me. You can find them right here:

118 Mississaga Street West
325-4200

or online at 222.computersmiths.ca

Well, I am woefully behind on this blog. Life in Orillia carries on, no matter whether you blog or not!

Sometime back in June or July (sorry, I've forgotten the date) Orillia experienced it's first "Bike Show'n'Shine" held in the parking area outside the Royal Canadian Legion. I made a trip down to the show to try and get in a few shots of the bikes, and maybe some of the bikers, but the appeal of those beauties (the bikes, not the bikers) was lost since they were all crowded into the very small parking area outside the Legion.

The event this year was hopefully only a harbinger of things to come - while there were quite a few bikes, this is an event that I'd like to see filling up the entire park area, with a thousand bikes or more.

I talked with a few of the owners that I knew - Murray (who rides an interesting converted bike - it's not a "trike") and Blue, who owns an amazing blue 1955 Harley. It has a lot of modifications - one I found interesting and photographed was the bottlecap from a Molson's Blue beer bottle.

Anyway, I managed a few photos of the general show, and took a series of Blue's bike (of which 3 are completed, but there's still 2 to complete, including the one of the bottlecap).