ABC Challenge : Discovery and Riding

by Lara Last week we went to the Granby Zoo - we had a fabulous time.  My two photos are both from the Zoo and I'll admit right now (before he calls me on it) that my husband took both these photos.  I say they still count :)

Photo Tip:

I'm no photography expert but I'll be sharing a few tips I've learned in recent years. If you have one you'd like me to share (I'll link to your site too!) please email me at kidsinthecapital(at)gmail(dot)com

Get closer! I find some of the best photos I take are ones where I'm right up in the kids' space.  The more zoomed in the better sometimes. Give it a try!

Participant photos: EATING

We got some great eating photos shared this week.  Here are two :) Have you joined our flickr group yet?

Angela:

Alison

The list:

Art Books Climbing Discovery Eating Friends Green Hugging Inside Jumping Kisses Laughing Mealtime Night Outside Playing Quiet Riding Swinging Trees Umbrella Vehicles Wet Xcited (OH! Cheater!) Yellow Zoom

It's never too late to take part.  Leave a comment with links to your blog posts or join our Flickr Group!

What have you taken a photo of this week?

ABC: Reviving the photo challenge

by Lara One of the very first things I did when we launched Kids in the Capital was start a photo challenge. It was such a great success that I managed to put together a lovely book of photos from so many of our readers to highlight at Blog Out Loud Ottawa in 2010!

I was really happy with my photography that year. I pushed myself to get regular photos and to improve the photos I was taken.  I've slipped since then and with summer vacation around the corner (heck, it's standing outside my door and already rang the doorbell) I've decided to start a new photo challenge!

The concept is exactly the same.

In the next 14 weeks I will get at least one photo I am proud of in each of the categories (in no particular order) in my following ABC list (I'm re-using the list, I think the themes will be fun to try again).

Every week I will present you with photos from 2 categories and I will highlight a few of your photos too. I invite you to join me, post your photos on your own blog, and add them to our Flickr group. (aside: did you know that the lovely photos rotating in our sidebar are kids in the capital reader submitted in our Flickr group? You should join!)

The list:

Art Books Climbing Discovery Eating Friends Green Hugging Inside Jumping Kisses Laughing Mealtime Night Outside Playing Quiet Riding Swinging Trees Umbrella Vehicles Wet Xcited (OH! Cheater!) Yellow Zoom

Will you join me?

Social Media Monday : Instagram

by Lara I have a big digital camera but it's not convenient to bring with me everywhere I go. For a while I considered carrying around a small point and shoot for the unexpected fun moments but having an iPhone in my pocket meant I essentially did have that. Sweet!

In the world of social media, the fun comes from sharing. I have hundreds of photos on my phone. Sometimes I chose to email them to services that could automatically put them on twitter for me, but most of the time I didn't.

Enter Instagram.

It is a fun and easy to use iPhone app (unfortunately only iPhone at the moment with no plans to launch android or blackberry options any time soon) that:

- takes photos - allows you to apply fun filters to them - with a simple click share to twitter, facebook or flickr - have a friends feed right within the application

Instagram Filters

What instagram has done is offer 16 filters you can apply to your photos. They can take a photo that might not have been that interesting and make it a lot more fun.

You can also zoom in and crop your photo.

Then play with the filters!

Share

You can hook your account up to your Facebook, Twitter and and Flickr and have them automatically update to those sites (you select where each individual photo is sent, it isn't automatic). You can also choose to make your photos private and just keep them for yourself - they don't have to have a social media component.

You can also follow friends right on Instagram and like and comment on friend's photos right there.

You can also see generally popular photos on the whole of Instagram.

And there's a news feed

It's a really fun app and I now take all of my photos with my phone using it. If you use it too - look for me and add me, I'm glidinglara.

Happy snapping!

Lara Wellman is mom to 4 year old Kiernan and 2 year old twins Quinn and Juliette. You can read her personal blog at Gliding Through Motherhood, about her weight loss journey at Losing it in Ottawa, and her social media blog at Larawellman.com