Contest Winner!!

Congratulations to Deb who was lucky #16!

Our lucky winner was chosen by placing all the comment numbers into the random number generator at Random.org, and the winner is Deb! 

Congratulations, Deb!

Please choose your favourite print from here, and let me know your mailing info so that I can get it over to you!

Thanks to everyone who entered for making my first contest a success! Can't wait to have another one!

CONTEST! Win an original print!

To celebrate the launch of my prints (yay!) and the wrap of my photo show, I've decided to run the very first Superflash contest!  You can enter to win one of my original prints from the Seeing Sound gallery (your choice - subject to availability - photos can be seen here). 

The winner of this contest will receive one unframed print of their choice - signed by me if desired!  Contest is open to everyone across North America (however if you're in the Toronto ON, or St. Petersburg FL areas, and can arrange to meet me for a pickup, I'm happy to give you the framed version!)

How to enter (not all forms of entries will apply to you, but each time you enter a separate comment increases your odds of winning):

1.  Leave a comment if you've liked Superflash Photography on facebook
2.  Leave a comment if you share this giveaway on Facebook
3.  Leave a comment if you retweet this to twitter: "I entered to #win an original print by @superflashphoto and you can too! http://bit.ly/ztSIqf "
4.  Leave a comment if you repin the above photo to pinterest
5.  Leave a comment if you share this contest on your blog or website or add the button below to your sidebar
6.  Leave a comment if you share this on other social media of your choice


Feel free to grab this button to link on your blog/site:

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.superflash.org" title="Enter to win an original print at Superflash.org"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx3Kt8fCIMtWI0wx9hek2UuoZNhyphenhyphen70_H5Y12xLy3S88khYc3wE5ldaL_pbqgD_ELNAlOHurehKkOfcAROp2DxxWOTsRCp8PGaHXd_vm0Xten9GgCtOaAkisNoMfOiRKqPqSUmYkQ6byNo/s1600/contest-small.jpg" alt="Enter to win an original print at Superflash.org" style="border:none;" /></a></div>


The contest will end on Friday March 9, 2012,  at Noon Eastern Time, and the winner will be announced on this blog, as well as contacted via email (so please make sure you enter a way for me to contact you!).  Odds of winning depends on the amount of entries received. 

Good luck!

Seeing Sound wrap-up & BIG announcement!

My gallery show at Vesuvio's Pizza has officially wrapped up, and I just wanted to send a big thank you!  Thank you to Vesuvio's, for hosting my art, and thank you to everyone that visited and got in touch with me about it!  It was a very positive experience, and I've heard lots of good things back.

Many of the photos that you saw hanging at the gallery are available for sale.  Please email me for more information - prices are negotiable, and we can work out shipping or pickups.  All the images that were in the gallery can be seen here.

But, if you avoided the prints because of the size or matting or framing... I'd like to announce something super special that I've been working on for a while:

I've partnered with imagekind.com to offer prints of my photos to the public!

When you click on the link, you'll notice three galleries of photos, including the photos that were most recently featured in my Seeing Sound exhibit.  Through imagekind, you'll be able to choose the size of print you want, plus matting and framing options - if you decide you'd like to do this through the site, rather than on your own.  If you prefer, there are also gallery wrap canvases available, as well as many other options.
Imagekind prints use high quality inks and papers.

If there is a particular image of mine that you've seen and are interested in, please let me know, and I will upload the high resolution image to imagekind for you!

Once again, I would like to thank everyone for all the support I've received!  When I first started taking pictures, I never would have thought I'd have my own gallery show, I'd be commissioned for photo shoots, and I'd be able to offer up my own images!  This is an absolute dream come true, and I couldn't have done it without you.

May 2011: Pittsburgh, PA

Back in May, I went on a road trip with my aunt & grandmother to visit some family in Pennsylvania.  While we were there, we went out to Pittsburgh (about 1 hour away from where we were) for the day to see a few of the sights.  This is what I saw:

More photos from my trip are right here.

My artwork around town

I swung by my favourite furniture store in Toronto, Modern Sensibility, to sneak a peak at my photo that I gave them as a gift.  It's displayed proudly by the front door... If you happen to be looking for furniture, drop by & tell them that I sent you!
(And say hi to my 4 pelicans on the way out!)

strawberry buttercream

strawberry buttercream
Originally uploaded by superflash

I posted a delicious recipe for Strawberry Buttercream icing over at Singles and Pairs. Be sure to check it out if you want the recipe... if not, just enjoy the photos here. I love photos of food. Hope you do too!

Fruity perfection

Fruity perfection
Originally uploaded by superflash

After plying my coworkers with an abundance of chocolate treats today for Valentine's Day, I treated myself to this lovely array of strawberries, kiwis, and mango.
Absolute deliciousness!

First Christmas!

I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed prepping my new home for my very first Christmas in it.  I love being in charge of the decorations, and coming up with different little arrangements.  You already saw my wreath in my last entry... now here's how the rest of my apartment is looking these days.

I adore my ornaments.  I've been collecting them for several years.  I could always picture my "future" tree, even when I was living at home.  I would love to buy a white (fake) tree, during some after Christmas sales.  That would truly perfect my vision.  This year, I had to settle for borrowing my parents' old tree.  But I still think it looks lovely.  I love just sitting on my couch and looking at my tree, lit up all pretty. 

My absolute favourite would have to be this: my coffee table centrepiece.  The best part of this is that the entire arrangement (including the coffee table itself) probably cost me less than $20.  Haha.  The table is a temporary one - a LACK sidetable from Ikea (on sale for $7.99 right now! Can't go wrong).  The garland and "floral" arrangement (for lack of a better word) both hail from the dollar store.  The vase is from several seasons ago at Ikea (not sure if they still sell this.  But it was definitely less than $5 when I bought it).  And the spikey ornament, I made myself, using this tutorial from How About Orange. I love the way it looks so much, I think I'll probably keep it up through the entire winter.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Featured!

Just a quick post to mention a few places you can find some of my work around the web. StarFish Entertainment has added some of my shots from the Outlaws & Gunslingers show to the following pages:

http://www.myspace.com/ohsusannamusic

http://www.myspace.com/theskydiggers

http://www.myspace.com/jimcuddyband

And you can find a couple of my shots of the Twilight Saga: Eclipse premiere in Toronto at the Rue Morgue blog: http://rue-morgue.com/blog/archives/2010/06/29/red-carpet-massacre-at-the-twilight-saga-eclipse-premiere/

And, remember, you can always find updates on the Superflash Facebook fan page or Flickr page.

Thanks for the continued support! I'm currently in the process of my first big move, so I'm not sure when I'll be able to update. Stay tuned! ;)

May 2-4

So, how was everyone's long weekend? (Well, the Canadians, anyway?)

Mine was pretty busy... it included some quality time with friends, lots of cleaning/organizing and getting ready for my upcoming move... and yesterday, I spent the day at The Beach with my aunt. It was such a gorgeous day out, so I'm glad I got to spend it outside in one of the most beautiful areas of the city. Here are some pics.

I chose this one as my Project 365 photo of the day... 144 days in, and I'm still going strong! Woohoo!

(On a rather disappointing note - I can't believe how they've let the city just get overrun with weeds. It looks horrible. I get that they're supposedly going for the "natural" look, but it just looks unkempt, and dirty instead. And there were so many people sneezing/sniffling. I do wish they'd bring back pesticide use. Or at least find some kind of natural alternative to the ugly weed overkill)

(My aunt took that one of me) Hope everyone had a nice weekend, whether it was a "long" one or not :) More pics at my flickr.

Spring has Sprung: The High Park Cherry Blossoms!

One of the certain signs of spring in Toronto is the blooming cherry blossoms in High Park. The trees were a gift from Japan to Toronto in 1959, and were planted in appreciation of Toronto accepting re-located Japanese-Canadians following the Second World War.

Before this year, I had never seen them in person. The flowers only last for a very short time, before they blow away and turn into the summer leaves.

Last weekend, I packed up my camera gear, met up with a friend, and headed down to High Park to appreciate the blossoms first-hand, for the first time. (Unfortunately, I think 90% of the city had the same idea... it was packed!)

I am very pleased with the results! Here's a few of my favourite shots:

For more of my photos from that day, check out Cherry Blossoms on Flickr.
What are the signs of spring in your neck of the woods?

Go Team Canada!

So, I'm not sure if it's a world-wide thing or just a Canadian thing, but I (and the vast majority of my friends) have been crazy about the Olympics this year! Have you been watching?

I gotta say, even though it's way on the west coast of the country, thousands of kilometres away from where I am, there is a definite sense of unity that seems to be bringing Canada together. Every time we win a medal (especially the first time - Yay Alexandre!), every time we suffer a heartbreak (mad love to Joannie Rochette), every time we're disappointed (don't even start about Team Canada vs Team USA last Sunday...) - it seems like the entire country is feeling it, together. My facebook and twitter feeds just explode with commentary and cheering.

I gotta say - it's a pretty awesome thing.

Tonight, we cheer on Team Canada against Russia. A team that we have not beaten at the Olympics since 1960. Can we do it? If the faith of the fans is any measure, yes we can!

GO CANADA GO!

Crafty V-Day Party Part 2: The Decor

Probably the biggest preparation for the party was working on the decor. I wanted it to be a red and pink wonderland, but without resorting to super tacky decorations that look like they should be found in a classroom. I did buy a few of the elements, but the majority of things were lovingly handmade.

Here's what the main area of the party space looked like:

Amy and I had a sleepover the night before the party, and our goal was to have a splash of pink, red, white or hearts in every place that someone's eyes may have landed. I think we were pretty successful!

Coming down the stairs to the party, this is the first element of decor that guests saw. We had a pink tissue paper puff (made by my sister-in-law), and some vinyl hearts dangling from the ceiling, and pink, yellow and white (fake) flowers in a vase on the corner cabinet. Just a subtle taste of what was around the corner.

A little further into the basement is the billiards area. Amy sewed this fantastic bunting out of super cute pink fabric, and we hung it on the wall in front of the pool table. (Unexpectedly, the pool table didn't actually get used, because everyone was enjoying their crafts so much, so I'm afraid this wasn't as prominent as it should have been).

Towards the back of the basement, I had an area set up with the wii + Beatles Rock Band. Against the wall is a large chest, and this was the decor we set out on top of it. The Valentine's Shadow Box hangs on the wall. In front of it is a small Valentine's tree (which was created using the same method as the Easter Tree Centrepiece), with felt heart cookies, made by Amy. The Topiary is made out of Twilight-themed conversation hearts, and was made following this tutorial. Amy also found those super cute conversation heart candles, so we arranged them in front.

I thought some people may find themselves wandering into the kitchen, for ice or cold drinks, or whatever... so I found a cute "love" themed magnetic poetry set at the dollar store, and put them on the fridge. I definitely found some interesting poetry the next day!

So, there were some of the main elements of the decor at my Valentine's party. For more pictures, check out this album on my Flickr.

Another Test The Nation in the Can!

Well, last night, Test The Nation: IQ was live-to-air across Canada! I gotta say, it was my favourite of all the TTN's so far. The teams were fantastic, the energy was great... and I just LOVED Sean Cullen's song that opened the evening.

What do you mean you didn't see it?? Well... No excuses. Go to the website linked above, and you can watch the entire thing online :)

I was quoted about the script on the Inside The CBC blog... that was kinda neat.

It's kinda weird having nothing to do today. I woke up at 10. And I've accomplished absolutely nothing - aside from uploading a few photos (not even all of them) from yesterday to flickr. Here are a few of my faves... check out the link for more.

Project 365: Week 1 complete!

Happy New Year, everyone!
Woohoo - I made it through the first 7 days! Most of the shots were not really the best pictures I've ever taken, however, I'm very pleased that I not only managed to take several photos every day, but I also posted them the very same day I took them. I'm pretty sure that won't happen for the entire year (or even the entire month, because work is going to get very busy soon)

Here's a snapshot of how the first week of January looked for me.








You can view more photos from my Project 365 right here

Update from FL

Christmas was awesome... After Christmas sales were (are!) great! Hanging out with friends. Eating good food. Enjoying the sunshine (even if it is a little bit chilly out). All around good times!
Here's a shot of a bunch of us hanging out the other night at New World Brewery in Ybor.



There's a whole bunch of pics up here: Flickr.

But the real point of this announcement is that I, with a few friends, have decided to take on Project 365 for 2010!
Beginning on January 1, 2010, I will take (at least) one photo every day.
I'll make up a special album on Flickr for the project, and I haven't decided if I'll post the photo on here, or at a tumblr blog. I will contemplate, and let you all know.

Anyone ever done this? Want to join in for this year? Have any thoughts on the best way to chronicle the year?

Doors Open Toronto: Allen Gardens

Toronto holds an annual event called "Doors Open" in May. It's been going on for 10 years now, however, this year was the first time that I was actually able to take part. My friend Fraser and I walked all over the city to discover some sights that we had never really seen.

First stop: Allen Gardens. Allen Gardens was one of those places that I knew existed, but I never really knew what it was. Even looking at it from the outside, I thought it was just a little greenhouse.

I was DEFINITELY impressed with what I saw. The botanical gardens were massive and incredibly beautiful. I saw so many flowers that were just gorgeous - and someone even brought their pet parrot in. Oh, and there was a wedding party taking their photos in there too.

A picture is worth 1000 words though, so I will share some of the more beautiful photos:

It was a truly picturesque place to be, and if you're in Toronto, I definitely recommend a tour through the Allen Gardens.

More pics here!