theBside

Bring your kids in, in costume, and get a free 8×10 taken at the store and printed before you leave.  Good for Friday and Saturday only.

Wow – here’s a great coupon for 4 free 8×10 prints from Costco.ca.  It expires August 9th so take some time to pick your favorite pictures.

Here’s a coupon for a free 8×10 at Black’s that is valid until June 21st. No purchase necessary. Now that’s nice!

A few interesting TED talks:

1. Are we in control of our own decisions by Dan Ariely.  Another take on Barry Schwartz’s awesome idea centered on the “Paradox of Choice” (here’s a TED talk of his own from 2005 on the topic – HIGHLY recommended).  Dan’s point is that what we set as defaults in forms, webpages,or any means of collecting information can have a dramatic impact on the results collected.
2. Searing photos of war by James Nachtwey.  This is the kind of presentation that makes me sit up, look around, and ask “Am I really spending my time wisely today?”  It makes me want to go out and really put myself out there, to try to make the world a better place.  It appeals to the idealist in me.  On a realist level though I do believe I’m going to provide as much support as I can to MSF this year.
3. The LIFE project by Frans Lanting. An interesting use of photography to tell the history of the world in Frans’s eyes.  I’m not sure it is as effective as he hoped it would be.  I know that when I started watching it I wasn’t “wow – zoom!” about the photos themselves.  He certainly paints a vivid story though, with technically interesting pictures.

Here’s a quick and cheap way to make my own light tent.

Marley’s best friend (BFF) Kendall gave her the neatest gift when Cohen arrived – her very own digital camera.  She has taken to it enormously, and is constantly taking pictures of pretty much anything that interests her.  What interests her?  Well, I’ve put together a little page of all the pictures she’s taken to date, so have a look.

Note that she had a little help with a few of them, but a few of her own solo compositions really stand out as really interesting … such as

Poppa catching a snooze at the hospital

Her very first self portrait

Some of them give us a glimpse into what it is like to be her height

Steep stairs

Under the table

A new talent has been revealed here – I’m really looking forward to seeing what her next 400 pictures look like!

Oh Look, Daddy smiling with teeth!

P.S. She’s been given absolute access to everything, and now that she’s taking pictures of these things we’re going to have to keep an eye on the appropriateness of some of her subject matter.  In the meantime, if you happen to see an inappropriate picture please notify me.  You can give me the picture ID by hovering your mouse over the thumbnail, it will be something like “IMG_0059.JPG”, for example.  Thanks for your diligence citizens!

Alisa, Marley and I took in the first hour or so of the Vancouver Pride Parade this past Saturday.  I’ve put up a few of my pictures if you’re curious as to what we saw and how cool Marley was in her sunglasses.

An interesting looking book was featured on Time.com in a photo essay. It’s title is “Hungry Planet” – the book captures an international look at what a family eats in a typical week. Califormia, Sicily, Breidjing Camp and more. The photo essay is called “What the World Eats” and features a few of the pictures which, even in their scarcity, provide an interesting look at the world’s food and its consumption.

The photographers have made a point of trying to create an artistic view of the food, which in itself is of note.