Try filming, instead of taking photos April 19, 2013

Looking through old photos is one of my favourite pastimes.

I’ve always been interested in people’s lives, how things change, how they adapted to the changes, what became of the change—and one of the ways to follow the changes and see how things worked out is to flip through photos.

I’m not a professional photographer by any stretch, but I prefer candid photos over posed photos. I have nothing against professionally staged photography, but when I look through an album of family photos, I want to se my dad lifting me up with one arm, and my brother with the other and my cousins and I all dressed up in costume and performing in Baba’s basement.

In the TV part of our Media Production course this semester we had the opportunity to film a video montage set to music. We had complete creative freedom to film whatever we wanted. Although I had some prior experience I’m still a newbie as far as shooting footage with DSLR cameras and editing with Adobe Premiere is concerned.

This was a fun project. My classmate and I staged a photo shoot with a few friends and filmed the behind the scenes, preparation and execution of the shoot. I’m so proud of what we created.

This assignment reminded me that while pictures may have 1000 words behind them, a video tells the story on so many other levels. The sound of laughter or of someone’s voice, even of background noise if the location of the footage is specific – can evoke a deeper connection to the situation than perhaps a photo could on its own.

I’d very much like to capture more video footage. I’m lucky to have a flip video camera and hope to start keeping and saving a video diary of sorts to this summer.

Capture moments that matter – so that when you need a reminder of just how great you’ve got it, you’ve got proof.

-Enjoy the ride.

Sponge Hockey Tournament for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Manitoba April 13, 2013

**This is a Creative Communications related post.**

My independent professional project (IPP) is a go!

I chose a promotional IPP.
The plan includes the development of an original project that must be proposed (and approved), completed and marketed.

Here’s the idea in a nutshell: host a one-day sponge hockey tournament with an after-party/social to follow. The round robin tournament will be open to anyone 18+ and all skill levels are welcome. The day will be fun, and we’ll all be encouraging overall heart health and physical activity.

I’m excited!!! And I’m so glad I didn’t get the “this is too ambitious” speech from my panel. The amount of work I’ve set myself up for is incredible, and as with every project I work on I’ve set my expectations very high.

I want to raise $5,000 for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Manitoba. I’m glad to be working with a charity that promotes healthy lives free of heart disease and stroke. The Foundation supports, funds and raises awareness about local research and programming related to heart disease and stroke.

I hope to show that heart disease has many faces and takes on many forms. Heart disease can be the heart attack itself, but it can also be the buildup of fatty materials or scar tissue around the heart that lead to other issues. Heart disease can be multiple conditions that affect the structure and functions of the heart and has many causes.

I can’t express enough thanks to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Manitoba for its support of this event.

I’ll post updates on this blog, Twitter @Sarah_Tone and the event’s social media pages (once created).

What you should know is:
- The tournament and social will take place on a Saturday in February 2014, in the south end of Winnipeg.
- Donations will be accepted online and in person.
- Fundraising goal is $5,000
- Schedules and team registration are TBA and will be posted online.

Anyone interested in registering a team, volunteering for this event, or donating to this event whether monetarily or in the form of silent auction prizes please comment on this post and we’ll be in touch!

Sprout: My Magazine April 6, 2013

Sprout’s booth at the Red River College Magazine Trade Fair.

This post is a shout-out, a thank you and a HELL YES IT’S FINISHED post about a recent school project.

THE recent school project.

Sprout.

The task: create a magazine. A magazine with an original concept, that’s marketable, and that includes all content created by Y-O-U.

The result: Sprout. 24 pages of sustainable living tips, eco-friendly advice, profiles on people making a positive impact on the environment in Manitoba and overall environmental-friendliness.

Our main idea for this project was to cover local sustainable and environmental issues in Manitoba, for Manitobans. Our photos would show and represent the amazing people in our stories, and help prove to our audience that it was not impossible to live a sustainable lifestyle.
Our plan was simply to write stories we’d want to read and maintain a positive pro-sustainability message on every page.

Our beautiful piece of work.

Creating Sprout has consumed the last three months of my life.

The planning, the group meetings, the scheduling, the deadlines, the decisions…
Developing skills Indesign and Photoshop, asking friend for help, constantly texting questions about anything!
Finding a print shop. Scheduling meetings and discussion with the print shop.
Finding trade fair booth sponsors.
Deciding on fonts, logo design, margins, page numbers, photos of the contributors, filler content.
Taking all our own photos, creating advertisements for related businesses from scratch, interviewing interesting people, finding the story, editing and proofreading.

Staying at school for a solid week until the wee hours of each morning with security lingering the halls just waiting for that clock to hit 12:00 a.m. – some even 12 and 13 hour days devoted strictly to this project.

We made this.

Thank you so much to the friends and family who liked the Facebook page, who requested a copy, and who came to the trade fair to visit our booth. I appreciate the support of the people around me more than anything else in this world. Thank you, I mean it.

Interested in the PDF version? Comment with your request and I’ll send a copy to you asap.

-Enjoy the ride.

Try going to an exhibit March 26, 2013

I miss the MTS Centre Exhibition Hall. I went to the Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition exhibit four times. I saw the Da Vinci – The Genuis exhibit twice. Each time I couldn’t wait to go back. Each time I left excited for the next exhibit.

Then, “they” decided to demolish it. *sad face*

Luckily the Manitoba Museum hosts exhibits of all kinds in its halls.

Last year, I went to the Circus! Science under the Big Top exhibit. The hall wasn’t as big or as elaborate as I’d thought it would be, but the intricate design of the exhibit, the informational panels and the interactive displays more than made up for that – especially for younger kids.

Last week, I went to see Dinosaurs Unearthed. The robotic dinosaurs were in full movement – breathing, walking and digging into the ground. The kid in me was amazed that I was that close to a T-Rex.

Key word there:kid

This exhibit was clearly geared towards children and families. My boyfriend and I were the oldest non-parents there. The facts and fossils were super interesting, but the overall setup with the digging for fossils station, crafts area and scavenger hunt, was definitely intended to appeal to a younger audience.

I appreciate the efforts of the museum to acquire enough interesting exhibits to rotate through the hall. Though I was slightly disappointed this time, I’m eager to see which exhibits the museum will host in the coming months.

Dinosaurs Unearthed is showing at the Manitoba Museum until Sunday, April 7, 2013.

Current museum hours:
Tuesday to Friday: 10 am to 4pm
Saturday and Sunday: 11 am to 5pm
Mondays: CLOSED

Dinosaurs Unearthed admission prices:
Adults: $14
Youth, Students & Seniors: $12
Family (2 adults and up to 4 youth): $50
Museum Members save 50% on regular admission!

Have you been? Planning to go? What are your thoughts?

Here are some photos I took of the dinosaurs.

- Enjoy the ride.

Try going to Disneyland! March 21, 2013

Photo credit: disneyland.disney.go.com

It’s what all the cool kids are doing. Well this cool kid, at least.

I’ll be in Californ-i-a this May and I couldn’t be more EXCITED!

Staying at school every night until midnight, a busy home life, and the bumps in the road I’ve hit in my personal life these past couple weeks, haven’t allowed me much time to look forward to this exciting vacation.

First off, I love Expedia. I love watching the price of my trip drop a couple hundred dollars once a few more people book the same package, I love that they let me know my itinerary’s changed before Air Canada does, and I love how simple it is to communicate with customer service representatives – if necessary. Thanks Expedia for making the planning and booking of this trip amidst a tornado of a month, easy.

Sunshine, Hollywood, Disneyland, Walt….here I come.

Old-school Hollywood glamour is one of my “most googled” searches. That era, the people, the difference in time and the way people thought, acted and felt is fascinating to me.
[Paparazzi and silly gossip magazines went and ruined all that. Needless to say, I will not be aboard the TMZ bus tour at any point during my vacay.]

Some of my must-sees are touristy:

• The Hollywood Museum

• Madame Tussauds

• Disneyland Park & Disney California Adventure

• Universal Studios Hollywood

• and of course TCL Chinese Theatre – formerly and probably better known as Grauman’s Chinese Theatre

I even registered for tickets to The Ellen Show! I’ll find out in the next couple weeks if the request went through. I’d love to see a live taping of a TV show. If not The Ellen Show, The Big Bang Theory is second in the running.

Hopefully there’ll be some free time between all of that fun to shop, walk around, experience California and relax.

Have you been? Which places were on your must-see list?
Been dying to go? Live through me! I want to take in as much as I can while I’m there.

Comment on this post or tweet @Sarah_Tone with your words of wisdom.

-Enjoy the ride.

Try holding hands… March 15, 2013

Watch this video.

If your heart hasn’t melted, you’re not human.

The National Wildlife Federation was kind enough to let me know that sea otters eat, rest, and sleep together while floating in groups called rafts. Rafting sea otters sometimes “hold hands” so they don’t lose each other while they’re sleeping.

That’s the most adorable thing I’ve ever heard.

Sometimes, when someone you love bumps into a metaphorical (or literal) rock like this little otter did and gets knocked off track, they need you to be there to reach out, grab their hand, and pull them back closer to you, where they belong.

Hold on tightly and don’t let go.

I’d like to dedicate this post to my Auntie Denise.
I love you. I miss you.

-Enjoy the ride.

Photo credit: marinesciencetoday.com
Author: joemess from austin

Try drinking more water March 5, 2013

-Try adding ice, cucumbers or fresh berries to your water to change things up.-

Feeling more tired than usual? Random muscle cramps? Can’t focus? Always cold?

You might be dehydrated.

You need to take in as many fluids as you lose throughout the day. The eight-glass rule isn’t a solid rule, it’s more of a guideline.

Livestrong.com says “The belief that you need eight glasses of water every day probably originated with a report by the National Academy of Sciences during the 1940s, suggests an article in the September 2005 Harvard Medical School “HealthBeat.” The report recommended 1 mL of water for every calorie burned. If you burn 2,000 calories daily, you need 2 L of water every day or eight 8-oz. glasses. Your water could come from food, other beverages and your own metabolism.”

Think about how much activity you do in a day. Exercising, walking and going up and down flights stairs are all busy tasks. But sitting, focusing, concentrating and studying also use up the energy the fluids in your body help produce as well.

Take a moment to think about whether you’re thirsty or not.

Are you? Then you’ve already been depriving your body too long. It’s asking you to take notice.

The Mayo Clinic says “Dehydration occurs when there isn’t enough water to replace what’s lost throughout the day. Your system literally dries out.”

The clinic identifies the following as the most common mild symptoms of dehydration.

• Dry, sticky mouth
• Sleepiness or tiredness
• Thirst
• Decreased urine output
• Few or no tears when crying
• Dry skin
• Headache
• Dizziness or lightheadedness

You may have severe dehydration if you experience these symptoms:

• Extreme thirst
• Irritability or confusion
• Very dry mouth and skin
• Lack of sweating
• Little or no urination
• Sunken eyes
• Low blood pressure
• Rapid heartbeat
• Rapid breathing
• No tears when crying

I know I don’t drink 8 glasses everyday, and I find myself increasingly thirsty towards the end of the evening.

I found a list of tips for drinking more water. Here are my top 5:

*At home always keep a glass of water handy while watching TV, doing laundry, making dinner or surfing the net.

*Have a big glass of water at every transitional point of the day: When you first get up, before you leave the house, when you sit down to work, when you go to lunch…

*Room temperature water is better if you’re dehydrated. Your body absorbs it more quickly.

*You can also try keeping water cold. I think it tastes better and your body will burn some calories bringing it to body temperature.

*Track it. Give yourself a reward for teaching yourself to drink more water every day!

How do you drink your water? Do you add a lemon? Do you drink from a nifty reusable bottle? How do you stay motivated?
Let’s chat.

-Enjoy the ride.