A pooch squints at the snow sitting on his nose.

Wishing you a world of good times and happiness this Holiday Season.

 Give the gift of workshops and portrait-sessions to the photography lovers in your world.

Click here for the Holiday Gift Guide.

Includes a portrait photo-session (limited spots available), and more! Happy Holidays from us to you.

Valid from today through to December 23rd, 2011.

This change of season, for many, can evoke a poetic melancholy. The possibilities of summer have passed, and the cold of winter is on the horizon.

Five different sized pumpkins sit atop a red wagon, priced for sale in celebration of Autumn and Hallowe'en.

Autumn brings with it breezes of change. Multi-colour leaves fall from trees, crunching beneath our feet as we stroll over them. The promise of Thanksgiving will soon arrive.

In 1819, John Keats wrote an ode “To Autumn”, a famous poem depicting three stages of the season: its fruitfulness, its labour and its decline into winter.

One of my favourite paintings of Autumn, entitled Otono, is by Frederic Edwin Church (May 4, 1826 – April 7, 1900), an American landscape painter.

Bushels of red apples for sale at an outdoor Farmer's Market.

Think of crisp apples used to make hot apple cider. Pumpkins to make pumpkin pie. And we can’t forget the fun families will have carving pumpkins, eating pumpkin pie, and trick or treating during Hallowe’en.

Enjoy Autumn. It will be over before we know it.

Pictures
I often work on personal images to relax. Images that are just for me. They bring back memories and I enjoy bringing out the beauty of these images as I remember them when I first captured them. I’ve been so busy this past summer, and autumn will be just as busy. They also tend to be images that relax me when I view them. By viewing I mean viewing each image for a few minutes. I know the internet is obviously not best-suited for this, but if you view the larger version it’ll give you an idea. There is a lot of subtle detail which you’ll see the longer you take in each image.

I don’t typically release many personal images, however as I was working on these images this morning, I thought I’d share them because I like them, and maybe you’ll enjoy them, too.

My work is best appreciated when viewed as a large fine-art print, at least 13×19″. I prefer printing on textured art paper as it complements the feel and look of my images, and it has a matte finish. I’m providing these images as artwork, too. If you enjoy viewing any of these images, click on it to view a larger version with the option of owning it as a fine-art print or folded 5×7″ greeting card.

Music
Aside from pictures, I listen to a lot of music. Almost all genres. So I’ll share a short list of what I’ve been listening to this week, in no particular order (scroll down to the bottom for the list).

A rowing crew of five people row on the ocean as the sun sets.

Fishermen cast off a cliff in Ka Lae, Hawaii, the southern-most tip of the USA.

Two lone trees in the distance of a grassy hill seared dry by intense sun.

A tropical forest densely populated with trees, plants and other vegetation.

A variety of flowers, trees and shrubs manage to blossom out of lava on the Kilauea Iki Trail, at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, island of Hawaii.

Here’s the short list of music I’ve been listening to this week. Next week it’ll be completely different. I think you can find everything mentioned on iTunes.

1. Timing is Everything – Garrett Hedlund (from the movie “Country Strong”)
2. Give in to Me – Garrett Hedlund and Leighton Meester (same as above)
3. Houses – Great Northern
4. November was White, December was Grey – Say Hi
5. Everyday – Carly Comando
6. Cheers (Drink to That) – Rihanna

Take a time out. Enjoy it.

A section of the Frank Gehry Staircase, part of the architecture, of the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario), Toronto, Canada.
© Dean Oros Photo + Design

Part of what I find fascinating about abstract art is the motivation of the artist. The process and thought behind the art. It’s easy when visiting a large gallery such as the AGO or the National Gallery of Canada to want to see as much as possible during a visit, especially if you’re visiting from out of town. But I feel it’s not the ideal way. I could compare it to viewing a movie trailer – it’s a sneak peek and if it’s a good one, leaves you wanting more.

Yesterday I visited the AGO’s exhibit “The Passion of Kathleen Munn”. What I found breathtaking was her process. The “Passion” refers to her drawings of the death and resurrection of Christ – all 1000 of them! She sketched on transparent paper on top of a lightbox which her brother custom-built to her specifications. She layered these sheets of paper on top of one another as she de-constructed and re-constructed the human body from various angles. The drawings are fascinating to see. You can view “The Crucifixion” on the National Gallery of Canada website.

And though she did not consider herself religious, her near-obsessive devotion (these drawings were created over a ten year period) is incredible. Repeatedly she built the human body with cubes and rectangles from angles one does not typically view the body.

Though not religious, I read that she perhaps chose the subject matter because of its universality, and thought it would be a good vehicle to showcase her work. Her art was not appreciated by Toronto at the time. She completed the drawings in 1945, and never again publicly displayed her work.

“I am very hopeful that some day my art will be rediscovered,” she once wrote. If she only knew the impact her work had on me and the world today.

Seagull Bob hung out the entire shoot this morning.

The images of Deilyn and Brian turned out beautifully. I’ll be posting some highlights in a future post.

Art Gallery of Ontario. Left: Frank Gehry Staircase. Right: Galleria Italia. (© Dean Oros Photo + Design)

It was pouring rain and foggy this morning when I drove to the Art Gallery of Ontario to view the Abstract Expressionist New York exhibit.

Featured are artists from the Museum of Modern Art Collection: Arshile Gorky, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, Joan Mitchell, Jackson Pollack, Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman.

What did I think of it? In one word: Fantastic.

While there, I learned of Philip Guston. He was a Montreal-born painter and printer. His family moved to Los Angeles when he was a child. He was influential in Abstract Expression, and studied with Jackson Pollack under Frederick John de St. Vrain Schwankovsky.

I read a great quote by Guston:

“I should like to paint like a man who has never seen a painting”.

I often feel like that when it comes to photography. Imagine having a completely blank canvas in your mind when viewing and photographing the world, unencumbered by the influences of others or by circumstances.

That state of mind can never exist. But if it were possible, I imagine it might be beautiful and ethereal.

I’ve donated a signed and dated poster-size print of “Willow Avenue” to the Silent Auction. I personally output the print this morning. It’s current value is $500.00 which will increase the longer you own it.

ABOUT THE IMAGE AND PRINT
“Willow Avenue” is part of the “Winter in the Beach Collection”, a series of images capturing the beauty of the Beach neighbourhood during winter. “Willow Avenue” was captured in February of 2007, a couple of hours after a huge snow storm. The image was captured digitally and then enhanced in post production by the photographer.

The current value of the Poster Print is Cdn$500.00.

The 13×19″ Poster Print has been created and signed by the Artist. It was created on August 2 2011, and is noted on the print. It has been produced on textured fine-art photographic paper. The print is rated to last 100 years (per manufacturer’s extensive testing) when professionally matted and framed, and displayed in proper conditions.

The Artist will mat and frame the print upon request by the winner.

ABOUT THE BENEFIT CONCERT and SILENT AUCTION
Starts at 7pm. Tickets are $10 at the door. It’s taking place at the Naval Club, 1910 Gerrard Street East, Toronto this Thursday August 4th.

Maybe I’ll see you there!

The broken ribs are in my lower back, which a doctor in the hospital’s emergency unit informed me is not a common break. Several tests were performed to ensure internal organs were okay. Aside from a small tear in my spleen I’m expected to have a complete recovery. It sounds worse than it is. I’m already feeling much better thanks to narcotics and lots of rest. It’s giving me a lot of time to spend in front of the computer working on pictures and other business-related things.

How to stop a sneeze. Need-to-know information for those with fractured ribs. It involves pressing a finger into the groove between the nose and the top lip of the mouth. It is an acupuncture pressure point. (Dean Oros Photo + Design)

I’ve been warned by several people about how painful coughing and sneezing would be. A couple of days after the accident I had to cough only slightly and it brought tears to my eyes. So I knew that a full-on sneeze would knock me off my feet and might even make me pass out. Ouch, I thought. I’m not looking forward to that.

A follow-up visit with my family physician brought about an anxious laugh when she went into detail about how to support my ribs with my hands and arms if I felt a sneeze or cough coming on to “avoid re-injuring yourself”.

Hmmm.

I’d heard of several ways to stop a sneeze, which never worked. You know, from sipping water when you feel a sneeze coming on, or sitting down and placing your head between your knees. I don’t know about you, but most of my sneezes are spontaneous and arrive without much warning. I like a good sneeze. They feel great. But not with broken ribs.

After some research, I discovered that sneezing expels air through the nose at approximately 100 mph. (That’s 320 km/h with the average force of a sneeze at 167 km/h.) It’s so powerful because it is a reflex response that involves the mucus muscles of the face, throat, and chest.

During my research I found a method to stop myself from sneezing! I’ve now stopped myself from sneezing four times. Simply press a finger into the groove immediately underneath your nose. I’m so excited and thankful to have discovered this that I wanted to share it. If you ever bruise or break your ribs, remember this tip and maybe you’ll save yourself from a painful sneeze.

It got me thinking of what we can do for ourselves to lead happy lives. The thing is we can’t control everything around us and how those outside forces may affect us, the decisions we make etc.

I then came across a couple of online articles and arguments about regret. People were arguing about the top five regrets one experiences on their deathbed. Everyone has an opinion. I thought about my approach to photographing people in any aspect of life, from family to people in business.

A recent family portrait I created. I bet when this photograph will be viewed years from now it will hold special value. It'll bring back memories of not just the photo-session, but of time, place and family.

After reflecting on what I’d read and my own life experiences, I’m offering up:

My Top 5 Things to Live By:

1. Have the courage to live a life true to yourself, not the life others expect.
If my dad, God rest his soul, had had his way, I’d be a life-long employee of the post office. He said it offered job security and a good pension. He emigrated from Greece with “$12 dollars in my pocket”, and I think he always wanted to be a postman. When I pursued anything else he never supported it. Be a postman or go bust!

2. Don’t work so hard.
I can hear it already. My friends and family telling me they never see me because I’m always working. They’re right. While I love photography and often don’t think of it as work, I haven’t been making enough time to enjoy other aspects of life. I’m working on more of a work / life balance (pun intended). I’ll get there.

3. Find the courage to express your feelings.
This ties in with number one. Learning to express your feelings isn’t easy for everyone, but it’s worth the effort. Do it in a healthy way. It’ll lead to more fulfilling connections with people and yep, even yourself. Facebook and Twitter do not count.

4. Be happy and then let yourself be happier.
Don’t pretend to be happy. Life is too short. Happiness doesn’t always just end up in your lap. It’s a choice. Fear of change and failure can lead to a life of mediocrity. Being mis-treated or losing your health can make you unhappy. But make a plan to be happy and pursue it. The expression “It’s not about the destination, but the journey” is true. You’ll find happiness along the way. Or, will happiness find you?

5. Be kind to others.
It’s not just about you. It’s a big small world, and it’s getting more crowded. Be kind to others. Do something for others and not expect anything in return. It’s been said nothing is stronger than the heart of a volunteer. I think if we can be kind to others we’ll also learn to be kind to ourselves.

And if I were to include a 6th thing: Have me photograph you. Okay, I’m half-kidding (but it’ll be fun).