juliedufort.com/blog

Mont orford fall 2009

Here is a panorama of a view from Mont Orford.

Some updates

Long time since my last post…

For those following me on this site, you will notice that I made some cleanup.  I have mainly removed the information about the patent agent exams.   I have to admit that I am nauseated when I think about the exams.  I should add a link to the removed information (and hopefully more) directly on the main page later this year or early next year.  In the meantime, if you need something please email me…

Other than that everything is going slowly now, I am taking a course in creative writing (the theory of) and do not do much beside that and working…I still have plans for a comic, but I am still in the creating part of it.  Speaking of comics, I have started to read DC Comics and I love them…(the graphics of Batman RIP and Joker are beautiful). 

I still run from time to time, but not as much as I would like to…

A form of comics

I have analyzed the graphic novel “L’épinard de Yukiko” for my summer course and have more or less discovered how the author produces his images.  It is a very interesting technique that I have explored and I produced a funny image of myself with a similar technique :

New comic on main page

I finally made a new comic form my main page juliedufort.com!

Speaking of comics, I start a summer comics course tomorrow night…perhaps I will publish some more drawings during the next weeks if I have some to do for the course!

ORTON technique

I have finally deleted my old blogs and decided to keep only one article that I had written, having for subject the ORTON technique.  This technique gives images with a “dream-like” feel to them. They are pretty easy to realise.  I have seen that they give great results on images of houses or buildings.  The images that I used were taken at my father’s place near a river.  The subject that I used might not be ideal for the Orton technique, but it gives an idea of how it works and of the possibilities!

The principle is simple.  First you need to install your camera on a tripod. Then you take a sharp image of your subject.  This would be the first image on the left of the gallery below.

Then, without moving the camera, you take an out of focus image, like the second picture of the gallery, for instance.   (Although according to the Orton technique this one should probably be overexposed).

Once this is done, you have to do a little photoshop work and blend both images together.   In this case, I used the out of focus image as the background and put 60% of opacity for the superimposed sharp image. The result is the third image in the gallery below.

Following more “accurately” the technique and using an overexposed background (I overexposed the out of focus background in photoshop…you can see the result at the fourth picture), and still applying a 60% opacity, we get the result of the fifth image.

If you have any question, please feel free to leave a comment and I will be happy to answer!

A night picture with my Nikon P6000

I thought that this camara was not so good when I bought it, but my experience of yesterday convinced me otherwise!

There is another one here (A large panorama of Brossard viewed from Alt at the Dix30 with Montreal in the background)…I kept it at a pretty good resolution!

Instant fame!

Well … the video says it all … never stop dreaming : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY&feature=related

Running – post marathon

I had only trained 16 weeks before running my marathon.  And almost half of the time I was injured.  It has been hard.  And the race was hard too.

Since Jan. 11, I ran only once and it seems that I can’t get myself to run again.  It is like some kind of post marathon down.  I want to run, but I just can’t wake up early or get my clothes and running shoes on.

I wonder if it is normal.  I guess that my unconsciousness is trying to “protect” my body from more hurt…and so far it has won over my consciousness which tells me that I have to run.  I am registered to 11 races http://www.circuitendurance.ca/, most being 10K, this year, and the first race is next Sunday…so a couple of runs this week would be more than welcome!

I’ll try to run tomorow morning (this is what I have been telling myself  for 2 weeks now).  Hopefully this time it will be true!

Some pictures at last!

I have finally taken some time to put some pictures on my web site! 

http://juliedufort.com/photos/

I will have to put some more soon, and I will have to add comments.  I have many pictures that are quite beautiful to put online.

As you will see if you go to the main page http://juliedufort.com I still have some work to do there also (another cartoon perhaps)…

Marathon completed! :) 5:53:10

Here I am right after the race, very proud, with my medal!

Flying to florida

At last!

We are flying to Florida tomorrow morning around 6:00am!

And I am finally injury free!!!  I ran 30 minutes this morning, and it did not hurt, anywhere It is a miracle

Here http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/disney/wdwmarathon09/ is what I could get (look at the medal), if I complete the 42km in less than 7 hours.

Beautiful isn’t it?

Wish me luck…strength…and endurance!

The results will appear here: www.disneyworldmarathon.com or you can receive them in real time by registering here: http://www.doitsports.com/results/MSG-signup.tcl?sub_event_id=4447

Let’s hope I can do it…

A first comic

At last, I’ve had time to work on a comic for the home page http://juliedufort.com!

With the christmas dinners and everything, I have been busy and I was wondering when I would be able to make the little comic and put it online…

So what do you think, is it any good?

For my part, I am pretty happy with it, since it is my first attempt at cartoonning.     

—

My running is not going very well again, one of my knees hurt…and I cought a cold or something and I do not feel well.  I’m sad because the marathon is in 2 weeks, and I do not run nearly as much as I should…

I expect that the race will be very hard to complete for me.  But at least I can comfort myself by thinking that I will have a week of vacation in Florida.  That should be nice!

Simpsonize yourself

Here I am, Julie Simpson!!!

I did this with : http://simpsonizeme.com/

Pretty cool!

Poésie

Je cours.

Je cours depuis des heures, des jours, des semaines, sans avancer

Je pose un pied devant l’autre, d’un pas de plus en plus incertain

Je cours sur une surface mouvante de cet univers fixe

Et je reste figée, immobile, dans l’espace et le temps

Au loin, je vois doucement s’élever un mur infranchissable

Rouge, comme le sang qui coule sous mes pieds

Je tremble face la route qui se dresse devant moi

Je faiblis, je m’assèche, aurais-je la force de continuer?

J’ai mal.  Ma souffrance s’accumule, se multiplie

La douleur possède mon corps, qui me semble étranger

Mes muscles se raidissent, mon coeur s’affole

Ma volonté m’abandonne et mon esprit se déchire

Mon corps n’en peut plus et des larmes glissent sur mes joues

Je lutte contre moi-même dans un combat sans issue

Puis, je regarde devant moi et j’entrevois ce que je désire

Mon espoir renait, ma volonté s’affirme et je me ressaisis

J’ignore la douleur et dans un ultime effort je m’entête

J’ai déjà parcouru tellement de chemin, je ne peux que continuer

Je cours.

Running running…

One day I woke up with this crazy idea to go for a race at Walt Disney World in Florida.  I thought I would register for a half marathon…but it was full so I registered for the full marathon!

The next night I did not sleep.  I just kept thinking “what have I done?”.  So I decided to set myself a small goal (if it can be called small)…I just wished to complete the 42 km in less than 7 hours, to get the Mickey Mouse medal.  (If you run slower than that, they tow you to the finish line!) 

The worst thing was that I had almost not run (or do other exercise) for the last 2 years…and the marathon was only 16 weeks away.  How crazy was that…

The next Monday morning I was starting a brand new training program with a brand new pair of shoes.  I had spent a couple hundred dollars to register to the race and to buy some race commemorative things and the training plan.  Plus, I was to pay a one week trip to Florida, so I had to deliver and get started.

It is funny how you underestimate some things while you overestimate others.  I thought that my cardio would fail me long before my legs.  I was wrong…it took less than a month of training before my heart rate, at rest, went under 64 pulses per minute.  Then troubles began with my legs.

In the meantime, I experienced some strange things.  After my first 13 km (after a couple of weeks of training), my stomach shut down.  For a week I was not hungry and had very few to eat.  Then it slowly got back to normal.

After approximately 2 months of training, the legs problems really started.  My right leg hurt so much that I had to go see a physio.  I was running with one knee turned toward the inside and I had to learn to run differently.  A few very though weeks followed. 

Now we are at week 11, I bought 2 more pairs of shoes, and my right leg is healed since 2 weeks.  Sadly, it is the turn of the left leg to hurt.  And I have almost not trained this week. 

I am now seated, after just finishing a 19 km run.  It took me 3 painfully long hours.  I am disappointed because I should have run 29 km this morning and I should have run much faster than that.  (I was barely above the threshold pace…)  On the positive side, my legs do not hurt too much now.  My feet do (I have many big and painful blisters…one of them underneath one of my nails, which I am afraid I will lose).

So there are 5 weeks left before the marathon (on January 11, 2009).  I have some doubts about my ability to complete this race.  I estimate that it will take me at least 6 hours.  Will my feet be strong enough on race day?  Will I be able to endure the pain?

Who knows?

Some interesting facts:

I lost 3 pounds in 11 weeks of training (but I gained muscles and lost fat).

I usually run 4 times a week (40-50 min three times + a long run of (10-32km) + I do 30 min of bicycle twice a week.

Before starting running, I thought that my mind was weak.

Before starting running, I thought that 10 km was very far… 

I run mostly on a treadmill and watch That 70’s show, which I love.  It is fun how the mind works, when I watch I do not feel the pain as much.

It’s a start!

Hi!

This is my first post on my official web site .  I bought juliedufort.com yesterday and I have great plans for it.  I hope that it will work out fine.  I will try to blog as often as possible.

Bonjour!

Ceci est mon premier post sur mon site web officiel .  J’ai acheté juliedufort.com hier et j’ai de grands plans pour ce site.  J’espère que tout va se dérouler comme je le veux.  Je vais essayer de poster des commentaires aussi souvent que possible.