On Hiatus.

I’ve decided to go on a one week break.

The schedule of my animation work is killing me.

As much I would love to continue with my 365 Days of Danbo Project, I have to leave it for a while to concentrate on much more important business.

With regards to the Project 365: I was at it for 84 straight days, man! A mighty feat as far as I am concerned, but the rigours of balancing work with photography has been taxing on my sanity and I need to step back a bit.

There were countless times in the past during the course of the project where I really wanted to stop. I guess this is the day that I actually do. I don’t intend to completely quit as it would be too much of a shame considering how far I have gone with it. I just need a break.

I also need to find my muse as the project has lost its mojo for me. Coming up with something new everyday is not as easy as I thought it would be.

I plan to pick up where I left off once I get back into the groove. It’s a pity that the Twin’s Ballet lessons had to be cut short and hanging, but that’s the way it goes.

Until then, see you all soon and have a nice day!

084/365: Danbo School Of Ballet: Limbering Up!

Limbering up with the barre before the starting ballet lessons:

Danbo’s foray into ballet continues!

My own younger sister, who was a ballet dancer as well, used to have her own ballet bar at our home. She would use it to do some stretching as well as for support when doing ballet steps that needs support and balance. It was made by my father using some thick metal tubes. It was quite heavy and sturdy and served dual purpose as a handy clothes drying rack as well.

I fashioned a barre for Danbo and the Twins using some Lego parts. I still need to find more ideal and suitable material for the Tutu, however.

I am really having fun with this Ballet theme. It brings me back to my younger days of driving my younger sister to her ballet classes and hanging around the studio to watch her along with the other dancers of her class learn Ballet.

I almost took up Ballet too, truth be told, but only because one of my younger sister’s colleague, a lovely female dance who happens to stand 5’10”, wanted a taller partner and thought it would be a good idea if I should take up lessons and be a dancer as well so I can pair up with her. I would have love to, but I don’t think I will cut it.

It could have been a script worthy of a movie screenplay: boy joins ballet class to hook up with statuesque prima ballerina. I wished!

More to come; until the next time, have a nice day!

083/365: Danbo School of Ballet: Doing An Arabesque!

Danbo shows the Twins some basic Ballet moves, starting with an Arabesque:

“You leave one foot on the ground and raise the other leg to 90 degree angle, making a straight line from the tip of your finger to the end of your big toe.”

My younger sister was a ballet dancer, hence my knowledge of some Ballet poses!

Will this be the week that one of the Twins finally learn how to dance?

We shall find out!

It’s gonna be a lot of work to get Danbo to do these Ballet poses! I had to rely on some strings to help support her, especially when she needs to stand on just one leg. I edit the strings out using Photoshop, of course.

I also fashioned a Tutu for one of the Little Ones using some fabric from a souvenir garland that my wife brought home long time ago and some masking tape to fasten it around the waist. I need to find a better material for the Tutu but for now the makeshift one will have to do.

I’ve been reserving this Ballet theme for quite some time now and seeing that I am lacking in ideas I think it is time to pull it out of the bag and do a whole week with it. I’ll see how far I can milk it!

More to come; until the next time, have a nice day!

082/365: “Is This How I Should Wear A Tutu?”

One of the Twins wanted to take up ballet so Danbo is fashioning a Tutu for the Little One:

The other Twin has a different idea, though.

Should I discuss the gender of my Danbos?

Well, I think I’ve established that my very first Danbo was a female. I did that to be true to the original Danboard character in the Manga series, Yotsuba&!. I believe that in the series, Danboard is a cardboard box robot costume worn by a character named Miura Hayasaka who was a girl.

Establishing my Danbo as a female made sense to me and it made easy to come up with a storyline of her having some adopted “offsprings” in the form of the Twins that we have here.

As for the gender of the Twins, I initially wanted to put a question mark on that since I wanted to go with the story line that you can hardly tell them apart so you just cannot guess which one is a boy or a girl.

That idea went out the window when one day one of our nieces saw the Danbos and pointed out to me that one of the Twins was a boy and the other was a girl. Since I want to respect the child’s pure and innocent view of the world, I decided that that be the case with my set of Twins. I don’t know if anyone has noticed, but I deliberately try to pose the Twins in such a way that one looks more feminine, shy and demure and the other more bold and aggressive. Not that I view girls and boys that way, of course.

So there you go, hopefully that establishes who my Danbos are. The really cool thing is that there are maybe thousands of Danbo owners out there, some are called a “she” and some a “he”. It’s totally cool as the character’ design, in my opinion, can be either of the two.

MIne just happens to be female, with a set of Twins of both gender!

More to come; until the next time, have a nice day!

081/365: “I Want To Play Under The Cup Too.”

Danbo finds herself moderating the Twin’s idea of play:

Looks like there are some slight personality difference between the Little Ones!

Honestly, not much idea for me today. After a week of alternating my animation work with helping out with landscaping our yard, I am pretty much spent. I still have to complete some left over animation work to meet this week’s deadline and it pretty much occupies all my concentration so coming up with something new for the Danbo family was not that great. Oh well.

Hopefully, something more exciting will come in the next few days. For now, I need to go back to work!

More to come; until the next time, have a nice day!

080/365: Friday Family Frolic!

It was a week-long Summer play for Danbo and the Twins:

A week of the colour green!

We are loving Summer!

I am loving Summer. In fact, this is the most fun I had at the very start of Summer!

I usually dislike Summer, believe it or not. I prefer the cold, white snow of Winter. Go figure.

Maybe it’s because the place we used to stay in Calgary was not as awesome as the place that we are staying now.

We never had a front lawn in our old townhouse in Calgary. There was one, but it was not ours as it is a condominium and everybody owns it.

We never had a huge deck with a back yard. We have one now, especially after all the landscaping has been completed.

The sense of ownership that I have of our new home is such that I could never imagine living in another place.

This Summer, other families might go out on camping trips, maybe hiking or fishing.

I will stay at home and will be enjoying our yard.

Forgive me for milking the green colour of grass for a week. Danbo and the Twins has been shooting sessions indoors for quite some time and the opportunity to go out and frolic in the sun is a welcome thing for them. I find it welcoming for me as well!

More to come; until the next time, have a nice day!

079/365: We Claim This Backyard As Our Danbo Land!

Danbo and the Twins proclaim their ownership of our backyard:

Not too soon after we finished putting new turf even!

We had some family members come in to our place in Airdrie to help us out in landscaping our barren yard.

We were able to finish the front part of the lawn yesterday. The backyard was completed soon after.

Apparently, Danbo and the Twins are enjoying the outdoors so much that the backyard has become their favorite spot and has laid claim to it!

I liked it a lot too! We just moved to this new place last January and when we bought it there was no grass yet. We had to do the landscaping ourselves. The backyard was an unsightly mess of weeds and trash, but right after we were done it has become such a beautiful place of refuge not only for the Danbos but for me as well! I say that because now that we have high fences erected and a fully turfed back yard, I can do my photo sessions in private without getting conscious of neighbors watching me crouching down and doing all my scene set ups!

I think I will see myself using the backyard a lot for my outdoor shoots from now on! What a fantastic haven!

As long as Danbo and the Twins will allow me into their territory, of course!

More to come; until the next time, have a nice day!

078/365: Umbrella You, Umbrella Me.

How are we liking Summer so far? Danbo and the Twins are loving it! As long as they have their umbrellas with them as they don’t want to get sunburned, of course:

Celebrating having a proper lawn finally at our home in Airdrie as well! We were able to finish laying down turf in our front lawn and it was hard work but a very rewarding one. Now I don’t have to drive all the way to Calgary for outdoor shoots as we now have a garden of our own! Woohoo!

More to come; until the next time, have a nice day!

076/365: Mutual Curiosity.

Who’s checking out who? Danbo and the Twins get to interact with my wife’s nephew:

A last minute take during our previous trip to Calgary. We were just about to leave and I was planning on just taking one more image of Danbo and the Twins as they bask in the sun in my sister-in-law’s garden and it was fortunate that our nephew got curious and agreed to pose for us.

A bit back dated as this was taken at the same time as yesterday’s post, but I hope I will be forgiven as I am terribly busy with work and had to resort to some reserve images. Actually, it was my wife’s idea to keep and continue with this one to follow up on yesterday’s Summer themed post.

I wish I could take my nephew home with us here in Airdrie so I can shoot more of him with our Danbo family, but that will have to wait for another opportunity as he still has some school to finish.

I need to get on to work to, so we shall see you next time!

More to come; until the next time, have a nice day!

076/365: The Feel Of Summer.

Danbo and the Twins basks in some warm Summer light:

Taken from my sister-in-laws garden in Calgary. This is the farthest from home that Danbo and the Twins have been, so they were a bit uneasy and shy to pose and felt less than brave to mug for the camera. The world seems so large when seen from outside the comfort and range of what they got used to at home.

As for me, I’ve gotten so used to setting up my scenes indoors that when presented with the opportunity to take some outdoor shots, I was taken aback a bit and got overwhelmed, hence the simple sitting poses. It was a shame because my sister-in-law’s garden was full of interesting spots. I was so overwhelmed that I felt like I had blinders in my eyes and had a hard time scouting for what spot is best to shoot.

It was also the first time that somebody other than my wife witnessed me doing the set up for Danbo. I especially liked how my wife’s nieces and nephews reacted when they first saw Danbo and the Twins and it was a miss that I was not able to document it in photographs. Maybe next time I will be more prepared when we make another trip to Calgary.

More to come; until the next time, have a nice day!