zhangling❤photography

Last weekend, I attended my very first beer festival -- Beau's Oktoberfest out in Vankleek Hill (between Ottawa and Montreal). It was a really fun time and I'm already looking forward to next year! With beer on the brain plus a few cans of Sapporo in the fridge, I started brewing up ideas for this month's product shoot. background is authentic happi coat that I brought back from my trip to Japan! "the Avengers shot" - A.K. the samurai shot A bit of background on the photo shoot: my first attempt at shooting was during a power outage and so in editing the first batch photos, I had the weird feeling something was off. I quickly realized that I was missing the condensation/frostiness on the can and glass that conveys the message that the beer is cold. Frustrated, because we gave away basically everything in the fridge so it wouldn't go bad during the power outage (which included the rest of the beer) I ranted to my friend Charlotte. Coincidenta...

I can't believe it's the end of August!! It's been a good summer this year but part of me can't help but feel the FOMO. Soooo much of my Facebook newsfeed is a constant reminder of all the places I haven't been, but the one that hits super hard is the fact that I've still never been to Europe! I'm packing for the long weekend in Montreal but my imagination likes to pretend I'm going to Italy or Spain. One thing I noticed is that ever since I picked up my new DvF luggage set, I've enjoyed packing a lot more! I remember reading this article that builds on Marie Kondo's concept of only keeping/buying things that "spark joy", and the author of the article talks about buying a $50 rose gold stapler (wow!) but how the simple act of stapling piles of paper together now brings her joy. Given my regular trips home to Toronto with a few trip to Montreal sprinkled in here and there, sometimes it feels like I'm constantly packin...

It's been a good summer for thrift shopping, both at the monthly 613flea markets and my local thrift stores so I wanted to dedicate a blog post to my summer vintage finds. I especially enjoy vintage items in the summer because they're a lot of fun to wear: big full skirts perfect for twirling, whimsical prints and colours to match the cheery, sunny weather. I also wanted to share some tips when shopping for second-hand vintage that I like to call:  How to tell Vintage Finds from Old Crap . Read on for my tips + outfits from a weekend trip to Niagara! Tip #1 : Look at the tags to understand the materials - cotton, silk, etc. Even some solid quality polyester has been good to me, like the skirt in this outfit below. Vintage sunhat from Lady Arkenstone Vintage at 613flea Mustard ruffle top from H&M (thrifted) Pleated skirt from vintage Liz Claiborne (thrifted) Brown sandals from Massimo Dutti This navy pleated skirt was an awesome find. As previously mentione...

From my last post , visiting the lavender farms really inspired me to appreciate the fruits and flowers currently in season. A quick google search for fruits in July turned up not only cherries and strawberries, but peaches! I've never been peach picking and unfortunately there aren't any farms nearby. However, I still wanted to take this post to pay tribute to the "fresh picks" of the month. basket full of peaches! mmm peach pie!  I couldn't find any real lavender on short notice but luckily Dollarama came through with their fake flowers section. And this way, they'll be reusable for future shoots as well! The props basket in my apartment continues growing haha! Peaches are also just from the grocery store but I just can't get over the super cute pie my friend Carlie made! Oh I helped too, I cut them peaches :3 (and possibly snacked on a few wedges that weren't pretty enough to make it into the pie hehe) Side note, fruit picking o...

As per tradition, last weekend for Canada day, we packed up our bags and headed out of town. It's been a busy year so far, and the last two major trips we both took were super action-packed and tiring. We decided that for this trip, we were going to take it easy and relax and drive to Quebec City. We both have been before so there wouldn't be as much pressure to do a bunch of the touristy things. The only thing on our list was to each delicious French food. And boy did we! The Food Our first stop was Ophelia for a quick lunch. We each had clam chowder (not pictured), octopus carpaccio, and fish accras (fritters). Nick really enjoyed the carpaccio but it had olives in it (which I don't like) so I steered clear. The fish accras were very fluffy on the inside and the flavour was yummy too. I think we both liked the clam chowder best, they were quite generous with the clam. octopus carpaccio fish accras For dinner, we tried to go to L'Affaire Est Ketchup ...