Light Hunters: My Thoughts

1. Olympic Torch, 2. Beluga, 3. The Secret Life of Peas, 4. The Unbearable Lightness of Dill, 5. Reflections in the Light, 6. Gifts from the Sea, 7. Trusted Friend, 8. Driftwood, 9. Car Service, 10. Watering cans, 11. Ears, 12. Wellies, 13. Mane, 14. Maple Leaf, 15. Lime, 16. Laundry Line, 17. 16, 18. The Fleet, 19. Cannery, 20. Bandanas, 21. sardines, 22. Indiana Jones, 23. Bird is the Word, 24. Good Dog, 25. Wildflowers

All good things must come to an end! Light Hunters officially ends today. It's been 31 days of enlightenment on my part. Before this class, I'd never really considered the impact the light can have on my photos. I just knew that there were times when the light was perhaps not conducive to taking good photos, but other than that, I'd never given it much thought.

Through the course of this class, I came to realize that light doesn't just have to be an element of a photography, it can also be the focal point. By that I mean it can become the main character in the scene you are trying to create, if you understand how it works and how to use it to its best advantage. I've discovered that I like to shoot light and shadow the best. I like the clean lines it helps create. (I'm all about the aesthetics.)

I've come to think of Light Hunters as a diamond. It's a class that allows you to hold up what you know and be dazzled by how multifaceted it becomes when you catch it in the right light. It's added another important layer to what I am discovering about photography.

I have to say I've been absolutely blown away by the work of my fellow students.  I want to share with you this amazing image. This is gorgeous on so many levels. There are so many great elements that serve as focal points to this-the perspective, the colour of the buildings, the texture of the ground juxtaposed with the softness of the flower petals, the contrast between the focus and the blur, the angles and the light...she manage to capture EVERYTHING in a single shot.

It's impossible to be in a class of such richly talented artists and not become hugely inspired. As in Wading In, everyone in Light Hunters enthusiastically gave and received encouraging and supportive feedback, which only made the class that much more satisfying and productive.

Vivienne is a wonderful instructor and I've learned so much from her gentle guidance. THANK YOU Viv. There are no words that suffice to express how much you've informed and transformed my artistic life. I am deeply grateful.

When I look at the mosaic of about half of the photos I've taken in Light Hunters, (I could only make it so big!) I am amazed. In total I created 47 finished images in 31 days, so that's slightly better than one a day. It's deeply satisfying to know that I have a body of work for 2011 that's been shot over the span of three out of four seasons so far. I'm excited now to continue my journey {hopefully!} with another class in the fall. I want so desperately to be engaged in shooting regularly for a class in my most beloved season of the year, Autumn. Everything I've learned this year has made me ravenously hungry for more.

Lazy Summer Days

If this doesn't look like summer, I don't know what does! My husband has a ton of bandannas that he wears underneath his hard hat in the summer and yesterday he washed them and hung them out on the line to dry. They looked like colourful prayer flags flapping in the breeze, so I had to grab my camera. It's a simple shot, but I like the colours against the backdrop of the beautiful blue sky.

I really do believe that part of the magic of Light Hunters lies in elevating the ordinary through the use of light. It's changed the way I shoot things. When you understand how to find and use the light to enhance what you are shooting, your photos are transformed.

Because there can never be too many photos of my handsome boy, here's another that I took before he realized I was pointing the lense at him. When Indy lies like this, he reminds me of a Spinx. With the way the mid-afternoon light's playing off him, you can see how shiny his coat is. (You can click it to make it bigger and really see the details of this photo.)

We're celebrating a long weekend here in British Columbia. It's BC Day on Monday, so we have three days to relax. The weather is good right now (as in not cold and raining, as has been the case for most of the summer so far) so we'll probably spend a fair bit of it outdoors. Indy's going for a swim this morning. The only real plan I have for this weekend is to see Cowboys & Aliens so I can get my Harrison Ford and popcorn fix. Two birds, one stone!

Only 2 days left of Light Hunters!

Buried Treasure: An Altered Page Collaborative

Seth Apter is at it again! Today he's invited bloggers to join him in reposting Buried Treasure in the form of favourite posts from our blog archives. I have to tell you that it was no mean feat to come up with content for today-I've been blogging for 7 years and had almost 1300 posts to sift through! It took me an entire week, but I've chosen a couple that I hope you'll enjoy. (Again, if you've followed my blog all this time or now if you missed them the first time.)

It's been interesting combing through 7 years of my life. This blog has really become a snapshot in time of my artistic life. It was interesting to read back through it. I actually gained alot of insight about how I've evolved as an artist.

Anyway, here are the two posts I decided to re-share. To discover more buried treasure, click here to see the lists of participating artists on Seth's blog.

*****

Where I Am From

May 5, 2006 

After seeing this post by Amy Powers of Inspire Co., I thought I'd do the "Where I'm From" poetry exercise/meme, using a poem written by George Ella Lyons called "Where I'm From," as a model. Enjoy!

Where I Am From

I am from summers spent throwing stones

into the muddy Red River,

Just to hear them go ker-plunk.

I am from bicycles with banana seats and baskets

And shrill little bells that we rang just because.

I am from hours spent playing at the bear pit

Trying to master walking the high arched wall.

I am from peeling sunburns and mosquito bites,

from tether ball and hopscotch at recess.

I am from Shrine Circuses

and men with fezes riding tiny motorcycles.

I am from watching the Bombers wrapped in blankets

with a windchill factor of -20.

I am from perogies and kolbassa for breakfast,

From the Red River Ex, Folkarama

and The Museum of Man and Nature.

I am from driving 3 hours to swim at Birds Hill

And paying 5 cents for Strawberry marshmallows.

I am from jellied salads and Pick-a-pop,

from the Golden Boy and speaking French,

From Uncle Bob and Marvin the mouse,

and "Beefs & Bouquets" on the radio weekly.

I am from watching spring break up on the Assinaboine

from playing from sun up to sundown,

From trips to Dutch Maid and Bonnie Bell lip gloss,

from scraped knees and stealing crab apples of neighbourhood trees.

I am from growing up in daycare listening to Queen,

from seeing Star Wars when no one knew what it was yet,

from Holly Hobby and Little House on the Prairie

and making god's eyes from yarn and popsicle sticks.

I am from onion topped churches with funny crosses,

from riding buses and being cold to the bone.

I am from the ear shattering sound of winter silence

from disco, polyester turtlenecks and wool hair ties.

I am from lilacs and boulevards,

From knowing my neighbours and

considering them family.

I am from belonging to friends

*****

The Work of My Hands

January 19, 2011

 Today I decided to focus my camera on my hands. My hands have become a big issue in my life because 3 years ago, I lost all the feeling in my hands. It was caused by the damage MS did to my spinal cord. I can now only sense hot, cold and pain and those sensations are blown way out of proportion. (A paper cut feels like I've chopped a finger off, touching something cold or hot hurts.)

 When I first lost the feeling in my hands, it was pretty scary. I was in the process of being diagnosed and so I didn't tell anyone, other than my close friends and family. It took a long time for my brain to adjust. I had to relearn how to do everything you do with your hands, on my own. It was very trying, struggling with even the simplest of tasks. I got frustrated alot and many times I thought I'd have to stop making art, the thought of which was just soul crushing.

If you put on a pair of oven mitts and then spend even an hour trying to go about your normal day, you'd have a small glimpse into what it feels like to live with no feeling in your hands. Try buttoning something or zipping a zipper, brushing your teeth or tying your shoe. Not so simple now, is it?

I feel a sense of awe at how the body trouble shoots the things it can't heal. After about a year, with alot of hard work and persistence, I managed to regain understanding between my brain and my hands. The communication between them is not the same anymore-instead of using a cellphone, they are using two tin cans and a string, but it works. It means I can sit here and type this post. It means I can make art. It might take me a little longer-somethings are still challenging, but I still get the job done.

When I think about my hands, I can't help but think of my Gramps. He suffered multiple strokes over my lifetime. He was a gifted carpenter and cabinet maker. He worked with his hands his whole life, even when he too was robbed of the feeling from neurological damage from the strokes and the effects of diabetes. I think about how hard it was for him and he never complained-he just quietly went about his business. He taught me everything  about resilience, grace and courage.

So that is why I have turned the lense towards my hands today. I wanted to honour how they serve me and in turn serve others in my life. They are powerful tools. The work they do is sacred and vital and I look at them with awe and respect.

London Calling!

Today is a banner day because as of this very moment, there are just 365 days till London hosts the 2012 Summer Olympic & Paralympic Games!

It's exciting to see another city gearing up for the experience of hosting the world like we did in 2010. The internet is all abuzz as their preparations kick into high gear now that the final count down is on.

There will be live streaming coverage of London's 1 Year To Go ceremony here at 2 pm EST/11 am PST today.

CTV's Olympic coverage website is up and running here. The Canadian broadcast team for 2012 has also been named, with the incomparable Brain Williams at the helm. Which makes me hugely happy because for me (and many Canadians, I suspect) Brain Williams is the Olympics.

Twitter is the hub of Games news.

You can follow the progress of London 2012 here:

@London2012

@London2012HQ

If you're Canadian and want to stay up to date with our teams,

you'll want to follow:

@CTVOlympics

@CDNOlympicTeam

@CDNParalympics

In addition to that, many, many athletes have personal Twitter accounts. You can do a search to find your favourites! If you want to support our athletes, follow @CanFund  and make a donation because they can't do it alone!

Can you tell I'm excited?! It's like waiting to open gifts on Xmas morning-I'm fairly twitching with anticipation. Only 354 more days to go! *grins*

Light Hunters: Favourites

 Every day, there's a ton of eye candy waiting for me when I go to see what my classmates have done in the Light Hunters class. As much as I learn by doing, I also learn alot from looking at the work of others. Here's a peek at some of my favourite images, created by my classmates: (You can click on the credit list below to be linked to each artist.)

1. Sunflowers at sunset 2, 2. Light Hunter, 3. shadow pins, 4. Dry watering can & leaves, 5. ladybug, 6. Weatherbeaten doorway column, 7. Untitled, 8. morning light, 9. the light on her face - sleeping in the sun, 10. Stormy skies, 11. Sun Setting in my Mirror, 12. beauty in the breakdown

Amazing right? It's impossible to look at their work and not be inspired!

On Sunday we went out to Steveston, which is a little fishing village which grew up around a salmon cannery. It's located on the south arm of the Fraser River and its harbour is home to a fleet of 600 fishing boats. It's been the local for shooting The X Files, Stargate SG1 and Charlie St. Cloud.

16 is a sign posted on the outside of one of the cannery buildings. I have a thing for numbers and I liked how chipped this sign was and the weather beaten boards.

Here's a shot of part of the fleet. We had fish and chips for lunch and afterwards I found one of those souvenir penny presses and cranked out another embossed penny for our collection. My son and I have pennies pressed from our travels all over north America. It's a tradition to make one whenever we happen across those machines and we've been doing it since he was little.

There was a large group of local firefighters standing in front of the machine and I had to ask them to step aside so I could use it, which lead to a conversation about what it did and what I did with the pennies after. We have a small book with pockets that we bought in Wall, South Dakota that holds them all. I explained that you can either put them in a book like we have or make jewellery from them. They're really quite cool. Honestly, I just make them because it's fun and each of the pennies we have holds good memories of somewhere we've been.

After lunch, we headed over to a local park along the water, to the off leash area so Indy could have a swim. I got to shoot some blur shots for class along the way.

I took this one sitting on the bank while Indy fetched his water Kong. It was so peaceful and the view of Mt. Baker (across the border, in the US) was gorgeous.

It's hard to believe that there's only 5 more days of Light Hunters. It's gone by so quickly! Time flies when you're having fun!

Elevating the Ordinary

I've been shooting alot of different things during this Light Hunters course-people, animals, the sky, fruits, veggies, random flowers and weeds and the like. It's interesting that when you are focusing on things like light, shadow, texture, blur, back lighting and so on, that you can photograph the most ordinary things and see them in the most extraordinary ways.

The photo above is of my husband's wellies, left to dry on our back porch. They've been sitting there for ages and I walk past them every single day. Yesterday, I paused to photograph them and this was the result. I like how they are caked with dirt and how you see the verdigris colour of the chipped paint on our porch. I like how the boot in the foreground is mostly in focus and the one behind is blurred. This photo is special to me-in its own way, it's a really a portrait of my husband.

I decided to try shooting photos at dusk last night. The light in the sky going on 10 p.m. is this odd shade of blue, that I have come to associate with summer on the west coast. I captured this silhouette of our laundry line as the light was fading from the sky.

We have this telephone poll out front of our house and it's just a mess of wires. I liked how in the evening sky, the tangle was back lit against the sky, making it seem even more obvious. This image was shot before the one of laundry line, so the blue of the sky is a different shade.

I read this this morning and thought it expressed exactly how I've been thinking of the work I've been doing for Light Hunters:

  “To me, photography is an art of observation. It's about finding something interesting in an ordinary place... I've found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.”

~Elliot Erwitt

Light Hunters Continues

 Here are a couple more shots from this week's work. Being Canadian, I have a natural affinity for our national symbol the maple leaf. I like the textures in this one.

I took this photo in my kitchen, this morning. I like how it's half shadow, half lit. I didn't do anything to the image, aside from adding the text. The lime was sitting in a bowl on the counter, left over from the pico de gallo I made last weekend. I just pointed the camera and shot. Sometimes, the beauty is in the simplicity.

Thanks everyone who took a moment to send me kind words, whether here on my blog or via Flickr or private email about my horse shots. I really enjoyed taking those photos and was so pleased with how they came out. I'm looking forward to more lense time this weekend.

For The Love of Horses

 Yesterday, while at a family picnic to celebrate my inlaws' 60th wedding anniversary, my son and I wandered across the street from the park to the riding academy. We took carrots and before we knew it, we had horses coming up to the fence for a snack.

We share an affinity for horses. We like to ride. He's exceptionally good at it. We have some very good memories of riding 4 hours up into the alpine in the Kootneys and picnicking at the summit, overlooking Slocan Lake. The world is a different place on the back of a horse.

 Inspired by the things I am learning about using natural light in the Light Hunters class and the technical info from the photog book I just bought the other day, I took some odd angled shots of our new equine friends.

I love the texture in this one and the contrast of colours.

Some thoughts from shooting yesterday:

-Horses smell good. There's something very comforting about their scent.

-The best setting I've found for photographing animals is to use the sports setting which allows you to shoot multiple frames with the single push of the button. Animals tend to move quickly and their expressions change faster than people's. If you shoot this way, when you upload your photos, you will have more images to choose from and often I find there are some great surprises in terms of what I've been able to capture.

-Zeroing in on a single body part can yield some beautiful shots. It also gives you a better sense of the animal, especially if it's large.

-Horses do not think cameras will steal their souls.

iLike: Shoes & Books

I did something this morning I usually only do every 10 years or so: I went shoe shopping! Actually, I looked up retailers of my favourite shoes and then phoned around till I found a single store that had a pair in stock. I could have ordered them online, but I wanted them NOW.

I already own a pair that are similar, (see above) but they are clogs. It was way past time for a new pair, so I went with the Mary Jane style instead. I wanted a red pair, but no one had any. I have to say I do like the leaf green and bark brown colour combo-it's very West Coast. They will be restocking in the fall, so I've decided to call ahead and reserve a pair in red then. This brand is rather spendy, but in their defense, they are comfortable, stylish and last forever. I adore the swirl stitching on the toes. New shoes are very happy-making.

The latter half of my week was...well let's just say challenging, medically speaking. (I am classically understating things.) I decided that I needed to treat myself to a book I'd borrowed from the library and fallen in love with-Expressive Photography by the Shutter Sisters. I already own a copy of Liz Lamoreaux's Inner Excavations, which is so thoughtful about the process of using your art and photography to tell your story and this book seems like a perfect compliment to it. 

Expressive Photography is full of utterly inspiring images and instruction about some of the more technical aspects of, as they put it "shooting from the heart". The best part is that the information is presented in an entirely accessible way-you can be a rank beginner (like me!) and understand how to use what they are sharing to your best advantage.

I can't tell you how exciting it is for me to have this new medium to explore. I feel that between Vivienne's classes that I've taken so far (Wading In and Light Hunters) and these amazing books, I am learning something new every day. For me, it's all about the learning. It's the part that keeps me engaged. I want to learn what's next and what comes after that and then what.

 At heart, I am an adventurer, a risk taker and deep down I serve the insatiable hunger to connect authentically with others and to tell my story.
I think that's what good photography (and art and writing) is; it's finding a way to connect to the best parts of yourself and to put that uniquely beautiful part of your soul out into the world. Our gifts are meaningless unless we have the courage to share them.

In reading back this post, I am sitting here chuckling at myself-how I went from tales of new shoes to introspection is beyond me. I don't think the words-they just tumble out. Anyway, that's what I was moved to share with you today. What's next is anyone's guess.

***

EDIT: I am getting a flood of email asking for the info for my shoes. Here's the scoop: They are made by El Naturalista. The style I bought today is Iggdrasil NO95. The clogs are also Iggdrasil, but have a different number- I don't know offhand what it is, but it's on their site. If you're outside Canada, this is the link for you. By the way, you may want to check out their code of conduct-I don't know about you, but this kind of stuff matters to me!

Il Pleut-Encore!*

The weather has been dismal this week, making light hunting difficult. I am not crazy about taking my brand new Rebel out in the rain and risking getting it wet. I did however manage to find a dry spot on my back porch where I could stand out of the torrential downpour we had Thursday and take this shot.

My husband won't need to hand water our garden any time soon-we had so much rain Thursday there was a a bit of a river running down our street and our gutters were quickly overwhelmed. It was like Niagra Falls over my front door. Good thing we are back door people!

That said, I do like the reflective quality of the light you get when surfaces are wet. I shot this in colour but converted to black and white in order to show that aspect of the image to its best advantage.

Wild Mushrooms found on the path to the lake where we take Indy to swim sometimes.  I like how the light is dappled. There are always so many beautiful things to discover in the forests.

We have a family celebration planned this weekend, so I'm taking my camera along. We're going to be out in a park, so I am sure I can steal away and shoot a few frames while we're there. I haven't been to this particular park in years, so it will be fun exploring it all over again. I'm hoping it doesn't rain. Cloudy is fine, just not rain!!

*It's raining-again!

Light Hunters, Catching Up

I am running just a bit behind on my shots for Light Hunters. This weekend was insanely busy. I spent the lion's share of Friday and Saturday volunteering at Summer Live in Stanley Park, a 3 day music festival put on by the city of Vancouver to celebrate Vancouver's 125th birthday.

It was a really good time-there were tons of big names in Canadian music performing. In addition to that, it was also a celebration of the ethnic diversity of our city. The weather was beautiful and I think everyone finally felt like it was summer.

Car Service I shot yesterday while my husband and I were celebrating "Day of the Dog". Indy waited patiently for 2 days while his peeps were all either at work or volunteering, so we declared Sunday "Day of the Dog" and made a point of making the day all about him. He got to nibble bits of Triple O burgers, have a lengthy swim and romp with other dogs at Spanish Banks and then had his own gelato afterwards. (In case you hadn't noticed, we adore him.) He came home tired and happy, as did we.

I shot this image just for fun. I like how it looks so diner-y. The White Spot still has car service and every few years, we go and order it that way. There's not to many places that you can still do that. 

 

 I shot Driftwood at Spanish Banks. It's been awhile since I shot self-portrait of my hands. I was working on contrast yesterday. I think it's important in any piece of art to have not only contrast in terms of colour value, (light, medium & dark) but also in pattern or texture (soft & hard, smooth & rough) and in the size of the objects in the piece. This one pretty much covers all the bases.

I really love working in black and white. Sometimes colour can be a distraction. When something is in black and white, you get to see nuances of the image that you might have missed otherwise. I like the raw honesty of it.

The Pulse: Edition #5: Style File

Seth has posted this week's edition of the Style File and my response was included. Do you want to know what's one of THE hardest questions for me to answer? Find out here.

Meanwhile, I'm taking some down time tomorrow. It's been a hugely busy (but good!) weekend and I need to unwind. Indy's missed me like crazy, so I'm proclaiming tomorrow "Day of the Dog" and treating him to a much needed outing. I see a trip to the lake in his future.

Light Hunters, Day 6

 I was out snapping photos just before dusk, trying to get yesterday's assignment done, but I missed the most opportune time to capture the kind of light we were supposed to be looking for. Sometimes life gets busy and despite your best intentions, things like this happen. No matter-I found other things to focus on and I feel kind of impressed with myself that I've been shooting daily and coming up with photos I am happy with.

When I went out last night, Indy followed me out into the back yard and wonder of wonders, sat nicely so I could take his picture. I've learned to use the sports setting when I photograph him-I hold the button down and it shoots multiple frames in one go. This is necessary because as I've mentioned before, when I try to take his picture, he acts as if the camera is going to steal his soul. If I don't snap fast, I'm out of luck.

Indy's coat is incredibly shiny. That in combination with being black makes it hard to photograph him at the best of times. I find that it's easier taking outdoor photos in natural light where the grass or the water is a good backdrop for a black dog.

Anyway, this is my beloved boy who is my heart walking around on four furry legs. I am ruined forever for any other dog. (Or breed for that matter.) Labs have just the best spirits. He had me at "Woof!"

This is a cedar tree in our yard. I am really not a fan of cedar trees, truth be told, but they're are everywhere on the west coast. The bark is pretty though, in its own way. I liked the way the shadow and light wrap around the trunk.

No idea what this is-some random weed in the wild part of the yard. I shot it as the evening rays were hitting it, just before the sun dipped below the fence line.

This was a totally random shot. I used my Gorillapod and stood on the edge of the retaining wall. Sometimes the most interesting shots are the ones that aren't posed or framed too carefully. I like this just for the contrast in textures. I never thought I would enjoy shooting self-portraits so much, but I do.

The weekend is gearing up to be really busy. It will be a challenge to squeeze in class time, but I will do my best. Back soon!

Light Hunters, Day 5

 I shot both these photos while at our Blue Jacket Athletes' Marshalls BBQ on Monday night. Incredibly, this little piece of paradise is a mere 20 minutes from my home. One of the members of my team lives here and hosted the party on her dock. It was so peaceful and we felt like we were miles from the city. She has a speed boat, so I took these as we were tooling along, capturing the light where I live.

 

What I love about this sunset is how the sun forms a 6 sided star and that that shape is reflected in the water. If you click the image to make it big, you will clearly see them.

Light Hunters, Day 4

 Yesterday I was working with shadows.

This one, Gifts of the Sea is very subtle....

...but I think I really nailed it with Reflection in the Light.

Working with summer light requires alot more thought and playing with angles. Summer light is not so subtle as say Autumn light is. It's also a different colour than Winter light. Winter light is blue. Summer light is yellow. I don't know if this is true in other places in the world, but this is how the light makes itself known in Canada. The light of each of the four seasons is distinctive.

To everything there is a season, turn, turn, turn!

The journey continues. Back soon!

Light Hunters, Day 3

Here are my Light Hunters photos from yesterday. I just poked around in my back yard, in our veggie garden. I call this one The Unbearable Lightness of Dill. I love dill. We grow it because we also grow Pontiac potatoes, the same potatoes my Gramps always planted. Freshly dug baby potatoes with butter and dill out of the garden are one of the finest pleasure of summer. Sometimes I go outside and rub my fingers on the dill plants just so I can smell it. It's heavenly.

This one's The Secret Life of Peas. (I didn't intentionally come up with these names-they just popped into my head.) Did you ever look at a pea in such a way? See the veins in the shell and the baby peas forming inside? That is the magic of the sunlight shining through.

While this shot wasn't part of my Light Hunters work, I thought I would share it anyway. This is Dexter, my Goddog and Indy's little brother. (Same parents, next litter.) He belongs to my best friend. We had a BBQ last night and our boys got to hang out. It's funny watching them together because just like people, dog siblings share similar mannerisms. Dex was very good about letting me take his picture-he doesn't think I'm stealing his soul like Indy does.

My Rebel is getting a good workout. I am so pleased with the quality of photographs I can get with a DSLR. The colours are so clean and crisp and I love that you can focus on an object in the foreground and have the background blurry. It's so aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

You may have noticed I've added watermarks to my images. I found a really great program that does it for free. I like the idea of this because, as you know, there are people out there in cyberland who will just help themselves to your art. (NOT COOL!) It's called Picmarkr and it's super simple to use. You can add whatever text you want as your watermark or you can choose a symbol instead.

Okay, off to shoot images for today!

HAPPY 4th to all my friends across the line! I hope you have a great celebration!

Light Hunters & Photography

 I've been busy the last few days viewing the world through the lense of my Rebel. Light Hunters began on Canada Day, which was great because I was out and about the entire day with no shortage of things to shoot.

The image above was one of the first I shared with our class. It's simple, but I like the way the light plays off the clouds.

I shot this one on Canada Day as well, but couldn't resist playing with it.



I'm still enjoying shooting self-portraits ala Wading In. This is from yesterday, after I had my hair cut. I keep shooting photos of myself because I find it engaging to keep exploring what I am capable of and to see what else I can learn about who I am. It seems like an odd paradox that in focusing on what's on the outside, I am afforded glimpses of what's on the inside.

I'm printing the self-portraits I have created as I go along with the idea that by the end of the year, I will have a really wonderful documentation not only of a year in my life, but also of the journey that I've taken in exploring a new medium. I'm pretty excited about the prospect of creating a body of work that is uniquely me.

"There is only one you for all time. Fearlessly be yourself."

~Anthony Rapp

Our True North Strong & Free

Happy Canada Day, Joyeuse Fête du Canada to my fellow Canadians!

In celebration of today, I am reposting Shane Koyczan's "We Are More" which was presented at the Opening Ceremonies at the 2010 Games. He perfectly captured who we are as a nation and I could not say it any better myself.

Today I in addition to celebrating my country and all it means to me, I am also celebrating my 25th year (!) living in beautiful British Columbia. While I will always be a dyed-in-the-wool prairie girl, there is absolutely no other place in the world I'd rather be.

I always thought that people who lived here were so lucky and if I ever got to live here myself, I would never take the natural beauty of this province for granted. And I haven't. I wake up every day surrounded by mountains, ocean and forests and I never stop seeing it as if it were for the first time. My happiest moments are when I am hiking the wilds or combing the beaches or driving in the mountains. This province fills up my senses in the most soul satisfying way.

On a side note, happily, today is also the beginning of Light Hunters. It's a companion class to Wading In and I'm really excited to be spending the next 31 days adding to my photography skills. I am hoping the weather cooperates!