Walking through the Wildflowers

This weekend as I wandered through a wildflower garden in downtown Seoul

I realized something about where I should make my home

It should be somewhere that is always warm enough for flowers to be blooming

Because what a difference in life

To be surrounded with beautiful blooms

Cherry Blossoms

I made a special trip out of town last weekend to visit a town that is famous for its cherry blossoms. These beautiful little flowers appear in an instant and are gone almost as quickly. We sure don't have any of these back in Alberta, I can tell you that much! I hope these photos can give you an idea of even a fraction of the beauty that surrounds...

Resuming Project 365... Mind the Gap!

Week 10: From the top...

So I started a project 365 (a picture a day for a year sort of thing) waaaaaaaaaaay back in September with the idea of learning some more about photography, and about taking time for something I enjoy at some point in my day. In November I got all overwhelmed with life and that than continue something I was really enjoying, I abandoned ship at Remembrance Day.

However, rather than throwing the baby out with the proverbial bathwater I'm just going to pick up where I left off beginning with April 1st... so here's the first weekend back at it!

65:365    Thursday 01APR10 – Little Sunburst

Hello Spring, nice to see you again! I have been wandering all over the neighbourhood looking for spring to pop out around the corner, and here is the first REAL little flower that I’ve found – bursting with sunshine. Welcome, Spring...

66:365     Friday 02APR10 – Looking Beyond

Korea is full of artwork at every turn, statues, paintings and the like. This is from a grouping of 3 that look to be from mythology, though I couldn’t find a plaque to know for sure. I loved the way he looks with the lines from the building for perspective in the background... frozen in eternal focus, forever looking beyond what is.

67:365     Saturday 03APR10 – Silver Lining

I thought about reconstructing this pile of shells a few times that I’ve walked by it, but this morning I noticed the sun shining off them and it made me think about things that seem like less than what they are... hidden beauties, silver linings... the reason I get out of bed every day – life is full of them!

68:365     Sunday 04APR10 – Sunny Wings

Another of the group of 3 from Friday, I just couldn’t take enough photos of these wings. The entire statue really, I'll add more in another post so you can see more of it for yourself, it's really beautiful no matter how many times I look at it. I’ll have to put more up on my flickr page, but this is my favourite so far. I love that on Easter Sunday this is the photo I happened upon for the day... beautiful sight...

Looking forward to cracking out the camera everyday again!!  :)

The Book and The Workshops

Well, there are 'focus' points in the book, that I think I can make a project out of (e.g. collection: favorite colour), but he also has a course within the book that covers chapters on portraits, kids & families, wedding bells, travel, action & the great outdoors, and found objects & subjects.

For example (much into his book, which I have not come near completing yet) Chris has a chapter on portraits, where he does a bit of a lecture, outlines with photos, gives incrdible examples and stories of how to make things work, and then he offers the first of the 'workshop assignments' in a (a) survey (b)shoot (c) share (d) review and respond format for each chapter. This one, portraits, asks you to do a survey (of Annie Leibovitz), shoot (6 assignments to try with your camera), share (photo show with friends/family or on the book site on Flickr), and review and respond (instructions in the book).

 

'Shoot' assignments (in the Portraits chapter) include:

1. Environmental
2. No Faces
3. Subjects you Admire
4. Object to Start Conversation
5. Prop with Subjects
6. Strangers in Same Context

To give you an idea of what an assignment looks like, this is an excerpt from the book...

To expand your people photography skills, do the following assignments. They are intentionally open ended so that you can modify them to best fit who you are.

1. Environmental: Create five unique "environmental" photographs of five coworkers or family members. By environmental I mean, compose the image so that the location and context are integral aspects of the photograph.

5. Prop with Subjects: Create 5 photographs of 5 different people with the same prop. Props help people relax, give them something to do, and draw out different personality traits. Here are a few prop ideas: vintage binoculars, cowboy hat, shovel, guitar, ladder. 

Survey: Throughout the book Chris has 'Guest Speakers," inspirational photographers who share their ideas on photography and good photographers, like Marc Riboud, Pete Turner, John Sexton, Douglas Kirkland, Elizabeth Messina, and Dan and Janine Patitucci.... what inspires you? what makes a photograph good? what character qualities should the photographer nurture? what is your advice for the aspiring photographer? The survey part of the assignments asks you to survey specific sites or artists or photographers with specific ideas in mind, very well guided within each chapter.
Shoot: After reviewing the book, I think that one a week for even PART of the actual assignments is far too time-pressured for me, and I am thinking now that maybe one per month might be more reasonable. That said though, the shoot part of the portraits assignment includes a total of 5+5+5+5+5+15 (40!!) shots to "submit," and that alone is going to take quite a lot of time! They don't get shorter either (don't take pictures and you don't learn, right!?)...

Share: If you're somewhere that you don't have access to a ready dinner-party of friends and family that you wish to share your shots with, the book (Visual Poetry) has a flickr group on the web, and he asks that you tag your photos with the approrpate assignment information (e.g. chapter 5, assignment #2, No Faces), and he is still interacting with people who are interested directly through the site!

Review & Respond: Things like "take some time to jot down a few notes. What worked? What didn't work? What could have been better? If you really want to grow, ask a close friend to help you objectively review each step of the assignment. Try to identify the qualities of the best and worst photographs. Then, work to define your style. How would you describe it in a few words - maybe authentic, edgy, and contemporary?"... After you have spent some time debriefing, close the chapter on what has been done and turn toward the future. At this stage I find it helpful to literally turn a page in my jouranl and start anew. Based on your review write out 3-5 goals (e.g. to get paid to do what I enjoy best; create a best-selling book; have the chance to meet and photograph inspiring people from all walks of life, etc.). Then write out some steps in order to begin your goal-based journey...

So that's basically what's outlined in his book... if you're up for buying a book, I would totally recommend it, it's the best photography book I've ever read (even though I'm not done yet)! If you want to come along on my journey I'll post the assignments as I'm working on them, but there is a LOT of great information in the book too!

Lastly (for now!) you can visit the author's website at http://www.chrisorwig.com/ for more from him... hope you enjoy!

Rekindling the Creative Fires

I was talking the other day about project 365 with a couple of different friends, and I have decided to reevaluate the terms of my self-imposed contract, and begin anew from where I left off with my project. Though for most the project is a 1 photo per day dialogue, with my project I will just have to attach the warning "Enjoy, but mind the gap!" I don't want to scrap it, though I have not been working on it since November, so I have tried to figure out what put it off my list of important things. My own sorrow and unhappiness caused me to give up the things that were making me happy... as if my own unhappiness needed to draw every ounce of gladness and colour out of me until everything was a dull blue gray... enough of that now, I begin again, starting anew, rekindling the fires of my creative self. I do so while I am in a somewhat tenuous place with myself, change running rampant throughout all courses of my life. I do so knowing that I might have days where 'it's not good enough', and there may be a blank space on the wall. I do so with love and kindness for myself, that I can learn to be more gentle, to broaden my expectations, and expand my horizons and learn from my creative mistakes. I know that art and creativity always bring me heaps of joy, happiness and excitement, I'm ready to have some of those things back in my life again!

As well, on the burner for sometime in March, I got the most amazing photography book for Christmas called "Visual Poetry," by Chris Orwig. It's a book I already adore for it's passion and instruction and pages of hopefulness. It's my plan to start a project (weekly? monthly?) whose length of time may depend on the difficulty at hand, but I plan to undertake a study of each chapter, each style, each area he addresses in the book. I'm really excited about it, and I have been thinking about it since Christmas, but I have just put it off and put it off, dousing my own flames, as it were. It's about time to get that home fire burning again, so stay tuned for the continuation of what was started and stalled... soon!

A Year in Photos, On Hold

So I can't remember if I said that my 365 photos had to be done in 365 days, but here I am almost 6 weeks without posting so I'm just leaving a little note. The intent behind my little project is still there, but I am leaving it alone until the end of the month. Call it a hiatus if you will, the year is on hold for now - stilled, but not gone. I have some incredible pictures of ornaments, and snow and other things that interest me. I'll post a bit of a collection again in my next days off that come up, and I'll resume the project again in the new year. Priorities shift, right? I hope you are taking care of you and yours these days, I'm thinking of you.  S.

Snowed In, On, Over and Under (Yet is Still Snows On)

The snow is falling like craaaaaaazy outside, and has been since 5am. I know in lots of places it has already come and stayed, but here in central Alberta it only teased one minute and then melted the next - until now! When I got up this morning at 6 there was a bit of a dusting on the ground and the snowflakes were drifting slowly and dreamily to the ground. I didn't really even wrinkle my nose at it come to think of it, I was kinda happy that I wasn't going to have to scrape my windows of a thick layer of frost!

After the slow drive into work (being grateful that I live only 4km away!) I watched our 'garden gang' shovel off the walks outside my office window. 3 hours later the groundskeeper was around with his little tractor-sweeper to do it all again because you couldn't tell it'd ever been done! And now, about an hour and a half after that, no evidence of shovelling remains, and there is roughly 3 1/2 inches of snow over the paths twice cleared. The parking lots are a mess, and the interns are begging to be allowed to leave an hour early because they're afraid of what the drive on the highway will be like.... sheesh... kids!! Oh, look! Another shoveller has emerged, covered head to toe (including some really awful sunglasses) to uncover the drop-off spot again for the wheelchair vans... god bless'em. all of our shovel-masters!!

Depending on when I look up from my desk the sizes of flakes and the speed and direction they are falling changes. So far I have seen them tiny and round falling in a thick blanket straight down in a hurry, big, fat, and mis-shapen lazily drifting down, and somewhere in the middle falling at various speeds depending on which side of the building I look out!

On my lunchbreak I couldn't resist the call of the unspoiled paths, so ignoring the odd looks from some of the people I work with I pulled on my boots and trudged out to the garden to take some shots of the snow and the trees. There's something really pretty about the first real snowfall that I just can't make myself appreciate as the season wears on (and on, and on, and on, and on...).

So anyway, here are some pictures of the prettiness of it all - I won't admit to liking winter, but the snow is sure beautiful for the first while! If I can figure out video upload (I think I can do that here?) I'll add one of the big fat flakes outside my window, because I really think it's the best part!

A blissful dreamy day to you... S.

I love the way you can see the underside of the brances and berries so nicely in early winter, before the snow-melt-freeze cycle begins, layering everything in that thick pack of ice.

A Day in Banff

Sadie and I drove the few hours down and over to Banff today to use massage coupons that her brother gave us (2 Christmases ago!). The roads were good (contrary to the forecast!), and we hit snow about 40 minutes from Banff itself. Our massages were at Pleides Spa in Upper Banff. It was nice, though for the 3-hour drive and the $20 provincial park admission fee I can't say that it was fantastic (but it was nice). My maseusse had a good ole' time working out knots in the muscles that connect the top of my glutes and my hips (or some such thing!), and I was suuuuuurrre feeling bruised later! I wonder if that explains the pains I'd been having running, all those knots... The best part of the massage for me was actually the steam room afterward, a nice long soak in the hot steam, I looooooved that!

Anyway, shaking myself out of my virtual steam room now... we also walked around Banff for a couple of hours before our massage since we'd arrived early. Sadie was disappointed that it was not yet set up for Christmas - their parade kickoff to the holidays was still 2 weeks away, like most sane people! I took a few pictures here and there, but it was pretty cold and mostly it just looked like plain old Banff: people, snow, cars... that about covers it! Oddly, though I meant to I never got around to taking any actual photos of the spa (not that it was all blinged out or anything, but it was nice looking!), but here are a few pictures from our walk and a couple of things from the shops.

This is the view from where we parked. We drove around for about 10 minutes since Banff is quite small and has a lot of visitors. We ended up parking right beside the (mostly) frozen water... very pretty!

Sadie and Whiskers, she just couldn't resist (although I must say, despite his charm and general scruffiness, he did not end up adopted!)

Silver bells... silver bells... and balls, and beads, and dangley things... one beautiful wall of many decorations inside a store that is all about Christmas, all year round.I have always thought that the little nutcracker dolls were a little on the creepy side... maybe I need to go and see the ballet so it stops freaking me out? Regardless, the shelf of them all lined up was a neat photo op!

And finally... the Canadian Christmas Goose, how could you not love it?? 

(Oh ,and just a note: I love it in the store, NOT in my house!)

October in Pictures

October - A Month in Pictures

My first full month, woohoo!!!!  I was so excited to have a full month done. I mean, I know it's my second month, and my second mosaic finished, but it's the first month I got to do start to finish!

There's been lots of nature this month, fewer arranged photos, less choreographing my shots. In some ways that's been nice, and in others it's made me feel like I haven't put as much effort into things as I'd planned.

My favorite picture of the month is a hard choice - my top 3 are the dandelion, the apples, and the tree in the foggy pasture. No matter how many times I look over them I cannot choose, so I have decided that I don't need to - this month there are the three!

Week 9:52 of a Year in Pictures (Oct 31 - Nov 6)

One month fades into another as October gives way to November. I lost my battery charger for a week, so when my camera died I had to wait to get it up and running again until I decided just where I'd hid the damn thing!! I've been taking walks at work over my lunchtime, a nice break from being stuck inside all day. My photos this week are all from my lunchtime walks, bright spots in my days.

Saturday 31st - Nature’s Streamers

I went for a walk at lunchtime today. It was really quiet on the grounds, I didn’t pass a single other person out in the cool air. The colours at this time of the year have changed from bright shades to the more earthy tones. Everything coloured by a palette of muted yellows, browns and greens. At first glance things only look pale, dying, but on closer inspection there are brighter colours underneath. This afternoon I was seeking out the place where the deer slept, and on the way I found these beautiful stalks of prairie grass. I grew up on the prairies, and I have never seen them before! They reminded me of the little flag streamers you can tie on the antenna of the car, or tie to the branches of a tree so that you can see what is otherwise invisible... the wind.

Sunday 1st - Stumpy Shrooms

It’s really beautiful the way nature makes something come of nothing. This stump was cut long ago, and now mushrooms grow anew on top of it, the browns, oranges and yellows beautiful against the gray of the stump.

Monday 2nd - Little Ladies

I set out today to look at the different patterns in the bark on all the trees around the grounds. We are really lucky at work as they put so much care in the design of the grounds, from the trees and flowers to the paths and trails. The bark on the different trees has some beautiful designs, some from the chipping away of time and age, some from the nervous picking of anxious patients. I took a lot of pictures of the trees, and so many of them were beautiful, I got lost in the different patterns (and made myself lat from lunch!). My favourite discovery, which had me giddy like a child... ladybugs!

Tuesday 3rd - Bound Tumbler

I am enjoying my walks at lunchtime. Usually I have no idea what I’m going to try to capture, and this was one of those days. I hadn’t really found anything and my time was running out (lunch was almost over!) and I was literally jogging back to my office when this little weed caught my eye. I love the way the slender stalk explodes into the wild top, brightly lit against the darkened autumn sky, just waiting to be freed from the ground so it can tumble across the yard.

Wednesday 4th - Orange Bough

On my walk today I decided to try and pay attention to beauty and change in transformation. The branch on this pine is dying. It has cracked from the big branch, the green gone from all but the very tips of the needles... turning from red, to orange, and then finally a yellow green before they fall to the ground.

Thursday 5th - Up, up, up

I couldn’t decide whether to use the dark photo, or the one lit by the flash. Each photo I like for different reasons, so both of them are here.

I liked these little branches, stretching up from the ground, like skinny fingers reaching for the sky, up, up, up to the bare branches hung overhead.

Friday 6th - Kickin’ Fun

Kicking through the leaves is one of the small pleasures of Fall, which I still do as though I were 5 years old. It’s one that is almost over for the year as the leaves are swept away by the wind, to be buried by the snow. I never would have thought before about how difficult it is to take a picture of myself, my foot no less, disturbing the peacefulness of the woods, kicking up leaves. Perhaps next time if I have my tripod I can try again, to capture the moment, but this is it for now. And besides, for me, it still captures the feelins in my heart as it happens, bringing me back.

Week 8:52 of a Year in Pictures (Oct 24-30)

It is really hard for me to believe, looking back now on the month, how long this month has lasted. Perhaps it's because I've made some decisions in my personal life that I know are right but I just haven't had the courage to act on. When you know you have to do something and you keep putting it off time can really drag along, and for all of the wrong reasons. On the bright side though, there were some really beautiful things in life this week, which I'm going to share with you now!

Saturday 24th - Maybe a Zinnia

I have no idea what this flower is, but my best guess is that it's a zinnia. I just actually liked the way that ran together, the 'maybeazinnia' business, running much like my thoughts!!! :)

Sunday 25th - Beautiful Brights

What I love about this pictures, aside from the unrealy brightness of the colours, is the teeny tiny white flowers and the 'so-pretty-they-look-fake' little purple flowers, along with the faded petals of the biggest bloom... okay, so I love everything about it!

Monday 26th - Bright Eyes

When she first became part of the family this pup could not sit still for anything or anyone. Now she is quite lovely, and most of the time I really enjoy her. It is time though maybe to start looking to find her a best friend, someone to be her one and only, she would be much more gleeful (if a person could even stand that sorta thing!)... lovely dog.

Tuesday 27th - Mags and Pinky

This is Maggie, my little bundle of sunshine. She hasn't been the focus of a picture yet in my 365 (I don't think), and I really wanted to put together a collage of her playing with her favorite (that day!) toy. When you watch Mags play you can't help but smile and giggle. She fetches, she tears around thinkin' she's a big scary dog, and she is absolutely adorable.

Wednesday 28th - Lily

I really love to look at different kinds of flowers, for really different reasons. This one, the petal of the flower almost looks like a fine pink leaf, where you can see pollen dusting the edges and sunlight brightening the veins. On top of that, there’s the funky rigid centre that I really should have taken some close-ups of, because it has this beautiful perfect pattern on it. We should all be so lucky as to have a sunroom for winter’s blaher days!

Thursday 29th - Sadie n’ Bella

I love this photo, because whenever Sadie is with this puppy her eyes are happy. I mean the ‘real’ happy, the kind that shines from within, not just the happy we all manufacture because others expect to see it. On this afternoon she had decided that she wanted a big dog cuddle, and the big dog was just going to have to figure out how to contain herself! Bella’s a very patient pup when she’s with her mamma (or she’s likely to get her nose nipped, heehee) so she laid there (mostly) quietly till her mamma had had enough. 2 sets of bright eyes in this picture.

Friday 30 - Lonesome for Summer

Now this picture, for all intents and purposes, is a cheat, as I took it in August out in our flower garden. It was this beautiful perfect fiery little bloom that I just couldn’t get over. Today I was feeling a little lonely, sad for the weather and seasons changing... even though for the first time I’m actually able to appreciate the beauty of the Autumn, I’m no happier about summer going and winter coming. To make myself feel better I was looking through my photos from the summer, enjoying the pretty flowers in our garden, and this one just really cheered me up, so I thought I’d share it here... a little piece of summer on this Friday afternoon.