Do I Have to?

Well it's that time of year again, isn't it? You know - when we just start thinking about getting the family pictures done for those Christmas card send outs. Being in the photography business for the last two years I've seen a lot of 'stressed' families come through my doors. Almost not a day went by without hearing those unforgettable words - "Do I have to?". And let me tell you it was always in a tone of please don't make me. So I thought I would offer some possible solutions as well as a small amount of advise.

Here we go:

As nice as it is, it is not always necessary to get professional studio style portraits for Christmas. I know that a lot of times we are looking to replace last year's photo on the grandparents' walls and we would like something similar so everyone can see how much the kids have grown. Don't get me wrong; this is great, especially when they are constantly changing. But I would suggest to change things up a bit every once in a while, say alternating each year with studio, style and casual. For example the picture to the left is my family. The last set of photos we had done was in fact in a studio. But to be honest we had more fun doing things this way, and all we needed was a camera on a tripod with a timer. (or you could ask a friend who has a good eye when taking photos) Contrary to popular belief the photos really do not need to be perfect; maybe it's just me,but I would rather have the fun smiles vs. the 'painted' perfect ones that you see on the studio walls. Not to mention there is only so much a studio photographer can do in a limited amount of space. They are also limited to choice in backgrounds which are not always updated yearly. (Another frequent complaint I heard in the studio).

Next up is if you are going to go in and have the studio pictures done try and do it as early as possible; even if you don't feel like Christmas yet, do them in October instead of the first week of December. This is for a couple of reasons at least. First reason is that most portrait studios will already have their Christmas stuff available in October including those greeting cards. You will have more time if there was an unfortunate problem with the photos to fix them or redo them and still get them back in time to send them out. Also, you yourself will hopefully be able to relax enough to enjoy them too. The last thing the family needs when doing pictures is to have the parents stressed as it does affect the children as well. To go along with that, if for some reason a member of your family happens to be out of sorts on the day chosen it is still possible to try again.

If you really like the greeting cards, here is something to consider. You can either use an old photo or take a new one, either yourself or use that friend of yours, and send it to the photo lab. It is cheaper to go through some of the photo labs and have them make greeting cards for you. Not to mention they actually have more graphic options for you to choose from as well, and you'll get them back faster too.

Lastly, if you choose the studio for your family portraits here are a few really important things for you to keep in mind:

1) Choose a time that works best for the youngest member of your family.

2) Come early so you don't feel rushed.

3) Be prepared with a list of what your photo needs are (it does truly save time)

4) If you do need to wait for your photographer:

- bring something to help keep your children occupied for 10 - 15 minutes

- be patient with the staff - remember they too have had a LONG day

- be as patient as possible with your children, but also keep them from doing a lot of running around as it will be distracting to the people in with the photographer and could make things take even longer.

5)Like before have something and or someone available to help keep your children occupied and not running around while you are making your selections.

(My mom and her grandkids)

And Lastly

6) In the words from the movie "Beauty and the Beast" - YOU MUST LEARN TO CONTROL YOUR TEMPER! We are always going to hear things we don't want to hear and everyone has a job to do. If we want to be given every courtesy then we need to do the same with the staff that is trying very hard to get that picture you will love.

Well I do hope that someone out there finds this helpful and will be able to enjoy the Christmas season all the more.

Fall Frolic?

What's your favorite time of year?

For myself I believe that the fall or autumn as some would prefer is one with the most color. Of course the main shortfall with this beautiful time of year is that the colors end up blowing away all too quickly. So I find myself trying to get out and about to enjoy the colors all the more and this year is the first in about two years that I've actually had both the time and the energy to really enjoy it.

What do I like about Fall?

For me the fall is the most colorful time of year; however, this is not the only thing that I enjoy. You see with the shorter days that come with it, I am now able to play more with the lighting at sunset and not need to stay up all night just to get a golden sunset. Don't get me wrong; I loved having more daylight during the summer too. It's just that if you want to do anything in the lower light levels (like painting with light) It takes a lot more planning. So this time of year helps both the hobby enthusiast and work worlds get along a bit better.

Does anyone know when the 'magic' times of day are?

The magic times of day are more easily remembered when it's not, which is usually between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m when the sun is highest in the sky. If you want pretty gold light tones then the morning sunrise is when you are most likely going to be making your time. Now if you would like more of the warm reds and oranges then about an hour before sunset is your prime time for the nature photos. Don't forget that you will want to take more than just a couple of photos at this time as the lighting changes quickly.

To show just how quickly the light can change at this time of day we can look at these two examples here. The one above was taken first and the one to the right was taken about half an hour later. This is quite the change for our cameras. So do you think we would also use the same settings on our equipment, or would they need to be changed? To answer this one would likely say that this is easy to answer. Obviously it would be changed. This is true, however deciding by how much also depends on what kind of an effect you want to create in your photo. Remember this is no different than deciding what colors you are putting on a painting palet. The camera's 'film', traditional or digital, is your canvas. Get creative and try something that maybe is not quite the ordinary for you.

So I do hope that everyone is able to enjoy our warm weather this fall as well as able to get out there and enjoy all those great colors. Until next time happy painting. :)

A Giant Leap for Me...

Well, it's been quite some time since I last wrote anything here and now seems to be as good a time as any. The months of August and September seem to have flown by quite quickly with all the goings on these days.

The summer has been quite busy for weddings (don't believe me - just ask any photographer). And for me it's been no different. I've attended five weddings personally; but, I believe the last one was one of the most personal importance. You see a good friend of mine was recently married and believe it or not my hubby was the one who officiated the ceremony. Because of this I found myself in a very good place photography wise as I was asked to help with the pictures. Now I am always looking for more experience in this area; and you know what? Doing weddings pictures are the most fun I think next to watching the expressions of children (like in my job - but we'll talk more about that later). Everyone is full of emotions and you never quite know what's going to come next; laughter, tears, hugs etc. Quite fulfilling I must say....

Unfortunately for me I've been experiencing some issues with my legs and I have come to find myself in having to make a most difficult decision. Now thankfully I live in Alberta and I shouldn't have too long before finding something new. This being said though I found it necessary to leave my current job before attaining a new one. This is were my giant leap comes in. You see I am really one who likes to know where I'm going before moving toward this direction and being in a place of not knowing is quite uncomfortable I must say. So my last day of work is coming sooner than I thought and I still do not have a new job to go too. Ouch!

On the other hand though I do believe that my heavenly Father will help me in this area and will find the right job and hold it for me. Some may think I may be a little nuts, but if we don't exercise what we believe in once in a while minimum we can become lazy amongst other negative possibilities. So far I've only spoken of the nervous side of things that my new situation has given me. There is a great positive side though and here it is. I can now go out and do more of my own photography as my body lets me and discover life in a new way again. Like my friends wedding. Even though I'm not feeling able to work in a retail studio environment I have little intention to giving up on a dream. My dream is to help others see the world through my photography and hopefully help people slow down and enjoy life by stopping and smelling the roses they pass by (or in my case look at the photographs of them at least).

So until next time live life well, but try not to allow yourself to get so busy that you aren't enjoying it.

P.S. This is one of those emotional moments I refered to. I love being able to capture the unexpected, don't you?

Seeing: Heart vs. Sight

I have been told a few times that I tend to see things that others miss or take for granted. For a while I wasn't quite sure what was meant by that. After taking some time in searching within myself I have come to see what makes me walk to a different beat to some others around me.

Take for example this current picture I've recently taken. To some they just see shadowed trees at a lake with some cloud. In other words, "so what there are lots of pictures like that". This is what I would call seeing by sight but not really seeing at all. Seeing by sight is used primarily for information gathering (at least to me it is).When one is seeing by sight you here comments like, "that's nice" or "so what". What I would like to encourage in others around me is seeing by the heart. What is "seeing by the heart" you ask? Well let me explain it with a new description from the picture we just used. A shadowy world with an Angel "watching" over nearby. You see seeing by your heart requires one to be not only in touch with things around them but to also be willing to allow the imagination to take some control in creating something that would invoke the emotions of the heart or spirit.

I have also found that no matter how much I try not to be; that I tend to be a wall flower (an observer). Now this in itself can be a lonely place to be. Especially in a world, that tends to be so busy, where there is no time to stop and smell the flowers so to speak. Putting that aside though, I have found that from here I am able to observe and take all types of things in. I am also able to feel very intently (maybe slightly even magnified) the emotions of others around me. Be it excitement, hurt, sadness or contentment. It really is an interesting place to be, as I have learned quite a bit about the world around me. Now I mentioned that I've tried to come down off the wall. You may ask if it's so interesting there why would you want to do that? Well, as interesting as it is up there I'm not really living life either I'm just watching it go by. So I've been trying to learn how to interact with it. Which is were I find myself now - interacting with the world I've observed for so long, but also longing for the familiarity of the wall.

So what does this have to do with my photography? I'll tell you. My photography pieces,especially anything to do with nature is how I communicate with those around me. It's an interesting place to be really. You see, by the pictures that I take others can see a snipit of what I see and hopefully enjoy it too.


P.S. The first picture I've ironically called "Angels among us" and the second picture is called " New Life"

My Muse

Well it has been almost a month since my last post and I haven't really had much of an inkling as to why the block. The one thing I do know more admittedly is that my passion is really stirred with two main subjects.

The first would be of course nature. More specifically in our national park system. Who wouldn't be inspired with all those water falls and Mountains? This area gives me real time to take in even the smallest component of my surroundings. Take this latest picture I did while at a family reunion north of Revelstoke while picking berries with my niece. In the city one tends to over look small things like wild strawberries because we are too busy with the every day things of life; like getting to work, putting that all important smile on for others to see, getting home and getting some of those things done that weren't done yesterday and still need to be done like laundry or maybe even getting dinner on the table.

Another element of nature I find inspirational and don't get to enjoy too much in the city is those magnificent water falls. Mind you I seem to have an attraction to water in general, but with water falls I find myself mesmerized at how it moves around and through things. Not to mention I get to play with timed exposures to give it a different look too. So I guess you could say it encourages me to be creative and not just take things a face value. Something else I find I need consistent reminders on in the big city of hustle and bustle. For example here is one of my latest favorites of water falls in the Revelstoke area. In this I see what could look like almost a bridal veil. Well I like it and I'm finding that this is what is important right now. It would be great if others liked it as well, but it isn't the end of my creative outlet/career prospects if they don't. It just delays those plans for a short time until I make something that truly WOW's someone in the right time and place.

So I've talked quite a bit about this particular muse. I guess it's because it's the one I can see in myself as what really brings me to life. The second one is what others have noticed that lights me up with energy and fun.

This second muse is in my job actually. I primarily photograph children. I'm told that when I interact with them I become quite radiant. Now I'm not able to share my work from the studio here online as I not only do not have the parents permission to do so, but these photos are also copyrighted by the company I work for. This being said I do have a few children's pictures that I've done while interacting with my nieces and nephews that I can share.
In this photo I have one of my 6 nieces. We had some fun taking this photo. In fact she had quite a bit to say about what was acceptable in her portrait. I look forward to when I get to do some more with her in the studio where I work.

This next one is with her brother. I find it quite natural to take portraits outside of the studio as well now. In some ways I find it quite hard not to keep up that quality that I strive for in the studio for my customers when I am out and about.

You see I would have to have anyone that knows me sworn to secrecy if they watch me work in a photo session. This is for at least a couple of reasons. The first being that if they told others that know me what they saw - no one would believe them anyways. The second is that it is totally amazing at what an adult would do to see a smile on a child and I really wouldn't want that to get out -- I after all do have a rep to protect.

So for now I find myself again content with where I am and if I some time down the road forget. I know that my muses will eventually remind me even if they end up having to smack me right between the eyes.

Struggles???

Yes, you could say that I have been struggling a bit with my writing as well as my photography these days. I'm not even sure if it couldn't be said that it was a kind of writer's block but with taking photos instead. Now I know that I just came back from holidays and all - so I shouldn't really have any problems right? Well let me tell you when the rest of the world creeps into what you have a passion for it eventually gets to you.

For example: I've only been back for almost two weeks and already my occupation is coming home with me...literally. Don't get me wrong; it's not everyday that you can get paid to do something you have a passion for and really get to enjoy it. This being said though I'm finding it hard to draw that important line in the sand so that I can still enjoy photography as well as the rest of what life has to offer.

So what do you do? I'm sure I don't know right at this moment, however I think I will explore this question a bit more. I would love some suggestions from anyone out there reading this too. I guess for now I'll look at some past successes and try to draw inspriration from those and I let you know how it goes down the road.

For now though here is a couple more shots from England as I have a hard time leaving a post without any photos on it. Hope you all enjoy.

England: a Wonderful Place to Visit

Well, I have returned from England with many memories to share with friends and family. I've come away with many possibilities for an album that I'm sure will be amazing. I can sound confident on this because I did take the time to follow some basic rules of engagement in photography. Some of them I've already shared with you; for example taking more than one picture of any given area or theme, changing my height or perspective and allowing for rules on a given area (like cathedrals or museums). During my travels I did manage to use all of these guidelines. Like most guidelines however; you also need to be willing to bend/crack/break them once in a while - but to also know when is appropriate to do so.

So how do you know when to "break the rules"? Well, for me it usually depends on a couple of things. One would be the mood I am in on a particular day and if I'm feeling like I just want to document an event or if I'm feeling quite creative (This sometimes happens within moments of each other). Going through my latest trips pictures I would have to say that over the course of seven days of touring that I have a mixture of both types of pictures. For example take a look at the following couple of examples.

This is part of Cambridge University, more particularly Kings College. I found myself taking more of a creative documentary type photograph here due to how the area was situated as well as the reflective respect it commands just by my standing in front of these buildings. Okay let's look at the next one... Here we have something a little more creative taken in one of the smaller pedestrian walkways around the corner almost. So you can see how one must go with the flow of the day, area and mood. Two totally different styles of photos taken the same day within an hour of each other.

Secondly I need to ask myself the question (and this is not limited to travel pictures but can be asked with any type of photograph you create): What message do I want to send to the viewer in my photographs?

To answer this question one does need to do a little thinking prior to taking their photographs. Could it be you aren't wanting to send a message at all and just want some memories for yourself? This is okay and please don't get me wrong here; but when you show your pictures to your friends and family in what ever media you choose, there is going to be a message sent intentional or not. For example if I just showed pictures like the above to people some might think that England is pretty stuffy or maybe even hard. Or some may think wow look how she captured how old the area is. Who knows, but wouldn't you like to encourage some emotion to the viewer and see if that was what you were going for? I once heard a saying that said this: "I don't care what the emotion is as long as people feel something in my work. When people stop feeling emotion in my photography then I will stop taking pictures". I agree with only part of this saying as I feel if people do not feel any emotion with my pictures than I've missed the boat and need to revisit why I took those photos in the first place. Take a look at a couple more examples here and see if you can see or feel anything towards this area of the world.

England is quite diverse. It goes from the extreme of pristine well groomed parks and yards to the overly busy streets of London to just having some fun. All of which could be missed if we went through life just looking down at our feet thinking only of what we needed to get done.

So until next time let's take time to look at the world around us and see if we can find something that some may have over looked
or that we ourselves have missed and allow ourselves the time to embrace and enjoy it.

Travel Bound

Well, here I sit thinking about where I'm off to in a few short hours. The picture to the left is indeed your clue to where I'm off to.

As I was getting things packed I was trying to make sure I had everything that I needed and wanted. After all was said and done I almost forgot one thing that was very important. My travel journal. As I have written before the travel journal is a very important book to take with you when travelling. Here is where I put everything from who we visited to the weather and then if I've done something really special photography wise I'll also write down camera settings, so I'll have this information for later. I also keep this information in one place so that whether I'm doing a write up in my scrapbook of my journeys or need to look something up I'm not having to hunt around for this information.

The other things I was trying to make sure I had with me was an extra memory card and batteries. It's always a good idea to carry extras just in case. For example batteries are a big thing - without them the camera is about a 5lb dead weight in your backback (at least my digital SLR would be). This can be very frustrating if you run out of power and miss something spectacular. Not to mention when travelling abroad the cost of said batteries can very, but you can be rest assured that they'll most likely be more expensive than from home.

Now when it comes to the extra memory cards you may want to look into having at least one more than you plan on using while travelling. I read somewhere that it was recommended to have a few smaller size cards vs one really large one like a 2GB. The reasoning was that if one card fizzled for some reason you still had another one to fall back on and could still download and burn to a disk and then take more. If you had a large one like said 2GB and it fizzled thats 2GB of unusable memory. This would also depend I think on how far you were traveling as to whether or not it would make a huge difference. Like batteries if you were to buy another card while traveling it could very well be more expensive than home so I guess what I'm recommending is to take the time and have what you need before you leave so you can enjoy your travels to the fullest.

So I'm off on my travels and will of course be bringing back a pocket full of memories as well as some images that will be great of the sites and scenes of England. I'll catch everyone up when I get back. Who knows maybe I'll come back with a good lesson to share too - you never know.

So What's So Special About This Picture??

So what is so special about this photo? Where do I start?

As I have mentioned in a previous post I carry my camera almost everywhere I go. Canada Day at Fort Edmonton Park (they call it Dominion Day down there) was no different. At the park there is always something going on and this day was no different. What made it super special was that it was marking a national holiday; so there were more people visiting than on a normal summer day. This gave me the perfect opportunity to get quite a few exposures of people dressed in period costume doing what people of the day would have been doing. What a great opportunity to practice some of the things learned and to experiment a little too.

I took quite a few photos in the park that day, but what makes this one stand out I think is the contrast of the modes of transportation. Both are from different eras, but found together in this one moment. Then to add to the mood I changed this to a black and white photo and added a slight tint to give it that nostalgic feel.

I really like my picture. The reason I took up photography in the first place was to see if I could produce pictures to display on my wall that looked like ones I saw in books, magazines or maybe even some of the calendars I've looked at and liked. What I didn't realize until I was creating my own images though was how passionate I was about photography. It was something that started off small and grew. Now I can say," I did that..." when someone asks about some of the photos on my wall.

But you know it even gets better for me now. Can you guess why? Let me tell you. About a couple of months ago I entered this very picture into a photography contest with Pictures.com. I didn't think anything would come of it, but thought what the heck lets try. I had almost forgotten about it and I hadn't told Hendrick about it either. Then what comes in the mail this week, but a letter from the International Library of Photography ( the underwriters of Pictures.com) stating that they felt that this photo was "artistically done" and would like to include it for publishing in their up coming coffee table book that they produce every year. I don't have to tell you how excited I was when Hendrick read the letter to me on the phone. It really made my day. Now I can say not only did I produce this photo, but also it is published in a international publication. It is grand to be recognized in this way, and it has helped me with a possible direction to focus more on. But, it has also taught me to continue to pursue and work on improving my art.So today I would like to also encourage you to also keep pursueing and improving on your art too.

Thanks for reading :)

And the Answer is...

If you remember about two weeks ago I said that I would tell you which picture my young friend liked. He liked the frosted mountain ash berries. Something about thinking the frosted look was cool (no pun intended).

This leads me to my topic for this week. The topic is how everything in the artistic world photography included is prone to being liked or disliked depending on who the viewing audience is. It will also depend on the criteria they are looking for (in other words is it typically a subject matter or style that they gravitate to?) or there mood. So were does this leave us? Well for me I'm left with constantly having to make a choice.

Choice 1: Specialize in a specific market and not really take anything else. This option tends to be what a lot of wedding photographers will take. This is because these pictures are literally their bread and butter. So they will take the time to find out what the customer is buying and focus on those types of photos. This can be dangerous as you can eventually get board of taking the same classic shots at every event. But I guess that would be a possible sacrifice some are willing to take if it pays the bills.

Choice 2: Take a variety of different types and styles. Going where your mood takes you can be fun and maybe a bit freeing. However, it sometimes doesn't give a lot of time to get really good at any particular type or style of photography.

Choice 3: To give yourself the stability with choice 1 but give yourself some time to experiment like in choice 2. Who knows maybe you'll find yourself a new style. You see if one doesn't take the time once in a while to try new things they may never know if they can be better in another area or not. Besides choice 1 will only go so far if you don't keep up with the current trends.

So where does this leave someone like me? Well it may sound a little cynical but there will always be someone out there critiquing my work. So I choose regularly to not take the critique too much to heart as there will almost always be someone else down the road who will like something better than my own worst critic... me.

Ah, Jasper

Okay, I know it's not Sunday yet and you all still have time to put your votes in on the last post. But, I really wanted to share with everyone some cool shots I took while in Jasper. You know you're an avid photobug type person when you manage to take more than the equivilent of 6 rolls of film in aproximately a 24 hour period. You guessed it - I managed to do just that. Now I am still in the editting stage of things, however here are some of my favorites. Hope you like...

Some Elk crossing the river just outside of Jasper.

Took a little time to expose this one at Maligne Canyon's 5th bridge...I just like this one, because the water lines looked cool

Hendrick really likes this one I did at Pyramid Lake... and finally my altimate favorite from Athabasca Falls

What's Your Point of View?

Today I was reminded that like all art photography is subject to point of view or personal likes and dislikes if you will. This came about when my husband and I had some friends and family over for lunch after church and some of our guests were looking at one of my table books of photos that I had made last year. I had asked "which photo was it that you liked best?" I was surprised with his answer as I personally didn't think it was the best picture I had submitted for this book. So I decided to get a broader point of view from you the reader. So here are your choices:

Choice #1

Mountain Ash Tree berries with frost

Choice #2

A unique view of Athabasca Falls, Jasper National Park, Alberta in late winter.

And Finally Choice #3

A tamarack branch in sepia tones

So, today I am asking for you the reader to cast your vote via posting a comment. I also suggest that you would give a reason why you chose the photo that you did. Next week we will go into more details in this area. I will also tell you which choice my young friend chose as part of our discussion.

Happy snapping.

What's Your Favorite Position?

Now before you get all excited let me let you down easy. I'm still talking about the world of photography. My question though is this: Do I as a photographer always use the same stance in all of my photo taking? Do I always stand with my feet at shoulder width apart? Do I mix it up a bit? Well if you were to look over the photos that you've taken over the last year what would your answer be?

For myself and quite a few others we have learned to vary our positions to get better angles on our plain (the photographers canvas). For example the picture to the right I took while standing on a bridge at Rundle Park. The next picture you see will be a similar spot a bit further down the bridge with the added exception of taking the exposure while laying on my stomach. Can you see any difference in how the horizon is placed in these two photos? Some may not with most nature photography, but the trained eye can probably tell more easily.

Basically I would encourage all photo bugs out there to mix up how they take even the most everyday type of photograph. For example experiment with views like a birds eye (looking down), worms eye view (laying on the ground) or a child's eye (on your knees). I should mention with the worms eye view that you actually have a choice in your view stance. You could lay flat on your stomach and look out in front of you; or you could lay on your back and look up. The latter is great for getting a unique look at some trees with the sky. Again if you mix things up a bit you will add to your photography in ways that you possibly may not have imagined . Pictured to the right is an example of a worms eye view looking up.

So what images have you missed out on because you didn't allow yourself the possibilities of where your imagination could lead you as well as to get a little dirty to change your point of view of the world around you?

More food for thought :)

Where do You get Your Inspiration From?

Have you ever wondered what it was about something you saw that made you want to take a piece of it home with you? It usually comes with many emotions all rolled into one. For example when my husband and I went to Waterton National Park we found ourselves quite awe struck to say the least.

This area is one of a few UNESCO World Heritage Sites as well as a Peace park as it shares the border with Glacier National Park in Montana. So you can see what a special place it is on its own. For us however these accreditation's meant nothing to us until we went there. We now long to go back and enjoy this wonderful area. The above picture is of Upper Waterton Lake meeting with Middle Waterton Lake. I could give you a lot of information on this area because we love it so much, unfortunately I would be straying from my intended point.

I recently read an article from a photographer talking about what had inspired him to pursue photography. It got me thinking about what was it that inspired me to take some of the photos I've taken in the past. I have to say that Waterton and area is one of many areas that has inspired me. I often think of it as Alberta's most precious but hidden jewel when it comes to our National Park system. Coming here was like getting a new breath of life like I never new before. (I must say that getting a new breath here is not that difficult as it is also one of the most windiest places around).

I get my inspiration from here because of it's majesty and diversity. It is often said that this area "is where the prairies meet the mountains". I didn't know what was meant by that until we travelled there. You literally could see where the changes begin. While traveling from the town site to an area called Red Rock Canyon (pictured right) we did see this in plain site. One minute you have prairie grass with black-eyed Susan's swaying in the wind and the next was mountain rock coming out of the hills. Don't get me wrong I love visiting all of our mountain parks as I seem to come more alive and attuned to things when there. But this area I will always keep close to me inside and remember how I felt when taking my first look around. Where else can you find a waterfall smack in the middle of town or get a good close look at a glacier going into a lake. Truly this is an inspirational area.

Do you have a special place that inspires you? If not I would encourage you to search your heart and memories to find what makes you come alive and pursue that area. I am desperately passionate about nature photography I think the most. And I think it is because it brings me closer to the one who created it all in the first place. You see when I look at all this splendor I know in my deepest part of me that their is no way these areas just happened by accident.

Let me leave you with one last photo of this extraordinary area and may you be able to come alive with your passions as well.

Are We Counting the Days Until Vacation Time?

So, how many days until your next vacation? For myself and my husband it is approximately 19 days until we head off to Jasper for our 16th Anniversary. Now some of you may not think a weekend in Jasper counts as a vacation. I guess it all depends on what your definition is. According to the Oxford Canadian Dictionary vacation is defined as follows; "a period of several days or weeks spent away from work or school etc. used especially for recreation and travel; a holiday." I would go further in my definition to include any time away from the regular routine of life. So even though we are only gone for a couple of days it is very much out of our regular routine and away from work and home. I know some of you may be thinking - how does this go with my theme of photography? Well I'll tell you. No matter where I go I almost always have my camera with me. You never know when an opportune moment will arise. Also when going away I will always make time for photos and Jasper is no different.

The idea that I wanted to share with vacations and photography though is this: Never just take one picture of an idea unless the subject moves or you are just passing through and there is no time for more than one. If you look at some of the examples I've included this time you'll begin to understand my statement a bit more clearly. Take this scene on the right here. This was taken at Athabasca Falls just out side of Jasper with a 300 mm lense. It looks nice and I was able to get nice and close safely. (Safety will be another topic down the road). But what if I just left it at that? Would another angle have been better? Should I have zoomed out and alowed more of the scene? Without exploring these possibilities you really don't know what you are going to like when you get your photos into post production (after all there will have been so many by the end of your vacation). So I looked around after taking this exposure, which I do like and have put into a special book that I had made through Snapfish.com., and look what I found for another scene very close to this area... (picture to the left). If I had just snapped and ran so to speak I would have only had one picture of a area that is continously changing by natures erosion. I now have more than one to look at and to choose from when I put together a nature scene portfolio. Or in my holiday scrapbook I can now choose more or less of what I want to show of the area.

This brings me to another point with vacation photographs. Take a travel journal with you and take the time to journal things like locations, dates, history of the area, the weather, and for the avid photographer - camera settings so you can document your photos more acuately later. Why would I want to document my photos with camera settings? The reasoning is simple. What if you were in a creative mood and tried a few things out to see what they would look like? Then discover that you like the affect you created but now can not recall how you created that exposure to duplicate it again down the road. Learning to document your work early will save time in experimentation later. This also helps you encourage other budding photographers if you know what you did incase they would like to try something similar with you as their inspiration.

I could go on about more vacation photography tips and ideas, but I'll save that for another time. For now this food for thought has enough to mull over.

See you next time :)

Why Pictures are Important

When you think about your family you can usually recall what they look like rather quickly. However, there was a time when pictures were not so readily available. Do you remember or know of someone who can tell you what your great grandparents or great, great grandparents looked like? Some may say yes and others may say no. Most of us (who were born in the late 70's) have no memory of our great grandparents.The people who say no usually have a reason like the family member didn't like getting their pictures taken or maybe they couldn't afford it and never got around to it. I can say that I am among some of the fortunate as I actually have a picture that has four generations in it (photographed when I was a baby).There was myself, my father, grandfather and great grandfather - something I will always keep.



My family has taken up the hobby of genealogy over the past couple of years. As fasinating as it is to find out the history of one's family, we've often thought that it would be helpful to see what our ancestors looked like as well as to see which family traits have followed through to the most recent of generations.



We've also found how important it is to have a nice recent photo of our older members of the family. About eleven years ago my brother had gotten married. This was the last major family function my grandmother made it to. As it happened this was also the last time she had a nice picture taken where she still looked herself. I'm not sure if it was that particular picture that was used at her funeral or not, however I still have a copy of that picture so that I can show it to future generations the family who have come before them.



A couple of things we can do to preserve these memories could be as simple as taking grandma to the studio for a nice picture for her birthday. Or maybe start a tradition with your family now - once every couple of years (more often if the eldest family member is on the frail side) have as many of the grandchildren you can get together over and have a picture as a group with grandma or maybe even a great aunt. Some may think this is a hassle now, but I'm sure they will apreciate those photo's later.



Okay we've talked a lot about why we should have these pictures done. Now what? What do we do with them? There are a few things you will want to consider. The first would be to make sure everyone who wants a copy of that picture gets one; even if it's a small wallet size. The next thing you may want to consider is to have an extra copy put away properly archived - to make sure that photo lasts for generations to come. While archiving that extra print take the time to jot down a bit of information about that time. For example: everyone's names (don't leave it to chance that someone will remember down the road who is who - after all, we all change), the year and where it was taken. These are a minimum; you may also want to add something of a special note like that it was the grandparents 50th birthday at that time as well.



In the age of digital photography it isn't too hard to make any time that special picture day. Just make sure that those digital files get printed as you don't want to go to all that effort and then have a virus go through your files before you had a chance to print a copy. Once a copy has been made at least then it can be scanned and you can make additional copies if something devestating like a computer virus should take your memories away.


So you don't think that I don't follow my own advise, here is a quick shot taken of my husband and myself at his parents anniversary party. Yes, even the photographer has to get in front of the camera some time; otherwise how does anyone know that you were there?

Stay tuned for more food for thought next time.

Wedding Photography Etiquettte

Weddings are a great time for everyone. You get together with friends and family that you haven't necessarily seen since the last big get together. Weddings are also alot of work. When it comes to having everything arranged and paid for. For the avid shutterbug it's also an opportunity to capture family memories.

With wedding season approaching quite quickly I thought I would bring up a couple things that I've seen over the past few years of attending these wonderful gatherings in the area of photography etiquette.

The first thing I would recommend to all the couples getting married this year is to consider having your officiant announce the request that during the ceremony that only the official (the one getting paid) photographer(s) take the pictures. Also that there will be time set aside to take pictures of the couple later at the end of the ceremony. It may sound mean to the friends and family attending, however let me explain why. The official photographer is the one getting paid to get those special moments for the couple captured. Consider for example when there are flashes bouncing from all directions in the room how difficult it is for the photographer to get the proper effect he was trying to catch. So enjoy the ceremony listen to those instructions the officiant is giving the couple before making those vows and let it bring you back in time when it was your turn up there. I'm sure if you ask; the couple will make the proofs available to you to order your own set of memories. I know what you're going to say - "But the photographer charges too much". To this I ask wouldn't you do the same thing if this was your creativity being displayed everywhere? This is their livelihood and you are paying for quality not to mention the time in editing.

If you are going to watch the bridal party get their formal pictures done make sure the photographer, who has set up the composition that you are about to take a snap shot of, gets his shot first. It's only right that the one who did the work get the first shot don't you think? While I'm here though I would like to suggest to the paid photographer, whoever you may be, to be nice about those snap shot photographers. I say this for a couple of reasons. The first being you are the "professional". You are above making funny faces (I've seen it happen) not to mention you know that your work can and does stand up on it's own. And the snap shots really are not taking anything away from you except the future business you lost when you made those scowls.

So those are the basics. All else is really fair game. Take time to take pictures of things other than the couple and their party. For example some of the decorations; a lot of them have been hand crafted these days and deserve some recognition. I should mention that unless directed to not all official photographers take the time to do this either. So you could help the couple out by capturing some extra memories that tend to get forgotten about after the bride walks down the isle.

I hope that this has given a little food for thought. See you next time

Can you see the difference...

There are so many different types of photography out there today. Each type captures a different part of our life. To name a few we have: landscape or scenic, still life, portraiture (this would include things like your wedding photos or visiting your local portrait studio), or photo journalism (found primarily in your news paper or news like magazine). Someone once said to me that not all photography is art - this set me back for a moment as I needed to take some time to think about this and even ask the question - "Is their a difference?" I am happy to say that after looking over some of the different pieces I've seen I can still say that all photography is art. Here is why I think so.

I've included a few examples of different types of photography. They are all of different subject matter. But now I ask you the reader, "Is any one of these pieces not art? Can you see the difference? How are they the same?"

Let's answer these together. First I believe that they are all art. I didn't include any photojournalism as this is not my strong area, however I do include it as art. You see art is not whether it looks good on a wall. Art will tell a story, even encourage one to use their imagination. Take the picture to the left here. Do you look at it and say, "Oh, that's kinda cool" and just leave it at that? Or do you look again later and ponder things like "I wonder what she's thinking about?"

So is their a difference between these three photos? The obvious answer is yes; but why are they different? What makes them unique to themselves? The first picture of the sunset I'll admit has to do with timing. The colors change so fast at sunset you do need to be ready and have an idea of what you want your finished product to look like. However, it falls into the category of landscape/scenic. This is art because it takes time to compose the view you want to show. And how about the angle it was taken at? I could go on and on, but I won't right now. The second picture is under the category of portraiture. Not all portraits are taken in a studio. Studio portraits though take just as much time and creativity as those in natural habitat. Some would say it takes more. And finally this last photo to the right. I have to say this is an area I like to play with. You see I am a portrait photographer in a family studio and I don't get to do this kind of work as much as I would like to. Still life takes the most time of them all. You see not only do you have to decide on what your subject is, but you also have to decide on how you are going to set up the entire piece. You ask yourself, "What message do I want to send to the viewer?" You take about three to four times more time just dreaming, conceiving and setting up the "pose" than you do making the image with your camera.

But are the same too? Yes, in their differences they are still art.

Photography is an Art

The first thing that I would like to start this page with is this - "Photography is an Art". I have heard so many people view different photographers work and dismiss it because it was something they felt was an everyday image. All photographers take a fair amount of time composing their images. Take this one comment I heard a while ago. The picture was of a tree in the morning and the viewer said something to the effect of "It's a tree - I can take a picture of a tree, what's so special about that?" So the picture was of a tree let's look at behind the scenes of this one piece of art.



So we'll start with the time - the photographer was at that particular site probably over a half dozen times and at different times of day to see what this one tree looked like in the different lights available during these times. How light highlights the subject will make or break a picture.



The next thing the photographer in question will have pursued would be exploring the different angles that could be captured. What would the viewer see if they climbed another tree or if they layed down on the ground looking up at the tree, or something in between. These are all things that the photographer/artist will look into before taking even one picture.



I am not going to go into all the different things that most avid photographers do as each artist has their own personal way of creating that image for people to enjoy or critique. I will say though that it entails more than just taking a snap shot and hoping for the best.


I hope my first entry has given some food for thought when looking at other artists work. To finish off here is one of my latest pieces of art - happy viewing.