1.06.2010

Learning from the best


During my time at university there might have been a few classes I've skipped, a photography class, however, with internationally acclaimed adventure photographer Patrick Morrow won't be one of them.

Morrow was born and raised in Invermere, a little town with a population of 3,470, tucked between the Rockies and Purcell mountain range in the East Kootenays. He's climbed to the highest point of all seven continents, travelled the world photographing as well as filming expeditions and taken pictures for outdoor magazines and stock photography companies.

The best part?


He's the instructor for the week-long, outdoor adventure photography course I'm taking. There's lots to learn from his classes and even more to glean from the many anecdotes he frequently shares. He told one about putting his foot out to catch a wide-angle lens that had slipped from his hands, but instead, he ended up drop-kicking it into the canyon - always bring backup lenses.



Tuesday was a beautiful day, so we drove out past the airport to Cinnamon Ridge and had a lovely time wandering around, experimenting with our settings, posing for "potential promotional" pictures and eating a picnic lunch sitting on the snow beneath a bright sun.


It's been amazing working with him. I learned more stuff in the first day of class than I did in the two weeks of photojournalism we briefly covered in school last year. Not only does he, of course, know how to take great pictures, but he's explained a lot about the business aspect of photography too.


Morrow took journalism at SAIT in Calgary when he was younger and worked as photographer for a newspaper for a few years. It's been really encouraging talking to him because he has realistic, but positive advice for freelancing work, which is something I need to hear after all the gloom and doom I've been told thus far.



He's a great teacher and definitely passionate about what he does. I'm sorry it's only a week-long course.

1.05.2010

Fresh adventure

Though 365 days is a long time, it always amazes me how much I discover and achieve in a year.

I love trying new things and experiences. I wasn't disappointed this year...

I stopped for a moment and assessed the current state of my life.

If I had to describe how I felt at this current stage I'd say it feels like I'm...

Spinning...
Spinning...
Spinning...

Around...
And around...
And around...

in a centrifuge...

But it's a good feeling.

It's like when you were a kid on a merry-go-round and everything was whizzing past you; bright and dark colours blurred into a playful kaleidoscope.

There's fragmentation and separation, but at the same time things are finally coming together and settling.

I'm focusing more specifically on subjects and skills it's taken me many years pick out from amongst my many passing fancies. It's taken time to learn them, but I'm finally making progress.

New Years resolutions are passé, worn out, tired and not worth making...and so I don't.

I'm merely going to do as I always do...face each year with as much zeal as the the previous one hoping to experience as many things as I can in the following 365 days.

The bad moments put the shine in the good ones and so I'll take whatever is thrown my way. After all, it's all just part of the adventure...right?

1.04.2010

Picture perfect holiday

Twas a blissful month-long holiday break. So long, yet too short. Now I have to come down from my sugar high and fall back to reality.

There was lots of knitting...






Lots of tea was drunk...



Games were played...



Pins were knocked down...


Snowshoeing adventures were embarked upon...





And pictures were posed for...




Christmas break, please come again soon!

12.29.2009

Christmas delayed

Three more days until Christmas!

The holidays are just getting underway at our house; we're about one holiday behind.

This year, we agreed to wait to celebrate Christmas once everybody was able to come home.

My brother and his wife live in Saskatoon and are doctors. Recently graduated, they're at the bottom of the rung in terms of getting time off at Christmas, so they usually get New Years off instead; plus Anton will be coming on Thursday as well.

It will be fun having a full house again!

In other news, I always seem to pick up the knitting needles during winter break - I have to keep my hands busy with something. I get frustrated sporadically picking away at projects during other times of the year - when I have little spare time - so during the holidays I usually binge and knit like mad.

This past week I decided I wanted to try knitting socks, having gotten tired of the usual hat, scarf, dishcloth projects. I tend to be overly ambitious when it comes to a lot of projects and I'd originally wanted to do a pair of knee socks...

Mom suggested I just get a basic pair done and under my belt.

I complied.

...And tonight, I finished my first one! I have to say, I'm quite pleased with how it came out.


The darker colour is more of a charcoal/brown than the picture shows.


Now, to start and finish it's partner...

12.20.2009

A tangle of lights

A Christmas lights photoshoot with my cats and a few Christmas quotes I enjoy:

Oh look, yet another Christmas TV special! How touching to have the meaning of Christmas brought to us by cola, fast food, and beer.... Who'd have ever guessed that product consumption, popular entertainment, and spirituality would mix so harmoniously?
~Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes



And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.
~Dr. Seuss



I wish we could put up some of the Christmas spirit in jars and open a jar of it every month.
~Harlan Miller


Christmas in Bethlehem. The ancient dream: a cold, clear night made brilliant by a glorious star, the smell of incense, shepherds and wise men falling to their knees in adoration of the sweet baby, the incarnation of perfect love.
- Lucida Franks