I should really have cropped better of the negative than this. I have a nasty habit of that. That should be a plan for the new year too; I should properly present. I could clone out scanner lines or at least clean the scanner and scan again.

I read somewhere someone calling resolutions, suggestions. I like it.

Here's another photo from Bell Island. It's incredible there. The cliff is scary and wild and beautiful. I could live there easily. I would have been out there taking photos today, instead I cleaned and went to the gym and chilled. Today was foggy and mild, and a great time to take photos. I haven't had it in me since back from Newfoundland. I am hoping this weekend gives me a boost of inspiration.

Hey, the setting sun into the rockies sounds amazing, and I hope there are setting suns this weekend for myself. I hope there's snow and rock hard ice. I'm asking for a lot, but I want to snow shoe, and not just eat fabulous food and drink fantastic wine and champagne. Did I tell you there is going to Dom? I think champagne could be a top 5 favourite food/drink item. Coffee is most definitely first!

Paula, I am with you on these plans! A show ... East/West. Oh boy. I think this is where my editing skills need to be sharpened.

Scott is not the best matter, but I think the boy could learn. :) He's patient like that.

Here's a link I think you may like ...eye curious. Have you come across it? I just did, from my facebook page.

This week has gone by fast. I'd like a do over.

D

Donna - ME TOO! I should have rented - what was I thinking. I didn't think of it until I read your post! Next trip. We went out to the flat prairie to watch the sun settle in to the Rockies, and it would have been amazing to have photographed the wind and snow swirling around the mountains, or the long shadows cast by the setting sun against the small isolated clouds! Plans for the year - there are many. First - we need to have an exhibit - or a show. Second, I am going to get more proficient with editting and adjusting. Third - lighting, but in a way that it enable the expression of a vision and not simply for the sake of announcing the lighting. Fourth - one of us needs to learn to mat and frame images!

Today was a beautiful day and I feel slightly guilty that I didn't take advantage and go for a bike ride. If I were around where this photo was taken in St. Shott's, I'd be wandering the beach below. Before this photo was taken we came across a small herd of Caribou and I kicked myself for not renting a lens.

Merry Christmas Donna and the blog-beyond! The house here is just now filling with the first hints of stuffing-bound-for-the-oven. It could be any Christmas, here, really 1987 with its blue reebok running shoes, 1993 with its strange night shirts, or 1980 with its large Tonka truck... It has been a great year. Donna and I started the company, photographed some great weddings, learned and shot stuff we likely never thought we would, launched this blog, made a facebook page, and even waded into the fray of twitter. For 2012 - I've got plans, big plans, action plans, even, plans for me, plans for us, and even some plans for Donna! But I'll save those for a day when I am not distracted by the aroma of Mom's stuffing. Donna, have a great dinner, and hope Paddy brought some Tums for that stuffing of your Mudder's!

The last year I was here we saw a seal bopping along out in the wild water. It's always wild here, and the sound of the round churning rocks tell you it doesn't let up. When you walk up the path to get here there's a two story's worth of beach wood and rock that has been pushed there by the tide.

The cold water alone is enough to keep you from dipping in, but the tide is no joke.

Have a great day, Paula! I'll be off to eat dressing and a jigs dinner!

D

This was taken after a long walk back and forth into the woods to get to a remote area that isn't really so remote anymore. Bog bikes are making everything easier these days. Where once everyone had a horse to haul out wood or to drag supplies in to a cabin, these days bog bikes are the norm, and holy these bikes are expensive with hand warmer grips and everything.

We passed two of these bikes and one got some help from my brother when he lost his keys.

My grandfather made this walk more times than I ever will, and it was a sad thing to relocate the families, my families, into more populated areas. It wasn't that far in and there was a road. Then again he might never have met my grandmother, if things didn't go down they way they did.

I like the idea of rolling out plans for the new year, Paula! My first plan is to purchase a flash for the dslr and become a whiz. I was at the mall today. I know...craziness, but the camera store's system was down and nothing could be purchased; not even with cash! Too bad for them on such a busy freaking day. I'll go back during the week.

What about you Paula? What is a plan of yours? I've got more, and I think daily while I am not working, I'll roll them out. It is pretty fantastic being away from the office. AND my cold is diminishing. Tonight N&C are coming over to exchange gifts. Did I tell you I got him Clocky?

D

What the land lacks now in snow has certainly been made up for in wind, which in turn leads to a lack of people traipsing through. There is an isolation to this landscape that is mirrored in many of Donna's NL images, perhaps a joint show in the New Year. Why New Year capitalized, it is just a new year, not always an event. Why put some much pressure on the new year. I've got NEW YEAR plans and if Donna does as well, perhaps we can roll them out here.

Yesterday I went to Milk River Ridge which is tucked between the western slope of the most southern Canadian rockies, and the border with the Montana. This ridge escaped glaciation with the last ice age. We have always had abstract-y watercolours of the ridge in the house where I grew up, and often heard the stories of varied hunts up on the ridge. It was the most open of land I have ever experienced. More to follow, and impressions and thoughts will take time to simmer.

The thing I miss most about the prairies is the openness. The expansive sky makes space so palpable. It's huge and unobstructed, save for rhythmic punctuation of the power lines. We went out to watch the prairie wake up to the rising sun, instead we watched a storm roll in.

And so ends my blogging blackout. Aren't Donna's NL images amazing. She has such a profound sense of space coupled with a subtle delivery of that profoundness. I have gone to the penultimately opposite province for the holidays and will be blogging from the prairie-scape. My father and I went searching for geese today. I most certainly won't be blamming any of them, but I have an idea to do shoot the shooter, so to speak. We found some geese but it is some hard finding unobstructed prairie!

I've never seen Love Actually, and I'm sitting here watching, and thinking I have.

I still need to buy a dozen gifts.

I ate at a new restaurant tonight called "the works."

My camera bag hasn't moved in more than a month. I am hoping that the new camera coming next week will shake things up. I believe it will.

I have big plans this holiday. Yep, I'm going to clean the mudroom, the cupboards, and I am most certainly going to nap or at least sleep in. Oh, and I'm going to read books, and get my book list in order for the new year! Happy days!

Whenever I get "down home" sick, I flip through my photos on the laptop. It doesn't help the sickness in any way. It just makes me want to hop a plane and fly right back.

My uncle asked what was my favourite spot to visit. Of course he meant Nfld, and of course I knew, and of course there are many favourites, but I'd say if I could, I would love to spend a year in St. Shott's. I dare say I have a bit of an obsession with the place.

Speaking of my uncle, someone asked him about his trip out west to Alberta. My Aunt and he drove and they took in all the sights, and nothing was overlooked doing it. So this someone asked, so what was the best thing he saw. I'm sure this someone thought he would say Banff or the mountains or even returning easterly, Quebec. Quebec is beautiful, but no, my uncle said coming up over White's hill was the most beautiful sight. Goosebumps, I say. Tears, I say. Coming up over "White's hill" is a clear shot to my Uncle's. You know, he's right.

Paula, the second photo is from St. Shott's and the first from the house looking down to my Uncle's.

I don't know how I'm going to feel when I eventually spend summer days here again. Green fields? Bah!

I'm back. It's good to be, but looking at photos, who wants to be away from that. Those rolling hills of long brown grass that is soft enough to lie down upon and nap, are miss worthy.

There will be lots of processing of thoughts and photos to go through.

I think for the next assignment Donna and I should shoot the same subject - maybe at the same time, maybe on our own excursion. It will be interesting to appreciate how we see and photograph the same space. Photography is an easy product of who you are as a person, and from that, moreso a product of what has informed on the who and how of you. I love listening to people talk about their images; images I love, images I don't understand, and images I don't particularly care for. And that is my favourite part of doing these assignments, talking about the images - what worked, what didn't, what you learned... From this last assignment I learned that I often don't look for really ornate detailing, the tiny elements. The result of this is that I found it difficult to identify and shoot the narrative in these finer details. Interesting.

When Donna gets back from The Homeland, I think we will fast track this assignment. On that note, I cannot wait to see what Donna brings back, photographically, from her trip. I have a feeling it will be a great amount of feeling the landscape while she is out in the wet.

There's lots to tell you, Paula!

First, I am off to the homeland next week! I can hardly wait. I have my 3 star cameras ready to go. I bet you can guess which ones. I'm thinking I'll bring the great wall too.

I told Erich today that this is happening so soon into my obsession with spinning. How great is spinning? Today my legs hurt walking down stairs, and squatting to pet Jack, but wow I would be in worse shape, if I ran that hard.

exciting!

Here is an image that I learned something from, Paula. I actually have a quite a few that I learned something from, and only because of that water bottle cap on the ground. See that white round dot to the left?

I've always been a leave as is kind of girl, and capture things the way I see them on first encounter. Don't arrange. There is no rule, but in my head there is.

I have a moment where that changed. Paula, you took me to the boardwalk and then single handedly removed a large tree propped up against another tree. Removing that tree changed the view for "the photo" for, I bet, a lot of photographers. Why I didn't pick up that cap and just put it in my pocket, is beyond me. My next walk, I will find that tree and take that damn piece of plastic.

I got to know this tree, and then strangely pointed to another tree when we were walking away, and said that's my tree. I did realize right after that I was wrong. They were clearly different.

I'm looking forward to the next challenge!

Donna and I had a wonderful brunch at The Delhi Street Bistro which we followed up with an equally wonderful walk through the trails of Riverside Park. We each did a '100 shots of one subject' assignment. I had done this assignment before, with film, which presented as a completely different exercise. Having such easy access to the image really changed the way I shot this tree. The first thing I noticed is that I wasn't paying enough respect to exposure as a communicative tool within in an image. I found I didn't have to consciously think as much about exposure because I could see and appreciate the results right away. I'm talking about 'perfect' exposure, and well, I neither believe in, nor subscribe to, a notion of 'perfect', however, the play and effect of exposure wasn't as acutely present with digital. I am going to repeat this with a covered viewfinder and see if I can commune with a more intuitive sense of exposure. Donna and I know how a brain folder full of ideas and I can't wait to get at them.

P

Thanks Paula, for a great challenge.

This one was a pleasant surprise for me. I normally try and keep my shadow out of shots, but look at me. Creepy!

It's been a long time since I've used the lensbaby, and what a difference when it's on a great camera.

Thank you, Paula!

Those are great questions and they've made me think about the photos I take. I had a look through on flickr, and came out of the pile and chose this one. I've always liked this photo. I like the artists, Coco Rosie, and this song is heartbreaking.

Usually the the "graffiti" catches my eye first, and after that the whole scene. I suppose I do call it graffiti, but I don't think of them that way.

I like the unexpected in an environment, and that could be a twisted branch or a message. And while I would never dream of painting up a wall, and think often why, sometimes that stab of colour on an otherwise gray slab world is welcome.

I am extremely happy this week is over ish. How about you, Paula? Coffee this weekend? Photo taking?

D

Donna and I are going to roll out a new feature - Chats, or Donna : Paula convos, clearly this feature needs a name and Scott we will be looking at you. We both blogged for BlogGuelph for a few years and as such we are struggling to find our own blogging voices. Maybe we just need to blog more, maybe we need to prepare more, but we do want to get things really rolling here. Donna came up with a great idea, one that we will germinate now and see how it grows, and that idea is that we use our posts as a conversation. It would probably be great to start with one of Donna's images, but this one of mine is already here and I've started this post three times. So this is what I'd like to ask Donna, What is it with you and graffiti? You have such an amazing way of presenting the graffiti as it is enmeshed in the surroundings? Do you see the graffiti first, then the environment, do you see it all at once? What is it that draws you to graffiti, would you even call it graffiti? And what is your most favourite graffiti image you've made?
This already feels better!
P

, a photo by PaulaRussell on Flickr.

Donna has been a blogging machine. There is such an emotive element to Donna's images, those abandoned plates at the breakfast table just take me right back to our breakfast. I feel like a Donna post is building! I too am conflicted with Flickr, it just seems it needs a refresh, or I do. Onward, friends. Three or four times a semester I find myself invigilating exams, which can be a mind numbing experience; 30-1000 students, seated, sweating, farting, and writing the same exam. And while there is little action beyond a bathroom break or a dropped pencil, there is an amazing opportunity to really feel an enclosed space. I made a few images during a midterm last week and I am returning to this same room later in the week. Also, I'm reading a really good photo book, and some interesting photography articles which I will blog about shortly.

a photo by PaulaRussell on Flickr.

I've been moving away from flickr these days. I don't know what it is. I can't put my finger on it, but I don't have those warm fuzzy feelings for it anymore.

It ebbs and it flows, I suppose.

I have had a spat of bad luck with a few cameras. I jammed up one, and the lens of another seems mucked up, and to top it all off my light meter exploded. The great news is the jammed is unjammed after less than a week at the repair, and the meter is all fixed up. The lens of the Kiev is useable but annoying.

So everything is ready for a trip that might be on hold. Booooo.

I've decided to get all the negatives I have hanging around the house scanned and encased in plastic sleeves before I go.

This time around it's going to be cold. Today I bought a new pair of smart wool socks.

Untitled, a photo by PaulaRussell on Flickr.

I love the Arboretum at the University of Guelph. It is the first place I go when I get a new camera, or the leaves fall, or the fog rolls in. I particularly love Fall in the Arboretum, it has a different feel than early Spring, and I prefer the trees without their finery and the superficial hope that floats on warming weather. The trees are my absolute favs - strangely ordered and controlled, without the cement and boulevards of the city proper. Now that some action plans have been initiated to address September's stresses, it is time to get back to shooting. This photograph was part of an exercise I did with a few friends, 1 location - 1 hour - 100 images, and it was a profound learning experience. I think I'll repeat this experience with the 5D MKII.

I have found the perfect meal, and when I get like this, I could eat the same thing for weeks. The bean salads of two years ago comes to mind. I ate a bean salad every day for weeks. These days it's a tofu burger with blue cheese and oven roasted potatoes. The ketchup has a mix of rooster sauce. MMM. Delicious. Wash all that down with home made kombucha, and you've got a winner. Google how to make your own kombucha, and don't be put off by the gruesome photos of rubbery discs.

I am looking forward to the winter.

I took my time getting home today.

I've been thinking about this photo. I remember seeing the negative and scanning, but never looking at it after the scan. I've been wondering for weeks how things looked and then would move on to other things when I got to the laptop. Tonight's the night, I suppose.

I remember it was foggy and it took me about an hour to get to work. I biked down the hill in complete fog with my flashing lights, hoping everyone saw me, before turning off to bike by the river. I want another day like this day. I want another hour long bike ride for a 20 minute tops ride.