Cre8

Spring is Around the Corner

2012-03-09T07:54:00.001-06:00

I looked at the weather forecast for the next week or so and decided that I must do a springtime post! The temperatures are supposed to soar and I cannot wait!

Looking through my archives for just the right image that says "spring" I found this cheery tulip. Not only happy, it is also dramatic, which is what the change to next week's temps will be if in fact the forecast is right. The contrast in this image is just right for representing the change from this week's toques and toboggans to next week's sunglasses and spring jackets.

Playing in the Light

2012-03-07T15:09:00.001-06:00

There is so much play and movement in this image. The light swirls around the tulip and the tulip plays back. Happy interaction is caught with my lens, yet carries on, totally unaware of my intrusion. I intentionally chose to remove the colour as it was not important to this composition; it distracted.

NYC

2012-03-07T11:28:00.003-06:00

Rain first arrived in NYC and then we pulled in. We shared our day in the city with the drops and drips and took in the sights and sounds as best we could.

Originally I thought the pictures would be disappointing because the rain was. Seeing the haze and low lying clouds reminds me how it felt, jumping over puddles and sometimes into puddles. I remember buying four umbrellas as we stepped off our bus into the driving rain. I can almost see our tour guide holding her umbrella high so we could see where she was. Seeing Lady Liberty standing tall in the rain and wind somehow made her presence that much more impressive.

As it turns out the rain took nothing from our experience but only added to it.

Chicago

2012-03-06T19:47:00.001-06:00

Legs To Stand On

2012-03-05T19:31:00.003-06:00

Sometimes it may require thinking in a new way to see that we really do have legs to stand on. We can feel so boxed in and paralyzed by circumstances and situations. What if we saw things from a different perspective?

Here, I've turned a photo upside down, creating a completely different kind of image that reaches beyond the confines of what was.

Imagine

2012-03-05T09:40:00.000-06:00

Imagine the possibilities and promise in this day and beyond. Allow your heart to hope in what is true and sure and also unseen. There is more than what we see. The sky is not the limit. My friends, there is so much more.

This is a picture I took using a zoom effect in camera and also layering in processing. Both lend themselves to imagination and invite us to consider the possibilities and promise we do not see.

Winter's Woodlands

2012-03-04T14:01:00.000-06:00

In the Ditches

2012-03-03T14:38:00.000-06:00

Southern Manitoba was hit with a big snow storm yesterday. After cancelling our drive out to the Whiteshell yesterday we drove out today. Along the way we saw the eerie remains of the storm. Cars were in the ditches, buried deep. I sure hope those drivers and passengers didn't get hurt and were able to find warm shelter last night.

We didn't only see the storm's strength in the ditches. This fox sat right by its den and was in no hurry to have us see him enter his home. Enough was enough and after many pictures he dove into his fox hole and was gone. What a beautiful animal!

Spring

2012-03-02T10:31:00.000-06:00

Emerging from the cold and sometimes dark season of winter, spring waits on my doorstep. I've long thought that our seasons are quite distinct but I am beginning to learn that each of the seasons flow into another, sometimes with overlap and mingling lasting longer than a short while.

Today the snow is falling pretty heavy. We're not yet at spring but it is close. I certainly have the welcome mat out on my step. Inside I have a pot of beautiful tulips, given to me by a dear friend. I look at the tulips and see new life and hope...springtime.

Love, Unfailing

2012-02-27T11:03:00.002-06:00

Darkness falls but I am not alone.
Love, unfailing, draws me close.
So close, I no longer see the darkness.

Subject Matter

2012-02-27T08:19:00.000-06:00

The delicate petals are better seen in black and white photography. Though not the same image as the one in my previous post shown in colour, it was take during the same shoot. The light shone through the window and then through the petals, creating a translucency best seen stripped of all colour.

When shooting your subject, determine what in fact your subject is. In this post and the previous one, we might immediately say the subject is the flower. But is it?

Narcissus

2012-02-26T14:23:00.000-06:00

What Was

2012-02-25T09:07:00.001-06:00

The light is just right. Shining in and through this olive oil bottle, it highlights the dust that sticks to the inside of the glass. Some may have done their best to clean the bottle before the camera came out but that can wipe away the reminder of what was.

The oil in this bottle was used up. We can imagine all the different ways, including the sounds of chopping and dicing, sizzling and boiling. We can hear the laughter or maybe loneliness that may have surrounded this bottle. The dust shows time has passed and invites us to remember or imagine what was.

Familiar and New

2012-02-24T14:14:00.001-06:00

To keep our work fresh as photographers, it is good to challenge ourselves in new ways.

Today I wanted to capture something in my surroundings in a new way. This is indeed a challenge for me. I take many, many pictures. To think of a new way to take these pictures is often a reach for me.

I've taken many, many pictures of my daughter's piano. I've taken pictures of my daughter playing the piano and the piano at rest. Never have I taken an image quite like this one.

I'd like to put this challenge out to all you photogs out there. Look around you. Shoot an all too familiar subject in a whole new way. The results may surprise you.

Summer Day

2012-02-24T08:07:00.003-06:00

Ok, not today, but one day.

The Buddy System

2012-02-23T16:12:00.001-06:00

Everyone needs somebody. Side by each, we are stronger.

Life

2012-02-23T11:39:00.000-06:00

Life is marked with suffering and sunshine, both. There is chaos and also calm, dreams and sometimes dread. Life is not one or the other. I wonder if how we walk through the days that have more suffering and chaos determines our ability to see the sunshine and feel the calm.

Romance Remembered

2012-02-21T13:08:00.000-06:00

Remaining Walls

2012-02-19T19:49:00.001-06:00

I've had the incredible opportunity to see many old abandoned homesteads this winter as we've travelled to and from a camp where our daughter is staying. I'm trying to figure out what draws me to these places. Maybe it is that they mark a time in history. Maybe it is the stories that are held inside the remaining walls. Maybe it is the textures found in the decaying wood or shingles.

Whatever it is, I am happy to share some of the images I've captured with you and invite you to imagine along with me, what these walls might hold for you.

Bunches of Birch

2012-02-18T15:30:00.002-06:00

This forest of birch trees seems to me it could go on forever. I love that there are many of the same, but not identical. No two are alike, though for some you might have to look pretty close to tell.

Roses

2012-02-17T16:41:00.002-06:00

Seeing

2012-02-17T10:16:00.001-06:00

Sometimes we need to see things from a different perspective to see things at all. Here is a good example. The gaps between the bricks on a wall are home to sprouts of moss. Looking straight on, it looks like green grout and the assumption is made that mossy mounds fill the valleys. On closer inspection, they are not mounds at all. The sprouts reach further than we think. We see each one growing and reaching, instead of just as a mound or mass of, well, green.

Perhaps we can learn a thing or two from this. When we see groups of people do we make certain assumptions that stop us from looking closer to see the individuals? Or do we notice that each one is growing and reaching and living? They are not just one thing. They are not just green.

Morning Reflection

2012-02-16T10:30:00.000-06:00

After my morning coffee and reading, I noticed the light and reflection on my dining table. I grabbed my camera and took a bunch of pictures. Initially, what caught my eye was the golden hue of the sun on the paper's edges. I shot accordingly but when I loaded the files onto my computer, I thought twice and instead chose to process this as a black and white image. The textures and lines are accentuated when the colour is pulled.

Blur is Not Always Bad

2012-02-15T13:44:00.000-06:00

Blur is not always bad. Here it invites the viewer to feel the wind and freedom of flight. The delicate etchings of the feathers are not lost to the wind; they are remarkably present. We feel the movement and see what moves, both. Contrasting the solid and still perch with the blur that fills the frame is an effective way to draw attention to the subject.

List of Three

2012-02-14T10:19:00.003-06:00

I have been making lists of three lately, three things I am thankful for. Oh there are many more things that I can be thankful for each day but focusing in on three each morning has helped me in the area of gratitude.

Today, on this Valentine's Day, my list of three does have to do with faithfulness and love. Here it is:

1. God's faithfulness

Your love, oh LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.

Psalm 36:5

2. My Father's Love

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow - not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below - indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39

3. My husband, Rod, and his love, patience and kindness.

Love is patient, love is kind...

1 Corinthians 13:4

Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.

James 1:17

Stacks of Colour

2012-02-13T15:19:00.000-06:00

If I can't have these in my own cupboards I'll do the next best thing and have photos of them, maybe on my kitchen walls. I love the eclectic mix of colours in these dishes. The "odd one out" third from the bottom is just the right spot of white in the stack of colour. These are interesting and exciting. The contrasting and complimentary colours remind me of the different spices and flavours found in cooking.

Look. Look Again.

2012-02-13T11:18:00.001-06:00

Look. Look again.

So often we pass by the worn without a sideways glance. When we look and look again we see what it is and also what it might have been at one time. We make room for stories and people who have gone before us...or are beside us. In our pause, we remember and in our regard we acknowledge importance and value.

Maybe it is an old building that we've driven by countless times. Or maybe it is a person, worn and weathered, but with a present and a past. If we stop and look and look again, I wonder how the future might be shaped.

Cold Captures

2012-02-11T13:47:00.000-06:00

Oh my goodness - it is cold outside! I wandered downtown this morning and early afternoon, taking a few pictures of vintage billboards and older buildings. It didn't take long for me to realize a hat would have been smart! I pressed on...then saw another billboard and went further...then saw another billboard and went further still until my fingers and ears could no longer take the cold.

I'll share a couple of pictures with you now.

Retro Ride

2012-02-11T08:10:00.000-06:00

Come with me to a gentler time.
Bicycles and baskets, soda pops and swing bands.

As you may have noticed I am going through my images and also taking photos that bring me to another time, another place. Seeing places or things can immediately retrieve experiences from our archives and parade them through our mind's eye. They can also conjure up delightful imaginative stories of what it might have been to experience another time.

Crackle and Tin

2012-02-11T07:36:00.001-06:00

Look for the Surprise

2012-02-10T13:50:00.001-06:00

One of the reasons I took this shot was because I loved how the new and the old were side by each. Old bike frames and one new seat...old building and the one new seat. The seat was a bit of a surprise yet it worked.

Look for the unusual. Look for the surprise. It makes for some interesting photography. This image shows me that both can be together, new and old, side by each, in a picture and in life.

Photographing Wildlife

2012-02-10T12:05:00.000-06:00

My head is in summer right now as you can tell from these couple of posts. How I would love to be outside watching these young ones as they watch me and the world around them.

The key to photographing wildlife is using a good zoom or telephoto lens. You want to be able to get as close as you can, to see their eyes...and maybe their eyelashes too. Move in as close as you are able to without scaring the wildlife away and then move in closer with your lens. Patience is a must. Wait. Watch. Follow their lead for they too are waiting and watching. If you are patient and gentle, they may allow you into their world for a moment.

Pathway to Summer

2012-02-10T11:41:00.000-06:00

On this cold winter day, I look at this picture and it invites me to summer. The pathway present by way of lines and form welcomes me with open arms and moves me forward into these sunny skies and warmer temperatures.

This is one of the many things I love about photography. It invites me to another place for a time, a place in my memory or on my bucket list for that matter.

Translucent

2012-02-09T19:53:00.001-06:00

Good Read

2012-02-09T15:34:00.003-06:00

Memories

2012-02-09T09:52:00.001-06:00

A picture can be worth a thousand words and maybe a memory or two as well.

A pencil sharpener is not very beautiful nor is it ugly. So what is it about this that made you look or keeps you here? It is exactly the type of object that many of us have used. We can remember standing in front of this sharpening our pencils for a spelling test in grade school or to finish a sketch in art class. We can hear the sharpener grind the orange painted wood away. We can smell the shavings and lead. We can see ourselves emptying the canister into the metal waste can. It is just one simple object that quickly places us back in specific places and times.

If you were to choose one object that would reach into many people's memory banks, what would it be?

Tired Tulip

2012-02-07T11:43:00.001-06:00

This tired tulip is still capable of warming the hearts of those who behold her beauty. Though her days are nearing their end, she still gives. The warm glow that passes through her engages and invites me to sit and bask for a little while. And so I do. Maybe when I get up to leave I will be kinder and gentler after having my spirit soothed and nourished for a time. Light has a way of doing that.

Unlikely Pieces

2012-02-06T14:33:00.003-06:00

This seems like such a gentle story-book picture. What is a surprise to me is how well the debris is camouflaged amongst the snow and grasses. Behind this tree lies a junk yard of sorts. Strewn about are metal scraps and tires.

Had I taken the time to move these things out of my composition (and I wouldn't) something would surely be missing from the picture. It would not be as beautiful minus the darker hues and shapes. Some of the rocks would remain but it still wouldn't be the same picture. Sometimes the most unlikely pieces are necessary to the whole.

Colour Burst

2012-02-06T11:01:00.002-06:00

As beautiful as this season is, I feel I could use a burst of colour this morning and here it is.

Winter's Beach

2012-02-06T06:46:00.000-06:00

Looking for the unusual often brings me the image. Here we have two pictures of a frozen lake with a frosted line of trees in the background. Winter. Winter with a sailboat. Beached, of course, but even so, a sailboat. In the second picture, the sailboat is missing but the tree in the foreground can easily be replaced in my mind's eye by a palm tree, like those snapshots often taken on hot getaway vacations.

How quickly I drift between quiet winter afternoons and calm summer days. My vessel through these seasons is the sailboat.

Frosting

2012-02-05T14:50:00.000-06:00

Exceptional Hoarfrost

2012-02-04T22:07:00.000-06:00

We've had frost and fog for a few days now but today was an exceptional one where these were concerned! When the sun came out this afternoon to play with the frost I was in the right place at the right time. I will share one of my shots now with promise of more to come once I've had some time to go through my images from this day.

Through

2012-02-03T19:54:00.001-06:00

Forward in the Fog

2012-02-03T10:12:00.000-06:00

The little one leans forward, close, touching, as the bigger one presses forward in the fog.

Day or night...

2012-02-03T06:37:00.000-06:00

...the hoarfrost remains.

Bent and Beautiful

2012-02-02T18:45:00.004-06:00

Photographing a Winter Wonderland

2012-02-02T16:53:00.000-06:00

These last couple of days of mild weather and early morning fog have gifted us with beautiful hoarfrost that lasts well into the afternoon. To be able to walk out my door and out on the trail into this wonderland has been such a blessing. Seeing things anew inspires creativity and opens the world up in a whole new way, at least for a time.

When heading out with your camera into a largely white landscape, remember the tip "push the whites to the right" when viewing your histogram (just don't go off the graph). The camera will be fooled into thinking an underexposed image is a proper exposure. Compensating for this is necessary to avoid an image that is grey and dark.

Winter in Winnipeg

2012-02-01T12:30:00.000-06:00

The branches from one side of the street reach across to touch those on the other side, much like neighbors' hands do on milder summer days. It is as though there is chatter amongst the treetops while they enjoy their time, their days. In a matter of weeks, the branches' chatter will start to recede while the leaves' voices will grow louder in the springtime winds. They have today.

Canadian Mint

2012-02-01T08:42:00.001-06:00

Tango and Flame

2012-01-31T14:20:00.000-06:00

Pews

2012-01-30T08:19:00.004-06:00

Our church will be switching from pews to chairs sometime down the line. Though I will be quite happy to sit on a cushioned chair, there is something about a row of pews that is quite beautiful and calls me to quiet.

Shifting my bottom from a pew to a chair, I imagine there will still be something that calls me to quiet. Maybe it is not the pews at all...

Garden's Bokeh

2012-01-29T14:28:00.000-06:00

What can be better than a sweet offering of a bouquet? Perhaps the sweet presence of a garden's bokeh. We arrived at this garden when the light was fading. I felt as though my opportunity for good captures was fleeting. As it turns out the light was really quite magical as it caressed the blooms just lightly and then danced in the background with the bokeh.

I will remember this. When I feel I've arrived too late, there may well be something more special that is waiting to be seen. Opportunities missed may actually be new opportunities in disguise.

But is it art?

2012-01-29T08:27:00.003-06:00

Why, yes. Yes it is!

Winnipeg's Exchange

2012-01-28T17:19:00.001-06:00

I got to hang out for a bit this afternoon in Winnipeg's fabulous Exchange District. I love the atmosphere, the architecture and the art that surrounds me in this community. Here are just a couple of snapshots of some aging architecture coated with colour.

Side by Each

2012-01-28T12:56:00.000-06:00

Two worlds side by each...real life and fashion advertisements. As we become more and more consumed with perceived fashion ideals, do we not actually lose focus on what matters? Does our life view become distorted and skewed?

Cityscapes

2012-01-28T07:53:00.000-06:00

I've started a Cityscapes series. This is a shot I took back in August of 2011 that I will add to this collection.

Calgary, Alberta

Standing Firm

2012-01-28T07:24:00.000-06:00

Rolling Hills

2012-01-27T14:36:00.002-06:00

It Reaches

2012-01-27T12:26:00.000-06:00

Sights and Sounds

2012-01-27T11:41:00.002-06:00

Autumn's colours have faded into winter. I am still warmed when I look back at pictures I took in fall. It is interesting how our minds can hear the sights and see the sounds and even smell the scents of somewhere other than where we are present.

Even now I can hear the crunch under my feet. I can smell the heat from the farmer's fields as stubble goes up in smoke and I can also watch as the leaves lose their summer's grip.

How good it is to remember.

Seen Better Days

2012-01-27T11:13:00.001-06:00

Stuartburn, Manitoba

Playing with Light

2012-01-26T15:05:00.002-06:00

There is little I'd like to do less than spending the day working on accounting and data entry. Because there is little I'd like to do less, I do not do this as often as I really should. Today was the day to get down to some of this work.

My reward was twofold. I got a bunch done that is no longer still ahead of me to do and at the end of it all I stopped to play with the light.

Ice Flows

2012-01-26T10:22:00.000-06:00

Today's mild weather sure makes my thoughts turn to spring. In this image, taken in the spring of 2010, the broken ice flows collect at the Louise Bridge on the Red River in Winnipeg.

Sunshine Outside then In

2012-01-25T14:33:00.000-06:00

It is a mild winter day here on this patch of the Canadian prairies. I geared up and hit the trail this morning before the sun would hide and the winds would blow hard.

Sheltered from the gusty winds, I found some sunshine indoors this afternoon.

Keep On

2012-01-25T08:38:00.001-06:00

Sometimes the steps are hard and we cannot see the end.

Keep on.

Sometimes the steps are rough and we do not feel the strength.

Keep on.

Not being able to see the end does not mean it is not there.

Keep on.

Not being able to feel the strength does not mean it is gone.

Keep on.

Uniformity

2012-01-24T11:02:00.002-06:00

Final Bow

2012-01-24T08:46:00.002-06:00

Pages of Love

2012-01-22T14:01:00.000-06:00

At the center of this book is love. It is written on the pages and in the pages and eventually it is written on the hearts of those who read it and lose themselves in it. Once there, it is written on their own pages of their own stories.

Each of us, we all have our own stories with our own pages. Is love central to yours?

This is another example of when I've chosen to use added layers with my photography during processing. Choosing textures and lines and a slight TTV border adds to the sense of wonder. It invites the viewer to imagine and consider what this story is and also how their own story would read once this one was experienced.

Planet of the Arts

2012-01-21T09:58:00.001-06:00

My son, Ryan, has had the wonderful opportunity of being a part of Artbeat for the past 6 months. Yesterday evening Artbeat held their 7th anniversary opening reception of an art show, this one called Planet of the Arts. Together with other artists, Ryan showed his work created over the past half year (acrylics, sketches and some sculpting pieces).

It was a wonderful evening, so full of hope and beauty.

Ryan's work

Ryan interacting with friends and supporters

I loved watching people study Ryan's work!

Live Bluegrass music filled out the evening

Father and son reflecting on the show

Curves

2012-01-20T13:14:00.000-06:00

When composing and processing your images try to remove anything that distracts from your subject. Pulling out the colours from this image during processing removes their distraction from the subject of the beautiful form and lines in this tulip.

Choose your orientation to make the most out of your composition. Shooting this tulip in landscape instead of portrait accentuates the difference between the long and gentle curve belonging to the stem and the more dramatic curves found in the petals.

Be kind to your subjects. Let them show you what or who they are and then show the rest of us in your compositions.

Just a Sliver

2012-01-20T08:19:00.000-06:00

Pure Delight

2012-01-19T16:07:00.002-06:00

Heart of the Image

2012-01-19T12:40:00.000-06:00

I have found over the years that it is often better for me to photograph part of the subject in order to show more of the subject. Capturing the tulip's play with light and shadow does more for the composition and revelation than including everything from the tips to the cut stems. The heart of the image, just like the heart of me or you for that matter, is not so easily seen from a distance.

I try to find out why I am drawn to the subject. There is usually something specific that catches my interest. Without even knowing what that is at first, though knowing there is something, I begin to engage with the subject by way of my lens. Looking and seeing, bending and moving, I explore and see what it is that draws me. More often than not, after some time, I find it.

Undone

2012-01-18T14:34:00.000-06:00

Feelings can be unreliable indicators of how things really are. They can also be just as unreliable as predictors of how things will be.

Choose faith; it is not a feeling.

One

2012-01-18T13:56:00.001-06:00

Flame Throwers

2012-01-18T06:32:00.000-06:00

Castles in the Sky

2012-01-17T18:39:00.000-06:00

Love's Promise

2012-01-17T15:08:00.001-06:00

Here is a great idea for a wedding or engagement shot. Placing The Ring in the fold or hinge of a book with a light source coming from behind and above will cast a shadow in the shape of a heart on the pages in front of it. Be sure to use a book that is meaningful to the bride or bridal couple. In this case I used Breakfast at Tiffany's, a favorite of the bride, my niece.

From here you can play around with the image in processing, making it a unique and beautiful photograph.

Gentle Moon

2012-01-17T09:00:00.001-06:00

At one point, I was a purist, never dipping into layers or photo editing except for the bare minimum required when shooting in RAW. I have since found layers and increased editing to be advantageous in rounding out the experience of some of my photographs.

Using layers in image processing can add interest and emotion to your images. Here, I've used a texture overlay to add to the softness, presenting to you more fully how I experienced the moon that morning. It was so lovely, so soft and dreamy too. Watching it in the sky, all was calm. Apart from the layer, this did not present itself satisfactorily to me.

Seeing Woodlands

2012-01-16T13:22:00.001-06:00

Was something there for me to see? Indeed there was.

The trunks' strong lines, the branches' chaos, the grasses' softness and the bark's boldness...these are what drew me to get out of my jeep to take a closer look...not their separateness from one another but rather their togetherness in their differences.

Now my eyes seem to dance around the image but not because there is no place to land but rather the movement is the vehicle for my seeing. Locked on one thing, one branch, one trunk, one blade of grass, I would miss what is really to be seen.

Fenced in or out?

2012-01-16T12:55:00.002-06:00

Stained Glass

2012-01-14T20:08:00.001-06:00

We drove out of the city yesterday to a funeral in a small town, a small town where my husband once lived as a young boy. We had driven the drive more than a few times but not for awhile. Interesting how, like touch, sight can also open wide the doors to memories.

And memories came as we drove past farmyards where my husband once walked, a club where music once played and skirts swung as the sounds drifted across the road into the window of the room where the young boys were slowly falling asleep, a bridge beneath which my husband and other boys would go and hang out, a graveyard where we've stood more than once to bury loved ones and finally the church where another loved one was being remembered and mourned.

Like pieces of stained glass, memories come together in a seemingly random way but all fit together quite beautifully. Worn and weathered, not perfect and flawless, the pieces of this stained glass window fit together quite beautifully indeed.

What images have you taken or left uncaptured that bring back memories for you?

Moonscape

2012-01-14T10:44:00.003-06:00

Let your imagination soar.

There is something about the moon that frees our minds to wander...to other places...other times...imaginary or real...

Maybe it is because the moon is so very big yet to most of us, altogether untouchable and mostly unsearchable. We can only see it from a distance and are left to accept that which we see as all or consider that there may be more...more to this life...more to our existence...more...

Photographing the moon invites me to more.

Hush

2012-01-14T09:36:00.001-06:00

Tenderness

2012-01-13T14:44:00.000-06:00

Trees

2012-01-13T12:16:00.001-06:00

Happy trees full of life, love and colour!

Touch

2012-01-13T07:02:00.002-06:00

Her cane enters first, then she. Already cloudy eyes begin to fill with memories. She crosses the room then stops.

A single tear finds it first. Gnarled and knotted, her finger slowly follows to wipe the drop then pulls back suddenly. Eyes now closed, she remembers it all.

The use of creative processing in my images, sometimes subtle, occasionally dramatic, allows me to go further with inspiration into imagination than I would otherwise. Even now, as I look at this image, my wonderings go further into the imaginary woman's life, remembering along with her the grand performances with nimble fingers and amazing skills. How I wish to have known her.

Light

2012-01-12T20:02:00.003-06:00

Your Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light to my path.

Psalm 119:105

Piano Play

2012-01-12T15:33:00.003-06:00

Shooting through glassware...interesting result.

Anchored and Docked

2012-01-12T12:04:00.000-06:00

Beauty in Brokenness

2012-01-12T08:30:00.001-06:00

The daisy, facing down with a broken stem, need not be only sad. Sometimes, the broken can be beautiful.

In my photography, I look for these kinds of things. As I've shared before, I look for beauty in the ordinary but I also look for beauty in brokenness. It is here I see some of the most evocative beauty, sights that reach deep inside of me and remind me that in our brokenness and woundedness there is great potential for the beauty of humility and then healing.

Here, the daisy, both ordinary and wounded, is beautiful. She shines in her brokenness.

Set Apart

2012-01-11T13:57:00.001-06:00

I love this little cluster of trees. Set apart from the rest, these three stand strong together. Though wind has them weathered, their colours remain and are brighter than the masses'.

Another Plane

2012-01-11T07:49:00.000-06:00

Colours

2012-01-10T10:15:00.002-06:00

If colours were seeds these might be their blooms.

Though our weather is anything but typical for January, the landscape is still often presented in shades of grey. Eager for a burst of colour, I return to images from another time. True to their nature, these tulips' colours cheer my soul this morning.

It is good to return to our image archives from time to time, to revisit what we've seen and experienced. To remain there would rob us of today's captures, but a visit? Sometimes a visit to the past is exactly what inspires our future.

By the Light of the Moon

2012-01-10T06:28:00.002-06:00

I Remember Winter

2012-01-09T19:09:00.001-06:00

Steel's Tears

2012-01-09T07:57:00.001-06:00

Even the strong shed tears.

In this macro photo, I've selected a depth of field to draw attention to a single tear. Though singular on the link, we see there are more drops on the links previous and following. Bokeh shows us this is so in a gentle haze of light and form.

Forgetting the sorrows of the past in a way that softens their sting while keeping their wisdom, and reaching towards the future, without knowing what sorrows or joys may still come is how I want to live my life. Trusting that future's sorrows (or today's) will not break me but rather make me stronger is how I choose to live my life.

The strength that has no beginning and no end is not my own by origin but rather mine by grace.

Dream

2012-01-08T16:36:00.001-06:00

Shoot the Moon

2012-01-08T07:04:00.002-06:00

The moon, it is lovely this morning.

I grabbed my camera and tripod and headed out onto my snow topped patio. All was quiet except for the crunch beneath my feet. I noticed how mild it was. Still in my pj's and bathrobe, I was quite comfortable. How unusual for January in the prairies.

I mounted my camera to my tripod and set my shutter to fire fairly quickly. Contrary to my impulse for shooting in the dark, I did not open my aperture as wide as it could go. The moon is bright, no need. Use this opportunity to gain speed. The moon does not stand still.

Each time I shoot the moon, my images seem unique to the night or morning they are taken. Sometimes the shots turn out well and other times not so well. Each shoot is valuable. Each shoot teaches.

Artbeat

2012-01-07T10:34:00.001-06:00

My son, Ryan, has been with Artbeat Studios as an artist for about 6 months now. His time with this studio is almost up. This term's artists will be hosting a closing art show from January 20 - 28, 2012.

Artbeat has been a tremendous program and opportunity for growth and healing for Ryan and I imagine for the other artists who have been fortunate to be part of it. If you'd like to learn more about Artbeat go here.

If you're in the area, do stop by the show. Opening reception is Friday, January 20 at 7 pm. The address is 4th flr - 62 Albert Street, Winnipeg.