A crop of a square format photo shot with my holga.
I think a parasol is essential to my survival during the summer weather. I can’t stand wearing a hat because it makes my head feel unbearably hot, and it wouldn’t protect the rest of me anyway. Sometimes I feel self-conscious when I’m walking around with my parasol because it’s a real eye-catcher, but the benefits of extra sun protection outweigh the drawbacks of attention.
Yippeee! Summer arrived in Vancouver this past weekend. Let’s hope it’s here to stay for awhile.
I had a really great long weekend. How was yours…?
I just started reading “The places that scare you: A guide to fearlessness in difficult times”, written by Pema Chodron, and found this wonderful quote from Albert Einstein:
A human being is part of the whole called by us “the universe”, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separate from the rest – a kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening the circle of understanding and compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty,
~ Albert Einstein
I’m hoping summer will be back REALLY soon, because I’m very tired of being cold and wet. I saw a glimmer of warmer weather yesterday evening, just as I was on the return trip from a bike ride around the seawall. I’d like some more of that, please….
Rare is the day I encounter giant inflatable gorillas in my day-to-day life, so what fun to find not one, but two on a recent daytrip to Seattle. I’m not sure how exactly these were supposed to assist in increasing car sales at the dealership they were positioned by, but they definitely got MY attention.
I’ve begun making a few small tests of photos on metal prints I’m hoping to have in a show later this year. The results look go so far, and I would post them but metal prints don’t seem to scan very well…
“The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude.”
– Friedrich Nietzsche
Speaking of gratitude, five things I am grateful for:
1. All the wonderful and generous friends I have in my life.
2. The emails I receive sometimes from people via flickr to let me know my photography is inspiring.
3. The sunshiny weather forecast for the next five days.
4. Meeting the many interesting people who contribute to Momentum Magazine at a brunch last Sunday.
5. Finding more wisteria vines than I previously knew about, growing in my neighbourhood. They are almost in full bloom!
I went to see Volver at the Hollywood Theatre yesterday evening, and really enjoyed it. I am behind on my movie viewing so thank goodness for living near a second-run theatre. I did go see Hot Fuzz on opening night a few weeks ago, but that kind of prompt movie attendance is a rarity for me these days.
My favorite scene in Volver was watching Penelope Cruz’s character sing her heart out at her daughter’s request. It was a song filled with passion and the regrets of life, taught to her by a mother she thinks is dead. I loved the scene because of the emotion it seemed to generate within her, bringing tears to her eyes.
I can’t remember if I have mentioned this already, but I have recently added more prints for sale in my etsy shop.
I’m hoping to upload more soon, once things settle down and I get the chance to scan my most recent holga photos.
A special thank you to Liz Shuman for blogging about my store on Abstract the Day earlier this week, and to Leslie Webster for the featured gallery of my work on Apartment Therapy: San Francisco today.
[Edit: I meant to add this to the entry earlier…]
There are two things you should check out this weekend if you live in the Vancouver area: Vancouver Moving Theatre’s production called “We’re all in this Together. The Shadows Project: Addiction and Recovery” ends on Sunday. The play is inspired by the ancient tradition of shadow theatre (see the photo on their website) using stories of the Downtown Eastside. It features a cast of thirty community actors performing as shadow-casters and musicians.
There is an open house at the Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society (O.W.L) this Saturday and Sunday. I learned about this organization, located in Delta, after reading Conversations with an Eagle by Brenda Cox. The book is her personal account of working closely with a Bald Eagle named Ichabod, during her years of volunteer work at O.W.L. The open house gives people the opportunity to see more of behind-the-scenes at the rehab centre than is normal. I would really love to go to this, but sadly can not make it this weekend.
I took this photo with my holga a few weeks ago on a trip to the Squamish area to go exploring with friends. It was a beautiful, peaceful day, with weather hot enough to make us wish for shorts and sandals to wear. It came very close to this type of weather again yesterday. Spring is here and summer isn’t far behind.
Yesterday I attended the Creative City Conversation, conference at the Vancouver Playhouse. The purpose was for “the City of Vancouver to gather information to develop a 10-year, long-term plan for arts and culture in Vancouver. Local, national and international speakers were invited to share their experience and stimulate discussion. It was free and open to the public.”
I want to write more about this experience at a later date, but for now let me leave you with a talk by Ken Robinson at the TED conference earlier this year. Mr. Robinson was the keynote speaker at Creative City and gave a very entertaining and inspiring speech very similar to the one for TED.
The above photo was taken with a holga, using studio strobes as the light source. The lovely Kirsti Wakelin is the model, and she is one of my favorite people to photograph. The holga I was using doesn’t have a hotshoe because it’s the type with a built in flash, so I was firing the strobes using my light meter as the trigger and set the camera shutter to bulb. Let’s here it for improvisation… 😉
I attended the Earth Day celebrations at Jericho Beach yesterday, and was interested to hear some of the history of the area. Jericho has been at various times the site of a native village, a whaling station, and an army base, and began as an estuary where three rivers met with the ocean. I was also excited to learn of the Jericho Beach stewardship program. They meet once a month to weed out invasive plant species and restore Jericho to it’s “natural” state.