DT13.2 Blogging Non-School Related Photos

Shoot Week included catching up on some wink eye. I slept in several mornings, even took some afternoon naps with The Pack. Here I had fallen asleep, then woke up, reached over and S-L-O-W-L-Y lifted my camera off the dresser with one hand, careful not to disturb The Pack. Initially the dogs stirred when the camera clicked but they soon began snoozing again. I was able to capture my husband snoozing with our dogs Einstein and Shadow.

We celebrated both my sister's birthday and our family Christmas dinner on Dec. 21. My sister brought over a bouquet of flowers which I placed on the table by the Christmas tree. The bowl of oranges is another holiday tradition we enjoy.

My sister also brought over a box of citrus fruit that had just arrived from Florida by courier. Our other two sisters always send us a box of fruit to share at Christmas. We look forward to this treat every year.

On Dec. 23 my husband and I drove to the Victoria Hospital to sit with our brother-in-law while my sister was having surgery; one day after her birthday, two days before Christmas. We visited her in the hospital every day until she returned home Dec. 28.

Christmas Eve I prepared a meal of twelve meatless dishes to celebrate my husband's Ukrainian heritage. We count twelve ingredients: fish, buckwheat cabbage rolls, tomato sauce, perogies, sour cream, wild cranberry sauce, onions, mushrooms, baked apples and ice-cream, bread and wine.

On Christmas morning my husband and I gave each other EXACTLY the same card, moments after we shared exactly the same thought ... each wondering if this was our tenth Christmas morning together. We then attended Christmas Mass together.

In the early evening we enjoyed the final two pieces of chocolate brandy cake from the family gathering.

On Christmas evening our furnace STOPPED. Luckily we have a company on contract. It took five attempts to contact the them; finally a groggy voice answered, resulting in a serviceman being dispatched. He arrived around midnight, found the problem and fixed the furnace.

On Boxing Day I thought about hitting the stores early, then turned over and slept in abit longer. We later ventured out to buy a few books and some music videos, then dropped in at friends for their annual Boxing Day party.

A few days earlier, on Christmas Eve morning, the phone rang. "Joyce?, Its Norma". Hearing that voice brought back childhood memories. "Yes, Norma," "Its been awhile, is everything okay?" "Mom died this morning" ... In this case, "mom" was Emma. Aunt Emma died on Christmas Eve. I attended Emma's funeral on Wednesday. I felt good paying final respects to an aunt that had given me such good childhood memories ... she hid Easter baskets for me ... took me to Assiniboine Park ... treated me to ice cream on a hot summer day.

Then there was the picture that didn't get taken. Just before Christmas one of my closest friends informed me that her mom, my ex-aunt, was terminal. I planned to bring her mom some flowers and tell her how much I appreciated her over the years. On the morning I was scheduled to visit, she was taken to the hospital. And so it went ... to the hospital, home again, back to the hospital, back home again, until she was admitted to the palative ward at Riverview. Family kept a round-the-clock vigil until she passed away New Years Eve. I had wanted to take a closeup photo of my friend holding her mother's hand ... just their hands.

Its Saturday morning, January 2nd ... exactly eight months until my husband and I celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary. I read the weekend edition of the local newspaper, which included an article on notable Manitobans who left us in 2009. Among them was a dear neighbour, Irene Grant. Each year my husband and I have enjoyed looking at a large Evergreen tree lite up on her riverside every Christmas. When Irene passed away just before Christmas we expected the tree to stop twinkling.

What a beautiful surprise to look out the window and enjoy the beauty of Irene Grant's tree again. Her daughter decided to keep the tradition alive with the help of a timer. What a joy!

The tree photo is part of another assignment but because it is image #11, I added it.

Now its back to class, new challenges, new group-mates, new skills to acquire. Let us all have a happy, healthy and successful 2010!

Karsh Exhibit

Image Link: www.flickr.com/photos/shelchen9210/3732831352

I selected the "Duke & Duchess of Windsor", taken in 1971, a year before the Duke's death. The Duchess later wrote to Karsh, telling him that that this photograph was the truest representation of the couple taken in their 34 years of marriage. I wonder if Karsh suggested to the Duke that he undo the top button of his suit jacket, symbolizing that the Duchess was the cause of his royal undoing. Or did Karsh burn-in the dark background to symbolize the dark past the couple wove together, casting them into the role of exiled "royal wanderers". Karsh was known as a Master of Light, having studying theatrical lighting at an early stage in his career. It looks like he created a dramatic back/side chiaroscuro effect to produce the sharp silhouette. He then burnt in the dark background to lose the stream of light, emphasing the silhouetted couple. They stand compositionally framed by a set of opened white doors, in front of the darkened background, perhaps symbolizing acceptance after exile. Here they are, turned towards each other, visably touching and supporting each other, she looking at him, he looking downward. They do not look outward, or want or expect the viewers acceptance or approval, as they have each other for support. They lived one of the biggest soap opera scripts at the time ... him, a young single heir to the throne, with three married mistresses; her, a once-divorced, married woman, romantically involved with the young heir. Once he became king, his royal duties fell by the wayside because he spent most his time with this married mistress. He historically abdicated his right to the throne, and finally married her, only to have them exiled and shunned by the royal family. Karsh framed his subjects within an open door The harsh light cast a heavy shadow across the front of the face of the Duchess, like she cast a shadow across the face of the monarchy? Karsh also used side lighting to add texture and drama. It would be delightful to research the background of each person Karsh photographed to discover the details of their lives captured within their image ... a photograph is worth a thousand words.

Colour in my Life

I chose Yellow because as a child, yellow was my favorite colour. That is why I set up a festive happy looking dish of ice-cream, trimmed with yellow candy, sitting on a yellow daisy background. Yellow is cheerful, happy, and festive.
When I chose Red I wanted to photograph a big red sporty Hummer. But when I drove down to the dealership where the Hummers used to sit, I realized their absence was because Hummer was recently sold overseas to China. So I located a big red powerful sports car to photograph. This car emits hot powerful Red exhaust! Okay, a bit of hot air, but Red is powerful! Next I chose Blue. I find water to be serene, calm and generally blue. I found this calmness outside my backdoor, down by the river behind my house. I just love the wilderness feeling I get when I walk down to the river, steps away from my computer, and the hustle and bustle of life. Then I chose Green, because it is so fresh and alive. The grass is green, trees are green ... trouble is we are into fall now, and evergreen scrubs are some of the few green things left until spring rolls around. I managed to locate a scrub green enough to photograph. For Harmonious Colour Relationship I chose a beautiful Yellow/Orange and Red sunset I captured off Waverly, behind the Humane Society Parking Lot, along a strip of hydro towers. It was rush hour and I had a hard time finding a parking spot in time to walk across the field in order to catch the sun just as it was setting. These warm colours blended so beautifully, so vibrantly, they made me feel so good that I was alive to witness their beauty! I chose Red and Green for my Complimentary Colour Relationship. The logo on the front of the nearby Canadian Tire Store reminded me of the red and green of the christmas season, sort of. The leaf comes from a tree and the logo looks like an inverted christmas tree. Besides, I like Christmas and I like Canadian Tire, so it works for me.

Walkabout

Earlier this week I agreed to volunteer photograph during a political fundraising dinner with hundreds of people packed into a ballroom to hear Micheal Ignatieff speak. They had arranged for a photographer to shoot during the dinner, which was good, because my husband and I were also paying guests. I'd be darned if I was going to let my pricey dinner get cold while I was shooting duplicates with a hired photographer. So I took shots at the Laurier Club reception prior to the dinner and during Micheal's walkabout, as he greeted supporters throughout the room. The walkabout was particularily challenging as I had to stay ahead, stay on the correct side of the supporters who collected into scrum-like groups, all waiting to shake hands and get their picture taken along side the Official Leader of the Opposition. The pace was very fast and I had numerious people try to stop me trying to find out where they could get a copy of their photograph. I told them, contact the provincial office or federal office for a copy. This was the first time I have shot my DSLR in automatic, with an external flash. I did so because I could not afford to be adjusting the setting as we meandered around the room at a fairly brisk pace. As a result I got a few dozen great shots, lots and lots of smiling faces and shaking hands in focus, and a couple of overly-exposed shots, where others were shooting flashes at the same time, resulting in images that were too bright to use. And then there were the shots I had to delete because of closed eyes or awkward expressions. All said and done, the experience was good, and I enjoyed the results.

Best to Forget

The morning after Remembrance Day I opened up the Winnipeg Free Press, and lo and behold, photographer Joe Bryksa had captured almost the identical image as I did of the roses at the Brookside Cemetery. I emailed him my images and in turn he replied with an invitation to accompany him on a shift. We selected today. I was to meet him at 9:30 am at the WFP offices. I got to the offices by the agreed upon time, informed the security desk that I had arrived, and was told Joe was not in. I then contacted Joe by cell phone, locating him at a homicide in Transcona. Apparently he had emailed me with a delay in plans to meet after I had checked for any emails earlier in the morning. Half an hour later I met him in a backlane near the suspected murder site. Joe invited me to take photographs, following the same guidelines that he and another photographer that had just arrived, had to adhere ... no crossing the yellow police line. I used my 75-300 zoom lenses @ 300mm, handheld at ISO200, f/5.6 @ 1/1000 sec. I was walking a few steps behind Joe, walking up to the other photographer, thinking to myself, "I had better get these settings right NOW, or else I would land up looking kind of studentish." It took about half a dozen instantanious attempts to get the right settings, as I was walking and clicking, then I got it, and was ready to shoot alongside the two news photographers.
Next we drove to another location to check out rumour that the TAC Squad (tactical squad) was still at a house in the north end of the city, but no squad in sight. Back to the office to check the command centre, where all notices come in and all assignments are assigned. Joe picked up some assignments for some images, we drove to St. Vital, took a shot of a house that had just been sold, for the Sunday housing section, then headed to South St. Vital to look for an extra image for the Sunday edition. As Joe was almost done his shift at this point, he was good enough to drop me off at my home before he headed back to the offices to retrieve his personal vehicle, and head home. And who was taking over the evening shift after Joe left for the day? None other, than a graduate of last year's PrairieView class. I also received an invitation to join him on another shift as well as sit in on an evening editing shift back at the offices. Both of which I plan to follow up on.

Lest We Forget

I attended the Remembrance Day Ceremony on Valour Road today. After the ceremony I drove to the Brookside Cemetery and walked along the rows upon rows of memorial headstones that mark the lives lived and lost by our Canadian soldiers. These people helped give us our future. The least we can do is to stop, remember and never forget.

CI Field Trip 1 To the Zoo

Today our group took a trip to the Winnipeg Zoo. I have not been there for years so it was pretty new to me. It was abit chilly so on went the layers. I walked around using my 75-300mm, then continued around again with my kit lenses, ending up in the tropical house. Had to wait awhile for the condensation to clear off the lenses, shot some pictures, then headed home and downloaded over a 100 images to my Picassa. I chose my personal favorite for this blog.