Approach with Caution

With a sudden illness in my extended family this past week, it got me thinking about how many of us have to deal with extreme stresses in our day-to-day lives. It affects our sleep, our ability to think clearly, our attitude toward others, our eating patterns, our psyche and ultimately our health.

One of the ways I cope with daily stress is to try to get a camera in my hand as much as possible. When I have a camera in my hand I become completely immersed to a point where I loose all track of time and space. Then I'm a pretty happy guy.

So if I don't have a camera in my hand - Approach with Caution. Just kidding of course.

Have a great Monday.

It's the Journey

I blog a lot about the Trans-Canada trail that runs through Stittsville (near Ottawa,Canada). Some of my favorite locations include Deadman's Creek and Rye's Grove. To get to some of these spots you have to get off the trail and head deep into the forest. I thought I would post a photo of one of the trail-heads. It doesn't look like much at first, but like many things in life, it's the journey - if you follow your heart it will take you to some amazing places.

Fall Garden Salads

Last Thursday's frost got my juices flowing enough to get me into the back-yard garden. At this time of year most of the plants have been put to bed, but many remain growing at very slow pace in hopes of out lasting the dark season.

What is spectacular about the plants that try to push deeper into the winter season, is the array of delicious color that their longevity has created. So enjoy some of the delectable images captured in my garden on a frosty morning last week.

Mother Nature Shares a Gift

Creative opportunities came my way yesterday morning when I woke up to find the ground blanketed with frost and a light fog in the air. So off I went and spent about 45 minutes walking through a field of dried wildflowers that had been kissed by frost.

Those of you that have been following this blog know that opportunities to make pictures have been infrequent of late. So to see the gift Mother Nature shared with me yesterday morning made my day, cleared my head, and made me 45 minutes late into work.

Dreaming of Hands

For many of us our hands are our conduit to creativity through activities such as photography, painting, sculpting, writing, drawing, etc. Hands appearing in dreams can be asking us to look at our creative instincts and follow them; or we may feel that we have not had the opportunity to devote enough time to artistic endeavors. The repeated appearance of hands and fingers in your dreams may be an indication of pent up artistic talent that is not being utilized.

If you are experiencing dreams in which there is always somebody reaching out to you with their hand, asking you to following them or wanting to provide assistance; it may be a sign that you are overwhelmed in your life and need help.

I can bet that if you are experiencing the latter it is likely your outlet for creativity is also compromised.

So next time your drift off to sleep pay attention to the symbols in your dreams. The presence of hands can be powerful indication of what is going on in your waking life.

P.S. Oh yes, if you haven't guessed by now, I'm seeing plenty of hands in my dreams.

Does a Project Approach to Photography Stifle Your Creativity

It's a good question. I currently have one photographic project on the "go". I do find myself focused on the objectives of that project such that I don't see other opportunities.

If I consider the volume of work that I produce today versus a time when my photography was not project based, I am not producing - plain and simple. I remember a time when I would simply photograph without any predetermined goal in mind. Projects were extracted from my work after the fact by observing themes in the work. The volume of work I produced was much larger and a smaller subset was extracted to create a body of work.

I think I was a happier photographer.

So is this something other photographers experience?

Posing for the Cause Calendar Launch

I had a chance to meet Gavin Murphy again at this past Friday's fundraiser calendar launch and of course pick-up my calendar "Posing for the Cause". The 2010 calendar launch took place at the Dale Smith Gallery, 137 Beechwood Avenue, in Ottawa. Also on display at the exhibit were five, 2 ft x 3 ft canvas prints of selected image that appear in the calendar. There are 17 pictures in total in the calendar, involving one cover shot, one for each month and four photos that make up a centerfold. Proceeds from the sale of the Calendar are donated to the Ottawa Chapter of Osteoporosis Canada.

Gavin is no stranger to charitable work, but this is his first calendar. He has done other photographic exhibits for charity before, including "Instant Portraits," and "Reel Women," which were to aid the Ottawa-based charity CanHave, which assists AIDS orphans in Uganda.

If you didn't get a chance to get to the launch and would love to get your hands on a calendar, copies of Murphy's calendar will also be available for sale at the Bone China Tea fundraising event on Sunday, November 1, at the Tudor Hall, 3750 North Bowesville Road in the south end, from 2 to 4 p.m. The event will feature guest speaker Luba Goy, star of the Royal Canadian Air Farce, with local TV personality J.J. Clarke as the master of ceremonies. For more details, please call 613-729-8489. Copies can also be picked up from the Ottawa Chapter of Osteoperosis Canada. The calendars are $20 each and all proceeds go to the Ottawa Chapter of Osteoperosis Canada.