Scuffles

Angie indicated these scuffles are as simple as it gets to make, but they are one of the favourite things I have tasted this year. You cannot go wrong with cinnamon and sugar.

Scuffles 2 by Jay Scott

As usual, my mother brought a lovely spread of baking with them for their visit this weekend. I will see if I have time to get some photographed before it mysteriously disappears. I say "if I get time" because this week is very full with one shoot planned, five or six social events then just a few days and it is Christmas.

Tomorrow I plan to join the 21st century by spending some Christmas money on a smart phone. I may be crazy for going to Costco this close to Christmas, but here's hoping I'm in, have the phone, and am the first one through the checkout.

Scuffles 1 by Jay Scott

With that, in case I do not have anything more before Christmas, I wish you a Merry Christmas, blessed holiday season and a Happy New year!

Rob, Brenda, Matthew and Danica - 2

The day before our shoot we scouted the area for a wheel instead of watching the same walls go by fifteen times at the track. The maintenance staff had emptied the pond. I thought my reflection shot planned for tomorrow was gone. We stopped to talk to them and they told us they were just cleaning it and it would be refilled by the end of the day. Besides that it had to be filled for it to be a skating rink in the winter.

Regardless, the water was not yet settled by the next day and the light just wouldn't work for a reflected shot so I tightened up the frame to make the shot below.

Such a nice family to work with, full of willingness and ideas to add to my own.

I hope to work with them again and look forward to getting back to Innovation Place  now that I have so many more great spots to use.

Rob, Brenda, Matthew and Danica - 1

With the switch being flipped that seemed to turn summer to autumn and the second flipping autumn to winter, it seemed like an opportune time to share the results of our last family session this autumn.

Word of mouth is the best and most affordable form of advertising for so many businesses. When someone vouches for you it is the highest compliment. Paul was that referrer and that is how this session came to be. I had done portraits of Paul and Rob for Federal Medical, but commercial is a different style of photography than location shoots with multiple people.

Since Innovation Place worked so well just a few weeks ago and since I had a number of great spots we didn't get to take advantage of the last time, as well as some newly discovered spots, it was a natural choice.

The raised patio from below gave us the vines on which grew some of my favourite flower snapshots, the morning glories. 

The other location I was excited to try was first seen in this post, the nook with the reflections from the gold windows. Danica's face was just radiant in those mixed lights. I grabbed one shot with her reflection in the windows, but an imperfect angle combined with being in a wheelchair on a significant slope made it less than perfect. This portrait turned out nicely.

Matthew helped his sister climb up this tree. They always say you shouldn't ask your subject to do something you wouldn't do yourself. I wouldn't have asked, they suggested climbing up there. I just shot.

Matthew had already crossed the stream but the gap was a bit too big and the rocks unsteady so we suggested they stay on the side with the walking path and little chance of having a very cold bath.

More on Monday.

Approaching Winter

From our walk in the park with the dogs at Thanksgiving.

Paul, Barb, Emma and Olivia at Innovation Place

The more times you visit a location the more you find ways to use it. Innovation Place is not a difficult place to work at, but part of the challenge is making it less obvious of where you are shooting. This is made more difficult when both the photographer and one of the people you are working with are using wheelchairs.

There weren't many photos off the beaten path this day, but that is just fine. Those are the times you take the surroundings and go with it.

Paul and I have been friends for a long time but only in the last few years have we spent regular time together, much of it exercising together. During that time it has been nice to get to know the rest of his family better. As his daughters have come to know me better it only increases the comfort level and makes for better photos.

I was simply impressed with the girls' attention spans and patience. They had returned just an hour earlier from their aunt and uncle's farm, not having normal sleep being in beds other than their own, but they were great the whole time.

Emma has been exploring making time lapse and stop motion videos and showing excellent skill for such an early stage. I've been helping her how I can and look forward to watching her skill grow. She also has had shown and interest in modelling. For her age she really has posing figured out. I will be happy to keep working with her if she pursues it.

It was a great day together finished off by lunch back at their home. Quality time and enjoyable company on a nice late summer Saturday morning.

Fruits of Labour

Last year she learned to knit and has learned some serious techniques. This year Angie has decided that our fully loaded Thunderchild Crab Apple tree couldn't go to waste. We knew by the ample blooms in the spring that there would be plenty of fruit.

Forestry Farm Thunderchild Crab Apple - 1 by Jay Scott

So she picked about 25 pounds of apples and brewed up a few batches of juice, the straining aided by a few jelly bags suspended from a light stand and my boom arm. The results are very tasty and now we have the supplies to can more food in the future.

Crab Apple Jelly by Jay Scott

Hot Racks Granola Bar

My sweet tooth flared up as predictably as the sunrise the other day so I swung by Hot Racks for not just one, but two treats. I had to grab one of their perfect cinnamon buns but also a granola bar.

Fresh, dense, chewy, sweet with just a hint of saltiness in the pumpkin seeds. It won't be my last.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Innovation Place Before Autumn - 2

You likely saw the Morning Glory from my Friday evening post. I thought I would pull back and catch two of them in one frame.

 The ladybugs certainly flourished this spring, then disappeared and have now returned in numbers again. I wonder if the temperature has anything to do with it.

Normally I would not pick flowers, but I couldn't get close enough to these to get a good shot, and it's the end of the season, so in the interest of art, I picked one to shoot. The softness of these little red caterpillar-like blooms was just like fur. Reminded me of cotton candy. I'm pretty certain that these are perennials so I will make sure to get back to this spot next year.

Innovation Place Before Autumn - 1

The days are getting shorter and before long we will begin questioning that alarm in the morning. "How can that be right? It's still dark out."

But we aren't there yet. Yes, a few trees are beginning to drop leaves and the remaining flowers are all that will be for this year. The chill in the air is noticeable, even in the still warm sunlight, and that sunlight is coming from a much lower in the sky orb.

It's a new season, though, and the return to routine has its goodness, as well. Still, the snow could hold off until November January, for my tastes and ease of getting around. The primary sump pump we just replaced is still running every five minutes. I wonder how many years of drought we would need before it stops.

At any rate, break out the indoor to-do and project list as they will be needed soon enough.

Weaknesses

I recently received a letter from seventh floor rehab at Saskatoon City Hospital giving me the opportunity to participate in a research study to see which needs are being met and which are not being met for post acute care spinal cord injury patients in Saskatchewan. I have scheduled the interview for this coming week, far sooner than I expected it to occur. Included with the letter was a short survey that could be filled out instead of or in addition to the longer interview. I was intrigued by the questions contained within that survey and it certainly made me additionally curious about the interview next week.

One of the types of questions on the survey was regarding how you, the person with a spinal cord injury, feel about your ability to accomplish tasks or reach goals if you put your mind and energy to it. I have heard from more than a few photographers, artists and writers that believe a philosophy of "hurry up and fail" is better. Most definitely there are things that are worth striving for regardless of the difficulty or time would take to accomplish the goal, but I tend to agree with them in most situations. Be it a book that has not captivated me within the first few chapters, a TV show that cannot keep me interested or continually disappoints with total lack of believability, or a skill that would take four times as long to develop and provide minimal benefit on a day-to-day basis, there is value in knowing when it is time to quit. Being able to do things for yourself is great but if you are more efficient at doing one thing and can outsource the other why not focus your skills where you are most effective? This is where I felt that in a number of places the survey I filled out really limited the ability to elaborate the reasoning for choosing the answer I chose on a question by question basis. I am very hopeful that the interview will allow me an opportunity to dig deeper and give them specific answers as opposed circling a number from 1 to 5.

Whenever I am working on our bank records and budget, watching "Smarter Every Day" on YouTube or anything else with a subjective nature I am reminded of the fact that, though I really enjoy photography and am enjoying more forms of art all the time, I still have inside me a person who appreciates structure, symmetry and order. Anybody who knows me knows how little I typically care for spontaneity.

This past week, while editing photos from a family session last Saturday, and today while shooting flora at the same location as those family photos, I really began to notice something developing in me. That thing is symmetry. I have read and heard from numerous professional photographers that it will take time for you to develop a style. It will be there, but until you shoot enough and find your groove you may not realize for a significant period of time that you have style. Looking at those photos last week, paying attention to how I framed photos today and thinking back about so many of my still life photos, I can see symmetry. I am not and should not be surprised by this. Symmetry, order, structure and sharpness are what I seek.

So, to answer the survey's question regarding being able to do anything I put my mind to, the answer I had to put was "not confident at all". The key word being "anything". Had they chosen "most things" I would've answered differently. Perhaps I could hire enough manpower to haul my butt down to the shoreline of the river for that perfect scenery photo, or maybe to haul me off the side of a mountain or even just up a ladder for that perfect perspective that I want when making someone's portrait. But that would not seem to be the most effective use of my resources. It is a weakness. Deal with it. To pursue that type of photography, even though there are times when I do it just for the fun of it and it can be really rewarding, would be an endeavor full of frustration and failure for all the wrong reasons. A little bit of failure so that you can learn from your mistakes is a good thing. Frustration because of a physical limitation that simply cannot be overcome in any reasonable way, if at all, is not worth fighting against. Realizing that sooner than later is far better than swimming upstream and never getting anywhere.


As much as many of the limitations that I am keenly aware of on a day-to-day basis affect me, I also know that very often there are very reasonable alternatives or workarounds to overcome or avoid situations that magnify the limitations. That was one of the questions on the survey, "how confident are you that you would be able to find a solution to a problem if one arose?" In this situation I most definitely had to circle number 4 out of 5. I cannot say that I can always find a solution but most of the time I am able to.


One of my weaknesses with using a heavier camera and professional lenses is simply the weight. Because I need to support the camera with my left hand under the lens and my right hand on top of the shutter button I am not always able to provide proper support to achieve the steadiest shots and often certain angles down or up are simply not possible for me without risking dropping the camera. Thanks to some experimentation on my part and a lesson from my number one inspiration, Joe McNally, I have found the grip that works far better for me than the grip I was using years ago. This includes a portion of Joe's method of tucking the camera into your shoulder, the breathing techniques my dad taught me for target shooting or gopher hunting and making a triangle out of my left forearm, left upper arm and the camera supported on my left hand and against my cheek, with my elbow resting on my rib cage for steadiness.

I have embedded the video of the lesson from Joe and if you use a DSLR please watch even just 30 seconds starting at the 6 minute mark. Please, please, do not use the overhand grip on your lens. Do you know how badly I would like to be able to provide two hands of support on my camera? Please, do not disable yourself. :-)

So, with weaknesses in mind, and my style clearly aiming for order, symmetry and absolute sharpness, I have found myself insistent upon using off-camera lighting. In dimly lit situations where full lighting control is necessary I know that no matter how poor my grip may be, how tired or weak I may feel that day, or any other compromising factors, I know that the flash duration of 1/4000 of a second or faster, no matter how long the shutter speed or how shaky I am, will ensure no motion blur in the lit portion of my photograph.

Finding solutions. Overcoming weaknesses. Maximizing efficiencies.

Saskatoon Forestry Farm and Zoo 2012 - 8

Not usually so easy to see or get a good photo of.

Early arrival times make for serene, empty paths like these. It was entirely peaceful at the zoo until about 10 am. As much as I like to start my visits in the flower gardens when the light is better and the air stiller, I may start the occasional visit in the zoo.

This photo was taken on the same visit as the one above. I decided to take the counterclockwise route which made for trees I'd never noticed before, angles on scenes I don't usually see. This also produced a chicken under a shrub.

As I rounded the corner I saw these two little ones. The instant they saw me they scurried under their mother's plumage. I had to switch lenses and waited patiently for them to come out, but aside from a little head poking up oh so briefly I couldn't get the closeup I'd hoped for. Cute, nonetheless.

Saskatoon Forestry Farm and Zoo 2012 - 7

Sorry for the lack of clarity in these nest three. Fences.

Definitely more meat on that bone than the ones we give Kiwi. But watching him chew was just like watching a larger version of our dog chewing.

Saskatoon Forestry Farm and Zoo 2012 - 6

I thought I had missed the season to most likely witness a peacock show off. I was wrong. Mid-July was the time I got this shot.

Amazing how quickly those tiny little goslings grow up. Nice that the parents are less protective by this point and a person can get a bit closer without being challenged.

Saskatoon Forestry Farm and Zoo 2012 - 5

You probably saw my synchronized swimming photo from a few weeks ago. It's hard to believe the Olympics are already over. Of course, the Paralympics have just begun. I only saw one race near the start of the games. I tried watching a bit more online but the feeds I watched on the net were either full of commercials, hiccup-y, blocked in Canada by the broadcaster, showing events from hours ago, conducting interviews full of ridiculous questions posed to athletes still catching their breath or not interested in it at the moment, or events overloaded with commentary at unnecessary times. I have nothing against the Olympics, but the broadcasters made it difficult to see what I wanted to see so my interest was pretty low this time around.

To resume the series from this year's visits to the zoo I have a few flowers. These are nothing special beyond getting the framing just right. I have a few more unique that I will share in the next little while. For now, please enjoy these huge peony blooms. I missed the pink ones from slightly earlier in the season. I noticed them as I was leaving one visit that happened to be just before our vacation. They were finished before my next visit.

The roses aren't as nice as most years, likely from the excess rain we have had, but this one was beautiful and only too about fifteen minutes of waiting until the sun moved to just the right spot to cast a ray through the leaves on the best bloom.

2012 Vacation - Reptile World - 8

Nice that my last shot of the visit was very possibly my favourite.

The only regret of the visit was that I never got the opportunity to take another attempt at the poison dart frogs. We were patient but they were elusive. We couldn't even find the tiny things in their environment, let along get a photo. Maybe if we head to Calgary in the next few years I will request a detour to visit this amazing collection again.

I hope you enjoyed the series.