13 Months Old and a Photo Walk

 

  One Month - 4 by Jay Scott on 500px

A lot has changed, hasn't it?

 

  13 Months - 2 by Jay Scott on 500px

Not just her above average height, but comprehension. Not that I had a great idea of a child's development, but she constantly surprises me with how much she understands. Just this morning I fed her breakfast and kept her entertained while Angie was out at an appointment. We had to make a few trades to get her to give me her bottle of milk when she was done. After she was done being very cooperative about letting me wipe her face and hands, I had to trade her a toy for the washcloth but she really seemed understand. I feel like she knows about my limitations and is okay with when I tell her something has to be the way it has to be. I also understand that she's far too young to have full control of her emotions. But I understand how a friend, also a quadriplegic, has done so well with her children and how they simply understand the way things have to be because of their mother's limitations.

Friends of ours, Joel and Lindsay, who I have always admired, demonstrated a great way to reason with their children to the extent of the child's ability to comprehend. I always wanted to be a parent like them because of their calm demeanor and the way that there kids responded calmly to talking. All this is prefaced by understanding that kids will be kids and if they are tired or hungry a lot of that negotiation will be ineffective. I reiterate that I'm constantly impressed by Fiona's ability to understand which toy or book we asked her to bring us or what we are asking of her.

 

  13 Months by Jay Scott on 500px

This past Saturday was the Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk and it was a rainy day in Saskatoon. We were pretty impressed with how many people actually came out considering the rain. I wasn't going to miss it but I did do all of my shooting from inside the van. Those soft and greasy paths around the park and zoo would have been a nightmare for me and I'm confident I made the right decision.

 

  Worldwide Photo Walk 1 by Jay Scott on 500px

That meant it was time for some creative lighting, pulling my van up right under any interesting trees and digging deep into some macro shots to produce something interesting. All things considered, I think I did a pretty good job for shooting an hour and a half from my van in the rain.

 

  Worldwide Photo Walk 2 by Jay Scott on 500px

I don't know if it's my favorite, but a long exposure abstract was definitely an opportunity on a dark day like this to try to make something interesting and artsy.

 

  Worldwide Photo Walk 5 by Jay Scott on 500px

 

  Worldwide Photo Walk 3 by Jay Scott on 500px

 

  Worldwide Photo Walk 4 by Jay Scott on 500px

This was an accidental discovery. A misfire on my part made for a frame where I noticed the light for my flashes peak into the leaves, yet needing a nice shadow on others. It happened to just fall on the still-green leaves while the turned ones were in shadow.

 

  Worldwide Photo Walk 6 by Jay Scott on 500px

 

  Worldwide Photo Walk 7 by Jay Scott on 500px

Afterwards we all headed over to Rock Creek & and Grill where we had a meal together and concluded our day. Things like this need to happen more often and I have tried this summer to increase the numbers. I will do so again next year and maybe a few prizes will bring out more people.

Now, I am working on wrapping up the accessible home tour from this summer. We may shoot one more home but I have only one shoot that process and that it to be delivered. After that will be something pretty big, pretty wild and pretty excited. It's coming together nicely and the best clues about it will be if you take a peek at my Instagram feed.

Who knows, maybe I will find a niche in our city and become known for something pretty cool, if I can execute it properly.

Seven Months Old

 

  Seven Months - 1 by Jay Scott on 500px

I know that I said in my last post that Fiona's picture with my parents would be her seven-month photo but I needed to make a photo to take my mind off all of the recent business I have been going through with Home Care. What will be more perfect than a shot I had in mind of Fiona, little as she seems when we set her on the floor, on our bed with a huge, sweeping black backdrop?

 

  Seven Months - 2 by Jay Scott on 500px

I received a call from the director of home care and will be having a meeting with him and the nursing operations manager tomorrow at 10 AM. Here's hoping they see my reasoning and things stay as they are with the status quo. That would be the best case scenario. The alternative, which is the least I will settle for, may be enough to appease me. At least he was good enough to call me back and was very friendly. I have heard nothing but good things about him being a pleasant and reasonable person and that will at least make for a less stressful meeting than it could be if he were not as pleasant.

 

  Seven Months - 3 by Jay Scott on 500px

As little as I might sleep tonight, it's probably a good idea to get to bed and try to find as much rest as I can. These photos should at least keep me smiling if I'm laying there awake staring at the ceiling. Hopefully this is all over and resolved tomorrow and I can get back to the things that I feel my time is worth spending on, not these months of research, writing defenses, responding to e-mails and finding my reasoning bouncing off of brick walls.

I Miss Summer

Granted, it's between 15 and 20 degrees above normal, and I have no problem with this reprieve as I'm sure we'll get more winter, but it's just not the same as actual, jacket-free summer.

 

  Watermelon Slice by Jay Scott on 500px

Digging through the archives, I found a photo made this past summer that never got posted. We eat a lot of watermelon in this house when it's in season. We're working on a mini watermelon right now, but it's nothing compared to the splendor of the seven or eight the two of us ate this summer.

Hey, Goober! Where's the Video?

The editing is going well but the audio is not. I have found that the best tool for recording proper voiceovers is, ironically, my cell phone. Even the microphone that I'm using to dictate this introduces noise and distortion that I'm sure you wouldn't want to hear added to my nasally voice. Thankfully, the computer accepts that noise and distortion amongst the sound of my voice to create coherent text.

Eventually our West Coast vacation video presentation will be posted for your viewing pleasure.

Until then, I will give you a test photo of, who else but, Kiwi. I have an opportunity this coming Wednesday evening to make some photos for a couple that will finally enable me to use the gear and knowledge that I have to create photos I have always wanted to create. Kids are great. But they are active with a short attention span and it is very difficult to get the lighting that I am so passionate about creating with people who are so busy and on the move. Two adults, this Wednesday evening, will change that to something I am very excited to create.

So, I was testing the equipment I have and trying to gain confidence in my frugally purchased equipment. When used properly it can be very effective but I won't deny a little bit of GAS that I have had lately. That is, Gear Acquisition Syndrome. I have been looking at some wonderfully effective, but very pricey, lighting equipment lately. Some of which has been purchased by friends and I know they will make good use of it. I also know what I'm capable of creating with what I have without the expensive price tag. However, I have not regretted the times that I have invested good money for good equipment and how it has made creating same photo that I could make with previous equipment just that much easier. Considering the disability I am already fighting against, I will take every advantage I can, without breaking the bank, that is.

So, with the amount of light I believe I can effectively get out of the setup that made the photo above, and the nice early sunset (small camera lights are always more powerful when contrasted to waning daylight) Wednesday night, the session should be a success and maybe the revenue from that can be allocated to a savings fund for when I do need to rent/buy the better gear.

I will have some things to say about this year's Help-Portrait events coming up and encourage you, if you have any interest, to get involved. Few things in my life have been as rewarding as participating in these events.

Enjoy the rest of the summer!

Just More of Our Kiwi

Kiwi - July 2013 by Jay Scott

Kiwi was due for a photo following her recent haircut and I had a new Manfrotto HD Flex Arm to try out.

Both cooperated nicely. She certainly gave me a great look.

Bleeding Hearts

This is one of those photos that needs no explanation or story.

Bleeding Hearts by Jay Scott

Magic Mushrooms

No, not the psychotropic kind. Just plain old white mushrooms of unusually large size. You could find these specially packed and twice the price labeled as stuffer mushrooms, which I plan to use some of these for. But this time the boxes of white mushrooms were just huge. Something to put this to scale might have helped but believe me when I say that one of these filled my palm.

Stuffers - 1 by Jay Scott

I have wanted to shoot mushrooms since we first saw a cluster in our front lawn a few years ago. However, the short longevity, difficult location, difficult angle and small size of them made a studio environment a much better option.

Stuffers - 2 by Jay Scott

I really enjoyed making these photos and playing with fun light colours.

Giant Pinapple

Just a huge pineapple we bought that begged to be shot before being cut up for grilling with our mahi-mahi tomorrow evening.

Giant Cuban Pinapple by Jay Scott

It's amazing how large of a backdrop you need to shoot something small at an ultra-wide, low, angle like this.

Welcome, Baby Drayden

I'm received a very positive reception from my photos of Rebecca so I've decided to post a few more.

Along with his coming home outfit, Rebecca had the cutest pair of moccasins that ended up being part of some of my favourite shots from the session.

Rebecca Expecting-4 by Jay Scott

Rebecca Expecting-5 by Jay Scott

Rebecca Expecting-6 by Jay Scott

Her son, Drayden, entered the world Saturday. I hope I have the opportunity to make some photos of him once the time is right. From what I have seen he is cute as a button and would be a lot of fun to photograph.

Stages

The best photo shoot I had ever had was grad photos of Rebecca, Cassie and Kayla. The energy and enthusiasm they had, despite the unbelievable mosquito population was motivating. The comfortable weather, their lovely dresses, hair and makeup all came together to make for one of the best 45 min. of my life. I wish I had three times that much time to work with them but they had ceremonies to get to. :-)

Rebecca's Grad by Jay Scott

That was a few years ago and it still sits in the top number of photo sessions I have ever had. Rebecca is about to enter a new stage in life when she gives birth to her son in a week or less. It was my pleasure to photograph her to help her preserve the memories, hopefully mostly the good ones, of this pregnancy.

Rebecca Expecting - 1 by Jay Scott

Recently on a Facebook page for disabled photographers the question was posed, "what do you use for adaptive equipment?" I thought about it, and aside from the oral shutter release I designed and built for my Pentax, I do not use any adaptive equipment. I am grateful to have found a way to make photos without any additional barriers, that is, relying on more specialized equipment. When we first got our point-and-shoot camera it was wonderful to just have a camera that I could use with my clumsy hands. When the time came to upgrade to a DSLR I, once again, made my decision largely based on what I could use with my hands. Thankfully, I was not able to use that camera in the way I intended because the weight was greater than the demo model I tried in the store which had a lesser lens on it than mine would. I was forced to find a better way to hold the camera because I had already purchased it and surpassed the time frame permitted for a return. Thanks to that I was able to base my next upgrade almost solely on the merits of the camera system and not on what would work for my hands. If I was dependent on a camera body design, had Nikon's next body been what I was looking for, but been redesigned to a shape I could not use, I would be stuck with what I had hoping that their next model would work for me.

My point is that I am thankful I do not require any adaptive technology but, to answer the question posed on the Facebook group, I had to say how greatly appreciative I was of having Angie to assist me as efficiently as she always does so that we can get as much done in two hours as we did. I know most photographers have an assistant and that it makes a huge difference in their ability to work but Angie's efficiency, and familiarity with my style of working, made a huge difference in the final results.

Rebecca Expecting - 3 by Jay Scott

That assistance allowed me to spend more time talking with Rebecca and keeping her in the spotlight and not told to just "wait a minute" while I am adjusting a light or some other small thing. Her mom was there, as well, which helped me to keep the expressions real and make photos that are difficult to make until your talent is comfortable and at ease.

Rebecca Expecting - 2 by Jay Scott

I hope everything goes very well for Rebecca in the coming days and that she will be able to look back on these photos with fondness. I know I certainly will because it was an absolute pleasure to make them with her lovely smile, wonderful personality and easy-going nature. I'm happy to say that now two of my best photo sessions include her.

Tuffy and Kiwi

As you may have observed on my Twitter feed, we looked after Tuffy last week.

Both dogs were pretty good and even played together quite a bit. I guess Kiwi still knows how to play with other dogs, it just takes the right dog and we have met very few of those.

Watching her come running in to greet me in the morning, then turning around to bolt for the bathroom (where Tuffy slept), sliding to the door on her chest in a playful bowed position, was great. His play noises sound like a grumbling old man, but he was having fun.

That said, he is getting up there and slowing down. Certainly we got a few bunny runs out of him, and he looked about two again, but I thought a few nice shots of him might be a good idea.

Tuffy by Jay Scott

Aside from a few stern warnings about barking when Angie's clients arrived, he was very well behaved and I look forward to seeing him again now that I know his personality, likes and dislikes better. I will know how to play with him and get him excited more.

Balsamic Bacon Devilled Eggs

You better believe we will be making these simply to eat and forget the photography. Thanks, Sneaky Fox, for the recipe!

Balsamic Bacon Devilled Eggs - 1 by Jay Scott

Balsamic Bacon Devilled Eggs by Jay Scott

Sushi!

Monday evening a few photographers, also from Saskatoon, dropped over for a potluck food photo shoot. It was a lot of fun and whether a single good photo was made or not, it was the kind of social gathering of local photographers I crave. In fact, I'm thinking about trying to organize something monthly. Food, a photo walk, maybe portraits of ourselves or of a model (I know some guys that have working relationships with a few models), or anything else that comes to mind. On to the food.

We started and ended the evening with some sushi I bought at Charlie's Seafood Market here in Saskatoon.

Maki by Jay Scott

The maki consisted of California rolls, curried chicken and a type (I'm unsure of the name) with roe.

Macro Maki by Jay Scott

Because of a different plating and setup we left the smoked salmon nigiri until the end.

Smoked Salmon Nigiri by Jay Scott

I was in a low key, dramatic light, mood. It worked just fine with me, but the white, bright background and setting Kim used made for very inviting photos. Nice to see such diverse photos of the same subjects by different people with just slight changes to lighting or setting.

I did find myself experiencing a bit of GAS (gear acquisition syndrome) during and after the shoot. My current lenses don't let me get as close as I need to to get the shot I want. I am hoping the macro lens in my future comes on sale again before flower season.

More of the treats we shot and ate to come.