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.

Winter Photo Drive

Most of my favorite work is done in a controlled environment, with auxiliary lighting and highly preplanned. Sometimes, though, you just need to get out, photograph what you can see and enjoy the process along with the satisfaction of using the technology at your hands to create something nice.

Unfortunately, much like the arbour above, I don't get to see much at this time of year, with this much snow. Even the roads plowed at the forestry farm were a little bit deep if you got just slightly off the cleared portions. I did leave the plowed parts, in the interest of getting the best angle possible, and was very grateful that I had my winter tires on the van this year. They sure can chew through a lot of snow.

Speaking of snow, it was a nice day when I made these photos but there was something ominous in the forecast. After this little photo drive I met some friends for a meeting of the minds. It was at Moka Coffee Bar in Briarwood. Paul and I each parked in the handicapped spots in front of Shoppers Drug Mart, about a 75 meter wheel on cleared sidewalks to get to the shop. By the time we were done our meeting the snow was coming down heavy and the wind was blowing hard. The last 20 meters was blocked by deep snow banks thanks to a gap in the buildings and the wind whistling through. We plowed as far as we could, got stuck, but thankfully a nice little old lady, using a walker herself, was inside the drugstore, saw us struggling and sent the staff out to help.

Normally I'm not too concerned about getting too cold, being that close to my vehicle, but my thumb actually hurt for a few hours afterward because it got wet from pushing while we were stuck in that brisk wind for just a few minutes. I got pushed to the van and let my ramp down only to realize that it settled on yet another snow bank and, because of my wet rims, couldn't get up onto it. Once I was on my hill climbers would have made sure any progress I made was not lost. The one employee popped back out and got me onto the ramp. Otherwise I might've been a bit of a quad-sickle.

It was nice to just get out and photograph whatever I can find without too much forethought. I decided to do that again following week but, surprise, surprise, we got another huge dump of snow that started just hours after I was done shooting on my second winter photo drive.

Those photos will be coming soon. I hope spring is not too far behind because I'm feeling that ready-to-be-done feeling with this winter.

First Photo Walk of 2014

It may have been indoors, at the thoroughly explored and photographed university, but it was good to get out and just make photos as they came and with no particular intention.

And I wasn't alone. It was the third organized gathering of the Help-Portrait Saskatoon crew. I organized  coffee together twice and decided this gathering should involve doing what we love most, second being talking photography.

Certainly not everyone made it out, but we've had better numbers than I first anticipated and we have become better friends which is great and can only serve to make next year's Help-Portrait go even better.

I've decided to try a bit more extensive processing, such as the second and third photos. I welcome your feedback.

I commented that I'd always felt weird whenever I'd wanted to set up a light and shoot this millstone, but in a group of other photographers, with their verbal support, I didn't feel as silly and I was pleased with the results.

Before coffee back at the Agriculture Building, I made a better portrait of the T-rex in Geology with Janet's help. Once we got the elevator unstuck (that one is always finicky) we returned to our starting point and shot the breeze.

I may be able to make the full album of everyone's shot on Facebook open to everyone, once it's put together. Check back later to see it. This link should take you to the album but it might be a few days to populate. Not eveyone's the keener I am. :P

First Photo Walk of the Year

A few weeks ago I had an opportunity to go on a photo walk with a friend from Ebenezer. We decided on going to the University campus because it is weatherproof and also because I wanted to show her some of my favorite locations on campus for photo shoots so that she would have some more locations in her toolbox for her own shoots. Being relatively new to Saskatoon I thought it would be appropriate to show her some of my favorite nooks on the campus. Next time I think we will explore Innovation Place.

It seemed to be a day of plants and leaves for me. When we went on this walk nothing had started to bloom, yet, and even the trees were just barely starting to show signs of buds growing.

It is pretty ironic that my best photos of the day were all taken in locations that it did not matter what time of the year it was. However, it was nice to be able to comfortably travel from one location to the other outside without worrying about the cold, even if my favorite shots came from indoors.

What would a trip to the geology building be without a quick long exposure of the waterfall over the Koi pond? I really need to bring a tripod one of these times to get a crystal-clear photo of the still objects. That said, the Koi were posing beautifully for Brendyn and I was a little envious of her ability to lean over the water and get some nice photos of those beautiful fish.

Regardless of the weather or the photos it was just nice to spend some time talking shop and making photos with someone else who really loves photography.

I imagine the family photo session bookings will be coming soon and if you are interested please contact me sooner rather than later so we can make sure that we get you booked at your ideal time.