My Gratitude

In the past it seems as though big things happen all at once. Yesterday was another one of those days.

A few weeks ago, while scouting for some exercise locations, I received a phone call from the Saskatchewan chapter of the Canadian Paraplegic Association asking me if I would be interested in being the recipient of their annual merit award for significant contributions to the CPA and the disabled community. I was a bit overwhelmed but, after a brief hesitation, I said, "yes!"

After understanding what was just said to me I asked why I was selected. I was told that it was because of my work on Challenging Reality and because of the special Help-Portrait event at the CPA office we organized at the end of November, 2013. That answer made sense to me but sparked dozens of thoughts and multiple additional questions I decided to keep to myself at the time.

I'm well aware of my ever-fickle fear of success. It is the unknown. What might it do to change a person? How might it affect expectations of me to continue to contribute, grow and improve in what I do? Might the attention be more than I want, especially considering how much of a introverted person I am?

The more I thought about it the more I realized that, regardless of the times when I like it or dislike it, the attention would be necessary if I hoped to make something of my efforts. What good are efforts and quality bodies of work if they do not reach the appropriate people to be enjoyed by the viewers, of any help to those they are intended to help, or to maintain the momentum to continue on with new material which completes the cycle and makes the work self-sustaining?

Even before I began writing my words of appreciation, to be spoken when I received the award, I knew that I could not fail to mention everyone involved. I did not put on the CPA Help-Portrait event independently. It was a great combined effort of many willing hands that made it possible for us to serve as many people as we did that day. To create portraits of that many people independently would have taken me numerous sessions and weeks of processing the resulting photos. All that we did in one day was thanks to the team effort. I made certain to mention this in my acceptance remarks. And, I'm saying it now. Thank you, Help-Portrait Saskatoon team! Your work, experience, equipment and time are appreciated and essential to successful events.

If I had to guess I would say that my dear wife, Angie, has assisted me in some way with two thirds of my Challenging Reality photos. It may be helping me to stylize something, carry something to where I can more easily make a photo of it or extensively helping me to set up and take down, whatever the subject might be. Many of those photos I could make independently given adequate time. Some of those would not be possible without her help. I needed to acknowledge that as well as express my appreciation for the numerous times she has been my model and test subject. I was also pleased to acknowledge the contributions of my friends. Paul has been the largest contributor in helping me to name it, being my model for multiple photos, providing fair feedback which includes critique when needed, and suggestions for material. Heather has given me feedback and ideas and I have multiple ideas from Delynne. All of those are on my list of subjects to shoot and as time permits they will be photographed and archived.

The brief description of Challenging Reality, and the work it consists of, was also included in the annual report that is distributed to every member of the CPA. That coverage will help to sustain the project with new contributions, new readers and new ideas for subject material. However, that was not the only publication I saw my face in yesterday.

After discussing my work with my contacts at the Shriners Hospital for Children in Chicago they had me write an article for them to be in their newsletter. It was difficult to reduce what I wanted to say down to three paragraphs because whose story can be summed up that briefly? However, I felt like their revisions to squeeze it into the allotted space was beautifully worded and I am very appreciative of the coverage and the support from them. I do not know how many hundreds of thousands of people receive their newsletter but I have noticed a significant increase of traffic on Challenging Reality. I don't deny the pressure I feel to make certain my posts are both well photographed and as well written as ever. Again, what good is that work without people to benefit from it? Perhaps the pressure is most added because my face is now visible and I am by far most accustomed to being the one making the photos, not being in them.

One final thought. In anticipation of having my photo made, of me receiving the merit award, for the CPA publications I found myself planning some polite and helpful tips for the person to make our photo. You see, I've been receiving their publications for 16 years now and the vast majority involve photos of people in wheelchairs made by someone at a full standing height. That is, looking down on the people in the wheelchairs. I know that they do not mean any harm by this but I also know that their mandate includes equality. A good starting point is by giving viewers of their photos and equal eye level to the camera. Likely it would be subconscious but by removing that angle of view of looking down on someone you are removing the viewer's tendency to feel above the photo of who they are looking at. My suggestions were welcomed and I hope that the photo I see in the next publication will be improved from some I have seen in the past. Now, if we could just get people to turn off that on camera flash…

Wrestling with Words

That's what I have been doing lately. I have made a decision to begin releasing the work I have done on my personal project. I believe that there is enough quality content that I can give it its own space in hopes that it will grow to something much more than it is at this time.

The biggest challenge is to find an accurate, memorable, available and unmistakable name. It must be free of cheesiness and not easily mistaken or misspelled. When I was trying to title all of my photos a number of years ago, when I felt a title was necessary, I had a terrible habit of using far too many alliterations. They may be cute at first but quickly lose their charm and dignity.

I do not feel that I am poorly written but I want to make certain the name is just right. I think that I can tend to make my sentences longer than they need to be and occasionally overuse commas. But I most definitely try and pay attention when I know I am reading properly written material. My apologies if this turns into a bit of a grammar lesson however, it surprises me how much I get irritated when I read poor grammar in places where the time should have been made to make it correct. Your instead of you're, as in "you're going to win" not, "your going to win." I remember one of my favorite English teachers putting it very simply. He said, "If you cannot use contractions correctly you will not use them in my class." My other biggest annoyance is when someone says "I seen that," instead of "I saw that" or "I have seen that." Gripe ended.

I know language is always evolving and that it will change but I find it difficult to believe that as things change incorrect usage will become acceptable. But, back to the topic at hand.

Part of the lack of content on here has been because of some significant spring blahs. The problem is that we don't have a spring, yet. 10° below normal for three weeks is starting to take its toll on everyone. Yes, at least it is beginning to melt, but it's still not where it should be and my favorite season is passing by underneath piles of snow. It might end up being spring for two weeks and then jumping right into summer. I have been spending time, thesaurus in front of me, preparing a name and content for the new website.

My plan is to make it free. The copyright will be protected and I plan to put measures in place to prevent the content from being misused, but I really do not see their being much of a profit to be made on the work that I have created. If it helps someone and the enjoyment of simply making it, without the complications that money often adds, is what I get out of it, then I will be satisfied. I hope that word spreads enough that I can expand the project to people other than myself and my closest friends. Sorry that I cannot be more specific than that at this time. I know how frustrating vagueness can be.

I already invested much of my time, overhead and some money into this so I won't be paying for a website to host the content. It will be contained in free places such as blogger. I do plan to place a donate button and, should it start to provide adequate funding, I would look at upgrading to a dedicated website or at least a URL/web address.

So, until the flowers start to bloom and until I have some content for the new site it may continue to be somewhat quiet here. I do expect some 2.5 mm headphone jack ends to arrive from Hong Kong in a few days and when they do I will make an extension cord for my Nero Trigger and be able to start using it for larger scale photos. Usually I am pretty good at coming up with something creative to photograph but the rut I have been in is evident in the extensive time between posts. Thank you for sticking with me and when I have something new it will be big.

Eleven Days and a Whole Lot of Snow

I knew that my camera had been sitting on the desk beside me for a while now but I had no idea, until I checked the date on the photos still on it, that it had been 11 days. That is a long time ago without making a photograph.

It was time to post something new but I really had little to nothing new or exciting to post for a few good reasons. I have received recent print orders that required my attention and took some time to get in order, printed and delivered. Angie and I have had a few days of not feeling spectacular and now I think I am getting the cold that she is just getting over. Three mornings last week were spent at the track getting much-needed exercise to help kick the "blahs" caused by the remarkable amount of snow and cold that we have already received this year. (The above photo was taken early this afternoon and as you can see we have more snow on our deck already than we did all of last winter.) But beyond that I have been feeling like I have been carrying on on a plateau, photographically speaking.

I have been spending a lot more time reading material that I have read in the past to see how much more I can absorb, purchasing new material to dig deep into to see what else I can incorporate into my abilities and really wanting to spend these inopportune times for shooting to learn, instead.

I can hardly complain about wanting the next big piece of equipment to help me improve my photography because I have great equipment and I know that equipment only makes a photographer better when they have maximized their effectiveness with what they already have. I know that one of the best ways to get better is to simply use what you have and shoot, experimenting and trying new techniques as you go. However, as much as I have had the desire to go out somewhere and photograph in a completely unplanned way, the opportunities and locations have not been ideal. Therefore my alternative has been to attempt to increase my skills through study.

It's not that I haven't made a few nice photos recently. It was a few weeks ago that I did some more staff photos for our church, my favorite being directly above. But as much as I have been enjoying the projects I have been working on and the places I have been able to use my camera to help, I feel like my style has reached a standstill. So many photos have the same perspective, similar setups and similar restrictions. Our dining room has made an excellent place to arrange my photos but it has also added some limitations. That is where I need to take the other options available to me and start using them such as the posing platform my dad so expertly constructed for me and was used for my very popular nuts and bolts photo from last year.

Nuts and Bolts by Jay Scott

What really encouraged this post, or at least made me take the time to put it together properly, was the amount of interaction I have had with a lot of other photographers online lately. Nothing generates traffic to your website like someone who has a lot of followers referencing you for referring their followers to your site. I do not know how much traffic will be directed here in the next little while from those recent interactions but I thought it might be nice to have something fresh for them to look at as well as have something new for my regular visitors to see.

Just a few more gifts to buy and my Christmas shopping is done so I cannot use that as an excuse for not posting new material. Hopefully this cold does not latch on and I will have the energy to continue producing something worthy of sharing in this space.