Yup, it’s that time of year again. Christmas is over and now the beginning of a new year. Once the climax of Christmas has worn off, we get a chance to reflect on our year. We think about what goals that we set out to hit and the ones we missed. Did we lose the extra weight we had promised to last year? Did we make a career move? Did we take take a workshop, course, or on-line learning subscription?

It not matter too much if we achieved our goals that we set last year, as long as we made some sort of progress toward our goals. For us non-vocational photographers sometimes our vocation takes time away from our hobby, as it did this year for me. Some times life just gets in the way of our passion.

As I reflect on 2009, my photographic shooting life has been slow. I had not shot as many photo’s as I should have or could have. On the other hand, I made an effort to connect with other photogs through social media. Also, I went on a few photo walks with others and had a fun time while creating some decent images. Connecting with other photographers, as I am finding out, is important. We can learn, network, share, and inspire each other. We photo-holics need this.

In 2010, I want to keep the goals simple and well within reach. I am not on some sort of fast track program to full-time vocational photographer. This is not my goal. Therefore, I can take my sweet time and enjoy the process. As long as I make progress, improve on technical skill, get some art on my walls, and have a good time with my creative outlet…  that is all that matters.

Action Goals

Gear Goals

Learning Goals

Happy New Year, All!
Shoot like hell in 2010!

Recently David DuChemin created a fury of comments about NOT getting into debt for buying gear. I agree with him 100% not just for your photography business but for your personal finances as well. Sure, use your credit card to make a purchase as long as you can pay the balance off immediately. The benefits are purchase protection and travel miles/bonus dollars.

As photographers, part of the draw we have toward the craft is “fancy-dancy-newest-technology”.  At least it is for me. I admit liking the gadgets and new technology. However, I refrain myself from have the newest gadget for the sake of financial responsibility. I know going into debt for gadgets that make me little or no money is not financially responsible.

Will the new pro-body camera make us better photographers? No, I don’t think so. If I drove a Ferrari, it wouldn’t make me a better driver? In fact, it would probably make me a worse driver. Anyways, there are tons of arguments on David’s blog on “why” to stay debt free. Most of his readers understand them. Including myself.

What I suggest is have a look at people who DON’T use pro-body cameras! I have stumbled upon a “pro photographer” who still uses Polaroid. He created great images with his cheap old camera. I just wish that I book marked his site to share with you. My bad. Anyways, I took a look at Flickr to see who else out there is using old gear, including a Kodak Brownie, which I personally own thanks to Grandma. She left it for me years before she died. The camera is the image above.

A photographer who still uses his Brownie is here. There are others who use older gear, some for the sake of using old technology and some who are satisfied with what their current gear does. I believe many night photographers still use slide film.  Troy Paiva finally moved to digital in 2005. He is now using a Canon 20D.

I challenge myself to stay with the gear I have. I am resisting the “Gear Gremlin”. Maybe I  will use LESS gear or OLDER gear than I already have. Maybe I should get some film for my Olympus OM-10. Confining yourself will force you to “think outside the box”. It’s a challenge… but without challenge there can not be growth as an artist. That goes for anything really.

Finally, FYI the above image was created on my kitchen counter. I guess I do have a studio after all, my kitchen studio. A science fair white display board thing that I had found at Staples for $15 that is used as a back drop. The Brownie sits on two pieces of white printer paper. A SB800 flash on a portable light stand worth about $60. The flash was bounced off a 32″ collapsible reflector that cost about $30. A cheaper piece of white board could of had the same effect. My Nikon D200 is two years old with no plans for an upgrade to a D700… well, unless I win the lottery.

Last Saturday evening, Simon Beaumont organized a little photowalk for a few of us that had participated in the World Wide Photowalk. Though there were no big lights and pocket wizards this time. That’s ok because I had a good time regardless.

A smaller group of photographers was more intimate and social. There was Simon, Bryan, Sabrina, and my wife, who was there to tag along. Ironically, we were all Nikon shooters which was kinda cool because there was four speedlights that could be utilized using the Nikon CLS system. At one point we all dug out our speedlights to use. One of us fired a shot from our camera then all the flashes fired too! A happy accident.

We skirted our way down the gritty part of town then over to Crab Park. It is amazing how much of a contrast two city blocks is. One part very “gritty” then a block or two over, it’s very “pretty”.

We hope to continue doing this image capture/social gatherings in the future. It was a lot of fun.

Last week, my wife and I lost our dog to cancer at the age of 12.5 years. Emily was the “Best dog in the world”.   She was one of my favourite photography model as she worked for free, not to mention, very photogenic. I “blog my dog” because I want people to know how much we loved her. We miss her dearly.

We got Emily as a nine week old pup. I “picked it” as I would always say to my wife, Trish, or anybody else who witnessed her good behavior. She was a cheap purchase of $75 but she had high maintenance costs; anti-allergic food, vet bills, hotel sur-charges, ect. She was worth it though.

Well Behaved

She would never jump on people.

She would never jump out of the car unlessed given permission.

She would never enter through a doorway first. People were first.

She never bit or nipped anybody even when teased or hasselled.

She never did her “business” inside.

She didn’t chase our cat, Little Wigs… ok, maybe a little but she didn’t harm Little Wigs. Personally, I think it was a game between them. They seemed to enjoy their little “Mexican stand-offs”.

She was a food beggar so we trained her to stay outside the kitchen while we cooked. She was a “long distance beggar dog”.

Her issues and idiosyncracies

She didn’t like computer or electronic beeps and such. She would get nervous and hide when hearing such sounds.

She was a left handed dog. She always returned a ball to the person on the left. It didn’t matter if two people switched positions, she would still return the ball to the person on the left.

She didn’t like me taking a bath. I guess she thinks she might be next though we haven’t bathed her in years, the groomer did  that once a year for us.

Her tricks

The basics of course: Sit, stay, come. She was trained for both verbal and visual commands for all of her tricks.

She would run from across a field when told verbally or visually to “come”.

Shake a paw. A friend who met her for the first time bent down, extended his hand for a shake and said, “Hi, I’m Ian. How do you do?” Emily shook his hand to his suprise.

Though she wasn’t the kind of dog you would expect to “sit pretty”… she could and did.

She could roll over. In her later years, I suppose rolling over was too much of a hassle for her so she turned it into a “turn around”. That was fine.

Fetching

Emily loved to fetch things. She was OCD about it whether the item was a tennis ball, stick, or frisbee. She returned items in a very timely matter and at your feet.

She had a special need for sticks. Hearing the snap of a broken stick would perk her ears right up! She wanted to fetch it. Sometimes, she would what we called, “Pulp mill”. That meant she chewed the stick apart. Also, sometimes she could amuse herself with a stick. During her walks, sometimes she would drop a stick in the creek then watch the stick float away down stream. Then she would quickly run down stream to catch it! Emily would repeat this game with herself many times.

Emily wanted to fetch “at all costs!” When on a hike we had to tell people that were throwing a stick for her to take care in not throwing a stick over a cliff and such. Emily would certainly leap to where the stick was with reckless disregard.

Her Passing

On August 7, 2009, over the course of 18 hours, her health declined dramatically. In the morning, Trish was the last to leave for work. Trish did notice some odd behavior with her lips. Emily did go for a pee and a poo during her little morning walk but she didn’t eat her daily treat, a dental bone. Trish thought it odd behavior but left to work thinking Emily was just in a weird mood. She was concerned but hoped it to be a temporary thing.

When I got home later in the afternoon, I then noticed Emily was acting odd. She would always greet me when I get home from work. This day, she didn’t. I looked for her at one of her “dog spots”. She was in her bedroom spot. She was still lying down. I had to coax her to go outside for a pee. When she did go out, she seemed extra shaky on her feet but she did her business.  It appeared she didn’t have the energy to go back inside. This got me really worried. She was reluctant to come back in. She just stood there and stared at me. A lot of coaxing was required to get her back inside, which was quite odd. This really worried me.

I then had to do an oil change on my motorbike at my public storage. I didn’t want to but I promised myself the day before I would do so because we had a long ride planned the next day. I suppose that I was also being optimistic about Emily’s odd behavior.

About half an hour later, I got a phone call from Trish. She asked me where I was and asked me if I noticed anything odd about Emily. I told her what I was doing and I would be back home shortly. I also told her about my observations with Emily. I finished up the bike and went back home. I was away for almost an hour.

I got back home and noticed she had detiorated even more since I saw her the hour before. Emily once again, didn’t greet me. She was laid out and didn’t even lift her head to see me. She just looked up with her eyes. I helped her outside hoping by her having another poo that she might feel better. Emily went pee instead then laid out on the grass with her head down. At that moment, I knew her outlook was grim.

Ironically, Emily had laid in the same spot that Trish and I had seen a cat two weeks previously. The cat was laid out with it’s head down. I had approached the cat but it didn’t even lift it’s head off the ground to check me out. It was obvious that the cat was dying. Emily was now in the same spot two weeks later and exhibiting the same behavior. I left Emily there on the grass and went back inside for a laydown with Trish. A few minutes later, Trish got up to see Emily on the grass. She came back in and said, “She reminds me of the cat”. I replied, “I know”.

A few minutes later, we called the vet for advice. The vet offered to do an after hours call for Emily. However, Emily’s breathing was not laboured so we decided to keep her for one last night. We had an appointment with the vet at 10am the next morning. By the time morning came, Emily’s breathing was laboured and she could not walk at all. She really seemed to be suffering now. We felt it urgent to get her to the vet to end her misery.

When we got to the vet, I carried her directly into a room pointed out by a staff member. By this time, Emily was trembling. I laid her down on the table. She didn’t even try to get up. She just layed there shaking and panting. Trish and I cried buckets as the technician tried to get an intervenous inserted into her weak veins.

Finally, the technician was ready. The vet, Dr. Tara Huggins, asked if we would like more time with Emily. We declined. Em seemed to be suffering. We wanted her to stop trembling. It was time for Emily to go. Trish and I both were petting Emily as the technician injected the over-dose of anesthesia. About twenty seconds later, Emily stopped trembling and panting. She just laid there with her eyes open. Her suffering had stopped. The vet checked her heart with a stethiscope. “She’s gone now”, Dr. Huggins gently said.

Overall, it was as I imagined it… devistating. Yet, it was relieving to know that she was suffering no more. I am glad that Emily made it obvious to us that her time was up. We were afraid of her deterioration would go slow and we wouldn’t know when was a good time for her to go. Thankfully, she made is clear her time was up.

Life after Emily

Life is quite different with Emily gone now. We still have many habits that developed over the 12.5 years that she was with us. We are slowly adjusting to it though.

The first morning after Emily’s passing. Trish got up out of bed before me. A few minutes later, she came back to the bedroom crying. She weeped, “I filled her water dish”.

First thing I do in the morning is go to the washroom. Then I walk to the patio door to let Emily out for her morning pee. Half way there, I realize I no longer need to open the patio door.

Sometimes, out of the corner of my eye, I see her laying on the floor but it turns out to be a black duffle bag. I still have many thoughts about her. Once in a while, I get an urge to pet her without thinking that she is gone. Half way through calling her over to me… I stop myself knowing she won’t come.

After being away from home for a long time, Trish and I get an urge to go home to let Emily out for a pee and such. When Emily was around, we didn’t like to leave her alone too long. Therefore, we always rushed home after work or weekend errands. The inkling to rush home is still there but we really don’t need to get home now.

Also, opening the entry door to our home is another reminder of Emily. She was always laying behind the door on the cool tile floor. She was very slow to get up, therefore, we opened the door quite slowly to allow Emily time to get out of the way. We still open the door slowly.

Never forgotten

We are very sad to Emily leave us. Dogs just don’t live long enough. The day we dreaded for twelve and a half years is now behind us. Emily gave us so much love, respect, and good times while she was with us. We are very grateful for the time we had with her. She will live in our hearts and minds forever. She was the “Best dog in the world”.

Photos of Emily can be found here.

On Saturday July 18th, I participated in Scott Kelby’s World Wide Photo Walk. The Vancouver walk was led by David DuChemin and Dave Delnea. It was a super experience as it was more of a photo walk SLASH Lighting Workshop! They boys had brought out a bunch of pocket wizards, monolight, speedlights, reflectors, ect ect. All the fun stuff to make a photo really pop.

It was a fun time and three hours went by in what seemed three minutes. I did learn a lot about my bad shooting habits though. This walk was also a huge education on lighting. Here is what I learned on the walk:

• Speedlights don’t work against the sun. I tried to light up the shadows with my SB-800 against the high sun. It didn’t work. I still got shadows. If I had moved closer to the subject, perhaps, it would of worked. However, when I shot with the pocket wizard firing the big ass mono light… it was magic! I could put the model back to the sun and use the strobe light to light her face. Wonderful lighting as it was firing through a big soft box! It’s just too bad I had some really bad compositions.
• Composition. I could have been better. When shooting the models, I tended to cut then off at the legs. I had few full body shots and few close up portrait shots.
• Shoot for cropping. I tend to frame the subject as I see it in the final print. I should of raked in the lens a bit to allow for cropping. Many of my original captures did not allow for decent cropping.
• Dress for the event. I accidently booked a social engagement on the same evening as the shoot. I had also rode my motorbike to the walk. Therefore, I wasn’t sure of the best way to dress for all three things. Also, I did not expect the models to be in the water. If I had worn my quick dry clothing as David DuChemin had, I could of got closer to the model and more interesting angles as David did. I had jeans and running shoes.

The walk was great learning experience and inspiration. David and Dave were absolutely delightful to shoot with and learn from. They really made it fun. I can’t wait for next year. Oh and before I go. Check out the great video from the day. See if you can find me.