Nothing To See Here

Sometimes as a photographer I need to remember that there is "always something to see"! Far too often we have so much going on up inside our head that we fail to notice everything that really is going on around us.

Take this image for example. A few days ago I took the kids to a beach on the island at low tide to find some critters. Everything was grey and muted, no blue sky, and aside from a few pieces of driftwood, there was nothing cool to shoot. Then about an hour later a tiny red dot caught my eye, I stopped, and forced myself to get down close and look. There I found a tiny (the size of a pencil eraser) sun-baked crab shell quietly waiting out its final existence on the beach sand. The color contrast was perfect, nice bright and red against the dark sand. I set my Canon Point and Shoot to macro and got really close in order to get as much detail as possible.

Sometimes we need to make ourselves less distracted. Maybe even train ourselves to have an internal alarm when we feel totally stressed. An alarm that triggers us back to a moment of reality where if we are quick and disciplined enough, we can stop and look around at what is really happening. We need to remember what life is really about, what is important (as opposed to urgent), and enjoy the fact that we are still ticking.

Mark Twight is an accomplished Alpinist and writes a lot about fear and talks about how he programmed his internal alarm. During training for a major ascent on a mountain range he would take one of his carabiners (for clipping safely into the rope and anchors) and open the gate and let it snap shut while focusing on relaxation. He did this over and over again until the sound of the carabiner's gate snapping shut made him automatically relax. I think we would have one more tool for getting back to reality if we all worked on our own stress alarm.

What will yours look like?

Sutra On Fire

Last night we stopped in Salmon Arm for the last time as this was the final day of our trip to the Island and back. When we were about 3 hours from town Steven called me and gave the heads up that our buddy Sutra would be giving a fire dancing demo at the mall around sunset. Needless to say I wanted to get there quick as this would be a great photo opp and an excuse to get my gear out for some fresh air.

Little did I know that Sutra had an interest in this and has spent a lot of time practicing and understanding the art of fire dancing. He is a pretty eclectic guy and very good at things he is interested in so this was no different. I shot some test images at the mall during his last show and afterwards we decided to meet at the skate park to get a real night-time look at his craft.

I just can't leave my strobes at home as I am not finished finding new ways to pump up the light and color in my images. I love this type of shot and shooting with so many cool and interesting characters gives me more and more energy. In this photograph I simply used two optical slaves (ETTL) and split Sutra right down the middle with them 180 degrees apart. Simple, yet dramatic with just the right timing of the flaming (monkey) fists.

Awesome!

Tofino

I finally got the chance to surf.

I’ll admit I thought I would have no problem figuring it out and after a few waves I would be riding them in. In reality though, surfing is very hard to figure out on your own and I found my progression would have been faster had I done two things. One obviously would have been to take a quick lesson, and the other would have been to rent a bigger board.

Eventually I got up on the board and actually did surf but I also spent too much time getting pummeled by the tiny Tofino waves at Chesterman Beach. Being out on the ocean was fun though and another great experience. The family had a great time and for our first big driving holiday to the island, we are getting to see a fair bit.

We are now in Sooke and it sounds like my Brother-in-law wants to take me diving for crab (read dinner) this afternoon. Tomorrow relaxing for a few days before a Phillips Brewery tour and some street luging in Victoria.

Driving from Port Alberni

Night Ride

Last night in Salmon Arm I took in a group ride put on by my cousin Steven and his buddy Sutra (from Skookum Bikes). I don’t do a lot of Downhilling in Calgary but anytime I get together with Steven, I get a DH bike and a personal guide on some of the best DH mountain biking lines in all of B.C. The trails we ripped up last night were no exception, and some of the best riding I have ever done.

There were a total of 9 riders and the three runs we got in had everything from steep rocky technical descents to open flowy burms overlooking the Shushwap. So much fun and so fast, I was in the zone and felt better than I have in a long time. The best part of the night though, was riding in the dark!

That’s right, our last run was super late so by the time we got to the last 2km section in the trees, it was so dark you could barely see the trail. At one point I was cruising around an open section and dropped into an 8 foot wide path with grass on either side of the trail while still booking it. My mind started screaming warnings to my hands, “BRAKE NOW” but I couldn’t resist the pleasure I felt from just letting go and hitting the snaking trail at top speed. Green patches just outside of my arms reach started to appear and blurr back and forth, moving side to side with the trail. My body felt motionless only for a split second while everything in the world around me just vibrated like a shaking wet oil painting. And as fast as it came on, this dreamy tunnel snapped away as I burst through trail opening and skidded to a stop with the other riders on the logging road, grinning and for just a few more minutes, extremely satisfied.

Salmon Arm Section

Arrived just in time for dinner last night at our cousin's place just outside of Salmon Arm. The trip was relatively uneventful aside from the man-cub spraying (read - puke) an "as of yet unknown" purple liquid all over the van and back of my seat just minutes after we picked him up from camp. I waited to see if his head would spin around and then we were back on the road.
Today I am looking forward to going out with the locals for some DH mountain biking and taking a few shots while we are out. If I can get to a wireless point in town I will post some images.

On The Road

First thing Wednesday morning we will be heading out on the road for a 10 day trip that will take us to the island. I have been looking forward to this for some time now. We will be stopping in Salmon Arm, Kamloops, Hope, New West, Nanaimo, etc, etc... It will be nice to spend some quality time with the kids and to finally try a few things I have always wanted to do. One of those being surfing on the west coast.

I will do my best to update the blog every day and post how the trip is going. Please keep checking back and make a comment when you can.

Below is a shot from my second Off Camera Flash Workshop last spring.

Very Interesting

I received a call from the editor of AirdrieLIFE magazine this weekend for a last minute assignment for the upcoming fall issue (fall already?). The story is on a local pumpkin grower who apparently can get them to over one thousand pounds. Unfortunately it is early in the season and to make matters worse, this is a transition year. Needless to say, I didn't get to see any giant pumpkins.

Eddy (our pumpkin wizard) did however give me a fairly detailed introduction to pumpkin pollinating and some insight into the genetics of pumpkin breeding. Pumpkin breeding? I have to admit though, it was very interesting.