...And I'm Back!
Oh where do I begin... I realize it has been far too long since my last blog post and although I had good intentions of posting throughout the summer before I knew it the summer was over and alas no posts! So consider this a quick recap of my summer and all that I have been up to :)
I decided to take a big risk this year in having my father sell his photography business so that I could venture out on my own which included expanding/relocating to Edmonton. Now as I told my amazing clients in Lloydminster, it is only two hours away as such I will always come back for sessions as I look at it that if I lived somewhere like Toronto that would simply be a commute! To say I'm not scared of this move is an understatement, I am terrified lol! I mean there is so much more uncertainty but at the same I like to think life becomes more exciting with change and I knew this was what I needed to do for me. So here I am now on my own and I'm sure I will have some posts with challenges and successes!
Alright to summarize the rest of my rest of my summer here are some of my highlights (note there is no particular order) :)
- I got to spend an amazing total of four weeks at my cabin in Loon Lake,SK, by far one of my favorite places and I even lucked out with weather and mostly had wonderful sunny days. There were a few scary storms including one that took our dock pieces of the dock but there was no damage so can't complain! I love it out there, it was great working on my own as I was able to bring my computer and work at the cabin, it could not get much better than that!
- I went to two amazing concerts, U2 and The Black Keys. Nothing beats live music I must say, and I love being able to go with great friends like Christie who is my closest friend and it was awesome seeing The Black Keys together!
- I completed my first Olympic distance triathlon, and my first team half-ironman with my amazing teammates and friends Breanne & Raelean. We even came first for the female teams, always a great feeling! We also decided to road trip it to Penticton to surprise our coach, Ross, who was competing in his seventh Ironman! That trip was so much fun, we slept in my parent's suburban or as we liked to call it The Suburban Suite at Chateau Chevy! It was amazing to watch the athletes complete the Ironman, every single one was inspirational and I decided to not be a wimp and I am going to do the Ironman in 2013, yes that is right I am writing it down and adding it to the bucket list so that I make sure it will happen!
-I photographed some amazing brides, couples, and families this summer and now that I am back on the blog stay tuned for many postings from the sessions! I also met some really great people at one of the weddings and I always enjoy having more friends!
-I was able to spend time with my wonderful friend Christine, who lives in Florida so needless to say that doesn't happen often. She came back to Lloyd for a few weeks and it was great hanging out again, sometimes when it has been awhile it is easy to forget how much it can be to hang out! We had a blast at the lake and even took in our local fair for a night!
-I went on a quick road trip with my beautiful friend Chantal to second shoot for her in Kelowna. It was so beautiful there, and it was great spending time together even when it was while working. I am very excited to be closer to Calgary to be able to see each other more often.
-I loved my almost weekly OJ's date with Kristine, and although it might not be as often now every time I am home hopefully we will be able to make it happen!
-And last but not least, I just had some amazing times with great friends :)
I've posted a couple pics from some of the highlights below, not that apart from the sunset photo they were all taken on my point & shoot!
I hope everyone else has had an amazing summer and here's to new adventures and hopefully a fantastic fall! xoxo
Uncle Bennie
About a month ago I was in Vancouver for a girls weekend and it just so happened to be the same weekend my mom and aunt were in town to help my great uncle Bennie clean out his house and have a garage sale as his house is sold and he has downsized to a senior's complex. I think the fact that he had to move was pretty hard as change is never easy and neither is knowing the new owners are demolishing the house to build a larger newer one.
So on the Saturday afternoon I though I would stop by Bennie's house and visit and check out the garage sale. Well being Vancouver the "garage" sale took place inside his house as the rain prevented it from being outside. I find it very interesting what people of my uncle's generation saved compared to what we save now. I notice I don't place as much value on small gifts, trinkets, etc. If I no longer like it and there is no emotional attachment it goes in a garage sale or the garbage. Whereas his generation saved and placed value on so many items. It's so interesting because you could see how hard it was for Bennie to put some of the stuff for sale it was more because there is no real place to store it anymore than that he did not want it. I happened to have my camera with me and thought I would take some photos of his stuff in the sale as I found it so interesting all that was there. I've posted some of my photos from the sale below to enjoy!
I must send out lots of love to Uncle Bennie :) xoxo
Comments
How nice of you to capture these things! I especially love the metal desk fan and the salt & pepper shakers.
I think that just having someone appreciate the things that are special to you can have a significant impact. I'm sure your Uncle Bennie was touched to have you take interest in the items that he valued so much.
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WPPI 2011
This year I attended my second WPPI convention in Vegas and once again it was such a great experience. I actually think I might have even enjoyed it more this time as I was more prepared for it and had a better idea of all that went on. I love WPPI it such a great way to connect with other photographers, see amazing speakers, attend crazy parties, and explore one of the largest trade shows I've ever been to!
One of my highlights this year was the We Bring the Sun concert that We Etiquette put on in the middle of the desert at 5:30am. I won't lie, waking up at 4:30 after only an hour of sleep I was very tempted to skip out but am I ever glad I got my butt out of bed and caught that bus at 5:30. It was so amazing, there is something almost magical about listening to great music while the sun comes up with only around 100 other people. Even though it was freezing out until the sun came up it was worth every moment. I really hope that this will be an event that gets repeated every year! I posted some of my pics I took from the concert, enjoy :)
Must give a thank you to my awesome roomies (Chantal, Lyssa, & Chelsea), WPPI wouldn't have been the same without you ladies ;)
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Boston
As mentioned in a previous post I was fortunate enough to get to do a workshop with the fabulous Jennifer Hudson just outside Boston. Since I had never been to Boston before I knew I had to plan a couple extra days to tour this city, as I had heard so many amazing things about it. Well it definitely lived up to the hype!
One thing I love to do when I first get to a new place is explore it on foot myself, no tours just get lost and take it all in, a great playlist on the iPod always enhances these walks! And that is exactly what I did. I loved it, I just walked around, mostly toured Beacon Hill which was amazing. I loved the narrow roads and walkways and the cobblestone streets. It was such a great atmosphere, and did the day ever fly by from just wondering. Highlight of that day was seeing the "Cheers" bar, so cool, especially since I loved that show as a kid!
On my second day, after a little bit of a sleep in I decided it would be museum day :) Always a highlight for me, well depending the museum! I first walked down to the MFA (Museum of Fine Arts), which was amazing as expected. Although the highlight was definitely the Richard Avedon fashion photography exhibit. I would have to say 3/4 of my entire time in the museum was spent in this exhibit, admiring the photography and reading everything I could about Richard Avedon. I must say he is definitely a photographer whose work I so admire! I love how clean his work is and the attention to detail is so incredible. I seriously could have spent the whole day looking at all his work! Well after the MFA with the recommendation of Jenn & Josh I checked out the Isabella Stuart Gardner museum. This museum was so super cool, it was Isabella's personal collection of art that she had displayed in this mansion and on her passing left it to the city of Boston but nothing was allowed to be changed. It was so amazing, you could feel this lady's soul in the place. I only wish I had been able to take photos as the eclectic-ness of it all is hard to describe with words. Definitely recommend checking it out if you ever make it to Boston! I was able to end the day by meeting my lovely friend Honey for nice dinner in Brookline!
For my last day, I spent the morning checking out Harvard. For some reason I always wanted to see it so I figured I better check it out. I loved it, I love the old buildings and the history. it was such a cool atmosphere! Afterwards I decided to walk the freedom trail, and it was a good thing I decided to buy the $3 map from the tourist info booth as being Canadian I honestly didn't know anything about the historical locations I was going to! One thing I noticed was that cemeteries are tourist attractions, kind of a little morbid but I must admit the tombstones from the 17-1800's are very cool! I also explored the North End and experienced my first Cannoli at Mike's Pastry. Sooo good, but could only eat half as it was little bigger than my stomach could handle. The day was topped off by one of the best pasta dinners I have had at Giacomo's!
Thanks Boston for a great 2.5 days and hopefully I shall be back to wander the city again :)
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Jennifer Hudson's Amazing Workshop
A couple weeks ago the day I had been waiting for months for had finally arrived: the first day of Jennifer Hudson's workshop. I first fell in love with Jennifer's work when I took her and Arthur Rainville's course at Image Explorations a few years back, and became so excited when I saw she was holding a workshop of her own in Sudbury, MA. I had been feeling lost with myself as an artist and was in need of inspiration which was exactly what I got. I love that Jennifer takes chances with her work and incorporates old film printing techniques as I am just starting to discover this artistic side of myself and loved the chance to further explore it.
Where to begin on the workshop, it was held at the historic Longfellow's Wayside Inn, America's oldest operating Inn, which was such an incredible atmosphere. Although I am truly convinced that it's haunted, one visit to the old church on it's premises at night will convince anyone of that (as a note the visit was by car and no one got out!). With all the beautiful grounds and woods surrounding it, it was picture perfect for a workshop. One of my highlights was creating my own mixed media art collage. I have really wanted to explore other forms of art and this allowed me to do it while still using my own photographic image. I had so much fun incorporating paint, paper, stamps etc on my photograph and then sealing it with a coat of beeswax. I have posted the original image and the collaged image below, although as a note the collage image is a photo of it and part of the allure is seeing the different textures so in person definitely more cool! Second highlight definitely the Van Dyke processing of digital negatives. Having created cyanotypes back in photography school I have had a recent craving to go back explore this printing techniques. Being able to do this here was awesome, I learned how simple it really can be and love that is creates something non-digital which just feels more unique. I can't wait to start creating more, I have posted my Van Dyke prints below, and really want to recreate my Welcome to Dollhouse series in Van Dykes!
Now from attending workshops in the past I have discovered that the group of people often can make or break a workshop no matter how awesome the host. And in this case it definitely made it. I can't remember laughing and sharing so much with people I had just met. There were so many amazing times spent that this post would become a novel with all our stories. I have to give a huge shout out to my texas girls, Robyn & Kristina, we met the day we flew in to Boston as we were carpooling together and bonded instantly. You girls are amazing and cannot wait until I see you again, miss you :)
Also a huge thank you to Jenn & Josh, this workshop was incredible. You guys are some of the most inspiring people and I am so happy that I can consider you both friends. I have been contemplating some big changes with my life and you have so inspired me to follow my dreams with photography, thank you guys so much for everything :)
Here are some photos from the workshop, enjoy!
Note: Having to take advantage of being so close to Boston stay tuned for my blog post on the fantastic few days spent in what has to be one of the most gorgeous/interesting cities!
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A Personal Pre-New Years Resolution
This blog post stems from a conversation I had with a close friend about how much I admire those who are able to put themselves out there in a sense in their blogs. What I mean is how they choose to open up to their readers who they are, their opinions, how they feel, etc. It's something I've always wanted to be able to do but totally scared about it, as by opening up more about myself I open myself up to also be judged, which let's not lie is very frightening! Well I'm trying to turn over a new leaf personally, what this means is I'm opening myself up to do things that totally scare me. I am someone who often plays the safe card, makes the safe decisions, likes predictability (I really enjoy knowing how movies end before I see them for example!), essentially scared of taking chances for fear of failure or even success as strange as that might sound. So although we are still a few months away from New Years I decided to make a resolution to do more things, take more chances, and really embrace life as to sound cliche, it really is pretty short and I really don't want to have regrets! So I choose to share this as I want to feel some accountability to post more often and include more posts about me!
So instead of waiting another day and another I shall start right here and now. I am a big believer in bucket lists, whether you have it written down or not I think it is so important to have things/goals you want to accomplish in life. I mean anything from cooking a gourmet meal to climbing everest, I don't believe that they always have to be huge andP I mean after all a bucket list is completely personal! So what's on my bucket list, well here is a few that I can think of off the top of my head (as a note, I should probably start an actual tangible list, just so nothing gets forgotten, also when written down the odds of it happening increase!
-Have a book published (photography book that is, I am no writer lol)
-Photograph the cover of Vogue
-Attend every tennis grand slam
-Holiday in Bora Bora
-Learn to surf
-Have an article about me in a magazine
-Photograph a wedding on almost every continent (Antarctica and the Arctic might be a little difficult)
-Visit Scandinavia
-Tour all of Canada
-Make it back to Australia to visit some awesome peeps that's it's been way too long since I've seen
-Complete an Olympic distance Triathlon
These are just a few, as I have never actually started a written I know that many more will be added as time goes on and things progress. Actually one item that I just recently got to check off is completing a half-marathon. I love running but being a little bit inherently lazy the thought of running more than 10K totally intimidated me but yet running a half-marathon is something I always wanted to do. So to get the motivation going I registered back in March for the Edmonton Intact Marathong/ Half-Marathon. And on Sunday August 22nd, I completed it. It actually went much better than expected and I finished with a time of 2 hours and 12 minutes which I so happy about as my goal was to be under 2 1/2 hours. And I was able to run the entire thing, which felt amazing except for the next couple of days when I walked a little funny! Well it totally felt amazing to finish and although I said I would never do another one, who knows I very well might go back on my word! I posted a pic of me running it with my friend Jen (I'm the green!) that her husband took, which is awesome as it's great to have a photo to remember it!
Well as this post is now the beginning of a novel I will it end it here, I hope you all are having a most fantabulous day :)
Comments
Way to go Jenna! Firstly for putting yourself out there and for running your first half marathon. This was a fantastic post, and was very inspiring. I also feel reserved at times; I consider your story a good motivator for me to conquer some silly fears. Thanks for sharing, I can't wait to see what else you accomplish! FEO!!!
~Your FTP friend
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My Baba's 90th Birthday
Recently my baba, (Ukrainian for grandma in case you were wondering ;)), celebrated a huge milestone; her 90th birthday! Of course we could not let this event pass without a small celebration. So with my aunt and uncle in town from BC we thought we would try to get some other family together for small dinner and of course cake at a local restaurant. It was such a great time, great to visit and see some familiar faces that I don't see often.
Wow, is all that comes to mind when I think of being 90 years old. It is so amazing that as humans we are able to live that long. I can only imagine the changes my baba has seen through the years. I mean technology is always changing and new things are always happening but they're not near on the scale compared to going from no electricity, to a lightbulb, to radio, to tv, to color tv, I think you get my point! It's so cute because she is just so amazed with such things we take for granted like the internet, my baba is always asking how it works and can't believe that you can post something online and millions can view it. So this blog post is pretty amazing to her!
My baba has always been super special to me, being the only granddaughter you can imagine the spoiling I received! I've been so fortunate to grow up in the same city as her, so as kids my brother and I used to spend every Sunday at her house playing imaginary games, building box forts around the pool table, and just being kids and of course eating as much junk food as she would buy us! As I got older I didn't go over near as much but luckily my baba worked at my dad's business so when I started working for him I still was able to spend lots of time with her. I never realized how special that time would be become until recently as my baba is getting older and doesn't come into work anymore and is starting to become more fragile. Although with that said her mind is still as sharp as ever, she amazes me, she can remember almost every person she has met and their life story! All I can hope for is an ounce of her mind as it does amaze me how much she remembers! She is such a fixture in my home town as wherever she goes she has to stop and visit with everyone as well as daily we get people at my dad's business asking about where she is and how she is doing. Plus she one of my biggest fans and is always telling people about me, which is so sweet :)
Well here is to you baba, such a beautiful person and hopefully a year from now we will be celebrating your 91st birthday!
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Lloydminster Region Health Foundation
Once again this year the Lloydminster Region Health Foundation (LRHF) inquired if I would be interested in donating my time to photograph some amazing local individuals for their annual report. Of course I jumped at the opportunity, these people do so much for the community yet they often go unrecognized and I loved that the LRHF would be doing stories about them and their generosity. Instead of trying to regurgitate their stories I posted the articles that were published so that you guys can read all about these amazing people.
To be honest, some of them the first time I had met them was to photograph them and others I had known for years. All of the people were so kind and honestly it was an honor to photograph them. I do have to share a quick story about Dr. Weir as I have known him for as long as I can remember as he was the vet for my grandparents. He is probably one of the most kind and generous people I have ever met and I could be having the worst day ever but when he comes into my work and brings his smile and little bag of candy it's hard not to smile and the day doesn't seem so bad anymore. He just has that ability to make people feel great about themselves!
Well I have posted the photos I took for the LRHF and their annual report, now the one of Grant from 106.1 The Goat is different than the photo published but it is my favorite of him. As mentioned above I've also posted the articles from the annual report, please check them out as these people deserve all the recognition possible.
Also I must say a big thank you to the LRHF for everything they do for the community because honestly without them we wouldn't have the caliber of health care that we do in Lloydminster!
Hope everyone is having a wonderful Wednesday :)
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Zuko
Wow, this is amazing for me, another blog update within a couple of days! Lol, I do realize I need to update my blog way more often and that is a goal of mine for 2010. Well this post is about my little puppy Zuko. I had a bunch of commercial shoots in the studio one day and since my little man was going to be getting a hair cut that day I figured why not end the day of shooting with a little photo session of Zuko! Thank goodness my mom brought him in and stayed to help because everything I got him in place by the time I was back to take the photo he was next to me. I must admit he can be a little needy and clingy especially in a new environment so a big thank you to my mom who was able to bribe him with treats to stay so I could get some shots! Here are my favorites from the session... enjoy!!!
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PPOC - Exposure
This past weekend I attended the PPOC-AB (Professional Photographers of Canada) convention that was held in Edmonton. My wonderful friend Chantal (www.chantalmilaine.com) decided to accompany me as well, it had been awhile since we had hung out as she lives in Calgary, but as always good times were had! We only could make to Saturday, where we attended Tyler Meade's platform. Tyler has a also been a friend of mine (www.tylermeadephotography.com) for a few years since meeting at Image Explorations. It was really cool to hear him speak about his commercial photography. I am just starting to get into commercial photography so it was great to hear about all the success Tyler has had with it and as well as tips to photograph commercial projects. As always there was lots of humour to his presentation!
That evening was also the awards gala, probably one of my highlights as I adore dolling up! Although I didn't win an award this time I did have two prints that hung (ie. received high enough marks to become accepted = very good thing!). I was pretty stoked about that. I always try to enter as many competitions as possible so it's always great when my work does well! I've posted the two pics that were accepted, two of my faves from the year, that for sure!
I also posted a couple pics of me and my lovely date Chantal (thanks to Chris Keating from Towne Photography for taking them). I have this new affinity towards feathers, I love them! Needless to say I have a growing collection of hair pieces with feathers. Well Chantal had also picked up a feather hair piece so we definitely rocked them, although Chris called them "birds" and even had a whole story about these two birds that crashed into our hair. It was pretty funny, but you definitely had to be there as there is no way I can quite repeat it the same way!
Anyways check out the pics!
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