On Collecting Seeds

It's late July and I've started the ritual of seed collecting. This is something I learned from my mother a very long time ago. She was an avid gardener. She grew up on a farm and could grow vegetables with equal success as flowers...while I may have a long way to go as a food grower I do seem to have her knack for flowers.

The flowers I remember most strongly are poppies (Somniferum/Bread Seed; which is the poppy with the huge pods) and pansies (Viola species) and like most everyone else, I knew about sunflower seeds.

Fun flower to learn with- Somniferum poppy...showy flowers, large pods, noisy, lots of seeds.

Sunflower is great to learn with- seeds are easy to come by, grows big and fast, spectacular flower, birdfood.

I think most children learn about propagation of species from being told about how dandelions send their seeds off with little fringed parachutes –and of course by plucking them and helping the process along!- but I think it fortunate when they can learn from first hand experience with proper plants.

When my mother first showed me how to shake out the seeds rattling around in the dried up poppy pod I was delighted to see the hidden surprise and annoyed to find insects would sometimes fall out as well. I took her word for it that new poppies would come from these seeds if they were left on the ground. I never thought of it as particularly amazing and rather took it all for granted as that seemed to be how things in the world worked...I did think it was fortunate that my mother was such a good gardener and didn't have to buy poppy seed from the store to make Mohnkuchen (German poppy seed cake).

Later on she showed me pansy pods split to reveal little collections of tiny round golden balls- a far less prolific supplier of new flowers and I learned that different plants had different habits in not only how much seed they could produce but how they dispersed it. It occurred to me around that time that those dandelion seeds that floated on the breeze were very land-greedy and created a lot of work in the way of weeding and that some plants could become virtually permanently resident if they had long roots. Salsify/Goats Beard is an example of a plant you don’t want to encourage.

Pansy seeds at the perfect moment to collect.

Wait too long and you loose seeds to nature.

Ultimately the undesirable plants are cost free and care free while the desirable ones are usually bought and tend to require more care to cultivate. HOWEVER, I do believe in getting something for nothing or next to nothing so I collect seed. I talk to neighbors who are fellow gardeners or at least understand the economy of it all and get seed from them and when the time comes for me to harvest my own will return the favor with seeds (future plants) that they (currently) don’t have.

I've been collecting Columbine seed all month and have LOADS of it.

Spanish Bluebell as seen from nearly above- haven't been able to grow it here- YET.

This is what nasturtium seeds look like.

Sweet William seeds collected today from a neighbor.

Sweet Pea still green- the 'ripe' seeds for picking are nearly perfectly round and almost black.

So, if anyone is interested in trading seed let me know- I will have loads of columbine, poppy, sweet pea, calendula, and sunflower!

Quilchena Falls

Had a great time with my bro and sis on our hike to Quilchena Falls. A day of hiking, lunch and lounging around in the pool before coming back home exhausted but pleased and happy.
The trip in was a nice drive though forests and meadows full of wild flowers and butterflies and nothing our cars couldn't handle.
The falls were impressive- water thundered down a 60 meter drop from a fair sized creek that cut through volcanic rock. The trail down to the base of the falls was really steep and my brother was the only one who went down to take pictures of the falls and check out the pool at the bottom.


At the top was a shallow pool with a large smooth boulder on the bottom which was nice to walk on rather than the usual rocks and branches. Speaking of branches we actually cleared out a lot of the debris from the pool which provided a better access to getting in and out. We actually were able to establish a block across the water by shifting a log in case one of us slipped and was swept towards the falls. It would not be a pleasant drop (ie death by falling/drowning) so I don't recommend people going in the pool unless they can shift a log across the water. Our log actually broke loose from the current towards the end of our outing- it was small and just did the job to make us feel a bit more secure for the time it was there.


At one point of our day I found the antlers of a buck with most of the skull intact. My husband estimated it to be about 4 years old. I think it was shot from high up in the meadow and ran for cover in this ravine where it died and predators dragged the carcass around while eating it since the spine was quite removed from the head.
We actually cut through the bush to get to it and wound up upstream and had to hike down a ways. At the falls is a rough road leading in from further below which is where we exited. That road is part of the original road that we walked on and it took longer hiking out that coming in because it was all uphill.
Take lots of water with you because it's super hot there.



Property is owned or leased by the Douglas Lake Ranch. Your cel phone might not work out there so it might be wise to get permission before you head out. It's about a half hour hike to the falls from there in- you will eventually hear the sound of falling water.
I found out today from someone who has lived here a long time that you need permission to go to the falls as the owners are not friendly to folks who don't. I also removed directions to the site so as not to encourage others to just go there thinking a call from a cell phone would suffice.

Children's Portraiture.

I thought I would share some of my favorite photos from a recent event. Family Fishing Day is where parents get to take their kids fishing for free and we have an organized event at Kentucky Alleyne Provincial Park where all the entrants got really nice participation prizes.

Some 30 or 40 children got fishing rods for prizes and many of them had actually caught fish in the (stocked) 'kids' lake at the park.
I regret that I was not able to get my card out to many people and hope the word gets out because virtually every person was photographed. So you folks at the the NVFGC spread the word- and anyone else who knows people who may have attended the event.

I should mention that I am a local photographer who licenses images, sells prints or a combination of both for weddings, birthdays, reunions etc. based in Merritt, B.C.
Watermarks do not appear on purchased images.

Published

I am opening this post with a picture of my kitten, Dukat a.ka. Duky and Katzy :)


Bigger view of Katzy at DA

Yesterday I received my copy of of a Photoshop resources book and cd compilation from a Japanese publisher who I was in contact with this year. I'm quite pleased to see my Photoshop patterns (seamless tiles) look pretty good in there- although I did make the effort to provide them with a better resolution to use than what I originally posted online.

Essentially the book is a collection of really nice samples of digital resources created by the artistic community (not all of whom use Photoshop as their main tool of choice- such as myself) that can be used primarily with Photoshop; name the patterns and brushes but there are also over 200 jpg images that can be used with any software.

I am a specialist in making patterns for Photoshop and the irony is that they are made with a competing product- Corel Draw and Photopaint. Both programs have their merits. Photoshop brushes and patterns are more user friendly and apply more smoothly but the program is awkward to learn and really expensive whereas Corel software is far easier to learn and cheaper but has way more rough edges that should have been fixed A DECADE AGO.

On another subject, my hubby got commissioned to write several articles for the upcoming season in the world of shooting sports publications and I am very happy for him and us.


bigger view at DA of Flower Triptych


Bigger view of Dogwood Nursery at DA

Our garden is doing well and hopefully before fall we can still get a fruit tree for the front yard but there is so much other stuff that needs to be done I am not counting on it anymore. But if we do it will either be an ornamental cherry, apricot (iffy, I know) or a (dessert) plum. My sis and I were in Kelowna last week checking out Bylands and Dogwood Nurserys and surprisingly Dogwood had better selection but then they are slightly off the beaten path. It will probably be next year the way I'm waffling!

We watched the fireworks display on July first at the park. The volunteer people were a bit silly:

Just here :)

And finally I will close with an image of the beautiful poppies that are finally blooming after all the regular ornamentals have started to fade. My ambition is actually to grow all kinds of poppies as my main decorative flowers along with cornflowers and large daisys...a bit American in colour scheme but so what- red, white and blue make a good colour mix.


Bigger View of Papaver Somniferum at DA

Garden progress

I should post pics of the garden now that we've reworked the potato patch...had plants cramped in too much but now everything is in straight lines.
Tomatoes are doing great, cucumbers have recovered.
Corn is pathetic. Don't know what happened- only 12 came up plus 4 others from a later seeding project. Maybe the crows/ravens? Bad seed?
Carrots are coming along nicely as are garlics...I have heard different things about planting times for garlics (and onions) but since I'm a first time gardener I 'what the hell, why not try it?' quite a bit.
Peas are doing awesome...spinach and cabbage less so as they were planted late...over a bed that had pepper seeds planted in it which only now have decided to make a showing- after I had given up and bought pepper plants- which are stunning. Leafy, green- don't known if they will produce peppers in our climate but we shall see! If nothing else they are great for greenery-lol.
Onions are growing as is Swiss chard. Broccoli is producing like no tomorrow. Beans were a huge disappointment. Fortunately I have the ones that sprouted from the germination project to fill things out and a few beans in the back plot although I don't know how well they will ultimately do. Have some more seeded indoors for another what-the-hell.
Lots of beets coming up although they had started poorly.
Potatoes are the pride and joy- doing phenomenally.

Trees and flowers: The gladiolas are coming up betwixt the cedars. 46 out of 49 planted- not bad. The cedars themselves look a lot healthier and it's probably because they are retaining more moisture due to the cover we put on the ground (bark mulch that we collected from a slash pile from the logging works!) Calendulas will flower soon as well so there will finally be some colour there.
My twisted willow saplings have almost crapped out. Shame. Loads of poppies awaiting bloom- columbines did super well from seed - quite unplanned. Lot of the wildflower mix seeds will soon flower as well.

Berry bushes are doing fine plus the heat loving plants nearby.
Sunflowers are EVERYWHERE.
Planters out front are doing great.
Herb pots are doing super except for lemon basil which has almost crapped out.

In the back plot are the other beans, loads of radishes, 3 kinds of salad...good stuff. In a sheltered box of earth are bird house gourds, squash, more seeded salads.
Grape has little grape clusters started; cantaloupes made a bit of a recovery.
In yet another plot are the nettles (brilliant), second stage salads (almost decimated by local cat) and still another plot has strawberry's which are also doing well.
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Compost heap is rebuilt and getting sifted for soil- long story.

I scrounged/scavenged lots of free and nearly free lumber in preparation for next years garden. Probably raised beds and a proper cold frame fitted to the plastic lined frames I built. I literally packed the back of the Compass to the roof with low grade two by fours- twice in two days.

Wow. I said a lot. I will have to update this post with pictures. To tired tonight even to cook however. McDonalds got our money.

A Will and A Way

I had been struggling with wonky html editors for more than 2 years because since version 8 of IE Notepad couldn't edit Explorer web pages when I found out that it could be forced to do so thru some obscure command called 'Developer Tools'.

I had looked for help on this before but none of the tricks had worked till yesterday I found the answer. Stupid Microsoft programmers are the tools that need developing since it doesn't even occur to them that the only people who look for these commands are computer geeks (who will find it) or WEBMASTERS- duh!- who will first say WTF???!!!, Look for help, get impatient, and use the next best thing to get the job done.
Why couldn't they have just put 'Choose source editor' under the View menu???!!! No, you have to go thru:

Tools>
Developer Tools...
(you are now in ugly editor)
File>
Customize Internet Explorer View Source>
Default, Notepad, Other...browse for it.

Seriously, once Firefox gets it's act together for html coding I am SO ditching this stupid IE.

3 examples of "Where there's a will there's a way":

Corn
I didn't think it would come up. About 2 weeks ago I dug into the soil and found that the corn had indeed started to make that journey into the word above. Some would say I am impatient and that would be true but I am also concerned in that I made a mistake as I am a first time (veggie) gardener. A lot of work and still only 12 out of about 36 corn came up so I was somewhat justified but proud at the same time.



Nettles
I have only found nettles in one place around Merritt and actually it's rather far away. Dilemma. What to do. Last summer I gathered nettles on the coast, brought them home to dry and at the bottom of the trash bag were all these...seeds. Hmmm....could it work? I split the seeds (thousands of them) over two plots and the this spring the one with the better soil erupted with something like 200-300 nettle seedlings! Ha Ha! (Those who grow nettles know why they're doing it- look it up online if you're curious)



Beans
My beans are a disappointment- the yellow wax beans. of which there were possibly a dozen in the packet, gave forth only 2 seedlings. I suspect the crows ate the other ones ...I didn't have the heart to dig around and check to make certain. But because I'm sentimental I decided to see if any of the seeds that Mama had kept could be germinated. I wasn't optimistic about the beans of all things- all of the seeds I had from her were gathered in 2005 from her own stock and had gone thru several moves. But suffice it to say some of the 5 year old beans were viable and the ones in the photo pictured here have been transplanted into the garden.

Dogs and Cat

I was going to write about the garden but that shall wait for a bit. I felt like sharing some info: it is not a crime to threaten to take a gun and shoot someones dog. At least that's what I've been told and I can understand that to a degree. It's one of those things that could be regarded as an empty threat.

A woman threatened to use her gun to shoot my dog this morning if I didn't move him away from her fence.
The fact is there is no sidewalk in front of her house and my dog was within a foot of her property I suppose...more like two feet but that's not the point. There was no point. She had two dogs that came tearing across her yard yapping in that nasty shrieking way little dogs have and I probably did pause for a moment since I was shocked. I couldn't recall ever seeing dogs there before today but now this evening I do remember a rather curt sounding man talking to his wife (?) last year and there were little dogs there.

Anyway after hearing the threat and the second or third 'fuck' being hurled out a window I marched to the front of the house and called her to come out and say what she had to say to my face.
She did come around the house and tried to call her dogs in and threatened me again with shooting my dog for getting near her 'fucking fence'. I walked away in a rage and later on asked the RCMP if there was any point in filing a complaint and what to do.
Basically I'M SUPPOSED TO AVOID PROVOKING HER and WALK ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STREET. I kind of expected to hear the second part but not the provoking bit since I explained that there was nothing to cause this...although I speculated that she might have been drunk and her dogs had woken her from a hangover.
I don't intend to go out of my way to avoid walking past there- I don't walk that way often; maybe 1 a month or so and she had better never say anything to me again because that would be harassment. It was just a really enraging experience that seemed to have absolutely no point.


Anyways, later on I went to a friends place and took one of the last two kittens from a litter she had rescued from her woodpile (we have a big feral cat issue in Merritt.) What an adorable little creature- great temperament, beautiful tabby markings...overall almost too perfect!
I had been wanting a cat for quite some time and now we finally have one. She likes Othmar and he gets all mushy over her- lol! The dog doesn't like her and the feeling is mutual but I have every confidence they will learn to tolerate one another. That's it for now. :)

Pie, Gardening, and Printing

I started a garden last month. My husband framed up the beds which are a cross between raised and in ground- essentially it's structured to keep the water from evaporating before it actually gets into the ground.

I decided to draw my front garden.
I suppose we could have dug it right into the ground but there's just so much rock just down underneath it's not funny. Now it's June and stuff is starting to show in that garden which is a learning experience for me...I will have plenty to say about it in my next post but for now I want to mention that if you have never had rhubarb and strawberry pie you don't know what your missing.
A neighbor's rhubarb grows out of control each year and a couple of weeks ago I decided to harvest what was growing outside of the fence.

processing rhubarb
My mother used to mix rhubarb with strawberry for making jam but I decided to try it as pie filling since I now know how to make pies. :)
OMG it was delicious. Never realized it would be so good because the jam I remembered was more tart than sweet. Definitely something everyone should try!

Closeup of pie- yum!
The weather lately has been ghastly- non stop rain it seems like. It's just like Vancouver! The only good thing is that the newly seeded lawn needs less watering from me since Mother Nature has been so generous with the precipitation.
Lilacs are almost finished in Merritt. I will miss the scent- a shame you can't get that smell in a garden flower!

Lilacs In Lane
I mentioned in my previous post that I sold a small original art work- I decided to post a picture my husband took of me standing with some of the others that I had in the community art show.

tee hee! Artemis - 12monthsOFwinter
I'm shopping my photography around with a fresh start and have decided that my niche is- or will be- western themed. I have a very diverse portfolio of work but it's really time to focus on what I do well that is relevant to this location- cowboys, horses, heritage, landscapes. That and portraiture...I just finished a photo shoot last week and enjoyed it and hope to get more work of that kind.
Shopping for a new print shop as well to handle large format photos...there's a promising place in Kamloops that I checked out today and will return to tomorrow to see how the panoramic shot I took of that fair city turned out.
I feel I should get in the habit of writing at least once a week so will do what I can...let it get loaded into Facebook automatically and copy/paste this blog to other locations like DA...still one of my favorite online haunts. There's a sight called Tumblr that I am checking out which looks nice...neater that FB or that useless Twitter. Flavor of the week I guess!

Gardening and Photography

A lot happened this month. I did a photo shoot this month as well for a local woman whose mother celebrated her 80'th birthday! Loads of relations from all over Canada and Europe for the group portrait- I must say I had loads of fun with this job despite the finicky weather. A very photogenic bunch of people and a very lovely occasion and all the children were amazingly good! I did 8 different shoots featuring various family members and am in the process of finalizing all the photos onto DVD. I will post the best shots a little later on.

The local community art show where one of my little originals of Murray Church at Quilchena, done in pen and crayon was purchased...I am proud of that and will miss that little church which used to hang over my desk but am very happy that someone else liked it enough to buy :)


Bigger picture at DA

I also made a panorama of Merritt from a location I had not used before- the south. I plan on marketing my panoramas more and have added a few labels to this one to make it more familiar to locals and anyone who is visiting. If you check out the large version at DA remember to use the 'Download' button on the right of the page which is new- simply clicking on the image won't work anymore.


It's a really large view of town.

And butterscotch! Oh dear. It seems I have a terrible addiction to it. I really and truly can't stop myself from eating it until it's gone so I'm not allowing myself to make it anymore.
Well, there should be some occasion for it...I know! June 6th will mark 1 month of having quit smoking to I will make it then!


More shame at DA!

Then there is the garden. I could ramble on and on about it. Let's just say for now that I've finished most of my planting...I started a week or so ahead of everyone else because I was impatient and thank God there wasn't too much cold weather between then and this previous weekend. Today I met some neighbors who showed me their coldframe/greenhouse which was just bursting with huge heads of romaine lettuce and tomato seedlings! Even tho I'm finished planting (more or less) I am devising a similar set up with all the scrap wood we have in the back of the house that is the remnants of the previous owners landscaping efforts. Wish I had seen the potential before we seeded the lawn which is getting stepped on a lot now! I noticed something amusing and made a little 'macro' as they call it:


More info at DA

Well, enough for now. I will leave this post with some photos: Lilacs; the unofficial shrub of Merritt, Balsam Root; shockingly yellow flowers that grow on exposed hillsides, and of course, a tribute to the mighty dandelion in a photo I have entitled: "The Unbeatable Army". :)


Lilacs


Baslam Root


Unbeatable Army

On Photography and the Web

This is just a bit of a rant because I need to vent.
Let it be said that I am a photographer who had created a website from basic html code and was formerly quite happy to use Microsoft's browser and programs for those things that they USED to do well. :(

Bigger
The only reason I had left to use Internet Explorer as a web browser was because I could edit the html code directly in Notepad using the 'view source' command. This was the old version of Internet Explorer that comes on my disc.
Since I've decided to play it safe and enable automatic updates Internet Explorer got updated and I can no longer use the 'view source' to edit my code. A MAJOR MISTAKE ON MICROSOFT'S PART WAS TO ALIENATE SOME OF IT'S LAST FANS BY ROBBING US OF THAT FUNCTION. NOW I HAVE TO USE ANOTHER EDITOR BECAUSE NOTEBOOK ITSELF IS SUCH A USELESS LITTLE PIECE OF GARBAGE WITHOUT BIG BROTHER IE TO BOSS AROUND.
This is why I've been delayed on updating my website. Now might be a good time to mention what all goes into an update:
1/ Sorting the latest batch of photos and making thumbnail versions (a subject unto itself that would include tweaks and copyright info)
2/ Writing up the new pages that correspond to the new photos- not too tough; mostly copy/paste. This could actually be the biggest step depending on how much additional info goes onto each page.
3/ Creating the new archive at the Evil Site that is Photobucket- while still free, I don't recommend it to anyone- I have to be very careful when I upload that I don't inadvertently hit an ad!
4/ Upload the new pages to the server with an FTP program.
5/ Check all new pages and make corrections where necessary- really the most tedious thing.
6/ Back it all up- 3 times.
I'M GOING TO REITERATE MY DISGUST, DISAPPOINTMENT, AND DISDAIN FOR MICROSOFT BECAUSE OF THEIR DISABLING THE EDITING FUNCTION WITHIN IE. Why did they do this??? It was the most wonderful of conveniences to write code that could immediately be updated with a 'save' and 'refresh' command. GONE NOW! And the thing is you can't downgrade IE so what's the point in even having it on the computer anymore???

Photography Exhibit at the Courthouse Gallery

I have an exhibit of some of my best photographs at the local gallery in Merritt, B.C. which I'm quite exited about!
This exhibit will run for nearly the whole month with a reception for it on the 16th.
Here's a link to a page I whipped up on my web site that shows miniature versions of my photos: Heidi's Photos at the Courthouse Gallery!
2 other photographers are showing as well- Anne Roberts and Jack Pickens. Spent most of the weekend just preparing my work, getting stuff on the walls, cleaning and organizing the gallery, putting together prices and get the advertising out. Oh yes, and updating all the web stuff where I can- the work that goes into it is really quite a lot- thank goodness Shirley Sauviet was there to organizing the hanging of the prints- I am totally useless at figuring out what looks aesthetic on the wall- I like the hammering part best!

Also went to the Black Powder shoot out at the shooting range to take pictures- espeically now that there is a medieval reinactment group taking part this year- and will go there again today and hopefully post some pictures later tonight.

Hope everyone is having a great Easter Weekend!

March

Well the Olympics are over and done with- my visit to Vancouver last Sunday with my brother was quite a patriotic experience. There's been so much mention about how we Canadians aren't very overt about our national pride but the games really changed that.

The Cauldron

People really were singing Oh Canada in the streets, climbing atop the bus shelters, using hockey sticks for flagpoles and generally screaming, shouting and whistling from all directions. After the hockey game ended the cacophony of sound from car horns was almost deafening in the downtown- we escaped it for a bit in the German beer garden and watched some of the closing ceremonies right there on a big screen TV. Everyone got up to sing the national anthem I might add.
Coming back through the sky train station about 500 people coming up the escalator high-fived all of us going down it and to say that people were exuberant would be a massive understatement.

Took lots of photos of course, in particular of the cauldron and the street madness as well as a few movies on my little camera. I really have never seen so many people on the street- not even in Guangzhou where crowds are common everyday…but then this was the Olympics and we sure did well!

Pictures are up at my web and besides licensing my regular photos for stock I also sell prints of my work. Check out the galleries if you are looking for art or stock. On a more sentimental note the WCA galleries that are online are slowly getting updated. The reference pictures will be chronologically replaced by larger images as scanning of original negatives is completed. Funny seeing pictures that I haven’t seen in over a decade because I sold the first prints at the time (I’m looking at YOU Sherri!) and how we all had less wrinkles…lol.

Community art show coming up in a couple of months as well as a gallery showing of my photos along with Anne Roberts and Jack Pickins…more on that later. :)

Merritt Olympic Torch Stuff

Yesterday the Olympic torch came through Merritt. It went right past my house as a matter of fact. There was a procession of vehichles preceding the runner(s) and the first person who went by didn't have a lit torch which was confusing but eventually the real deal came by.

Olympic Psychedelia

We watched from the window and went to Voght Park later on where I was able to get some pictures. It was a great atmosphere despite the cold and even I could get into the spirt of it seeing all those little kids singing their hearts out on stage all wrapped up in red jackets and touqes and with medals hanging around their necks. I didn't want to drag my tripod with me so have quite a few typical shots for night photography but later on I ran into Merritt's cable man and was able to use his tripod while he was shoulder filming with his video camera.

Olympic Celebrations

Here is a link to the event schedule for those who follow winter sports: click here.

Eternal Flame

GO TEAM!

Merritt's community art show is kind of lost in all this but it will run from February 5th to the 27th; a bit more information to be found here: Merritt Herald story.

I've put a few drawings in- portraits rather than anything themed towards the Olympics- and am continuing putting together my new photography archives. The WCA galleries are updated on my website as well as descriptions for most of the other work.

I've also agreed to allow some of my Photoshop patterns to be published in a Japanese Photoshop Guide. Photoshop patterns are essentially seamless tiles that are created to be used as brushstrokes in Adobe's Photoshop program. As a former carny I find it funny that we used to send pesky kids away to find 'checkered paint' and now I actually make the stuff! lol
That's about it for now- can't wait till this cold weather is over with and can get out more. Oh one more picture I took recently (while heading to the coast for a funeral):

Bad Moon Rising

Feb. '10 update

A few weeks ago I finished uploading most all of my 2009 pictures to my stock gallery- a big chunk of that website done- just some captioning to do. Now I feel a bit freer to update more specialized galleries such as the carnival people of (primarily) West Coast Amusements, which is a company I worked on for quite a few years in the 90's. Basically it was there that I started to really get into portrait photography alongside the pencil portraiture that I was already then known for. Looking through those photographs is interesting in that it's not always obvious if I was improving...there are places in the sequence of images that shows plain old shutter bug shooting and then all of a sudden a rash of really nice portraits. It kind of speaks of the nature of the travelling lifestyle- rushing around a great deal of the time and only when we slow down and really look and consider our surroundings/subjects can we really see what it is that we're trying to capture.

Carnival People section is at the bottom.



I remember NOT remembering if I had shot so-and-so's portrait or not...there is a lot of repetition of some people and I know the flip side of that is there are people whose faces I missed. That was my goal at the time- capturing a ‘perfect' on-the-spot portrait with my camera...because that's how I aspired to draw portraits. (This obviously results in minimal success rates!) My attitude obviously changed along the way - it just doesn't happen that way often enough. I went through a lot of film (and pencil erasers) with a decent (but not exceptional) success rate of 1-2 out of a 36-exposure role of film if I'm being honest. Digital has improved photographic chances of success –even with a random approach, which I’m trying to avoid- but not the drawing! Anyway, I'm posting the good with the not-so-good and will eventually highlight my favourites.

I'm also engaged in another project of digitally enhancing old photos that my father took for the purposes of stock imagery. This is a kind of specialized type of image- what they sometimes call vintage photography and is usually incorporated in art or illustration projects. More on that another time...

Art show coming up next month and I just selected what I’m putting in- pencil portraits from last year. I’ve kind of kept my drawing to myself in my focus on digital art and photography but seeing as I did so many portraits that I’m pleased with I will show them. Most likely the ones below and larger ones can be found here.

Putting Fire To Memories

That's what I'm doing tonight. I could be practical and say that some paperwork I burn (like old bills and phonebooks) are my assurance of preventing identity theft but the truth is there is a psychological satisfaction in setting those bits and pieces to blaze.
We have a little fire pit and it was very pleasant outside despite the cold to get another big bucket of old papers turned to ash. I don't know how many phonebooks the average person accumulates over the years but in 4 decades I had acquired about a dozen. Yesterday I purposely went out to buy a new one and transferred all the old addresses into it. Not a pleasant task. There were many people whose names I can't put faces to anymore and so many I had lost touch with. I kept the names I would like to find the people for on a separate list taped into the new phone book. That's just how it is- a sign of being older. I am going through a bit of a depression with this- it ties into the photographic work I'm doing which consists of scanning old photos of long dead people because I am interested in my roots.

A nice photo of someone my father knew a long time ago or possibly a relative.



Old pictures

I want to go to Europe at least once in my life to see Austria and Germany and also Switzerland, which is where my husband is from. I have lost the phone numbers and addresses for the few relatives my mother kept in touch with from my father's side and this is chewing away at me and what prompted the big phone book ordeal. I wish everyone had e-mail but they don't. I wish Canada Post was more reliable but it's not. I got a postcard from my cousin in Austria last year that said 'ein brief folgt' which means she was intending to send a letter shortly but that letter never came. And of course she didn't put her address on the back of the card so I'm left wondering where the hell in Oberwart she is - if she died or Canada post lost the letter.

The photographs I'm now putting online are scanned from negatives my father had tucked away. I consider them mine to do with as I like and will probably make them available as stock as well as forming the basis for making up a family tree. The story I'm sensing from the images I have is of a man who bought a camera and learned to use it for the purpose of remembering his homeland- I really think he knew he would be leaving Austria and possibly not returning. Money was tight back then after the war- you can see in the photos that the people worked hard to build roads, and clear forests and were proud of their homes. They look happy in these pictures- taking joy in simple pleasures like sharing a meal together- and with those smiles of people who know they're being photographed they make me smile.
There are some depressing images as well- what looks like a bombed out farm with stray chickens running around- chronicle of damage from the war on a person's now useless home.

Alongside all this imagery are family papers that I can't read much of which seem to tell a tale of people getting married and having children and lands changing hands. There is a lot of buying and selling going on and the family names are misspelled quite a few times that it's not always certain if Köhler is Kehler or Kheller or if Meisl is Meißl or Meusl. Maybe they're the same people or not. Some of these people were related to nobility it seems but there’s not much online to look up noble names. Evidently the Austrians and Germans decided to outlaw the use of hereditary titles which kind of kills the desire to put that info online- German people tend to be sticklers for authority but fortunately we aren't constrained in Canada from advertising that kind of information. Genealogy is fun but frustrating so the more sources there are to learn from the better so I'm posting anything relevant online on my website to make it available for others researching their family history to learn from.

This is not mine but is part of the collection- the best example of certificate done in the old style of pen and ink with ornamental lettering.



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On other artistic fronts most of my photos for 2008 are up for stock and I'm working on the 2009 pictures. There are lots of subject matters so if you're looking for good stock shots check out the site.

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