Fairview Horses and Lamas - Fairview, Alberta
Saturday – a day to get out and about with my camera, a day not to sit still in front of my computer editing or writing, a day to use for breaking out of the box in terms of subjects photographed, a day to push my never dones … finding that which I haven’t yet photographed. Most of us in the northern hemisphere are no doubt in kindred spirit, waiting in what seems a long-suffering stance for spring’s thaw, a thaw that the Woodland Cree assert brings with it a thaw in people’s inhibitions. This period of time prior to spring’s full-on melt is notorious for people’s crumbling inhibitions and for people saying what’s really on their minds. In this season, one’s behaviour and how it’s judged tends to count for more than legitimate investigation of the inner life that produces it – it becomes easy to fall prey and victim to other’s perceptions. It’s a season when minor social injuries can occur, when a spade is often inaccurately called a spade, when you can be caught having said a wrong thing, when the day before can look just like the day you’re presented with, a time when it can be difficult to see the forward movement toward and into spring. It is a smart time, however, to focus and pursue a never done, to break out of your mould and to extend yourself into new reaches of growth, learning and practice. Saturday’s endeavor has been about finding new subjects to photograph, subjects I rarely photograph … but ought to. Here, four horses and three lamas are the subject of the photograph presented here. Three and half hours into my southward drive toward Fairview, Alberta I encountered the animals on the west side of the road in the last ten kilometres traveling into Fairview. The day was warm with wind and temperatures hovering around freezing. Snow was melting, light was bright and intense and the day’s heating of the world caused dramatic interplay among the clouds being created, shaped and blown around – a windy, tempestuous start to our March, 2012.
Listening to – Eric Clapton’s Unplugged Album; songs drawing attention Before You Accuse Me, Tears in Heaven, Walkin’ Blues and Malted Milk; also listening to Martyn Joseph’s Far From Silent album – songs standing out include Good Man, The Mayor of Candor Lied and All this Time.
Quote to Inspire – “Photography is an immediate reaction, drawing a meditation.” – Henri Cartier Bresson
In My Back Pocket - Photography 
Absolutely beautiful. Your narration is captivating. I wanted to speak back to you, telling you how it is in Arizona where winter lasts 3/4 of a day and spring is a breath long and then summer sets in with its overbearing heat. Your narration calls me north, to a place where there are changes of seasons which call us all to some sort of change. Here, we are the same. Embrace your natural rhythms.
Hey there, Mona:
Thank you for your kind words … it’s good reading that these words and images resonate with/for others.
Arizona – a warm winter and spring; then, to summer that’s sweltering hot. Martyn Joseph sings a tune called Arizona Dreams, a song of former days in America. And, there are more than a few Canadian snowbirds frequenting Arizona only to stay warm in winter. I haven’t been to Arizona, yet. In recent years, I seem to have become landlocked to a certain path worn into a limited area of Alberta, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories.
There is a lot that the north is and it contains different experiences wherever any of us find ourselves. The season differential is good in the north. There’s familiar pace and rhythms that we move through. I’m still of a mind to go further north, into the Yukon and through to Alaska; the living becomes more rudimentary and the reality more grounded in natural rhythms.
Take care,
Each section of our country has its own beauty and character, doesn’t it?
I have to say that what Mona said fits for me as well, living in Arizona. I miss the seasons and do so enjoy your photographs. They take me to a time in my life when I lived in the midwest. My uncle had horses, wheat fields, sunflowers, old cars and trucks, etc. Your photos transport me back there and it’s a good place to back to in my mind for a while.
Regina, I also am from the midwest and miss it. One of the things I am enjoying about reading blogs is vicariously experiencing other lives and locales.
Hey there, Gina:
Thank you for looking in on Pursuing Never-dones and speaking about how the image connects with you. It sounds like there’s vibrance and strength in your Midwest images. Would these have been the pleasurable years of childhood and youth that you remember?
Take care,
Yes, I spent my early years in Kansas. My grandparents and uncle were great influences in my life.