Versatile Blogger …

Backlight, Best Practices - Photography, Canon 30D, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Fog, Light Intensity, Lookback Photos - One Year Ago, Night, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Weather, Winter

Cold Winter Night - High Level, Alberta

Versatile Blogger Award - 29 April 2012

: Versatile Blogger Award – 29 April 2012

http://static.animoto.com/swf/w.swf?w=swf/vp1&e=1335737102&f=3C1H3RYOEpz2gPdFHS610g&d=446&m=p&r=360p+720p&volume=100&start_res=360p&i=m&options=loop

Totally an interesting day, yesterday – to post and then to return later and have not just Gina from The Regina Chronicles nominate my photoblog for an award, but also to receive nomination from Jeremy of 365 photos by Jeremy for the Versatile blogger award. Thank you Jeremy for this nomination and for the intrigue and interest you present the In My Back Pocket – Photography photoblog. More than you know the tribute/nomination hits home well. I am grateful.

The weblink above is an animoto of images posted on In My Back Pocket – Photography; have a look. 🙂

The Fifteen Blogs to Recommend and Explore

Teklanika Photography Field Journal
To A Dusty Shelf We Aspire
Subtlekate
A Traveller’s Tale
The Regina Chronicles
Leanne Cole’s Blog
Niltsi’s Spirit
Rubicorno
Ramblings
Blue Line
Not Yet There
Skymunki
Not Yet There
Greenford 365
Mars Black Vintage

Seven Things About Me

An audiobook listener since 1981 – Emma by Jane Austen was first, Shakespeare’s Hamlet was second, then Thomas Hardy’s The Mayor of Castorbridge; all were audiocassettes put out by Listen for Pleasure and used on a variety of Sony Walkmans.
I’ve completed two half-marathons – the first in two hours, fifty-one minutes and the second at age forty-nine in two hours, fourteen minutes.
My middle brother introduced me to the Canon T70 SLR camera I bought somewhere around 1985-87 and I’ve two framed pictures of Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia on our kitchen wall, twins to the pair my father has hanging on his bedroom wall in his retirement home.
I was made a school administrator, one-hundred and forty days into teaching. My teaching has all been north of Latitude 54.
In terms of my love for vehicles, I aspire one-day to help in the beginning-to-end, front-to-back restoration of a rusting relic – just to be a part of the transformation.
In terms of vehicles and vehicles I feel safe in – we’ve owned three Nissan Pathfinders (same series 1991-1995), a Dodge Dakota, a Dodge Colt, a Dodge Spirit, a Jeep Grande Cherokee, two Toyota Camrys (1991 – 2010), an Aries K-Car, a Hyundai Santa Fe and Nissan Altima; all are good vehicles. In terms of handling muck, cold, snow and ice, I’d go with the Nissan Pathfinder (with manual transmission and good tires, SE if possible).
Our Dogs – we’ve had a wolf-Lab cross (Chrissy), a Siberian Husky (Katya) and currently have a Cocker-spaniel (Shadow).

Listening to – John Cougar Mellencamp’s Rumbleseat and You’ve Got to Stand for Something, Dire Straits’ the Bug and U2’s When Love Comes to Town.

Quote to Inspire – “I always thought good photographs were like good jokes. If you have to explain it, it isn’t that good.” – Anonymous

Water Mirror

Backlight, Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Fauna, Light Intensity, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Spring, Still Life, Sunset

Cattails within Reflection

Water – within the past week I’ve slipped and nearly tumbled on water that’s oozed and frozen into globs of ice on High Level sidewalks during my morning walks. Water has met with gravitational pull and been transported as precipitation from clouds through a distance of kilometres to earth, sprinkling erratically. Water that’s changed state from snow or ice has in its melting been responsible for transport of dust and dirt from sidewalks to drains and through sewage systems. Water has been the key ingredient in transforming dirt into mud and curiously the removal of soil from our bodies is best accomplished with … water. And, within this photo water that is not in motion becomes mirror, an enigma catching my attention as I’m able to focus through its surface to the detail in my subject, the cattails. The water mirror allows cattails to become foreground to the backdrop of clouds of pink sunset, a feat that would not have been possible without this water mirror.

Listening to – Ray Lamontagne’s I Still Care For You, Ryan Adams’ Come Pick Me Up and David Gray’s Fugitive. The David Gray tune from yesterday that’s stuck in my head is We’re Not Right; the other is Shawn Colvin’s take on We All Fall Down. Today, David Gray’s My Oh My plays out to the end of this post.

Quote to Inspire – “In photography there is a reality so subtle that it becomes more real than reality.” – Alfred Stieglitz

Perspective – Where to Stand

Backlight, Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Fauna, High Dynamic Range (HDR), Light Intensity, Photoblog Intention, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Spring, Still Life

Cattails 1 - High Level, Alberta — Cattails 1 – High Level, Alberta

Cattails 2 - High Level, Alberta — Cattails 2 – High Level, Alberta

Cattails 3 - High Level, Alberta — Cattails 3 – High Level, Alberta

Cattails 4 - High Level, Alberta — Cattails 4 – High Level, Alberta

Cattails 5 - High Level, Alberta — Cattails 5 – High Level, Alberta

Cattails 6 - High Level, Alberta — Cattails 6 – High Level, Alberta

Cattails 7 - High Level, Alberta — Cattails 7 – High Level, Alberta

Cattails 8 - High Level, Alberta — Cattails 8 – High Level, Alberta

Cattails 9 - High Level, Alberta — Cattails 9 – High Level, Alberta

Cattails 10 - High Level, Alberta — Cattails 10 – High Level, Alberta

Cattails 11 - High Level, Alberta — Cattails 11 – High Level, Alberta

Cattails 12 - High Level, Alberta — Cattails 12 – High Level, Alberta

Cattails 13 - High Level, Alberta — Cattails 13 – High Level, Alberta

Cattails 14 - High Level, Alberta — Cattails 14 – High Level, Alberta

Cattails 15 - High Level, Alberta — Cattails 15 – High Level, Alberta

Cattails 16 - High Level, Alberta — Cattails 16 – High Level, Alberta

Cattails 17 - High Level, Alberta — Cattails 17 – High Level, Alberta

Cattails 18 - High Level, Alberta — Cattails 18 – High Level, Alberta

Cattails 19 - High Level, Alberta — Cattails 19 – High Level, Alberta

A cube or a box – the physical structure of the spaces we tend to inhabit for the majority of our days are cubes or boxes. There’s the cube or box of home. There’s the cube or box of work. As human beings it’s important that we find the third and fourth cubes beyond our work environment and beyond the home, the third and fourth elements of our day that balance out contact with work and withdrawal from endeavor. The analogy works forward in terms of thinking outside the box, breaking from routine and locating yourself in activities in the world to gain perspective on your world. Add a camera to the equation and the analogy drills down a step – you’re gaining perspective on the world you live in in much more concrete terms. Photography allows for that look at your broader context. Photography orients you to the beauty you’ll find that’s only minutes away. In fifteen minutes, I’d driven east and found these cattails at day’s end on a warmer spring day well into melt.

Listening to – The Five Blind Boys of Alabama and their rendition of Run On For A Long Time, Feed A Man by Billy Bragg & Wilco, Shakedown on 9^th Street by Ryan Adams, Buffalo by Kathleen Edwards, Fully Completely by The Tragically Hip, Wonderwall by Ryan Adams, Eh Hee by Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds, You Might Die Trying by the Dave Matthews Band, U2’s Wake Up Dead Man and Jack Johnson’s Rodeo Clowns.