The Sparrow

7:35 is my new personal photo project.  You probably wonder why that specific time is so important to me that it deserves it’s own project.  Well, it’s quite simple actually, I get to spend about ten minutes alone with my youngest on every school morning while we walk and wait for the school bus.  It’s a moment where time seems to stop, where we just hang out, do some silly things, play boot hockey with a chunk of ice or simply hold on to each other.  I could easily kiss him on his way out the door and wave goodbye as he’d walk to the bus stop alone, he’s old enough for it after all.  But no one can rob me of that special time.  So I get dressed, and I go out.  Rain, snow, hail, polar vortex or not, I’m standing there with him.  It’s our moment.  We have others, like bedtime reading.  But this one I hold on to, because I won’t see him until late in the afternoon, and I will miss him.  I miss both my sons when they’re at school, still, after all these years.

This time of year, just before spring, passes by like I’m caught in a whirlwind.  There’s my son’s birthday to plan and to celebrate, there are the hockey series, for both our sons and the spring cleaning to start. Add to that this year, that my oldest suffered a concussion, which still prevents him to play hockey three weeks after it happened, so I’m playing nurse.  If you thought a concussion was simply a light situation, I guarantee you there’s more to it.  There’s the headaches that come and go, the inability to focus for a long period of time, the crankiness…  It requires attention, constant restraint, because the boy does want to be active, but if he does, headaches come back with a vengeance.  And there’s school, he’s in an enriched program, which means he’s supposed to go through academics faster, but he can’t focus at the moment. That generates anxiety, will school results plummet?  Will teachers understand?  That makes a lot going through his young mind…

I used to shoot every single day.  Everything that striked my fancy or caught my eye. Now I shoot in spurts.  When it takes me.  I then shoot a lot, and put the camera away until it hits me again.  I think this winter has been hard on many, on most days when I get home, I just want to grab a coffee and rest.  This winter is endless, we had snow yesterday and a comfy -20C temp. Weather people have predicted spring temps under the median.  Can you feel my excitement? I can’t wait to shoot outside, with spontaneity, catching the light as it shows.  But for now I need to be organized if I want to produce some images because if I listen to that little voice, it’ll tell me to head back to the coffee machine…

It sounds bad right?  Well, it’s not what you think.  Since joining Arcangel images (see link at the top), I was fascinated by the talent and pure creativity I saw from other contributors.  Many of them create horror or mystery covers and are amazing at it and it inspired me to try some more edgy work of my own.