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.

With the starting of this new year, as I’ve already mentioned, I’ve been taking more and more photos with my mobile phone.  I’m loving the spontaneity it allows and the quick editing and sharing abilities.  No tedious uploading of files, and converting raw, then saving high res, plus another low res copy, and the extra low res watermarked one…  It’s so simple.  Since taking that Time Caspsules class last year, I’ve been looking for ways to capture life as it is, in a less polished and formal way, and my phone allows me to do just that.  I’ve also been using many apps.  Maybe too many.  And I thought I’d list and post examples of work created with some of my favorite applications.

I won’t lie, it’s really cold here.  Even for a northern girl like me who’s used to winter, it’s cold.  I may have all the adapted clothing and outerwear I need, I’m still shivering when going outside.  We had a first icy blast late December, then last week, we had hopes of spring.  Warm sunlight, birds chirping.  Today’s it’s back to reality, another blast of Arctic air hits us. I’m not one to complain usually, but I’m really dreaming of spring at the moment. I’m stuck inside and although it helps with my healthy resolutions, I have time for cooking, juicing and exercising, I’m longing to be out there shooting.  I have briefly picked up my camera to capture the cold, my fingers would freeze after a couple of seconds, my battery drained and my face burned.  It has nothing fairy tale like, it’s not a Disney movie.
Well, at least I’m still keeping up with my photo projects. The 100 Days of Happy one comes easy for me, I find sources of happiness everywhere, and it’s such a feel good project!  I really hope weather stops acting up so I can get to more serious and portfolio worthy work, I have a long list of written ideas to complete…  Meanwhile I guess I’ll stick to yoga, breathe in, breathe out, and wait for winter to pass…