Diane Jarvis-Schuller

Before I get to sharing more photos from Oahu (part one here), I realize I have been doing some serious catching up here on my photo journal. What with my 8 things about me prompted from Kelly over at Jax Decor and then my Casting Call for Horse Models (what a deal — can’t beat free!), it’s likely overload catching up on all these recent posts. But now that I have some work out of the way, it’s time to reflect upon that wonderful one week vacation.

As part of my 365 day-in-the-life project I’m doing this year, I have also been posting individual photos from my Hawaiian trip over at Flickr if you care to check them out (a few will be repeated here).

Surfing is the one thing I didn’t try out while on Waikiki but wish that I had. Now I have an excellent reason to go back! Surfers head out before sunrise every day and other surfers are in the water until at least half and hour to an hour after sunset. One of the activities I did that was definitely a highlight was snorkeling — oh wow! The catamaran took us out to a nearby coral reef where the turtles feed and hang out. I was amazed how the fish and the turtles aren’t even bothered by us — we swam among them as if we belonged in their world. What I found among the most surprising factors, besides how evenly warm it always is, was the temperature of the water. Whether it’s early morning, midday, or long after dark, the water is beautifully warm. I went in the water every evening.

As you’ll see from these next photographs, I was taken with the umbrellas. I took oodles of photographs — far too many to include here so this is a small sample.

Speaking of surfing, lots and lots of people head out on a surfboard and paddle. I’m going to try both versions of surfing next time (that’s if I’m fortunate enough to have a next time)!

The next post will have some very colourful images that I took when I visited the Polynesian Centre. Colourful costumes, painted faces, and fun. I will also have photos from some of the artisans on the island, including some of the items I purchased from them. Oh gosh, there is so much ground to cover — I’ll try to focus on each aspect in the upcoming posts. Aloha for now.

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I also offer fine art photography for your home or office decor needs. If you see images on this photo journal or on my website that you might like to have on your walls, contact me (by using the contact tab in the menu bar at the top).

Photographs Never Forget!

My 365 project appears to be very well received over at Flickr. I’m now rethinking my original thought to not include my 365 project here in my photo journal. Even though this is my business photo journal, I am now considering including some of my 365 images here. It concerns me because I don’t want to run into problems with time since I post my daily photos over at Flickr, and try to keep regular posts here, plus all the other work and home responsibilities I have. What some of the people over at Flickr seem to appreciate is the brief explanation that accompanies the images for my 365 project.

For today’s post I’ve included 4 of the 6 images I’ve taken so far and will cut/paste the brief explanation beneath the 4-some. I don’t know that I’ll have time to double up on my 365 posting at both places, so for anyone who may be interested, you can always see my entries over at my Flickr account. The comments people have left for me over there encourages me to continue with this fun project.

Beginning at the top left, going clockwise:

1. 6:365 at the art gallery … This was the third time, but the first time in 2011, that my photographic art appeared in an art gallery. It was a “clothesline” gallery meaning everything had to to be unframed and could be hung by a clothespin on a clothesline. Each artist was invited to submit 2 pieces. The manager has a knack for great presentation and she had some huge clothespins she used as props and on the ends of each clothesline. I’m honoured to have been included with some very accomplished artists.

I cannot ‘show’ any of the art due to copyright regulations naturally. So I took images of the clothesline which was the whole point of the show anyway

2. 5:365 … Interesting how photographing with intention results in photographs like this. As you can tell, today was ironing day. I have always loved doing laundry but ironing seems like more of a chore. Despite that, it always feels so good when the ironing is finished and I have so many neatly pressed hangers of shirts to put away.

3.  4:365 … Who knew washing dishes could look pretty? That poor jar that’s getting a soak (so I can remove the label for recycling), seems to appear like a drowning victim next to the stainless steamer mug. Actually, I was turning away from the sink to wipe the counters and all the bubbles suddenly caught my attention. Funny how a person can become blind to the things we do every day — all of a sudden I opened my eyes to the surface of the dish water.

4.  3:365 … I know the quality of my photos appears to be declining rapidly. But with this 365 project I’m doing (and I didn’t start on Jan 1), I’m purposely trying to do an honest depiction of my daily life, warts and all. I took several photos while out dog walking on this day but this partly-out-of-focus one represents the best part of the day and the exuberance of the dogs as they were digging in the snow. Look at that snow fly!

Speaking of snow flying … I hope you didn’t miss the previous post featuring my fun loving canine models!

A few days ago, after reading a poignant post over at Shutter Sisters, I made the decision to begin my own 365 project.

For the photographers who pop by and visit here, you’ll all know what a 365 project is, but for others here is the simple explanation of what it’s about. A 365 project involves taking at least one photograph each and every day of the year. It has different purposes, among them: incentive to take photos of your daily life or the life around you; to help photographers grow; to be sure not to miss recording important moments in your life; to keep the creative juices flowing, for some it’s a chance to begin building a body of work; and so on.

For me however, the main reason for commencing this project was something Meredith said, “There is something important and beautiful to remember and be grateful for every. single. day.” That statement, in particular, is what set off a spark in me. Although I don’t plan on limiting myself to only photographing that which I’m grateful for, the reason is truly worthy of embracing. And if I’m being truly honest, there was one other thing she said that nailed it for me. She said, “… if I were able to pick up the phone and call my mother each day to share one thing that happened that day I would. But I can’t.” Well I can’t either and I wish I could. This project then will be moment(s) in my day that I would share, if I could, whether they are moments worthy of celebration or moments of the mundane things we need to do during our day-to-day life. A snapshot within my day.

I’ve begun my project, though not on the first day of the year, as most photographers tend to commence this type of project. I also won’t be posting most of the images here (at least I don’t think so). For now, I’m posting them quite informally over at my Flickr account, though I will likely share an occasional one here. Since this is my business-related photo journal, I didn’t think it was the venue for my casual 365 project.

Have you taken on some form of ongoing project? What did you learn or how did you grow as a result of participating in that project?

This is Two-Posts-for-Thursday.

As all of you are aware, I am a huge proponent of getting photos OFF the computer (and disks) and into print. Photographs are meant to be on display. I want to show everyone how great it is to have photos on display. Whether you have photos on the wall, in frames, hanging by a clothes pin, or made into a collage, let’s see them. Are your photos nicely arranged in a scrapbook, safely presented in an album, or perhaps on display in some other creative way?

Send a photo showing me how you display photos in your home or office. I will select ten photos to feature here on my photo journal. Let’s show people how photos can be displayed. Let’s get photos OFF the computer and on display. So take a photo of how you have your photos displayed and send me the jpeg as soon as possible. Your display may end up being featured here in the very near future.

To send me your submission: Send a jpeg (medium – large size) to me with the subject line “On Display” to the following email (remove spaces to send), dianeschuller @ g mail . com

I’ll let you know if your submission will be featured and on which day, so you can let your friends and family know to watch for your picture. I’m looking forward to seeing all kinds of different displays!

… don’t forget about the second post for today (announcement about a free workshop I’m giving) …

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Photographs Never Forget!   Creating artistic memories

This is Two-Posts-for-Thursday (please read today’s other post — you could have your photo featured here).

Moms and Dads in the Grande Prairie area, mark your calendars for this upcoming (free) workshop.

I will be conducting the workshop, “Picture it: How to Take Better Photos of Your Children” at the Grande Prairie Public Library.

This two-session workshop held on Wednesday evenings October 13 and 20, 2010 will be centered on taking better photographs of your children.  I’ve designed this workshop for the average person with a basic camera (not professional photographers) to provide you with the tools you need to improve upon the photos you take of your children.  Whether you use a point-and-shoot, digital SLR, or film camera, you will learn simple and easy techniques for taking memorable and delightful photos of your children through all stages of their life.  Dig out your camera’s instruction manual prior to the workshop — I will be asking you to reference it during the workshop.

Plan to attend — there is no fee for attendees! Get together with a friend, family member, or neighbour, for two fun and educational evenings.

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Photographs Never Forget!   Creating artistic memories.

Today’s installment will be a bit shorter but I have a trio of photos for you. The next set will likely be more images of the village where I get my mail. For today, I’m sticking quite close to home. This was taken day before yesterday. These are black poplars which grow like weeds up here. The other really common tree is the white aspen or white poplar, which I much prefer to these ones.

This next image is taken on Highway 43, about 10 km north of the village of Hythe. This is the highway that continues on up to Alaska (behind me). We used to live at mile 0 of the Alaska Highway in Dawson Creek, BC.  The land both on the left and the right used to belong to our nephew but he sold both quarters a few years ago. The new owners of the property on the left built a house, which you can see up against the trees — it’s for sale if you’d like to live so close to the highway. There is a gravel road behind that line of trees and if you follow that road to the end, you come to our place.

The final image in this trio was taken from the exact same spot as the one above, except I turned 90 degrees. The field used to belong to our nephew. This is a photo of our neighbour who farms a great deal of the land in this area. I took several of these with the combine in different locations but chose to use this one where the combine is down in the gully.

Next post: something in black and white!

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Photographs Never Forget! Keeping Memories alive with custom albums and portraits.

Only a few fall sessions left — contact me to book yours today.

A gift certificate for a private photo session makes an excellent and unique gift! Do you know someone with a milestone, birthday, or other special occasion coming up? Gift certificates are also ideal as corporate gifts and are much more meaningful and creative than a bouquet of flowers or fruit basket.

See a print on this photo journal that you would love to see on your home or office wall – or as a gift? Get in touch; many of the landscape and still life images are for sale in a variety of sizes.

What a glorious day. We have wet snow forecast for tomorrow yet today was a lovely sunny day and the countryside was aglow with all the coloured leaves, the rich autumn sky, and lots more too.

On my way home from Grande Prairie today, I took time to take a few photos — actually I took a huge whack of photos. I have so many that I wish I could share all of them with you. I’m going to have to create a couple different posts featuring some of the different subjects. For now, here’s a trio (though I took oodles) of some snow geese on their fall migration here in my neck of the woods. Enjoy!

This first photo shows a variety of waterfowl including some ducks and geese.

You wouldn’t believe the cacophony as they all took flight. You would be correct if you notice there are both Snow Geese and Canada Geese here.

The colours were brilliant today. Lots and lots of bright yellow, but also some oranges and a few hits of red here and there. Autumn is such a comforting time of year.

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Photographs Never Forget! Keeping memories alive with custom albums and portraits.

Diane is a photographer in the Grande Prairie area. She creates portraits for you and for her pleasure as well.

Although this is my business photo journal, here’s the second installment for my new personal project, My Neck of the Woods, that I began last week. Since these photos were not taken this week, they are almost ‘out of date’ because of how much the surroundings have changed. Right now, instead of green trees, they’re mostly shades of yellow, orange, and some with a hint of red. This first one was taken about four weeks ago just down the road from my place along Highway 59. The yellow is canola in full bloom. Canola is a predominant crop in our area together with fields of barley. Some farmers attempt to grow wheat but our weather is not hot enough nor the growing season quite long enough. Most people take photos of the canola fields as the prominent subject; I chose to make it an accessory to the dramatic sky. I’m a huge sky watcher and this time of year we enjoy a great deal of drama in our skies.

With this installment of My Neck of the Woods I’m showcasing fields and skies. Next time we’ll move away from fields and skies. This next one was taken a few mornings ago as I was headed to town (Hythe) to check mail. I loved how the steam was streaming off the field so had to pull over and get a few pictures. This field was recently plowed and will sit fallow over winter, ready to be seeded in spring.

And I’ll leave you with a lovely bucolic rural scene. Again, the colours have already changed since I took this a week ago but I liked this so much I wanted to share it with you. Many farmers in our area raise cattle and even more raise bison. I’ll have to take some current photos of the bison to show you while I’m doing this little project to share with everyone. My husband and I eat bison because we can buy pasture fed bison instead of all the chemical laden, forced fed beef that is available in stores. We also buy locally raised cattle to feed to our dogs. You may have noticed in all the photos the thick bush in the background. Due to the thick bush and many swamp areas as well, there is a great deal of wildlife. The most common and abundant wildlife include mule deer, coyotes, moose, and elk (wapiti). In fewer numbers are white tail deer and fox, and the occasional bear. The most dangerous are definitely the elk but you also don’t want to come between a cow moose and her calf.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this second installment. I’ll bring more variety in #3. I’m hoping that what is ordinary for me, is of some interest to you. Thanks for stopping by again.

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Photographs Never Forget! Keeping memories alive with custom portraits and albums.

Only a few fall sessions left — contact me to book yours today.

A gift certificate for a private photo session makes an excellent and unique gift! Do you know someone with a milestone, birthday, or other special occasion coming up? Gift certificates are also ideal as corporate gifts and are much more meaningful and creative than a bouquet of flowers or fruit basket.

See a print on this photo journal that you would love to see on your home or office wall? Get in touch; many of the landscape and still life images are for sale at any size you prefer.

As mentioned in a previous post, I’m beginning to offer a glimpse into “my neck of the woods”. Most of you know I don’t live in a city or even in a town, but on a farm in NW Alberta. The closest town (of approximately 400 — which I frankly believe is a drastically inflated population number by the town) is about 20 km and the closest city of Grande Prairie (population approximately 52,000)  is a one hour drive, one way, from our place. The nearest real city (Edmonton) is a six hour drive, one way. So photos you see will consist of the surrounding countryside & farms, the small town where I get my mail, and trips in between. Be prepared to be surprised at some of what you see, because I plan on showing it as it is, including the beautiful, the plain, the everyday, and the ugly. Posts in this project series will not be posted consecutively, but randomly here and there.

Today I’m beginning by leaving our place and showing you one of my three office assistants, Pearl.

And this is a photo of the back of the tire shop in Hythe, with one of the many feral cats watching me very closely before slinking away to safety. The owner of the tire store leaves food out for the feral cats but they do have a tough life, despite his kind efforts.

You’ll see more photos of the tire store in the nearby town in future “my neck of the woods” series. The tire store appears to have a fairly thriving business going for them. As with most places in small towns, the people are very friendly.

Last night I had to make a trip to the Hythe Library and on the way home, I stopped at a nearby dugout with the hopes of taking some reflection photos. Although I always have a camera with me, I had the wrong one for what I wanted to do. My old camera is not great for low light situations so I didn’t get my reflection photos but I got much more in personal satisfaction. The only sounds were of the wind aerator quietly clunking in the distance, and gentle little plops from the fish surfacing. I could really smell the fish too so there must be quite a few of them in that dugout. I also ended up being entertainment, of sorts, for the resident muskrat. S/he swam towards me then veered off. I remained totally still and it swam back my way a little closer to try and get a good look at my ghostly figure standing on the edge of the water. The air was warm and it felt so good standing there in the silence so I stayed a while. As I climbed back up to the road, I saw an opportunity for a couple photos. Here’s one of them.

If you’re not from here and are thinking you may like to plan a trip to Alberta, I’d recommend Frommer’s Alberta (Frommer’s Complete) and if you’re a real hiker, my favourite place is Waterton so I’d recommend this book with great details on the best hiking there, Hiking Glacier and Waterton Lakes National Parks, 3rd: A Guide to More Than 60 of the Area’s Greatest Hiking Adventures (Regional Hiking Series).

If a good novel is more your cup of tea, I’d recommend the most recent novel by my friend and Hythe’s librarian, Karen Bass. Pick up Summer of Fire to read yourself or as a gift for your favourite teen. See! there is a lot of great talent up in our neck of the woods!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my first installment on the My Neck of the Woods project. There’s more to come.

I’m so excited! I’m rushing about and wasn’t going to post again until returning from my weekend trip, but I can’t help myself. Yesterday I booked a photo shoot that I am REALLY looking forward to and it’s a surprise to boot! How great is that? I’m going to be shooting a fellow and his pride-and-joy vintage cars. My mind is pumping like a piston thinking about all the interesting possibilities! I can hardly wait. I can’t say much more — even though the fellow doesn’t know about my photo journal, I just wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise. Someone very special has set this up … you’ll be sure to see a sneak peek after the session. I find every creative session to be fun but this is one that won’t come along everyday. I’d better scoot — I have to pack for my trip. Have a grand weekend everyone!

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Diane is an on-location lifestyle photographer serving Grande Prairie and the entire Peace River region of Alberta and B.C. Visit Diane Schuller Photography.