Diane Jarvis-Schuller

I took these a few weeks ago on a trip through Jasper National Park. Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep are frequently seen through the snowfields in the mountains. In winter they are often seen licking salt applied to the roads so caution must be taken in areas where they frequent to avoid killing them.

I know all the rules about keeping blog posts short plus I realize how annoying real long blog posts are, but I hope you’ll forgive me for making this one a tad on the long side — so I hope you enjoy them anyway. I was losing light with some of these, especially this next pair, but I think they still show some nice detail. I’ll be doing a lot of (catch-up) posting beginning this week with the majority of the images being my personal photos, with a few client photos tossed in here and there this month.

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All images in this post and within this photo journal (blog) are Copyright © Diane Schuller – All Rights Reserved. It is illegal to copy, take screenshots, or otherwise use these images without my written permission. Please use the contact form in the menu bar above to request permission and I’m sure we can work something out. If you are interested in reprints of any of the images in this photo journal (blog), please contact Diane for more information. Thank you for respecting copyright laws.

If I were to try and put a caption to this photo of an 8 year old puppy it might go something like, “Is that my youth down in there somewhere?”

Next post is a pictorial of Rocky Mountain Sheep I encountered a few weeks ago.

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Diane is an experienced dog, pet, & horse photographer serving Grande Prairie and surrounding regions. Visit Diane’s website to view her portfolio and to learn more about getting beautiful and candid photos of your dog, pet, or horse!

Photographs Never Forget!

I’m proud to announce my support for the Grande Prairie PARDS (Peace Area Riding for the Disabled Society) current fund raising project. I have donated a full photo session plus an 8×10 gift print for PARDS to auction off at the upcoming 13th annual Dine & Dance to be held November 20, 2010. To quote directly from their promotional material:

PARDS Annual Dine and Dance is the second major annual fundraiser our organization hosts in support of operations, rider sponsorship, facility maintenance, specialized riding equipment and countless other areas.

This is an event you don’t want to miss! Ideal for a great night out with friends (whether they are the ones you came with or new ones you meet there), and for your staff Christmas party. The evening includes a delicious Buffet Dinner, cash bar, Silent and Live Auctions (treat yourself or get some holiday shopping done or both!), the famous PARDS Plinko game, Ring Box raffle, “13 Bottles of Wine” auction featuring a different PARDS horse on each bottle (but which one is hiding the Grande Prize?), and, of course, music and dancing!

If you, or anyone you know, is interested in attending PARDS annual fundraising event on November 20th, tickets may be purchased through the PARDS office, phone 780-538-3211.

PARDS is a not-for-profit therapeutic riding center offering equine assisted therapy to children and adults living with disabilities. Why not check out the links above and support them by attending their important fundraiser?

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PS: My shoulder is really slowing down my workload of editing and any time spent on the computer. I hope you can be patient with me as I continue to work on some of my outstanding projects. I’m also on my way out of town until November 16th.

The photo workshop I did last night was very well attended and the participants had some great questions.

A pair of simple photos for your viewing pleasure while I’m busy, busy, busy. These I took several weeks ago while on a creativity break and before all the leaves were gone. Enjoy.

“Even if something is left undone, everyone must take time to sit still and watch the leaves turn.”-   Elizabeth Lawrence

What are you taking time to sit still and enjoy?

Autumn is definitely one of my favourite times of year.  With a little extra time on my hands this past week, I’ve been thoroughly enjoying getting out and photographing for the fun of it. There is a magnificent old horse barn I’ve driven past and have always thought how I’d love to take some photographs. This week, I made a point of going there specifically to take photos of that magnificent old barn.

I walked in and took all kinds of photographs of it, from different angles, including close ups and some that included it within the landscape. I’ll likely go through the series and include a few more here in my photo journal in the near future.

This weekend has been so enjoyable so far. Yesterday was a sunny autumn day ablaze with fall colours, my dear husband treated us to a trip to the city for a great dinner, and I’ve been methodically working away at some long overdue household chores. It’s amazing how certain chores, such as ironing, seem much less like work when there is time to do them — besides there was some excellent, intelligent radio to listen to on CBC. With the wind, it’s also been two great days for drying clothes on the clothesline.

I hope you’ve been enjoying your autumn weekend. What has been the best moment of the weekend for you?

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.

“The fence that makes good neighbors needs a gate to make good friends” ~ Anonymous

Think of all the beauty that’s still left in and around you and be happy! ~ Anne Frank

Check out some of the previous posts — especially the last one with some lovely canine photos.

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

• It’s time to book for fall portraits!
• Be sure to take photos of your child(ren) as they get ready and head back to school.
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