Diane Jarvis-Schuller

I realize I’ve again run behind on sharing previews of some of the wonderful people I’ve had the pleasure and honour to photograph. I had thought I’d get time last week but life has a way of throwing obstacles in my well planned path.

I won’t bore you with all the obstacles and diversions that have been strewn across my road, but will mention the most recent one that occurred last night. As those who pop by here frequently already are aware, our Springer Spaniel Maggie has some health issues. We had an emergency last night with her and, as a result, more of my time this coming week will be diverted to spending a day in the city while she undergoes some tests. Her eye surgery has been postponed because of the danger to her current health condition.

I’ve also received a huge blow from my primary photo lab in that they will no longer deliver to postal boxes to Canadian addresses. I do have a back up lab of equal quality but do not have anyone with high enough quality to do my beautiful flush mount albums. So the research begins. These are only 2 of multiple recent diversions so you see, I told you life’s been following a crooked path lately! But none of these diversions are insurmountable — they simply delay my journey by forcing me to take slightly longer to get where I’m going.

I hope those of you who are waiting on me, can be patient as I’m still a few days behind on everything. May your weekend be filled with joy, laughter, and a diversion or two!

Happy Thanksgiving to all you wonderful friends, clients, and cyber visitors! I’m heading to Edmonton for this Thanksgiving long weekend. My husband and I celebrated Thanksgiving last weekend and this coming real Thanksgiving I’ll be with my son and his lovely family. (They phoned me tonight and sang for me! Are they not the most special people in the world?)

Aspen (poplar) trees during an Alberta autumn

I’m way behind on posts and will be doing my best to catch up when I return. I have some wedding previews, in particular, I should get up next week. I’ve also been so pleased that some of you have sent me your photos showing how you display or save your printed photographs! Thank you so much! Keep ‘em coming for those of you who haven’t sent a photo in to show me how you display or save your printed photos (even if they’re held up by clothespins or nicely stored in an album or photo box) — I’m also going to make a post of those next week. I had promised to post some photos of that beautiful old barn and they are still to come — I have not forgotten.

English Springer Spaniel — a different perspective

Anyway, I had a super day today and by mid day tomorrow I’ll be hitting the highway to drive to Edmonton. May you and yours enjoy a special weekend of celebration and appreciation. I look forward to sharing more with you next week. In the meantime I hope you enjoy a few photos I took while there were still leaves on the trees — they’re all on the ground now making a carpet for winter.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

early morning: Birch leaves in silhouette

“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.” ~Thornton Wilder

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Photographs Never Forget!

As I’m getting ready for the wedding I’m photographing tomorrow, it seems a good time to pull out some canine photos taken a few weeks ago.

These are our two Australian Shepherds, Austin (the red merle) and Pearl (the blue merle). This first one is a common type of portrait, as you can easily tell.

But I don’t always stick to the standard. My eye is often drawn to details, different perspectives, and something that may tell more of a story. This next one shows how strong the wind was blowing as Austin took one of his rare moments to stand still and see what the other two dogs were up to. I get the dogs out in the field at least twice every day and sometimes more. My husband also always takes them out once in the evening after we’ve had dinner. Having dogs is a big responsibility since they rely on humans entirely for their exercise, mental stimulation, and food.

This third one is my favourite of today’s images. This is Pearl and I love the perspective as well as how the wind was blowing her hair. The contrast of her hair against the background also appeals to me. I’m usually not at all any good at titles but I’d call this one, “Who Has Seen the Wind?”

“We have the Bill of Rights. What we need is a Bill of Responsibilities.” ~Bill Maher

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

Diane loves to photograph pets of all kinds (dogs, cats, horses, …) as well as the bond between humans and their pets. Contact Diane for a custom on-location photo session before the trees are bare and the weather turns bitter.

Meet my tree hugger. Some people might call me a tree hugger because of my strong views on caring for our planet and ourselves, but most people don’t think of dogs as tree huggers. Well, if we take the term literally you can see one of my dogs truly is a tree hugger. I’m sharing this because, the dog in this photo is actually very unwell at the moment. We rushed her to the vet yesterday and, though she’s not yet out of the woods (no pun intended), she seems to be likely making a recovery. The other reason I posted this particular photo of her is because this photo has been picked up by Canwest and will likely be printed in The Edmonton Journal this week.

Since I brought up the environment, I realized I haven’t shared links for my environment column, Everyday Earth Wise, for a long time. It does appear in print each week in the Peace Country Sun newspaper and then a week later, each column is posted online. Here are a couple of the recent columns you may be interested in, but you can always view the archives online to check out other topics:

“Tips to Becoming a Lifelong Clothes Pegger”

“Serving Up Some Compost Tea”

“Greenwashing is Everywhere These Days”

Speaking of trees, they are already beginning to change colour. You know what that means! Fall photo sessions are the busiest time of year. Since they are popular and because I really limit the number of photo sessions I take on, dates book up quickly. If you’re thinking of having a fall photo session, contact me today to book for your colourful autumn photo session (whether you’re one person, a couple, or a family — and yes, we can definitely include your dog(s) or horse(s) too!).

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

Let the bells ring, the book I’ve been telling you about is hot off the presses! I was fortunate that one of my canine photos was chosen to be included in the 2010 Art Book Project. I see Sara Harley (the hardworking editor) got the press releases out to the media already. Here’s the scoop.

The Paws For Charity Art Book Project is a unique fundraiser that celebrates our love of pets, and raises funds for a human cause. The 2010 Art Book is a compilation of artwork and photography of dogs and cats from by 65 artists and photographers in 7 countries. All funds raised from the sale of these books are donated to The Avon Foundation Breast Cancer Crusade, a registered charity with programs in over 50 countries. This charity also carries the Humane Charity Seal of Approval.

I’m proud to have been invited to make a submission and, even more proud to have had a photo chosen for this great cause. The book can be ordered in hard cover or soft cover but I recommend the hardcover. It makes a great gift whether for someone who loves dogs & cats, someone who appreciates fine art, or for someone who has had a struggle with cancer. I hope you’ll consider supporting the cause. Since this book is a fund raiser, I will be making reminder posts over the balance of 2010. Why not get yours today! You can see a preview of the 75 page coffee table book (the first 15 pages) when you visit the 2010 Art Book.

PS: On another paw-note … BOY oh boy have you people made it extremely difficult to narrow down to 5 finalists for our pet photo contest! We got a nice representation of both dogs and cats. I was near tears when I read some of the entries: we have some really heartwarming entries from people who have rescued their pets. As promised, I will have the finalists posted on Wednesday, later in the day, and then the voting can begin to choose a winner!

Diane’s website ||  Diane’s Facebook photography page

I’m excited to finally let the cat out of the bag and bark out some exciting news! One of my canine photos will be published in a book that is a fund raiser for breast cancer! I had been invited to submit photos for consideration for the Paws for Charity Art Book and out of over 300 photographers and artists, I was fortunate to have been included as one of the 65 for the book. Please follow the link to find out more about the project. I am honoured to have been included and hope we raise a lot of funds for breast cancer. Once the book is ‘fresh off the press’ I will be promoting the book here and at Facebook.

Update: The pet contest I have been telling you all about and that I’ve had to delay due to the regulations at Facebook regarding promotions, is finally sorted out. So as soon as I finish up my current project I will announce and commence the pet contest. I will run the contest right here rather than at Facebook and the instructions for submitting entries will be announced here on Friday. Finally!

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Diane is available to do on-location custom photography of you and your dog, cat, horse, or any other pet or livestock. Please visit Diane’s website to view her portfolio and click on the “Dogs-Pets” and “Horses-Livestock” from the Category menu tabs above.

[caption id="attachment_1052" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption=""Maggie: English Springer Spaniel, field breeding""][/caption]

Busy, busy, busy. I missed sharing one of my photo shoot sneak peeks with you — I’ll pop a post in for that missing photo shoot in a few days. In the meantime, I did get that journal entry written about being careful if posting photos of children to photo sharing sites. I’m going to warn you now, it’s incredibly frank and you’ll see how strongly I feel about the practice. I’ll publish it here tomorrow. I also have some uplifting news about an organization I recently learned of and have just been accepted into — I’ll share that with you in the next day or two as well.

This gal is nearly 11 years old, trim and fit, with a tenderness as soft as a newborn babe. This was taken at the very end of the day, just as the last sliver of golden sun was about to settle and sigh beneath the horizon. I captured her basking in the last rays of the golden hour just in the nick of time. For those who are familiar with the other type of English Springer Spaniel, both types (field breeding and show breeding) are purebred and registered as the same breed. I’m not as keen on the show lines because they have been bred for outward appearance: those droopy eyes, long flowing coat, heavier bone & body, longer and thicker ears, and so on. The field lines breed for intelligence, stamina, moderate coat (so it doesn’t get all tangled in the bushes), tight skin around the eyes (so they aren’t prone to injury or catching dust/burrs), and maintaining that nice sleek body so necessary for working in the fields and for swimming.

Another reason my dogs are not fat is because they are not fed carbohydrates (no commercial dog food). (If only I was so disciplined ) They are fed a species-appropriate diet and receive daily exercise. If anyone is ever interested in more information, I can direct you to some credible information (both on the web plus in books) about feeding the way  nature intended.

Dogs Naturally is Diane’s Canine Blog (mostly archives at the moment)

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Diane is an on-location lifestyle photographer in Alberta using natural light. She’ll take photos of you, your family, pets & livestock, or hobbies and activities. Visit Diane Schuller Photographs.

Here’s a sneak peak from the weekend’s photo shoot with E and her dogs, Shy and Darien.

This is the handsome and very loyal Darien (above)

I found E to be incredibly photogenic and, although this is the only one of her included in the sneak peak, I really liked a lot of the images in which E was with her two dogs.

I had a hard time getting images of Shy (she is very friendly and outgoing) keeping still long enough to do some quiet shots. She is Kong crazy!

Despite Darien’s age, he sure can whip across the field to get his tire. Notice the dry grass flying.

E sure is a great mom to Shy and Darien. She’s the only person so far who has brought along a backpack of resources that included water and a water bowl for her dogs knowing they’d need a drink during the session. We used barely any of the natural treats I brought along since her dogs were so cooperative and friendly. Thanks for a fun session E!

“I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love.  For me they are the role model for being alive.”  ~Gilda Radner

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Diane is an on-location dog, pet & livestock photographer serving Grande Prairie and northern Alberta/BC. Visit Diane Schuller Photography.