Diane Jarvis-Schuller

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?

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!

… with a nod to James Herriot’s book of a similar title. This weekend we spent a great deal of time outdoors, cutting down perennials, walking the dogs, and a few photo lessons for my husband. He’s heading out in a couple weeks for his vacation and wanted me to teach him how to use our old digital camera. The old one is the one we use for ‘knocking around’ and it’s the one that gets carried around in the car all the time. Besides it’s a LOT lighter than my regular camera. Anyway, I got off track. I took a few photos this weekend, just for the fun of it (are you noticing a trend lately?). There is no better light than at this time of year. THE . BEST . LIGHT.

The reason for the title is because when I was picking 3 photos to post for the end-of-the-weekend, besides the light, the other connection is that the subjects are all small, I’m down low, and yet the subjects are really quite great, are they not? Okay, so maybe I’m stretching connections, but here they are anyway. Enjoy.

When I downloaded the last photo below, the first thing it reminded me of was Velvia film. Do you remember that old Velvia film? It always resulted in real strong vivid colours, especially the yellows and blues. And, if I’m remembering correctly, the reds were pretty saturated with Velvia film too. One thing I did to this image, as you can see, is add some vignetting. There was some natural vignetting already but I specifically emphasized it a bit because it really added to that old Velvia look.

Some of you may recognize the gal in this next photo. She’s our 11 1/2 year old English Springer Spaniel, Maggie. I love when one or both of her floppy ears is flipped back like this one.  You’ll likely also notice her right eye — to your left — looks a bit off or different from her normal eye — the one on your right. She has a small tumour that is causing her eye to be infected and she’ll soon have to have surgery for the tumour to be removed. We’ve been holding off having it done for a number of reasons. She has a non-malignant form of cancer but she’s been having some sporadic health issues that cause her to become very ill for a day or two at a time and then she gets completely well again. We were so afraid of her having surgery in case it causes everything to become worse, but that eye is really getting worse. So this weekend we both made the decision our old gal is going to get the surgery.

I bet she can outrun and out-hunt any of your dogs The vet is always amazed at what fantastic condition Maggie is in. The one vet said she has never seen a Springer Spaniel that isn’t obese, except my dog.

Oh and I nearly forgot, we also had our Thanksgiving dinner today, a week early. Since I will be in Edmonton next weekend for Thanksgiving, I decided to do turkey and all the trimmings — including pumpkin pie — today. I really don’t know any good reason why most of us only cook turkey on holidays. I’m going to try and ‘fix’ that and make it more often.

I haven’t forgotten — because I got way behind this summer with posting previews from some of my photo shoots, I am definitely going to post a few photos from that last wedding. I’ll try and get a few up later this week. I hope you are getting out and photographing your family in this amazing autumn light — and don’t forget to get them printed!

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Photographs Never Forget!

Don’t forget my upcoming workshop in Grande Prairie, “How to Take Better Photos of Your Children.”

“To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring – it was peace.” ~Milan Kundera

Pretty much sums up my afternoon — I desperately needed a break.

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

It’s been busy for me lately though I felt I really should post something. The photography season for me is beginning to wind down since I do most of my work outdoors. I definitely do photo shoots indoors but, without a studio, winter tends to be a slower season for me. I’m busy creating some client-requested storyboards and collages, preparing some orders for submission to the printer, and doing the final edits on my latest photo shoot.

You’ll see that I’ve posted a beautiful image of a translucent Amur Maple leaf. This one was taken last autumn because this year, no sooner did the leaves begin to really colour up then the deep freeze came along with temperatures well below zero. Any leaves that didn’t turn colour are now solidly frozen and will fall on the first day the mercury rises above zero and a bit of wind races through this northern prairie.

Though I love autumn so much, it’s also a time when certain life expires. On my recent trip to Edmonton, as I always do, I visited the cemetery where my mother is laid to rest. It was cold and lonely. Several years ago at this same time of year, my husband and I were coping with the imminent death of our dog Jasper to cancer. He had been diagnosed in October and died a few days before Christmas. Now our Springer Spaniel Maggie is in the same stages. The other two dogs really diagnosed her before we knew: they had been intently sniffing at her and lately, their intent on her has escalated. Dogs, unlike humans, don’t feel sorry for themselves. Even when Jasper was dying of cancer, the day before he had still been out wanting his daily runs and barking at the squirrels. Maggie is the same. She looks forward to her 2 or 3 runs each day, still tries to hunt, but when she comes in she rests quietly. She’s seeking our attention which is unusual for her so she senses things are not right within. The cancer is spreading rapidly. We’re making her days as normal and comfortable as possible, avoiding negative energy. But when she begins to suffer, it will be time for us to do the right thing and allow her quietly to make her way to canine winter.

“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 a lifestyle on-location photographer serving central and northern Alberta / BC. Visit Diane Schuller Photography to view her portfolio and for further information.

Folks, I have been so concerned this past week, in particular. I have learned that my website is proving to be difficult to view. To avoid repeating all the specific issues, I’m simply providing a positive update. The company I purchased my photography website through: Portfoliositez is being absolutely amazing! I had sent two urgent messages and, not having heard immediately thought perhaps they didn’t check in on weekends. This morning, to my delight I had a pair of responses from them and with possible solutions! We’re still working through some of the issues and the necessary troubleshooting but if anyone out there is EVER in need of a photography website or one dedicated to photography types of service, I highly recommend www.portfoliositez.com … their customer service is outstanding! That brings me to the topic of this post: change.

I have decided to change my specific template for my website though will be staying (naturally) with the same company. So, despite my extremely heavy workload this coming week, I do hope to begin working on creating a brand new website with my newly selected template. The address, of course, will remain the same though the look will be drastically different. Using my website, however, should be improved from the current issues. I’ll make an official announcement on the day my new look goes online — give me at least a week please. Stay tuned. Change is a good thing (isn’t that something “Martha” would say?).

PS: Did I mention that 3 of my images are on display at our local library for the Alberta Arts Days? When I attended on Friday, I had actually not brought my camera with me. During the week, if I get there, I’ll take a photo of my photos but also of some of the other great local art on display at the Hythe Library. Thanks Karen!

[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.