Diane Jarvis-Schuller

But I don’t have a handy photo of a swamp. Since I took this the other day and since I’m feeling like a garlic snapper with the raw garlic I used in tonight’s dinner, this will have to do.

Sorry I’ve been absent but I’ve been so incredibly busy. I had to phone and cancel a delightful, last-of-the-season iced coffee with friends yesterday as well. Now THAT is busy. To top it all off, my dogs are keeping me up half the night and I had a splitting headache all day today. Whine, whine, whine

I’m forging ahead but want you, my faithful visitors, to know I haven’t disappeared … I’ll do my best to get some photos posted soon. In fact, as if I don’t have enough to do, I’m trying to think of a contest that might be worthwhile doing here on my blog. You’ll be the first to know when I’ve come up with something original (hopefully). It’s Alberta Arts days and my friend Karen, the librarian at the Hythe Library has asked if I’d be able to drop off a couple framed prints for Friday’s open house. I have a few in mind — maybe I should post them here once I decide on what I’ll drop off.

Today I dropped off some photo cards a client had ordered and I also delivered some referral cards to past clients for my new referral program. Oh and maybe I should post some of the CD covers I made recently. This rambling, I realize, is not my usual ‘way’ … I’ll be back to ‘normal’ (is there such a thing?) for my next post. Oh, before I head off to bed, one of the programs I was listening to on the radio today posed a question to listeners and it really caught my attention. I’ve been thinking about my own answer so here’s the question: “What do you believe in, that you can’t prove?” Leave me a note to let me know your thoughts — I’ll share mine tomorrow (I hope!) so that I don’t influence your answers.

There was a time I would never have considered photographing something from a garden or nature, or anything for that matter, that I felt was less-than-perfect in presentation — like this delightful, blousy oriental poppy. Although strongly drawn to its colour, texture, and beauty I would have given it a pass simply because the quack grass has grown and intertwined among it’s slender stem and frilly bloom. Yet now I feel that is what gives this so much more appeal. The ordinary becoming sweet in its position in life (not to mention in this overgrown garden).

Here is another of life’s sweet ordinary. Although today I’ve chosen to use nature’s sweet ordinary, it applies to people as well. Perhaps that is why I’m so drawn to lifestyle photography more than any other. It’s all about life and seeing the beauty from within rather than focusing on perceived perfection or striving to manipulate people into uncomfortable positions and poses.

“Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it” ~Confucius

I have a busy day ahead preparing for my upcoming trip to Edmonton. I have some writing to be completed, phone calls to be made, paperwork, dogs to walk, laundry & ironing, then tomorrow it’s pack, dogwalk, and get ready for the six-hour drive to the city. Have a great weekend  and may you see the beauty beneath the surface!

PS: For everyone who is participating in Scott Kelby’s Worldwide Photowalk on Saturday, have a fantastic time! (many communities still have some openings available, believe it or not!)

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Diane is an award winning short story writer and a photographer serving Grande Prairie & northern Alberta. Visit Diane Schuller Photography.

I’m in love with light. When I showed this set of images to my granddaughter, she wondered what those were and she said, “It’s really pretty.” Pretty because of the light.

I’ve always enjoyed cattails. These are how they appear after being ravaged over our harsh winter. Beneath the dry golden stalks are young sprouts in the water, soon to emerge. There was a time when they served more than a pretty image for photographers or sturdy stalks to be picked in early autumn for their aesthetic appeal in home decorating. People used to rely upon them as a staple vegetable.

They’d pick the mostly white, tender spring shoots. The Chipewyan called them tlh’oghk’a (grass fat) because the spring rhizomes looked just like white fat. They would peel and eat the rhizomes raw or roasted; others were dried and ground to later be cooked like porridge. Just like different cultures these days are known to cook or prepare a food item in different ways, so too did the native peoples. The Cree, for instance, collected the rhizomes after they bloom (in early autumn rather than spring) and would either eat them raw or dipped in boiling water. Sounds like an appetizer.

Something I recently learned is that the flower stalks were also eaten. I’m sure they would look at these and think of what a waste it had been. If you’ve ever noticed cattail stalks in the autumn you’ll have noticed they are more mature at the top (male flowers) and tighter and somewhat green (female flowers) at the bottom of each stalk. The female flowers were boiled or roasted right on the stalk, much like corn on the cob, and eaten in the same way. The male flowers are heavy in pollen so were added to flour to be made into a variety of baked items such as biscuits, pancakes, muffins, and even cookies. Such a versatile plant.

For the curious, here is an image where I changed the focus away from the cattails to reveal who was in behind all the while I was taking these photos.

Do you have a favourite plant that has an interesting history or background?

Diane is a lifestyle photographer serving Grande Prairie & Northern Alberta. Visit Diane Schuller Photography.

This has been such a wonderful week watching for and reading the wonderful responses as to what each person would put in their comfort drawer (or box). Some of you who participated already had a comfort drawer, some have now created one, and one of my buddies, Debi made a very special one for her mother. Please read her blog entry and see the photos she took of the comfort box and those of her mother opening the comfort box. It’ll warm your heart.

 

[caption id="attachment_1063" align="aligncenter" width="576" caption="Digging for a winner!"][/caption]

 

I wish I could send something to each and every person who shared their heartwarming responses but alas, I had to draw one lucky name on this St. Patrick’s Day. Drum roll please … the winner of the draw was our only gentleman who responded and his entry would put a soft sigh in anyone’s heart: Dave. (I’ll contact you by email right away Dave to get your mailing address so I can send your prize.)

Thank you to everyone who responded. Some responses made me laugh, some were creative, and others were touching. I’m even going to be taking a few of the ideas shared here as I put my comfort drawer together (especially those gummi bears!). I’ll be away for a few days so am leaving you with this image from my front yard just to prove that we are still very much in winter up here! Thank you to everyone for participating. We’ll have to do something like this again.

“Some of nature’s most exquisite handiwork is on a miniature scale, as anyone knows who has applied a magnifying glass to a snowflake.” – Rachel Carson

Leave the mouse behind and take a magnifying glass (real or metaphorically) outdoors this weekend … do it with your family or friends, enjoy!

As promised, here’s one more image from my recent trip to Edmonton. It’s a shot of the sunrise and the other buildings reflected in the glass of the building across the street from the hotel where I stayed. Isn’t it beautiful?

[caption id="attachment_909" align="aligncenter" width="287" caption="Sunrise Reflections :: Copyright © Diane Schuller"][/caption]

I have good news. With my recent decision to spend less time on the Internet and with a renewed interest in the life that surrounds me, I’m experiencing my own sunrise of sorts. I’ve finally begun to revisit my fiction writing. It feels so good. It’s like a golden light filling that corner of my creative self. Really all I’ve done is give myself less time as a mouse-potato resulting in more time out experiencing the outdoors and real life. I highly recommend it.

I don’t plan on cutting out any of my other creative pursuits, particularly the photography. I’m just so pleased that my fiction has risen up to see the light of my days.

Remember I had mentioned at the beginning of the year I don’t do resolutions but definitely set goals? This year in my personal goals, I’ve been doing something very different: each month I have set out to learn or experience one new thing. Well I’m pleased to share that not only has that been an easy one to accomplish but (so far) I’ve been tackling more than one new thing in January and February. Unless I get sidetracked (which is entirely possible), the next post will demonstrate the results of another of my new self-taught lessons from February. (Oh yes, and I have a give-a-way coming up very soon … it’s really a pay-it-forward.)

What new thing have you taught yourself recently? Or, what new thing have you experienced recently?

I need your input.

I have decided I would like to offer you, my blog readers, a free desktop wallpaper for download every month beginning in March. Because I am limited to the size I can offer with this particular blog format, it has me considering a slight change. This is where I need your input please.

 

[caption id="attachment_936" align="aligncenter" width="510" caption="Cyclamen © Copyright Diane Schuller. All Rights Reserved."][/caption]

 

 

To be able to ‘drop in’ a suitably sized image for you to download once each month, I would have to change the particular blog theme so that it can handle a larger sized image (in dimension and pixels). So, are you open to seeing a facelift here? If I do a facelift to the blog I’m still limited to using the standard Wordpress templates, especially since I have no idea how to customize blog themes. You are the ones coming to view the photos and read the blog, so I felt I’d give you the opportunity for input on this. Would you like to see a fresh perky white or light background? I thought it might be nice with Spring soon upon us anyway. I really like how the black background allows the photos to stand out, although white can do the same thing. So, here are the two real questions for which I need a response:

1. Would you be interested in a free downloadable desktop wallpaper (a new one available each month)?
2. Would you like to see a change in theme with a white or other light background (even if only for the spring & summer months)?

If you have other suggestions how I could conveniently offer the free downloadable photos each month, I’d love to read your suggestions. Also, if you have any other suggestions about the blog theme (how the blog looks), bearing in mind I haven’t a clue how to customize using CSS (whatever that is) or HTML.

 

PS: This is blog post 2 of 2 for today! … just in case you missed the one below.

“Huge lemons, cut in slices, would sink like setting suns into the dusky sea, softly illuminating it with their radiating membranes, and its clear, smooth surface aquiver from the rising bitter essence.” ~Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926)