Diane Jarvis-Schuller

A few images from earlier this year. Since so many of my recent posts are wildlife or horses, I thought I’d shake it up with a little something different although all three are in a rural theme. I hope you enjoy.

For those who are interested in my weekly environment column. Here is a link to where the newspaper posts them after they’ve appeared in the newspaper. As you can guess, my recent columns are all related to Christmas in a variety of different ways. The more you scroll down on that page, the further back are the columns with a diverse range of topics.

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Photographs Never Forget!

Diane offers fine art photography in many sizes and shapes, professionally mounted and ready to frame, or have Diane do the framing for you. Watch this photo journal for an announcement in January regarding horse and animal photography. Diane currently has a limited number of fine art photographic prints available if you’re looking for a unique gift for someone special. Ideal for home or office decor! Contact Diane today for more information.

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.

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.

Since July and August were extremely busy for me, I missed posting several previews. All of the clients have received all their proofs but since I was concentrating on keeping my head above water with the workload, preview posts really did get set by the wayside. One couple I photographed last month were such a joy, I’m backing up and sharing a few photos from that session.

S bought his beautiful wife A a gift certificate for a custom photo session for her birthday. They live in a beautiful rural setting and are building a new home so we spent the entire time taking advantage of the lovely surroundings. We also drove to a couple different locations so there is a great variety of  images to create a lovely portrait book.

From the moment A stepped outside I knew this would be a great photo session. She was wearing that cute dress with a flashy pair of cowboy boots! I love when someone has their own sense of style and fun. Speaking of fun, S is bursting with energy and antics as you can see. Now you can see part of the reason why I enjoyed my time with these two.

Many of these images were captured as the sun was setting so those ones have that darker but warm hue, much like a comfy sweater.

I had fun playing around making some of the storyboards as well, though the possibilities are nearly limitless for different combinations. If you’re looking for a photographer in the Grande Prairie, Edmonton, or Peace region in northern Alberta, I hope you’ll keep me in mind or pass this post on to friends. We could have as much fun as the evening spent with this lovely couple.

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

Time is running out, book now for fall photos. I only have a few spots left.

“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.
• Sign up for my monthly newsletter for tips and ideas with your own photos.

I promised to share some of the wonderful images taken by my second shooter, Kristen Bass, from the July 17th wedding (please check out her website). I am so pleased with them so here are a few teasers. You’ll see that she had a fun group of guys to work with as they got ready before the ceremony. The groom doesn’t appear to be very nervous …

And the groomsmen were having an equal amount of fun …

Look at the great job Kristen did with these ones. Although in this one with the cars, one of the guys has his eyes closed or squinting, I couldn’t resist because of the great stance taken by the groom! She created & captured some unique moments.

I love this one.

I am very confident in recommending Kristen whether as a second shooter or primary photographer. I was quite fortunate to have her work with me for this wedding.

Yesterday, on my way home, I followed signs to a farm auction. I have always really enjoyed going to auctions and I find that farm auctions have a real zest and life all their own. The farm auction wasn’t far out of my way and I certainly wasn’t disappointed. The moment I got out of my vehicle, parked in the ditch along the highway just like all the other attendees, I could hear the auctioneer singing out bids through his loudspeaker, echoing across the fields. Auctioneers have a real talent in using their voices.

Woven through the auctioneers calls was the pungent smell of hotdogs and hamburgers sizzling on the grills. Farmers were everywhere. Many crowded around the small items set up on pallets being sold lickety split, others were checking out the large machinery, cattle pens, and flatdecks lined up with tools of all sorts. Despite a bit of cool wind, it was sunny and I could have hunkered down for a couple hours taking in all the goings-on. Instead, I poked around, took a few photos, and wandered back down the highway to my vehicle. The moment I arrived home, I downloaded the photos and sent some off to my editor. Rather pleased with myself … she bought one to appear in today’s newspaper.

Not bad for taking in a fun event.

A potpourri today. With this first image I love the story it tells.

The next one simply shows how pigs are meant to be raised, not crowded in concrete pens where they can’t move or breathe fresh air, or do what pigs are meant to do.

This family walks the walk. They are a great example that it is fully possible to raise cattle in a sustainable way. This was an excellent assignment.

I sure miss waking to the sound of a rooster crowing …

A few images from some of my freelance editorial assignments. Enjoy.

PS: I often forget to remind readers but each week the newspaper that I write for also posts my environmental columns online after the paper goes out in print. Here is last week’s Everyday Earth Wise.

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Diane is a freelance photographer serving the Grande Prairie and Peace regions of Alberta and BC from her rural residence near Hythe, Alberta. She is available for commercial, environmental, editorial, and portrait assignments. Contact her (above) or visit her website to view her portfolio.

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All photos on this site are Copyright © Diane Schuller, All Rights Reserved. It is illegal to copy, download, take screenshots, or otherwise use these photos without the express written permission of the photographer. Thank you for your respect.

Sometimes it’s best to let the picture do the talking.

I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape – the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter.  Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn’t show.  ~Andrew Wyeth

One kind word can warm three winter months. ~Japanese Proverb