On Christmas morning my youngest daughter was a scallywag princess, a keyboard playing ballerina and a tap dancing cowgirl all within a few hour timeframe. As she vacillated from one role to the next she confidently became her persona of choice without hesitation or apology. The family all encouraged her and played along as she reinvented herself via costume changes, hair and makeup and attitude. A lot of attitude. She was living each of the characters she longed to be in vivid color from cattle rustling swagger to dainty plie .

Today, as I thumb through the photos of a morning filled with impossible magic I know I have a lot to learn from a four year old. The freedom she allows herself to be exactly who she wants to be from one minute to the next is an example of how to live in the moment. No regret, no fear, just unbridled passion in forward motion.

In my creative journey I have come to a crossroads of sorts. I have approached a place where a whole new world is opening up to me as I truly begin to explore digital photography. I feel like I am learning to create my art via a brand new medium and as I do, I am changing and growing. This is a good thing, I know. But I can’t pretend that I’m not resistant sometimes. I have found myself clinging to my old ways, holding on to my self-proclaimed title of being a low-tech photographer. It’s where I have felt safe for so long; the place I have grown comfortable living even though I have long grown weary of it. I believe it’s time to step up for a costume change.

As the New Year begins, I am looking forward to letting go a little and dancing into the wide open spaces of reinvention. Now all I need is a pony and a comfortable pair of sparkle shoes.

Ever have this happen?

In the space of five minutes in someone's backyard another photographer captures the same subject you've captured a thousand times and you see the result and you think to yourself

HEY!  How did she... what the... but... but... but... how the heck...

When I saw this picture of my son as captured by the gorgeous and talented Jeanette LeBlanc (who also lives here), I had to recover my jaw off the floor with a paint scraper.

Instant invigoration. Mystified curiosity. The world will stop turning if I do not figure out HOW SHE DID THIS. 

As soon as she tells me, I'll let you know. Jeanette has an incredible eye, yes, but what gets me is her processing prowess. I've got her tied up in my living room, as it happens, and will be employing Nova Scotian saltwater torture to extract her tricks and share them with you here in the coming days.*

(*All 100% true except for the kidnapping bit. But if she keeps taking photos like this one, I may well have to go to Arizona in my ski mask for that very purpose. In the meantime, I've dispatched my pretty-pretty-pleases over email, and I'll keep you posted.)

Since he was too young even for outfits I’ve dressed him up, my doll. Propped him, snapped fingers, yodeled—all to preserve him just as he is at that moment, the current version of himself always on the edge of obsolescence, the six-month old giving way for the nine-month old, the younger never to be seen again, and so on.

He hears the click and sighs. “No pictures. I am BUSY.”

I’ve resorted to chocolate chip bribery, but already he is too cool for me.

And as fate would have it, this photographic reluctance is just as his eyes sparkle with the mystery of his own opinion on things, with the wonder of his own senses of humour, injustice, adventure.

Just the very sparkle I’m after.

Dang.

 
The main reason I upgraded from a point-and-shoot to a digital SLR last March was that I was feeling limited and frustrated. I realized that I had hit a wall and wanted more. As I mentioned in my last post, photography for me is about capturing that moment or detail that I am seeing and making it “real”. My little Canon Powershot was doing all it could, but it wasn’t enough for me. By the time it actually took the picture, the moment was long gone and I was annoyed.

Having my Canon Rebel XT has freed things up for me a lot. It’s quicker and I can control things much better. But I am still learning…big time. There are endless amounts of topics I need to cover and plenty of information out there to help me. But it can be a bit overwhelming at times. There is just so much info out there and sometimes I find it difficult to sort through it all and find what’s best for my style. So I think my “plan for the new year” (not calling it a resolution) is to focus on learning one new thing a month. It doesn’t sound like much, but I’m talking about learning something and then putting it into practice for a month. For instance, I have asked for a reflector for Christmas. So my first month could be spent playing with it (if I am lucky enough to receive it) and really learning how to use it. The next month could be learning more about different lenses and figuring out which one might be on my list next Christmas.

Anyway, I’m hoping that since I wrote about my “plan for the new year” here, I will have to follow through with it. Right?