Ice Photos and Other Productions

In our busy lives, it is too easy to forget to include time for creative play. Fortunately, the opportunities sometimes find us, and the results surprise and rejuvenate.

I had the pleasure of participating in a photography workshop put on by photographer Matthew Wheeler in September, titled Breaking the Rules - Letting Chance Happen. 

Wheeler's gallery show The Glacial Lens is the result of years of photography using ice as a filter, one that allows the photographer to follow the ever-changing image as the ice melts. Every image is different and unexpected, as each piece of ice melts in its own idiosyncratic way. Wheeler's results are quite wonderful.

For the workshop, Wheeler set up an array of items for us to experiment with - ice, of course, mirrors, kaleidoscopes, coloured see-through paper (which I'm sure has its own correct term!), cd's as frame,  mirrored balls and disks, and all manner of things to fold, scrunch, and twirl.

We were let loose to wander, invent, and experiment for close to three hours and then present our show for the other participants to see. The results were astonishing and dramatic..

Since switching fully to digital, I have become used to playing around with Photoshop, having fun with post-production. The workshop was all pre-production, and reminded me very much of what I liked about film photography.

Here are some of my favourite images from the over 100 I made:

coloured plastic disks under ice

ceiling/skylight reflection in red see-through paper

ice chunk on gold foil paper

"found" image on concrete post outside - no filters

At the end of the session, I walked outside into the bright sunlight and had quite an intense feeling that I was re-surfacing, re-entering the ordinary world from someplace else where I had been totally and creatively engaged. Note to self : Do this more often!

HELLO EVERYONE

I have been absent since July, but haven't given up on At My Soiree. Many things contributed  to my temporary hiatus. I have returned to the classroom after a long absence - sabbatical and two sick leaves for hip replacement and am finding it a struggle. My husband and I have both announced our retirement for the end of December (I'm trying not to count down, but am doing so anyway!). Am also nursing a sick cat through what is likely her last weeks, so feel kind of blue.

I just haven't had anything to say; it's too true that writing generates ideas. Mostly, I haven't been keeping up with your blogs either.

Earlier, I was planning a more substantial post to say hello, but we have spent the day without water as we were having a plumbing problem fixed. C'est la vie.

I will be back, I hope before the New Year. Thanks to everyone who has stuck around.

Let Them Eat Lobster!

I am "lobstered out" for the time being at least, having been in New Brunswick on vacation and (over)indulging - lobster rolls, salad, cracked right out of the shell - in one of the Maritimes' most delicious staples. Not the cheapest dining alternative, but entirely worth it.

It wasn't always so.

Older Maritimers who have lived there for decades remember a time when lobster was significantly cheaper than bologna. The crustacean was so plentiful, the story goes, that one could snag one with a handheld hook right out of the city harbour. Bologna, on the other hand, was processed and unavailable directly from the environment, hence costing more. Trendier as well, I'd guess.

Kids felt ostracized, bored, and sated because their brown-bag lunches consisted of lobster sandwiches for days on end - "Not lobster again!" Many families were just too poor to afford anything other than what nature abundantly offered.

How times have changed!

Lobster no longer clogs the harbour. Bologna has lost its cachet as a choice of the more financially flush, in addition to being processed with heaven only knows what, together with lots of salt. We now generally think more highly of foodstuffs coming directly from nature than we do of manufactured ones. Processed food is now cheaper.

And perhaps our tastes have matured. Or perhaps they haven't entirely. After so much lobster, I could really go for a childhood favourite - bologna on white bread with corn relish!