Hard Choices – A Top Ten List

Posted on March 26, 2017 by JeanEB

Back at the end of last year I came across a photography game that seemed like it might be fun with benefits. In keeping with the ubiquitous Top 10 lists that pop up at that time of year as people look back on what has happened, this game is to look back over all the photography images you’ve made over the year and choose your Top 10.

Not easy. Although the mechanics of the process are pretty straightforward with the photo software I use, the selection itself is difficult and takes some time and effort. Here’s how it works:

First, I selected all the photos taken in 2016 (5082), then identified the images that had been flagged as “picks” for a closer look-see and/or developing (474). From this, I started eliminating those images that were not going into the next cut. This process continued through 4 more passes (93, 78, 41, 24) until I was left with 10.

As the group of selections gets smaller and smaller the choices grow harder and harder but it’s worth it to look at things from a more discerning point of view. Sometimes I totally loved an image because it reminded me of a very special time, but in the end, it might not make the final cut for one reason or another. Still, every single image has its associated memories of that special moment when I was enchanted by one thing or another, reminding me once again how happy I am in the way I spend my days. Once the Top 10 were selected, I printed them out, another step to getting images out of the computer black hole and into the light, so to speak. As a body of work, what’s not there, as well as what is, says a lot.

So here’s my own personal Top 10 choices for last year’s photos (in no particular order – that would be taking it way too far!):

Memories of 10 wonderful days.

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Take Away the Sadness

Posted on February 28, 2017 by JeanEB

Take Away the Sadness

Number Two Son Mike is long gone now, but his month-long stay here over Christmas and well into January was, to me, memorable. What a gift it was to hang out for all that time with my all grown up son who lives his life commuting from his home in Toronto to his other work home in the Arctic. I may not be so lucky again – I don’t expect it – but while it lasted it was grand.

After he left, I went back to The Bunkie to transform it back into my studio from its guest cottage role. It had been some time since I’d spent my days there and for awhile I had been feeling the urge to paint again.

It was January 20th and I was completely offline and for the next several days refused to go out where I might have to listen to someone make comment on that day’s event. I was not interested in engaging in that conversation; I had my own sense of depression to deal with, and words were not going to do it for me. As usual, without radio or TV news of any kind, all I had was music, a piece of watercolour paper taped to a board on the easel, a couple of pans of watercolours, some brushes and a bowl of water. It had been quite awhile since I had painted, and I didn’t really know where to begin. An ice breaker was in order, to loosen up and get going. When you don’t know how to begin, just begin.

So I put colour to paper, one stroke at a time, one colour at a time, mindless and mindful at the same time, and as I did, the hours passed and I found my body relax and my spirits lift. The music, the colour and the comfort of my space, eased my troubles, as did the forest when I went out to walk.

I stayed in for a few days, except for those solitary walks through the forest or along the beach, until the painting was finished and all the colours were down. No plan, no composition, no mixing – nothing but pure out of the tube colour. I looked at the finished result and I smiled, happy for the first time. I called it ‘Take Away the Sadness’, paraphrased from a favourite Van Morrison tune (Have I Told You Lately).

Since then the ice was broken – shattered – and I’ve been painting up a storm. Abstract bands of colour and texture and gold leaf and glitter – the sheer physical motion of pushing paint and gel and paste around to see what happens, and creating colour combinations that can’t help but make my spirits rise. Intuition without self-consciousness. Moving from darkness to light.

I’m very good, after years of on and off practice, at news blackout. But it’s different this time. It’s no longer enough to avoid the daily (hourly/minutely) news cycle. A collective angst is alive and out there and seeps into the posts of the writers of blogs and websites I follow – mostly normally apolitical visual art and science spaces. It’s interesting – usually the writers are apologetic for articulating their sadness – conscious of not wanting to spread negativity but not able to ignore their own needs to express their feelings. I get it. I’m doing the same thing right now.

It takes effort to turn away and actively seek out the happiness-makers. It’s a choice, which doesn’t mean it’s easy to get to. Here’s some of my happy finds lately…

Happiness-Making

Leonard Cohen: Live in London

In The Bunkie, as I’m pushing around colour and light, I like to watch concert videos sometimes and have accumulated quite a collection from the local used music store. This is not a new concert – recorded in 2008 – but was well worth revisiting, now in homage to a life lived. Leonard Cohen passed away in November, yes sad, but his art lives on. This is right up there with my favourite best concert videos ever.

When I was young, growing up in Montreal, hometown boy Leonard Cohen was the big crush of all the girls. A first glimpse of the power of the word – the power of the romance of it, and of course, to the impressionable teenage girls, the promise of sex. Leonard Cohen was 74 when he did this concert, and I’m here to tell you, he still had “it”.

Planet Earth II

For a visual mind blow, there is nothing better right now than Planet Earth II, the 6 part BBC series narrated (still) by David Attenborough. This has it all. Extreme cinematography, wildlife you may never have set eyes on before, story-telling, high drama and laugh-out-loud moments of visual humour. It’s been ten years since the last Planet Earth series and the changes in technology since then have enabled so many more gasp-worthy images. I love this show.

Shapes and Colours

No surprise there, but jigsaw puzzles are a favourite of mine since early days. Every year, after Christmas, I appropriate the dining room table, crack open another 1000 piecer and get to it. This year’s choice was particularly meaningful, after my autumn salmon-run stalking activities, and a beautiful painting as well. I CANNOT walk past a jigsaw puzzle without stopping.

Be calm, be still, find the beauty, I tell myself. I do what I can.

The tides still rise and fall and the owl still lives in the forest.

Number 8

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Sculpture on Wheels

Posted on July 4, 2016 by JeanEB

I have always said that I could never be a serious outdoor photographer. Why? Because I don’t want to get up so early and apparently to be serious I must. For the light and all kinds of other good things.

But recently I found something worth getting out of bed for, and now I think I get it.

Ford

Our little town by the shore has a population of about 8000 but this varies depending on time of year. During summer the population swells with summer people including lots of kids visiting resident grandparents, all of it livening things up. The sale of Cheesies in the local grocery store skyrockets.

The biggest transformation of the town has to be on that Sunday in June when the Seaside Cruisers vintage and classic car show hijacks the entire town and turns it into one big carnival. The streets are closed, hundreds of groomed and polished beauties are parked at an angle to the curbs, the outdoor sound systems blasts classic rock tunes (or would that now be vintage?) and thousands of people descend on our streets from far and wide to take part – the car owners’ friends and families, residents, kids, bunnies, bikers, leather, gray ponytails, dogs, babies, baseball caps, all sizes and shapes and ages.

Spectators at Car Show

I’ve been a couple of times and had a great time (an earlier visit to the car show) gawking at both cars and people but I’ve had it in my head for some time that I’d like to change things up and get there really early, before the onlookers arrive, when the cars are just setting up and I could get up close and personal with my camera and the stars of the show themselves.

Surfing VW

So, this year was it, and I got up early on Father’s Day and arrived in town to watch the logistics of moving these hundreds of cars into position, the cars lined up, rumbling down the streets. As I had hoped, I had the time and space to take pictures of what I wanted to explore, what drew me to these beautiful sculptures – the close up lines and curves and colors and chrome and reflections of these well-loved and cared-for polished beauties, without the crowds obstructing views and angles.

Arriving for the Show