Spring is officially here – the gophers made their appearance in the area on February 27. May have been earlier, but that is when I saw my first gopher for this year.
I am sure we will still have a few more snowstorms, but they will be short lived and it is not likely we will see the -40 to -50 weather that we had at the start of February.
In the near future we should stat to see the return of the geese, swans, and ducks that migrated for the winter
But one must remember, this is southern Alberta and we can get snow well into July. Our poor freezing Red Wing Blackbird was a snowstorm in the middle of June.
March also brings flooded streets
and of course with the warmer weather we will start to see more of this as police start their spring vehicle safety campaigns.
When it comes to capturing precious moments, pets are more than just animals – they are cherished members of the family. Pet photography has become increasingly popular as pet owners seek to immortalize their furry friends in stunning portraits. Whether in a studio or on location, we work to showcase the unique personalities, quirks, and unconditional love that our pets bring into our lives.
The Importance of Pet Photography
Pet photography goes beyond simply taking pictures of animals. It is about capturing the essence of our pets and creating lasting memories. Our pets are with us through thick and thin, providing comfort, companionship, and unwavering loyalty. They deserve to be celebrated and remembered.
Photographs have the power to freeze a moment in time, allowing us to relive the joy and happiness our pets bring us. Whether it’s a playful romp in the park, a lazy afternoon nap, or a loving gaze, pet photography captures these moments so they can be treasured forever.
Choosing Between Studio and Location
When it comes to pet photography, there are two main options to consider: studio or location. Each has its own advantages and can create stunning images that showcase your pet’s unique personality.
Studio Pet Photography
A studio setting provides a controlled environment, allowing full control over lighting, props, and backgrounds. This can result in crisp, professional-looking images that highlight your pet’s features. Studio pet photography is particularly ideal for capturing close-up portraits and focusing on the details.
Additionally, studio sessions can be less distracting for pets, as there are no unfamiliar sights, sounds, or smells to distract them. This can help create a calm and relaxed atmosphere, making it easier to capture those perfect shots.
Location Pet Photography
On the other hand, location pet photography offers a more natural and spontaneous feel. Whether it’s at a park, beach, or in your own backyard, photographing your pet in their familiar surroundings can bring out their true personality. Location sessions provide the opportunity to capture your pet in action, whether they’re running, playing, or simply enjoying the great outdoors.
Furthermore, location sessions can incorporate elements that hold special meaning to you and your pet. Whether it’s a favorite tree, a beloved toy, or a scenic landscape, these personalized touches can add depth and meaning to the photographs.
Tips for a Successful Pet Photography Session
Regardless of whether you choose a studio or location session, there are some tips to ensure a successful pet photography experience:
Patience is key: Pets can be unpredictable, so it’s important to be patient and allow them to feel comfortable in the environment.
Use positive reinforcement: Treats, toys, and praise can help keep your pet engaged and focused during the session.
Capture their personality: Let your pet’s unique traits shine through in the photographs. Whether they’re goofy, shy, or adventurous, capturing their true essence will result in more meaningful images.
Get down to their level: Shooting from your pet’s eye level can create a more intimate and engaging perspective.
Work with a professional: Hiring a professional pet photographer who specializes in capturing the essence of animals can make a world of difference in the quality of the final images.
Celebrating the Unconditional Love of Pets
Pet photography allows us to celebrate the unconditional love and joy that our pets bring into our lives. Whether in a studio or on location, these photographs capture the unique personalities and special moments that make our pets such cherished members of the family. So, grab your camera and start immortalizing those precious memories with your beloved furry friends.
Our featured image is from a recipie created for Petersen’s Re/Max Journal, a custom publication created for Rich Petersen who was the broker for the Re/Max brokerage in Fort St John.
Dealing with hunting stories in north eastern BC, the magazine had a regular featured wild game recipe
The recipes were provided by Florence Plotnikow and we photographed the finished meal to put into the magazine.
Lethbridge Health Unit
The Health Unit is located in the old train station in Lethbridge, and behind it is one of the steam engines that used to work out of Lethbridge
Is this a Downy or Hairy Woodpecker?
The two birds are very different in size, with the Hairy being about the size of a Robin while the Downy is only the size of a sparrow. But the coloring is almost the same, so you can usually tell them apart by the length of the beak. In the Hairy the beak is longer than the head, while in the Downy it is shorter than the head. So that would suggest that this is a Downy however, a Downy also has white spots on the tail feathers that are not present here, suggesting it’s a Hairy.
As parents, we often find ourselves wanting to capture every precious moment of our children’s lives. From their first steps to their first day of school, these milestones are worth cherishing. While professional photography sessions can produce stunning and posed images, there is something truly special about capturing kids being kids in their natural state. the importance of parents capturing genuine moments of their children, without the need for elaborate poses or professional equipment.
Authenticity and Memories
When we look back at our own childhood photos, what stands out the most are the candid moments that reflect our true personalities. These unposed shots capture the essence of who we were at that time. By allowing our children to be themselves in front of the camera, we can create lasting memories that they will cherish for years to come.
Cell phones have become an integral part of our lives, and they offer a convenient way to capture these genuine moments. Whether it’s a spontaneous laughter, a messy face covered in ice cream, or a curious exploration of the world around them, these candid shots tell a story and evoke emotions that posed photos simply cannot.
Fostering Creativity and Self-Expression
When we let our children be themselves in front of the camera, we are encouraging their creativity and self-expression. Instead of directing them to pose in a certain way, we give them the freedom to explore and showcase their unique personalities. This can lead to a boost in their confidence and a greater sense of self-awareness.
By capturing these moments with our cell phones, we are not only documenting their growth but also providing them with a platform to express themselves. Sharing these photos with family and friends allows our children to feel proud of their individuality and encourages them to embrace their quirks and interests.
Preserving the Everyday Magic
Children have an innate ability to find joy and wonder in the simplest of things. From jumping in puddles to chasing butterflies, their everyday adventures are filled with magic. By capturing these moments on our cell phones, we can preserve the innocence and beauty of their childhood.
Unlike professional photoshoots, which often require a specific setting or theme, cell phone photography allows us to capture these magical moments as they happen. Whether it’s a spontaneous dance party in the living room or a messy art project in the backyard, these everyday activities hold a special place in our children’s hearts.
Creating a Time Capsule
As time passes and our children grow, looking back at these candid photos will transport us back to those precious moments. These images serve as a time capsule, reminding us of the joy, laughter, and love that filled our lives during their childhood.
Cell phone photography offers a convenient and accessible way to capture these memories. With the advancement of technology, our phones now have high-quality cameras capable of capturing stunning images. By taking advantage of this tool, we can ensure that we don’t miss a single moment of our children’s journey.
Conclusion
While professional photoshoots certainly have their place, there is something truly magical about capturing kids being kids in their natural state. By using our cell phones to document their genuine moments, we can create a collection of memories that reflect their true personalities and showcase their unique journey. So, let’s put away the poses and embrace the beauty of our children being themselves.
One of my earliest forays into commercial advertising started in Lethbridge with a session for an ad for Imperial Fashions.
The ad ran in a magazine called Chimera that morphed into Lethbridge Living.
The image was photographed on Black and White film with my Nikon FTN camera, which I still have and use if I can find film.
Back during Covid, when the government didn’t allow us to have any customers, I was taking a online photo course https://project52pro2016.com/ and one of the projects was to take one frame of film every day for a month. These are a few of the images from that project.
Barn located just off Highway 3 near Barnwell, Albert
Blades for wind turbines stored in Milk River while waiting for transport to the construction site.
Sometime near the end of January to the middle of February Fort St John breaks the monotony of winter with the High On Ice Festival.
They do bring in world class ice sculptures to create some pretty magnificent carvings but there are also local competitors made up of teams from local businesses and communities.
One of the early traditions of the event was creating shot glasses and pitchers that were later used to drink a toast with.
Welding in the Park
Fort St John is also the centre for oil and gas development in northern BC and as such it has a large number of people that are employed in the welding trades. So it was only natural for them to create a summer event called Welding in the park, where local welders were given the weekend to create a sculpture. This metal grizzly bear is the product of one of those competitions.
We start with a photo of a competitor competing in the Butterfly Stoke swimming competition in the 2007 BC Northern Winter Games.
Hockey, hockey, and more hockey
and what would one of these posts be without a couple of the many thousands of hockey photos from over the years. These two are from a game between Peace River and Fort St John
Calendar material
This next one is a scene that I remember from a calendar in what I believe was 1963. If it wasn’t 63 then it was 1964. It was the typical calendar of the time single large graphic, and underneath it a the pages for a small monthly calendar. You would rip the old month off to reveal the new month. I remember the teacher Miss Louis Miller telling us at the time that it was actual a scene from the area.
It wasn’t until years later that I realized that the scene was at the intersection of Secondary 506 and Highway 4 north of Warner. And even later when my mother said that she used to get dropped off here and would walk down to Grandma Frandsen’s farm that at the time was located at that first intersection.
I do remember visiting the farm when I was very young, and not sure when it had been plowed under. But it has not been there for years. This photo is from Feb 10 2020.
If you listen to the pundits you would think that we are about to have the driest year in history. But as usual it is more story than fact.
On the farm, our neighbour Andrew, kept daily weather records. Andrew started keeping those records sometime before 1910. Every day he recorded the high and low temperature. The amount of moisture whether it came down as snow or rain. The wind speeds and directions.
February7 2020, as is typical of old farms the old building are left to the the wind and the rain to slowly disintegrate over time. Sometimes the old buildings will be dismantled, sometimes they will be bulldozed, sometimes, the entire farmstead will be put to the match or plowed under.
You know what you can tell from real records kept in the same place for over 100 years? Patterns. Yep, if you look, you will see that about every 30 years the weather will repeat itself. Wet years, dry years, they come, they go. Rinse and repeat.
The 60’s
Now, I’m not as accurate with my timelines, because I only remember what I remember. But in the early 60’s we had years so dry that we just plowed the fields back into the ground because the wheat and barley didn’t grow tall enough to harvest. Dust storms so bad that we could not see our pig barn that was less than 100 feet from the house.
This is a dust storm just south of Lethbridge, that is the Wilson Siding, or 845 turn off. If you look very closely you can just make out the top of the grain terminal above the dust cloud. Not from the early 60’s but from 2021 and the first dust storm of this intensity that I can remember since the 1960’s
Years where you had to keep the combine header so close to the ground that you were picking rocks rather than harvesting grain.
February 07, 2020 and barely a sign of snow on the landscape.
I also remember years where the crops were so tall that it was over my head. To be fair I was a kid, so not that tall, but even by today’s measurement it would be over my waist, making it probably three feet.
One of the other things you notice from looking at those daily records is that in southern Alberta most of our snow pack comes in February and March and major snowstorms can arrive as late as June.
Also in the late 60’s (I think 1967 but it might have been 1968) that we had a May snowstorm that brought all of southern Alberta to a halt.
One of the kids I went to school with was a rancher and Military helicopters were brought in to carry hay to feed his families cattle stranded in the fields.
Our neighbour – the one that kept the weather records – drove the three miles from his farm with his Minneapolis-Moline tractor to see if Dad could take the bulldozer over to his place to plow a path to his cows so he could feed them.
February 7, 2020 a state of the art for its time seed drill abandoned in a field that has little snow cover
Once he finished there, he moved on to other friends and family plowing their yards out.
Even once all the roads were plowed, it was still like driving through an alien landscape with snow banks along the edge of the road reaching over the top of school buses.
And most of the time the Victoria Day weekend – the start of camping season – is usually cold and wet.
1990’s Chin reservoir drys up
In the early 2000’s Chin reservoir was so dry that it went from being a lake of over 150,000 acre feet to a mere stream. It was so dry that the police were able to recover a rifle that they though might have been used in a murder from the mud.
On February 7 2024 we got one of those snow storms covering most of Alberta with over a foot of snow in most places and several feet in some places near the mountains.
Written by Gilbert and Sullivan The Pirates of Penzance was first performed in New York on Dec 31 1879. One day after it was presented in London, England
Since then it has become one of the most performed of their plays.
I believe in the play that this Ruth, Frederic’s nurse and pirate maid. The other characters were Frederic, a pirate apprentice who had been indentured to the pirates but on reaching the age of 21 decided to leave the pirate trade. However, a technicality – being born on February 29. means he is not reached his 21’st birthday and so much return to being a pirate.
When your newspaper covers over 17 hockey teams. Just in the local community, you get to see a LOT of hockey. Then you add in all the teams from the other seven communities that the Peace Country Spotlight covered. You spend your evenings living in the hockey arenas.
In the Peace region, hockey season starts in August and depending on playoffs carries through to April.
The advantage to this. You get a lot of practice photographing hockey. The disadvantage you get to eat a lot of hockey arena food. Some of it is pretty good. Some isn’t bad. For the most part though, you want to be packing a bottle of antacid tablets, just in case.
This photograph is from a Junior B match-up between the Fort St John Huskies and the Sexsmith Vipers of Hockey Alberta’s Jr B North West Hockey League.
In the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons the Huskies were the league champions.
The league consists of the Beaverlodge Blades, the Dawson Creek Jr. Canucks, the Fairview Flyers, the Grande Prairie Kings, the North Peace Navigators, and the Sexsmith Flyers.
