From Far and Wide

St Martins, the Cold one.

2012-01-18T08:46:00.000-08:00

Picture taken in St Martins, New Brunswick, on Thanksgiving with fam jam.

I edited it, do you like the colour correction, friend?

Od Yavo Shalom Aleinu

2011-05-24T07:05:00.001-07:00

This Picture was taken in the former Jewish Quarter in the village of Tykocin in May 2011, in the province of Bialystok, Poland.

When we think of the Holocaust it is easy to forget the magnitude of what was lost. The only stories we have are those of the small handful of survivors, and we forget the stories of each of the millions upon millions of lives that were perished.

In the village of Tykocin there are virtually no survivors. In August of 1941, the Nazi Einsatsgroupen transported over 1400 Jews from the city to the nearby forest where three pits had been dug, and shot them one by one by one. There is now no Jewish community in Tykocin, just vestiges of the past and an emptiness which reminds you of all the lives that were lost. When you look at this picture, don't think about what you see; think about the people you are not seeing.

The LSD No-No

2011-03-19T17:12:00.000-07:00

I haven't been taking many pictures, but I'm planning on getting a DSLR so I can improve the quality of my work.

But an important component of aesthetic engagement is creating videos and since I've been studying short films I figure I might as well start to share the films that I like. I can't really analyze them, I haven't honed that skill yet...

Happy Holidays

2010-12-12T00:14:00.000-08:00

...from my roommate and her snake.

Beach Babe

2010-11-29T07:24:00.000-08:00

This is the beach on the highway to Paraparaumu, New Zealand. In the background is Kapiti Island, also known as 'King Kong's Island' from the Peter Jackson movie.

This photo was taken in the middle of June, aka Winter in New Zealand. It would take a soul braver than I to get any closer to this water.

No Explanations...

2010-11-27T10:28:00.000-08:00

...just aesthetic engagement.

Maritime Museum, Byron Bay, Australia.

Sunset, UBC, Vancouver, Canada

Sunset, Lake Tekapo, New Zealand

Accidental photo of my mitten, Tekapo, New Zealand

Mrs Parker and the Vicious Circle

2010-08-06T07:17:00.000-07:00

It's intimidating when 1000 hungry parrots fly around your head. It made me feel like Antonio Banderas' mother-in-law in that Hitchcock movie. But I managed to get some fair photos.

Oz-trail-y-a

2010-08-02T09:29:00.000-07:00

My Marshall... My Marsupial... Mr Wallaby. He is my ever so best friend. When another Marsupial tried to play with us, Marshall growled at him. I didn't know Kangaroos growled.

My sister and I sat on the beach in Maloolaba and watched the sun set. This girl was doing some sort of sundance (actually... she was trying to wash the sand out of her crocs).
Digging Wallaby. Or maybe it was a kangaroo. I am confused.

Marshall.

Someone who was not Marshall, and he was cute. And itchy.
Dragons aren't that scary.

MIA

2010-07-29T14:34:00.000-07:00

I have been in Australia. I have some beautiful pictures, but intermittent internet at home lately. I promise, I will upload them soon. I promise.
I know I make a lot of promises.

That Voodoo that you do

2010-07-06T19:29:00.000-07:00

So I totally disliked the last post I wrote. I deleted and rewrote it.

This is Wellington. It drives me crazy.

I am in Christchurch, going home tonight. My souvenir: impetigo.

I ran into Roger Rees today when I was leaving a secondhand bookstore with the film script for Lolita.

I can't wait to sleep in a room all by myself tonight. Goodbye, hostels.

There And Back Again, Part 1

2010-07-01T14:31:00.000-07:00

In the soontimes, I will post pictures of all the Lord of the Rings things that I have seen, I promise.

For now, I just wanted to brag. I met Sir Ian McKellen! I was a total mess, and even though I practiced my conversation for a whole month I completely forgot everything I planned to say to him.

Ngati Tuwharetoa

2010-06-29T00:31:00.000-07:00

Back from my noho (stay) with the Tuwharetoa iwi (tribe) in Taupo, New Zealand. I am now back home in Wellington.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about this weekend was the cultural dynamic--as an anthropology student, this was one of my first cross cultural experiences, but what really made it fascinating was how it was a melding of two cultures; Maori and Pakeha (European/Western/Colonial). I knew I was amongst people of another culture; the rules I had to learn and the feeling of being a child and not understanding was there, but we were speaking English (most of the time), wearing jeans and t shirts (okay, sweaters most of the time) and navigating through our interactions in a manner that was largely derived from Western cultural norms. I am still reeling from this almost post-modern look at defining culture.

Anyways, here are my photos.

The roof of the wharenui.
A pretend moko (tattoo) on this girl's chin runs from a day full of rain and messy eating. This photo was taken by this girl's older sister, Hinekorako.
I'm not in the habit of posting pictures of myself, but look how happy we are! My classmates and I (center) at Huka Falls. Huka means snow in te reo Maori (the Maori language) and eventually came to mean sugar.Huka Falls, Waikato River, Taupo. The water comes gushing in from Lake Taupo, which is filled by the snow melting off the volcanoes Tongariro, Ruapehu, and Ngaurahoe (the latter two were used as Mount Doom in Lord of the Rings).

Slow is Beautiful (aka what the Quakers did for the Solstice)

2010-06-21T22:34:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, I go to Taupo until Sunday. I doubt very much I will have internet access so I thought I would get this out now. I had the most beautiful weekend.

I learned how to hand-spin wool from a lady named Eedi (the sign in the background says Eedi's handcrafts). We talked so much. We connected immediately and she is one of those people I know will just stick with my soul no matter where I go.

I slept in a room with 20 people and did not watch any movies as I usually do but rather enjoyed everything that was real and I built community with the people around me.

I was slow and in the moment and purposeful.

It is not the beginning of happiness.

It is happiness.

Today

2010-06-18T15:30:00.000-07:00

I have been asking myself some of the following questions lately.

The first one is about blogging. The second--yet intertwined--one is about my career.

I am always conscious of getting too personal in my blog. It has less to do with creepy creepers and more to do with the fact that I am a really private person. That is part of the reason why I deleted my previous blog and kept this one mostly to pictures. I have thought about the post below for a while before I decided I was comfortable sharing.

Recently, I have been asking myself why I am blogging; on a surface level, certainly, it is to showcase my photography... but I am not a photographer, nor do I plan to be. I have dreams of either being a policy analyst/academic or an actress; the latter seems like a wild childhood fantasy but I actually have done some movies and plays in my time.

Photography in itself is not a vehicle through which I can achieve my goals. But it is a way in which I practice looking; looking and taking things in without passing judgement. It is also a way in which I can look at the world through different perspectives. But sometimes I feel like that is such a far-flung connection.

So what does this have to do with anything? Today is going to be a day of meditation and of beauty. Er, well, I need to return some books and movies to the library and I'm going to a fashion lecture, but it's also the Maori New Year (Matariki) and my Quaker meeting is holding a sleepover. I became a Quaker because of the way meditation centers me, and I always come out with a clearer picture of things at the end.

Hopefully, I can gain some direction in some aspect of something or... something.

Tori

Tabula Rasa

2010-06-16T23:02:00.000-07:00

Some photos from nature (or in some cases, nature telling architecture what's up) from my time in Australia and New Zealand.

Every night the sunset in the bay of Wellington just astounds me. It's like a reminder of where I am, both literally and in life, and about the supremacy of nature and how small I am in everything I do.
Pond by the Sydney Harbour in Australia. I just love this.
Vines in the Karori Sanctuary, Wellington, New Zealand
Karori Sanctuary

how I love les personnes

2010-05-28T18:46:00.000-07:00

This photo above inspired something that I have been exploring with my recently; when I first took it (at the Halifax market in February of 2010) I was really frustrated that this girl looked at the camera. After a while I began to appreciate it, because I realised that people never behave normally in front of a camera (at least, when they know you are taking photos of them).
This boy was assisting a street performer (Manners Mall, Wellington, NZ, May 2010).

My sister doesn't give me the time of day when I take pictures of her (Treehouse, Ontario, Canada, April 2010).
This was taken in our room at the Grand Floridian in Florida. I took a lot of my sister but her legs kept looking disproportionate. And that's how I learned about angles (May 2010).
One day in April, my friends and I took our friend Hannah out for birthday brunch. It was a beautiful sunny day, and I saw some friendly looking bikers. I asked them if I could take some pictures of them and they gave mer permission. Of course, they looked at me and thought it was the bee's knees--and I got this lovely gem (Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.)

Pigeons are People too

2010-05-27T03:11:00.001-07:00

In New Zealand, pigeons seem to think they are people. I had some trouble with the colouring so I left it mostly as is instead of editing them. I was inspired by the last one and tried to sort of wash the colour out of most of them but eventually I amped up the colour in some... That's enough from me!

Edit: In fact, I only like the last one. Think of the other ones as Simon And Garfunkel-inspired warmups for it. I hear 'old friends' in my head the entire time and then the last one jars it.

This guy on the left was shaking his face and got rather blurry.

These were in the Wellington Train station. The pigeons live there and most don't have feet (like the lad on the right).
This one reminds me of 'old friends' by simon and garfunkel.
Ilike the awkwardness of this one. Kind of reminds me now of this image by photographer Barrie Hullegie (Marjorie Conrad is the model)--not because it looks similar but because it makes me feel the same as I do when I look at the one above.

I know this isn't Canada, but...

2010-05-03T10:30:00.000-07:00

I just got back from a family trip to Florida. Here is the first group of my favourite pictures. I tried editing them a little (in one man's words, "to make the colours pop") but if they look hokey, I would like to know.

Any ideas?

Fun in the Sun

2010-04-27T13:57:00.000-07:00

The following are some of my UNB photos from New Brunswick:

Outside the Old Arts Building at the University of New Brunswick.

During the day, we play frisbee.

Winston's Here

2010-04-26T18:36:00.000-07:00

For the newer folks, check out the introduction here.

In February, I went to Halifax to visit a friend, when I ran into another one; Sir Winston Churchill.

After I took this photo, I was just enthralled by the power and tension in his legs, but that doesn't really translate into the side view.

Why so much tension lil buddy?

Loyalists Galore

2010-04-23T17:38:00.000-07:00

Part one of my photos from Saint John, NB on the Easter Weekend. These were taken at my Aunt and Uncle's house in Quispamsis. Nature for the win.

Mama Robin

2010-04-22T21:23:00.001-07:00

I finally wrangled up my Mama Robin photos. Did you know that Robins lay blue eggs? I thought that was bluejays...

This is a photo of Mama Robin (right) intimidating some crows that want to eat her eggs. They've been around for a few days but every couple of hours she takes a dive at them. She is fierce.

The most beautiful shade of blue ever came out of a bird's box.
Here's a (technically poor) photo I snuck of Mama right before she dived at my head.

I wish Mama Robin luck with her 4 eggs. I also wish she would stop attacking me.

"Mom, the cheerleader's followin me"

2010-04-22T14:40:00.000-07:00

Today I thought I would do a photoshoot with my baby sister, Ellie. I styled her, scouted the locations, and even paid her a salary ($3 Canadian). She wasn't very attentive or obedient, so I'm going to have to go with the other sister next time.

In this picture she had picked up a seashell and put it to her ear and was listening to the ocean. But it was a flat shell, so I don't know what she was actually hearing.
I think this might be my favourite.

After I paid her, she kept yelling, "Mom, the cheerleader's followin me". I'm still not sure why.

I'm a shooting star leaping through the skies

2010-04-21T01:32:00.000-07:00

I'm having trouble getting the Mama Robin photos uploaded (she attacked me today) so instead, here is the world from the stratosphere.

I took this photo from the window on my flight (cliche, I KNOOW) from Montreal to Toronto a few days ago. I sincerely hope that this a photo from somewhere above Quebec, otherwise this might sincerely compromise my ability to have a photograph from all 10 provinces.

The world is crazy cool, isn't it?

The Jersey of the GTA

2010-04-19T14:12:00.000-07:00

Location: Aurora, ON

Welcome--for those of you that are new (I flatter myself I will have readers one day), please read my Introductory post. Context works wonders.

I arrived home in Aurora yesterday morning. It is a suburb of Toronto, and through the years has been graced with several nicknames; the great white North, Farmville, and "the Jersey of the GTA". But regardless of how much it has been made fun of, it was nice to be home, and it was a beautiful day, so I decided that I would take a break from my final papers to take some photos of our yard.

When you live in a Suburbox, you definitely maximize for efficiency. My dad grew up in the country, and loves to garden. We have three tiny yards at my house (we live on a corner lot so things are a little tricky in terms of space) and my dad uses every inch of the back and side yard for his gardening 'corporation'. The first picture is of the greenhouse that he made using our MP's election signs, bricks, and tarp in the yard adjacent to our driveway.

The second image is the tiny alleyway between my house (left) and the neighbor's. My dad paved it with cobblestones and those red shelves on the left he uses as a nursery for baby plants. If you look straight ahead (past the potters on the left) you can see where the greenhouse is.

In our back yard, my dad made my sisters a 'treehouse', which is really a glorified wooden box on stilts with a tree coming out of the floor. It's about 10 feet up from the ground if you include the wall, and my sisters have taken to doing a neighborhood role call from up there. I just love it, as do the girls. Below is a picture of the tree sticking out of the floor.

In the branches of the tree is this nifty anchor windchime. I'm not sure where we got it, but my dad loves to collect little things like this; in this case he reminds me of the lady from the beginning of Harriet the Spy.

I appreciate you joining me on this sunny day in Suburbia. Tomorrow, if I can get them uploaded, I will share the wildlife sensation that is the Robin's nest in a pine tree. It's not a big fan of me to say the least!

Introduction

2010-04-19T14:08:00.001-07:00

I should have made this blog in January, but here's the premise.

This year, I have the lucky opportunity to visit every province in Canada. I've decided to photodocument it, and practice my amateur (pronounced ama-tore) photography at the same time. I'm half done my province list so far, but as the days have gone on I have realised that there is so much to document, and one post per province won't really do any justice to what there is. Because of this, I'm going to try to post every few days (especially since I seem to be province-hopping quite a lot lately).

So, without any further ado, enjoy.