Random Photo Friday: A New Lease on Life

Firstly, I should admit that today's photos aren't my own - but they're certainly something I am hoping to recreate and, equally, to provide a potential lifeline for animals in need.

I've long-since pondered about working with my greatest love of all - animals. And how I could work with animals, or an animal charity, in a way that wouldn't be too heartbreaking (since I already lie awake at night thinking about the insidious cruelties people inflict on animals) but rather a positive, giving-back experience. And I've also wondered more recently (well, at least the past couple of years) how to combine my love of photography with my love of four-legged friends. And then, a couple of months ago, I caught a glimpse of this wonderful and incredibly inspiring news story about photographer, Shannon Johnstone - who, as you will see from her "Landfill Dogs" website, takes out a shelter dog once a week (as part of an 18-month project) to a a nearby landfill area that has been turned into a lovely park, lets them off-leash and captures their sheer joy, energy and boundless enthusiasm for life in a creative and heart-warming collection of photographs. And the images she captures are so lovely they're used to promote the dogs' adoption - rather than the average sad and scared shelter pup images. And what's more important - it's working! The shelter has seen a noticeable increase in adoptions of even the longer term residents, thanks to this remarkable project and one woman's beautiful images. But why read my babble - I wholeheartedly recommend checking out the Landfill Dogs website and Facebook pages for yourself....I challenge you not to laugh or smile (or even tear up) at the charming and lovable characters she shares, and for whom she has helped offer a new lease on life!

My personal favourite so far has to be the dancing with joy stance of this little guy, so aptly named Looney Tunes:

Looney Tunes #5, impoundment #81578

So thoughtful, just breathing in life.
Ice Frosting, impoundment #82263

The "Can we please stay here forever?" look.
Karsten #3, impoundment #87239

And I just love the joy and freedom captured in this 

beautiful dancing  silhouette shot. Akimbo Dances with 

Shavonte, impoundment #91008.

And the funny thing is, I was at the gym at the time this story aired, so unfortunately I didn't hear/see the details and, for the bit I caught, the closed captioning was rife with errors - as usual! The next day I told a close friend just how much it had inspired me, even though I didn't get the full story, and then, thankfully, another friend recently posted the Landfill Dogs link to my Facebook page and the friend, with whom I'd talked about this whole idea originally sent me this story from Huffington Post.

Enter another amazing program: One Picture Saves a Life, where the photographer, Seth Casteel (photographer and author of the unique and hilarious "Underwater Dogs" series of images) is described as, 'passionate about helping animals. He volunteers with animal shelters and rescues around the world, professionally photographing homeless pets to increase adoption rates.' The Save a Life initiative provides shelters with resources to properly groom and photograph shelter pets - and the before/after photographs speak for themselves! And, like the wonderful work of Shannon Johnstone, Seth's project has also proven to be a valuable aid in improving pet adoptions.

If ever I've had a calling, then I know this is it. I know I have to make it happen. Somehow.

It might not pay the bills - this type of work, unless for some private clients, would almost certainly be voluntary - but I can't think of a better way I'd rather spend my day and I know I have to do something like this myself before too long. I owe it to myself and, more importantly, to the abundance of animals needing a little extra help to find a new home!

Pet photography: something
I know I have to do.

Shortly after Christmas I actually ordered a book on pet photography "Beautiful Beasties: A Creative Guide to Modern Pet Photography" by Jamie Pflughoeft. I have to start studying it hard in the coming weeks and get started.

I should start by practising more with our own cats and other people's dogs, just to get used to it, hopefully find my technique - and a friend has kindly given me the contact information for two people at the local SPCA shelter she said would love my help, if I were to recreate the same portfolio of shelter dogs (and other animals) here.

Basically my daytime work contract really is finally coming to a close (heck, I'm even grateful it lasted this long - my 2-month contract has been going more than 15-months), so I'll have plenty of time on my hands to get to work on this next project. And I can't wait!

Argufying and Grumbulating

So I take back what I said a few weeks back about the vitamin company, Trusted Nutrients. While they did offer a full refund on the (useless) Garcinia Cambogia, I still had to follow up with them 10 days later when I hadn't yet been refunded nor had I received the promised Raspberry Ketone. They apologized, refunded the money and said the RK would be on its way. 3 weeks later, I emailed again to say I still hadn't got the RK. "It's shipped already and you should have it within a few days", they said. A further 2 weeks went by - still nothing. I followed up AGAIN, only to be told, "we couldn't ship - not sure we have your full shipping address", What the.....then how did they ship the GC at New Year and why was I told previously it was already on its way to me??? So I reconfirmed the shipping address for the RK they said had already been shipped to me 5 weeks ago......and I'm STILL waiting! Safe to say I would NOT order from Trusted Nutrients again. They might be full of customer service fluff and politeness, but simple lip service doesn't cut it.

I guess we'll see if it EVER arrives.....but perhaps best I don't bother holding my breath.

Random Photo Friday: Hearts 'n' that

I know it's St. Valentine's Day n'all, but I'm not going to spout anything super lovey-dovey or drool a puddle of get-me-a-bucket cliche mushiness over my keyboard, however I will post this picture, taken at Granville Island (around Christmas-time no less). Why? Because I kind of like it, and I'm all out of wonderfully poetic eloquence or enthusiasm to introduce it. Maybe it says plenty....or perhaps nothing at all. Either way, it's heartfelt. Haha. Get it?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Kicking it up a notch

Having discovered for myself that all the hype around the supposed 'weight-loss miracle', Garcinia Cambogia, really is just that - nothing but a bunch of hyped-up blah-blah (and the Raspberry Ketone supplement I was promised weeks ago still hasn't arrived) - I've made a concentrated effort to pump up my workouts in an attempt to combat the defiantly-upward-creeping needle on the weigh-scales and the ever-tightening bum and waistline (and rising hem) of the majority of my clothes. I was going to say I've only made small changes to my regular workout routine, but I guess I've actually upped it by about 30% and I'm pleased to report some definite signs of progress already - in just 2 weeks.

At the (ladies only) gym I go to, some of the machines are weighted in pounds and others in kilos, so I'm never quite sure how much weight I'm using (pounds I assume), though my focus has never really been on how much weight I lift but rather the number of reps/sets I do and maintaining good, controlled form and breathing - exhaling on the effort, holding briefly at the optimum position (without locking elbows or knees etc.) before inhaling while slowly lowering the weight back to the starting point again, and repeat.

I'll be the first to admit that, when I first ever started working out with weight-machines, many moons ago, I made the rookie mistake of thinking you had to lift pretty heavy weights for maximum effect and, because I'm naturally quite strong (and years of figure-skating had given me solid thigh muscles too) I basically started by loading up the weight and swinging things around like a demented Russian shot-putter. Of course, it didn't help any that I attended to a co-ed gym back then, so naturally the last thing I wanted was to look like some insipid girly simply tickling the weight machines for fear of breaking a nail, especially in front of a bunch of grunting, snorting males, oozing testosterone-fuelled machismo from every sweaty pore. And so, I confess, I totally over-compensated and soon discovered - much to my chagrin - that, not only did my clothes begin to feel tighter (particularly around my thighs - which actually became wider from the chunkier/stockier muscle I was unwittingly creating), but also I began gaining weight. Not realizing at that time that muscle weighs heavier than fat, plus it was so much easier to immediately beat myself up for being useless and overweight (I was about 40lbs heavier), I became so horribly demoralized that, in a fit of sheer frustration, I abandoned the whole idea - for about the next two years.

Enter Alan, my super-fit, avid runner + cyclist firefighter ex-boyfriend, whom I actually met at a swimming pool in Kettering (where?) - having successfully lost about 15lbs already from taking up swimming lengths twice a day during my university work-placement in Bordeaux, France. Alan taught me about muscle versus fat, about reps and sets, and creating long, lean muscles as opposed to going for the heavier weights and building shorter, chunky muscles (which is obviously what I'd been doing a couple of years earlier). In retrospect my sister, Victoria, had already been telling me all the same things long before that, based upon her own experiences of going to the gym, but I felt so hideously blobby, chunky and ugly at that time (especially next to her new fitter and slimmer figure), that her words fell on deaf (read: defiant) ears. I kept telling myself that I would have to lose a few pounds before I even felt good enough to start going to a gym again - which became a totally vicious circle within which I stagnated for quite some time. (Poor Vicky, I know she must have been exasperated trying to give me support and advice, over and over, to which I would simply respond with a whiney 'yeaahhh, you're right', only to continue doing sod all about it.)

Anyhooo, Alan finally took me to a sports store and kitted me out to get back at the gym. He taught me not get so obsessed with the scales as a measure of my success (something Vicky had been telling me too) and I joined a gym where the attending fitness instructors actually did their job - they watched, advised and taught me good form and breathing. Heck, I remember one instructor, an older lady built like an iron bar, who would blatantly (and loudly) tell you off if she saw you doing something less than perfect. To be honest she scared me with her strict school-mistress demeanour, I half expected her to pull out a cane and beat me with it. But, even though she made me nervous, I still have to credit her for teaching me well. Heaven knows I see the instructors at the gym I go to, blatantly ignoring bad form as they show potential new members around the gym. I'm astonished they don't actually advise or correct anyone - be they new or regular members. I've frequently seen women throw their limbs and far-too-heavy weights around in frighteningly awkward and reckless form or similarly locking their elbows, knees, slumping their shoulders, sitting too high/too low/awkwardly - or even backwards - on the machines, to the extent I'm amazed they can even move afterwards. And yet the 'instructors' pay no attention. Gooo figure! I've long suspected they must have an underhanded contra-deal with local chiropractors an physiotherapists ;-)

So, to get back to my original point - I've made a conscious effort to amplify my workouts the past couple of weeks and, while my weight has dropped only 2lbs (I'm still sitting at 136lbs as opposed to my usual 130-134), I'm definitely feeling fitter, stronger and my clothes aren't about to burst open at the seams any more. I've even lost about half an inch on each thigh. Phew - just in the nick of time!

What am I doing differently? Not an awful lot really but I'm definitely working harder, which is kind of annoying in that I hoped I could maintain or (ideally) tone down my workouts as I get older - not have to work even flippin' harder:

• I start with 35mins on the cross-trainer rather than 45-50, but still relatively high impact. I read recently that going longer doesn't necessarily make much difference.
• I've increased my weights by about 5lb on each machine and also upped my reps to two sets of 20 per machine (I was doing 2 x 15 reps before)
• After completing the weights circuit, I've now added a 15-20 min run on the treadmill, at a steady pace of about 6.5mph (9km/h) followed by several minutes of walking at around 4mph. I haven't worked back up to the average 8.5mph at which I used to run, but maybe I'll get there. Although I have to say, while running at 6.5mph I feel incredibly relaxed. I find it a great way to wind down my workout and will often extend the running time simply because I'm enjoying the comfortable, relaxed pace.
• I follow the cool-down run with my usual lunges, bends, stretches and such. 
• My workouts are still about 80-90 mins total but I'm getting much more 'work' done in that time.

I wouldn't necessarily call myself an expert on weight-training and cardio workouts but I do have a pretty good idea, was given a fairly solid foundation and think carefully about my form, breathing, load, joints/muscles etc. as I go through the exercises - aiming for a decent amount of effort but for longer, lean muscles, hence I don't go nuts on piling up the weights, and not least because I once dislocated my shoulder on a shoulder press (long story). Aside from that, I'm eating a little less and have generally been less hungry, I've reduced my alcohol intake and make a conscious effort drink at least 8-10 glasses of water a day.

I'm hoping that the running time might increase to the extent I can run outdoors again this summer without my ongoing hamstring/glute issue kicking in, which is the reason I had to completely give up running - even on the treadmill - for the past couple of years.

I guess we'll just see how things continue to go from here.

Wow, this really has to be the most boring post I've ever written for this blog.

Random Photo Friday: First Bash at Long Exposures

Is it really a year ago already that I was blown away by the passion and enthusiasm of Vancouver’s wonderfully talented photographer, Marc Koegel, as he presented an inspiring 1-hour seminar on his specialty, ‘Long Exposure Photography’? The seminar was one of three that I signed up for during a weekend open-house at Vancouver Photo Workshops (VPW)* – a fantastic photography school just down the street from where we used to live, which Marc founded in 2004 and where he continues as a photographer, educator, writer and director (maintaining a fabulous blog on LE photography too). 

Without hesitation I signed up for the Long Exposure weekend workshop he was offering a few weeks later and once again he blew my mind – not only by his contagious passion for photography and his incredible (enviable) skill at fine art and long exposure artistry, but also because I had never even thought about this aspect of photography and yet the results can be truly stunning. It’s definitely an area of photography that I want to pursue, even though I’ve practised it hardly at all since taking the class last year. Why? Well, partly because the best results are when there is some cloud and/or water – and this past year in Vancouver has been a bit of an anomaly in that there were a crazy amount of either cloudless or else too cloudy days, in-between the usual rain. If the sky’s cloudless or completely overcast it’s harder to get the motion that elapses during the exposure time, so the effect isn’t quite as dramatic.

Anyhow, while I have yet to seriously get to grips with this new-found inspirational niche in photography, I’m very excited to try it again soon and (finally) make use of the new Neutral Density (ND9) filter Lorne gave me for my birthday last year. In the meantime, for today’s random photo(s) I thought I’d include a couple of the shots I was pleased with from the Crescent Beach outing we did as part of last year’s weekend workshop. Watch this space for more to come!

The above images were shot mostly with ND8 and an exposure time of between 4 to 8 mins.

* Prior to learning about Vancouver Photo Workshops, I did all of my photography courses at the now-defunct Focal Point Photography School in the Point Grey/UBC area. I have to say, even in my very limited experience at VPW, I am more impressed with them than I ever was with the majority of classes I took at Focal Point.