Article #1

Really happy to say that I have written an article for the newsaper (and it has been published!) The Chronicle Herald newspaper has a weekly section called the "South Shore Breaker". It gets delivered with the daily provincial paper on Wednesdays, and is also distributed free with the weekly flyers that everyone gets around here. I wrote a little article about photography and am hoping to write an article every week or so. I most definitely will not be writing a "how to" series, but simply sharing my love of photography and my little adventures. I'm also hoping to raise awareness of our local photography club. Here is a link to the article online:
A Lifelong Love of Photography

But I'll also print it here in case the link stops working at some point in time:
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Photography on the South Shore - Rissers Beach

The South Shore of Nova Scotia is the most beautiful place in the world to me. How lucky are we to live in such a postcard perfect community? My husband and I moved here in 2008, and we could have coined the word "staycation" if someone else didn't come up with the word first.

Living here has regenerated my love of photography, and I'd like to share that joy with you. You don't have to own a fancy camera or spend a lot of money to love taking pictures. You don't have to learn anything complicated. There are many excellent "point and shoot" cameras on the market. Or maybe you own a cell phone with a camera. You don't have to take award winning photos. Maybe you just want to capture the flowers in your garden, or your grandchild's face after eating spaghetti, or your dog running down the beach.

I don't have the ability to teach you how to work your camera. I do want to share my enthusiasm with you. But first, let me give you a little background about me.

My love of photography started at a young age when I received a pocket camera for Christmas. That was way back in the film days, and most of my photos were of Bitsy - our family dog. My first job was at the now defunct Woolco Department Store. I worked in the toy department, but it just happened to be next to the camera department. I saved up my money and bought my first serious camera. My dad and I took a brief photography course together, which holds very special memories for me. It was the only thing the two of us ever did together, just the two of us. I still display a printed portrait I took of him while we were out practicing.

Photography at Home - Charlie and Riley

I was a bit of a nerd in high school, and carried my camera around everywhere. I'm sure I drove my friends crazy. I became editor of our high school yearbook for a couple of years, and helped ensure the yearbook had lots of candids of the kids around school instead of just the posed portraits that were the standard thing for yearbooks back then.

Life moved on and my camera got forgotten for a while. Oh, it got brought out on holidays and vacations. But otherwise it languished in a closet.  Through lucky circumstances, I got to retire from bank management when I was just 37. I became a determined entrepreneur and ran a gourmet dog biscuit company which won an award for "Most Innovative Small Business in Ontario" in 2002. It also got me more involved in photography, but in a practical way. I was doing my own product shots and going out to dog events to help promote my business.

Life continued to change. Our son graduated from college and moved from home. We decided it was time to live a dream and move to Nova Scotia. We sold our house, I sold my business, and we made the move to the "right" coast. But what do you do for a social life when you don't know anyone? I decided to join the local photo club. Not only did I meet lots of great people, but it brought me back to my love of photography. And my camera came out of the closet.

So, I encourage you to take your camera out of the closet, out of the drawer, or wherever you have it stashed. And let's explore our love of our homes and families, our neighbourhoods, the South Shore, and Nova Scotia....together.

 

Photography in the Neighbourhood