Photography Step 2

This past week I have been getting in the habit of taking photos. This is a new way of seeing for me, and it takes some getting used to. I am finding myself moving more slowly and trying to look at things. I am seeing photographic images I want to capture, but I am having trouble capturing them the way I want them. I am not used to taking photos of everyday life and things. Finding images to document is frustrating, but I can tell it is making me look harder.

I have also started dabbling with photoshop. I have some experience with the programme but mostly from documenting paintings. I have played around with this weeks top photos and am getting some practice using new tools. Here is an image of me using a grid to centre my composition.

Photo by Bronwyn McMillin

All my photos this far have been digital and mostly taken with my iphone. I like the elegance of this medium, but I am also excited to play with film. Today I picked up some colour film for my film camera, a point and shoot I bought second hand.  My next step is to start playing with this camera and see what works with my film before I move to a more manual SLR.

My new camera. An olympus infinity TWIN. Loaded and ready to go. Photo by Bronwyn McMillin

Here are my top three photos from this week. Tune in soon for a post where I list some readings on photography and photographers I admire.

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Planning

The first in my garden project is gathering some knowledge and supplies:

Seeds, a month by month planting chart, and Barbara Damrosch’s “Garden Primer”. Not in picture is fish manure.

The first step was digging the manure into the beds. After I let them rest for two days, I was eager to plant. Reading Barbara’s advice on winter gardening and consulting a region specific planting chart I decided to start with one beds worth of Kale, Beets, Cabbage, and Radish. I was eager to get them in the ground as it is getting pretty cold.

Me planting seeds in my yard

Just add water, and hope for the best!

Why I Want to Grow a Garden

When I was a child I spent a lot of time with my Grandmother who ran a gardening business on Salt Spring Island. She grew acres of ornamental and edible plants which she shipped all over the country to support herself. Through osmosis I developed a love for gardens. As a fairly transient adult, I have worked on farms whenever possible, but have not had my own garden until I moved to Victoria last October. 

Friends on a farm near Burnaby 

The success of my first garden attempt was encouraging, with peas, beets, radishes, beans, kale, squash and carrots to keep us going all summer. This experiment lead me to think about growing food on a larger scale, and to ask questions. How much could I grow, and for how long, and how could I extend this new feeling of independence and self reliance into other aspects of my life and diet? Maybe I should get into hunting and fishing? One step at a time!