Vital Imagery Blog

This being #FloralFriday in the trendy world of social media, I thought I'd talk about one of my favourite types of flower photography.  While I appreciate beautiful blooms of all varieties,  when it comes to one that's picture perfect it's all about getting closeup and a little dewy.

There's something soothing in a macro shot of a flower, reflected early-morning sunlight dancing on  transparent dewdrops that float along its petals.  It's nature as fresh and clean as it comes. 

Yet fleeting.  The stunning images created when cool night temperatures cause atmospheric moisture to form as droplets, disappear quite quickly as a new day dawns. Also, just as the right shade of makeup, the right brushing of eyeshadow can further enhance a model's beauty,  those dewdrops don't always place themselves exactly how you'd like them to.

For many photographers achieving these gorgeously dewy floral images comes down to one simple secret.  You can learn how others do…

Coming from a primarily agricultural area, with an ancestry rooted thigh deep in farming, I was raised in a fresh world. Though my parents had moved to town before I was born, the wholesome way of life they'd known carried through. If it wasn't home baked, grown in a barn or a garden, smoked or pickled it didn't make it to the dinner table.

Sadly, convenience food arrived at about the same time that my mother took a job out of the house and our family was introduced to a new style of dining.  While Mom did her best to maintain her original standards, the odd fish stick or TV dinner did occasionally find its way onto our dinner table. 

By the time I became a mother, home cooking to many of my generation meant things like pre-packaged spaghetti or frozen meat pie.  After all, these did require turning on an oven or burner.  Thanks, however, to my upbringing and memories of grandma's delicious farm-raised, home-cooked dinners, I did my best to avoid them.  And as life co…

New clothes will soon be hanging in waiting. Backpacks will be loaded and ready to go.  It's hard to believe that another school year is set to begin here in just under two weeks.

For some youngsters it will be a new and slightly scary experience. Tots heading into kindergarten don't realize it but they are leaving innocence behind and embarking on an independent adventure — one where Mom and Dad aren't close by to protect and nurture them.

I do have vague memories of my time as a kindergarten student. This was of course, back in the day when there was no prelude or warm-up with early childhood education or nursery school. It was certainly well before all-day kindergarten too. Classes were split between morning and afternoon and with my neighbourhood friends all attending the former and myself  the latter, I was not just facing a new world but new faces too.

I remember that first day, entering the room, tightly holding Mom's hand. I remember the teacher, the sweet gra…

Knowing that this past weekend was going to be a busy one, with early-morning starts, late nights and places to go in between, I opted to use a vacation day on Monday to give myself some catch-up time.

And a blissful time it was. Following a leisurely morning — complete with a late rising, coffee and time to enjoy a good book — my husband and I headed to a nearby city for a visit with our daughter and some shopping.  No rush, no need to be somewhere else, no things that needed doing.  It was, I told him, what retirement will be like.  Wake up, sit around then decide "Let's do this today".

I enjoy my work and at times worry about  how well I would adjust to a life of leisure. What will I do without the sense of purpose, the routine, the satisfaction of a job well done — and let's be honest, the pay cheque?

But a day like yesterday certainly makes the idea more appealing.  Images of endless days, with endless hours to be spent however I choose, —  with my guy, my fami…