Vital Imagery Blog

Let's say you grew up when the Brownie was the camera of choice, when the majority of people counted on professionals to take their 'good' pictures.  You joined on the Polaroid craze, and when that faded (along with the pictures) you went out and bought yourself a nice little 35 mm, something that had plenty, but no more than you needed.

You could say then that when it came to photography, you've always been one of those people who made sure to get pictures of the essential moments — baby's first steps,  birthdays, anniversaries, picnics and parties — but  never considered yourself a photographer. You didn't think about lighting or composition, you didn't presume the results would win any awards.  Your photos were simply copies of memories.

Then the digital age arrived and suddenly everyone was taking pictures of everything, because they could. There was no waste of film, no processing costs, and the often lightweight piece of technology was easy to carry …

I think my son was born with a western heart. A musician, who has seen most of Europe and plenty of North America,  it is when he sees the Canadian Rockies that you know body and soul have quieted.

He spoke in a journal once about stepping outside at a friend's home in Banff early one morning. This was his first tour and having arrived there late the previous night he hadn't really known what to expect or  been aware of the surroundings. In the dawning hours of a new day however, he realized that stepping out  the door brought him face to face with the majestic mountains. He was awed by their rugged beauty and despite having seen some pretty impressive counterparts across the ocean too,  his heart we've come to see belongs to his nation's range.

I've seen the Rockies once in my lifetime and found them of course to be breathtaking. They are a pretty powerful image, cold and omnipotent, a sharp contrast to the other mountains I've seen on the eastern side of the…

Mystery. While we would probably prefer not to be involved in a serious one, people do tend to enjoy a little in  life. We read books or watch movies that titillate with questions to help find the climactic answer. There are games that focus on unravelling the clues to discover the real story at the end.  Colonel Mustard in the dining room with a candlestick, anyone?

Most would admit to a degree of fascination for the enigmatic,  the people who seem to keep at least a part of themselves hidden. Being mysterious ourselves can be fun too.  We have great fun in hiding behind masks or in costumes.  Say the word Halloween and watch the delight of not just children but grownups too as they plan the transformation that will disguise them to the world. Keeping one's identity a secret while trying to uncover that of others can be an entertaining diversion, our masks creating a level of anonymity.

The notion that there is more here than meets the eye works with image editing too. Just as t…

In just a few months, when the sun is shining brighter, birds are trilling us awake in the morning and early spring blooms have started to, well, bloom, our family has two rather significant events to celebrate. This May,  two of our adorable grandchildren will be entering the second year of life and birthday extravaganzas are already in the making.

Our younger daughter, mom of a tiny celebrant, is big on themes. Every party must have one and after convincing her big sister of this when she was hosting a bridal shower a few years back, it has since been the norm for every occasion these two plan.  You are My Sunshine was the focus of our older granddaughter's first-birthday bash a couple of summers ago while her brother, a tow-headed, blue-eyed wonder born May 5, will be having — what else —  a Cinco de Mayo partido.

Their cousin, Sweet Adelaide will be the guest of honour a week later at an "Oh, the Places You'll Go" bash.

It's fun really. Everything from the c…

When my daughter was creating an invitation for her sister's baby shower, she had no problem finding the perfect image to decorate it.

It was an illustration of a pretty little mother-to-be, who, with bright blue eyes and dimpled grin was a close to perfect caricature of the guest of honour. The only difference was the hair.  This, however, presented no problem for our daughter, who's a bit of an image editing whiz.

Most people these days know you can change images to suit your needs. What most don't have, however, is the software to do it.  For people starting in small business or for folks just working on a personal project, it's not economically feasible or even worthwhile to purchase expensive software.

Fortunately, however, there are many affordable online alternatives. The variety is good news too as what works for one might not be the ideal for another. Individual needs and capabilities are as variable and complex as the world-wide web itself. So some time ago,…