Vital Imagery Blog

It's hot. Really, really hot. Not that I mind; winter is with us a long time after all.  However, summers like this one are few and far between, so when it hits you notice. The last  I recall was decades ago, when even the lake was so baked by the sun it didn't bring relief. More typically, summers in this part of our world can get the heat, but it's broken by the crack and roar of a thunderstorm, which lifts the mugginess for a few days after.  Or there might be a dry season, but it comes with reasonable temperatures. This year, humidity has carried us over 40°C many days and you don't have to be a farmer to be praying for rain. Cornstalks stand tall, straight, reedy reaching and begging for moisture to quench the thirst. Browning grass crackles beneath our feet, while flowers sag wearily by day's end.  We attempt to hydrate and refresh gardens with nightly soakings, but the relentless sun beating upon them has their perkiness fading by mid-day. Yet, when we

Everyone the world over has eyes on Rio at the moment, as the Brazilian city hosts the 2016 summer Olympics.  We're eager to get to our televisions and catch the next event. We love to watch the medal ceremonies, especially when our flag is proudly displayed while the national anthem is blared across the airwaves. The games are undoubtedly a source of political pride, as we root for our nation's athletes to bring home gold, silver or bronze. We keep track of the medal count and express our elation over the tally, or mild disappointment because of the ones we missed.  Not that any of that disappointment is placed on the broad shoulders of the competitors, of course. Just being at the Olympics is worthy of the highest admiration a person can get in the world of sports.  The late Pierre de Coubertin,  founder of the International Olympic Committee once said that the most important thing in the games is not winning but taking part. "The essential thing in life is not con

"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly." — Robert F. Kennedy Was there ever a diplomat and politician as inspiring?  Reminding us that to succeed we must first  risk failure has probably never been expounded more eloquently than in that simple sentence from the late RFK. Settling in to mediocrity shouldn't be anyone's desired state. That we can do anything we set our mind to is a common adage. The right mental attitude can go a long way in ensuring success. However, when considering greatness as the desired goal, there are limits to our aspirations. No matter how strong our  determination might be, regardless of how we get mentally into the zone, each of us will face certain challenges which can't be overcome. We might, quite simply not have what it takes — the physicality required, the finesse, the ability. For example,  I'm fairly certain that all of the determination in the world wouldn't have let my 5'2" self ris

Today being Tutorial Tuesday, it's a great opportunity to showcase one's image editing talents. Since I have none, I wondered what I could talk about that would help others with the same level of expertise. Finally, it came to me — scope out advice on everything I'd like to know.  It would be my Top 10 list of 'please show me how', that others just might find beneficial too. I'm not a total novice having been introduced to Photoshop years ago while  working at the newspaper. This was new software, which we were told would take us out of the darkroom and  transform images in ways we had only previously imagined. For example, the elderly woman who accused us of darkening her lips in a photo to make her look ridiculous, could actually have that happen now.  The problem, however, was that while the means now existed, time to actually learn all its tricks was limited.  A few days of training gave us essentials; beyond that its possibilities remained, for the mo

#love For those who've been hiding in a Himalayan cabin over the past several years, what I'm doing here is bringing attention to a word by 'tagging' it. The symbol once commonly called pound or the number sign, is now a social media darling, known as a hasthtag. It's a label to make finding messages with a specific theme easier.  Given that finding love is always a good thing and that messages about it kept popping up this past weekend, I therefore decided to make it the theme for this blog today and as the focus of some image collections I will highlight. But first, if you will indulge me, I have to tell you how many times love was in the air around me over the last two days.  The romance began on Saturday afternoon, as I attended a Stratford Festival production of Shakespeare in Love . It was absolutely brilliant and despite being a bit of a rom-com, the story of true love shines through. When the love interest, disguised as a young man, asks of her param