charla.ca

I’m not posting a photo of my mother. But I am posting a sense of what she has given me. Though this home is not my childhood home and I would really give almost anything to go back to my childhood home these photos are still a place that makes me warm, happy and secure. It doesn’t matter that these walls have only been alive for a few years, they are the walls that hold my family…the place where I come from.

I’ve stated many times in this blog that I don’t claim to be a writer. That statement poses a problem when it comes to writing about my mother because I want everyone to know how amazing she really is. But as I write I know that YOU (yes You, the person reading this) has a mother as well. And whatever your situation or her situation you love her deep in your heart. As I struggle to find the words to write about my mother think for a second about your own mother and all she has done for you, even if it was only bringing you into the world. She gave you life.

My mother is the person who gave me life and taught me how to live it.

Here is a photo dear to my heart of the women who gave my mom life. If you didn’t know my grandmother this photo tells a lot of who she was. One, she was a GREAT cook…her recipes are still trying to be replicated. Two, she loved to cook for other people…which meant she loved caring for other people. The way she sits with her apron on, waiting for dinner to cook and the table set perfectly for everyone to take their place. I remember the exact second I pointed the camera in her direction. The next frame she gave me a big smile. I chose this frame because it was how she sat naturally waiting patiently with all her family around her. A completely candid moment and one that embraces, for our family, the women we remember her to be. It was also the last visit I had with her in her full health.

This mother’s day will be the first without her on this earth. But we know that in death there is life, ‘for me to live is Christ, to die is gain’ - Philippians 1:21

I love you Mom!

These are some of my favorite ‘old’ photos. I had thought they were lost. During a most terrible day I found them. These two were taken while I was in university. I’m not sure of the camera. I think it was my first pro camera, which was a Nikon (film, of course, but the model escapes me). At some point when I got my first and last scanner I put them on CD. I do believe the negatives exist somewhere under the stairs.

This is in fact the beauty I recently photographed. She must only know me with a camera attached. The little guy in the back has been a subject a few times as well. I’ll have to dig a few of those up.

I love the graininess and the distortion from the scan. I didn’t have to do anything in CS3 to make these happen. They are as they were. I hope you can enjoy them as much as me.

Update from my last post: My back up has still not come back to life but I did buy lots and lots of RAM today.

I’ve been going through a lot of old photos lately. I started out looking for a specific photo I wanted to enter in Battlesnap. I couldn’t find it. I realized that there is a lot of old stuff missing from my portfolio. Since I got my first digital camera I have made four moves through three different provinces…including from British Columbia to Newfoundland. No wonder stuff has gone missing. It is sad to think some of those images may never be seen again. I have contacted an old friend to see if she can send copies of images I took of her (the one I wanted for Battlesnap) but you know how that goes. I’m certainly not good at getting things in the mail so I can’t say anything about her either.

My point is: This image is one I took as I experimented with my first digital. My only disappointment with the camera was that it didn’t handle well in low light. Cameras have some a long way since my first Canon D60. When I bought the D60 there was still a large debate over getting it or a large format camera. Whew, how times have changed. This photo was taken in low light. I still didn’t own my own studio lights and I wanted to see if it could handle as well as I my film camera.

My roommate and I had a great idea for a series of photos called ‘Time’. She is a very talented singer and was ever-willing to by my subject. Lucky for me I was also into graphic design and web development which meant I knew how to manipulate images fairly well. That came in handy when I realized my new camera didn’t have a clue how to deal in low light (or maybe it was me, I still dunno). As a sidenote, I remember, waaaay back then, having to convince my wedding clients that digital was the wave of the future

I’m sipping wine, listening to some Enya and feeling pretty sentimental as I write. These were the days of living carefree with so many hopes and dreams of the future. Those were the years when I made a best friend, when I met my husband and where I long to be. Maybe one day the first digital images will be somewhat of a relic like having film images would be now.