So summer's off and running and so far I have not done as much photography as I hoped. Gonna need to change that. I did go to Edmonton and was able to do x2 shoots in one day. What I discovered was I am REALLY out of shape and it was a challenge having to cope the next few days of pain after. The pandemic really took it's toll on my mental and physical health. I am in MUCH need of some exercise so I have been hitting the air bike more and trying to make plans to get out and walk, move and just keep busy physically. Finny doesn't love my new getting up more routines as he LOVES cuddling.
Well, I am off to start moving as my BIG project is to organize our basement and purge some useless things I have been hoarding. Time to release some things I have not used in many many years.
So it was in the end of September 2019 I was hospitalized with what I knew was a football sized mass inside me. I soon was told that it was cancer. It was a life shattering and altering thing to face and it was a difficult road to follow. Thankfully I got so many prayers, people supporting me that I never expected. I am truly blessed and humbled by it all. My hope is to try and give back to others the love and kindness shown to me by so many.
SHOOTING WITH ALEX
This week was a challenging week of work and I got home today with the plans to get into my studio and do some photography. Thankfully this model Alex came to shoot but things did NOT GO smooth. Due to covid I haven't used my studio gear and when she got to my place my trigger batteries all died and we had to zip out to get new batteries. Then the main trigger would not wanna work....which was frustrating and as I tried to get it working, Alex got my older backup trigger to work. We were short on time so we shot what we could. It was sure a blessing to do something I loved like photography again. The pandemic really shut things down for my photography as it did for mostly everyone. I am so rusty and made a lot of rookie mistakes but it was fun to shoot again. Here's a few shots from todays shoot.
Got to go to the beautiful Elk Island Park with my new lens. There was TONS of humanity there and I think the animals and birds all went into hiding from all the people. I drove the Bison Loop and just saw other vehicles. Jen and I walked around a bit and I did manage to catch some photos. I am really excited how this lens opens up new doors for me in my photography. It's so much fun to be able to get ZOOMY with my camera!!!!Stay tuned for more images.
I was having a summer where I was praying a lot to God for some inspiration and direction to take my talents and creativity. Within a day or so of praying I got a message from a very good friend, more about this message later. This friend visited me when I was sick, brought me food when I was in the hospital and most importantly kept me in his prayers. Not only did he pray for my health and healing, he got his church prayer group to lift me up in their prayers. I came out of cancer and was faced with a pandemic....my photography was mainly portrait based for so many years. I always love nature, landscapes and seeing it around me was always beautiful. When I started my photography the lenses I wanted to shoot animals and nature were so expensive as they were massive zoom lenses with a LOT of glass. Ok, that backstory is over, back to the message. My friend was able to purchase a Sigma 150-600 lens, which was on sale. He shared this with me and after discussion with my wife, we decided this would help me get going in a new direction with my photography. I called Vistek in Edmonton and turns out they only had 1 lens left and I was able to pick it up. I have always been happy with Vistek and their customer service and was glad I could support a business local to me.
This image was the first thing I shot when I got home from Edmonton yesterday. I want to share more on my BLOG how this lens and I will work together to showcase how God has gifted us on earth a taste of heaven. Teasers of heaven are all around us, we just got to be open to seeing them and realizing that our Creator loves us and all these things we find beautiful are gifts from Him.
Thanks for reading this and I hope it inspires you to pick up a camera and look for those gifts. God is the ultimate artist and creator. I give Him all the praise for the gifts he gives me and the beauty around for me to capture with my camera.
Here it is summer of 2021 and I have not updated this blog in ages. I have been working on a post that goes into more details about my year of 2019 but for now I'll just give a quick overview.
September 2019 I was diagnosed with cancer, I started aggressive chemo and was hospitalized for about a month before they let me go home to finish chemo. I took the year off of teaching to recover and of course during that time COVID19 hit hard and the planet went into survival mode with people not allowed to gather.
I started teaching in the fall of 2020 and now here I am finished one of the hardest years of teaching I have ever had. Thankfully I am vaccinated x2 with the wonderful phizer vaccine. It has been stressful at times and I did have to quarantine once because I was a close contact with a covid positive person in my class.
I have not touched my camera much, I am hoping this summer I can start shooting some new pixels and doing more photography!! Really going to try and get more physically active as I packed on some serious covid pounds....also due to a thyroid issue too.
Anyway, this wasn't a super exciting blog post but glad I was able to post something. These aren't new photos, just some I have shot since recovering from cancer. Posted from my FLICKR. First pic is my ringing of the bell to celebrate finishing my chemo.
So if anyone that's reading this wants to shoot some photos with me, please contact me and let's create something awesome. I need to get out and adventure with a camera again!
This year I have made some decisions with my photography. I have shot all kinds of things in my journey with cameras. For 2019 I want to really shoot more for myself and for creative reasons. I love portrait work so I plan to continue shooting TFP work with people to try out creative ideas. Also my home is for sale and we're not sure what the future holds or where we may move.
I really want to try to focus on a mix of art, photography and make it a personal project to focus on creating stronger images, ideas and push my creativity with it. Basically going back to school with myself as the teacher. I am going to revamp my website and social media to reflect this personal journey. Please hang out and check in from time to time to see how this turns out for me. I am thankful for friends and family that support me and of course the amazing wife that supports my creative escapades. I might also try to increase my work on YouTube and create more video work.
Of course I may read this in 2020 and realize I didn't do anything I wrote here but it's good to have goals. :)
I will share the most recent creative edit that will give you a taste of where I want to go this year with my photography and art. MODEL is MJ and she loves Dr.Who....so this was inspired by her outfit and sonic screwdriver she had.
-Randy
I have neglected you BLOG.....time write something new. So here is a bit of an update. I am currently fighting off a nasty old cold. It wasn't fun, sick for a few days but I am on the mend. Photography has gotten to be SO SO SO slow. I am not shooting much TFP anymore and have been actually enjoying art a LOT lately. Watercolor paints are so much fun and I am trying to spend more time with art. I have also been playing a lot of Call of Duty (Black Ops 4) on my xbox one x.
I am hoping to get my studio lights up one day soon and find a model or two to come shoot here. I think in a few more days this cold should be gone, just in time for my November break. Tomorrow in the United States I am HOPING Americans can get it right and vote out some of those moron Republicans. For me it comes down to tomorrow, if they don't go with the BLUE wave then it will tell the world that America is this toxic and Trump does represent current American values and attitudes...which is seriously sad if that happens.
My photography shares today are from the FLICKR feed, which has just updated it's PRO account. It's a bit more pricey but I am so impressed with it's features. Unlimited full sized images and a few more nice features for professional photographers. I have used 500px less and less over the last few years. I kinda have a soft spot for FLICKR as I was on it from pretty much the beginning of these photography shenanigans. So back to the photos for today...these are some sunset pics, shot only a few minutes away from my house.
So I have finally started year 21 of teaching and still loving the challenges and learning I experience every day. There is a LOT of potential for changes in my life right now but looking forward to what these changes will bring. I love photography but lately I've been actually doing what I have said I would do for years, which is to pick up a pencil and some art supplies and create some art. I added a link to my website to showcase my creative side more. It's felt good to mess around with art and create without the camera.
I am trying my best to not worry about the world but it's been crazy. Make America Great again and it looks like a dump. The climate change that so many try to ignore is looking quite real. So many terrible storms and wild fires. It's tough to stomach news lately with the nutty things happening. I am thankful for art, music and creative people. Thankfully there are people trying to make the world a better place with their talents.
I will drop a few pics here of recent things I've been doing with my camera. Gonna try and share more art as well. Stay tuned and if you're reading my BLOG a huge thanks as I am a terrible writer and hoping posting a blog or two will help with that. The photos in this blog feature a model I love working with: DESTINY and we shot them late summer out in Vegreville. It's always fun to collaborate with her. She's always been a great model and friend to work with. She got me some amazing Oiler players to give me autographs!!! Spoiled photographer here!!!!
I almost never got to shoot my END OF SUMMER 2016 edition. Really busy getting back to work so I will share some of the quick shots I got of the model. Thanks to Angela who met me in Sherwood Park after her work and on a cloudy and rainy evening. Here are the shots, hoping to blog some summer work from summer including the Wil Yee wedding in BC!!!!
Thanks for stopping by to check out the BLOG!!!!
-Randy
Last night I met with a male model in Edmonton for a mini shoot. We did a shoot for about an hour. I don't often get to work with male subjects so it was a blast capturing pics of Craig but really the gender of a subject does not matter it comes down to light and just shooting cool locations and making the best shots possible. Here are a few shots from our shoot:
Thursday - APRIL 28th, 2016 - Trying to Get Back To Blog Life
I have hardly been updating this blog....I need to refresh my photography blog and hopefully try and do an update once a week. I really do love blogging. I never really know who is reading what I write nor do I much care as it's just fun to share random thoughts and ideas and never know where they end up. More important than my writing is being able to share the photography I do. If it wasn't for people I would not have much fun doing photography. People are interesting subjects and I find each portrait I shoot a new challenge to get images of a person that they appreciate and will value. Life is so short, I want people to look back fondly at an image of themselves and remember that was them at a certain point in their life.....or even more special have my image be a lasting memory of that person for generations to come. I just created a new black and white gallery on my FB photography page. Black and white images are so timeless and really show the beautiful contrast of shadow and light. I love to shoot in RAW format and then edit a shot to color or black and white.
-Randy
New Year is in full swing now and lots of people have already broke their resolutions which is why I don't like to make them. I do enjoy thinking about the future and the creative opportunities that may come my way this year. Every year is exciting to think what images I can capture from life. I do love art and I am going to try and continue with my 52 week art challenge. So here are some random things off the top of my head I am considering for 2016....
working on putting together my art and photography to possibly have a showing of my work at a venue some where
PAINTING, I say it every year but I want to get the paints out and finish a few of these
This one is the same every year, but shoot some new faces and collaborate with some new creative people (photographers, artists)
Game!!! I need breaks from the camera, I like to play some MTG (Magic) or course hop on the console (xbox one) for some fun. My gamer tag is Phocus on xbox live if you wanna add me.
Get stronger spiritually, doesn't have to be church all the time but I want to spend more time connecting to my God and building that one on one connection to Him
I have not really shot yet in 2016 so I'll post some recent edits from a shoot with the beautiful Russian Canadian Galina!!! :)
Feeling a very heavy heart today as I came across some photos from my iphone last year around this time when we welcomed Mulder in to our lives. He was a young kitten with a world of bad experiences that were so ugly and dark. He experienced some of the worst of humanity and had some health related challenges that he eventually over came. We loved him so much and he just became part of our family. We never knew, never imagined his time would be so short with us. We got him just before Christmas 2014 and by summer of 2015 he was diagnosed with a fatal virus. Saying goodbye crushed our hearts and my wife and I miss him so much. For those of us with pets and animals we know that unconditional love and those lessons about life that we learn from our pets. That connection is so amazing I consider it a precious gift from God. I do love technology and video games but mankind cannot compare to the creative talents of God. My cats did not just evolve in to being these amazing little creatures. They were created by God and no one will convince me otherwise...that is the power of my faith.
When I said goodbye to my cat Scully I felt such an deep sadness but a renewed feeling of faith and belief that I will some day see my lost pets and family. Heaven to me is real, it exists in my heart and to me gives me that much needed hope for something better than this world. Mulder experienced some pure evil from humanity and I know God didn't create us to treat his creations that way. I am thankful we were able to love him and create a home for him that surrounded him with love. As christmas 2015 comes I will feel sadness but also a calm for knowing he was here to teach me and I was here to love him. Not really caring who reads this....this was written for Mully and for me. I love you lil dude....I know you're gone but you live in my heart and I know God will reconnect us one day.
Your tall cuddle buddy Randy! xoxox
It's been a very long time since I've written anything on my blog. The summer has ended and now fall and my teaching life is in full swing. It's been a rough year, marked with the sadness of losing our newest cat Mulder at such a young age and right when the summer began. I still find my happy place is behind a camera and being creative. Without art, without imagination this world would be a very difficult place for me to exist in. Social media to me is meaningless without images, I love photos and don't care if they are mine or belong to another photographer. There are so many talented photographers out there. I spend a LOT of time on 500px looking at works that humble me and inspire me.
Every year before I go back to school I attempt to do a photo shoot to mark summer ending and just get my last few pics in with warmish weather and natural light before hiding out in studio for the winter. I will share here some photos taken of the stunning Vickie. Hopefully I'll BLOG more as I have neglected this blog for a VERY long time.
-Randy
I want to write words today to express my sadness, but my wife Jen wrote some beautiful ones for us.....so I am copying and pasting what she wrote to my blog.
Thank so much for all your support over the last 48 hours as we dealt with our baby Mulder's illness and diagnosis. He was only about one year old.
I whispered goodbyes and I-love-yous and stroked him while he left us at about 1pm today. The vet felt that his fever was getting pretty high and he almost definitely had FIP as we had ruled out most other possibilities. But more importantly, the vet believed Mulder was already in crisis today, and this truly helped me make the hard decision.
I feel at peace with this, and I'm grateful that he did not suffer too long or too much before we knew what was happening to him.
I spent the morning cuddling him. And bawling. Im not gonna lie. He ate some fat food with gravy (his favourite) with happy enthusiasm, but he couldn't finish. About five minutes before we left for his diagnostic test, he went and sat inhis carrier for the first time ever. It was like he knew.
I know so many of you enjoyed watching and hearing about him. I got so many private messages over the last six months from people saying how much they enjoyed him. Thank you for those. We enjoyed him too. I hope his little life with us was so great that it erased all the awful stuff he went through to be here.
Top 10 things I'll miss the most about Mulder (but not limited to 10 of course):
10) I will miss him wrecking all the things.
9) I will miss him crashing out exhausted after wrecking all the things.
8) I will miss his fascination with the flushing toilet.
7) I will miss him running between the shower curtains and falling in.... And having a shower with me.
6) I will miss him being Finnegan's buddy. Nahla could take him or leave him. We can be honest.
5) I will miss him turning on the light. Then turning off the light. Then turning it back on. Then off. Then on. Then...
4) I will miss putting his toys away only to find that he dumped them all out again seconds later cuz he likes it better that way. I mean, how is a guy supposed to find something? And the giant chewbacca lol. Well, giant compared to him.
3) I will miss his enthusiasm for food. Him jumping into my plate of lasagna and the look that said he just hit the jackpot, watching him eating wet food with utter enthusiasm, and his level of focus when he was trying to sneak his face into my plate of food.... Or trying to sneak food from my mouth. He wasn't picky apparently.
2) I will miss seeing him chilling out on Randy's legs looking like he's watching tv too. Like a dude. And cuddling like a baby who knows he's safe and loved.
1) I will miss his spunky little character that was constantly in my face and in my heart. I don't care if he wrecked all the things.
Mulder was a very special, beautiful little guy. He had a very rocky start, and it took 5 months for his path to lead him here. He was here little more than six months, and was almost a year old. I'm glad we saved him and I think he knew happiness and love here. Helping him eased our pain from losing Scully, and now we say goodbye sweet baby kitten.
The town of Vegreville is going to be the first of 150 towns across Canada to get murals created by the talented minds of Mural Mosaic and on May 20th, 2015 it was revealed. The mural was made up of 1500 tiles that were painted by community members and many of the students attending schools in Vegreville. The mural is located on the wall of ATB and will join together with the other 150 murals to create a larger image. Recently elected MLA Jessica Littlewood was there to represent the Alberta Government. It was a fun day and some very cool art.
I teach art at the High School and was able to paint a tile and have my students be a part of this amazing experience. Of course I shot some images. Here are a few of my favorites from the day.
