dub-yah, dub-yah, dub-yah.

My new blog is still under construction but you can find my new website here: www.wendyshep.com

:)

home grown.

Impromptu strawberry picking on a wednesday.

 

 

Meet Vanessa

Last weekend I had the pleasure of adventuring Kincardine with a friend, fellow photographer and BEAUT!

“If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.” - Roald Dahl

 

 

Spring at ground-level

Love me a good lie down on a nice patch of grass in the sunshine. Nothing like it.

Meet Jess

Jess is so pretty it makes me want to make an obnoxious "eeeee" sound. I think this is what it feels like when cupid hits you with an arrow or something. What a beaut. Am I right?

Who ever said harsh midday sun is always bad??

Also: such a beautiful thing about working with other creatives... Jess plopped herself on top of a cement brick; a place I would have never thought to put her, and this is what turned out. *Insert applause for her brain here*

Hope everyone's Saturday was as sunny and bright as ours :) 

p.s. did I mention we are jacket twinsies?

When it's written in chalk, it's law.

Meditation: I won't pretend I know very much about it (far from it, actually), and I've never even physically OMMMMed before... but I don't need to have done so to know that this is a practice I should try to do every day. So it's on my wall, because when it's written in chalk, it's law, right?

There's something that feels SO GOOD about separating your physical sensations from your thoughts. To remind you that there is more to every day than the stuff that needs to get done and to get away from your brain's inevitable ability to "have a mind of its own"... so-to-speak.

So take a minute for yourself and feel that breath. You'll be happy you did.

Meet Greg

Making a new friend + making some new art + adventure = a really really good way to spend an overcast monday.

I’m making this equation my summer goal and motto. I read somewhere once that life is about the people you meet and the things you make with them.

So that’s what I’m doing. And it feels gooooooode.

Keep the adventures coming, universe. 

Big thanks to Greg for being my model. ;)

For frustrated creatives.

Usually, when I post a photo I try to accompany it with a story, or a quote, or something to tie the two together. I was in the same mindset for the past year when it was my job to pair photos to words to make a good story.

Today, I don’t see a connection (maybe someone else does). And that’s okay.  I’m just sharing two things I like. And the simplicity of that is just as satisfying.

And, for any frustrated creatives....

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners. I wish someone had told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple of years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer, and your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase. They quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just staring out or are you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure that out than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take a while, It’s normal to take a while. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”

- Ira Glass

PS “I’m a rocket maaaaaan”… Thanks, Elton.

If you have the everlasting-winter blues, this one's for you.

On Saturday I decided to take a little stroll through the ward in Guelph. I was ecstatic at the fact that it was warm enough for my bare hands to be out of their mittens for 15 minutes at a time. I took photos of houses with chipping paint and dead grass - and I was excited, even if it was because of the frigid wind in my hair and the dirty snow under my feet. After a few minutes I found a sign.

A man came up to me and asked what I was taking a photo of. I told him. He told me how he had put it up many years ago with environmental news and postings but had to stop because of vandalism. He seemed distraught about reliving the memory. So I nodded - mostly in silence. I complimented him on his choice of words and told him how much I liked it. He seemed thankful, but sad. 

And then he caught me off guard. He said “I wish people would think less of killing themselves”, and with that, turned to walk away without another word. In the time it took me to process what he had said, he was already at his front door. I wanted so much to say something, but words escaped me.

I found them 10 minutes later when I stumbled upon the resilience festival in downtown Guelph. This is what I saw.

A chalkboard full of wonderful things. The Simple Pleasures Project, to be exact. An idea thought up by Josh Martin, leukemia survivor and, evidently, experience enthusiast (you can see what he's all about here). We chatted briefly, I told him how great it was, and proudly added “Hugs and Cuddles” before I left (sunshine, taking my shoes off, DOGGIES more than once, and a picture of a unicorn were already on the board, so I decided to choose something different). It was uplifting to see. Something I wished the man I had encountered 10 minutes earlier could have seen. To put even the tiniest of smiles on his face.

So, on the hard days, just remember: When things get rough, there’s a chalkboard somewhere waiting to tell you what’s good.

There’s also (in no particular order) doggies, unicorns, sloths, photographs, snuggles, bananas, hammocks (note: not banana hammocks, but maybe. depending on who you are), heated blankets, walking barefoot, treetops, treehouses, campfires (CAMP), canoes, wide-open fields, lakes, sunsets, mountains, waterfalls, hikes, pets in costumes, really awful puns, friends who laugh at my awful puns, and friends who prevail over time, space and circumstance. Just to name a few.

What’s on your list? (Seriously, I want to know. Don’t be shy.)

There's also big windows and ivy!

An atmosphere I'm thankful for.

I’ve been lucky enough the past couple of years to be surrounded by musical people. Provides an atmosphere I wouldn’t get otherwise. Its continuing presence in this town (“musical” is at best and under-representation of Guelph and its art scene, to say the least) has given me an association that will make it difficult to go when I decide to leave it.

Lately, one of the only relatively “serious” lines I can recall from The Office (yes, the hilarious tv show) has been resonating with me lately... from the final season... “I wish there was a way to know you were in the good old days, before you’ve actually left them”. 

This makes me nostalgic, especially when summer comes around and I think of the old Georgian Bay stomping grounds. But. When times like this happen, or when I get lulled to sleep by a live acoustic “concert” in my house, or when I join and dance around and/or sing with zero cares (sometimes really loudly and sometimes really horribly)... it’s hard not to know I’m in the good times... before they've gotten old.

 

The best piece of advice I've ever gotten from a post-secondary institution. Literally.

This is the view from my yoga mat.

The message came to me one fateful day in the mail....

Okay. Fateful is a large stretch. But it did come to me in the mail, in the form of an acceptance letter. From a school, that, after half thought/half instinct, I realized may not do me the kind of good I’m looking for (and thereby keeping me from doing the kind of good I'm looking to do for other people).

So instead, I reaped the benefits, in the form of tearing out the most important message that struck me from the package.

There’s some kind of magic attached to a piece of advice that comes to you like this (quite literally, in this case), rather than one that you tell yourself every day because you know you should, and this one means more than the words that make it.

Some people call me the most indecisive person they’ve ever met. So, naturally, you’d think this particular sentence would stress me out. Instead, it keeps me grounded. Reminds me to look before I leap, but not to look too hard (unless maybe I’m holding a machine that makes photos). Reminds me of what I value. So on my wall it will stay, beside the blue sky and trees out my window.

I've only just begun.

Recently I feel like I’ve had a lot of defining moments in my personality. Maybe this is something that every 23 (almost 24) year old goes through at this age. If they haven’t, I hope they do.

A few months back I read this quote by Steve Jobs and it has stuck with me since: “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.”

I think I’m finding it, and it’s exciting. I know I am on the right path, because when I was finished working with the image below, I felt giddy as a school girl. Couldn’t hold it in, couldn’t wait to share it with the world. Couldn’t wait for Colleen to see how beautiful she is! I loved every second of it. I think I’m onto something. Now I just have to be patient while I continue to find it and not worry. If you know me well, this will likely be the biggest challenge of all, but if it means I get to make things like this every day in the future, I’m convinced I will overcome it. None of it seems to matter when I have a camera in my hand. Dramatic? Maybe. True? Absolutely.
All that being said I would LOVE to take your photo. Don’t be shy. To be honest, I’m probably too shy to ask YOU (working on that too, personal growth here we go!).



Here are some other photos from the past month that have also given me similar giddy-ness and excitement. I hope that one day you (whoever you are reading this) can inspire me just the same and get a photo out of it that makes YOU feel good. It doesn’t take a lot, just your awesome self and my lens.

Arkells @ PCH - Nov 28, 2013

Said The Whale @ Brass Taps - Nov 14, 2013

Said The Whale @ Brass Taps - Nov 14, 2013

FIN.

That time we climbed a mountain and almost died

Here he is again; Bukowski on my blog. I just can't help it. He speaks to my soul!

I took this photo of Jodi this past summer when we had just finished climbing Mount Carleton in New Brunswick. We had gotten there a day earlier, and it was the first campsite/park stop of our 3-ish week long trip (unless you count the weird christmas-themed with discoteque campsite in Quebec. I do not.). It had been raining all night, everything was wet, and we only had one tarp so when we wanted to sit by the fire and eat we had to use one hand to hold the umbrella (a good preview for the rest of the trip, little did we know). That morning we woke up and debated climbing the mountain like we had planned because it had been raining all morning. When the rain had stopped for multiple hours we were all like: "Heck yeah! We're going to climb this mountain!". So we did. On our way to the top we got distracted by streams and rocks, and mist and our imaginations convincing us we'd likely see a gnome or fairy or something, and it took us a lot longer than we had hoped.

Jodi read that you could see 10 million trees from the top of Mount Carleton. We saw like, 20, because the clouds were so thick. Not to mention the fact that it was freezing, and the winds were picking up, and it was dangerously close to sunset... as much of a sunset there could be with all the clouds and actual lack of sun. We didn't spend much time at the top. There isn't much to see when you're above all the layers of clouds. There was a separate path to lead to the bottom of the mountain, the only problem was that we had to find it, and we were the only ones at the top of the tallest mountain in the Maritimes.

Because Jodi has a level-head, we found the path alright and reached the bottom just before dark, and just before park staff probably would have come looking for us (we saw them come to check the sign-in sheet at the bottom literally 5 minutes after we reached the bottom). We had talked on the way down about what survival instincts kicked in while we were up there. I was nearly convinced we wouldn't find the exiting path and instead have to be stuck up on the top of this mountain during some crazy thunderstorm and get hypothermia and perish. Like, who starts climbing a mountain at 5pm on a rainy day in essentially the middle of nowhere (with zero cellphone service)!? People who die, that's who.

But we didn't.

We just were living such an awesome, adventurous life that day that instead, the grim reaper was all like: "Yo, these girls mean business." TAKE THAT, DEATH! ...Knock on wood.

FIN!

Inspirational Monday

I'm in the midst of a quarter-life crisis, and I'll admit it. It's unfortunate that more often than not I find myself worried about the future, rather than excited. I don't have a complete, structured out plan, and that scares me. After reading these words by Dale Carnegie, it became (more) obvious that the days I feel worried, are days that I am not working on particular skills that are going to get me where I want to go. I feel excited on the days I feel determined and immerse myself in making beautiful things and feel convinced that one day, I will make photography a life. 

This is going on my wall to remind me to keep going. For the days when I feel tired and want to retreat back to my bed. For days when daydreaming seems easier than actually running towards a goal, and for days when I'm scared that if I put myself out there I'll be less than awesome. 

Everyone has been frozen by failure, the difference between those who thrive and those who fall is the and drive to keep going (my drive is fuelled by passion and the desire to create). Even if that road seems to stretch so far into the distance that you can no longer see it.

Feel me? If you do, I think you know what you need to do: Something. Action. Whatever you want to call it. Laziness can feel great (occasionally), and easy, but making something great feels even better.

And a big ol' props to Dale Carnegie for the words to spice up another one of my landscape shots. I dove into the summer archives for this one. Jodi and I were somewhere on the road in New Brunswick... but let's be honest, that's where most of my beauty landscape shots have come from.

Fin.

Friends and Hot Toddies!

Today I'll let some photos do the talking....

1. Shea is a Beaut!!

2. Delicious hot toddies, candles, friends, lovely chats.

 Love this one:

Fin.

Autumn Beauty

As cold as it has recently gotten outside (and it has; I'm writing this wearing mittens with the tips cut off so I can use my fingers because I refuse to turn the heat on yet), this quote is just one of my favourites in the world. It makes me want to stand on a mountain and spread my arms really wide and smile at the sun, or clouds, or whatever is closest to me. I try to remember it when my bed seems comfy and the wind is frigid and the TV is playing friends and I don't want to take part in physical activity.

I took this photo on my walk home a couple of days ago while it was raining and this autumny-leaf tunnel was extra vibrant. 

 

I've also decided (again) that I need to start treating my camera like I treat my pants.... never leave home without it. This saying won't catch on due to it's unfortunate grammatical nature, but I'd say it's a good one for me to live by (not that I often forget my pants... to be clear. hahaha).

Fin.

This work by Wendy Shepherd is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.