White winter hymnal

Scenes like this have been few and far between this winter. I should qualify that by saying in Montreal. I realize it's been a different story for much of North America, but here, we may have gotten a record low snowfall for this winter. The past few days have felt very spring-like and it feels wonderful. Though in Montreal, you can't allow yourself to be fooled by such things. Anything can happen in March, and snow in April is not unusual. As much as I've loved photographing winter the few snowy days we had, I'm ready for the colors, scents, and sounds of spring.

The title of this post is taken from the beautiful song by the Fleet Foxes. Check it out if you haven't heard it!

Chance of wet snow

We had big, wet gorgeous snowflakes coming down all day. I grabbed my Kodak Duaflex and Canon 5D and headed out for some TTV (Through the Viewfinder) photography. At first I was frustrated by the drops of melted snow that collected on the viewfinder. After a while, I was able to accept and even embrace them. Now I realize that I wouldn't love these photographs as much without those little drops. There's a lesson in there somewhere. I'm sure of it.

A winter's tale

I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I'm a bit jealous of all the snow the east coast is getting. We've had only a few major snowfalls this year. The snow that's left on the ground is hard, dirty, and not at all photogenic. Freshly fallen snow can be so magical, if you can manage to ignore the hours it takes to dig your car out, your frozen toes and fingers, and the traffic jams.

For your Valentine

I just thought I'd share with you some of the photographs that I'm making available as Valentine cards this year. They are printed on notecards made of lovely fine art paper. They can be found in this section of my Etsy shop.

I apologize for the bad bear pun.

Indie Fixx Auction

I just thought I'd let y'all know that an 8x10 print of my "Looking for Love" photograph is currently on auction at Indie Fixx. The auction is raising funds for Haiti relief. So pop on over, bid on an item you love, and help the people in Haiti. The auction of my print ends tomorrow.

Helping hands

1. golden gate, 2. Bound II, 3. Robert, 4. Untitled, 5. Offering., 6. London to Hastings line, July 23rd, 2009, 7. Untitled, 8. Untitled, 9. Sisters

It's hard not to feel helpless when such enormous devastation occurs in our world. All that we can do from the cozy comfort of our homes is to donate money. It doesn't seem like much, but it can make such a huge difference.

Here is a list of reputable organizations to which you can donate money.

The handmade world is also jumping in to do it's part.

Etsy has compiled a Handmade for Haiti list of sellers who are donating a percentage of their sales to the relief effort.

Jen at IndieFixx is organizing an online auction, to which I've donated my print "Looking for Love".

Between now and January 31st, I'll be donating 15% of my sales in my isphotography shop and my Etsy shop to the Red Cross.

Do whatever you can, no matter how small it seems. As Bill Clinton said "the most immediate thing now is for people even to give small amounts of money, but we need large numbers of people giving small amounts of money so we can get food, water, medical supplies and shelter there".

A fresh start ... every day

"One resolution I have always made, and try always to keep is this - Rise above the little things"

~John Burroughs

For many years, I haven't bothered to make new year's resolutions because I am so terrible at sticking with them. But this year I decided to set some goals and intentions for myself and so I started looking for some information that might be useful in helping me do this better. In the past, I would try to take on too many things, quickly get overwhelmed, and give up. So this year, I'm going to pick only a few things to focus on. I haven't decided on my final list yet, but I found this article from Zen habits to be very helpful in thinking about resolutions differently. Also from Zen habits, is this article on making a fresh start every day. Perhaps my only goal really needs to be to follow these guidelines more days than not:

- Let go
- Decide what matters most today
- Clear away distractions and focus
- Find happiness now
- Reinvent yourself every day

"The secret of happiness you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less." ~Socrates