Category Archives: Life

July 28, 2012

Dear 35

Dear 35.

I’ve been nervous about arriving at your doorstep.

You are a number that gets tossed around, especially for us women, as an age where our fertility heads downhill. As a single lady who feels like being a mama is part of her life path, it was feeling overwhelming to have you near. As though I’ve failed at something by reaching you childless, though I know in my heart that is not true at all.

I’m starting to realize though, that you are not so scary after all.

The 30’s so far have been my favourite decade of life yet, so I shouldn’t doubt that you would follow its lead.

Now that you and I are hanging out for the next 360 days, I’m holding onto hope. I have a few big dreams I’d like to take action on and I most definitely need hope in order to get me towards them this year. Plus, it feels like holding onto hope and having faith is exactly the right course of action. Right now I’m on a trip on Vancouver Island to Ucluelet and Tofino and I brought along a tarot deck. We’ve each been pulling a card each day and last nights card, the star, spoke of how I feel about you 35. It reminded me to have faith in the future.

On the day you and I became one 35, I gathered with a few friends and giggled our way through breakfast, including sharing a brunch brownie, 4 forks nibbling away at it. I got my first ever mani/pedi (evidence seen in the above photo) and then gathered again with a few friends for some pizza, gelato and sunset walking. It was a simple, lighthearted day that really felt like I could live in the moment. I’m hoping that is a sign of what is ahead for this year.

So, 35. I don’t know what is ahead, but I’m going to follow the cards and hold onto faith that you and I have each other’s best interests at heart.

Love Vivienne

July 12, 2012

This is East Van

So, sometime last year I got a notice about a call for entries for the second volume of a fabulous local photography book called ‘This is East Van‘. Two of my friends and fellow photographers Caelie and Krisztina were in last years volume and in the final hour I pushed myself to put in an entry. Lo and behold one of them got into the book.

This past weekend the book was launched with a gorgeous gallery show and celebration. I wasn’t able to make the show but I went by the gallery today to check it out and get my copy of the book. The book is completely stunning and I’m oh so honoured to have an image in it.

What makes a wee bit more special to me is that it is a self-potrait, and more than that, a self-portrait of me holding hands on the sidewalk with a dear friend. It was a simple moment on a sunny day when we were wandering around East Van with our film cameras and I spontaneously put mine on the ground and grabbed her hand and took the photo. I developed it in the darkroom and made some prints, this image being a scan of one of those prints. That image actually means a lot to me and I love the simple story of friendship it tells the viewer.

Here are a few glimpses of the book and the gallery show:

July 11, 2012

Getting Grounded (but loving the Dizziness)

In my Nia Dance class, we often twirl so much that we get dizzy. I love the spinning, twirling but then it all catches up with me and I need to ground. So we jump up and down, feet flat on the ground until we return to a non-spinning state.

I’m feeling like that right now in general. I feel like life has been a whirlwind, twirling off on all sorts of awesome adventures and now that I’m home I’m craving for the world to stop spinning and to feel grounded.

Since the beginning of June I’ve been on all sorts of adventures that I want to share. The Your Story Retreat, the Vancouver stop of the Jumpstart Creativity Tour, this last weekend at the World Domination Summit and then zooming home to shoot the wedding of two dear friends (which was so darn dreamy). So I have lots to share and catch up on.

At the same time, there is lots of good ahead: Folk Fest (aka my 3 favourite days of the year), an island adventure, my bday, Illuminaries Festival and more. I feel really grateful that it seems like I will actually have the chance to settle into summer this year.

So for today, I thought I’d share some tales of these recent adventures…

June 18, 2012

Sidewalk Wisdom

One of my favourite things about my neighbourhood (and there are so many things) is the sidewalk wisdom that I come across.

A few blocks away from my place there is a stretch of a few blocks where there are messages galore. That, plus the occasion chalk message make for pretty inspiring photo walks. I wonder who wrote all of them. Was it the same person or a bunch of them. Its kind of like a love bomb walking through these few blocks and I will confess I often take that route in my photowalk specifically to see them. Why not?

If you have any sidewalk messages you’ve come across, please don’t hesitate to share a link to your image! I’d love to see the wisdom you come across.

Also…there is always potential to grab a piece of chalk and write one ourselves, especially one we might need to hear!

June 12, 2012

Nephew and Auntie Adventures!

As with every trip to Portland, I can’t help but take tonnes of photos of my sweet nephew.

As he’s getting older, its getting a bit more challenging. When he was really little he’d gaze at my camera wide eyed wondering what the noise was, but for a while now he has been totally uninterested in me taking pictures of him.

What is a photographer auntie to do?

Why, play games and be silly of course!

Every single good shot I got of him this trip was when I was either playing a game (doing a backwards silly run as he chased me) or just making him laugh. Isn’t his smile so lovely? Totally worth acting like a goof in public to capture in a photo (though I should confess I’m known to do this in most photo shoots anyways).

We had the best day together on Sunday, going out for brunch together just me and him. I want to make this a tradition to just have auntie & nephew time. When we were kids our grammy would make a point of spending a whole day once in a while with each one of us kids (there are 3 of us) and going somewhere neat. Those days really stand out in our memories and I want to make a point to do that with him too throughout his life. Plus, at this age, it helps give his parents a well-deserved break!