Jenna Thompson - Writing & Photography

I'm working on a series about yoga, and this subject matter is near and dear to my heart. Since Tamera is a yoga teacher, I asked her to pose for me, and she graciously accepted. It doesn't hurt to work with a gorgeous model--it's darn near impossible to take a bad shot! I've been thinking about how I can show something that's been shot a lot in unconventional ways, so I did a few experimental ones. Hope you like!

and of course, I don't often show these shots, but yoga shoots,and practice...almost always involve falling :)

10:58 AM

Having lots of fun in the studio lately! I shot Tamera and her 3 1/2-month-old puppy before my vacation. While he is a "puppy," Bane is a great dane/shepherd mix, which means he is already much bigger than a lot of dogs!

I'd like to redo this shot when Bane is fully grown :)

Bane's coat is stunning!

Tamera and Adam are Jays fans so they wanted a shot with some sports paraphernalia. It was tough getting him to pose with this hat because he was more interested in playing with it, but we finally managed to pull off the shot. Needless to say, I had to Photoshop all the slobber off of it!

If you thought shooting newborns was a challenge, try puppies...that are trained...sort of! Despite being a challenge, this shoot was so much FUN! I mean...who doesn't love puppies?

2:06 PM

Just noticed I haven't posted anything yet for 2013. That doesn't mean I'm not shutter active. I am finally completing the final class of the photography program at Algonquin and shooting like a maniac. I've got the studio cleared out again after it became (..ahem) temporary storage. I'm looking forward to really turning it into a dedicated space and sprucing it up and hanging some work on the walls. Picking the ones to go up will be a challenge!

I'll probably need to create a new website for my class. While I like the blog format because it allows you to see what's new, it's not great at showing a full body of work.

One of our assignments is self-portraits. I've done lots of these (hey, when there's nobody else around, who's left to shoot?) but I wanted to go for something different, something odd and quirky...like me. I took the first shot in the tub, and I've been playing lots with superimposing and layering, and put some icy frost from winterlude over the top. I prefer the B&W but the bottom one went over better in class. I find it a little Avatarish (wow...that was a few years ago now!). Do you have a preference?

Next post will be less me and more other stuff...promise :)

4:10 PM

A joy and pleasure to capture this beautiful family. The symbolism of the three of them holding each other hit me later...they are pieces of a puzzle that fit perfectly together.

Some people you can look at and just know they are happy. It shows and that makes this so beautiful!

6:45 PM

10:33 AM

St. Andrew's Lake, Algonquin Park

it’s easy to question why we haul our belongings way out into the country.

things we need to survive bearing down on our shoulders.

imagined burdens replaced by more immediate but fulfilling ones.

easy to question why we tolerate the dehydrated dinners and the bad instant coffee.

end of another day, only campfire embers left.

step to the quiet, dark shore.

hear the sound of silence.

understand what it means for stars to twinkle, shimmering on the surface of the lake.

catch a shooting star as I glance up.

confirm that there really is a milky way.

hard not to believe that this moment, this place and that shooting star were waiting here just for me.

me, the lake and these stars.

it's in this moment that I remember why I came.

4:24 PM

1:39 PM

You may or may not know that I have been geocaching for a while now. It's a hobby that combines a lot of things I like--puzzles, gadgets, nerding out, being outside, finding hidden treasure, being in on something that other people aren't in on.

I guess I should explain a bit so those who aren't in the know can follow.

Geocaching involves using GPS receivers to find hidden containers, or "caches" all over the world. People like you and me hide them, and people like you and me find them. Really, they are almost everywhere. You most likely pass by them everyday without knowing it.

This is where my project comes in. Some people own "trackables"; that is, something that they release by putting in a cache for someone to find and move to another cache. Its movement is trackable on the geocaching website. People often attach items to the trackable tags, like figurines, which they call "travellers." I guess it's a way to "travel" without leaving your house.

So I decided as an experiment to make a disposable camera as my traveller. The instructions are for the finder to take one picture and to move the camera to a new cache for someone else to find it and do the same. Once all the frames have been exposed, I'll arrange to have it returned to me so be developed and for the images to be posted online.

There is a lot that can go wrong here. Here are just a few:
1. It could go missing. Trackables often go missing if someone decides not to move it, or hangs onto it, or just plain loses it.
2. It could get wet/too hot/too cold. Which may result in interesting exposures, or might ruin the film. I decided not to get the waterproof camera because I thought the quality would be worse and it didn't have a flash....we'll find out if that was a mistake!

I'm going to release it very soon in a cache nearby. I'm really excited to see where it goes and what the results will be. Remember the anticipation of waiting for your film to be processed? This is like that but 100x better because I have no idea what the pics will be of. I can't wait to see how the film turns out!

If you are interested in tracking the progress of the camera, you can do so on its geocaching page:

(TB486YK) Travel Bug Dog Tag - Strangers Click Camera

I'll post the pics on here, when/if I do get it back, so stay tuned! It might take a while though...

10:30 AM

from the passenger side.

11:23 PM

I can't believe I took these shots over a year ago (last Easter!), but I've been mining through lots of old stuff while looking for shots to display in my new studio space (!) and to put on the website I'm building in my latest class (Multimedia). So Mike and Annabelle should be happy to finally see these. They were taken shortly after their engagement, and their wedding is this August...I'm so excited for them!

8:31 PM

Rather than love, than fame, than money, give me truth."
- Thoreau

These are all shots taken over lunch. Normally these shoots are not all that productive for me, but having an assignment gave me purpose and I'm really happy with these. I'm still trying to figure out a way to make vertical shots look good on this blog.

8:49 PM

It's already mid-February and this is only my first post of 2011! Obviously I have been better at updating my birding blog recently than this one. I've been busy with a course I'm taking now and I've actually been shooting a lot, so it would be a shame not to share any of this stuff! I have shot so much more than I submit for my assignments, and sometimes it's hard to pick which ones to submit. Anyways, here are a few from the first assignment. I only submitted the panoramic ones of the Bank Street Bridge. The two "under the birdge" shots were outtakes that I still like a lot.

2:10 PM

12:34 AM

9:30 PM

11:26 PM

“To me, photography is an art of observation. It's about finding something interesting in an ordinary place... I've found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.” - Elliott Erwitt

9:53 PM

11:04 PM

there was an incredible moon last night...I didn't have a camera and had to get to class, but it was just coming up, was so big, there were these great clouds, and it had this orange tint to it. I hoped it might do something similar tonight so I would have a second chance....unfortunately it didn't do quite the same thing, but it was still a beautiful clear night. a pretty lady hung out with me for a bit (a doe in the field beside me).

moon rising through the trees

9:51 PM

jumped off the bus at bayshore, turned around and saw this. only had the point and shoot in the purse, but I actually kind of like the noise. handheld.

11:13 PM

I've been out on a few night shoots with the photo club at work and it's been really productive for me. I'm not sure why but I just seem to be in my element at night, even though the temperature can drop down and it gets chilly fast! I"m posting the second night's shots since I'm kind of more excited about them. I've been going out lots since sunset almost coincides perfectly with when I get off work...but not for long!

Jenna Thompson - Writing & Photography

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