Old time fiddles and ponying up

Photo Randy Vanderveen Grande Prairie , Alberta 25/04/10 Sterling Cuthbert of Redwater, Alberta warms up Sunday morning in a practice session as he gets ready to play in the 23rd Annual Fiddlers' Jamboree at the Douglas J. Cardinal Performing Arts Centre, Sunday. Cuthbert, who grew up in the Dawson Creek area, used to play in a band 50 years ago with another performer at this year's Jamboree, Maurice Tenborg of Grande Prairie.Photo Randy Vanderveen Grande Prairie , Alberta 25/04/10 Maurice Tenborg of Grande Prairie, Alberta warms up Sunday morning in a practice session as he gets ready to play in the 23rd Annual Fiddlers' Jamboree at the Douglas J. Cardinal Performing Arts Centre, Sunday. Tenborg, who grew up in the Dawson Creek area, used to play in a band 50 years ago with another performer at this year's Jamboree, Sterling Cuthbert of Redwater, Alberta.No matter what it is that you enjoy in life, to get better at it you are going to have to practise.
It doesn't matter whether it is music, photography or a sport — to improve the skills you have now you need to keep doing it.
This past weekend I shot two events which might not at first glance appear to go together and hopefully by the end of the blog you will see there is a link.
Sunday, I photographed the annual Old Time Fiddlers' Jamboree. Here you have people dedicated to their craft.
Some, have only been playing music for seven or eight years and others have been doing so for more than 50.
Two gentlemen I met Sunday actually used to play in a band together 50 years ago and then both played solo during the Jamboree.
Doing something for that long means two things.
One- they must love what they are doing it. Fifty years is a long time — most of us don't work in a career for that long. It is a lifetime of enjoying music and the fiddle.
Second  they must practise their instrument.  If those two musicians didn't keep working on their skills through practise and performing they would still be making the stereotypical screeching noises associated with beginning violinists.
Trust me, these men weren't playing that way.
The second event I photographed was less formal in nature.
It was the annual "getting the wagon and outriding horses into shape" spring training at Kelly Sutherland's land east of town.
Photo Randy Vanderveen Grande Prairie , Alberta 26/04/10 Horses at Kelly Sutherland's land east of the city get some exercise to build up their legs and wind as they are ponied through a track on a field. Four trucks were ponying four horses each Monday morning. The first race of the season— Grande Prairie Stompede— is only a month away.For those of you who aren't aware, Sutherland, who has won the Calgary Stampede's Rangeland Derby 10 times and has been crowned World Champ 10 times, is one of the best chuckwagon racers out there and after more than four decades of racing he still is extremely competitive and always fields a strong team of wagon and out riding horses.
He also puts in the practice to get himself and his stock in shape for the season which starts in May.
Sutherland, his peers on the World Professional Chuckwagon Association circuit, and their horses would not be able to compete if it weren't for taking the time to get in shape.
While this week the training consisted of ponying the horses alongside a pick up to build up the animals' legs and wind, a good deal of time will also be spent making practise turns around the barrels.
It is practise that provides the foundation for a good season.
Whatever it takes to improve your skills — just do it.
If you are a writer, why not start a blog —just something to get you thinking, working with words and grammar and forcing yourself to hone your craft.

Photo Randy Vanderveen Grande Prairie , Alberta 25/04/10 Elaine Jones, who describes herself as a "fanatic" about archery, enjoys a sunny Sunday afternoon on the Game Country Archers outdoor range at Evergreen Park Sunday afternoon. Jones took up the sport two years ago.If you are an athlete – practise. An archer — shoot. A photographer — photograph.
Play with light, lenses, techniques but get out there and shoot. Reading about something won't make you better. The actual experience does.
Still not convinced. Then ask yourself this question. Who would you rather have operate on you if you require a medical procedure — a surgeon who has read all about the surgery, is on every forum, has a collection of all the finest instruments needed or a surgeon who has performed the very surgery you need countless times?
Now is the time to pony up and fine tune those skills (see I told you I could join the two events together).

Foggy mornings

Grande Prairie, Alberta 08/02/10 Photo Randy Vanderveen A crane flies trusses to the roof of the PointsWest Living project under construction on the city's west side north of Grande Prairie Mitsubishi Monday morning, Feb. as fog surrounds the site. The project is just one of the larger construction projects underway in the Swan City.

Photography sometimes involves taking the old Nike slogan to heart "Just Do It".

Often times it seems like it would be easier to not go out when it is foggy, snowing, raining, cold, cloudy, too hot, or fill-in-the-blank. It would be easier to just postpone going out and getting photos.

However, just the act of getting out there and photographing when you don't feel like it means you are improving your craft.

It means you may be thinking outside the box and actually making photos instead of just taking them. Conditions like fog force you to try and be creative in the use of white balance, under and over-exposure etc.

Why not head outdoors on a self-assignment to see what sort of photos you can create on a day when you really don't feel like it.

Imagine if the crew working on the building in the photo above had the same attitude that we often have when it comes to doing things.

How long do you think a project like this would take if the entire crew only worked when it was warm and sunny?

The contractor would soon go out of business.

But by getting out there and working regardless of the conditions  — with the exception of when the weather becomes a safety hazard itself — the project progresses on time and with a much better chance of being on budget.

Sometimes these same lessons can apply to our daily lives too.

If we don't do something because we have a sniffle or not prepared to try something new because it is different, we are short changing ourselves.

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I don't know about you but I really like checking out the work of other photographers. There are some who are well known like Joe McNally, Sports Illustrated's Robert Beck or National Geographic Traveler's Bob Krist; however, there are also some incredible photographers that many people are unaware of.

Cameron Davidson has aerial photographs that are amazing and Matt Mendelsohn, who I have mentioned before,  has to be one of my favourite portrait and wedding photographers.

I enjoy checking out updates to these photographers' respective web sites and blogs and the variety can be quite diverse, but I find it quite inspiring.

Do you have a photographer whose work you admire? Is there a blog you follow regularly? 

Often by checking out the work of others at the top of their craft, we can better own skills by becoming inspired to work harder at our photography.

If you have interests that don't include photography like writing, music, carving etc., the same thing applies. The internet is a wonderful resource in that aspect as you can become exposed to the work of others with your same interests and talents that you never would otherwise. You can be inspired by others around the world.