Canadian Geographic Nod

We take a break during this regularly scheduled thesis writing time to make an important announcement.  About one month ago I was re-introduced to Instagram, one of the big 2012 website explosions.  This website is a photo sharing site on which those who post retain the rights to their own photos (unlike Facebook and others sites), can use quick filters to alter shots, and look at other people's creative talents.  I only have about 52 pictures up so far but I am finding a great place to post current pictures and past travel pictures that are sitting on my hard drive but deserve to be seen.  Here is my Instagram feed: toniavoyage (pics also on the right hand side of this blog).

Like all social media there are tricks and tips on how to increase traffic to your pictures and connect with other photographers.  By photographers, I mean people who actually take interesting shots with creative perspectives and interesting compositions, not people who take selfies (pictures of themselves) or food pics (just eat it, don't capture it every single day).  So I have been connecting with people, making comments, learning what hashtags connect with the type of people I am trying to connect with, etc.

This week I received a nod from a magazine that I look at on a regular basis and have a goal to be published in some day, Canadian Geographic, one of the premier photo magazines in Canada.  They liked the following picture that I took back in early December:

Art Books Architecture

The photo is a combination of a new art installation on campus near the University Centre, winter and architecture.  In the foreground on the left, the art installation includes old brown and black books encased in decorative plexiglass or plastic, suspended in a larger decorative rectangular prism also made from plexiglass.  The gold, dark yellow and brown leafing and designs set around the books and prism enhance the artwork's details and compliment the colours of the books.  The middle ground leads the eye down a lightly snowed on path, lined with planter boxes and trees, until the eye extends into the background, the Administration building enveloped in a sunset, the most iconic structure on campus.

This small but significant nod made my week.  Approximately 80 million photos are uploaded onto Instagram on a regular basis, and I was LIKED by Canadian Geographic.   Go me!

Back to thesis work I go.  More photography later!

Random Photos

We all do it now that access is so much faster.
We take random photos of things we find hilarious, meaningful, interesting or crazy.
Here are a few shots I have taken over the last few months with quick explanations.
Enjoy!

Green Eggs and Ham!

Well the closest I may ever get to it.

Thanks to Stella's Cafe and Bakery and their delicious Eggs Benedict topped off with a lemon spinach sauce.  The flavour was effervescent and I loved the eggs and ham that Sam grew to love, even if he was in a house / box / train.

Learn to what?!?

How does one do that?

Thank you rideuacanoeclub.ca and the loss of letters that put a smile on my face.

Graffiti reads:

"Jesus loves me but I just want to be friends so it's awkward."

Graffiti in the washroom of the politically left wing University of Winnipeg,

located in downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba.

More graffiti that reminded me of a book I just read about blogging, Blog Theory by Jodi Dean, and how we have become a 'whatever' culture, referring to:

"The whatever blogger just wants to get something up there, to connect, to be counted, to leave her mark, to start a meme. Dean calls this “reflexive communication”: communication caught up in its own excited loops of chat. Personalization, she argues, shapes and neutralizes every act of participation by putting the focus not on a sustainable collective identity but on the giddy “look at me” moment of the Instagram and the status line. The whatever blogger is, like, fifteen, forever." - Julia Lupton, Los Angeles Review of Books.


I am like, so, like, blogging, like, forever.  Whaaaatever!

A Year in Provence

A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I want to give this book 3.5 stars because I really enjoyed it as a selection of stories from an Englishman who has live in the USA then moved to Southern France, and offers the ready a wonderful medley of stories about the people, weather, construction, markets, wineries and neighbours he and his wife find during their first year in Provence.  This was such a good read that I have another three of his books on order from the library.  It is not a 4 start book, in my opinion, because this is a humorous tale but not a book from which I discovered a new history about a place or was captivated by details of a culture that was shocking or caused me a personal revelation.  Still a delightful and quick read that did make me want to rent a small cottage in Provence for at least a summer or two just to put his stories of oddities and eccentricities to my own cultural tests.  Since I do not have those funds at the moment, I will continue reading his books, smiling and laughing at his experiences and stories.  Perhaps I shall add some French Provence wine to the occasions just to increase the read's authenticity.  

View all my reviews

1000 Words

This what I currently feel like:

Photograph by T. Bates

As you walk down the streets of Prague (Praha), the capital of the Czech Republic, your feet are touching the foundations of the old remnants of four town boroughs (Old Town, New Town, Hradčany and Lesser Town).  Different cities, united in the 18th century, into one urban space.

As you gaze around, your eyes will take in Charles Bridge, Old Town Square,  Prague Castle, open air markets, multiple churches, bohemian crystal, and garnets (many many garnets).

While navigating the narrow, cobblestone streets it is hard not to look up and out at the architecture of the bridges, river walk, concert halls, skinny alleys, museums, and cathedrals which sometimes date back to the 1200's.  While walking along in the Old Town you may have the same experience I had, as I gazed up, yet again, with strained neck to see a man, hanging precariously from a piece of wood.  Thoughts of a man in the depths of sorrow quickly entered my mind and I wanted to yell out, "DON'T DO IT!!!!", only to see, at second glance, that the man was made of steel and the piece of wood, a piece of steel.  I stopped.  I gazed.  I smiled at the trick for which I had almost fallen.  The seriousness and humour of modern art in the middle of decades of history.

This is the current wallpaper on my cell phone as I know how this man feels.  Not suicidal or ready to let go, but feeling that the third term of grad school is pushing me down.  I am holding on, but barely.  So much to accomplish.  Such a short time frame.  Just a quick break to let you know that my right hand is still grasping the beam that is jutting out from a wall of academia.  

You Can Take the Woman Out of London but....

Yes I did it.  I watched the Royal Wedding.  After having danced and chatted with fellow graduates until midnight on Thursday at the end of year party, I woke up at 4 AM to head to a friend's house and watch the events unfold.  Here is why I watched:

After having lived in London every summer for 4 years and almost one year after that, 

I miss the vibrant, eclectic, pulsing city at least once per week.  

Changing of the Guard up the Mall in front of Buckingham Palace.

I was able to hear the names of the places I visited, the streets I walked, the ones spaces that came to dwell in my heart as historical connections to the past that healed my reckless existence.  

Greenwich Village looking out from the Old Navy College.

Art installation at Trafalgar Square using the roots of trees from a
South American rainforest to increase awareness of the destruction of these forests.

On the London Eye with Marcia and Art, looking out over
Westminster Abbey and Houses of Parliament.

Almost 30 years ago my Aunts and Uncles woke all us Pilling kids up at 3 AM Shuwap, BC time and we watched Diana and Charles wed.  They had a long stretch of foam mats, blankets, pillows that we cuddled under wondering why we were so lucky to be up partying at this hour.  I  also remember a delicious selection of treats, although I cannot remember what they were.

My Grandpa Doral Pilling in the shores of Shuswap Lake in the 1980's.

To see an inner bird's eye view of a magnificent gothic abbey.  Having been on three tours during my stay with various groups I remember the six crystal chandeliers are 6 feet high but are dwarfed in comparison to the actual height of the 102 foot nave.  I believe 3,000 people have been buried or memorialized inside the building.  A juxtaposition of a new relationship budding from the surrounding lives that have ended. 

From Google Images, goingtolondon website.

Having attended Evensong on several occasions at the abbey, I wanted to hear the boys and men's choir one more time.  Mmmmm....love their soprano to bass voices intermingling and resonating of the stone of the Norman interior.

Thank you CBC for this shot!

Thank you CBC for the live coverage.  Thank you to my father who let me move back in with him while he was living in London and while I was in my late 30's.  Thank you mum my who was our part-time roommate and the one who took me to so many West End shows I lost track of how many times I have seen Billy Elliot, Wicked, Oliver, and Sister Act.

Greg and I on the top of a double decker bus,
just south of his flat on Regent Street.

Wyona, Marcia and I in Camden Town Market, North London.

My time in London was brief but will stay with me for years to come.  

You can take a woman out of London, but you can't take the London out of the woman.

Arts on the Edge

I am not in favour of anyone group having exclusive access to the art that we can access, but I am in support of making visual art more accessible for all people across the planet.  Browse through images, see them electronically up close, view rooms in museums around the world.  Then save your pennies and visit them with your own eyes and your own brain.

Here is one such website:  Google Art Project

Then I came across this very interesting design and art company that makes me want to hire the to redecorate and brand my whole world.  Love the creative people in the world:
derooted creative agency

As well I found a most helpful website and blog by a man who designs, photographs, and develops.  Very sexy website and wonderful hands on info for the post-production work in various photography programs: Kremalicious

They all look delicious!

Winnipeg Delights

Here are a few of my favourite things about Winnipeg thus far.  Press play, then read.  Sing along if you wish!



The connection to the land is the first thing I noticed about people of Winnipeg.  They believe in respecting the land and caring for the animals who also share this land.  Animals can be found all over the city, and some appear to be quite tame and well trained.

There are also those who have a strong connection to the water, as Lake Winnipeg is less than one hour away, and Manitoba itself boasts over 110,000 lakes.  Yikes!  This is a watery place.  No wonder there are houses with such theme as this:

Photography Tips

In four months my feet will be landing on new sod and while there I want to be able to portray the surroundings, architecture, people, souqs, mosques, beach, sunset, sunrises, modern structures and desert in the most honest and beautiful light.  How shall I do this?  Learn from someone who knows more than moi, so I registered in a photography class through Continuing Education at the local university.  So excited!  In order for us all to become better photographers I will hand over the best of the best advice:

6 + 1 Visual Elements:

1)  Form and Shape
These are the larger visual elements which are the point of focus in the picture.  These should work together to make and establish scale, mass and volume in the picture.

(Door in Southern France)

2)  Space
When looking at the picture, a feeling of vast amounts of space or being squished into a space can be relayed to the viewer via the elements in the picture.  What feeling do you want to portray?  How are you going to demonstrate this view using the elements in front of you?

(Karen's Cat)

Le Parkour

While in London I saw the following clip on one of the most famous shows that has been created in the United Kingdom, Top Gear.  I could not believe my eyes and watched in amazement at the dexterity and agility of these two men.  Parkour starts approximately 2 minutes into the video.



Did you watch it?  Amazing eh?  The goal of the process is "the physical discipline of training to overcome any obstacle within one's path by adapting one's movements to the environment." (Quoted from Wikipedia.)  I was astounded as I watched this episode on TV, and then I had a chance to see a live Parkour performance at a weekend festival in London along the Southbank, near the Thames River.  A stage had been set up with various bars, platforms, climbers, and crash mats as 20 - 25 young 'traceurs' and 'traceuses' demonstrated their phenomenal skills.  The way they climbed vertically climbed like sticky bugs up the walls; jumped, arms and legs spread out like flying squirrels from the top of the platforms; then rolled, flipped, grabbed and spun all over the 3D objects; it was physical work that boggled my mind.  

Here is some Parkour, also called Free Runnning, in Canada, all collected by Recreation Canada.  If you know an energetic child who needs a focus, try signing them up for a group or class near you.  If they become very serious about the sport, direct them to the Sports and Lifestyle Magazine titled SPIKED Extreme Sports, Parkour articles in the February 2010 issue.  (May I suggest you skip the boxing articles.  I have always despised boxing.)

I am going to try grabbing the edge of my bed, jumping enthusiastically into the air, and landing gingerly using a tuck and roll move onto my bed.  That is the extent of my Free Running abilities.

Postcards To Myself

Before I set out on my travels during the 2009 - 2010 year, I decided that I was going to commemorate my journeys by writing to myself as soon as interesting travel experiences occurred.  This meant that I either had to carry around a large journal everywhere I went (far too heavy with the other assorted daily things one travels with: SLR camera, water, snacks, purse, reading book, etc), or find another way to document my thoughts, ideas and inspiration while out every day observing and absorbing all that passed around me.

My brain stumbled upon a brilliant solution.  I tend to purchase post cards at most places I visit as a professional picture or snapshot of a particular piece in an exhibit is a fantastic memento, but once purchased I would tuck these postcards into a drawer or a photo album without every being properly used.  This time around I decided I was going to mail the postcards to myself.

This way I would be collecting visuals, written memories, stamps, postage and date stamps in various languages, and immediate documentation of my impressions and ideas.  In the end all I had to do was carry around a few pieces of rectangular paper, a pen, and find a convenient locale at which to purchase stamps.  Most travel books I used provided excellent details as to where to locate stamps, post offices, post boxes, and postcards are everywhere.  In the end, during my eight month travel excursion I acquired just over 50 postcards and after I returned from each mini-excursion, I had several, inexpensive, wonderful gifts waiting in London from me to me.

While writing this post I have been re-reading through some of the postcards and I have already forgotten some of the experiences I had, or the details have faded and my documentation has helped my brain rediscover what I loved or found interesting during my travels around Europe and Egypt.

Here are some of my mental meanderings over the course of the eight months after having traveled through nine countries:

Egypt: Further Than the South of France

When I was child my family moved all over the world but despite my lucky life I complained that I had only been as far south in the world as the lower regions of France.  This complaining came as a result of two 20 year old cousins who came to live with us in Belgium for one year when I was 13.  They were travelling all over europe and I was stuck in Grade 8 waiting to have a real grown up existence.

I am currently at the Red Sea in Hurghada, Egypt and have spent the last 12 days on a tour travelling throughout this interesting, shocking and incredible city.  In 15 minutes I will head to dinner with my small tour group and I had requests to update my blog.  Here are some of the things I have learned while I am here or information that I want to remember to research when I get home:

1.  When Egyptian men flirt propose marriage or make sexual advances it is only because they want more of your money, a Visa to enter Canada, or sex.  Not a shock.  We Western women are not always portrayed as the most wholesome by Hollywood, and well, that is what people see this far away from that shiny place by the ocean in the 'America'.

2.  Hagle for everything.  Fix the price you are willing to spend in your head and walk away of you don't get it.  Either the vendor will run after you and give you the price you want, or you will find the same item down the market street and you can begin haggling all over again.

3.  Don't open your mouth in the Red Sea.  Salt water, ick!

Bluestones Sarsens Druids

This winter season my sister Marcia and her husband Art decided to take the opportunity to come to the United Kingdom to have a pre-Christmas celebration.

In their ten day whirl-wind tour we decided that going out to Stonehenge would be a brilliant idea for several reasons: a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site, a much speculated yet indefinable place, rumours of strange goings-on, and it was December 20 (close enough to Winter Solstice to perhaps spy some modern day Druids).

Upon further investigations the London Walks group has special visits to Salisbury (including Cathedral) and Stonehenge for the solstice and equinox occasions. They are a group of professionals who walk you for 2 hours around London and stop at pre-determined places to tell you about the architecture, noteworthy people, history and stories of the city. Quite delightful and addictive. We joined their tour and had a fantastic day.

There are many theories why Stonehenge exists, one of many arranged groups of over-sized rocks around the UK. What makes these various stone piles interesting? The stone is not often not native to the area (Bluestones, Sarsens), they are gigantic and heavy, and organized in an intricate pattern. One can deduce that they have therefore been moved to this location by people, who used technology for movement, and arranged them according to their needs. By whom? How? For what? These are unanswered and highly speculative questions with no decisive answers.

I was most interested in our Guide's statement that the two of the stones form a window in which the setting sun peers through during the Winter Solstice.  An alignment of which the makers of Stonehenge were perfectly aware.  This I was going to see! The group disbanded for some free time and I walked towards a small bridge, then stood ready to test this alignment of the setting sun. The only place to poise oneself was on a small bridge linking two small ridges over a slight dip. The bridge was squished with other interested people, but we were all so captivated by the joy of nature and history that body parts touching each other did not concern us. The employees kept yelling, "There are too many people on the bridge!  Please take your pictures and move on so others can take one as well." I obeyed after taking 84 pictures. I was in the right spot as the sun began to set and I was not moving until I had captured the movement of that sun in the stone frame, surrounded by glorious colours. There it was, the sun slowly sinking into the earth right in between the two middle stones before it hit the horizon.

The sun then moved away from the centre of the stones and completely set 10 or so minutes later. Nature added a more beautiful sky by providing clouds in the landscape. Perhaps we can thank the three caravans of Druids already camped out, 36 hours before the actual solstice was to occur. An experience I am not likely to have again, but am glad that I had at least once.

Last month I took the opportunity to visit the newest addition to the Natural History Museum here in London, UK. It is the Darwin Centre, a gigantic (and I mean monstrous) white pod fixed in a glass and steel box. This museum has taken technological discoveries, artifacts, the daily work of scientists, and the collection of specimens to a new educational level.

The visitor enters through a timed system in smaller groups (ie. meet here at 2:10 pm), is given a NaturePlus card which s/he can scan at different locations in the museum. The visitor then takes the card home, registers it on the museum's website, then reviews the information learned during their visit, joins clubs, and remains abreast of museum research. During the visit there are interactive videos, button activation and highlighting stations, problem solving areas, and glass windows into the researchers' labs for intimate views of their daily work.

Thanks to the triple W, we can all see their work:

Natural History Museum in London

New Darwin Centre at the Natural History Museum

The second museum I have not visited yet and will not be able to attend until mid-February. It only opened this year and it already sustains large amounts of traffic and has to coordinate all visitors who attend the museum. Have you ever tried to describe a cell and all its parts to a group of kids or even one other person? Extremely difficult. Here are visuals to make it easier:

Centre of the Cell Museum