Fabulous Flowers

Fabulous Flowers
Originally uploaded by raise my voice

I spent much of this past weekend photographing flowers in McCauley for a photo essay in the upcoming September issue. Take a look at many of these shots in colour, including many we won't have room to print, right here.

A Viking Ship in McCauley

A Viking Ship in McCauley
Originally uploaded by raise my voice

Take a look at this Viking Ship that landed near Ansgar Lutheran Church over the weekend. The boat was acquired by the Danish Canadian National Museum and was built as an authentic replica of actual Viking ships. Read the full story in the upcoming September issue of the paper!

Family Day

February 16 was Family Day here in Edmonton, and McCauley was celebrating with lots of food and fun! Chris was serving up burgers, Dan was handing out toys to the younger kids, and lots of people were eating, skating, roasting marshmellows, and enjoying getting to know their neighbours. Besides taking pictures for the March issue of the paper (which is in production right now), I decided to strap on my skates and hit the ice.



You can also see some pictures from Family Day here.

Finding Hidden Treasure

We've been in our current office space for over two years, and we still have some things in boxes. Most of it are old computer manuals or packaging that are not of real importance. Earlier this week I decided to investigate some of those boxes, and found one containing hundreds of old photographs, some dating back twenty years or more. Old photos of people, places, and events in the neighbourhood. What a find!

Unfortunately, the box was so damaged by water, the bottom of it was literally stuck to the floor. The envelopes of photos were carefully extracted. There is a lot of damage, as many of the photos are stuck to each other, but most are salvageable. Now comes the fun part: going through everything and seeing what we have.

This find is especially valuable since we have just entered our 30th anniversary year. I am trying to scan as many pictures as I can - this very well may be my personal project over the next while. At the paper, we are making and recording history. What an impact we can make when we try to protect and preserve these precious memories.

McCauley Clean Up - I Really Did Help

  I really believe in immersing myself in a story. That is exactly what I did in late May when I covered the McCauley annual clean up. I was on site for most of the day taking photos. However, sometimes my camera got away from me, and I ended up the centre of attention. Someone dropped off a skateboard that I decided to try out, while Diana took a shot of me. Cowabunga, dudes!

  Then, I went out in one of the trucks with Tim and Andre to scour the neighbourhood for discarded items. Yes, that is right -- dirtaphobic me actually handled garbage. Tim felt this moment should actually be captured for posterity, so here I am with a community member, enthusiastically cleaning up.

  This is the colour shot of the main photo in the spread on the clean up that appeared in the July/August issue. That's Tim in the foreground, as well as a very full trash bin. I was amazed at how much these bins could actually hold.

  Here I am again, at the clean up site unloading the trees I had gathered. All in all it was a very fun day. It was great to be a part of such a well-organized and worthwhile community event.

Paula at Heart of the City

  This is for those of you who asked why there was no photo of me included in our multi-page spread about the 2008 Heart of the City Festival in the July/August issue. We had so many great photos of all the performers, that it was a struggle to get in as many as we could. I was not about to take space away from another act or artist. Besides, my photo appears in every issue along with my Editorial. I am not a *complete* narcissist, after all!