By rhonda fast on March 8, 2006 - 9:10am
A few days ago (3 to be exact) I got a phone call from Toronto and it turned out ot be one of the writers of Dose Magazine.
They were working on a feature story for Women's Day (today!) and wondered if I might be a part of it.
While the lovely writer was telling me all about it and getting me excited about the project my mind wasn't fully computing the fact that I had only a day and a half to get it in by deadline, so I agreed to do it. Then came the chaos.
The feature is called The Ideal Woman (you can read more by clicking the link or picking up a copy of Dose today) and what they wanted from me was an artistic compilation showing my view of the ideal woman and then I had to write a little piece explaining why I chose this representation of it.
This is what I came up with.
"The ideal woman is faceless; it's not her beauty or flaws that define her. She is formless; her shape simply doesn't matter. Through my eyes and ideal woman is one whose body is definitive of noble character. Her arms are strong, not for appearance sake, but rather so her work is accomplished diligently. Her hands are not identified by perfect nails and pushed back cuticles but rather for her extension of them to the needy. Her mouth isn't defined by the colour of her lips but for the wisdom that it speaks and the faithful instruction it offers. Her clothes are strength and dignity"
So I haven't actually seen the paper yet but supposedly it will be in the center spread. As of yet, I've only found my writing online which you can check out here . Let me know if you see it! I'd love to know how it looks.
(cross-posted from static photography)
By rhonda fast on January 13, 2006 - 3:51pm
(cross-posted from static photography)
static was nominated for the Best of Blog awards 2005. We appreciate the nomination by the editor of smudge magazine, CJ Thiessen, whom we did a shoot for a few months ago.
We were honoured to be selected as one of 10 finalists out of over 80 nominations in the poetry/photo/art category. Now is the final voting time and part of the process is a popular vote by the people who are actually reading the different blogs.
So....if you read static, if you like it, if it's helpful to you, if you know Kris and I, or if this is your first time here and just feel like checking the box by our name, you can do so by clicking this link - we're about halfway down the page.
There are alot of great blogs on there so check 'em out and vote for your favourite.
Thanks for voting. If you vote for us - an even bigger thanks!
By rhonda fast on January 11, 2006 - 11:51am
I read an interesting article today in Photo Life Magazine talking about winter photography and the many opportunities that are around us in this season.
We're very fortuante to have distinct seasons in Canada and snow covered trees or frozen lakes can make awesome shots.
One thing the article mentioned that I had never really thought about previously was how to take care of your camera in extremely cold conditions. I realize it doesn't get THAT cold here in Vancouver but there are many other places across our great country where it does and precautions need to be taken with your equipment.
By rhonda fast on January 3, 2006 - 12:58pm
(cross-posted from static photography )
It's official - 2006 is here! I've never been one to fully subscribe to the whole New Year thing. Obviously there are things like needing a new calendar and remembering to write a new year when making out cheques that are essential but as far as life altering changes coming about by the clock hitting 12 on one day of the year....well, I just don't buy it. I do believe that we need to constantly be reevaluating things in our lives, be aware of our intentions, try new things and stick with old things that are working well for us. If it takes ringing in a New Year to assess these, so be it but if we can do it all year long, at any time of the day, so much the better!
One thing the New Year does do for me is take me back into a reflection of the last year and I was excited when I actually thought of all the new things I had done photographically. I forayed into new areas like shooting expired film and cross-processing. I held onto things that I love like black and white film, especially 3200 speed. I began to carry my camera with me EVERYWHERE I go and have learned that incredible photo ops are all around us and often come about in times where we wouldn't normally think to have our camera along.
By rhonda fast on December 24, 2005 - 2:15pm
Wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas, a Happy Holiday, the Season's Best and a snap-happy New Year!
Peace, Joy and Love,
Kris and the Krug family
Rhonda and the Fast fam.
(cross-posted from static photography)
By rhonda fast on December 14, 2005 - 2:54pm
(cross-posted from static photography)
I've just recently been introduced to the world of Technorati which, in short, is a real-time search engine that keeps track of what's going on in the blogosphere. Technorati also makes it possible for you to find out what people on the Internet are saying about you, your company, your products, your competitors, etc.
I've signed up and put a few different things into my "watchlist". It lets me know when other blogs mention things like, static photography or my name or when people have linked to pictures in my flickr photostream.
Of course it was exciting to see my name mentioned in a few different places and people talking about my company but as with many good things, this also came with a downfall. I found that certain photos of mine were linked to sites that I have no interest in being a part of and really don't want my name, or photos being associated with. I'm not going to link them here cause I don't think these sites need the traffic.
This got me to thinking about what my online rights are and I realized, unfortunately, that I have no idea. Are random sites allowed to link to my photos? What if the way that they are using my pics has the potential to be detrimental to the image of the people in the photos? Does the person in the photo have the right to protect their image?
By rhonda fast on December 13, 2005 - 2:38pm
(cross-posted from static photography)
What could be better than the holidays! Seriously, there are new, insanely priced beverages at your local barista just waiting to be discovered. (this year's fave is the eggnog chai latte...yummers!) There's sitting back with previously mentioned yumminess and watching all the panic-y people around you looking for that "perfect gift" when yours are all wrapped and ribboned under the tree. Ah yes, the holidays.
I think the list topper, one of my all-time favourite things, is all the extra mail that comes - reading letters from people filling me in on all the wonderful tropical locations they got to visit in the past year, seeing how many double's of christmas cards we get and most of all the family pictures!!!
By rhonda fast on December 6, 2005 - 2:19pm
When I was in highschool the slogan we plastered on t-shirts, stickers, backpacks, you name it, was Skateboarding is Not a Crime. But of course no matter how much we flaunted that we were still always getting kicked out of parking lots, undergrounds and the like.
Now that I'm all growed up I thought I was done with that but it seems that there will always be something that someone in authority is telling us not to do and though my teenage years are a fading memory, being told I can't do something when in fact I can kinda makes me want to do it even more.
I blogged awhile back about the rights of photographers when shooting in public places and since I've found that there are a ton of people outside of my immediate circle that are getting hassled left, right and center for shooting in places that we are indeed allowed to shoot in.
JPG Magazine has taken note of this same thing and is embracing it with there latest call for photography submissions. They're looking for pictures that fit into the theme of Photography is Not a Crime, not simply to relive their teenage rebellion but because they want to remind everyone that photographers are the documentarians of real life. That people with cameras bear witness to the everyday dramas of ordinary people. We capture our world to help us understand it.
By rhonda fast on December 1, 2005 - 2:23pm
As of today there's a new kid on the block in the world of online magazines. I know, I can hear it now...."aren't there enough magazines in this world?" My answer is no. There aren't. As long as it's a new concept with high quality and respectable material, has Canadian content and isn't afraid to push the boundaries of online publications.
Those are my personal criteria anyways and from the sounds of it smudge magazine is looking to meet all of them.
smudge magazine was born out of a passion to get away from all of those "14 simple solutions to a better butt" type magazines as well as the desire to produce a Canadian women's magazine that isn't.....well....lame.
By rhonda fast on November 30, 2005 - 1:56pm
Cross-posted from static photography
If you've been in any sort of photography group or circle you likely have heard of CAPIC. It's like the visual cousin of CAJ, the journalistic association.
It wasn't until recently that I started looking into exactly what the association is and what they're doing for photographers. Good things, I tell ya, good things!
CAPIC was founded in 1978 as a national, not-for-profit association dedicated to safeguarding and promoting the rights and interests of photographers, illustrators and more recently, digital artists.
They have been a great source in maintaining industry standards, creating a community and fighting for copyright protections. In fact, in 1997, when amendments to the Canadian Copyright Act were passed into law by the Parliament of Canada, two of the proposals passed were by CAPIC.
