Safe and dry on my front porch, Madonna and I watched the hail hammer down, and the world transform from green to white. It was so insane that we enjoyed it... sort of. We both remember the giant hail of 2018 that destroyed every roof and every car in the village - except mine, because I was 125km away at the time, sitting in a dentist's chair. I did sustain approximately $10,000 damage to my roof from that event, though. Not fun.
Fortunately, this was small hail, so no damage. But we were a little concerned at the peak of the downpour that we might get hit with larger hailstones. Luckily, that didn't happen.
I like the ambiguity here: Mado dry and calm against a background of chaos, and the lighting - she appears superimposed on the background, which I guess she was. I cropped out a bit of porch railing as well as grass and sidewalk to remove her from immediate context. She appears to be waggling a thumb at me, but in reality she didn't hear me open the front door behind her - that hail was loud!
From time to time we saw people running down the street; I am foreshadowing tomorrow's (final) shot. It seemed to go on forever, but checking my RAW data from the shots I made, I see that it lasted only 6 or 7 minutes. It's amazing how our perception of time gets distorted when regular real life warps and we suddenly feel vulnerable. I know how lucky we are. Hail is just a routine - although uncommon - weather event. Some people in other parts of the world have to deal with bombs.
Photographed in Val Marie, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2024 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: weather hail storm white green spring springtime friend woman shelter Madonna Hamel artist writer my front porch street prairie village wild unexpected Val Marie SK Saskatchewan Canada copyrighted James R. Page 2024
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Last shot from this bizarre weather "event" earlier in the week: two Parks Canada employees ducking their heads and running fast as they are battered by hail.
They were okay. They're both young and nimble. The shelter they were racing toward was that house on the left, which they are renting. I just stood on my porch, safe and dry, shooting. Watching the real life movie out there, for free. Hail piling up like snow.
Yesterday I asked several people how long they thought the hail lasted, and received estimates in the 20-30 minute range. But my RAW data tells me it was less than seven minutes. Time slows down for us when we are in a potentially dangerous situation!
Tomorrow: back to the birds and the bees and other critters...
Photographed in Val Marie, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2024 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: hail hail storm spring run for your life! running people two village streets weather wild Wow! prairie Val Marie SK Saskatchewan Canada copyrighted James R. Page 2024
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It was my friend Madonna's birthday, and four of us went to celebrate in Jack's Café, in Eastend. Naturally she brought books, and read to us from Wallace Stegner.
Stegner, the Pulitzer-winning American novelist and essayist, spent his formative childhood years in Saskatchewan. In the early 1950s he returned for a visit, and from this sprang his extraordinary memoir, Wolf Willow. The Eastend Arts Council now operates Wallace Stegner House as a non-profit writer's residence. Madonna successfully applied for a residency in 2020, so it seemed appropriate that she read some Stegner while sitting in Jack's.
Stegner was a staunch defender of wilderness, and his prose in Wolf Willow captures the feel of these northern prairies better than anything I have ever read.
The "people" series continues tomorrow with a deep dive into the past...
Photographed in Eastend, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2024 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: hands books reading Madonna Hamel birthday restaurant table waiting Jack's Café Eastend Saskatchewan Canada copyrighted James R. Page 2024
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My pal Madonna's brother, Doug, visited in late winter/early spring. One day we took a walk along the river dyke and ended up socializing with our friends Maurice and Pat, and their horses. Here Doug (right) is having a quiet moment with Panda (left). The stray whiskers on his face are Panda's.
She's a friendly horse. I always know when horses are well treated, because they welcome human attention and company. Apparently horses are the only domestic animal other than dogs that recognize and respond to different human facial expressions.
More people pics coming...
Photographed on the outskirts of Val Marie, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2024 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: man horse portrait candid informal spontaneous unposed slice o' life vertical late winter Val Marie Saskatchewan Canada copyrighted James R. Page 2024
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My friend George Tsougrianis, who directed the award winning documentary film Wild Prairie Man, has expressive hands. In early January, he and writer/artist Madonna Hamel were at my house discussing wide ranging ideas about art and life and future projects. I sat back with my camera and a 105mm lens, snapping away, and they both ignored me, as I have trained them to do. Madonna has expressive hands, too, but the angle of light was better when I pointed the camera at George, and this frame jumped out at me when I began sifting through the images to see which ones, if any, were worth processing.
Full disclosure - although the shot was unposed, I decided to go full-studio mode by digitally removing some lighter areas, especially near the edges and corners. I liked the first version, but the graphics of his hands surrounded by black were too compelling to resist. Sort of the opposite of what I did with the grove of trees in a winter-white environment (posted yesterday). The two should look good side by side on the page, I think.
Photographed in Val Marie, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2023 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: hands expressive talking artist filmmaker George Tsougrianis B & W black and white square candid unposed on black digitally altered natural light window light my living room Val Marie Saskatchewan Canada copyrighted James R. Page
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