2511_0256 Stripped Aspens
Two and a half decades ago, I started running independent photo workshops, and one of the participants - Alan, a very good photographer and an insightful human being - invited me to visit him if I ever happened to be in the Ottawa area. Alan was a few years older than me. He lived in a big old rural farmhouse. One winter, on the way home after visiting my mom in Québec, I spent two days with Alan.
We went out shooting early the morning after a fabulous snowfall - all sparkly light and fluffy snow. I was selling a lot of photos to calendar publishers in those years, and must have been yammering on about it when Alan said something that struck home: "James! Life is not a calendar shot!"
Wow.
He was right.
When I look back at my body of work from the previous decade, it was probably my least interesting and creative period. I had become too immersed in trying to be "successful" and was in danger of losing my way as an artist.
The image on this page is definitely NOT a calendar shot. No bright sunny skies. No trees framing a scene. In fact, the "scene" does not exist, and the trees are in the middle, not around the edges. Just aspens, stripped of their leaves by the turn of the seasons. Nope, I can't imagine any calendar editor would be remotely interested in this one. I don't even know how "good" it is. Good nature photos are usually about graphic simplicity, and this is exactly the opposite. But it appeals to me. It really does.
And at this stage of my life, I'd rather fail in a creative effort than be successful via a tried-and-true formula.
My wise friend passed away a few years ago. I was pleased to see that he had some success of his own - gallery exhibitions of his big abstract images. Thank you, Alan, for your directness and clarity; it meant a lot to me.
Photographed in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission © 2025 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
2511_0256 Stripped Aspens
Two and a half decades ago, I started running independent photo workshops, and one of the participants - Alan, a very good photographer and an insightful human being - invited me to visit him if I ever happened to be in the Ottawa area. Alan was a few years older than me. He lived in a big old rural farmhouse. One winter, on the way home after visiting my mom in Québec, I spent two days with Alan.
We went out shooting early the morning after a fabulous snowfall - all sparkly light and fluffy snow. I was selling a lot of photos to calendar publishers in those years, and must have been yammering on about it when Alan said something that struck home: "James! Life is not a calendar shot!"
Wow.
He was right.
When I look back at my body of work from the previous decade, it was probably my least interesting and creative period. I had become too immersed in trying to be "successful" and was in danger of losing my way as an artist.
The image on this page is definitely NOT a calendar shot. No bright sunny skies. No trees framing a scene. In fact, the "scene" does not exist, and the trees are in the middle, not around the edges. Just aspens, stripped of their leaves by the turn of the seasons. Nope, I can't imagine any calendar editor would be remotely interested in this one. I don't even know how "good" it is. Good nature photos are usually about graphic simplicity, and this is exactly the opposite. But it appeals to me. It really does.
And at this stage of my life, I'd rather fail in a creative effort than be successful via a tried-and-true formula.
My wise friend passed away a few years ago. I was pleased to see that he had some success of his own - gallery exhibitions of his big abstract images. Thank you, Alan, for your directness and clarity; it meant a lot to me.
Photographed in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission © 2025 James R. Page - all rights reserved.