On Saturday December 21st, the Ontario landscape was hit with a  massive ice storm that is considered a “catastrophe” by the Canadian Government.  300,000 are without power and you can’t find a store with salt anywhere.  Fallen tree branches have damaged homes, cars and crowd the streets.

I’ve counted my blessings as I read the less fortunate’s Facebook updates.  What a way to spend the days leading up to Christmas.

I went to my 9to5 earlier this week and we were given the day off as there was no electricity there as well.  A colleague was saying that her 3 preteen boys were so bored and all they could find to do without electricity was fight.  Kids nowadays don’t know how to have fun without electronics. Sigh.  Well that leads me to my type of fun, taking pics!  Even better is that I am getting back to shooting something other than weddings or portraits.  I’m in.

So I’ve decided to compile the shortest list, (three to be exact) of fun things to do in an ice storm with your camera.

1) GET THAT CAMERA OUT

Sounds ridiculous right? But honestly, it’s the first and hardest step in taking photos.  Once, you’ve charged your batteries, loaded your memory cards and packed it in your hands, they rest is gravy. (Mmmm Gravy).  I hope you are nodding your head in agreement.  It’s just like after being on hold with technical support for an hour, and they first thing they ask is if “the unit is on and if it’s plugged in”.  Ahhhh, yeah.  Problem solved.  Always remember step 1 gets you started.

2) FIND ANY LOCATION AND EXPERIMENT

In this Ice Storm, you can practically go anywhere and find something interesting to photograph.   There is snow on the ground, tree branches bending and hanging on by a limb (yeah I wrote that) and ice covering everything everywhere.  Beauty in the devastation.

I found a little spot around my way that I figured would be good to snap shots that hopefully show the beauty and a little of the devastation.  I brought only one lens, Canon 24-70 F2.8 so it took some creativity, a steady hand and the right camera settings to get a variety of shots.  Close up (macro), wide angle and some other types that you will see below in the next section.

3) HAVE SOME FUN

What’s photography without the FUN?  It’s just taking pictures.  Bleh.  So I decided to get my David Blaine on, and shoot selfies of me levitating.  Rising above the blackouts, the cold air, the stress of Christmas and all the material things it can bring.

I rise.

Ok, enough of the Maya Angelo poetic (or lack there of).  The point is that why spend the time and money on equipment if there is nothing fun to use it for.   Set that timer on your camera, most cameras have one and get into your shots! I propped my camera up on my wallet on the frozen ground and ran back and forth hitting the shutter and looking at the results.  Out of the 30 photos I took, only 3 are worth your time to view.   But that’s ok!  Major magazines spend thousands to fly in celebs, put them up in fancy-schmancy hotels, shoot for 3 hours and only use 3-4 photos for an article.  And that’s ok!  This is better because there is no budget involved to do it the Photosapien way.

My family been fortunate that we didn’t experience the full harshness of the blackout and all of the issues that it brought so it’s easy for me to say have fun, but I just wanted to remind everyone without serious issues to bundle up,  get out there and shoot SOMETHING. You’ll be glad you did and it could be a good distraction from the Winter madness that is going on as well.

SI the “At One With Nature and Ice Storms” Photosapien