Magic arrow flies precision

"I need a record" says Donnie as she swipes her hair away from the eyes.

"Yup" says Buck with a sigh as he settles into his found orange chair beside the vinyl cabinet.

Paul Simon fills the room, on cue.

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Two cold beers for two followed by one hot bath for one.

Poolboy comes in and out of the warm bathroom to refill my whiskey. I rock out in the bath to Guided by Voices. Four orange candles of various shades. Winter light slinks away with a slight wind and all is well. Night comes slowly. The bath empties itself slowly and I refill it again and again with hot water and drops of eucalyptus and cedar.

Welcomed scents.

Dirt roads are good roads.

Iain tunes up on a slow Sunday.

Dayna readies the tree.

Extended Ross family with Frosty.

O's latest tattoo.

While on a walk, we came across this fallen trunk.

Yummy Yucky and routine nighttime laughs.

Trying my damn best.

Portrait of a man/dolin.

Iain shot this of me concentrating on a game of Scrabble.

A good spot as any.

Here lie some photos I felt free to capture while hauling my Nikon F2 in and out of December 2014. I am currently sitting at my desk listening to an old Timber Timbre record feeling quite content even though the quality of my photo work seems to be regressing at an alarming rate. Perhaps I should stop processing every last goddamn roll as Tmax 400 and live a little.

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In other camera news, I recently picked up a new-to-me Pentax 67 from a wonderful Manitoba gentleman. He called me "nuts" for picking up his old 70's gear. Little does he know what I am used to working with! I am moving on up one Kijiji score at a time. My insides were grinning while handling that honkin' beast as he ragged on and on about the death of photography. It's as dead as you believe it to be! I believe it to be quite alive and well thankyouverymuch. My work with film has just begun! Had to laugh again today at his word "nuts" circled my thoughts while holding my breath as that enormous mirror clattered up and down mid shot. Impromptu color portraits of JJ on my shoulders in my Tony Chestnut dotty dress in his family bathroom. 22 months and growing like a beautiful weed.

Negatives growing from 6x6 to 6x7cm! 

Live and learn.

Live and learn.

Live and learn.

Live and learn.

Live and learn.

Live and learn.

Live and learn.

Live and learn.

There is so much to learn in this lifetime. Handling that 67 makes the Kiev feel like a doll's toy. Slowly bumping up my negative size, one centimeter at a time.

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Time to put my hands to work. Its been too long since I last sat at that light table and put some muscle into the stencil lying there, waiting. Self determination. How hard can it be? Just do it.

Adios.

Long John Silver

What can I say? Winter is here to stay. We are in the thick of it now in cold, old Winnipeg. Proof of full moon vibrations left over from the night before remind me of energy yet to be harnessed and ridden out. Loads of crazy people making moves all over town. Where is my camera?

I was thrilled by the turn of the new year this year. I normally don't find New Year's eve to be big deal or reason for much celebration, but this year I welcomed my New Year's kiss with surprising fervor. I was in the valley for a midwinter getaway with my tall drink of water---Iain---when he surprised me by pulling out a bottle of champagne at the stroke of midnight. We were in the midst of a focused game of Scrabble when suddenly there he was, handing over a ceramic goblet of bubbly. There he was! Just like that. We toasted to new beginnings, to the start of something pretty incredible between us, to new experiences to come. I named my intentions for the new cycle aloud and he smirked at me with that side grin I am learning to know like my own hands. I laughed at myself and then beat the pants off him in Scrabble.

In the morning I took photos with my mind's eye. Slatted sunlight on a gentle sleeping face. Happy cheeks. The camera lay elsewhere, stone cold. The fire was down and took a little convincing before it too woke up and got to work. Coffee. We wandered through that snowy landscape he knows better than I do and I shot photos of the bush encased in ice. My kind of winter holiday.

I am terribly content and haven't laughed this much, if ever, in years. That's sign enough to keep going.

Bare naked faces. Nikon F2 // FP4 processed as Tmax 400

2 0 1 4 / adios

2 0 1 4  /  adios

This photographic lot represents some of my favorite moments spent capturing portraits of summer days, weddings, new babies, the break of winter in NW Ontario, family portraits, self portraits, camping trips and moped journeys. What a wild year it continues to be. I am looking forward to witnessing the Year of the Sheep reveal itself and capturing the magic firsthand.

In the coming year I intend to shoot and process much contrast film, update all contact sheet binders, graduate from school, debut MPHQ online and cook up my first solo exhibition.

I bought a mix media work book today and two new pens to start the new year off right.

Looking Forward To's:
- walking together
- building up the darkroom
- cooking well
- waking up to sun on the face
- maintaining the fire
- photo essays of auctions
- driving to the country
- Bob Dylan everyday
- baking a loaf
- boiling fresh pasta
- finishing the Arbus stencil
- swimming in a big hat
- grinning while canoeing
- the Springtime

Though winter is going no where fast, I did wake up convinced it was Spring today! Birds chirped their agreement.

Partridge in a pear tree

Family portraits are quickly becoming my favorite work. Shot this lovely series of the Partridge Chafe family two Sundays back on a crisp Winter's day. They were good sports about the cold and so was their pup. The light was perfect and we shot along the river near their home. Here is some contrast work I am happy to share.

Nothing better than family, this I know.
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Kiev 60; Tmax 400
Contact megkroeker@gmail for more information.

Stove to Mouth

Well seasoned pan, farmer sausage, drippings, eggs.

Comin' in hot!

Let us eat. Two oranges, cowboy coffee and a pocket knife.

My kind of breakfast.
Nikon F2 / Tmax 400

Ditch Effort

Point of forgotten interest; South Western Manitoba. November 2014

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There is something to these forgotten places that I am hopelessly sweet on. I am unable to articulate beyond the simple fact that these places make me hopeful. Why so? I could easily picture myself scooping this place up and making fantastic large scale things behind that shop door. Fill the structure with love. Paint my half white. Restore the inside, out. What may look broken from the outside, crawls with inspiration from within. 

That ditch looks like a good place to pull over and have a nap in beloved's arms. 

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Shot this beauty on an unfamiliar route home from a familiar place a few weekends back. The Kiev was loaded with (what felt like at the time) "my last roll of slide film" so I wanted to capture some pure magic. Now that that roll has been processed, I am reminded how crazy it is to proclaim such a thing! I will shoot slides until I am old and grey, or cut off by this city and outsourcing becomes a ridiculous joke. Until then, more medium format slides to come. I know I need to show my slides eventually, but I am not quite there yet. It won't be long.

Winter's first lick; frozen on positive film. I will never forget this winter, this much I know. The mind's eye snaps away while my cameras rest for now. We are really in it now, Manitoba.

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Kiev 60, Fujichrome

Decay-okay

Dear Manitoba, too quick I was to associate the boreal forests of our vast country all to Ontario. No no no, this province is as diverse as they come. Rocky, sandy, high, low, swampy, tall, flat, mucky, wet, dry. You name it. Coniferous, deciduous or no trees at all. Instead you can cut through prairie grass as tall as your lover. You decide. Pick a spot on the map and go. Simple. No need to wander too far beyond. Manitoba, you really have it all.

Took a drive out to this quiet place on the very last lovely day of Autumn of 2014 in Manitoba. Ate salami and havarti on bread en route. The air was crisp and held that unbeatable smell of sweet dry rot. Decay-okay. I love nature's shut down. It is always a pleasure to behold the process firsthand. I want to come back to this very spot by the river in June to swim. Lazy up to a point and clear as a bell. My kind of river.

Home and native land.

ps. Say! Sky detail and chicos in the same frame? You don't say.

New Mornings

Bea with milk.

Olive vs. Oatmeal

Portra 800 sure captures the weekend morning light just right. New routines, new roommates, new mornings. I enjoy breakfast in good company these days, to say the least.

Jibber-jabber jaybirds

Illustration. Natalie Baird / November 12, 2014

Here is the a freshly scanned illustration by Winnipeg multi-disciplinary artist Natalie Baird! I sat across from her late last night as she built up the work layer by layer, stroke by stroke with fancy markers and a felt tipped pen and didn't realize she was shaping up a portrait of me until it was finished and slid across the table with a "Here! Let's trade!". So we did. Love those naked bodies dancing above my head of hair. It was a paper gift I felt free to share on my funny platform. Grateful for her friendship and the ease of sharing a table with another creative soul as Winter gets crackin'.

At home with the Viks

My favorite family photo captured to date.

Nils, Melissa, wee Marte and Poncho the poodle invited me into their striking Winnipeg home a few weeks back. These are some of the color and contrast photos I felt free to capture while watching them move around their space as a family. Marte is nine months old and sweet as pie! To closely witness families go about their normal swing of things through my scope is something I delight in. I hope to do more of this type of work in the future. It is a damn treat to be invited in for a slow morning of quality coffee and play, free to raise the Kiev to capture when the spirit leads. I prefer the contrast work here, though the color definitely holds its own. I mean come on, that family photo with Poncho and his paw! Much too much for the quiet spectator in me. While the photo of new mama Melissa holding Marte on the kitchen counter is a little unconventional, I love the offbeat beauty of the scene. Two girls in the kitchen. One makes a point while the other makes the discovery she can handle the weight of an orange with her own two hands. The wonder of it all! The shot of the three Viks on the loose in the kitchen is very dear to me. Nils and his cheek stuffed with toast. This is life as we know it. I stuff toast in my cheek too.

Ektar 100
Tmax 400
// Kiev 60