Pasley Island-Jinky Art Retreat

Words can not describe the experience I had on Pasley Island during the Jinky Art Retreat, and my photos don't either. But I'll try my best to get the point across! 

It was so inspiring to be surrounded be people that have the same passion and interests as I do. We are at all different levels in our business and our skills. I found this to be so helpful. I appreciate all the tips, critique and encouragement.

There were photo shoots lined up in which we got to shoot with Barb, I'm hoping to be able to share some photos soon. 

The island itself was amazing. We were so blessed to have Beccy let us invade her sanctuary. The food was to die for. And you know I like to eat and talk about food. Shirley, Beccy and Dawn did a delicious job! I do not think anyone went hungry.

I was fairly emotional by the end, I won't lie, I cried my eyes out. I was exhausted, I figured I got less than 10 hours sleep the whole retreat. Compared to my usual amount,  I was about 8 hours short. It wasn't because I was sad. It was probably more like an Oprah "AH-HA" moment. 

I went to the retreat scared of a whole lot of things, and left having a better idea of what I want from photography (and life). I am EXCITED!!!

I get by with a little help from my friends.

I'm slowly working on my Jinky Workshop/Retreat assignments. I've asked my friends "who am I?" and it helped to clarify a few things. This isn't easy and I knew it wouldn't be. I'll keep you updated.

 Without Heather's help and Mod Podge knowledge, I would not have done this canvas properly. I've tried before to use Podge and photos and it's been a big sticky mess. This time, I used a photo I had laying around, so it was good and dry. And it was sepia, so if I messed up, I wasn't going to fret about it.  (I'd rather have a true black and white print.)

 I had these canvases laying around from something else I thought I'd do. I saw the tutorial somewhere on how to adhere photos to canvas with Mod Podge. So during our marathon crop, I did it! And I'm pretty happy with it. I could do larger ones, I'll have to work my way up to them.

The view from here

We went for an evening hike to the area that was hit by the forest fire. We hadn't been out that way in years, since well before the fire. It was a shocker to see the difference in the landscape. 

We set the timer, hiked in for 30 min. and then back out. Good thing too, we saw at least 12 chipmunks, and who knows what they do when the sun goes down.

 Kerry said this one was flossing to get the last of the last humans out of his teeth. I didn't have my 70-200mm lens, so I had to move in close, I was less than 4 feet away from him.

 We used the timer and took this picture, love it!

 Saturday was CROP day! Our little Project Life group got together for over 12 hours of fun, food, and laughter. And a bit of creating. We made ATC cards to swap with each other so we'd have a little bit of each other for our PL albums.

 We had lots of snacking to do, good thing we had lots of snacks to eat.

 Heather made an awesome dinner! We sat out back and dined in the shade. Much cooler than our lunch at the pub in the heat!

 Marg brought dessert, strawberries, dipped in sour cream and Demerara sugar. It didn't sound good, but it was delicious. I've been craving it ever since. (Turns out I'm not allergic to strawberries, it might have been something on the strawberries I had this spring.)

 Dipping! And enjoying (sorry Marg, had to post!)

 You would think no one wanted their picture taken!

 Seriously, we were having a great time. And everyone was taking pictures.

 Yum!

We decided to ask Emily if she wanted to see the fireworks this year, and of course she did. So we packed up, oh, nothing, except a blanket and went down to the park, with everyone else in Kelowna. No snacks, no cash, but we had a good time anyways. But I don't think we'll go again. It's maybe 15 minutes of fireworks, hours of waiting, hours of traffic. 

And less than 2 weeks to the Jinky workshop!