The beaver, maple syrup and hockey are three symbolic references that shout Canada to Canadians and not necessarily in that order. Hockey almost always comes first. There is the Hockey Canada Network. There is the National Hockey League with a website where up to 40 games are shown live each week. There are shirts, mugs and I am sure even pajamas you can get to support your favourite team. Hockey fans have no particular age or gender. From the very young to the very old, Canadians, at the very least indulge the most enthusiastic fans even if they don’t follow the game themselves. I am in this category – the indulging category. Though I admit to watching the men’s Olympic gold game last year, I know nothing about the stats or the personal lives of the players. It was the last game I had seen until last weekend when I took my camera to a game in Port Moody to try my hand at capturing one young eight year old defenseman in action.
It is not an easy task to get a clear image of a moving player from behind banged up glass.
Even on sports setting, there are a lot of challenges with support bars always where I would rather they were not.
But it was fun and a completely new subject matter and setting to figure out.
Sprout question: When was the last time you took your creativity outside its comfort zone?
© 2010 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.
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Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.
From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada
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Creative Potager 
Terrill – The third photograph is my favorite, it’s absolutely SPOT ON!
Sprout question: When was the last time you took your creativity outside its comfort zone?
My usual genre of writing is creative nonfiction — wordsmithing factual information in a non-technical way. The last time I stepped out of my comfort zone was when I wrote poetry (Dancing with Trees). It’s been awhile. I need to jump into that pool again. After all, I did live to tell about it…
Thanks Laurie. I don’t think I will hire out as a sports photographer just yet but always fun to stretch into something new. And speaking of stretching, keep us posted on your next leap into the deep end.
Terrill,
The second and third shots are great, it is always good to challenge our creativeness, whether finding new areas to photograph or going on artist’s dates that challenge the way one views different forms of art.
Jeff
I think the third pic is my favourite! Speaking of ‘spot on’ your post is absolutely perfect, Terrill! I’ve an Artist date to go on and resistance to move through, so thank you very much for the push!!
YAY, to moving outside the artistic comfort zone! 😀
Blessings
You forgot to mention Stompin’ Tom’s Hockey Song.
I’m not a fan of HOCKEY. I find it a brutal game. However, that said, there is something heart pounding about watching a loved one fly down the ice with a puck at the end of his stick. I also admit that there is something magical about watching a bunch of guys (or gals) play a game of shimmy. I refuse to cheer on the goon.
Leanne you lost me on the game of shimmy and the goon – but that is okay… unless you care to elaborate?
I watched my brothers play hockey when they were about the same age. It is a whole lot of fun. I think the last Olympic men’s gold game was the cleanest and best hockey game I have ever seen. Too me that is how the game should be played. The fighting is not a necessary part of great hockey and when it is I don’t want to watch. But since I am not an ardent fan to begin with, I not sure how much my opinion counts.
Shimmy is pick-up hockey –just sticks, a puck and guys. There’s no uniforms. The empahsizes is on having fun.
Goons are like hired assasins. They were really popular in the 80s, but they still exist today. Basically, if the other side starts causing trouble these are the guys who’ll step in and reply with their fists.
Most of my family has a passion for the game.
My dad was a goalie for a local team in the late 30s, early 40s –before face masks. One puck collided with his forehead, and left a periment dent.
One of my uncles was such a good skater they said he danced on ice.
My husband has played defence. He flies around the ice and isn’t afraid to confront the bigger guys. I witnessed one of these confrontations and swore I’d never witness another.
The less money and organization in the sport, the better it is. IMHO
Ahhh so very glad you came back and filled in the rest of the picture Leanne. My dad was like your dad but he didn’t end up with the dent in his forehead. My son says that they play family games where there are all ages playing at once which seemed similar to how my dad talks about hockey.
i am not one interested in sport but there is something very appealing about hockey. when i was little i would listen to it on a crystal set i made. it only got one station not bad for a seven year old. i never saw hockey until i was older and i always try to put together what i herd when i was little with what i was seeing. I still do.
When was the last time you took your creativity outside its comfort zone?
i try to every day. challenging my perceptions and learning something new is always my goal.
jerry
Your dedication to learning precedes you Jerry and I like the direction you take in your daily efforts. Something I admire and seem to be less able to accomplish. I enjoy imagining your internal efforts to put the voice of hockey together with the visual game of later years.
When I am coaching I often do not meet my clients face-to-face. But every once in awhile I have an opportunity to greet someone who lives on the other side of Canada or even from another country. By this time I will have made up a person to go with their voice. Most often the visual reality doesn’t match the person I have made up in my head. For awhile after they leave I can keep the “real” person in my mind but with time, the imaginary person takes their place because it has been with me longer. I used to feel odd about it but now I just accept this a factor when working with people you don’t usually see.
But creating a visual for a whole hockey game now that is something else. Much grander task:)
I absolutely love hockey!!
I usually get out of my comfort zone on a daily basis with a variety of issues that come my way….The medical field is like that
Good to hear Kim – on loving hockey and getting a daily allotments of being outside your comfort zone. Are you comfortable with a high degree of risk as well? I often find that people who are used to stretching can step up to an edge with more comfort than those who stay well within what they know. Balance is the key I am guessing… rolling hills of comfort and then stretch then back into an area of comfort again.
Oh boy do I know the fervant fandom that informs this pastime, and know well how it’s regarded by Canadians. From 1975 till 1983 (8 years) a close friend and I owned season tickets to the New York Islanders NHL hockey franschise at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, Long Island. (about a 50 minute drive in the best traffic) from my northern New Jersey home. These were the years when the Islanders (Mike Bossy, Brian Trottier, Denis Potvin, Clark Gillies, Bobby Nystrom, Billy Smith, Chico Resch) was dominant and won four Stanley Cups in succession, making them one of hockey’s true dynasties. My friend and I owned three seats, so we always brought along a third person, sometimes even elderly uncles and cousins. I won’t ever forget the social aspects of those trips (sometimes twice a week on Tuesday and Saturday nights when the Isles played their home games) and of our obsession that even had us making trips to Washington, Boston and Philadelphia to watch our beloved Isles. And the duel national anthems when the Isles played Canadian teams was another ritual I won’t ever forget. In those impressionable years hockey dominated our lives (even with the simultaneous movie and music obsessions) and even segued into an aborted attempt to don the skates myself. (My friend was an excellent defenseman, but I just never had the coordination for that sport). But the priceless memories will last a lifetime for all sorts of reasons.
To sustain that formidable venture, one had to leave the comfort zone regularly, and make sacrifices on all fronts.
Good gravy Sam you sound like a Canadian! I am only teasing. Such great memories and I can hear your excitement and all the fun even in your telling of the experience. Glad to see you out and about online again.
I remember listening with my dad to the hockey games on the radio which was only used for listening to the morning and evening news and the odd hockey game. My mother was always vigilant about saving the batteries for the radio. There was no electricity and we only went to town once a month. The batteries had to last. I also have a vivid memory of my first pair of skates and going skating with my dad on the pond below the house. The skates had two blades and strapped onto my boots. I was about two and a half as my brother was a baby. I remember my dad encouraging and laughing with me when I would fall down. It was several years before I was handed a hockey stick and started playing – in my figure skates no less.
Also want to make mention that the beautiful Tree Spirits calendar arrived yesterday by UPS. The paper is sturdy and the photographs are magnificent. While I love them all, my absolute favorite is the luminous spider web.
So pleased that your calendar arrived and that spider web one is a special tree spirit addition for sure. Are you still resolved to not write on it and keep it as intact an art piece?
Sam – My MAINE ISLAND TREE SPIRITS 2011 calendar arrived a few days ago too. I love all of the photographs, but I think when the year’s up, I’m going to have the months October and November framed — one is portrait, the other landscape — they’ll make a great pair for my eyes to feast on in!
Laurie I am going to be really curious to see what you think once you have matted and framed the calendar images. The quality calendar paper is good, my reasoning tells me that it should work extremely well. I had to go look at the “Mayne Island Tree Spirit” calendar to remember which images were October and November. I think you are right. They should make a good pair.
I am a little disappointed that I didn’t know that redbubble was going to offer a 15% discount on my work until yesterday. If I had known I would have waited to promote the calendars. For those of you that are still deciding though, this is good news. I will have the details in today’s post.