Hydrology. Ecology. Agriculture. Community Planning. Economics. 

Few things rips through the core of who I am like the crunching bite of skates on ice.  You can run or walk in many sports and many locations in life, but you can skate in only a few.  The experience of skating outdoors, especially on the prairies, is as close to flying as I will ever get.  In Canada, hockey is as culturally connective as the weather.  It binds the geography of a nation with something that is more than an idea, it is an action.  When it is played together it becomes a sport. It is real and can be felt independent of having played the game at any level on any surface.  The experience of a bright morning outside on endless, wide open ice is a similar experience as witnessing the breathtaking athleticism and speed of the game played at an elite level.  Both are hard to match.  

Order, complexity, organization.

Through public engagement, the goal of an effective community plan is to appropriately reflect the unique vision, goals, and objectives of the community being organized.  In the way everyone is a photographer, everyone is also a planner, with something to contribute to the whole.

Hydrology = Hydrography + Hydraulics. 

Where does the water exist, along with how and what moves that water is the essential definition of physical hydrology.  Water quality is another topic altogether, and talk about quality without talking about quantity is akin to talking about a chick, without discussing an egg.  The discussions are circular, but so long as the objectives are framed in curiosity, better understandings will be achieved. 

In Canada, our climate often defines us.  We skate on frozen water, as it gives us pleasure hard to contemplate until experienced.  With the stark difference between winter and summer in most parts of Canada, it is similar to living in two completely different places each year without having to move.  We dress, operate, design, work, and play completely differently.  

The nature of these differences also shapes the challenges we face with shifting climate patterns and extreme events.  The existing infrastructure is in need of renewal,  and how this will be completed and afforded in the face of continuing catastrophic events will not be straightforward. However, like with most topics, through better understanding and better communications of common needs, we can achieve better community. 

Photography, or what I refer to as "farming light", is one of the great passions of life, no matter where you find it.  Just as everyone has a voice, everyone is a photographer in their own way.  It is similar to how Picasso once stated as children, we are all artists, but only a few struggle to remain artists throughout their lives.  Everyone has something to contribute to the whole.  

Husband. Father. Son. Brother. Nephew. Cousin. 

All that connects me, is all that fuels me.