Summer is finally here!

Slocan Lake, Canada Framed at 41"x18" ©2009

This past year has been the busiest for me I have ever known. My teaching load jumped to 130% and I completed 18 semester credits of graduate courses in media studies as I attempt to delve deeper into my own understanding of what it is I am doing with photography and filmmaking.

My family and I just returned from a long overdue vacation where we went camping for a week up at Priest Lake. There is nothing I enjoy more than sleeping near water and exploring islands by boat. I have recharged my batteries and have begun work on a new exhibition I am scheduled to participate in with an amazing group of artist at the end of September. I fill you all in on it as the date arrives.

I have given myself an assignment to post a new blog of each new image I work on for the remainder of the summer. My goals is to complete at least five new finished works per week with some days being more productive than others.

There is always a delay between the photographing of an image and my editing it. It seems like I need the lapse in time to be able to determine which images are important to me. This image was made up at Slocan Lake in West Kootenay, British Columbia Canada. I am always drawn to boats and rustic cabins because they are the mansions within my mind that represent the ideal simple life to me in a place full of dramatic weather. I also enjoy the fact that I am off the cell phone grid in places like this.

Click on the image to see more of the details.

Cannon Hill Ducks

A colleague of mine told me there were wood ducks hanging out in one of our city parks. I decided to take my son with me to go look for them at Canon Hill park. I didn't find the wood ducks but there were plenty of mallards. I don't usually go for photography birds, especially ducks, but I was fascinated by their reflections in the water and what I could do with the images in post production. Digital tools certainly let me express my vision of these ducks!

Manito Park Leaves

I haven't had much time to work on personal photography since school started in September. That's school with a capital S. In addition to teaching full time at SFCC, I am taking 9 credits of graduate school courses in Media Studies from the New School University out of New York.

My son has been really patient with me and has even begun to get up early each morning to join me in my study to read as I do research. My academic work is rubbing off on him as he just received his report card and made honor roll for the first time in his life.

Finding time to have fun with him is difficult so I try to do little things like this day where I picked him up from school and we went to Manito Park. The Japanese Gardens were closed but all of these leaves and ivy were right there next to the sidewalk. I couldn't resist making images that reflect Autumn and Christmas!

Autumn Apples and Moose

I do not consider myself a wildlife photographer. I generally don't bother with it because it would require me sitting still too long in order to wait for wildlife to appear. However, since I moved into my little farmhouse, there is so much wildlife around me that I cannot help myself.

This Moose just appeared one afternoon a couple of weeks ago and proceeded to hang out in our back yard for a couple of hours. He enjoyed a few apples and then laid down for a nap.


These photos are not particularly great wildlife images. They're not anything you will ever see in National Geographic, nor are they particularly important if you assume that I live in the country where you would expect to see deer, elk, and moose frequently. What makes them interesting to me is the fact that I live a mile and a half south of a major free way and five minutes from our urban downtown. Just a few "blocks" further past our house is another major development, airport, and our waste to energy plant. We live within a very narrow band of rural land that is surrounded by increasingly dense housing developments.

I hope documentation of our "wild" citizens will give them a voice to be considered when future urban planning takes place. I felt compelled to photograph this moose because he may never pass this way again as I see another four houses going up nearby. It's ironic that Spokane's identity, as expressed by its slogan "Near Nature, Near Perfect" is on the verge of becoming extinct and could be replace with "Spokane: Getting Nearer to Seattle All The Time!"

Another Day at the Office

My wife and I just returned from another trip this summer. We've spent almost a month on the road since June towing our "Rolling Cabin" around Canada and the Pacific Northwest. I like to think of this as my "office" as well, since most of my images require me to spend a significant amount of time in one place.

We purchased this vintage 1978 Aloha trailer from a good friend of mine. We upgraded the upholstery and added a solar charged battery system that powers lights and a water pump for the sink. The small size of the trailer allows us to park it places where other RV's can't go and gives us the opportunity to escape the crowds.


Here is a recent photograph from our trip to the Canadian Rockies that offers me a daily reminder of where I want to be. I call it "Into the Woods".

You can see more at my online gallery page at www.iragardner.com

Buy a print and donate 25% to the Lands Council on September 5th!

"Returning to water" 2008 by Ira Gardner

I will be exhibiting 20 new fine art photographs on September 5th at the Lands Council open house held in Spokane's Community Building 25 W. Main St., Suite 222.

You will have an opportunity to purchase a print and have 25% of the proceeds donated to the Lands Council which works to protect our wilderness and water supplies. Earlier this year I donated two framed photographs to the Lands Council annual auction and they were able to raise $800 from their sale.

This exhibition will have a variety of recent images from near and far, including trips to the Canadian Rockies, and an exploration of Spokane's west end of downtown and it's rural heritage just outside of the urban core in my own neighborhood.

The image above is from Honeymoon lake near Jasper Alberta.

Another Great Idea!

These images were the result of a still life lighting demo I gave in class today. For me it was a play day exploring isomorphic correspondence and light quality.


Sometimes the shadow is more important than the object. Or in the case of this image I envisioned the idea of "the threat is worse than the reality" for those of us who feel like were the nail sticking up in our organizations. This image could illustrate the idea of ethical dilemmas that whistle blowers face within larger corporations. The simplicity of the set and lighting leave it (the image) open for many interpretations.