Random

Tax Season

Posted by Ellie

When I was about 3, I had photos of myself published in the Montreal Gazette. I was paid for this photo session, and was obliged to file my taxes. This tax preparation session was photographed as a series in the paper. I have no idea who took the photographs, but every year at tax season I am reminded of these photographs and how I feel no different now to how I felt then. Enjoy the session!

A black and white photo of a little girl with curly blond hair with a bow in it, and smiling blue eyes looking at the camera, She has a dress with puffy sleeves and a neat round collar and is smiling confidently. She is holding a pencil in her hand over some papers on a slatted table.
1. All ready to start working on my year end tax returns
A black and white photo of a little girl with curly blond hair with a bow in it, and big earnest blue eyes looking at the camera, resting her face between her hands. She is sitting on a wicker chair and on the slatted table in front of her are some papers with printed figures.
2. It seemed pretty straight forward, but now I’m not sure.
A black and white photo of a little girl with curly blond hair with a bow in it, and big earnest blue eyes looking at the camera as she speaks into the receiver of a toy telephone. She is sitting on a wicker chair and on the slatted table in front of her is an apple, some papers with printed figures on it, and what looks like a toy dog. She is holding a pencil in her hand.
3. I think I had better call the accountant
A black and white photo of a little girl with blond hair, scratching her head as she looks down, mystified, towards a receipt she is holding in the other hand, and she has a pencil held in her mouth. She is sitting in a wicker chair at a slatted table with a paper printed with figures on it.
4. I’m pretty sure I never bought this much software
A black and white photo of a little girl with blond hair that is becoming really messy from running her hands through it. On the slatted table in front of her are some messy papers with printed figures on them and a toy telephone. Her mouth is set in a tight line with a pencil held firmly in it and she is holding the receiver of the telephone in her left hand against the side of her neck, below her ears. Her eyebrows are down in a straight line across her intense eyes, matching the line of the pencil held firmly in her mouth. She might be holding a piece o crumpled paper in the other hand.
5. Yes, of course I’m sure.
A black and white photo of a little girl with messy flat blond hair held back, perhaps with a clip. She is sitting on a wicker chair and on the slatted table in front of her are some messy papers with printed figures on them, an apple, and the receiver of a toy telephone. Her mouth is set in a tight line and her arms are up behind her head in despair. She has a stare of defiance.
6. You can do it yourself, then! I’m not doing any more!

Congratulations to Ben on a Second Oscar

Posted by Ellie
Snow is slanting down on two young men staning in light jackets and shoes, not boots, with a film camera on a tripod in front of them. One is filming and the other is smiling and watching. There is a snowy field behind them and woods in the distance, with a couple of trees just behind them.
Ben and David filming for the Steven Kennard short documentary “Turns” in Nova Scotia, 2015

In 2015 we had a couple of inspired young filmmakers from California visit us to make a wonderful short documentary about Steven. (You can view that video here: https://vimeo.com/519088816) They were lovely guys and so much fun during the days they spent with us. It’s so marvellous to hear that Ben, along with co-director Kris Bowers have won the Oscar for this great short film.

Read about the film and the directors on this site, specially the story of Kris at the bottom: https://breakwaterstudios.com/the-last-repair-shop/

You can watch the award winning film here if you haven’t seen it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xttrkgKXtZ4 (40 minutes). It is incredibly moving.

More photos of their visit:

Two men are looking through a film camera viewfinder to the left.
Ben Proudfoot and David Bolen filming in Nova Scotia, 2015
It is a snowy scene, snow slanting down, with two young men staning in light jackets and shoes, not boots, with a film camera on a tripod in front of them. They are laughing together and their hands are blurred as they demonstrate the footage they plan to take. There is a snowy field behind them and woods in the distance, with a couple of trees just behind them.
Ben and David enjoying the snow, obviously!
A black and white photo of 3 men in a woodwork shop, with film camera and other equipment. Two of the men are discussing something, one has his finger to his face in thought. The one in the back is listening to the conversation.
Discussing how to make the film title shot.

News Update

Posted by Ellie

It seems to have been (actually it has been) a long time since I last sent an email notification about new posts, I know. There was a problem with the plugin that I use and I wasn’t sure that postings would go out as expected. On top of that I was suffering with a few health issues, which I am hoping are under control.

Black and white image of a woman with white or fair hair holding some broccoli and smiling into the sun.
Hello all! Here I am in a photograph taken in my garden a week ago, while I was picking broccoli.

I plan to be posting here again probably on a daily basis, old and new photographs. Some will be flowers, as I get such pleasure from them, but there will be animals, landscapes and possibly some abstracts. If you would rather not receive almost daily updates, please don’t hesitate to unsubscribe using the link in your email or by emailing me directly.

Here are a couple of posts that I have made here in the past few days that you might like to see:

Sunset in Baxters Harbour https://www.elliekennard.ca/sunset-baxters-harbour/

And this one, a foggy scene of a walk of mine in the fog a few years ago:

Country Walk in the Fog https://www.elliekennard.ca/country-walk-in-the-fog/

Warm regards to all,

Ellie

Incidentally, if you would like to follow me on Mastodon if you are using that network, my profile is https://mstdn.ca/@EllieK

I’m Only Half Here

Posted by Ellie

Ellie Kennard 2016, photo by Steven Kennard
Ellie Kennard 2016, photo by Steven Kennard

I have the most wonderful husband in the world. And I miss him a lot! He is in New Zealand, 10,000 miles from me, but before he left he posted this.

Originally shared by +Steven Kennard

“Portrait of Ellie”

“As I get ready to go to New Zealand I thought I would post a photograph I took of my beautiful wife, Ellie (photo above), who won’t be able to go with me on my trip. It’s a long journey, but I won’t be away for many days, so this image of her will come with me. By chance, when I saw it, it reminded me a lot of a photograph taken of her when she was 18 (photo below taken by Pete Erskine). When I saw that, I thought I would like to try to reproduce it. I’ll have to wait for when I get back for that. We got a Russian vintage lens, the Helios 44-2 with adapter and this was taken with that lens.”

Thinking of you, Steve. I’m only half here.

The original image, taken by Pete Erskine can be seen here:

Ellie Wornell (Kennard) - 1968. Photo taken by Peter Erskine
Ellie Wornell (Kennard) – 1968. Photo taken by Peter Erskine

Ellie Wornell – portrait from the past.

Photograph of myself that I have just restored. It was taken when I was about 18 or so, by an adopted brother of mine, Pete (Bamford) Erskine who died very young, many years ago, as a result of drug addiction. I was asked what I was thinking when this was taken and here is my response:
Strangely enough I remember the moment the photograph was taken, though it was so long ago. The photographer was a boy my age, Peter Erskine. I had not long ago arrived in England, meeting my mother for the first time in many years as she had left us as children. She had remarried and adopted a boy, Pete, who was roughly my own age (11 at the time of the adoption I think), whose alcoholic parents had more or less abandoned him and his little sister. Sad story. In any case, he was happy with my mother and stepfather and when I arrived he was welcoming and such an affectionate person and we got along really well. He was a brilliant writer, went on to write for the New Musical Express in the UK and some of his pieces are preserved on the websites of the musicians he was reviewing or interviewing. He unfortunately got into drugs in his early 20’s as did so many in that environment (and in the NME) and soft turned to hard and he became a heroin addict. I pretty much lost track of him for many years but I did hear that he had kicked heroin and was on methadone trying to clean up his life. He died at that point, aged around 30. What a sad waste of a human life.
When he took that photograph I was standing at the sink, having just washed my hair, getting ready to go out, as that was a new dress, I remember. I was probably thinking of the evening ahead, a young Canadian girl enjoying the swinging 60’s in England. Pete was standing wedged in the corner of the tiny bathroom, balanced on the edge of the bath to try to get the angle he wanted. Ah Pete. I miss him still.
One of his articles preserved online though there are many more to be found. I loved his style of writing, remember well his wry humour and caustic wit: https://geirmykl.wordpress.com/tag/pete-erskine/

and this one:  geirmykl.wordpress.com – Pete Erskine | My Things

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