The joy of my art is working in nature, though it brings many challenges. Up a steep hill, I carry a backpack stuffed with my Rumie and Uncle Hawthorne puppets, camera gear, and a heavy bag in each hand filled with lights, battery packs, props and a repair kit. At the top of the hill, I’m already tired but when I see the stream, I forget all of that. It’s a beautiful forest in Nova Scotia and I’m about to shoot a scene from Rumie’s adventures….
Below are some of the spots where I shoot, captioned with the story of how I create in nature.
One of my happiest days while shooting Rumie Goes Rafting: several frogs were all around me, curiously watching Rumie and Uncle Hawthorne, as if they were real. I create all my props before finding locations, but for another scene I shot with a bridge over the stream, I had to find the exact location before I made the bridge so I could be sure it would be long enough to span it.
The stream where I take my photos has a life of its own – sometimes full of water and sometimes bone dry, it inspires different story ideas whenever I visit. I love the detail in the flora that grow along the banks. This is the location for page 25 of Rumie Goes Rafting.
Sometimes I just sit there quietly, taking in the beauty and the sound of the water trickling by. The work has to wait until the moment of awe passes through me.
The weather forecast is my daily obsession. Nature changes slightly every day as the sun moves with the seasons, so if I have a certain scene in mind I have to capture it within a few days, before the forest changes colour and shape. It can take hundreds of shots on different days to capture the right light under moving foliage, so if I have a three-day stretch of the right weather for a scene, I’m happy!
The cover photo of Rumie Goes Rafting was a lucky shot I got on a drizzly day. It was an impossible task to keep the raft still on open water, so I had to take hundreds of shots and hope one was in focus. The raft is tied with string from its back corners to the trees; the string is hidden underwater, along with a foam float. Keeping Rumie dry in drizzle AND on a stream was really difficult! I always carry a large umbrella!
The last image from Rumie Goes Rafting. My patient husband Mark pushed the boat over and over while I crouched on a nearby rock with my camera, waiting for the perfect wake. It took 5 evenings and 3 different lakes to find the calmest water and the sun at the right angle. I would never let AI replace the beautiful experiences I get to have in making this kind of art.
Chest waders are a must, as a lot of my photos are taken from the water. Sometimes I need to sit in the stream to get the right angle. It’s cold, but when I’m creating I don’t notice the temperature or mosquitos! Working quickly is necessary when you can’t control the sky, so I show up an hour before I know the sun will be in the right position above the trees (something I’ve noted from the prior day or two of test shots), giving myself enough time to set up. When the sun moves into range, I shoot 200-300 photos, hoping to get a lucky shot when the leaves and clouds happen to land in position.
It’s a patient process, but I love collaborating with nature, especially when I’m able to capture the best moments on camera. It doesn’t always happen, and looking back over my photos, sometimes I wish the sun could have been a bit to the right, or a random cloud didn’t appear at the wrong moment, but that’s life – you have to make the most of what’s offered and move on to the next shot. And sometimes amazing things happen you couldn’t possibly plan! Like when a curious frog came along and sat in exactly the right position in my photo, looking on as my puppets readied themselves for a boat ride at the dock. It was a dream moment I had to pinch myself to believe! If you pick up a copy of Rumie Goes Rafting, you can find that very frog on page 33.
(You can watch the moment afterwards, when the frog decided to get a little creative with me in this video – though I’m a nature girl, it really freaked me out! Haha!)
Meghan Marentette 