Crystal Richter

Day 365 of 365

Wow!  I can’t believe the day is here but it is.  It felt amazing to type 365 of 365 - it was a long time coming, over 15,000 photos taken and I can’t even imagine how many hours of editing but it is a year of work that I can honestly say that I am extremely proud of. All week I have been feeling sad that this project that I will remember for the rest of my life was coming to a close but I love the idea that “the end is only the beginning.”  I have gained so much from the project on so many levels.  I think my technical skill has improved, I now use a flash which I never had at the start (not sure how I even took photographs before I got this), I had my first gallery show which was definitely something on my bucket list, and I gained the courage to share my work which I always struggled with before.  On a personal level, it has given back to me in so many surprising and unexpected ways. In this year alone, I sat outside and just enjoyed the sight and beauty of a snow storm on a winter’s night, I have chased a hot air balloon in my car, I appreciated a simple thing like my dishwasher on those hectic weeks, I walked around on a frozen lake in hopes of finding treasure, among so many other things.  The project forced me to slow down and just take in the moments of life. I think that somewhere along the way, I had forgotten to do this.  I hope to continue to show my work and things that I find lovely in life on my very own website, www.crystalrichter.ca which will be soon to come.

And lastly, I felt so much love and support from two amazing families that everyday I feel more and more blessed to be a part, I was thankful to all the support from such a wonderful group of friends - I feel so lucky to have so many great people in my life,  I reconnected with so many old friends who I haven’t talk to years and just because they started following the blog and wanted to talk about some of the photos they enjoyed, and I conversed with total strangers who told me my posts had become “one of the highlights of their day.”  Words cannot express what this has all meant to me and I am forever grateful. 

So with this, it is not the end but the beginning with so many more photos to take, so many more moments in life to enjoy.  Good bye and thank you for coming on my journey.

Day 364 of 365

It was such a wonderful day today.  It was Happy Belated Ukrainian Christmas in our home.  First off, thank goodness for my wonderful mother.  She cooked about 3/4 of the dishes to be served.  After having to cook only 5 of the 12 dishes (and these being probably the less technical of the dishes), I appreciate all the hard work and the talent that my mother has.  It was a pleasure working with her to make Ukrainian Christmas and I love the ritual and the effort in trying to keep our Ukrainian traditions alive.  I think that is the key, one must to continue to practice these old customs to keep them alive for further generations.  So what are some of these traditions…

We started in the morning by preparing the table.  I love getting this set early in the morning because it really sets the tone for the day.  We prepared the table with an Ukrainian embroidered cloth on which we put the kolach (braided bread) with a cup of salt in the middle (the importance of salt is reflected in Christ’s words “You are the salt of the earth”) .  A lit candle is placed in the centre (the heat from the candle is said to lift the family’s prayers up to God).  While doing this, we listened to the Ukrainian Christmas carols Dobrij Vechir and Boh Predvichnyi.  Dustin practiced saying the greeting “Khrystos Rodyvsia” (Christ is born) for when our guests arrived with hopes they will answer back “Slavim Yoho” (Let us glorify him).

After an afternoon of cooking and preparation, we eagerly awaited our guests arrival.   At the appearance of the first evening start, dinner started with the serving of 12 Ukrainian dishes (symbolic of the 12 apostles).  There was kutia, borsch, kapusta, perogies, cabbage rolls, herring, baked fish, nalysnyky, mushroom sauce, bean, beetnicks, and stewed fruit with poppy seed roll.

It was a wonderful night and one thing that I loved most was that we had an eclectic group of people to celebrate with.  My parents were there, along with my brother, Luke, and his girlfriend, Christa; Dustin’s sister, Celynn and her boyfriend, Brad; as well, Dustin’s cousins, Celise & Heath and their son Dane; my cousin Lana & her fiancee Keagan, as well as my Auntie Sharon & Uncle Dennis, and my Dad’s colleague, Tim, and his daughter Ally.  I love that lots of these people had not met each other before tonight but even so, the room was filled with loud visiting and laughter the entire evening.  I love when the house is loud and that our house felt like a true home.  

Looking around last night at all the wonderful people around me, I was reminded of a quote that I totally agree with and truly feel. “I hope the people in my home today remain the same in the many, many years to come.”  Thank you to all for such a wonderful and memorable night.

Day 363 of 365

As this amazing project is rapidly winding down, I wanted to take a photo of the day with the days happenings but also start fitting in a time to talk about things most important to me.

This is a photograph of my husband watching the Canucks game on Friday night. This will be the last photo of Dustin for the 365.  What can I say about this wonderful man. Not only has he provided me with 11 years of love and happiness but he has been an amazing support during this project.  Whether it be him being the subject of the photograph of the day (even on somedays when he really didn’t want to be), providing me with great ideas of things to shoot, encouraging me to continue on those couple of days that I wanted to give up, promoting the blog on his facebook page (just so that I would get more views that week), and just being totally supportive in the hours upon hours that it took to put together such a large body of photography work, I will be forever grateful.

Dustin, you are the love of my life, you allow me to be a better me and you always support me to reach for the stars and my dreams.  Even dreams as big as taking a photo a day for 365 days.  Thank you my sweet. Je t’aime.

Day 362 of 365

My camera and camera bag have been a constant companion over the last year. When I let it know that there is only 3 more days left in the blog…… this is the response I got.

Day 361 of 365

I purchased this fun red scarf before Christmas.  I thought it was worth taking a photograph of today. I love how the textures came through, it is almost as if you could actually reach out and touch it.  As well, great colour to warm up your day. :)

Day 360 of 365

On our way to dinner tonight, we totally got lost and ended up trying to get turned around in one of the back alleyways. We ended up coming across this door which I instantly fell in love with.  I think in life sometimes it is good to take an unintended corner, you never know what great surprises you may find.

Day 359 of 365

I love pottery!  I love that it is an ancient art and I love the thought that someone has created something so beautiful with the creativity of their mind, the sheer instinct of touch and their vision and trust in of what the glaze will become.  Our collection of pottery pieces continues to grow and none of it matches which I love.  I think this way each piece becomes more bold and stands alone in its own beautiful unique way.  One piece that has quickly become very dear to me is the amazing yellow mug in the foreground.  My talented friend, Chelsea, made this for me for Christmas and I feel so honoured to own one of her lovely pieces.

Day 358 of 365

Who says that after 359 days, there is nothing new to be learned!  The lesson of the day: pink mitten as deflector over pop-up flash turns winter branches into a rather cool image (kind of reminds me of the circulatory system!!).  Still being surprised, I love that!

Day 357 of 365

Happy New Years!!! Hello 2011!

After ringing in the New Year with family and friends, we slowly made our way home and finally went to bed at 5AM.  After a long sleep, the afternoon was filled with watching movies - my absolute favorite way to spend New Years Day.  After how great 2010 was, I can hardly wait to see what 2011 will hold!  Happy New Year Everyone!