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Photo Blogging Challenge – My Choice (October 2014)

GeoKs
Physio

My reaction to this month’s photo challenge theme? Intrigued and apprehensive. Intrigued because “Photographer’s Choice” doesn’t come with constraints. And apprehensive for the same reason.

Within seconds I decided that I wouldn’t just wait until the end of the month and then post my five favourite images from October. I would come up with my own theme. I considered a one lens challenge, thought about choosing one location to photograph as creatively as possible, contemplated pursuing a set of lens flare photographs and mulled over several other options.

After a few days of careful thought, I decided to showcase 5 Calgary parks with wetland features:

  1. Exploring Calgary parks is one of my favourite ways to enjoy nature in the city;
  2. Autumn is a great time for spotting migrating birds in wetland areas;
  3. Wetlands play a vital role in the water cycle and ecosystems;
  4. In addition to creating my photo set for this post, I could gather material for a series of Calgary parks blog posts; and
  5. I could also find some more geocaches on our long, slow road to 4,000 finds.

By mid-month I’d been to the Weaselhead Natural Environment Park, Prince’s Island Park and Ralph Klein Park.

Then I made another choice…one that meant I had to abandon my first choice (at least for now).

That second choice? I allowed adrenalin to override common sense. I valued perseverance and indomitable spirit more than self-control. The result? A knee injury that has me spending an hour a day on physiotherapy exercises. Even worse, my physiotherapist asked me not to go out walking for the first week post-injury. Even now I’m supposed to stick to city sidewalks. It’s a hardship not to be out and about, free to explore and enjoy the great outdoors. There’s a certain unaccustomed flatness to my life that I’ve tried to convey by stripping most of the colour from this month’s photographs…

Twenty to thirty minutes on the stationary bike seems to be helping with my range of motion. It’s an ongoing challenge to layer on just enough resistance to gain some cardio benefit without aggravating the injury.
Energizing and uplifting music helps me get through the monotony of “riding” a stationary bike and provides a helpful rhythm for physio exercises.
I learned that an important first step along the road to recovery is to retrain the muscles surrounding the injury to “fire” properly. The lower part of my quad muscle is of particular concern. Two sets of 30 repetitions is a boring – but necessary – part of the daily routine.
2 sets of 15 slow motion step ups on my left side – just one of many exercises designed to strengthen the muscles around my injured knee. The bruising behind my left knee is slowly fading.
Every physio session wraps up with 15 minutes of “stim” thanks to the Multiplex CL-10. I like to turn the intensity up to just below the point where my quad muscle starts firing and then focus my mind on keeping the muscle relaxed.

NOTE: I used a tripod and the Triggertrap app and dongle to make the three photographs that show me working on my physio routine. (Are they still selfies?)

I can’t wait to see what everyone else came up with for “Photographer’s Choice.” If you have another few minutes, head on over to A ‘lil HooHaa to browse host P.J.’s take on this month’s theme and for links to the rest of the entries.

The theme for November will be announced in the next few days on A ‘lil HooHaa. Please consider joining our small (but supportive) Facebook group.

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