Driving to Class
We woke up to 5 inches of snow today- and the flakes continued to fall. Lonnie drove me to my photo class in his snow-worthy Subaru, and I took the opportunity to shoot a few iPhone photos out the car window.
Edited in Snapseed while watching the New Hampshire primary results
Happy New Year!
I’m back- sort of! As of yesterday, I have my MacBook back from having a BIGGER hard drive installed! It’s attached to my new monitor, so I’m now able to work on two screens- a fantastic bonus for both photography and genealogy! I’ve mostly recovered from my knee surgery (just have to get the knee stronger and more flexible), so I should actually be out taking photos soon. I’m determined that good health will be the hallmark of my 2020. Best wishes to you for a Happy and Healthy New Year!
Merry Christmas!
I’m thrilled to say that our Christmas celebration this year is totally family-centered. Having kids and grandkids so far away, we really appreciate the times when we can all get together as a family. This year, we stayed in a Scottsdale resort for a few days, and our son’s and daughter’s families joined us! Our Alaska kids especially enjoyed swimming most of the day, and we all enjoyed playing with Caleb, the youngest grandson, who will be two in March. Sunday, our son’s family drove back to Southern California, and Monday afternoon we drove back to Prescott with our daughter’s family. And now- we are getting ready for Christmas!
We are so blessed to have these three little boys!
Here’s Caleb!
Henry started today by watching the Grinch and playing with Legos.
And as I write this, Miles is baking Christmas cookies!
My MacBook Pro is in the shop getting a new hard drive, so I am using my iPhone to post these candid shots.
Best wishes for a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!
In Praise of the Walker
This looks like a depressing post- it’s not! I had a knee replacement almost a week ago and am doing great. I am very mobile with the help of the much made fun of WALKER. Like most people, I associate walkers with advanced age and decline, but I’m here to tell you that, for me, it is a pretty great little device. I hardly put any weight on it now and basically just roll it around in front of me as I walk. It is such an improvement over the crutches I had for my last surgery! I haven’t figured out yet how to carry dishes while using it, but since I know I will soon be using just a cane, I’m letting Lonnie do the dish carrying (as well as the cooking, pill management, icing, etc. etc. etc.). I am easily able to maneuver with my iPhone under one arm and my kindle under the other- my usual accessories.
What am I watching on TV?, you ask. It’s Hanna, an action/thriller series on Amazon Prime (I think). It stars Joel Kinnaman and Mireille Enos, the stars of The Killing (I love this duo)- only this time they are trying to kill each other (instead of solving crimes and resisting being in love). Pretty good so far. What am I reading on my kindle? I just finished Wild Game by Adrienne Brodeur. It’s a memoir of the author’s incredible relationship with her pretty narcissistic mother. I first heard of this from a podcast I’ve been listening to- Family Secrets with Dani Shapiro. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Next up is Suffer A Witch, a novel by my friend, Susan Lanning! Having some accused Salem witches in my family tree, I’m eager to get into this one!
I have several photos scheduled to post here over the next week or so and may also post more, depending on what I feel like doing as I recover. And a big thank you to all for the emails, texts, and phone calls- all much appreciated!
School’s. . . Out … for … Summer!
Yesterday was the last day of the semester for my photo group. I can remember how nervous I was the first day, weeks, even year in this group of advanced photographers, but now I am just one of the group and the people are my friends. Our final this time was a slideshow of our favorite images, and I now felt confident to share more of the photos that are in my own style and also some of my experiments in multiple exposure etc. I have proven myself with sharp images and photoshop skills, so anything goes now (hah!)! It was nice to get positive feedback! I’ve uploaded my video here- but have no idea if it will play (it’s a pretty large file). It may take awhile to load. So apologies in advance.
Winter View
It seemed that everyone started to emerge last Sunday from our forced hibernation. Lonnie and I went out to lunch and stopped to admire the view from above. It is definitely Winter- but now with the usual Arizona sunshine that we’ve grown used to.
Table for Two
Prescott is ENVELOPED in SNOW! An unusually severe snowstorm hit Northern Arizona Wednesday night and continued throughout the next day. The snow is falling more lightly as of Thursday evening, but we do have approximately 16 inches (and huge drifts!) where we live. We were all prepared for it, but the reality is pretty awe inspiring! Schools closed and a State of Emergency has been declared (seriously!). I think we’ll be happy campers here at home as long as the satellite dish continues to operate.
Merry Christmas!
A very Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Yavapai County Courthouse, Prescott, Arizona 2018
Christmas, Southern California Style
We just returned from a very quick trip to Southern California to do a mini-Christmas celebration with my son and family for Christmas. The Christmas decorations at the mall where we ate dinner were amazing!
Kitchen Stars
I’ve been working on a series of wabi-sabi photos for my photo group final, which has to be a series. I may not have enough photos for my series on the beach, so this is my Plan B. Here is one of the photos I am working on- my favorite wooden spoon and some star anise. I had thought the series would be in black and white, but I really like this one better in color! There is a very slight reflection and shadow on the cookie sheet background which don’t show up in the black and white.
Wabi-sabi is a Japanese aethetic based on acceptance of transience and incompleteness. Characteristics include asymmetry, roughness, simplicity, economy, austerity, modesty, intimacy, and appreciation of the ingenuous integrity of natural objects and processes.
Floats
When we were in Alaska this summer, we went to the street market in Anchorage, and I was captivated by the Japanese fishing floats for sale. I bought just one- this is a shot of a group. The effects are from Topaz Glow.
Just Passing Through
This guy came through my yard over the weekend and gave me a chance to have some Photoshop fun.
I played with Topaz Studio, which I am determined to actually learn to USE this summer. This preset is called bookbinder and, if I’m understanding this correctly, was one of a zillion filters developed by a “regular” person, someone in the Topaz community. I never ever ever use a filter over my whole image, but this time I did (although reduced opacity). Fun!
Cold Reflections
Snowy rocks and their reflections at Willow Lake a couple weeks ago during the last snowstorm:
The Little House
As we were leaving the beach, I couldn’t help but notice a little beach house that was dwarfed by its newer, more modern neighbors. It brought to mind a book I used to read to my first graders every year- The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton about a small country house sitting all by itself that over the years became engulfed by the city growing up around it. I wondered if something like that had happened here.
The little beach house was so shaded by its neighbors that I had to do a lot of camera work and post-processing to even get it to be visible- take 3 bracketed images, combine into an HDR and do some dodging after that. I started to see it as an illustration, so used Topaz Simplify to create this new look. One of our assignments in class is a book cover- so now I’m saving this image to possibly bring later on in case I can’t come up with another idea for a book cover.
Wonder what the title could be?
FYI- here is the middle exposure of the three bracketed images:
Now I have to come up with another photo for next week’s class!
Morning Abstract
The January theme for our photo club is ABSTRACT- which I always love doing. I was uninspired until I walked into my bedroom and noticed the shape of the plant ledge against the sloping ceiling. I did several multiple exposures which I layered to create what this piece. I’m not sure if this is the one I’ll use, but I had fun creating it.
