Tag: photography

Place-based Writing

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Yesterday, I opened an email from a Substacker (The Art of Noticing) about the National Writing Project’s (NWP) annual Write Out event. Begun in 2018 in partnership with the National Park Service (NPS), the event encourages anyone to spend time outdoors observing nature and then writing about those observations. Educators, writers, and park service personnel offer prompts for all ages, children and adults alike.

I’ve been interested in the idea of place-based writing. It’s an idea that has nagged at me for quite some time, but I haven’t pursued it. This may be the year to pursue it actively. I am working on an idea of combining my Kinship exploration of the four elements of earth, air, fire, and water through photography with writing. A prompt from last year’s Write Out comes from Poet Laureate Amy Limon: What would you write in response to the landscape around you?

This is not actually a “landscape” photograph. It’s really more a “portrait” of the great egret that visits the edge of the pond in the backyard. I came home from a book club meeting to see this:

Such a beautiful and graceful bird. It stood statue-still on the bank of the pond for at least ten minutes, or perhaps longer. The egret stood perfectly still in the same spot even after I left the car and retrieved the camera with the zoom lens from inside. I was able to creep up to the edge of the pond on the opposite side to take several pictures.

I am amazed by what I see in the landscape of that big two-acre pond (known to family as “The Big Pond”): turtles sunning themselves on the bank, fish darting through the weeds growing thickly in the shallow water at the edge of the pond, clouds reflected on the smooth surface. Clouds billow above. Deer creep out of the woods to drink from it and to eat the vegetation that grows there. Red trumpet flowers fall from the vines growing high in the treetops. Breezes ripple the water. Dragonflies dart from dandelion blossom to blossom. Cicadas and grasshoppers chirp, hidden away by the grasses, weeds, and wildflowers. Blackberries ripen to the darkest purple at the edge of the woods. White and yellow fleabane bloom as stars fallen to earth.

There is no shortage of beauty here.

If you’d like more information about the NWP/NPS annual Write Out, visit the NWPWrite Out page . Resources from past years are available.

I Went for a Walk Today

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Last week was a bust as far as taking daily photos. The weather wasn’t very cooperative. Today, it was pleasantly in the 70s when I went out; the sun was shining. There was a light breeze, and the sky was blue with some puffy white clouds. My macro/close-up filters came yesterday, and I wanted to try them out. The camera battery was fully charged. I put on my socks and shoes, grabbed my gear, went back into the house for my hat to keep my hair out of my face, and set out for a trip around the pond.

I stopped to take this picture. I have my Tamron 75-200 lens on my Canon 7D and attached the close-up 4X filter. I snapped the picture.

I repositioned for a different angle, pressed the shutter button, and pressed the button again, and nothing happened. The camera would not focus. I stood there for a bit, metaphorically scratched my head, turned the camera off and on a couple of times, reattached the lens, and even removed the close-up filter. Still nothing. There was nothing else to do but go inside and see if another lens would work.

My newer Canon T8i camera was “dead,” or rather the battery was dead, so I couldn’t test the lens on it. I plan to when the battery is charged. I put the kit lens (I forget the focal length other than it zooms to 55) on the 7D, and lo and behold! it worked! So, back out I went with the appropriate close-up filter and a determination to make some images.

I traipsed through the woods today. I tried the foundational exercises of listening for the farthest out sounds and expanding peripheral vision. The latter is difficult for me. I’m never sure if I’m supposed to move my eyeballs or not!

What caught my eye today, though, were textures and colors. The floor of the woods is covered with brown leaves, but there are pops of green all over–plants and moss in particular. There are fallen tree trunks and branches to step over and walk around. I had to be careful of the stump holes. And there were the pointed stumps of small trees the beavers cut down.

While it wasn’t the photo walk I intended, it turned out quite nicely.

I Fell Off the Wagon

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Well, so much for the April 30-day A to Z challenge. The weekend was busy: Holy Week services at church, preparation for the Easter Sunrise worship, and a family dinner kept me busy, and blogging was not a high priority. I’m not even going to try to play catch-up. I’ll just do the best I can.

Today is Earth Day. I went for a walk this morning in a local state park. It was warm and humid. A friend called the humidity we had this morning “air you can wear.” I think some storms are coming in the forecast. I haven’t been in the park since Hurricane Helene blew through last September. The park had closed for several weeks while crews cleaned up the debris and cleared the roads around the campgrounds. There were lots of downed trees along the side of the road through the park.

My walk was a mile and three-quarters and took just about an hour. I make 59 images. And, no, I did not stop every minute to take a picture, even though the number of images and the time suggest that I took a photo a minute. The turtles were out sunning themselves on the fallen logs in the shallow waters, and there were yellow irises blooming at the water’s edge in several places around the loop. There were also lots of folks biking, walking, and fishing. It’s a busy place! And it’s a place of beauty and peace.

The Kinship Photography Collective is beginning a year-long exploration of the four elements of earth, air, fire, and water, beginning with the element air. It was still this morning, although there were some ripples on the water. There is an openness over the lake, space to gaze, and space to breathe. Sunlight created trails on the water for the eye to follow. It is likely to be the “calm before the storm.”

This Earth Day, which follows Easter Sunday, I am reminded of the Resurrection and new life. Last September, a storm blew through to damage the island, but this spring, it has come to life. I have never seen the irises before, but I’m sure they must have been there. The turtles are out. Birds hopped away; squirrels ran off and scurried up the trees. There was plenty of life in the park this morning. It is renewing itself daily.

E is for . . . .

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Tough letter: enthusiasm, engagement, excitement, electric/electricity? All of the above?

What am I enthusiastic about these days? What makes me excited? Well, one thing is visiting my grandson (tomorrow!). He is at that age when everything is new to him. He will be four years old in October. I can tell you that he is full of energy. I know he will be going nonstop during our visit.

I am looking forward to some new photography classes through the Kinship Collective. I haven’t been as active in the collective since the first part of the year, but I am looking forward to renewing my love for creating photographic art. I have been participating in the Year of Creative Photography classes since January, and this month’s theme of impressionism has really captured my Interest. I’m working on the more “artistic” elements in post-processing. I have a lot to learn. I created this image last night:

This class reminded me that “way back when”, I purchased some presets/plug-ins from Topaz Labs. I resurrected those, reinstalled them, and played with them this month. I had fun!

E is also for EXPLORE, and EXPLORE is my word for this year. I have done a little exploring—mostly in terms of photography and a lot in reading. I’m exploring new ways of recording my “life” in art and in writing. I have to work on my One Word album. I’m a couple of months behind in recording. Now that the winter doldrums are passing, and the sap is rising, as the saying goes, I will get back into the work of exploring. I have two tools to encourage my explorations–kinds of adventure bucket lists, one for places to explore in South Carolina, and another for personal adventures. I haven’t opened either one except for a quick glimpse. It’s time to go for it!

So, excitement, enthusiasm, electricity, and explorations–all E-words to guide me.

Spring Has Sprung–Almost

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It has been a long winter. It’s been cold (even though some of the news articles I’ve seen have reported that the 2024-2025 winter has been warmer than usual); I have shivered and worn more layers than usual. Maybe it’s my age.

Regardless of the meteorological data, I am seeing signs of spring: the daffodils on the pond dam are blooming. The cherry, plum, and apple trees are in full bloom. A. E. Housman described the white cherry blossoms as “snow.” This is the kind of snow I like!

With spring comes the #100dayproject and the One Little Word month of developing a practice. I’m working on both of those this month. For the One Little Word practice for March, I have chosen to write “morning pages” a la Julia Cameron in The Artist’s Way: three pages first thing in the morning. I confess that I find Cameron’s practice a bit restrictive, so I modify it to suit me. Sometimes, I write three pages; sometimes not. Sometimes, I write later in the day. I don’t want my practice so restrictive that I don’t do it.

The morning pages are just part of a larger practice for the year. My word for this year is EXPLORE, and one element I want to explore is self-expression through “art”–writing, photography, doodling, drawing, etc. So, my 100 Day Project will center around developing my photography skills. I have set up five ways to work on this goal:

  1. Make photographs. Yeah, that seems simple enough. Just pick up the camera and go out and shoot. Or use my phone camera. I have a new Lensbaby, the Velvet 56, and I haven’t practiced enough with it to be “good.” That will certainly be one of my goals while making photographs.
  2. Learn new photo editing techniques and develop Lightroom and Photoshop skills. One of the things I like about the Year of Creative Photography class is that each month, Lori introduces a photo editing technique. I plan to experiment with them throughout the year.
  3. Post things in Cosmos. Kim Klassen introduced Cosmos in a short four-week class last fall. Unlike Instagram, there is no need to write commentary (although there is a way to post notes and text). It’s not so much a social media share-to-brag site as it is a gigantic vision board from which to draw inspiration. By creating clusters around topics, I can search for inspiration and add photos, quotes, and videos to use as reference.
  4. Research other photographers. Again, the Year of Creative Photography has case studies of various artists and photographers in each month’s lessons as guides and inspiration for things to try. I will research other photographers as well to learn from them as much as I can.
  5. And, most importantly, work on the photography classes I signed up for. I have a bad habit of starting an online class and then giving up half-way through. So, I want to make follow through part of my practice.

I made a tracker for my planner to note by progress. I use reading trackers in my book journal, and I have a 31-day tracker in my OLW album to track my month-long practice of writing in my journal.

There is something to be said about putting one’s intentions out there in the world. If one announces it publicly, then there is a certain commitment to completely the things. So, I’m putting myself out there in the world. Day one has begun. (But there is also something to be said for every day being Day One. If I falter, I can always pick it up and make today Day One.)

By the way, I can color in my 100 Day tracker for gathering elements for the AYCP–Water cluster in Cosmos. I hope this gives me some ideas to try when I take out the camera later today.

Just a portion of my cluster for AYCP–Water cluster of images.

A Year to Explore

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I have been choosing a word of the year for almost fifteen years now. Last year, my word was “manifest,” and some things really came into focus as a result. I became a reader again and discovered that I do like the magical realism genre after all (although I am not a big fan of Isabel Allende’s version in House of the Spirits). I began rereading some old favorites and found some new favorites. And I still read more than my fair share of Regency historicals, mysteries and romances alike.

This year, my word is “explore.” I want to explore more new ideas and discover new opportunities. One area that I want to explore is photography and creative, artistic photo editing. To that end, I enrolled in a year-long class, A Year of Creative Photography. Already, I have begun playing with new ideas–using brushes and creative filters to alter my usual more documentary photos into something completely different. I’m also exploring ways to use my new camera lens, the Lensbaby Velvet 56. I took this picture of the camellia right after Christmas and after watching the video in the classroom about creative editing, I played.

Using a couple of filters in Photoshop changed the emotion of the image. I am intrigued by the motion and the color.

I also have on my bucket list of explorations are more trips to visit the state parks in South Carolina. Right now, it’s just too darned cold to go out for any length of time. I’m also exploring more of my family’s history. I know some of the family history on my maternal grandmother’s side. We are descendants of the Salzburgers, a group of Austrians who immigrated to Georgia in the 1700s and settled about 30 miles from Savannah in a small community called Ebenezer. They founded a Lutheran church, Jerusalem Lutheran Church, which is the oldest continuous congregation in the United States. Like so many others, these Lutherans came seeking religious freedom as well as economic freedom. I’m sure there is more to their history than these few details, and that is one thing I want to explore.

I also enrolled in Ali Edwards’s One Little Word class, another year-long exploration, as a way to document my journey through this year of exploring. I’m working through those prompts now.

This is my second full year into retirement. While I enjoy sitting in the rocking chair with a good books—an exploration all its own, and in the corner of the couch with my knitting needles or crochet hook and yarn, I also want to keep my brain active by learning and growing. I am exploring ways to use my voice in my church and community. I am actively studying the Bible. One of my reading goals for this year is to read more nonfiction although I have found that sometimes I do better listening to nonfiction books on Audible than I do by reading the texts. (I wonder why that is?)

So, here’s to the explorations for this year!

The Simple Things

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It’s the smallest things

the petals of the apple and cherry blossoms littering the ground like so many snowflakes;

tiny purple flowers like stars that have fallen between the blades of grass;

jasmine trumpets hanging in the tree branches.

It’s simple things

the sweet burn of the hot cinnamon spiced tea at breakfast.

It’s as simple as

the turtles sunning themselves on the water-soaked logs in the lake;

pollen-swollen pinecones in the making;

the rumble of thunder before the rain.

It’s the simple smell of bread baking and the taste of butter melting over hot-cross buns during the Lenten season.

It’s the glitter of sunlight on the water and the shadow of trees on the pavement.

It’s the sound–or rather the silence–of my steps along the straw-covered path through the woods.

Summer Vacation 2018

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It has been a while since I had a teacher’s version of “summer vacation,” that extended period between June and August when I am not in school. For the previous five years, I taught at Remington College in Columbia. We worked in four-week modules, and since I was part time, I worked a mod and then had the next mod off. Now that I am working full-time in secondary education again at Newberry Academy, I now teach for thirty-six weeks and now I’m off for about 10—all of June and July and two weeks in August. Oh, perhaps I should say I also have most of this last week of May off as well, even though I’m going back to school tomorrow for a yearbook mini-camp.

So, how will I spend my summer?

First, I’m going to catch up on my fun reading! I don’t have a reading list yet per se, but I have several books on my Kindle that I want to read.

Second, I’m going to work on my photography. I have subscribed off and on to Lenswork Magazine, a print and online magazine that focuses on the photograph itself, not the gear or even the techniques. For the last couple of years, the publishers have had a juried “contest” in which photographers submit a story in six photographs. I don’t think I can enter that contest this year, but I think it might give me a focus for my summer work. Can I make images that capture the story in six images in such a way that each image can also stand alone and tell that story? In preparation, I’m charging up the batteries now, and soon I’ll clear the memory card!

I’m also planning to work on editing techniques. I joined the Shift Art website (pricey!), but I think it will be worth it. There are tutorials and articles and other goodies to inspire me.

This morning, I worked on learning some editing techniques using Auto Tone and Auto Color in Photoshop. I used an image I took a couple of weeks ago. I don’t know the name of this flower, but it’s pretty, and it’s interesting. I wanted to make sure the flower was dominant, so I practiced, and edited, and started over. This is the image I came up with. I used Auto Tone and Auto Color. Then I applied two layers of patterns and textures. Finally, I added a light vignette. I’ll put the original and edited image side by side to show the two versions.

 

The first image is the original, unedited image. It’s too dark. My edit, the second one, lightens the image and brings out the flower. I like the kind of hazy background, which is further emphasized a bit by the pattern and the texture. At the end of the process, I added a vignette using a curves adjustment layer, dragging the curve down toward the bottom right corner, and then using a black brush to uncover the portions of the image I wanted to reveal. I lowered the opacity of this vignette layer as well because I did not want it too dark on the edges. I still wanted the brightness and haziness of the background to come through.

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(I think I may have desaturated the background slightly as well so that the color of the flower can stand out.)

I enjoy floral photography, and I enjoy applying textures. I want to stretch myself as a photographic artist.

Picture Spring

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What does spring look like in your part of the Northern Hemisphere? I have to be careful because I have friends in various social media groups who live in the Southern Hemisphere, and it’s winter there.

Today is a kind of stormy looking day. I do hear a bit of thunder now and again, but so far, the day is just cloudy. The jasmine has bloomed, as have the blackberries. I see the honeysuckle, though. My roses are blooming as well. The trumpet vine is not as colorful as it was two weeks ago. Everything is green.

It sounds kind of funny to start a Picture Spring project in May, but that’s going to be my focus this month in my personal photography. I want to look more closely at what spring looks like here in my corner of the world.

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I will be doing some of my own prompts while I take on this project, but I will also be following Tracey Clark’s Picture Spring class. I have taken Tracey’s classes before when she taught through Big Picture Classes, and she is inspiring. I am looking forward to starting on May 15.

It has been hard to get out to photography this past month. It has been incredibly busy as we had Aaron’s wedding on April 1. I still have to go through the CDs of pictures they sent me and choose the ones I want to use in an album so I can show my beautiful daughter and handsome son. Then, no sooner than I get home from the wedding, I get sick with bronchitis and sinusitis. I am still coughing, and having some issues, so getting out with the camera to walk has not been easy.

Hopefully, May will be better. I will go out and start to photograph spring. And, of course, I will mess around with Photoshop and Topaz and the various textures and overlays that I’ve accumulated. It will be a time to create more art.

I will also be putting together a new course on Teachable.com that combines writing and photography. Look for more information about it in the coming weeks.

A Year of Living the Dare—the Second Quarter Begins

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It’s April already.  It’s the second Saturday in April, in fact. Last Saturday, I was getting ready for Aaron’s wedding, eating breakfast in a hotel in Greer, anticipating the afternoon.

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(Handsome couple. Photo credit to Grady, the proud father of the groom)

Three weeks ago, I entered into a new season of living the dare, or perhaps living the dare. As a member of a “mastermind group” of women who desire to create a business for themselves, I began dreaming again of answering a call that I’ve felt for some years—to take control of my living, to step out on faith, to envision the life and work I want to do.

I have to be honest: taking dares, even the ones I give myself, is scary. What’s even scarier than taking the dare, is owning that dare. And now that I have accepted the dare, I am in the process of defining the dare.

So. . . . I’ve written before that one of my goals is to create a “space” for photographers, women especially, to gather to practice the art and craft of photography, to share the images we receive and make, and perhaps, most importantly, to realize that private dream of being an artist, of living the creative life. For me, photography is often a contemplative practice, of way of orienting me to the world around me, to see what is here right now. Looking through the lens of the camera (my Canon 7D, aka “the big girl camera”) reminds me to notice things. I’ve also written before that more often than not, when I don’t have the camera with me, I see photographs to receive and make.

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There’s another element, though, that pulls me. The little girl who wanted someone to tell her that she could be an artist if she wanted to keeps calling to me. I know that day was a long time ago in that third grade classroom at Dutch Fork Elementary (the old one that burned in 1976 or so), but I still feel the weight of the criticism and the implication that I was not, nor would be, an artist. I want others to know that we are all born with creativity and artistry in us. I may never draw realistic horses the way my third-grade friend could, but I can still create.

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I am not sure where my creative business planning may take me this year, but I am exploring and thinking. I am creating space and time for this. And who knows to what this dare will lead?