The Reality of Life and Death

I was fortunate enough to cover an interesting program the other day. It is called Shattered Dreams and it is a dramatization of a teen drinking accident. It includes injuries, fatalities, arrests, police, EMS, coroners and parents. Students wearing microphones act out the part of teens out driving after drinking. I was so caught up taking pictures I didn't realize until afterwards that it really affected me on some level. I was off just a bit the rest of the day.

Dogwood from Below

We have had some beautiful skies lately. I got lucky today when I decided to get out and take some shots of our beautiful dogwood tree. I had to climb a ten foot ladder to get up high enough to shoot down on some of the blooms and then I decided to shoot up and capture the flowers against the blue sky. The tree is covered with blooms and will probably be gone by weekend with storms predicted. I always love this time of year because this tree mystifies me. If you have never seen a dogwood before make it a mission of yours. These blooms start out as small petals already in the shape they end up but much smaller. I can never figure out how the get wider since they are already a small version of what they end up as. Each day the flowers get a little wider and rounder until they reach this size. It almost always blooms around Easter and is a symbol of the cross with each petal having a brown indention like the nail holes of the cross. Our dogwood is one of the few things in life that is very predictable.

A Cat Wedding

I got the call from some of my nine year old friends today that they were having a wedding for two cats. Of course I couldn't pass it up. I arrived just before the ceremony, signed the guestbook and walked in just behind the groom who was acting a bit edgy as most grooms do on the big day. Kitty, the groom was dressed in an orange knit polo as were his two groomsmen. After a quick photo session with the groom I found my way to the bride's room where one of the wedding planners was putting the final touches on Ginger Juno Gotts' wedding attire, a flowing powder pink gown that streamed from her collar. I made my way back downstairs to the beautiful backyard setting for the ceremony. As the bride was carried to the official ceremony table, the groom's owner, who had been pulled into the whole scene at the last minute, stood there holding Kitty who jumped out of the owner's grib and made a run for it. Kitty took off down the side yard, losing his shirt in the bushes as it became evident Kitty was not in this relationship for the long haul. Like any top wedding planner worth their fee this planner had a back up plan, she reappeared with a kitty webkinz and the ceremony went on as planned. Ginger was a bit confused as to where her strapping husband to be had taken off to and who the fuzzy black and white creature was that was standing in but she took it all in stride and went through with the ceremony even having her new pink wedding collar placed around her neck. She dined on fine cat food instead of her regular dry cuisine and the guests toasted the happy couple and enjoyed the rest of the festivities. With the wedding behind her Ginger can focus on the next chapter of her young life, raising her kittens, due any day now, as a single mom while the good for nothing daddy spends his days in the lap of luxury in the warm house across the street.

Fog and My Mind

It has been a crazy few weeks, a quick trip out to the LA area, a wild household with early depatures, ill mornings and fog. Lacking my regular sleep the fog that uncharacteristically blanketed our area until nearly 10am was really amazing to see. I have been wanting to get out and capture a cool fog shot but never am willing to miss my morning slumber. Usually the fog burns off as soon as the sun rises but not this day. I was lucky to hit an appointment and still have fog hanging around just long enough for me to try to fill my minds need with a cool shot. A man walked right through this scene while I was shooting and looked off into the fog, turned back to me and said, "It looks like infinity." I have to agree with him. I will get up early next time fog hits our burb because I can see things I want to do differently next time but here is my first fog shot for your enjoyment. (One of these days I am going to figure out how to get my photos just where I want them on this blog.)

Looking at Life Differently

I tend to get into a rut and I am trying to shove myself through it. I spent the last week challenging myself to shoot differently. Some of my approaches worked great, others failed miserably. I know this is sort of elementary but I had honeslty never seen a pool with such beautiful water and the colors amazed me. Water polo is an amazing sport to watch, I had never seen it played before, very rough.

A Different Positive Spin

I am attempting to stretch myself photographically, I am becoming more attentive to the smaller details and have noticed what gives the world its unique quality and to be a bit cliché-ish, makes the world go round. Watching a local soccer game, with every player in their matching uniforms I suddenly noticed this one player. Do you ever wish you just stepped out and did something you really wanted to do but fear the consequences? Let’s face it , we only live once and life is terribly short do something you have always wanted to do but on some level were afraid of what people would think of you. Now I am not giving you license to spin off, and make it a positive thing, not a negative. Just think if everyone does something different with a positive spin we could have a positive impact as a group.

A Day the Way I like

I don't get too many days to do what I want without answering to others and doing for others so today was a treat. I think everone should have one of these days at least once a month. Seriously, I got all of my 'to do's ' done and had the rest of the day to do anything I wanted. Those that know me, will know exactly what I did, I found sport events all over town to cover. I was inside, I was outside and now I need to sort through them. I am calling it a day, A Great Day!

Diverse

What is diverse? Well I would consider my special day this week to be diverse. I really wondered what kind of reality show it would have made. What exactly happened on this specific day was a day at County jury duty. After arriving at the court house by 8:30am. I discovered my dentist sitting behind me. You have to love the court system, after everyone was in their seat we watched a short film on exemptions we were told to take a twenty minute break. A room withover 1000 people told to be back in twenty minutes. Whoever thought that out, hmmmm. Once assigned to a jury pool I had no idea that by the end of the day I would have met some of the most interesting people I will probably come across this month. I was seated next to girl I had gone to high school with. To my other side was a very nice guy who use to be in the armed services and has spent time working as a teacher to teenagers who have violent backgrounds, drug or alcohol issues. Amazing difference he has made in kids' lives. Another young man sat behind me who has started his own businesses. We had a parole officer, a former court reporter, a coach/referee, a restaurant owner and a rebellious young juror who never returned after lunch. By that evening when jury selection was finally finished I truly felt like I had been in the trenches with a room full of people I would feel honored to call friends. Twelve lucky folks were selected for the three week long case. I was released, which was a smart call by the lawyers. I would not have had the patience to sit there and listen to all of the posturing the lawyers were already up to. I do have the court system to thank for introducing some interesting people into my life and I am off to visit the upstart restaurant one of my fellow jurors is hard at work making work.

Overlooked

As in life we tend to go about our business and forget to see the small things around us. I decided to throw the camera in the car for a quick trip to drop off something across town. I found myself at my parents' house and not a care in the world. Everyone I am responsible for was taken care of and I looked around the house for odd things to take pictures of. Well there was a lot of fun things to take pictures of but I noticed how many things I had gotten in the habit of walking by and overlooking. I won't bore you with the pictures of the girls in the backyard. Don't get all excited, the girls are the two little black cats my mother adopted as kittens from a young girl standing on a street corner. They are now very use to my camera being stuck in their face. Here is one item I have walked by countless times and forgotten to appreciate the beauty of.

When Others ...

Have you ever had one of those days or weeks when everything you do is sort of dictated by other people and what they are doing? I have had about two weeks of that and I think it is time I took my life back and did the things that I need to be doing instead of waiting to see what other people need from me only to find out they were not really to concerned about whether or not I was putting things on hold to be there when they needed me. Ok I probably have you all turned around but here is the best part. Today while waiting for all of those things I was to be sort of on call for, I found time to play around with some different lighting techniques. Actually I had done some shots last night only to discover my sensors were pretty dirty, weird since I had cleaned them recently but with most of my normal day to day shots shot wide open the dust wasn't really a factor. No big deal, I lined up my bodies and cleaned the sensors and what a difference if made.

shot with flash thru umbrella off to camera left.

The Window

I was sitting in the Jr High gym watching a basketball game when I suddenly noticed way up high there is a window. It wasn't on the side of the gym where the rest of the windows were, it was almost in the rafters and positioned to stream in sunshine from the south. Very strange place for a window. Generally the sun would move right above the gym. During the winter months I suppose there could be a bit of daylight that would dart into the gym and brighten the room. Just a reminder to keep your eyes peeled for the smallest of sunshine to brighten your day, it can come from the most unexpected places.

The Paparazzi In Me

It isn't every day that I have the time or the interest in trying to get a celebrity image. I really feel like they should have the opportunity to go about their day like any of us common folk. Last night I found myself in the surreal world of acting like a trained paparazzi. I guess that isn't totally true since the celebrity was here with a purpose and wanted to be seen and was very friendly to everyone who showed up at the premiere of her new movie. I won't bore you with the very childish title. These people know just when to look at you and how to look at you to make a great shot. Their whole self importance is determined by how many frames are clicked off as they walk by. I had missed the early media time and found myself smack in the middle of the situation with a less than perfect set up of equipment since I had been shooting indoor basketball I had my camera with me as I came upon the scene. (side note- I am reminded every day I should carry some sort of camera with me, I missed a truck exploding the other day since I drove by as the whole thing became a ball of fire, no camera on hand). It was really a funny experience and can't imagine having to do this type of photography all the time but who knows when I will find myself with a willing celebrity and the crowd numbers in my favor so I happily snapped a few frames. I can also say the said celebrity could not have been nicer to everyone there and took time with people who had lined up to see her. You know the old saying that they are prettier in real life is accurate in this case.

Social Media as I See It

participating in a project this is my read on social media as it has touched my life.

As I have mentioned before photography has become a huge part of who I am. I have made some great friends through photography and have found some in the strangest places. The funny part is I wouldn't recognize some of them if they kicked me in the knee. I know that sounds strange but they are people I have met via the internet. No, not the weird stuff you find on the internet. The one that has had the biggest impact on me is http://www.strobist.blogspot.com or strobist.com. David Hobby has created a community with his site. He has selflessly shared his knowledge with all of us to improve our lighting. He unknowingly pushed me to challenge myself in areas I have always wanted to tread but didn't know where to start. Have I mastered all he has taught, not even close but I am a better photographer because of him and I know there is always room for improvement. The other strobists are very open to sharing ideas and feedback in a positive way. The discussions are positive unlike other forums where there is always someone ruining the fun. David has encouraged people to get together in towns all over the world to practice what they have learned from his site. This blog is really an outlet for me to practice what I have learned from strobist.com, forcing me to shoot things I would not normally shoot in ways that stretch me as a photographer, hopefully for the better.

Another Cold Day

We are actually having cold weather which might just mean less bugs come Spring time. I have momentarily been over run with flowers so I took some time to play around with my lighting and came away with some interesting shots of one arrangement. Lit remotely from both sides, one with a gobo and bubble wrap infront of the light to limit it and the other one with a diffuser on it. Aiming low allowed the light to hit from below the vase and I played around with different settings to get some light from above to light the top of the flowers. The flowers were all nestled into the glass vase and looked like people all smushed together to keep warm. I hope you find this shot interesting.

All Eyes Watching

Have you ever felt like all eyes were on you? Well today I found myself in a situation like that and realized I don't sit still very well. If I wasn't digging into my bag under the table to find out what time my phone said it was ( I hadn't set my watch and it was reading 5 hours ahead of schedule and then some), I was looking for lip gloss or my notes or to dig out another camera. I truly hoped no one was looking at those of us sitting at the head table because I was like that kid in church that was squirming all around. Once settled in, I would have to jump or lightly step down from the head table that was raised to stand down and take pictures of others speaking. I looked at a girl half my age that was seated a seat over from me and explained "I'm not very graceful". That is an understatement.