39/365

The last post of 2021.  

I haven't posted very much this year.  I've been trying to post a photo-a-day on my flickr page, and I wasn't even successful at that.  I was about 68 images short of 365.  sigh

Right now I'm visiting my son, He Who Loves Alaska, in Fairbanks until around Jan 12.  They're having an unexpected amount of snow this year and it's cold, which is not unexpected.

When I left NY I figured I'd never have to deal with snow and cold again, but here I am, killing it.

So this is my "farewell to 2021" photo.  I guess I'm a glutton for punishment because I'm going too try the photo-a-day on flickr again starting tomorrow.  

In case you want to take a look, the address is www.flickr.com/photos/intheimage

 38/365

Cold Sunrise on the morning of Christmas Eve

A visit to Fairbanks, AK.  This morning it was -20 degrees, oh my goodness.  But as the sunrise began, the colors in the sky were beautiful.

It's supposed to warm up into the 30s in the next couple of days, but the forecast for those days is 100% chance of snow.  I don't know which I dislike more.....the cold when the roads are clear and it doesn't feel life-threatening to drive, or the warmer temps when the snow is falling and driving is a nightmare.

It's kind of a crapshoot.

 37/365   

I attended a flower photo workshop this past weekend where there was a lot of explanation, instruction, encouragement and flowers.

Flowers are expensive and then they die, so I usually don't buy them.

Also, I don't really have a place to set up for photographing them in my house, so it was fun to be at the workshop and be able to shoot whatever looked interesting.

This is one of my favorites, although I'm editing a few more.

 36/365    

Some of My Favorite Books

There have been other times when I've posted photos of a pile of books, but I decided to do it again because they were composed differently than this one.  

When I moved I got rid of most of my books and only brought my absolute favorites with me so I could read them again.  And read them again I did.

There's a new one on this shelf though.  "Bonhoeffer".  One of the best books I've read in a long while.  Full of the history of how Hitler took over Germany before and during WWII.  Bonhoeffer was a believing Christian who saw the writing on the wall almost immediately.  He became a pastor and spent many years teaching/preaching God's Word while at the same time being part of a group that attempted to assassinate Hitler.

All assassination  attempts failed and Bonhoeffer was ultimately put in prison and then a concentration camp where he was murdered only weeks before the war ended.

It's a history book that should be read by everyone, especially these days.  Be warned.

 35/365

Stair Step Fire Escape

The town/area I live in is photographically boring.  I've wandered around town many, many times looking for photo ops, usually without much success but today I was desperate enough to try again.

This is one of the structures I love, and I was there at just the right time this afternoon to capture this great shadow which helped make the image graphically appealing. 

34/365

In The Cool of the Morning

My new living space has a sweet little patio area off the dining room.  It's in the shade until about mid-day and it's been a pleasure to sit out there in the mornings while it's still cool.  

Today the high will be about 100, so I was happy to take advantage of the morning temps while I did my reading and watched one or two hummingbirds flit around the feeder. 

33/365

The New Plant

I just moved into a new place.  It's larger than the apartment I've been in and I'll be sharing it with two others.  One is a working woman and one is a college student soon to be entering her sophomore year.  I know them both from church.  It should be a good fit, although I've loved living alone and this will be quite a change.

Someone recently gave me a plant as a "housewarming" gift.  It's huge and it was originally a hanging basket.  It weighs a lot and I didn't want to go through the trouble of finding a good place to hang it so I took the hanger off it and put it on this plant stand I had.  I like the way it looks

The house is painted white inside.  I NEVER decorate with white, but for some reason I love the way this looks.  This beautiful lush green plant against white walls and curtains on the north-facing side of the house. Now...if I can  just keep the plant alive....

 32/365

Graduation Day

So in just about 3 heartbeats from the day he was born, he turned 18 and is graduating and will be leaving for college in about 2.5 months.  I guess the question is, "how did that happen?"

But it did happen and my daughter is dealing with ½ empty nest syndrome.  There's a sibling who will be graduating next year and also leaving home for college.

Even though he isn't very comfortable in front of the camera, he was very cooperative about me making the images.  What a sweet kid.

 31/365

Annual Rodeo

The Coleman Rodeo~~one of the only outdoor rodeos I know about. Both a blessing and a curse.  More light for photos (until the sun sets) but hot.  Indoor rodeo, much cooler but bad light.

It is what it is.  Fun either way.

30/365

A Hippo

Going to the zoo to photograph the animals requires patience..  Getting a good image is totally dependent on their activity and even if they're in their enclosure at all.  My local zoo makes it even more frustrating because I'm sure they gave less-than-zero thought to enclosing the animals so people could get good photographs.  

Anyway, this was the first time in a long time that this guy/girl made a public appearance, and there was no way I was going to just sit and wait for him/her to move.

So here you have it.

29/365

A Pile of Shredded Paper

I've been shredding paper for years, but I never thought of photographing it before.  I'm posting (or trying to post) a photo-a-day on my flickr page and I often fall behind because I just can't stay motivated to take a new photo each day.

Today, as I was thinking about how to stay current, I walked past my shredder and voila, I had an epiphany (I love that word) about the papers.  I know I'm not the only one who's had this idea, but it's new to me.  So there ya go.

 28/365

Annual Rodeo    

This is an old image from last year.  It was the first outdoor rodeo I attended and I loved it.  It started at 8 pm and was getting dark by 9 so there wasn't a lot of time to take photos during daylight. 

I'm looking forward to attending the same rodeo this year in just about 7 weeks especially since I hope to have a better lens this time.

27/365    

Lions in the Den

It was a cool and overcast day today, perfect for photographing anything, especially animals at the zoo.There are crazy fences around each enclosure and I don't have a lens that's long enough to zoom the fences completely out, so there's a little fence shadow going on.

But the lions are beautiful and three of them were gracious enough to pose on the platform long enough for me to get a couple of shots.

26/365

Iris and Texas Bluebonnets

Today I was walking in a neighborhood where I don't usually go.

I came across these flowers in the side yard of a home along the way.  What a beautiful oasis in the neighborhood.  I only had my phone with me, but I was happy to have even that when I saw this scene.

25/365 

Youth Hockey

Yesterday we did some team photos for the youth hockey league.  Who knew there was a hockey league in town?  My boss has lived here all his life and until he was contacted to do the photos, even he didn't know about the league.

Not a mask in sight!!  Thank God I live in Texas.

 24/365

A Boy and His Treasure

My grandson found this piece of grass in the yard the other day and decided it was a treasure worth keeping. He tucked it into his pocket and every once in a while he'd pull it out to look at it or show someone.  It was so cute.  

Little boys and their treasures are so adorable.

23/365

Running Water

Texas experienced an unprecedented cold spell a few weeks ago.  The temp went crazy low on Sunday, Feb 14.  My water stopped running that day.

Backstory: The tenant beneath me left his apartment for an extended visit to CA in mid-December.  When he left, he turned the thermostat off completely.  When the temps went below freezing, the pipes froze.

When the pipes froze, my water stopped.

When the temps went above freezing, the pipes burst.

 So many people in Texas were dealing with similar situations. Repairs took a while.  Repair materials were in short supply because of the increased demand.

Anyway, 19 days later my water was finally restored.  I have so many bragging rights from this experience, but I'm glad it's over.

22/365    

Trees at the Lake

Back in the day when film was transitioning to digital I was very resistant to the new "digital" stuff.  I loved negatives, actual prints and even the smell of developer and I didn't want to give that up.

I finally made the leap and during the following years began to appreciate the digital experience.

Today's field trip to a local state park reinforced that appreciation.  It's winter, so the trees are bare, bushes have no green leaves and everything looks dead. I went to the park mainly to get out of the house hoping  there would be something to photograph. 

Well...hummm, nope.  Not much to see & not much to photograph, but I was happy for  the time outdoors in the beautiful weather (even though cloudy) and the exercise.  I took 35 images.  I'll be trashing 33 of them.  And that's why I'm glad I have a digital camera now.  I can shoot with abandon even though I still  use discretion.  I don't have to worry about wasting film and paying for prints that will just go in the trash.

This is just about the best of the lot and I'm not super-impressed.

It was still a good day out.

21/365

The Quilt

A newly finished quilt for Quilts for Cops.  

I wanted to get a pic of this quilt that was a little more creative than just photographing it.  I did take those kinds of images but then decided to make this image.  

How appropriate to have a quilt at the ready at a fire pit.

20/365

The Hat on the Table

 I borrowed this hat to use for a photo session.  I think I'll probably try some other images in a day or two because this (and the others I made) are nothing to brag about.  

I really like the limited dof and the color pallet, otherwise no big deal.

19/365

A Rose is a Rose is a Rose...

I've been displaced from my home due to the water in my town being turned off because of the extreme cold temps and the inability of the infrastructure to keep up with the frigid temps.

I'm at my daughter's and I'm bored to tears.  It's too cold to go out to photograph, it's too ugly to go out and photograph and I have no inspiration to photograph.  This is an image from my files from a couple of weeks ago.  I made it into a double exposure and then into a "dreamscape".  It could probably use a little more emphasis on the "dreamy" but this is the best I could force myself to do right now.

I'd like to go to sleep and wake up in a couple of days to an apartment with running water again.  Thank God my power (stove and heat) never went off as it did in so many places in Texas.  One friend hasn't had power for over 60 hours.  Thankfully she has a lot of food staples and a wood burning fireplace in her living room.  

18/365

A Work In Progress

Many months ago I started these squares to use for a baby blanket, with no one in mind so there's no hurry to finish it.

In the meantime I got busy with other projects and just haven't gotten my umph back to finish it.  One of these days I'll get motivated.  I don't need very many more squares.

Then I'll have to spend some time figuring out the color combination and I'll be wondering why I didn't just make all the squares the same color.

17/365    

Reworked Image

 I made this image last fall.  I really like it even though everyone's back is to the camera.  It was obviously a candid shot, so there's no artificial posing happening.

Last night I decided to play a little and convert it to bw with isolated color.  I'm a huge fan of this kind of edit, but I had forgotten how to do it. Last night I was looking through one of my photo books that I hadn't seen in a while, and voila, there were the instructions.

It's so much easier than I remembered.

I can't wait till the weather warms up enough to start going to these events again.

15/365

Simple decor seen at a coffee shop today.  Definitely proves that less is more.  

I should have worked the subject more.  I might go back again.

It's been really cold here for the past few days.  We're expecting snow this weekend.  Probably not out of the ordinary for the north, but this is West Texas.  Thankfully a cold spell doesn't last long here, but still...it's weird.  

It's a good thing I brought some cold weather clothes with me when I moved here.  I'm not complaining~~this coming summer, when it's over 100 for weeks on end, I'll be longing for cooler temps.

14/365

Barrel Races

It was a beautiful day to be outside at such an event.  There were over 60 contestants. The first 8 or 9 were in the 8-and-under age category.

The first two images are of the younger contestants.

13/365

Girl's Night Out

It has been such a long time since we've declared a girl's night out.  Among the many reasons, people have kids who are being homeschooled, some work, schedules are difficult to coordinate.

All it takes is one to organize the night out, and in honor of several Feb birthdays, one person actually did take it upon herself to arrange the evening.

We need to do this more often.

 12/365

Yesterday (Sat) was a long day.  I didn't have any plans, and I didn't want to drive to get to someplace interesting but I really needed to get out of the house for a while.

There's a small man-made lake not too far from the house, with a small playground and a short walking trail.  I headed there hoping against hope to see something interesting.  This was about the best I could see.  

When I first got there, there weren't any children, but by the time I left there were several families and their kiddos were playing on the equipment.  I was glad I took the photo when I first got there.

                                                                                11/365                                                                                                                                                                Paint and Brushes   

It was a dreary day on the heels of 3-4 other dreary days.  I'm glad I'm on a roll with photographing still-life in my house.  It's challenging when you don't have many props in the house, but it's great when you have friends who can loan you objects to practice with.

I didn't spend much time on this one.  I should have started earlier in the afternoon, but I procrastinated a lot and only had about 40 minutes before I had to leave the house for Sunday Evening service. 

Still...I'm not terribly unhappy with this image.  I have a few more ideas that I'll try in the future, but this is it for today.  Acrylic paint with brushes against a pale pink watercolor background.

10/365

A little flat lay practice with the only nail polish I own.  I don't do colors.  I've been looking for the perfect "clear" polish.  I still haven't found it, but I'm not buying any more until I use these three up completely.  I can't believe how much nail polish costs these days.

9/365

These are pieces of the chess set I borrowed from a friend the other day.  I'm still working on adding funky backgrounds to some images.  I had this driftwood background in my files, so I tried playing around with it for these chess pieces.  

Editing was definitely a nightmare and it can't be enlarged too much without seeing the mistakes, but as a small image I think it's kind of interesting.  

 

Every time I practice with a process, I'm hoping I get a little better...and faster.

8/365

Chess Board

Confession:  I know NOTHING about chess other than that there are some very beautiful chess sets out there in chess-land.  Once upon a time many, many years ago I attempted to learn the game.  After leaning the absolute basics, I never pursued the game at all. 

It's just not anything I'm interested in.  

But...I am interested in photographing beautiful chess sets.  A friend from church told me she had this set and she was willing to loan it to me for a few days.  It's not over-the-top ornate, but being made out of marble it's very appealing.  

7/365

More from the Barrel Race...

 

6/365

Barrel Race

The competitors were so good.  It's heartbreaking to see a barrel get knocked over.

There were a lot of competitors in this event.  The horses are beautiful and it's pretty amazing to see them work as hard as they do to compete.

5/365

Bicycle

There's a small town not far from where I live that's so cute.  

All along the Main Street there are bicycles randomly placed in front of businesses.  Most of them are painted funky colors and it's fun walking along the street seeing them all.

 4/365

Bobcat in Captivity

The other day I went to the zoo with a friend and naturally we took our cameras with us.  It was very difficult to get shots of the animals since the enclosures were all surrounded with black wire fencing with small spaces.  I had the long lens on the camera which blurred out the fence pretty well depending on how far away from the fence the animals were.

This bobcat was the perfect model and there's no sign of the fence.  The animal stayed on the perch for quite a while, moving a little, stretching a little, yawning...  In other words it was the perfect model and what a beautiful one.

 3/365

An old file worked with a new background.

2/365

 The other day I found a couple of photos in my files that I made a few years ago that were images of sections of an old fashioned transcript that I intended to use for a background.

I totally forgot about them until just the other day.

I thought the egg basket with eggs would be perfect with the handwritten document as a background.

It took forever to edit this with layers, but I really like it.  I suppose a process like this won't take as long after some significant practice. But actually, even just a year ago I wouldn't have attempted this, so I guess I'm making progress.

1/365

January 1, 2021

When I was in high school I read the book "1984".  That was so far in the future it was beyond my comprehension that we would ever get to that year (really...it was only 20 years in the future).  Not only did I think that 20 years was forever, but I also thought the events in the book could NEVER come true.  

Well, here we are 56 years later and events today are looking more and more like we're living in the book. 

All of that has nothing to do with my post today.

I'm feeling motivated to take my photography and editing to a new level the way I was never interested in before, or actually that I never thought I could do before.  Even so, it's pretty elementary, but it all takes perseverance and determination to work at learning the skills.   

Where I live is pretty ugly and I'd have to travel to find anything interesting to photograph, so I've been concentrating a little more on still life and trying to learn how to apply textured backgrounds.

These are the same books as in the previous post, just a different set-up.  They've been my favorites for many years and I kept them with the thought that I wanted to read them again.  After I moved I did just that.  I read them all (including ones not in the photo) again.  And....I was correct. My memory served me well because they really are my favorites.