18/365   Small Texas town farm store 

I made this image a while ago but I like it.  Since I have nothing new, I decided to post this one.  Small town Texas grain store.

 17/365    Shadow Abstract on a Rug

While sitting in the waiting room waiting for a friend to see her chiropractor, I noticed this pattern of shadow & light coming through the window blind.  

16/365   Santa's Workshop

The local Y has decorated a little for the Christmas Season.  I thought it was cute and it's just enough.

 15/365     Less Is More

I bought this a couple of months ago.  I love it.  It's so simple and looks so real, it makes me feel so peaceful when I look at it.  It's definitely a case of "less is more".  I figured I could occasionally put one or two small flowers in with the leaves, but I haven't done so yet.  Unlike buying flower displays, this one isn't obviously seasonal, so I can leave it out year round.

 14/365      Old Theater Seats

I traveled to another town today to photograph the Christmas decorations, but alas, the town wasn't decorated yet.  So I spent some time walking around to see what I could see and I came across these old theater seats in a back alley.  Just enough grunge for me.

 13/365   The Christmas Tree

Every year the town puts up a large Christmas Tree in front of the Convention Center.  This year it's in front of the County Building because there's some construction for a new hotel near the Convention Center.  It's really beautiful.  I should have stayed a little later so the sky would have been more blue, but I didn't feel like it.  It was a beautiful 75 degrees so it was really fun photographing the tree in summer-like weather.  

12/365  Watching the Parade

So here in Abilene the Christmas Parade didn't start until 6:30.  Word was that there were almost 200 entries, so needless to say, it was a loooong parade.  When it started it was about 75 degrees, but by the time it ended it was much cooler and the wind was blowing, so not a pleasant end to the event.

I'm not a fan of nighttime photography but since my photo club decided it would be a good thing to attend the parade and try to photograph it, I tried.  But really, I deleted all the images I took because they were just plain awful.  All except this one of this couple watching the parade.  I don't love the image, but it's the only one that's halfway decent.  

 

 11/365    The Sink

I spend a god deal of time in this downtown building.  The upstairs now houses three photographers, a massage therapist a couple of offices and other business, but once upon a time there was an artist or two.  This sink is left over from those days gone by.

 10/365    Key Holder

I've always wanted a key holder.  Yup, how ridiculous that I've wanted one of these and never had one in my entire life.  When I moved into this house, I asked the caretaker to put it up for me and silly as it sounds, I'm really enjoying it.  No more wondering where the keys are, no more looking for them, and if my roommate needs to move my car for any reason, she knows exactly where the keys are.  It's definitely a win/win/win situation. 

I just love how sometimes it's the really little things that can give such joy.

9/365                The Mermaid

So...it's been such a long while since I've posted.  Unbelievably,  I've almost forgotten about my blog.  The days when I posted everyday or even once a week are long gone.  I've been concentrating on Flickr and Fine Art America right now.  Also, I still struggle with what to take photos of.  

Years ago when my friends and I challenged each other to post every day, I forced myself to photograph any ordinary things within my vision. I should probably just do that again instead of waiting for inspiration, which seldom provokes me to photograph these days.  There are about 34 days until the end of the year~~maybe that's what I'll do.  Take a photo of anything, post it and add a little text about why I thought that item was worthy.

But here's today's image.  I took a trip to San Angelo, Texas a few weeks ago.  They have a River Walk and this mermaid statue is one of the destinations along the way.  She intrigues me every time I see her.

 8/365

The Local FireHouse

So it's almost the end of September and this is only my 8th post of the year.  Whaaat???

Fact is I just don't have any inspiration and I don't feel like I have much to say and I don't have any followers. So I basically just forget about the blog.  But once in a while I remember and then feel stupid for forgetting and not posting. 

Several years ago some friends and I made a pact to post a pic a day.  We did that for a couple of years, then we decided one pic a week would work and then we just decided to call it quits.  It's been difficult to keep this going with no motivation.  I actually now have a collection of images I can post, so maybe I'll remember and can post for a couple of weeks almost every day.

Anyway, here's my image for today.  I might just get up to 10 for the year, hahaha.

I made this one today.  I was walking around town in an area I don't usually walk around in and I came across the local fire department.  I started out by just photographing the outside of the building, then I walked around back.  The doors were open, I told them I was taking pics and they invited me in and let me shoot to my heart's content.  

Kudos to these guys.  These first-responders, paid or volunteers, are amazing.  I promised I'd send them some of the images.

 7/365

Reworked Work

I recently listened to the blog post of a working photographer.  He emphasized that we should occasionally go back to previous images, chose one we may have overlooked and rework it.

I took that to heart and found this image from Jan 2021.  I changed it up a little from the original and this is the result.  

I would rather post brand new images, but there aren't many to be had around here.  Spring hasn't completely sprung yet and it's pretty ugly around here even at the best of times.  I keep trying to find new images though, but going back and reworking older images might be a "thing to do" when I'm feeling hopeless about making new work.

 6/365

An Ordinary Thing

A friend took me to the location of a defunct  power plant yesterday.  I couldn't get as near to it as I wanted because of the chain link fence surrounding it, and alas, there were no openings through which to crawl closer.

 I saw this fire hydrant and tried to make something interesting out of it.  Not sure "interesting" is the best word for it, but I like the matching colors of the hydrant, the grass and the building in the background, and as always, I love shooting through chain link.

5/365

An abandoned home on a rural road in Texas.  The winter landscape makes it look even more abandoned and forsaken.

4/365

Silos in Black and White

I decided to stop off in a little town on my way home from an event the other day.  I've been there before and there isn't much to photograph, but hope springs eternal.  

I love these silos and even though I have many images of them, I still make more when I'm there. This time my edit was a little different.  Black and white and a blue sky with clouds.  I love selective color and I really  like the way this turned out.

Hmmmm, 76 days into the year and this is only post 4.  I'm behind on flickr too, but not as behind as here.

Oh well....

3/365

The Annual Rattlesnake Roundup

When I first heard about this Roundup a couple of weeks ago, I thought  they were pulling my leg?  Really?  A rattlesnake roundup????

Well, rattlesnakes are dangerous and they are over populated in Texas and they are NOT endangered.  If you encounter one, feel free to kill it or it might just kill you.  

We got there in the morning.  The  awards ceremonies weren't happening until the afternoon, and when you're with three littles, hanging around anywhere for too long is just too long.  So we walked around the pavilion, got some great carny food and then visited the next pavilion where there seemed to be about an hundred more vendors.  Then we left.  Before the awards.  Awards for:  longest snake, most weight of snakes, beard (probably longest, thickest, or whatever), etc.  

It was interesting, so now I can say: "been there, done that" and unless I'm compelled by photographer friends to go again, I won't have to go back for several years, if ever.  Just sayin'

 2/365

Closed for the Day by Sunset

So here it is, the middle of March and it's only the second time I've posted this year.  I need a shot of umph to get me going.

As I was walking around downtown yesterday, I came across this business that was already closed for the day.  I don't even know what the business is because there isn't a name on the window or the building.  But I could see the shadow of what appears to be a conference table and chairs right inside the door and then a beautiful neon heart decoration.

Nothing spectacular about the image, I just like the lighting, the graphic look and the less-is-more of the structure. One of these days I'll ask a local if they know what the business is.  

 1/365--2022

Keys

I seriously failed to post a photo-a-day on my flickr page for 2021.  It was disappointing, but totally my fault...laziness, lack of inspiration, just-don't-care, nothing interesting to photograph--all very weak excuses for not keeping up.  Really, how difficult is it to take one photo a day a post it?

So I started again for 2022, this time with a list of January prompts from a random site.   8 days into it, it's going well, hahaha.  I didn't like the prompt for today and as I was looking around for a possible photo op, I spied these keys.  

So this is the photo for day 8/365 on flickr. The keys belong to "G" and I just liked the way they were clustered around.  I used a wide angle lens and tried to get as much limited depth-of-field as possible. 

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.