Little Scraps of Magic

This Is What I Know...Making a List!

Over at Artsyville, it's "List It Tuesday" once again, and although the kind folks there are quick to reassure me that I don't need to post on Tuesday, and that since I have all week to post, I'm really not late...well, the teacher in me says if I don't do this on Tuesday, I really am late. So, notice, please, I am on time this week! (It may not happen again any time soon...)

We've been given free rein this week, so I thought I'd revisit "This Is What I Know."

1. I'm happiest wandering about with a camera, focusing on what ever might catch my attention....the roots of an onion (cool surreal photo) or rusty bikes at the shore (to the bewilderment of 2 teen age boys). Doesn't matter one bit!

2. Photoshop is a wonderful thing. I get lost in it, playing for hours, pushing the envelope, just to see what happens, 'cause, you see, there's always the "undo" button. Wouldn't life be wonderful, if we could just hit that undo button once in a while?

3. I love vanilla spice lattes. Love them.

4. McKay's used book store is saving me a fortune.

5. When there's a two year old or four year old boy, or both, in my house, and it gets quiet, I better check on what's going on and quickly. Noise is wonderful because I know what they're up to.

6. I am going to the beach over Presidents' Day weekend, and if all goes well, I'm going whale watching with my husband and my sister. And, I get to play with my new wide angle lens. Since I really love my sister, I will let her play with the lens as well, and then I bet, she figures out a way to get one soon as well.

7. I need to stay out of "Chico's." I find way too much to buy in that place.

8. My husband is an awesome cook, whether it's homemade soup and bread or it's cookies. He does it all and does it well.

9. I love middle schoolers. They make some folks shudder, but all in all we have a blast. Right now they are humoring me and seriously trying to figure out how to calculate rates, bases, and percentages. No kidding!

10. Teaching ancient history is suitably gross enough to capture those same middle schoolers' attention.

11. I work with an awesome group of people.

12. I miss journaling and need to get back to it.

13. I need to win the lottery so I can quit, shoot pictures, write in my journals, and oh, maybe once in awhile, clean my house. Notice what's at the end of my list.

14. My daughter and I are taking a photography class together beginning in April. Yay!

Brown Paper Packages

Well, not quite brown paper packages - more like clear cellophane tied with a glittery ribbon. I had a great deal of fun playing with it in photoshop, and it will be finding its way into my journal as a background....ideas swirling in this head of mine! I'm rather liking the "abstaction" part of it!

 

Bokeh, Backgrounds, and More

Bokeh magic! Yesterday, a few of my partners in crime and I wandered over to the gem show. One of them makes the most gorgeous jewelry, and the resto of us? Wanna be jewelry makes, or at the very least, wanting to do something with beads! Since jewelry making and I aren't the best of buds, I cheerfully enjoyed photographing the textures, colors, and light bouncing off the beads. And, yes, quite a few ideas are swirling about in my brain, ways to use beads, incorporate them into my photography, into my journals, but not, mind you, make jewelry with them. I'll let my partner handle that end!

Strands of dyed pearls and other beads...can you see me?

Gorgeous! There's got to be something I can do with this in my journals, or maybe with some artist transfer paper? Hmmmm.........the wheels are turning.

Lovin this as well, almost an abstract, and background material, I think!

More possibilities to play with...

And, last, but not least, I didn't get to post last week, being in the middle of our accreditation process at school, but I'd like to share a bit of "Deck the Halls" or in this case, "Deck out the Present You are Wrapping," which gives me great delight!

Little bits of everyday magic to savor!

Photo Heart Connection, November 2012

Her face draws me in, heart and soul; she looks so unsure of herself, as if she's asking, "How did I get into this? How do I care for someone so important?"

She looks as if she knows what's coming, as if she knows that she will not always be able to protect her son.

She looks tired, weary, scared, unsure of herself.

She looks like I feel.

I love renditions of Mary, whether in the form of a painting, a sculpture, or a mosaic. I envy her the serenity that she always seems to exude, but she seems a bit unreal. I see her kneeling by her newborn babe, calm, well rested and not a bit mussed.

And, I think, she had to be tired, worn out, dirty from her journey. She had to be scared and unsure. And, it seems to be an unattainable goal for me to be like her...if she could be so perfect after all that happened, why is it that I get so frazzled when the copier won't work?

So, I'm drawn to this image; it seems so real to me, her uncertaintity, her weariness. I can relate to this Mary so easily; she's a bit frazzled herself.

This is my heart-photo connection for November.

 

Silence is Golden

Noise fills my life - the laughter of grandchildren, middle schoolers during the day, and critters wanting to be fed. Good noise, no doubt...but at times, I crave quiet.

Each November, we take our sixth graders here, and it never fails to delight. Eyes follow the arches and spires up, up, up to the heavens. A hush settles over everyone as they slowly spin in circles trying to draw it all in. We're lost in time and space, not knowing where to look first.

The curves of the arches delight me, and I never grow weary of trying to capture the magic. I took well over 200 photos, experimenting with f stops and aperatures, trying to wean myself off auto focus, sometimes with more success than others.

The quiet fills you and settles you somehow, and for that I am grateful.

 

 

Remembering

"To Do" lists dance across my mind in endless loops.

So much to do, and every item on the list screams, "Me first! I absolutely must be first. I have to get done now!"

But, here's what I need to remember..

It's never ever going to all get done, and often, other than making someone frown because it didn't get done, nothing much happens. Well, except for the guilt trip I lay on myself.        

And, what I really really should remember is this:     

I need to get outside and move my body.

I need to breathe in some fresh air and clear the cobweb and to do lists from my mind.  

I need to remember that beauty can still be found in dwindling sunlight and in shades of brown and gray.

To use a cliche, I need to remember this: to simply just "BE."

 

                                          

A November Afternoon

Assignment: Photograph November

Thoughts: I am sick of leaves.

So, on went the gypsy shoes and we headed out to Great Falls Park and found it in a little boy skipping rocks.

Disclaimer: I have no idea who these folks might be, but when I saw boy + rocks + water, I knew I only had to wait for the shot.

I added a bit of sepia and then blended the opacity back to just get a hint of soft color. I'm loving it!

We had a glorious day with sunshine and temps in the 60s, ending with a late lunch at "The New Angler's Inn." Crabcakes and a glass of chardonnay...yum!

P.S. Ended up photographing some leaves anyway!

 

Portrait of the Mad Hatter

For Focus 52's week 48, we were encouraged to create something "spooky." Jan provided some wonderful links for nighttime photography and such, but Hurricane Sandy got in the way of any attempts to try this out.

By this past Saturday, officials highly encouraged all Halloween decorations to be brought inside. Even the tiniest pumpkin transforms into a flying projectile with the aid of hurricane force winds. By the same evening, the rain poured down, and continued through Tuesday.

Nope, driving rain and hurricane force winds equals finding a Plan B.

So, instead I fiddled with a photo taken Halloween night, attempting a "spooky" feeling. Not awesome, but not so bad either!

 

 

Something Wicked This Way Comes

Loose objects with the potential of becoming flying hazards have been safely stowed in the shed.

The last gallons of water to be found in the DC metro area reside in a corner of my dining room.

Crackers also seem to be a scarce commodity!

All that's left now is to wait for Sandy to arrive, and she's steadily making progress our way.

Spotted these fine fellows, oblingingly posing for Focus 52's, "All in a Row," in Old Town Alexandria, VA, yesterday afternoon. Armed with my husband's back as a human tripod, and my telephoto lens, I snapped away.

The original shots are pretty "blah." Black birds against a gray sky hold very little excitement, but with a bit of texturizing, pretty cool...kind of a cross between spooky and vintage.

Now, off to do some lesson plans, on the off chance, I do find myself in school tomorrow! Report card entries need to be finished up as well.

Autumn Light

Driving home last night, we watched the dark gray clouds pile onto each other, forming a solid oppressive blanket across the sky.

How long would it be until we needed to close the window?

Not long as it turned out, and within just minutes of home, the rain tumbled down, gathering momentum, until I groaned, and wondered why it couldn't have waited just a few minutes longer.

Even as I scrambled out the car door and hurried up the walk, I knew I'd be taking out the camera.

Run, run, run, trying to dodge most of the drops.

Tossing down my school bags, looking up to see the most glorious light coming through our tiny narrow window.

I love tiny bottles, especially those with a hint of color. The tallest of these stands no more than 6 inches high, the smalles about 3. Insignificant most days...I barely notice them.

Yesterday, though, the radiated with the soft light coming through them. No time for the tripod, the light was fleeting. I knelt on our bed and snapped quickly, struggling with the focus, and finally remembering how to shift it out of the center, so the bottles themselves would be in focus. (Hint to self: practice this!)

I could hear my dad's voice, "It's all about the light." He'd go on and on about the light, and for the longest time, I just didn't get it - not the bit about the light, or shutter speed, or anything else. I was a point, shoot, click kinda gal, who always wondered why the photos didn't capture what I saw. I'm really wishing now that I could let dad know, that I'm beginning to "get it."

I had to wait out the rain, constantly checking to see if it had stopped, and hoping that it would before the light faded.

Mother Nature cooperated; I still had to dodge the drops falling from the tree branches, and I had to deal with wet jeans resulting from kneeling on a sodden lawn. Worth it? You bet!

Mother Nature, you put on quite the show!