Decorations

Each year I have to decide whether to decorate for Christmas or just leave it alone. This year I got motivated... even put out the lighted houses. Another thing I used to collect. And they all needed new bulbs. What are the odds?

Not paying attention

I was feeling blue this morning; no energy - not emotionally or physically. But there were things to be done, so I headed outside to take care of them. The camellia bush caught my eye - it was full of blossoms. I'm sure it didn't happen overnight. The buds must have been there for days at least. But I had walked past them many times and never noticed. Shame on me. They buoyed my spirits dramatically. 

As I think about it, I might have been preoccupied with leaves lately.

Phone Photography

The primary reason I choose the LG G4 phone was the manual mode for the camera. Settings such as shutter, ISO, WB, can be adjusted. The two photos below show the difference between the auto (left) and manual modes (right).

Follow the Fall

The autumn color is coming in small doses. I'm going to take a short trip to the Smokies and hopefully the color there will be more widespread. Last year we went at the end of October and it was past peak. And it snowed. Nature has its own timetable and planning an excursion is hit-or-miss at best.

If I only had some sunshine...

A few pics taken with the 60mm. I haven't had enough natural light to shoot myself in the foot, let alone take decent photos. 

I think it's going to be good. :)

Autumn Rain

This far, Autumn has been wet. Misty. Rain-soaked. Not at all sunny.

Macro Queen

I've decided to add the 60mm lens to my Fuji. I've had the Nikon 60mm on my D700 90% of the time. Macro's appeal to me more than land/seascapes or people... so. Hopefully, it will be a good choice for me.

Note: This image was not taken with the 60mm.

Autumn

First

Mom would say...

Get some fresh air.

I miss my mother every day, but maybe more so on Sundays. We would often call each other on Sunday. And of course, back in the days when we lived nearby, there were the Sunday dinners.

But I most miss my mother's advice. We didn't agree on everything; I hated that she watched FOX News too much. But she could tell just by hearing my voice, if something was troubling me. 

So, now I have to try to imagine what her advice would be. Sometimes it's easy. Other times... I just wish I could pick up the phone and call her.

August ends on a rosy note

August... Hot, new fridge, new phone, family visit, power outages, and did I mention hot?

Summer goes on and on

And on.

R.I.P. Maxtor One Touch III

My original external hard drive died. I had to take my desktop PC to the shop to have a virus removed and when I reconnected everything, the drive wasn't being recognized. Tried to hook it up to my laptop - no luck. I had stopped backing up to this drive years ago, but I occasionally went looking for an old photo and found it there. 

Took it to the repair guy and he couldn't get it to work either. "It's the controller", he said. "Maxtor went out of business after being sued for lost data." Wonderful. He said he could 'try' to open it up and rebuild something-something... a 35% chance of getting any data back. Since this was not critical data that would stop me in my tracks, I opted not to spend the money. If a particular photo was good enough, I had probably uploaded it to Pbase, I reasoned. Most of what was on the drive was also backed up on CDs. It's a pain in the arse to go through stacks of discs, but if I had to, I could.

Enter this photo, from December 2001:

One of my favorites. I managed to find the backup disc and copied it to my desktop. Now I need to get it onto my new 2TB external drive.  sigh

While I was at it, I brought this one over as well. Also from December 2001:

And now I want to book a vacay at the beach...

Next?

I watched an American Masters program yesterday on Harper Lee. It was fascinating. One of the things that stuck in my mind was part of a letter she wrote to a friend, where she listed some ideas for future books. As far as we know, none of them made it to paper. 

I'm having mixed feelings about reading "Go Set a Watchman". I have read that she is not the one who brought this long lost manuscript out of its hiding place. She is in a nursing home now and I kind of want to respect her wishes re: this book. If she had wanted it published, she had lots of opportunities to do so. 

But I digress... it was the list of possible projects that stayed with me. 

After attending LOOK3 a couple of years ago, I had an idea for a compilation of my photos taken from my car - "Auto Focus". When I got home, I pulled a few files together and then promptly forgot all about it. After the  LOOK3 festival in June, I revived the idea, went through hundreds of images and created "Auto Focus". I like it; mostly because it represents me completing a project! I'm not happy with Lulu.com's current book software. It used to be easier and allowed more control over the appearance of the finished product. Now, they want you to use your own program and upload it to them for printing. 

Anyway... I pushed through and have a book in my hands.

Note: I've published photo books before but they were based on existing projects - Photo-a-Day or SoFoBoMo. 

Moving On

The Tea Cup photos are no more. Over the years, I've captured dozens of birds perched on the rim of a fancy (and sometimes not so fancy) cup & saucer. I tried to locate a photo of the first tea cup feeder that I received as a gift. No luck. It was a pretty accent to the garden and the birds seemed to like them so my husband built many more over the years from cups and saucers that had been packed away in boxes in the basement. I'm sure the squirrels were always stealing the seeds, but it became more obvious to me when two feeders were positioned in front of my office window; all the better to grab a photo and I did... many times. Then... the squirrels seemed to take over and as fast as I filled them, the cups were empty. And the only photo ops were the ass-end of a rodent with his head buried in the cup. I used Google to find something to keep them away and found a solution that worked for a while... Vaseline & cayenne pepper slathered on the pole. The squirrels couldn't get a grip and they disliked the pepper. The birds weren't affected because they landed directly onto the cup/saucer. This worked for quite a while.  Then... the squirrels began jumping. From the sidewalk to the cup... not touching the pole at all. Not one to give up easily (it's a trait that causes me much anguish at times), I bought a longer/taller pole. Tried it yesterday and as I was unable to pound it far enough into the soil, it tipped over as thieves tried to get to the top... I give up. No more tea cup feeders. It was fun while it lasted.

Fathers Day

My Dad. As I've written here before, he died when I was young - 16.  And he was young - 43. I can't remember his voice but I can remember riding from the funeral to the cemetery and wishing I could be anywhere or anyone else. He died in Florida but was buried in upstate New York, where we were from. I assume his coffin was transported by train, but I don't remember any of those details. 

He loved living in Florida, although he died within a couple of years after moving there; just months after we had moved into a brand new home. 

I miss him.

Testing, Testing

The LOOK3 festival was a good test of my new camera bag. I intentionally bought a bag that was just big enough for my camera. I already have enough bags that are big enough to hold camera, lenses, and the kitchen sink. Although at times I struggled  to put my camera back into the bag while walking, it passed. There's no room for anything but the essentials,  but that was what I wanted. The clasp was stubborn a few times but I think I can live with it once I have more miles on it.

Now... my badge. I don't know why I wrote "F. White" instead of "Faye", which is what I wrote the last three times I attended LOOK3... Let me over think this for a while.

Photo Heaven

This must be it. Immersed in the photographic visions of artists from around the globe. The diversity of projects has my mind racing and I always come away inspired and refreshed... photographically.  :)

Road Show

Getting ready to go to the LOOK3 Festival this week in Charlottesville, VA. I'm taking one camera and one lens. I'm quite happy with both the Fuji X-T1 and the 18-135 lens. I might add a macro lens later, but it's not critical at the moment. When I return, I need to purchase a quick release plate, but again, it's not urgent. Better to have it when I need it though, so it's the next item on my list.

The LOOK3 Festival has a "Your Space" exhibition where you can bring a photo file and Canon USA will make a complimentary print to add to the exhibition. The first time I attended, I chose this photo (bottom).

It was hung again the following year - to my surprise and glee. :)

 I'm kind of at a loss as to which photo to take this year.  

Fuji Redux

Fuji is my camera once again.  I owned two Fuji DSLRs before switching to Nikon.  I don't think anyone does color better than Fuji. 

Ready, Aim...

Trying to devise a storage solution for cameras. There was one on my desk, one on top of the printer, and one on top of the rolltop desk (right behind me). I don't want to put them away... in camera bags... out of sight. The number of things that I keep within arms reach might suggest an "out of sight, out of mind" mentality. Am I afraid that if the effort to retrieve a camera is more than two steps I will never take a photo? 

I thought about hanging them in the closet; but Sofia might think they are for her amusement. For the time being, they are all gathered on the top shelf of the rolltop desk. Except for the one in my purse. And there's a new one on the way... a camera, not a purse. I'm working towards becoming purseless, but that's a story for another day.

Reservation Reservations

Thanks to a FB friend, I discovered this week that I can indeed travel legally to Cuba. I have wanted to go there for a long time but never thought I would be able to make the trip. There are restrictions for Americans of course, but I have decided to go while I can.

I have gone back and forth. Go? No go? Asking the universe to give me a sign. (there were several). I was all "YES" mid-week, then yesterday I felt very old and alone and I was leaning towards "NO". Nothing about the trip itself concerns me; it's my stamina. Can I keep up with my knee issues?Everything feels pretty good now, but I never know about tomorrow. But no one has any guarantees for tomorrow. 

I have become so cautious in my old (ha ha) age. I was much more impetuous when I was younger. I suppose we all were. Then when things go awry or we find that not everything we try is successful, we begin to take a moment before jumping into the deep end.

So there it is. Cuba, late November. I will be there on December 1.

Searching

I really must make a point of posting my thoughts here on a regular basis. I am participating in an Instagram project #aprillove2015, and today's topic was a "life changing book". Well, that concept baffles me. So many things have influenced my life that to put it all down to one book... ? How could that be possible?

My initial thought was to just skip today, but I came here and searched my posts for "book". I found several references, but nothing that I had described as "life changing". The closest was this book, so I used it as my Instagram photo today. This is what I wrote:

"While there is no single book that has changed my life (in fact, the premise baffles me), this book was a compilation of photos made after my husband's passing. It helped me to get through the grieving process... as much as anything could at least."

I haven't opened the book today. I can't. Too much sadness in those memories. Sadness comes easily enough; I don't need to go searching for it.

#DearMe

I found this on Google "#DearMe: What advice would you give your younger self?" 

#DearMe: You're going to end up living alone, with cats, making scarecrows...

#DearMe: Believe in yourself

#DearMe: Have more children

#DearMe: You will make good decisions and you will make bad decisions. Move on. Don't hang around, trying to figure out what YOU did wrong. Let go.

#DearMe: Travel more. Take better care of your body. Learn several languages.

Deja Vu

Once again... four cameras to get the shot as I saw it... this time, the Leica was the winner. 

On a different topic: February was not kind to my health. It seemed at times that I was falling apart. On the mend now though and hope to continue that trend. Making plans for Tybee Island later this month. Spring. I need Spring.

If you could see what I see...

I noticed a lone pink cloud in the early sky this morning. Not really a cloud, but a jet contrail that was high enough in the sky to catch the rising sun. I wanted to take a photo, from the warmth of my office. I tried four cameras - my phone (Samsung), an Olympus E-M10, a Nikon D700 and a Leica D-LUX 4. None of them captured what I saw. The closest was the OLY. So, here is the shot; I still had to bump up the saturation in order to match what I saw. This is sad.

Update: I guess it should be enough just to enjoy the pink cloud.

What tales will be told when the year is done?

It's one thing to make plans for the coming year, quite another to acknowledge that there will be surprises and unexpected events. I could never have guessed a year ago what 2014 would bring; good and bad, ups and downs. But - that's life, right? If we knew what was ahead... well, I believe that it's better we don't. I've shared this quote before but it still rings true: The earth was made round so that we can't see too far down the road. (that may not be the exact quote, but you get the idea)

I will say that most of the extra good stuff that happened for me last year was a direct result of my good decisions and perseverance to get things done. Lesson learned: trust my instincts more often.

On a less positive note, I seemed to flounder in my photography. I felt ambivalent most of the time. Although I was satisfying my creative appetite through other avenues (e.g. painting), I missed making photographs that moved me. It came home to roost when I sat down to compile photos for my calendar. Whereas I usually have trouble choosing just twelve from my yearly crop, this time I couldn't put together a dozen that I was wild about. Very sad for me. So I've committed to another photo-a-day project for 2015. I need the pressure, apparently.