13 posts tagged “photowalk”

This is something I have a hard time with, focusing.
I ramble, I stray, I get distracted. Today I am shooting the newborn. Lily, was born yesterday. C section, Lily was too big to fit through the pelvic bone. She was over 9lbs. What was I talking about? Oh yeah, focusing!
I need to focus and really concentrate on the shot, SEE the background. Pay attention to more than the face. I hope she is in a room with a large window. My indoor lighting SUCKS!!!! I don't know lighting yet. I am hoping my class will teach me something.

My class starts in two weeks. Same teacher as I have had so far. I think I would benefit from a more structured class though, you see, he is rambley like me. This is not good for my education, but I like the guy personally, Nice Guy! Ha! My friend from the other classes is in this one as well. I am a part of a local photography group, they just adopted a once a month date to meet and learn from each other, critique class. I had to miss the first class for my nieces birthday party. But one of the gals in the group offered to pick me up for the next one. I am totally taking her up on that. I am going to put myself out there, I am sure these people are kind and will be so helpful. I want to learn, and I learn best from other people. I am also going to ask for someone to help me get to know my flash, I have no idea how that thing works. It frustrates me, so I dont use it. 

Ramble Ramble Ramble... what shall I say next...
well, maybe goodbye for now, I need to shower, I am offensive.

Compliment of the day:
Lavender.... um ..... Lavender you have grown a lot in the last two years. :D
Thank you! I am definitely a work in progress.

Hahah! I was not sure I was going to find something nice to say to myself. The truth is that I feel like I have come into a period in my life where I learn SO much about myself and where I sit in the world. I remember the last time I learned this much about myself was when I moved out on my own for the first time. I am in that period again, and I love it this time. I am opening myself up for all the lessons and getting to know who I am at age 35. I am quite a bit different than I was at age 19 when I moved out on my own. Thank goodness for that. I was an annoying know it all then, now I am ...probably an annoying know it all.

 I am SO sore from Yoga last night, she really knows how to work us without letting us on to realize we are working out, I think my yoga instructor might just have an evil streak in her.....my shoulders and neck are Killing Me!!! She was teaching a pose and we held a block with our knee into the wall and my back leg was shaking! Begging for mercy!!!! Her calm soft lovely voice describing waterfalls and hearts opening up to heaven, My mind loves that but my body knows it is being tricked! Haha! by the end of the workout my body was shivering like a noodle!!! I will continue, I need some serious strength training. I need to work on stretching my hamstrings so that I can sit up straight without rounding it to be able to, and possibly begin to fold forward at some point.

I went back to the concrete art center yesterday to try a couple different angles I wished I had tried before. Talked to the owner and gave him a card with one of the images on the front I shot last week. He is interested in using my images on the web site in exchange for being able to shoot his statues. I will get my name and web
                                                                                          address on the site. I am excited about this. ;-) It is not for reals money, but it gets my name out there and something on some sort of a resume if I should have one of those one day.

So on with my day I guess, I am so sleepy. I need more coffee.......................YAWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Compliment of the day:

Lavender, you are very approachable and nice.
Well Thank You Me!

I am the one people stop to ask directions, to smile at, to make small talk with, I have something about me that makes people feel like I am safe and nice. So My list today for tuesday is the good and bad of being nice to people. ;-)

Bad:
1. I am always the "gate" while waiting in a long line, in crowded areas when there are bunches of people trying to get through a line, they scan the people in line and decide that I make a good person to cut through to get to the other side, this results in my toes getting stepped on, to smell some not so smelly good people (outdoor concerts I am talking to you!), and some poeple who think if they chat with me for a minute they can cut right in front of me.

2. People in crowded places like a concert, feel it is okay to break into the bubble of my personal space, like a gal who was sitting so close to me on a bench that my ass was being pinched under her ass, which means she was sitting on my ass! Or the gal who thought I was ready to be molested in the crowd, she was VERY close behind me and I was too nice to tell her to back off and by not stating this gave her the right to reach her hands around and try to grab my crotch! Whoa! I grabbed her hand and told her to keep her hands to herself! She moved on.

3. being nice to people means I get cornered by someone who is delighted I made eye contact and smiled so they begin to ramble on and on about things I really cannot understand, seriously, I don't understand most of the rambles! Or, someone shares something they are proud of that they really should not be, like the guy in the grocery line ahead of us saying that he goes on vacation with the money he gets for housing foster children. I wanted to throttle him but, I am nice.

Good:
1. I meet lots of amazing people
2. People are nice to me!
3. I get a senior discount on things like dinner and groceries because I am kind, I remember doing that for nice people when I worked at BK.
4. If I am returning something to a store, or asking for a special order at a restaurant, I always get what I want and easily because I am nice. My step mom usually throws a huge fit and they always drag their feet with her, and I am sure she has eaten a spitter or two while eating out
5. Laughing comes easier when you are smiling already
6. I get to go in peoples back yards and into their yard while taking pictures, I get better shots because I am not threatening
7. I get the best customer service wherever I go, seriously, the BEST!

So my sister in law called yesterday, first time since the camping outing where her BOYfriend had a gun. She wants to hire me as a gift for her friend who is pregnant, she wants me to take portraits of her friend with her pregnant belly and the father as well. I can do that! I get paid too! I hope the weather holds, or at least does not rain when we plan on doing it, because I don't have lights or knowledge for indoor lighting yet.

I made a great joke proving that I can be just as crass as the dudes yesterday. Mr. Lavenders cousin and friend came over to put a few more vents in our roof (they are roofers) I could not remember where Mr. Lavender wanted the vents, so I had to call him, and he said one abobve the laundry room, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. I repeated the locations to Cousin and added because it gets really steamy in the bedroom. I hear Mr. Lavender laughing in my ear and Cousin was laughing so hard I thought he was going to fall off the roof. It just made cousins friend sad as he is single. I hang out with dudes too much.

Compliment of the day:
Lavender Dear, You have nice hair
Thanks Me, it took me a while to see that.

I have naturally curly hair, not really really curly, just soft curls, a bit more than waves. When I was a toddler, my hair was blond as any hollywood actress now and I had perfectly formed ringlets all around my head. I was a cute toddler. Now my hair is a shade of red, blond, brown, and now some silver. I have decided at this stage to not cover these silver strands up. I don't think they are offensive, I am 35 years old, not twenty and I am not trying to be either. I like my hair now, so easy to do. When I was younger I wanted straight, I would blow dry, and flat iron it. I do on occasion now, when I want to have a polished look. It is so easy now, get out of the shower, comb through a bit of mouse, and let dry. Soft curls and ringlets appear. I call my hair style, let dry on it's own and hope for the best. Sometimes those curls get a little crazy if no product gets put in.


Thirteen things I hope to accomplish today:
1. Photowalk
2. make lunch for Mr. L and I (he took the day off to weatherproof our home)
3. laundry put away (I am on track!)
4. go to the teacher store and get a large cardboard file box for artwork that Mr. L and I have created and have no storage for
5. make dinner
6. clean kitchen
7. watch oprah (spike lee is going to be on)
8. convince a neighbor to sell me their old window frames rotting in an alley
9. be joyful and breathe deeply
10. have some fun that is not cleaning related
11. clean up the bathroom, Luna has a new bad habit, throwing litter all over the floor, seriously like a 1/4 cup!
12. listen to some music and dance while pairing socks
13. hopefully catch up on vox a little bit! I have become a really bad neighbor!

Compliment of the day:
Lavender, you know how to open yourself up
Thanks Me!

I think of myself as open minded, I was not always like this and I am not like this when confronted with someone who is not open. I am working on that last part. I have learned that the more open I am to learn, to listen, to see, the more I understand about myself.
I am open minded when it comes to politics, I will hear what anyone has to say and if we disagree, it is okay, no big deal. I am open minded when it comes to love, I mean if people are loving, what does it matter if they are same sex or not, if they have open marriages or not, etc. It does not threaten what my marriage is, if you are putting love out into the world what does it matter?
I am open minded when it comes to religion, just because it was not a good fit for me does not make it a bad fit for all. If people find balance and love in church, temples, kingdom halls, etc, Balance is good! Hope is Good! Faith is Good! I am open to all religions because if you look at the base of all of them, it is a message of Love, and what is wrong with that?

I believe that if I am open and accepting to all, that I will be accepted by more. By loving more I can receive more love. By being kind to strangers, Strangers will be kind to me. By opening myself up and releasing the goodness in me, I will receive goodness in return.

                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have been doing very little house cleaning wise.
I have spent a lot of time this week with family
I have been waking up at 5:45 (by waking up I mean I hear the alarm go off and hear Mr. L slam the snooze and fall back asleep and repeat this pattern about 4-6 times) so we can try to get Mr. L out of the house earlier. This has been making my coffee addiction stronger, 1 1/2 cups no longer makes me want to keep my eyes open. I do best with three cups now.

Today I MUST!!!!
* put laundry away from the top of the wooden chest so I can get the extra blanket out because it is cold at night and we need another layer.
* put laundry away that is in the 3 baskets on the floor
* Put laundry away that is laying on the loveseat
* edit the pictures I took of my brother and sister with step mom on Monday
* shower and do yoga on my own because once a week is not going to help me make the progress I need.

ramble

I spent my morning in a tug of war,
Nap vs. Photowalk.
I finally decided I needed a cupcake and went for a walk. I stepped out my front door and closed my eyes and breathed in deep to smell the sweetness of summer blooms, to smell the freshness of the morning rain, to smell which direction I should go.
(I should say that when I go on my walks, I use all of my senses, except taste, nobody should lick the railroad tracks, right? I smell every flower, I touch every surface, I see every shape and color, I hear every leaf blowing in a breeze.)
I was surprised when my feet started the opposite direction of the cupcake shop, but I did not question my decision too much. I just followed my internal direction. Something I have ignored a lot lately, bad me.
I saw a super fat cat with no tail, she was so friendly and walked with a waddle. Poor thing needs a diet. But she was a joyful kitten. Meowing a gravley meow, pushing her head on my knee. I pet her for a bit, then moved on.
I was drawn to my neighbors house with tall yellow daisies, sunflowers, and brightly colored zinnia. Her gardens are amazing. I saw that down the sidewalk she had placed bunches of pots of zinnia. LOVELY! I went an started taking photos of a big fat fuzzy bumble bee on a pink zinnia when I hear a small voice call to me saying "so you like my flowers!" I said looking up to see a beautiful woman a little younger than my father's age maybe "Yes! I do! I always have!" We talked about the zinnia and how she seeds them every year by placing the dead blooms in a paper bag and in the winter shakes the bag up to retrieve the seeds. Then she sprinkles them all over in the spring. Pointing to all the large patches of zinnia saying "free!" meaning she did not buy the seeds. She asked if I wanted to see her back yard, I exclaimed "YES!" it was even more stunning than the front. Her name is Joan and she is a freelance writer for a local paper. She got some scissors and left me with a bundle of fresh cut flowers from her gardens. My hand could barely hold them all. Enough to fill 3 small vases. What a lovely person. I wished I was bold enough to ask to photograph her cutting her blooms. She was beautiful.
I went home, put these flowers in water and went on. Walked along the railroad tracks and saw a couple of chairs. They reminded me of the dining chairs in my grandparents home. Even the cracked plastic covers and the sticky foam exposed. They had a peaceful feeling about them, so I took their photo as well.
I made my way to my favorite antique store. A lovely couple I really enjoy chatting with. I think after my sale (I don't quite know when I am going to do it) I am going to tell them to come back after the sale is over with boxes and take whatever they want. They gift me with fun things all the time. A customer they knew came in and I made my way to the tiny back room where they have a giant hat box full of buttons surrounded by hanging linens and embroidered cloths. I began to dig in the buttons, what a soothing thing. All the glass, shell, metal, and plastic buttons from well over 100 years of age hitting each other, swirling around my fingers. Cool and dusty. I grabbed an old platter to try and find some matches. 20 for $1. I heard a group of giggling women on the sidewalk outside, they got louder and louder, then entered the building. It was a local group of older women who are in the Red Hat society. They were a joyful bunch of women, about three of them were gravitated to the buttons as well. They were drawn by the sound of them and the desire to run their wrinkled hands through them. We chatted and laughed, they told me of button jars and tins they have at home from their mothers and grandmothers. We chatted about what we were using them for, one lady makes big snowmen and wanted big black buttons, we helped her find the ones she wanted, another wanted a different type of black button for her crafts, and another just wanted to feel the buttons on her fingers, palms and wrist. She was the last one out of the room, she told me upon her parting that she was going to get out her grandmothers buttons tonight and look at them. I told her how nice that sounded. I paid for my buttons and a couple of embroidered pot holders. My phone began to ring, I am so unused to the phone ringing I thought it was the antique dealers phone, they told me "That is you Dear" Haha! It was my Dad. He told me I was not at home, and I said Nope, I was out for a walk downtown and was headed for the cupcake store. He laughed at me and said he will meet me there. I walked over and met Dad, bought 4 cupcakes for husband and I, then he gavbe me a ride home. We chatted a bit about his new girlfriend, family and the upcoming funeral for Sweet Marie on Saturday. We decided that we were going to have a family night that day.

I felt like the day just rolled out the yellow brick road and I followed. I am so glad I went out. It was a very nice walk. ;-)

This is what I was hoping to find.
I wanted to feel light as a feather
to bounce along dry hot sidewalks
to find treasures along the railroad tracks
to find shapes and lines and color
to breathe in deep
to let my eyes dance and hoping my body would follow

This weekend was a busy one. Fun, but busy. Saturday was the spring birthday party with Mr. Lavenders family. We do two birthdays a year, spring takes care of 5 of us, while the Fall birthdays take care of the other 6. I took pictures of my neice and nephew with giant bubbles. I hope they turned out well. I have not yet gone through the 680 pictures I just downloaded onto my computer. I am going to have to split it up into groups. Photo walk on Friday- Party- Doll show- Fairgrounds- and photowalk with  Homebody. That is right, I just said Photo walk with My LOVELY neighbor Homebody! I found someone to drag to the doll and teddy bear show with me! :D She came down to my neck of the woods, I showed her a couple of things that I have enjoyed taking photos of, like the staircase towers, and the home where Mr. Lavender were showered with maggots falling from the ceiling to name a few.

So we walked around the doll and teddy bear show, ate really gross potato salad and talked about some of you. All wonderful things, mostly who we would love to have along with us on a photo walk. We saw many disturbing things, and lots of really beautiful things. Sweet Dolls we used to have as children and some not so sweet dolls (Holly Hobbie, you are on my List!!) I had a really great time. I had an internal list of questions I wanted to ask her, but as usual, I got nervous about meeting someone new and I began to ramble endlessly. I am SO sorry about that *blush* I just cannot find it in me to shut up sometimes.
After the doll show we got brave and wandered the fairgrounds, mainly the wooden roller coaster it was originally built in 1935, but rebuilt in 1970. It was the first big people ride I rode, I was 3 years old. I do not know what my parents were thinking. I threw up. I guess things were different in the 70's, nobody had car seats or seat belts. We got caught by security, but he was not cruel, he sat back all cocky and chatted with us helpless ladies, he warned us of homeless people who live in some of the empty booths and trailors, like they are animals ready to attack or something Ha! He spoke of the Bone yard, a place they stored all the garbage and extra stuff. Our curiosity was raised, I was excited another photographer who liked garbage?! YAY! We walked back there and found some really great things.
One thing that hit me was how excited she was to smell honeysuckle, peony's, and roses, hear baby birds chirping, to see a tiny stream. She lives in the Big City, a place I thought I wanted to escape to, but stayed here instead. It had been so long since she had experienced some of these things, it made me SO grateful for them. I enjoy them, but I feel now I need to really bask in the magic and lovliness of these moments. When you live in the big city, these things are rare, here, it is on every block.  Thank You SO very much for coming all the way down here to my little town. I hope I did not scare you away, and we can do it again soon. ;-)

Things I care less for today:
1. noise =headache :-(
2. sore muscles from working out
3. the amount of stuff all over my house with nowhere to go but out.
4. getting measured for a brides maid dress and realizing my size.
5. learning to walk in high heels

Things I care deeply for today
1. Feeling a little fire under my ass to get housework and body work started and going
2. new camera ordered and in the mail
3. The sweet syrupy smell of spring on the streets of my town
4. the fresh rain on the sidewalk
5. new shows on TV again
6. my lovely husband who gives the best hugs in the world
7. my kitten who sleeps with her head next to my ear at night, purring frantically until she falls completely asleep or I do
8. I mailed a package to someone yesterday, I made a promise to her and followed through. Something I have been working on (I have a nasty habit of empty promises, I have every intention to do these things, I just don't and let them weigh me down)
9. new soft socks on my feet
10. baggy jeans and big sweatshirt, so comfy! not real cute, but COZY!


These pictures are taken around my SIL's massage office. She was working on poor husbands knotted neck and I went for a walk in the alley behind where she works with the promise to be careful and aware because of the mean man who lives in the woods. So off I went, snapping pictures of decaying mattresses, dropped off couches, and tossed truckloads of garbage. This seems unnecessary, the dump is only a few miles up the road and it is not that expensive to dump there. 

Have a great Tuesday everybody!