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After seeing a story on CBS Sunday Morning about the Smithsonian’s Futures Exhibit, I knew I had to go see it. But it closes in July 2022, so I had to go ASAP. If you want to hear / read about the trip, you can visit Tourist in Your Town Podcast. If you want to see cool pics, keep scrolling!
Want to see more photos from the DC trip? Click here.
I turned 50 in September 2021. My gift to myself was a trip to Chicago. I took the train from Cincinnati and spent a week in the Windy City. I thought I’d share my pics with you. You can also visit my podcast, Tourist in Your Town, to hear more about the food and the fun.
I spent some time at Navy Pier. It was during the day and out of season, so there weren’t very many people. Also, lots of stuff was closed.
I took the architecture tour by boat. I made sure to take the last tour of the day so I would catch the sunset and some after dark images. If you have the opportunity, do it! It was completely worth it. They give you a great history on many of the buildings.
Yes, of course, I visited Cloud Gate (The Bean).
To see more pics from my Chicago trip, visit the gallery. To see more of my other travel pics and art, click here.
Wow! Another year went by. I have been terrible about blogging this year. It’s the end of 2021 and I always do a year end blog post. If you missed it, check out last year’s post!
2021 has been a decent year for me. Some life changing, some personal insights, and surprising lots of art happened this year. In February, I tested positive for Covid. I did not have a very sever case but it was not fun. It felt like a very bad sinus infection. And while it did not seem too bad, I definitely have some lasting effects. Extreme exhaustion often overtakes me without warning. I’ll be feeling fine and ready to rock, when, WHAM! out of nowhere, I get hit with a wave of tiredness and I instantly become a puddle of goo. These bouts are getting fewer and fewer, so I hope that eventually they will stop entirely.
I did not do much traveling this year. But what I did do was good and well earned. As I mentioned, I had Covid in February, so I decided that, since I had some antibodies, I could do a little travel, so I booked a weekend trip to Orlando to visit Universal Studios and see Harry Potter Wizarding World. Listen to the podcast episodes to find out more about this trip.
In September, I turned 50 and wanted to do something special. I was not very interested in flying anywhere, so I decided to take the train from Cincinnati to Chicago. You can hear about this week long trip to Chicago here.
Did I say that I turned 50 this year? Well, it seems that the day I turned 49, my metabolism said, “Peace, I’m out.”, and I started to slowly gain weight. I am not a vain person, so I was not really worried about some weight gain. But when I went to Orlando, my weight made me feel uncomfortable and I could not enjoy it as much. So, when I got home, I decided to change a few things and lost 35lbs. Now, I feel great, with the exception of those exhaustion bouts.
If you follow the blog, you’ll know that I have been participating in some art challenges. There was the 30 images in 30 days challenge, Seven Day Liquid Challenge, 5 Day Green Challenge, 6 day Blue challenge, 7 day black and white challenge, and the 30 day Red Challenge. Yikes! That’s a lot of challenges. It’s also not all of them! If you want to see all of the challenge pics I created in 2021, click here. But it had me making art every day and that feels good!
More art, more living, loving, eating, and sleeping. I hope you have peace and joy in 2022!
If you’ve been reading previous posts, you’ll know that I have been participating in a lot of image challenges lately. The most recent challenge was a 30 day challenge for images featuring the color red. I have been trying to use the same subject for each challenge, for consistency. It also pushing my creativity to have to come up with different ways to present a certain subject. I didn’t have anything that really excited me. So I started digging in my props box. I found some beads. But they were green. So, I took a note from the green challenge and decided to just change the color. Let me just say 30 days is too many for that. But I did manage to do it and I got some great ideas for future art! I chose to use selective color so the red would really stand out. Enjoy!
For most of these, using selective color was fairly easy. I tried to purposely shoot them so it would be easy to just change the beads. I changed the color using the Hue / Sat adjustment in Adobe Photoshop. In most of them, it was easy to tell Photoshop to change the green to red. That being said, what was I thinking when I used greenery in those rose photos?
Here are just a few of the images, to see the full 30 days, visit my gallery.
I participated in another challenge over at Fine Art America! This challenge was a 7 day challenge black and white images. The only requirement was that the image had to be a true black and white and created the day of posting. I chose to stick with a single subject as I had done with the blue and green challenges. This time I went a cut crystal bowl that I had. We received this item as a wedding gift 16 years ago. I figured all the detail work on it would make for some nice black and white images.
One thing I really wanted to do with this challenge was to play up light and texture. So, I put the bowl in my little raised garden bed, so the dirt would give a nice contrasting texture. These were shot in the morning with the sun behind the bowl. I added a vignette to give these images an old fashioned feel.
One of my favorite places to shoot is on the wood stairs behind my house. The wood has a nice texture and grain. I knew that the etching details in the bowl and wood grain would play well together.
There are only so many ways to shoot an empty crystal bowl without it just getting boring. I decided to add fruit to the bowl. I had some fresh frozen cherries that had not been properly sealed before freezing, so they developed a frosty coating (I can be so lazy sometimes). But that frosty look really makes this image. It was totally worth it! The sun is coming through the slats of blinds on my window and hitting the wood floor. Another great spot that I use a lot for photos.
This image was shot with my sacred blueberries (there’s a shortage right now). But sometimes we sacrifice for art. It was shot on my back porch when the sun was shining just right through the lattice work, creating the diamond pattern. The background is a patio cushion.
By day 6 I was struggling with ideas. I knew I could different angles of the bowl, upside down or from below. But that just felt boring to me. And then it rained! I put the bowl in the rain with the fresh cherries. The ripples from the rain echo the shape of the bowl and the water beneath creates a nice reflection.
This image is all about the details in the bowl. I shot this on the back porch with the sun behind and the patio cushion for the extra texture. I just love the detail work in the etching and the diamonds in the foot of the bowl.
These challenges keep me creating even on days when I don’t feel so inspired. Especially when I can’t get out to shoot street scenes or historic locations. Thanks for visiting! See more of my black and white work here.
After the 30 day challenge, I was feeling frisky and decided to participate in another one. This challenge would last for 7 days and had a theme. The theme for the 7 day challenge was liquid. Any liquid. This felt doable to me. After accepting this challenge, I realized just how busy my life can be on certain days. My weekends tend to be slow and easy, but during the week, things really ramp up. There were a couple of days when I thought I’d have to bow out. But I worked in a little art each day and succeeded! Made some nice art while I was at it, too!
I almost blew it the first day. I got home from work, planning to do something cool and unique. But, well, life sometimes makes other plans. We have a water barrel that sits below one of our gutter spouts. It’s been there for years. The frogs love it and it always has tadpoles in it. So, I thought, how about a tadpole pic? Easier said than done, really. The water is dark and murky and there weren’t as many tadpoles as I expected. But I managed to get quite a few in the pic. I finished this pic using a Topaz filter. All the little color sparks are living organisms – tadpoles, water striders, etc. Mosquitos larvae are usually eaten by the tadpoles and frogs.
I actually started with a plan on this one. The idea was to drop a bunch of cherries in a bowl of water and catch the image just as they splash into the water. I never really managed to catch it at just the right time. I’m currently obsessed with this idea. So watch for more of these.
Taken the day before during the cherry drop attempt. I noticed the cherries would settle around the edges of the bowl, creating this heart shape. I did slightly retouch after in Photoshop to further emphasize the shape. I really love the cool background with the bright red cherries.
This was another day where I was struggling to come up with something. It had to be quick and easy. It had rained that day, so I thought I’d take a photo of my budding tomato with some rain drops. Unfortunately, my tomato plant is rather sad and lonely right now. The tomato is still very small and sad. I tried to add a little water splash to it using a Photoshop brush. In the end, I got a nice study in green.
I like beer. One of my favorite things about beer is the pour. I like the sound, the scent, the foam. I tried to capture that feeling of anticipation as the beer is pouring and the foam is building. This is another theme I will revisit in the future, I think.
An image of a glass bottle filled with water. I placed the bottle on a red cushion, causing the liquid inside to appear red. This image is finished with a Topaz filter to give it a soft, mysterious feel.
A revisit of the fruit in liquid drop. This turned out better than I thought. I admit that I played it fast and loose with these. I did not use a tripod, but shot it handheld. So, I poured the liquid with the blueberries, already in it, into the bowl, using one hand. Then shot using the other. Also, fighting off a blueberry loving puppy. I shot outside in the bright sunlight, so I could shoot with a fast shutter speed.
I even got a certificate for finishing the challenge!
Thanks for visiting! Be sure to check out the 30 day challenge gallery also.
Last month I took part in a one a day challenge. The challenge was to create one final image a day for 30 days. Don’t worry, I’m not posting them all here right now. I will divide this blog up into two parts and share them with you that way. If you want to see them all in one place, you can visit my pixels gallery here.
I started out specifically taking photos for the challenge. Photos of patterns around my house and work. With the exception of the Cruz Farms image, all of these photos were taken at home or at work. Dogwood Framed, is a composite image of a Dogwood in bloom and the back of a wicker chair. Construction reflections is a composite of a reflection a a construction site combined with a blue print of the same site.
Then I went on a day trip to Northern Kentucky and took a ton of photos of the John A. Roebling Bridge. The Roebling Bridge spans the Ohio River between Covington, Kentucky and Cincinnati, OH.
After crossing into Cincinnati, I wondered around town and took photos of some of the cool art deco style buildings and their signs. Then wondered into Covington for more pics. To hear more about this trip and food and drink in the area, listen to the podcast episode.
At the end of the month, it became kind of a free for all, using photos from previous trips. Also, taking random photos in the yard.
Overall, I enjoyed creating an image a day. But it did get hectic at times. I’m looking forward to our next challenge!
When traveling, it’s easy to shoot landmarks and pretty places. But sometimes, when I’m passing an alley, I lift the camera. I think I like alleys for several reasons. One, they offer that great perspective, two walls on either side directing the eye to a point. Second, you never know what you’ll find there.
It’s easy to walk through a city and ignore the space between. But it’s worth it to look around a bit.
Thanks for visiting my quick photo blog about alleys!
I’m a 40+, closer to the just under 50 group actually and I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. I see young people, in their 20s and 30s, who know exactly what they want to do with their lives. They have a plan and they are following it. It can be depressing and frustrating for me to see people so put together when I feel like so lost and unsure. I know there are jokes about midlife crises for men and women. And there is teen angst. But right now, this feels like midlife angst.
When I first started my “dream job”, over 6 years ago, there was a young co-worker who got a job offer from a different company. I could not understand why she would want to leave such a great place. She seemed happy and on a great career path there. But she explained that she had a specific plan. She had always planned to leave and go to this next level, it was just happening earlier than she expected. I understood it. But I didn’t “get” it. Because I never had a plan.
Well, that’s not true. In college, I had a plan. I would go to graduate school, get my masters and then become a tenured professor at a small private college. Lots of people are laughing at me right now. Go easy on me, at the time, it was not as pipe dreamy as it is now. Also, it was in Fine Arts, so no need for a PhD. However, I did not get into grad school. This left me dangling in the wind and maybe a little scared. But I was young and thought I’d just get a decent job and try for grad school the next year. That did not happen.
I never tried again for grad school. Once I started working full-time, I got used to having things, like regular food and clothes and a bank account. Going back to school was not in the cards for me. Do I regret that now? Sometimes, but I am definitely NOT going back to school at this point in my life. So, it doesn’t matter, does it?
They say to keep blogs short and sweet, so I will make this midlife angst business a series for you to read over time. The images in this installment were all taken either in college or just after (over 25 years ago).
To be continued…
I recently went through my photos from Cuba. When I originally sorted and worked my images from that trip, I did not find these interesting. Or they didn’t represent what I was feeling at the time. I have to admit I don’t remember. But on the revisit, I fell in love with Cuba all over again. Enjoy these “new” images!
Images from a trip through the countryside. We visited a baseball team, a historic coffee plantation and farm restaurant.
I found myself fascinated with many different styles of architecture, including Art Deco, Colonial, and Spanish. They would often all be on the same building.
I hope you enjoy these images from Cuba as much as I enjoyed taking them! Prints are available of these and other photos from Cuba here.
As always, feedback is welcome!