on the road

I will be on the road for the next few months...taking pictures and writing about my adventures. This and my P365 blog will be on hiatus in the meantime. I'd love for you to join me where I will be blogging here and where I will be offering prints from the road for sale here.

Happy Fall...my favorite time of year.

people, places, things

I have a new love for people inside of their places with their things. Making paper with a friend recently, outside on a hot and sunny day - we got caught in a very wet thunderstorm and had to drag all of our 'equipment' into her garage to carry on. Surrounded by her and her husband's stuff I was no longer able to concentrate on the paper because I wanted to know why they had all of these things - which to an untrained eye may be labeled as junk - but were really the story of their lives together. Inspired by the history behind her treasures I began taking pictures in other people's places - when they allowed...thinking one day it could make a fun book. Here are a few...the seeds to something new growing inside me.

...going through some of my first photos with my digital camera...and liking them more than i remember...i think sometimes i am too hard on myself...this is not bad for a first effort...

bridge

There is something about this image that I like so much...the barrenness...the possibility of what is on the other side...the hazy light. There is also something missing that I can't put my finger on. I tried converting it to black and white and while I liked the gritty feel that format allowed it also took away from the very slight ethereal quality that I experience when looking at the image as is.

Ugh! Nothing is working today. I keep going round in circles...10 hours later almost nothing accomplished. It's been a while since I processed a photo so I took this image - a shot taken while in a boat on the CT River...the underside of a bridge - and messed about with it in order to get something inside of me to shift as much as the image did. It always helps to take a break and seek a different perspective.

Tonight I realized that despite my protests to the contrary, I will miss him when he's gone.

dreaming

On my last day at the ocean I drove to Misquamicut Beach, RI. It still feels like home to me, and the "beachiest" of the towns I've explored. I stood near the water and daydreamed that this was my house....the sound of the water breaking against the rocks one that would lull me to sleep at night and excite and invigorate me when I was awake. There would be a beautiful guest room filled with fresh flowers for anyone who came to visit. We'd eat breakfast outside at dawn and marvel at the sunset in the evenings... Then a seagull flew by overhead and pooped on my foot, waking me from the fantasy and nudging me back into the reality of life...

rainy beach day

I feel like a mail carrier in regards to the beach... Rain, snow, sleet, sun...I don't care what the day brings...I'll take the beach any day and weather any storm just to smell the ocean and dig my toes in the sand.

Cat Circus

Boris treated me to a show while SMC and I sat in her yard and had a beer.

He was very daring.

play

if things aren't working...try a new perspective

*

it was the most beautiful evening. perfect way to end one chapter.

go with the flow

The events of today left me feeling...neutral, which is a definite blessing. I'm ready to close one chapter and begin anew.

Spent some time yesterday reflecting on the past. You can never go back. All I could hear in my head was the quote from "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" ... "Don't let your past dictate who you are, but let it be part of who you will become."

life is a highway

So many decisions to make...so many roads to choose from...so much potential and possibility. Where did I put the map?

dream

Love this!

An artist on RedBubble who I think does amazing illustrations. I particularly think he has a talent for capturing the spirit of the little boy. Check out this image called "and with her came spring" and this one called "balloon2" .

5 random things about me

1. I like the picture I've posted because it's about nothing. Sometimes the day to day of life feels like nothing, moving nowhere. Sitting at a red light, lost in thought...I noticed and liked the tone of the blue color on the overpass. There is no other reason for the image than that.


2. Growing up, I fought my brother for control over the remote every time "Sixteen Candles" came on. When he complained that I already knew the whole movie and it wasn't fair that we had to watch it again I would sit and quote every line throughout the film, just to push his buttons. I didn't like the movie that much, I just liked that he didn't.


3. I took a marine biology class at a community college just so I could go swim with dolphins. At the end of the semester we all went to Florida and swam with captive and wild dolphins two to three times a day, for a week. It was worth it. I cried on the last bus trip away from the wild dolphins. I never wanted to leave.


4. I lived in OH in 2nd and 3rd grade. Every day after school I ran to my room to play records on my orange record player. When I was sad I listened to Barry Manilow's, "Can't Smile Without You" and when I was happy it was Shaun Cassidy, randomly it was the "Free To Be You And Me" album. No matter what mood - all music was played at full blast and sung at the top of my lungs.


5. In my early 20's I sold cars and worked with a man nicknamed J.J. He told me that sometimes "women's lib stuff" irritated him. He'd actually had women he was holding the door open for tell him to stop because they could get it themselves. One day he told someone, "Ma'am, I am not holding the door because of who you are (a woman), I am holding it open because of who I am. It is good human decency to treat each other with respect and I will not let the door slam in any one's face". This story of his has never left me. On a daily basis, when I am making small decisions about how to interact with the people around me, especially the ones who could stand a little door slamming...I remember J.J. and make my choices based on who I want to be, not on who they are.

new direction

I've been feeling for a while now that I need a new direction for this blog. Any direction. Since it's beginning this has been a bit of an experimental space without any real focus. As I continue to explore photography as a hobby a desire is growing to incorporate it into my life on a more regular basis. I am particularly drawn towards documentary images...and fantasize about travelling the world, shooting in black and white and writing small blurbs to accompany each picture. A friends husband suggested I volunteer for a small newspaper to gain experience. All I know is, this hobby is starting to feel like a calling and I intend to follow the road it leads me down. Can't wait to see what's over the next hill.

I watched a movie this past weekend about Woodstock. It seems to have temporarily knocked me out of my black and white phase.

She got lost in the woods. I'll go fetch her soon and force her to write.

My first walk on 'rails to trails' this Spring. It was about a half hour before sunset. People were out walking with their kids, riding bikes...being pulled along by their dogs. The air was fresh and hazy in its quality. Not yet full with the fragrance of new blooms...it also hasn't completely shaken off the crispness of fallen pine needles and bare trees. Utter peace and restoration.

today

Today I am grateful for...your light...that illuminates my darkness.

Home Page Feature

I am excited to share that one of my images on RedBubble was featured on their home page!!! Very exciting!

Chapter Five

It hadn’t always been like this. The constant gnawing in her abdomen. Gripping fear that kept her up at night, taunting her with thoughts of a meaningless life. There had been a time of blissful ignorance.

It was hard to discern which urging to follow. Instinct insisted that if a thought did not leave a trail of peace then maybe it was misleading; false. Possible residue of lies sold to us through marketing and advertising media – souls determined to validate our insecurities in order to gain their material wealth? Left over negative ideas from all the different voices of life in general? Her own beliefs of not being good enough…something that needed to be shaken off daily?

As uncomfortable as the thoughts were, she began to wonder if they were that of a higher calling to purpose. A not so gentle nudge to jar her awake. Disquieting in the process, but not harmful.

tree house

fantastic shadows on this house. caught while stopped at a stop light on the way home from work. these car shots are getting dangerous. i've got my foot jammed down as hard as i can on the break pedal...just to make sure...and then i quickly reach for my camera, whip off the lens cap, roll down the passenger window...twist my body as far as i can over to the opposite side of the car to do my best to get the shot totally out of the window...hit click...and check in my rear view mirror to see if i've pissed anybody off and out the front to see if the light has turned green. phew.

chapter four

Her call for him had always been lurking in the corner of her mind, acknowledged or not, its thirst would not be satisfied in any other way but through his witness of her. It began to reach beyond boundaries which she could keep contained or quieted with daily or material distractions. This pestering need which she did not understand, was not even fully conscious of yet, was casting shadow and doubt onto the things she used to find comfort in and quietly insisting that the things she’d cast her hope in were not real.

chapter three

Thoughts of him were distracting, invasive. The way he quietly observed and drank in the small details she shared was unanticipated. Most people just skimmed the surface, only acknowledging the pieces of her that served them in some way. His acute witness made her feel alive, real.

the present

“Life can be found only in the present moment. The past is gone, the future is not yet here, and if we do not go back to ourselves in the present moment, we cannot be in touch with life.”

chapter two

Logic insisted she be relieved when he left. How did he find her? It was dangerous that he even came that close. Sense fled as her growing need to be known, even by this stranger, took up too much space to accommodate reason.

the river

Explored down by the CT River today. It felt like Spring and I felt a sense of renewal and hope.

chapter one

Absorbed in her surroundings until he came...nothing external made her turn. Her body twisted with unconscious instinct...a knowing all its own. The car door was open and he paced nearby...his shoe scuffing the ground, lost in indecision. When he realized she noticed him, his body almost imperceptibly leaned in her direction.

the power of one

it only takes one seed

so make your choices wisely

Happy V Day

irony

I saw this giant truck with a dribble of snow in front of it in a parking lot the day before we were supposed to get the Ginormous snowstorm here in CT. It cracked me up. While I know this isn't a snow plow, I find it a wonderfully humorous symbol of the dud of a storm we did get. The benefit for me was that most everyone stayed home because of the hype...so my commute to and from work was almost enjoyable with the roads to myself.

tree striptease

i caught this sassy tree shamelessly flirting with one down the lane

Mural in South Windsor

I found this colorful mural on the side of a school building in South Windsor, CT. Art is everywhere when you look for it.

February 6, 2010

which way should i go?

more project 365! cast offs

Today was another gloomy one, but I managed to hunt the sun down for just a minute.

It's amazing how much my mood shifted with just a little sunlight...

I drove to a local park looking for interesting things...and liked the lines on the side of this building...

...and the colors of this swing set against the snow and the pavement...

...simple things bring such pleasure.

(my) Project 365!

So, I joined Flickr about a week ago and immediately decided to dive into a group called Project 365! The requirements are that you take and post a new photo every day. Challenging this will be, but a good way for a new photographer to stretch her wings. Since joining the RedBubble community I find myself playing around with adding layers and textures to my photos via PS Elements 5.0. I think the advantage of doing this Project 365! will be that I won't have time to do anything but shoot and post, so my raw photography skills will have to improve. I hope. These photos are some of the extras from today's quest for my photo of the day, (the middle one with an obvious texture over it - though the purple really was that grape ape deep, dark color). I took a drive on my lunch hour and hoped to bump into something... The only guideline is that we showcase the world around us - without emphasis on portraits/people. The "encourage creativity" one is very appropriate, don't you think?