Has it really been three YEARS!?

i guess there has been much water under the bridge since i was here last...so many changes in me, that i have no idea where to begin.

Beginning at the beginning would take far to long to write, so let me just go back to 2015...that is when i made the decision that i was done with winters in the north,  and that is when i totally lost my heart to the Outer Banks in NC....wow! 

I took on taking care of my bean, Luke when my daughter landed a job in NC,  and decided to take it and move the family there from Fredericksburg, VA.  She needed someone to watch him (he was 2 at the time) until she could get him in to a preschool on the island.  Within the first month, after gathering Luke up everyday and exploring the island from Corolla to Hatteras, i knew there was no way i was going to be able to go back north to live.  Call it strange or weird, but i felt like this was where i belonged. I have always been a beach person....loved the ocean, the beauty of it, the sound of it and the ohhhh so many moods of it.  I love the storms as much as i love the tranquility...AND the bonus for me is the people, the nature and the art here.   The pace is also an incredibly appealing thing...i do not feel so revved up and pressed to get things done.  I find the pace of the Northeast positively anxiety causing.  

A phone call was made...a strong decision on my part that i NEEDED to be here...and i needed NOT to be up north....and i quite simply was done.  I did go back to jersey on the promise that in January we would begin the house hunt in OBX.  Complications almost thwarted that ...a sick cat in need of an IV caused a postponement...and then almost a second one.  The person we rented a place from which to house hunt, was so kind...and took the chance of allowing us to bring the sick cat with us, so we could Sub Q IV him as needed.  To this day, the owner who took pity on me remains one of the best friends i have ever met...along with his amazingly smart dog and his girlfriend!

People here are so very friendly....even with me being a yankee!!  People  look out for one another here...say please and thank you and hold doors for you!  They even offer to help get your groceries into you car!! Children say yes sir and yes ma’am!  (not ALL of them, but MANY of them!)  They are also eager to help you in any way they can...and that leads me back  to my first friend that took the chance and rented the apartment for a week...He saw my photos and was so impressed he introduced me to someone he knew...a videographer, telling him...”You have to see her stuff...she is SO good!”  

Long story short...i was introduced and was told i needed ....reallly NEEDED to get my stuff seen and so i should have some advertising done.  i assured him i most certainly had NO budget for that...just starting out in a new place...when he stopped me and said, “i do not want your money...i want to help you become known.  People have helped me get to where i am...i want to pay it forward.”  AND he has!  Within 2 months i was on my way to Nairobi, Kenya to shoot documentaries...i have gotten my work into two stores and soon a restaurant...and i just completed the shoot of another documentary on the history of salt...with filming and still photography in NJ and Manhattan.

For me the best part of all of this is the confidence growing in me...someone that never had any at all...and now having the feeling that i CAN do this...i CAN succeed and succeed on MY terms.  Daily reminders that i have talent are all around me, and i am learning that i can admit this and not be pompous and braggy.  I recognize that i was born with art in my blood and altho i have taken the long way...i am well ON MY WAY!  i do not aspire to be in front of the camera...i only aspire to make art that people can appreciate and allow me to live quietly with my art, my cat and my books.

I have included a few shots so you can see what i have been up to.  i hope you will enjoy this visual part of my journey! :) the last photo is called Flow of Blessings and truly that is what i have found.

Well, well, well....Here I am again...........

It has been a long hiatus! Unintentionally, so I will try and explain.

I tried changing things on my Blog.....like how it was presented.   Then, suddenly i noticed that there was no place to add a new post.  No tab, no button, nothing.  I tried going out of it and then back in....nothing.....just my old blog photos and a list of posts....and nowhere that i could figure out  how to get back to a place that i could add new stories or photos.   After many MANY frustrated tries, i simply gave up, chalking it up to “YOU need to concentrate on making your business work...you have no time for blogging”...or attempting to, since i really am not all that sure i know what i am doing with a blog anyway! i took it as a sign....and i forgot about it.

Low and behold, today i looked at someone’s, and thought, OK....why not give this another try.  Start over, fresh.  So i clicked on something that said “start a blog” or some such thing, and low and behold it brought up MY very own  HeLLo WoRLd blog!!  Complete with the ability to post a new bunch of words!!!

Am i excited!!??  You BET!  i still have no real time to devote to a blog, however...since i suffer from periodic insomnia, the wee small hours might be when i get it done!!  i do love to write...almost as much as i love photography....

so.....here i am again!  Not sure if you are as excited as i am...quite possibly not, but i will do my best to entertain you, i promise....if not with words, with some of my photos :)

I have begun another new class...this one called Be Still 52, by Kim Klassen.   A year of Still Life and wonderful lessons on technique and staging and textures and words... if you do not know Kim, let me just say that i am ADDICTED to her classes...this is my 5th one i think.  Love her and her work to pieces, and  have learned more than i ever dreamed i could (you know....that hard to teach an old dog new tricks thing).

i have included a few things i have done for this class, and i am totally smitten with Still Life now!   i hope you enjoy them.  I also hope that i get better at figuring out this whole blog template thing, since i have seen other blogs with nice big photos and i keep getting these wee things stuck in here with my words!!  Wish me luck....and hope you have a beautiful week!

Sometimes...Take I and Take II

I embarked on a new twist....experimenting with SP's.   I am not very comfortable in front of the lens, so i decided to push myself and see what would happen.  Sometimes....i just need to do that.

I have a Flickr contact, whose photos just simply flat out awe me.  I know i will never be as amazing....but she inspires me to try.  When i say i could look at her photos for hours on end, i am not kidding...they simply leave me awestruck.  This shoot happened because of her and i can only hope that she is not insulted by what i have attempted here!  i was SO afraid to post this on Flickr.  I do not want her to think badly of me...because believe me i know this does not even scratch the surface of her work...and i am SO honored that she even added me as a contact back!

I did find out one important thing....probably more that have not struck me yet...i was much more at ease doing this type of shot incognito!  I am very VERY self critical and do not feel in the least photogenic.  Sure...i get a decent shot once in a million that i actually like of myself....but they are few and far between and are always a big happy surprise to me!

These 2 shots are identical, but processed differently and i like both for different reasons.  One of my reasons for liking the shot at all is the emotion it conveys without ever seeing a face.  The concept of a portrait without seeing a face is rather a strange one to me, but yet i like it.  It really makes you look at the photo and sense the person as a whole, not based on what they look like.  I feel less vulnerable and less judged....other than maybe folks (like my family) think i am quirky and strange when i do this!  Blessedly i have a generous helping of artsy friends that understand and indulge me by tagging along when i get one of these whims.  We laugh....a lot!

I titled this "Sometimes, i just need a hug..." and it is one from a small set that is titled "Appeasing the Darkness".  Take II of this shot is rather like an illustration for a book...more-so than a photograph...altho, it IS a photograph....the same exact one as above, with an entirely different editing take on it!  I love editing....for me it is artistic magic, that i can make happen with any photo i want! i do love magic!!  SOMETIMES..........you just have to do what you love, but ALWAYS you should love what you do!

An Apple a Day...

“Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” Apple, Inc.

My apples needed some fresh air and sunshine, with a touch of cool breeze, so i took them for a walk in the egg basket. They did said they were ok with that, but i know they really wish i had an apple basket for them. Here they paused for a respite on my Adirondack chair near the little fish pond. They think the sun makes them sweeter....i hope they did not sweeten the Granny Smith too much....i like those tart!

Oh, the quote?!? i like it. It reminds me of someone i know! ;)

Altho, the part about changing the world....that part i am not sure about. This person i know probably won't do anything that comes close to that...but hey, dreams sometimes come true. Of course this person does not dream in that grand of a scale....this person is much more simple than that.

i wonder... can you change the world with a smile?

Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's i know!   

South Carolina, Beaches to Plantations

I just returned from a bit more than 2 weeks away.  This time of year is a good time to head south, especially if still in the grips of mother nature's winter hissy-fits.  It was not a whole lot warmer in Virginia (The first 9 days of my trip), but i was certain once i moved on to South Carolina i would be home free in the warmth department.  Not quite true.  i am was not complaining, even when i heard it was warmer and sunnier back home in NJ.  The scenery and history more than made up for it....i mean it was not like it was freezing, and the overcast skies were incredibly helpful to getting some very nice light for shooting.

Mt. Pleasant was our first stop after leaving Fredericksburg...about an 8 hour drive.  We arrived just after dinner to a nice rolicking thunder and lightning storm.  i love storms...in the morning it was overcast but i just HAD to see the ocean, so we drove a whole 12 minutes to Isle of Palms....and little by little the sun began to peek through...enough that i got some color while foraging for beach treasures and taking a lovely nap on the beach.  When i was ready to leave, i looked like a sugar cookie...the wind had covered me head to toe with the finest sand i have ever seen!  We headed into Charleston, to the Phoebe Pember House...a quaint B&B in the historic district of the city.  The next day we spent touring the whole historic district on foot....from the Central Market to the parks at the tip of the peninsula, and i happily snapped away at the beauty around me!  The third day, we took the car and headed out to visit 2 plantation houses...quite different from one another, but related by family ties...each was owned by sons of the Drayton family.  the history was fascinating for both places, and they were quite beautiful in their own way.  i was partial to the 1742 home, in impeccable condition, and altho it is now part of the Historic Register of South Carolina, it is still used (unfurnished, with no electric or running water!) for family reunions of the Drayton descendants and the descendants of the slaves and servants that lived there pre Revolutionary War.

i love traveling....especially south, and especially near beaches.  i am a misplaced Southern Soul at heart, with a tremendous love of the sea.