home again, home again, jiggity-jig!

post #37

        With this week's THIS IS APPALACHIA NOW photo, I give a shout out to Bradley, with his young chicken and their matching outfits.  I call this photo feathers and threads, with thanks to George Ella and our on-going brainstorming.  It is always inspiring to see Bradley's skills with any kind of creature.



      Then, to share a new favorite photo, here is one from my recent trip.  It was fun to get to meet one of my first cousins twice removed!  Such wonderful eyes.  Between her being one and one half years old and my having been driving most of the day, however, I was lucky to get this photo.  It happened very fast.

     
      I also want to share a long-term favorite, my photo of this cow.  It's important to point out that cows are harder to photograph than you might think, certainly than I ever thought they would be.  Like chickens, they move.  They don't situate themselves in just the right light.  And they certainly don't usually stand surrounded by blooming weeds!!  Take it when you can get it, I say.
      I call this photo black and white in color.  I took it with film, and I have scanned a print for use here and for my note cards.

     Note: this morning I took a walk in our woods, and the moss areas were richly green.  It made me remember how wonderful the slow Velvia slide film was with greens, and I do miss that.  I also remembered how I have wanted to encourage us all to make prints as we go along.  I am fortunate to have access to a person who makes great prints (thank you, Catherine!) while I keep planning to learn how to do it well myself.  In the meantime, technical stuff is always changing, and how horrible to lose access to special photos just because no one got around to making some prints for that shoebox or album.  (This includes allowing enough pixels on whatever card you use in your digital camera to print out a decent photo.)
    I know the folks in Joplin, MO are dealing with the loss of irreplaceable photos, so no system is perfect.  That tragic tornado experience should give us all incentives to think about how best to keep our treasured images for the long haul. 

today's treasure, in honor of the stages we humans also go through....

away from home, carrying the hills within me

post #36
      The beauty of this past April at home has spoiled me entirely, even surrounded as I am today by the rushing streams and stunning azaleas and crabapple trees of another spring, here in western Massachusetts, where I am hanging out this week with our mellow-even-at-two-weeks granddaughter!  The fact that these rushing streams are partly due to the constant rainy weather -- every day! -- may be, excuse me, dampening my enthusiasm for them....

       

       But first, here is this week's THIS IS APPALACHIA NOW.  See the paragraph above to understand why I chose this photo for today.  As mentioned in earlier posts, I have photographed this house, from a variety of angles, in all four seasons.

Appalachian spring, along Mauk Ridge (Route 504)

       However, to be an equal opportunity gawker, I want to show some of that New England rushing water.  Location above: behind the Bookmill, in Montague, whose motto states that they have books you don't need in a place you can't find.

also, above, along the Connecticut River, from the French King Bridge, and, below, an ordinary house with an extraordinary azalea

     I am ending with a photo I took as a slide when John Flavell and I were photographing an amazing rhododendron display, down on Carter's Ford, several years ago, in my pre-digital times.  I recently scanned the slide so the image is now available digitally, joining the "makes me happy" collection.  I love seeing this kind of natural light, which I might not even notice were I not out wherever with a camera.  
    

Note: I use the Epson 4990 scanner, which was top of the line at one point.  These days I have to make sure my computer doesn't get ahead of it.  Good luck to all of us in making it possible for the components of our equipment to continue their invaluable working relationships!

still wet, still May, still me

post #35
     I finally realized that all my recent thinking about what images speak for Appalachia is so interesting to me that I could start a weekly feature: one photo each week -- chosen from ones already shown on this blog or ones already taken or ones to be taken in the future.  Along with the story that is part of the photo.

                                                             

So, here goes!  THIS IS APPALACHIA NOW:

I've chosen this photo to go first because it happens only in Appalachia.  Almost 500 mountaintops gone.  Water sources -- streams, wells -- damaged.  Communities disrupted.  All for profit for a few.  All leading to a price for electricity that does not reflect its true cost.  The story to remember: WE ALL LIVE DOWNSTREAM.  We are all affected by this travesty.

       Next, a few more photos from my recent gathering of the Kentucky Women's Photography Network.   This one by Libby shows the lay of the land, near Frankfort, KY, and how the rich carpet of blue-eyed Marys surrounded us.

This is my close-up of the blue-eyed Marys.  Our timing was spectacular, or was it their timing that was awesome.....

For the record, this is the Kentucky River on the edge of Dobree's land.  It can be no surprise to note that their road and fields are sometimes flooded!

Meanwhile, back on the ridge, this is how the trees work together to show off every shade of spring green.

    

the day after the Derby - post #34

           No bluegrass here, and neither horses nor Derby, but we do have some Wild Turkey on hand!

      Today I have promised a few photos from the Kentucky Women Photographer's network meeting/outing Sunday 4/17 in Franklin County (near Frankfort).  Each member provides different skills and interests -- for example, Mary likes any hands-on photo process, Melissa knows her computer stuff, Libby is a poet as well as a photographer, I am centered on Appalachia, etc.   Here are a few photos, more next week.

Melissa shows Ann, Mary, and Dobree in action.  We were at Dobree's farm.

      Mary says about the box she's trying out that "basically I’m shooting a digital camera through the view finder of an old twin lens camera…it makes for a different perspective..."  She caught me in my "making like a tripod" position.

Melissa shares another of the places we walked to and another photo skill!        

 

Mary sees the llama through the inside of the box.

I'm adding my llama photo in honor of Mother's Day today....but which one is the mother??

 

Me again, this time looking up the wooded hillside.  I'll have some more photos from this outing next week.

     Last but not least, there's happy news to report: our daughter's baby finally decided to come out and see the world!  WELCOME to THEA FIONA, born May 3, 2011!!

re-imaging the day's offering

post #33
      Something has happened to the day, as in "disappeared," so I am postponing the photos from our Kentucky Women Photography Network day until next weekend with hopes of receiving a few more images by then.  In any case, I wanted to tell that the photo here is what I plan to submit tomorrow for the UK Appalachian Center's Re-imaging Appalachia contest.  (For clarity's sake, that is UK as in University of Kentucky and not UK as in wedding mania.)  Thank you to those who shared your preferences after Thursday's blog request!

hills with hay rows, northeastern Kentucky

        
     Here is an additional photo that I meant to include Thursday as a contest choice.  It was taken in July 2009 close to the above photo's location, only one shot, since we were in a hurry, but the light was compelling.   I call it scanned by sun.

     The view is from the home of some nearby friends.  They enjoy some fine sunsets!  Perhaps I am drawn to sharing this sunny photo today also because of all the rain we have been having. 

   

      But today is the first of May, so in honor of the day, here is a mayapple in bloom.  As a child in Connecticut, I grew up on Mayapple Road, but I never knew what a mayapple actually looked like until moving to eastern Kentucky -- I had made the assumption they were early blooming apple trees.  (This is always an embarrassing tale to tell.)    

       I can't help ending on a happy personal note -- around here we are busy waiting for another grandbaby to arrive.  When I call anyone these days, I have to announce myself by saying "This-is-Ann-no-baby-yet."  Luckily there are no problems; both mom and babe seem very fine.