sharing my camera and its new lens with a photographer friend

post #362
      I am away from home for Thanksgiving, in Denver, where some of my family live. They absolutely love it here. Also a friend, Chris Garris, from near where I live on Mauk Ridge, teaches here at Metropolitan State University of Denver, otherwise known as Metro or MSU Denver.  
       I consider Chris to be a particularly fine photographer, and I was glad we could meet for coffee a few days ago. I brought my new lens with me to ask him about, since I know it's one he uses most often. We had to use the sidewalk "patio" for our visit because he had brought his dog, Cole slaw.  When I went inside to order a hot chocolate (with lots of whipped cream), I asked him to please use my camera if he wanted to. He did! 
      Seeing what someone else saw while looking through the same photo equipment I use was unexpectedly a hoot, mainly because he was seeing in his own way. And that's really what good photography is all about.
       I asked his permission to use several of those photos on my post today. I haven't done any of the editing work he might or might not do, so these are "raw," the real thing. They show the eye of a photographer focusing on the eye of his subject in, at most, 10 minutes. 

         
          The lens is the first non-zoom one I have used, since I started in photography only 20 years ago after zoom lenses had begun to be more reliable and versatile. It's probably only fair to share a few of the photos I have made this trip when I had occasion to "play" with this new part of my repetoire. I think I will be using this small, light 50mm lens quite a bit from now on!

       The link to more of Chris's photos is here. He likes to travel....just saying.  Chris, thanks so much for being willing to share your eye and your photo skills!
        And here's a reminder about next Saturday's HOLIDAY ARTS MARKET at Morehead State University's Laughlin Hall, 9 a.m. until 4 p.m.  If you mention to me something you liked or didn't like on one of the posts on my blog, I'll be so happy that I'll give a 10% discount on anything you buy from me. I will be located near the main entrance of the gym.
        
        

beautiful moments by chance

post #361
        I have been busy this week reviewing all the photo notecards I make as I prepare for the Arts and Crafts Holiday Market coming up December 2. This process includes looking through my images so far in 2017. What did I find but some photos made in a favorite place off of Mauk Ridge where I sometimes go to make quick check to see if anything's going on. That's where this summer I found the unexpected discovery of this year's best milkweed plants. 
        At the moment my best way to share that place during another check is on this blog, so today I'm sharing from there today. Reviewing one's work can have its own reward.

the drive in

five photos, showing from left to right, sharing the misty cover

        This "stop by" took only 15 minutes, around 7 p.m., in mid May. There I was, with the quiet, the peace, and the beauty of the evening mist. I must not have had time to stay longer; indeed it was the last week of my photo class. I don't take for granted that I will discover hidden beauty, but I do try to stay open to being available for possibility. These images of mine show as much about Appalachia as those other photos that claim to define this place. 

        For the Americans who read this post, have a safe and loving Thanksgiving. For those who read this in other countries, please know that many, many, many of us here are trying to steady the current turmoil our government is fostering. We are doing this by speaking out, by voting, by persisting, and by renewing our commitments to a caring community that turns away from all the lies and greed driven nastiness. Please hold us in your hearts.

leaves and seeds I've seen

post #360
       FIRST, information about the upcoming annual Appalachian Holiday Arts and Crafts Fair, at Morehead State University, on Saturday, December 2, 2017, 9 a.m until 4 p.m.! It's sponsored by the Kentucky Folk Art Center in Morehead but located in the Laughlin Health Building at the east end of the MSU campus. I wasn't able to take part the last two years, but now I'm up and running again, so I hope the weather is good and a lot of people can turn out.  Later that day the annual Hometown Holiday takes place along Morehead's Main Street, starting at 5 pm. I heard that the Barbershop singing group is pulling together for a return to the Barbershop that evening! It may be more than a quartet, i.e. featuring four or more happy-to-be-singing-again guys.

        AND NOW, today's weekly post, this time using many of the photos I seem to be making lately of leaves and seeds -- pretty basic stuff. However, even I don't recognize as many leaves as I'd like to. Consider these photos a celebration, a reminder about how life renews itself despite human efforts sometimes to pretend that's not what's needed to keep our one world functioning, healthy and spinning.

APPLES IN MY MOTHER'S CEMETERY, IN NEW HAMPSHIRE, MID OCTOBER

WINESAP APPLES, NEAR MY HOME,  LATE SEPTEMBER

HERITAGE APPLES, IN A MASSACHUSETTS FOOD COOP, MID OCTOBER

 As we all probably know, apple seeds are inside all these picked fruit! However, not all "seed pods" are as delicious as single juicy apple....

AND CERTAINLY NOT THESE BEAN PODS

THESE HEIRLOOM TOMATOES HAVE DELICIOUS SEEDS.

 I took both these milkweed seed photos in New England -- but they do the same thing down here in eastern Kentucky.  To catch the seeds with their spectacular "wings", the trick is to find them between "ready to fly off" and "dry weather that is not yet too windy".

MILKWEED

Now some leaves, starting with these two photos of YELLOW-POPLAR leaves:

IN THE POND

IN GEORGE ELLA AND STEVE'S YARD

 

MY DRIVEWAY WONDER

DOGWOOD

ON NEWLY PAVED "SIDEWAY ROAD"

TRYING OUT MY NEW 50mm LENS!

FOR THE RECORD - IS THIS AN INVASIVE TREE OF HEAVEN? IF NOT, WHAT IS IT?

FUTURE SOIL, A FEW YEARS FROM NOW

 

SOME CAME FROM THESE EMPTY LIMBS.

OTHER LEAVES END UP ON THE POND.

MOSTLY BEECH

This is enough for today.  I now "leaves" you until next week.

P.S. A repeat. This is what the web says about the FAIR:
KFAC’s annual Appalachian Holiday Arts & Crafts Fair will be held at the Laughlin Health Building on December 2, 2016, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. The Appalachian Arts and Crafts Fair offers visitors a wide and varied selection of regional arts and crafts, ranging from the traditional to the cutting edge, and it includes holiday decorations. More than 100 vendors participate.

annual autumn amazement here in eastern Kentucky

post #359
       This week is the beginning of my 7th year of weekly posts on this blog!! Every year about now I try to talk myself out of taking still more beautiful photos of the leaves and the light this time of year. My effort to say "enough already" is NEVER successful. I just love it all, and I can't keep from making photos. This year there have been more than 14 days when it has been lovely, lovely, lovely!
        O well, here is a sample of this year's fall moments near my Kentucky home. I hope you enjoy them! The road by my house has been recently repaved and is looking very spiffy.

Looking west from the mailbox:

 Looking east from the mailbox:

  On a walk to one of my nearest neighbors:

     Evening view from the barn (see the first photo above):

     The Purnell farm house, with its magnificent tree and steep fields:

     another view along Route 504, still in the Mauk Ridge part:

mistletoe

   and now a few photos from where I lived until a year ago:  

driveway

on the way to the pond

a duck on the pond, first time that one has come to stay

the fall version of a leaf not yet fallen, from a yellow-poplar

        Of course I feel the same love about spring: all those wildflowers, buds on trees, so much new life emerging.  Every dogwood-gone year! What's a photographer to do except feel lucky to live here!
        A reminder -- click on one photo and they will all line up at the bottom of the screen just waiting to be viewed in a larger format, one by one!! Thanks for visiting with me here in eastern Kentucky.     Ann