note cards, and some snow, part 3 of 4 or 5

post #379
       In parts 1 and 2 I have shown all horizontal views, that may use different colored papers to enhance the colors in a particular photo. It's work to cut the paper, but I really enjoy doing the matching up. Today I am showing six of the vertical images -- which use a standard photo holder card. This allows for greater strength if the card is displayed without a frame. It means that the outside edges of the photo are not visible, which, for me, someone who frames my image in the camera, can be tricky, but most of the time it works well enough. I can no longer locate different colors for these holders, but maybe one day I'll find some.
       Now that I may have provided information some of you might not care about at all, I'm ready to get on with this post's images. Enjoy!

red, white, blue and green -- one of many views I like from this time and place

Sideway Road -- what I saw one day while checking my mail box

Woods Waterfall -- one of my first photos with a new lens

rescue donkey -- belonging now to my friend Peg in McCreary County in southeast Kentucky.  (The tips of his ears are not able to be shown in this card holder format because of the way I shoot by default.)

 

iris -- a good year!

tendril -- originally a slide, and title help from George Ella

rooster pride -- this guy also belonged to Peg. He stayed on that fence until we came back from our walk, and I knew that meant that he really wanted me to take his photo. So I obliged him and thanked him.

             I want to take time to add a few recent snow photos --  this first one was made by Jeremey. I love the contrast between the soft blanket of snow (which melted by the end of the day) and the angles of the hill, sky and clouds. This is a new view for me of the house where I used to live!  As I've said before, you never know.

             Now for two snow photos from where I live now, close by:

the view from the second floor deck, Saturday, covering the driveway mid afternoon

 

the same view this morning, with a different camera, after 5 inches of snow the day before, ending at midnight

        This morning, soon after taking this photo, I was part of a family pickup at the Lexington airport, 2 hours away. By the time we all got back here much of the snow had melted, but some remains. I suspect this might be the last of our winter in this region?  No guarantee....
        
        I would like to give a loud shout-out to the young people and others who marched and rallied yesterday all over the world demanding more sensible interpretation of the second amendment.  They have shown more caring and WAY MORE BACKBONE than our elected officials.  The NRA appears to use fear as a way to make a profit for their supporters -- though I haven't heard a good explanation why I can't drive a car or a boat without a registration but guns don't require much.  I think this heightened distress about guns has little to do with the 2nd amendment and everything to with some realities of modern day America. The Founding Fathers could have had little conception about what lay so far in the future.  It's hard to believe that back then they envisioned the citizens of this democracy needing clear rules so we don't kill each other and especially how we would have to realize how much we want to make a priority of keeping our kids alive and safe.

note card images, with titles, part 2 of at least 4

post #378
          I'm having both fun and frustration doing this little project of choosing ten or so of my cards a week to share on this blog. However, I always enjoy working with my photos -- and they take me back to places -- so this will all make sense in the long run. They feel like my best wishes that then go out into the world on their own. I can only be grateful for finding each one and having it touch me during its journey. And my journey. I do realize I sound somewhat hokey, but these feelings happen to be true.

OK, here we go today, again in random order, looking like cards with an envelope:

still light -- one of my earliest cards, in England, and a keeper

story line -- another very early card, with thanks to Kathy, across the road

 

Jean's jeans -- I love laundry lines. Thank goodness there is more than one to enjoy. I also love Jean whom I have known for over 50 years.

 

deep in the woods -- from a slide I made while working on Counting on the Woods

natural web sight -- thank you, sun, for a short moment of help

duo daffodils -- spring!!

truck shot -- I felt great to come up with this title.....

"my best side" -- It's actually quite hard to get a hen to stay still and pose....

canoe view -- on Grayson Lake, a small miracle to see this bird high on a cliff and then get it sharp so that the open beak can be seen.  Never have been entirely sure, however, if it's a cormorant. It was by itself.

country crossing --  I love morning fog. Great light.

 

forest floor flowers (meehania) -- I have seen this ground covering only once in 40 years, down by the big waterfall. It lasts only a day or two. I long to see it again. I sell very few of these cards, but to me it is just as valuable as each of the others. How privileged I have been all these years.

                  So, best wishes to everyone while on your unique journey. You just never know.
                                               Thanks for sharing in part of mine.    Ann

fun with my note cards and their titles, 1 of 4

post #377
            Over all these 6+ years of weekly posts, I realize I have never shared my images in the way I use them on the note cards I sell. I have too many choices, but I enjoy finding each photo, deciding on which color card stock to match it with, and coming up with a title that is short and maybe unexpected. However, if I am working with a flower, I will use its name, if at all possible. In photographing the ten or so photos I'm presenting today I have tried to show them as cards, with the envelope tucked inside the card, and laid out on the post with some informality  -- they are, on purpose, not obediantly lined up. I may end up giving some of the story behind each photo, but not that much today. I used the back of my silver laptop as the display location for making each photo. These are "homemade" and always evolving. And they look better "in person;" please forgive my not having time today for total excellence.
           I work with these images a lot, so they have become my friends as well as my face to the public. I hope there are some in this sample that you will enjoy as well. 

 

frost fence [I risked stopping the car on the road to take this. There's no pull-over space.]

cardinals' walnut tree station

early dogwood

A Bee / Zinnia

corn stalking time [Sandy in her garden]

for coming and going, from home

side door

talking with sheep  (in a field in England)

black and white in color

ear-winking mule

Big Wheel

Well, these are a start. This last image of the rooster is one of my best known photos. It was originally a slide, and I was using a tripod. Evidently this guy liked to stand around and look important, my neighbor told me, and one day he was totally taken out by a hawk. Already some of his tail feathers were "compromised." OK, everyone, watch your back....

NO RAIN for a few days

post #376, 3/4/18
       Today I so wanted to post 10 photos of blue sky. What a happy, encouraging sight after weeks of mostly clouds and rain. Instead, since all that blueness might be boring to look at, here are some variations of my inclination. I hope everyone is by now reconnected to the grid and moving on, with thoughts of climate change firmly in their heads. Denial doesn't do much for our children's future.
      SO, first, my morning moons -- an accident to have caught the moment! I love learning about reflections and what comes out as sharp in a photo. l began with my iPhone, and then looked again with my Canon. I couldn't work fast enough to set up a tripod at that time -- my bare feet were already cold from being on the wooden deck around the second story of my building, and the morning was quickly growing brighter.
       

  (I've kept this dark since it was dark, so this is approximately I was actually seeing.)

Later -- simply blue sky. How beautiful. How appreciated at this time!

And the wonder of a shining sun and SHADOWS. OMGoodness!

 The weather has been challenging in Europe as well, especially in England but also in France. A close friend there found this view so unusual that she sent me a photo from her back yard. She lives in Rennes, in northwestern France.  Thank you, Mariko.

       Perhaps I need to sign off for now with three glimpses of my grandaughter during some of her time with me this past week:

visiting the neighbors and meeting their newly adopted extended family member

fixing up HER favorite chair in the living area of my gallery house

 

The other chair is MY favorite, but it was also redesigned and reconfigured by her....all in a morning's imagining.

       Note: My plan for the next few posts is to take photos of some of the note cards I have been selling over many years. I realized recently that I assume I have done something like that on this blog, but I have not. Yet. I look forward to sharing my titles and the stories behind some of the photos. Thanks as always for coming by to visit on this blog.....