Delay is done, some Colorado photos instead!

post #468
       Monday morning. I'm still on my Thanksgiving trip, in Denver, Colorado.  I fly back to Kentucky tomorrow. I think I will miss all the week's air traffic snarls across America! I didn't plan lucking out with my plans, but I'm sure happy it's breaking that way for me. 

        Well, here goes. I'm the grandma who went over the river and through the woods to get to this house where family live...

1. grandparents day at the school:
 

"Mine" is third from the right -- third graders

2. Denver art museum, Monet exhibit:

       Some of his words were projected on a screen. I  loved how close his words about painting are the same ones I would use for photography.

The next painting is not Monet, obviously, but I'm glad I discovered this corner with a quiet bench -- after the rooms full of people who, like me, had managed to get a ticket to the Monet exhibit (thank you, family.)

3. The whole morning SWIM MEET, next day (a Saturday). Both kids were involved.

4. learning about my new camera, with some help from a Kentucky photographer friend now living in Denver...

This is his way of trying out the double photo feature..... His whole approach was playful and so very helpful.

 5. Using the new camera:

Wednesday morning

lots and lots of snow, in Denver

same table when we returned to Denver!  still like this today!

     4. We were in the mountains for three days over Thanksgiving, with LESS snow than we left behind in Denver.

my footprints next to something else's prints...

my son, running up the slope, me walking down the slope...

My daughter-in-law starts a new job today, as the Executive Director of the Colorado Outward Bound School, and she asked me to take some possible PR photos.  There's nothing like HAVING to use a new camera to help learn HOW to use one!! Thank you, Lauren, and congratulations with your new position!!

 5. the way home, Friday night, photo by cell phone....

      I hope everyone has had a good week. I am grateful for so many things, and the fun I have doing this blog is one of those. 

from northeastern Kentucky, but with some remaining English photos

post #329, on Sunday, April 2   --   Happy Birthday, today, to Ann Scott! 

       I'm looking forward to sharing some photos from a few of my classmates in my Morehead State University digital photography class. Next week. But today I have several photos from England that I have not yet shared. Though I had decided not to bring my best camera on the trip, for weight and weather considerations, I did have my 6s iPhone, an earlier Canon SLR I used to know how to work without thinking, and a Canon point and shoot. Since it did rain quite a bit, I'm glad I wasn't relying on my full frame Canon, but it turned out I was a bit awkward on the other two Canons. Sometimes even a thinking pause can thwart a good photo. And sometimes there's nothing like the iPhone's reliabilitly for certain shots.

First, a reminder of Snowshill Manor, house and fields. Try pronouncing it like the locals do - with 'now' sounding like now, as in 'right now.'

Thea's choice for the photo to show of the entrance of the house.

This March garden is located near that front door. Did you doubt me when I said it rained quite a bit??

Inside treasures included some costumes in the closet to try on!

Back in town, we try to stop by to see Christina -- of the threads collection fame -- who lives almost directly across the street from my stepmother. Gotta love the gate!

And it is even better when Christina opens it!! And when she doesn't let her beloved dog run out into the street!!

Please note: she is not as short as this photo may make it look like she is.

This is what is actually directly across the street from her red gate.

Next two more photos from Hidcote Gardens of a girl on the move:

and three more from the Airbnb where R and T were staying:

the kitchen/dining room window sill later in the week

Koala and the blanket traveled with us, but the bed was just waiting for them to arrive!

I love the spontaneity of this photo, and I wish I had for once requested that she give me one more try....

A brief note about a loss our community has had, when Larry Nethterton passed away Friday night. He was the National Public Radio go to in Eastern Kentucky, running the station from MSU --  WMKY -- that is currently celebrating 50 years on the air and whose funding is currently and sadly in peril.  I worked for him part time for several years, doing the PR and fundraisers. I am also friends with his wife, Mary Jo, and his daughter and mine are close as well. Larry, thank you for how hard you cared and worked and made a difference.

discovering the worth of my own point and shoot camera

post #322
          I'm a student this semester in the beginning digital photography class at nearby Morehead State University. At last I am learning some of the basics and what they really mean. In my public personna as a recognized photographer, I'm often embarrassed by how hard it has been so far for me to explain how I do anything and why. I am now hopeful that the discomfort of feeling like a beginner will go away by the end of the semester. By then I might even learn to be a better photographer. 
         Here are two images that are part of my home work -- five of this same picture but at different f stops, then five with different "film" speeds (ISO) and so forth. Doing everything manually is excellent training that I have put off for years, and so I endure the slowness of it all as best I can.

one of five versions of this view, each one with a different F-stop

"Put the important object at the edge of the photo."

       Our homework is to present 55 of these prescribed photos by Tuesday evening, ready to put in a contact sheet, 20 to a page. I didn't even know colored photos could be printed out as a contact sheet. (I admit this as evidence that I have known too little for too long.)


         I have also taken up learning how my Canon PowerShot S110 works since it is so much easier to travel with than my regular camera.  Eureka! I finally used it in a happy way during the Denver trip. Today I'm sharing some of the photos from when I was there. They are similar to the iPhone images that I posted last week, yet they are better. Also, once I learn fully how to use the camera, I will even be able to mess with focus and depth of field and all that. I actually like that stuff, but it doesn't come naturally for me. I too often rely on having a good eye. I'm more often the dork instead of the qeek where my tools of the trade are concerned.

        So here are additional snow photos plus four grandchildren photos from the birthday gathering. Several readers let me know they really appreciated the happy faces. One of those readers was my roommate from freshman year at college -- who has been in the hospital. Thanks, Meg! So glad you are home now! Good riddance to that pesky appendix!
        While I am at it, I would like to say hello to whomever it is in Ukraine who has looked at my blog regularly for a couple of years. All I see is that at least 1 person looks from there every week, and sometimes others do as well. I'm not able to learn exactly where anyone lives -- just the country. I imagine you have more snow than these photos show from western Colorado. Here in Kentucky we've so far had hardly any snow at all.

upstairs window view, tracks on the far mountainside

living room window view of the same mountain

a sweet small tree, from above

Will's mom made "Panera" mac and cheese, per request!

Both kids enjoyed the "dart board" present, with magnets.

Audrey in the sunshine -- she turned 8 a month ago.

mid-winter musings

 post #126
       This blog's intent has been to talk about photography and about Appalachia.  I try to keep each week's post fairly simple, mostly short, and always fun, at least for me.  Along the way I share my photos, including ones that are not perfect.  If they tell part of the story I have in mind, I go ahead and use them.  I am not trying to show off.  I much prefer to share -- and to learn from whatever I do.  For these same reasons I have appreciated occasionally including work from other photographers, such as John Flavell and Chris Garris and who knows who in the future.  I also include my own work from other places where I may happen to be.  The line John Lennon used in a song, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans," works for me as well.
       Today's photos are a combination of where I have been (England) and where I want to go again (the beavers nearby).  Therefore they are not the whole story -- one's a finishing up and the other's a hint of more to come.



   First, the snow at night, in England, coming back from a Chinese New Year potluck!  Surprise!  We ended up with five inches, but it didn't last all that long.

      Here is the same place, the next morning:

      
        In fact, the next day I drove to a garage that was at a lower elevation, and there was a lot less snow around:

        I don't know which of these two views I prefer, so here are both of them!

   Now, back in Kentucky, where the snow seems more persistent.  I had to slip and slide a bit to get the angle I wanted to show the water falling AND the unusual snow circle below.

       I am on the way to check out "our" beaver colony.  The waterfall, the stream edge and the chimney are all en route.  The pile of rocks shows the back of a chimney built by homesteaders years and years ago.  In the early spring, it is beautiful, surrounded by daffodils.

        Getting to the beaver area requires several stream crossings.  I finally began to see clues.  I call this a beaver cupcake -- even the bark is gone -- and the tree that used to be on top was nowhere to be seen.  It is a marvel, really, despite the aura of destruction along the stream.

       Beaver munchies?  Busy, busy...

        How about some beaver chips for dinner....  Again, notice the missing bark on the lower part of the stump.  When I return to this place, I will look to see if this tree remains standing -- though I doubt it will be.

   
       My true confession for that day is that I did not have my good camera with me!  Neither did I have food or water.  I had just planned a "look see".....  But now I am eager to return better prepared.  (Even truer confession: most of the beaver photos were taken with my iPhone.)