People, second post, more eastern Kentucky moments

post #433
        More, more, more! With my current (but temporary) lack of mobility, I am enjoying "being with" these folks whose photos I have taken, usually spontaneously. Thank you all!!
       

friendly fellow woods photographers

a  friend's January visit here, from Oregon

big 80th birthday party

the birthday girl

her daughter, Sandy, at a 4H competition

Sandy's granddaughter, and her 4H prize winner

Junie, at his home (with my granddaughter!)

 

Jean, of the photo Jean's jeans....

 

Jean's jeans (one of several versions over the years)

Jean's husband, Garry, has died, and it has been hard for everyone:

Garry's nephew

Garry's daughter with Jonathan, who was like a son

such a smile!

For some reason, I find this guy hilarious -- very rooted in the community, for sure.

 

artist and quilter

Jennifer, friend and artist and clear thinker

         Next week I will do more grandchildren, and other kids.  Then the last week will be folks I have visited in different places.  By then I should be back on both feet, instead of only one, and back out in the world. With my camera!  Hooray, hooray!

Always the right time for a few more flowers...

post #385
      There's also no better time to see if my laptop is feeling more energetic than it was a week ago for transferring photos I have to my blog post....
      Today is beautiful, after a lot of rain yesterday. However, I don't think we received as much rain as fell on Louisville, Kentucky, home of the annual Kentucky Derby. It seems they have never had a soggier time for this Big Moment, without fail on the first Saturday in May.  I haven't yet talked to photographer friends of mine who were there to make photos. I hope they and their cameras survived -- with a sense of humor -- intact.
       OK, today, what can I say, more flowers are coming your way:

Milkweed in late spring, with what is not a Monarch Butterfly.... Perhaps a Painted Lady?

These aromatic beauties have lots of names, many containing the word Lily, such as Resurrection Lily. However they are sometimes known as simply "naked ladies"

This is joe pye weed, in the wild, near where I live. 

And this is also joe pye weed, as part of an English country garden.  So what does "weed" mean??

spring beauties, early emergers, so to speak

A redbud tree celebrates spring by producing these lovely pink/purple flowers directly from its trunk or branches.

Eventually this flowering produces an intense marvel signally the start of spring's showy season.

This is one of many photos of Lady's Slippers -- I will need to do an entire post sometime about them.  I grew up in Stamford, Connecticut and lived on Lady Slipper Lane, which was off Mayapple Road.  I never knew that a mayapple was a flower until I moved to Kentucky!  The area was pretty rural way back then, but it is now a woodsy subdivision.  Luckily I grew up across from a large swamp which gave us endless thrills as kids. It seems to have been a protected wetland because it remains a swamp even now.

pond side weeds, catching some leaf time

daisies sharing the sun

plus a daisy solitaire

I believe this is a hibiscus bush, in my friend Jean's yard. I include it because I love the way this photo shows the gathering of family and friends for the annual horse ride to honor Garry Purnell, beginning and ending where he had lived. The tribute t-shirts are the same color as these flowers. I don't use a tripod during such occasions. I simply appreciate sharing the day with everyone -- except I don't ride a horse.

I guess this is plenty of flower photos for now. I hope there's time soon for everyone to go out and look around.  We still have dogwoods in bloom, for one thing. Happy spring seeing to all.

the beauty of cemeteries, in eastern Kentucky

post #232
       During yesterday's evening trip to town for groceries I drove past multiple cemeteries, all beautifully cared for, ready for this Memorial Day Weekend.  As readers of this blog already know, as a photographer and as a resident, I have been very taken with these family cemeteries for a long, long time. So I decided that today I would show some of my earlier photos of some of these places. Then this evening and tomorrow morning, when the light is better, I will take current photos of cemeteries nearest to where I live to post next Sunday. (I post once a week, usually on a Sunday.)

        First, a cemetery in nearby Rowan County, connected to a small church which is no longer in regular use but in a beautiful location.  A friend who plans to be buried here was showing the place to me, near where she lives.

         Now a second pair of photos, in the fall, also connected to a church and in Rowan County.  I took these during the funeral and burial for the wonderful matriarch of a large family, Don Rita Butler.

     Next are three of the photos by John Flavell when we both photographed the final two miles to the family cemetery, for Dempsey McDaniel, at the family's request.

    Here are some photos from there later. I had my eldest granddaughter with me during that visit.  (I took some photos from this cemetery today, during the family gathering, which I will share next week.)

      
       This is the view from the hill where the cemetery is located:

      The next two photos are from the Catron Cemetery, again on the top of a hill, 

 and these last two are also along the ridge I live on. I include the mailboxes, because it is an indication of where I was was standing while taking the photos.  (All our mailbox numbers have changed since I took this photo, however.  We now have 911 in our county....)

      We are having beautiful weather this weekend. It is rich for families to gather in memory of family members no longer living, but not forgotten, giving the youngest generation a connection to their family history and a chance to play with cousins, among other things. I hope some of my readers share my interest in these important places.

pixels and posterity, saying it again

post #224
     Last weekend, our community celebrated the long life of Mary Foley Carew, who at 97 had a small stroke and died two weeks later.  I am sharing this because, as a photographer,

a lily on my daughter's table, taken with my iPhone4s!

one of the things I think about is the photograph the family will want to use for the service or perhaps for the obituary in the newspaper.  Her family are close friends of ours, so the photo they chose was one I had taken almost 6 years ago during a visit to our home.  I then discovered that for some as yet unknown reason the photo did not have quite enough pixels to be blown up to a large size!  But otherwise her photo was just right for the occasion.  I am honored that they were able to make good use of it.  Mary, we miss you and love you always.
 

         What I have said before, and I am sure I will feel called to say again, is that everyone should keep a fairly recent photo around that has adequate pixels, and, even better, have a print made.  I am not sure yet if the Carews needed to scan the print they had in order to get a high resolution version or if they made do with the pixels I emailed them. 
       After Mary's lovely service, I was talking to a friend there who also loves photography. I shared with her my concern that having a photo on one's cell phone is NOT the same as having a reliable print or a guarantee that there is a photo if needed for public occasions. 
        I asked my friend "Do you have a photo if you were to need one next week?"  She said no.  "Well", I replied, "I happen to have my camera right here and you look great.  Do you want me to shoot a photo for you?"  Most people had left the church by then so she decided to go for it.  Here are two of the photos I took and will send to her to print or keep on hand.  (She hasn't seen these yet...) So I say again, Take.a.real.photo.  Make.some.prints.now.

      It is getting to be late afternoon, and I haven't yet made it down to our waterfalls to take a photo of their being frozen from top to bottom!  So I am going to finish this post for today, after this one last photo.  My neighbor's eggs.  An egg basket from Lou Martin years ago.  And a timely comment, that these eggs are different colors on the outside, but they are all good eggs on the inside.  My heart is with the people of France as they stand together today after so much tragedy.

       

the trip to the cemetery, by truck and by horse-drawn wagon

post #220

I stopped to make this photo of the burial site preparation as I was on the way to the funeral. 

       I should probably start by mentioning -- since I seem to have readers in various parts of the world -- that it is very common in our region to have a family cemetery in a hillside plot on a family's home place.  So, at the Monday evening visitation this week at the funeral home, for my neighbor and friend, Garry, whose photo was in last week's blog, I was asked if I would please make photos of the next day's trip to the cemetery after the funeral.  
       The family was planning first to carry the coffin 17 miles on the back of Garry's beloved red truck, almost to the home place, with his saddle strapped on over the coffin. Then, since he also loved all things horse, they planned to transfer the coffin to an open wagon on wheels, drawn by two horses, whose driver, Terry, is, I believe, a friend of Garry's. 
       The horses, the wagon, and friends and family who were helping waited on a corner not far from the home.  Several folks would be riding horses alongside the wagon.  One of those waiting horses was Garry's; it would be led, with the empty saddle.  
       When the funeral procession arrived, the coffin was transferred to the wagon, and the saddle was put on Garry's horse, who was led by Jonathon, seen in the photos with his red checked shirt.  All made the journey together -- the wagon, the horses, followed by the cars and trucks in the procession -- for the slow ride to the cemetery.
       The day was gray and quite chilly, but it wasn't raining or snowing like it could have been.  That helps me a lot.  I think the transfers took place around 4 p.m.  I forgot to think about time while I was working though of course that info is on my camera.  
        Nothing is staged so it's just chance what I can see without being aggressive. If I need to balance getting the photo I'd want with being respectful and caring, I always choose caring.  I know many of the people there, which is a help. They could perhaps understand what I was trying to do for the family, at their request.  Of course many people were taking photos as well, mostly with their phones, and someone I didn't know seemed to be taking some video.
      I hope these photos here do give an idea of what the occasion felt like.  They are some of the many moments I could have taken. I am putting less than half of the total photos here, mostly because of space considerations but also because of privacy issues.  Please note: The images are not worked over, so they appear as just what I could manage that day, warts and all.  My hope is that there are enough to tell a heartfelt story.  I offer these as my small part in a big tribute that took place this week for Garry by those who love him. 

  Next I drove ahead to the place where the horses and wagon were gathered, waiting.

Garry's horse, held by Jim

ready and waiting

The red truck arrives as part of the procession.

getting ready for the transfer

Terry Reynolds, driver

turning into the farm

Terry heading back

horses talking back and forth

finishing up the time at the cemetery

looking back at the house and barn from the cemetery

I very much enjoyed the ride I hitched to where my car was parked.... thanks so much!

A blog reminder: clicking on one photo will bring up all the photos along the bottom of the screen for viewing at a larger size.