Day 54: February 23rd

Morning in Mystic 

Hotel parking lot.  Frost on the rental car windshield.  Setting the GPS to bring me into the office just a few miles away.  I want it to be spring, but it just isn't yet.

Day 53: February 22nd

Mystic Marriott Hotel & Spa

I just used the hotel part - no spa for me.  This is where they put me up on my first official visit to the New London, CT, office.  In spite of this rug, it really was an elegant hotel.  I've heard of picking carpets and fabrics "so it doesn't show the dirt," but this choice of carpet is over the top.  Clearly, it was selected to "not show the vomit."

Day 52: February 21st

Monday, President's day.  This picture reminds me of something I said to a airline attendant in December.  I was returning to the U.S. from Tokyo.  As everyone was getting settled in their seats, she was going from person to person asking if we'd like a newspaper or magazine.  When she came to me, I said, "No, I think I'll just sit quietly."  After I said it, I had to laugh at myself.  I was happy about the prospect of doing nothing for the next 13 hours.  I didn't even want to read or look at television.  There is a lot to love about Asia, but one thing particularly stands out: the trip is so long that I get a good extended rest.  No one expects anything of you, because you're on an airplane and they really value those of us who "just sit quietly."  I sleep for hours and hours and hours.

Day 51: February 20th

This was the first time since my surgery that I was able to give Rio a good grooming.  It was a good day for both of us. 

Day 50: February 19th

Trees, Sky, Twilight
Lens = digital pinhole lens. ISO at a whopping 4000.  Exposure time = 6 seconds.

Other than removing spots left by dust on the sensor, I did not edit this image one bit.  Although there is a lot that could be done digitally to "improve" it, I decided to let the trees speak for themselves.  Just as they are.  No digital reinterpretation.  Not to say interpretation is a bad thing, it's just that for once I'd like to let a tree be a tree.

I'd like to say it was windy, but that would be a drastic understatement.  The wind was so spectacular, it earned the advisory below (all in capital letters no less!).  My favorite part of this advisory is the phrase "Blowout Conditions."  Love that.  Could be used in so many circumstances.

...and here is the Special Weather Statement issued February 20 at 1:26AM EST expiring February 20 at 11:00AM EST by NWS Philadelphia/Mount Holly

...LOW WATER LEVELS WILL OCCUR ON THE LOWER DELAWARE RIVER THIS MORNING... STRONG NORTHWEST WINDS CONTINUE TO PUSH WATER OUT OF THE LOWER PORTIONS OF THE DELAWARE RIVER AND DOWN DELAWARE BAY EARLY THIS MORNING. BLOWOUT CONDITIONS OCCURRED AT LAST EVENINGS LOW TIDE AND WILL OCCUR AGAIN WITH THIS MORNING`S LOW TIDE CYCLE. LOW TIDE IN PHILADELPHIA WILL OCCUR AT 9:36 AM. THE HEIGHT OF THIS MORNING`S LOW TIDE COULD FALL TO BETWEEN 2 AND 3 FEET BELOW MEAN LOWER LOW WATER. WIND SPEEDS WILL DIMINISH SLOWLY TODAY INTO TONIGHT. THIS WILL ALLOW WATER LEVELS TO GRADUALLY RETURN TO MORE NORMAL LEVELS. THEREFORE, THE THREAT FOR ANY ADDITIONAL BLOWOUT CONDITIONS WILL BE GREATLY ALLEVIATED.

Day 49: February 18th

Love Thy Neighbor

I'm tempted to wonder: what does a single family need with a home like this?  This, um, monstrosity, and several more like it are being built on my street.  Just an FYI, last year this was a beautiful copse of trees that provided cover for deer, turkey, a variety of hawks and other wild life.  I used to ride my horse through there.  I'm tempted to feel really bad about the destruction/construction.  I'm tempted not to like the family that moves in.  I'm tempted to walk my dog over their lawn, when one grows that is.

Those are just temptations, though, and since I'm only here for a little while, I'm going to remark to myself that this is at very least an interesting turn of events. Then I'm going to move on, trying to do what I believe is the right thing, and also remembering that my own home once violated land and trees and destroyed habitat that will never again exist. No sense in fretting over spilt milk.  Like Dr. Maya Angelou says, "When you know better, you do better."

Day 48: February 17th

Waning Winter at the Dog Park

I wish I had said it first, but this is a phrase I'm hearing and seeing all over the internet: camera phones are the new Polaroid cameras.  Ok, I'll bite.  I can see the point.  Portable, easy to use, instant capture, low tech.  And, of course, ubiquitous, just like the Polaroid was in its heyday.  That's a pretty good case for saying that camera phones are the new Polaroid, except that this is like saying gray is the new black.  It's harmless, but it is also thoughtless, trendy, and undervalues the unique contribution of both technologies and what they mean to their respective eras.  Nothing, in my opinion, will ever replace the Polaroid!  Some fantastic work is still being produced using them.  Search Flickr and you'll see what I mean.

In my opinion, though, and in my observation of camera phone images, I believe they do, like the Polaroid, serve the excellent purpose of documenting the world as it's happening.  They are creating what will be the future retrospective on this time.  One day we'll be looking back at these quirky blue-gray soft-focused vignettes of every day life.  Other people's feet in a city crosswalk, the pierced tongues of our friends (well, not my friends, precisely), and of course, the towering view of our own shadows on the pavement.  The things we see everyday captured for all eternity (nothing posted ever really dies).  What will we believe about the past when these become our evidence of it?  Maybe, just like every generation that has gone before, we'll remember the sky as being brighter and our friends as being more attractive.  

Note: Of course, I realize very few people care about the distinction between camera phones and Polaroids like I do.  And, of course I realize that it would be a waste of time for more than a handful of people to even think about it.  But somebody has to, so here I am.

Day 47: February 16th

There is so much I enjoy about this picture.  Let's start with the hinge on the left that I picked up at an antique store.  Ooohhh, girl, I love me some antique hardware!  I'm not sure if I picked up the creepy doll on the same excursion into the past, but when I want creepy doll parts, there are two stores where I know they will be.  Makes me wonder seriously about the person who stocks them, but like they say, there is someone for everyone and that stockperson is apparently for me.  As long as they keep bringing in the arms, legs, hands and bodies, my art will continue to thrive.

I guess for the sake of whatever, I should explain what I mean by my "art."  Although photography is my primary medium, I also love to work in collage.  Found objects are generally the source of my pieces.  For example, the doll, the hinge, the buttons.  Things that are reminiscent of the past, but which also lend themselves to commentary about the past are my favorite.  Just think about the hinge and what such an object might represent.  What does it add to the piece when you think about the doll?  What if you thought about "unhinged" instead of "hinged?"  Does that change anything?

And that's what I like about this image.

Day 46: February 15th

Aahhh.  My pride and joy.  This image is closer to my own personal aesthetic.  It's a retrospective on childhood.  Not my own necessarily, but in concept, everyone's.  If it makes you uncomfortable, you can even imagine it is about the youth of our nation and how we are sort of a teenage country with more growing to do.  Or it could be a history of the world.  It's your call.  Either way, I find the imagery delicious and I wont' lie - I did play with the dinosaur.  I made him growl at the crusader.

Day 45: February 14th - Valentine's Day

The only excuse I have for this image is that it was another opportunity to improve upon my multiple exposure technique.  So sweet, it makes me want to vomit.  (End Valentine's Day!  End the tyranny!)

Day 44: February 13th

I suspect that Valentine's Day is a holiday meant to increase the revenue of the greeting card industry.  I was 100% behind Kevin Huffman of the Washington Post who last year declared that it was time to end the tyranny of the holiday.  Go Kevin!  In his February 12th, 2010, article, he pointed out that it is allegedly a $14 billion industry in the U.S.  Billion.  That's a "B" folks.  Well, this year I made my own card.  I know it's like spitting in the ocean, but hey, a girl's gotta take a stand.

Day 43: February 12th

Since the Coopersburg Camera Club fizzled, I joined the Lehigh Valley Photography Club.  Yesterday they held an indoor shoot.  The members were instructed to bring props with a Valentine's Day theme.  I missed that part of the instructions, so I just brought some silk and vases I bought in India, as well as a couple of curtain tassles and two oranges.  Since we were shooting still life compositions, I thought these would make a nice one.  I'm not really into shooting sweet pretty things, as pretty always strikes me as suspicious.  Add Valentine's Day with all its pressures to love and be loved and I'm pretty much out the door.  Much to my delight, this shoot was held in a classroom where lots of cool things happen - like painting and making things with ground up glass.  There were all kinds of artifacts left over from the classes that are held there.  This sink, for example, spoke to my inner Grunge Girl and I immediately fell in love with its filth and caked on layers of paint.  Well, since it was love at first site, I figured it counted toward the Valentine's Day theme.

Note: Everyone at the club was very warm and welcoming.  Just because my style is much too young for my age doesn't mean that there isn't value in learning how to shoot products, still life, and even Teddy bears.  If you can do any one of these things well, then you have my respect.

Day 42: February 11th

I can't deny it - it's day 43 of this project and  it's starting to lose its charm.  Still, I think it's a worthy project if I am true to the unwritten goals: create a visual diary and improve my technique.  This image is the result of an attempt to improve my skill in creating multiple exposure images.  The image of the woman was actually in a magazine.  It was a Fendi advertisement.  I picked it because her eyes had the intensity I was looking for and the draping of the fabric around her head made her seem sort of like the Blessed Virgin Mary.  There are a lot of images to choose from in a fashion magazine, but I thought she had the right intensity combined with a softness that would suit being combined with the flower.  The result is OK and it was fun to make, but I don't see a real use for creating such an image.  It's not something that I would hang on a wall.  Maybe it would be useful as a book cover image.  Who knows.  I just wanted to create a proof of concept.  Mission accomplished!

Technical information: Exposure for both the chrysanthemum and magazine image (the woman) were the same.  Both were photographed at f8 and a shutter speed of .3 seconds.  This was an experiment that worked out well, although the subjects were very different.  If I was shooting one or the other as a stand-alone image, I would have adjusted the shutter speed.  I used my Tamron 180mm macro lens with the camera mounted on a tripod (that is one heavy lens!).  The flower was back-lit by a small flashlight.  This is a two-frame multiple exposure created in-camera using the Nikon multiple exposure function on the shooting menu.

Day 41: February 10th

Sunrise from my bedroom window.  My grandmother called the color of the sunrise "Sky Blue Pink."  It's hard to see one and not think of that...sky blue pink.

Day 40: February 9th

This prayer plant sits on a table in front of lacy curtains.  When the sun comes through in the morning and if you sit on the floor, you can see how the leaves take on the pattern of the lace.  It's moments like this that remind me of why I love the sun so much.

Day 39: February 8th

These tangerines were meant for me and I for them.  Juicy, ripe, and plump.  When I eat them my own enzymes will interact with their chemical compounds and BAM! Supernutrition is achieved.  Well, at the very least the digestion and absorption of the nutrients in the fruit is allegedly optimal when one eats raw foods, such as these bad mama jamas.  I'm not willing to try it with, say eggs or meat, but fruits and veggies fer sure.  This idea that our biology interakes in specific ways with our food makes me believe that we shouldn't interupt the delicate nature of our ecosystem.  I believe we've evolved alongside it and it alongside us.  We're made for each other, like I said! 

Day 38: February 7th

Sunset over a different kind of desert.  The fields are glazed with ice.  I tried really hard to see waving stalks of corn or even the first green fuzz of soybean rows in the dark dirt of spring.  You know how the dirt seems extra chocolatey before the summer heat has a chance to scorch it?  Well, that's what I was trying to imagine.

Day 37: February 6th

Despite my best attempts to provide a suitable winter shelter for the feral cat colony, these three decided to cuddle up and sleep on a big flower pot on the front porch. I don't understand why the flower pot is a better choice than the warm insulated boxes I made for them.  Ungrateful kitties :-(
From left to right, Monique, Shilpa, and Neo.

Day 36: February 5th

Friday night U.S.A.  Movies and then off to the Wawa - needed milk for the morning.  Cold.

Day 35: February 4th

I live near this beautiful little country church.  It has red doors and a white steeple.  It is surrounded by a church yard full of tombstones, some of them dating back to the revolutionary war.  Inside, it has a gorgeous organ and stained glass windows throughout.  A couple of years ago, a woman who worked there was murdered by another church member.  The murderer was an older woman who was jealous of the attention the pastor paid to the younger woman.  She shot her at about 10:45 a.m., went to get her hair done at 11:00 and then tossed her gun into my favorite lake - Lake Nockamixon.  Of course, it was found and of course, the murderer was arrested and convicted.

It's hard to believe that this could happen in my neighborhood.  I hate that it changes what I think about when I pass this sweet little church.  In an attempt not to give into the dark side, I decided to forget about the tragedy for a minute.  This picture was taken behind the church where the tombstones are neatly tucked in under the snow.

Day 34: February 3rd

This is Mountain Drive.  It is on the Lehigh University campus, which is just eight minutes from my house.  Each branch of every tree was encased in ice.  Since the temperature had warmed a bit, the ice was melting and breaking off in fragments with each and every little breeze.  As we rode along, the ice came crashing down and it was a bit like being on an obstacle course, avoiding the ice on the ground and the ice falling from above.  Still, it was great to be out of the house and the landscape was spectacular.

Day 33: February 2nd

View of the driveway from the back porch.

Today was a spectacular day, because a great ice storm came and made the trees shine and the icicles grow.  There was also a nice fog that looked mysterious and like we weren't in Pennsylvania at all.  It looked like we woke up in a scene from The Ice Queen (Hans Christian Anderson's) or Dr. Zhivago.

Day 32: February 1st

Well, now, January is out of the way.  When I am about to take my dying breath I will regret that I didn't appreciate this time.  It's easy to disdain bad weather when you think there is unlimited amounts of time.  When my time is over, I will wish for one more day - regardless of whether the sun shines or not.

About this picture: Another world within my world.  This arrangement sits on a table in my guest room (a.k.a. the sick room).  It is the most comforting room in the house, small and cozy with Grandmom Edwards watching over us.

Day 31: January 31st

Morning is best.  Sometimes in the middle of the afternoon, I wish it was morning again.  That's no good.