The Face

The Face of Time

I am not going to write about time.  All the cliches - slipping through fingers, need more of, most precious part of life, etc.  Instead, let's talk about a fictional character.  My husband and I started watching this show over the summer called Alphas.  It's basically about a group of people with special abilities - extra strength, super senses and so on.  Well, my favorite character is a young man who can see, and communicate, with electronic signals.  But that's not what I like about him.  He is also autistic.  Okay that's nice and all.  I love his honesty and his innocence in his honesty.  He always says what's on his mind - as a matter of fact in the beginning of the series I was pretty sure he was gonna get on my nerves because he talks non-stop.  A constant stream of babble.  But I really, really like him.  I love how he says exactly what is on his mind.  The catch is - he can afford to - he doesn't ever really have to face the reality of what he says because he does not "live in the real world" so to speak.  It's refreshing and admirable, and quite funny most times.  But not in that sassy way that young people seem to be portrayed in shows today.  I just don't really care for that type of humor.  This character is very cleverly written and portrayed.

I got an email tonight from my mom containing several quotes from Will Rogers.  Here are some of my favorites:

Never slap a man who's chewing tobacco.
There are two theories to arguing with a woman.  Neither works.
Never miss a good chance to shut up.
If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.
Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier'n puttin' it back in.

A few extras for this evening.  Hope they put a smile on your face as they did on mine.  Thanks for sharing mom.

Different View

Wagon Ride

Nothing like taking a leisurely ride in an apple orchard...avoiding all that mud - if that was possible!

Happiness comes of the capacity to feel deeply, to enjoy simply, to think freely, to risk life, to be needed.  ~ Storm Jameson

Country - Not Me

Down the Lane

I'm no country girl - I've said it for years - I am a total city girl.  If there's not lots of traffic and lots of stores and lots of buildings (to photograph) then I am just not interested.  But, how could I resist such a county image? 

And tonight's quote definitely gives me something to think about.  Maybe I could enjoy the country more if I thought of it in these terms:

I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.  ~ John Burroughs

Unique and Wonderful World

Shades of Gray

Back to my staircase obsession.  I mean really, have you ever noticed how different staircases are?  Well, naturally I assume your answer to be yes.  That is, if you are a little strange like me.  It's pretty interesting how something that is meant for function is so artistic in nature.  Each one pretty unique.  I really should make a grouping of all the staircases I've photographed over the years.  And I bet, none of them are alike.  I think that is actually pretty remarkable.  What a unique and wonderful world we live in. 

Every great architect is – necessarily – a great poet.  He must be a great original interpreter of his time, his day, his age.  ~ Frank Lloyd Wright

Dragon

Dragon

Found on one of my city excursions - looking for something interesting to photograph. 

A single question can be more influential than a thousand statements.  ~  Bo Bennett

Entry & Tree

I hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday weekend.  We did.  Kinda busy, some late nights and early mornings, family get togethers and adventures.  After some last minute changes to our weekend plans, we ended up doing our Saturday activity today.  And that has left me pretty worn out and more than ready for bed.  We went on a bit of a drive to pick apples.  (In all fairness I didn't really pick many apples, but had a great time socializing - and trying to avoid all the mud.)  It was a very fun day & I'm glad we were able to go, but now I'm ready to hit that pillow and get some sleep before getting back into normal life again tomorrow. 

Here's a good quote for today:

The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire.  ~ Ferdinand Foch

Untitled

I haven't had a chance to shoot as much as I would like in the past few months.  I still love shooting.  And I love looking at images and I love the hold of the camera.  I can't imagine not being involved with photography.  It's such a big part of me.  And so, last weekend, we had a family activity planned (let's just say that I was more excited I think than the boys were about meeting a certain Gorilla and Dan Marjele).  I made sure to take the camera with.  And, thanks to my niece and her family moving back to town, we have a few more activities planned with them.  And all of them should be pretty good photo ops.  So, I'm excited to be doing the fun activities and the photo chances make it just that much better.  Oh, and, I have a few portrait sessions coming up as soon as the weather cools of a bit - well not a bit but A LOT really.  I guess what I'm trying to say is there should be more fun, new stuff on the way! 

Okay, so to tonight's photo.  You know back in the day when I first started shooting, I loved architecture.  Loved, loved, loved it!  Well, okay, I still do.  I just haven't shot it in awhile.  But, back then I would never have dreamed of including people.  I never really noticed it, until someone, I think one of my brothers, pointed out to me that my photos seemed to always be missing the people.  Hmm, maybe I was thinking it would be so much easier to shoot my beloved architecture without all those people milling around all the time.  Would this image have been better without the people?  Or is it just fine the way it is?  I'm not certain.  I think it's just different.  And the strange thing is, I had the opportunity to shoot without the two boys in the tunnel . . . and never even thought to take it without them.  Give me a couple of years and I'll probably be back to shooting images with no people again!

Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.  ~ Rumi

Swing

Swing

And a near miss.  Oh well, you know what they say, practice makes perfect.  Just have fun while doing all that practice.

A person who never made a mistake never tried something new.  ~ Albert Einstein

Into Position

Into Position

Waiting for that snap, the players are all ready and in their positions. 

Don't aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally.  ~ David Frost

It's Okay

Man Down

Tonight is going to be super short.  Basically just the photo.  Who knew that having so few things scheduled for summer leads to very busy days?  Next year a fully scheduled calender for me.

Don't worry, the man down was able to get up and walk off on his own.  It was a sight to see all the boys taking a knee until he was able to get up. 

Halftime

Halftime

Taken during halftime.  It was a pretty bright, middle of the afternoon, day.  Not the best situation for lighting.  That time of day always creates harsh shadows.  Not to mention tires the photographer out pretty quickly.  But, that time of day can also create dramatic lighting.  I knew when I took this photo - I was shooting somewhat into the sun - that I would be able to get some pretty dramatic lighting after I got it loaded into my computer and had a chance to play a little bit.  I have always loved photos with a little more contrast.

Don't waste your time hating failure.  Failure is a greater teacher than success.  ~ Clarissa Pinkola Estes

Allright, I Played A Little Here



S4

I was so glad when Sara said it would be alright if I played a little with her photos.  I always give copies of all photos taken - except for the obvious closed eyes and blurred or such - in both color and black and white.  That way they have the option of both varieties.  Sara's photos were so fun, I really wanted to spend a little bit of extra time working on them a bit.  I had a feeling they would look really good a little "blown out".  Meaning, deliberately overexposing them just a tad.  And this photo is definitely one that benefited from that.  I love the original as well, it's very good.  I think it's fun to see how you can play with the images a little to create a different mood. 

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.  ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Again, I Love This Lighting

S3

The thing that really got me excited about these columns is the lovely halo effect created around Sara's hair.  It created such soft lighting for her face.  I just love the way this looks.  And yes, it does really help to have such a beautiful subject to light up.

Life is short, and it's up to you to make it sweet.  ~ Sadie Delany

Cowboy and Some Business

My Lil' Cowboy

Here is a photo taken 8 years ago.  Today marks a milestone in our house.  My son attended his last day of elementary school.  I thought it might be appropriate to share with you a photo from preschool.  He sure has grown a lot in those eight years.  And now, we are ready to move on to the next adventure.

I have two pieces of business to discuss tonight.  First of all, thanks to everyone concerned about my sleep deprivation.  Got a great night's sleep last night and even now, as I sit and type this, I am feeling pretty good.  It has been a long, and extremely busy couple of weeks at our house.  I wouldn't trade any of it for anything.  We accomplished a lot, we "partied" with friends and teammates and said some goodbyes.  All in all, some good times.

And for my second piece of business . . . it seems that I have been experiencing some technical difficulties (even if I didn't really know it.)  My website hit a little snag and had a hard time displaying my latest posts.  If you have received some errors trying to view my site, well, thanks to my husband, everything is all good now.  After I got the second complaint and passed the info on to him, he jumped right on his computer and worked his magic.  He did try to explain it all to me.  Honestly I think all I understood out of the whole demonstration about what was wrong is that it works now.  So, if you were unable to view my posts for the past four days or so, visit my site to get caught up on all the latest MelzDezines activity.  If you are still having problems, please, please, please let me know.  Thanks for hanging in there with me, and especially thanks to those who let me know.

And now for a quote, let's see which one should I share this evening?  How about:

I have a new philosophy.  I'm only going to dread one day at a time.  ~ Charles M. Schulz

I Think I Might Be Changing My Mind Here

Strings in Black & White

Since I talked about this image in black & white, I thought I would throw it out there for you all.  So, lay it on me, what do you think?  Color or black & white.  I love hearing how everyone feels when I give out the same image done differently.  So many different opinions, it's just great! 

The more I look at this one, the more I am liking it.  But, I'm kinda easy to please that way I guess.

I really like this quote, it gives me something to think on, and hope . . .

Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it.  ~  Salvador Dali

It was a long time ago that I came to an understanding about perfection and the pursuit of it.  It was just plain silly.  I remember almost the exact moment when I had this realization.  And it came in such a strange way.  I'm an avid cross-stitcher.  I learned how at the age of 12 and have done so ever since.  Creating many, many items.  Some have been framed and hung on my walls.  Some have been framed and given as gifts.  Most just sit around somewhere in boxes or such.  It's all about the process of creating.  In the beginning, when I would get off count - which inevitably happens (right Lynn?) - I would take out every single stitch that had been put in a wrong place.  Only to restitch them all over again.  And then one day, I decided to "work it out" by adjusting the surrounding stitches.  I was able to complete the project and it still looked like the image I was trying to create.  And, here is the "realization" part, now this piece of work is uniquely mine.  Nobody else was going to create that image in the exact same way that I just did, nor would anyone else even know there was a mistake.  To me it became perfect in it's imperfection.  Now, I'm not saying that you shouldn't aspire to better things, that you shouldn't pursue becoming a better person and such.  But perfection?  It's such a relative term.  What is perfection to me is not the same perfection to someone else.  Instead of pursuing perfection, how 'bout we all just pursue being the best that each of us can be?

Interesting Phrases

Dad's Tools

Since I shared a little bit about some family quirks, I thought tonight would be a great time to share a favorite photo of mine(this photo is on my website in the Old School section of the gallery).  This is taken of some tools that my father used for a hobby.  And, he even let us kids create things with these tools.  He still has them today, although I'm not sure when the last time was they got used.  They do bring back some very fond memories.  Any idea what these might be used for?

In regards to last night's post . . . I have some explaining to do.  So, here it goes.  Turkey Lip is a phrase picked up from one of my brothers - Warren.  It is something that you call another person, and is always said affectionately.  As in "be quiet you Turkey Lip".  Try it sometime, it gets some pretty interesting reactions from people. 

Knot Head is something my dad has called every dog we've ever owned.  Even my two current beagles get called Knot Head.  And sometimes they truly are.  The funny thing is - I've yet to meet a dog that didn't like my dad.  So, I guess if you are wanting to get on a dog's good side, start calling him a Knot Head.  They seem to like it.

And the best for last - Deep Dark Trouble.  This is a phrase that my brother Warren (again - he is a character but not a carrot - another family story) came up with to get his children to behave.  He would always threaten them that if they didn't cut it out they would be in Deep Dark Trouble.  A couple of his kids are now married with kids of their own.  The family was together and somehow we got to talking about Deep Dark Trouble.  None of his kids knew exactly what Deep Dark Trouble was, they just knew that they did not EVER want to find out.

Got a Little Rambly Tonight

Hilt

How can it only be Tuesday evening?  I feel like I've already packed a months worth of activities in the past 3 or 4 days.  And yet, I'm still standing, so I guess I should be thankful/proud of that.  You know me, always looking for the positive spin on things.  Can't help it, ever the optimist . . .

So, here is another from the good old black and white film.  Just love it.  As good as digital gets, deep deep down inside (and for my family members this is not referring to deep dark trouble) my heart will forever love black and white film.  Nothing you haven't heard before.

Now as for deep dark trouble, well it's kind of a family legend - along with things like Turkey Lip and Knot head.  You know, those phrases that make sense to no other sane person but have great and wonderful meaning to each of my crazy family.  Should I explain further?  You tell me . . .

Okay, so I'm not sure how this quote fits in tonight, other than I just plain enjoyed reading it.  So, here ya go:

For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.  ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Think On This For A Bit

Grandma's Dishes 1

Here's an interesting thought, really, let this one sit with you for awhile.  It's a good one.

Reality is the leading cause of stress among those in touch with it.  ~ Lily Tomlin

And while you are here, please enjoy another look at my grandma's dishes.   I just love photographing old items - they are so timeless.

Well, really, I just love photographing.

Bliss

Center

It's gonna be a short one tonight.  This is a rose that I meant to share when I was showing all the dead roses.  There is something very fascinating about the very center of the rose - at least for me.  I love the way it looks, with all those petals unfolding and unfolding, around and around.  Simply beautiful.

Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls.  ~ Joseph Campbell

Keys & Tubing

Keys & Tubes

An older pic, but new to you . . . this was taken with the round of French Horn pictures that I shared about this time last year.  Originally I took them in color.  And every time I think about sharing one and start "processing" it, they always end up black and white.  Mostly because the tubing is so reflective that it's hard not to become very distracted by all the colors (and sometimes images) showing up in the tubing.  Maybe, I will get one done in color and be able to share.  Until then, I hope you like the keys and tubes from a pretty old French horn - and that is still being used today.

Great thoughts always come from the heart.  ~ Marquis De Vauvenargues