Manzanita, OR Workshop

It has been WAY too long since I have been posting on my blog, it seems that I was getting too involved in being on the computer and had to get away from it for awhile. I have been inspired by one of my fellow workshop women to get back to it. She had a beautiful post of photos and story about the weekend, I am following suit. Thanks Bonnie, (ps. we share a birthday too).


What a wonderful month February has been. It is the month of Valentine's Day, my birthday, my oldest grandson's birthday and come to find out several of my new friends have birthdays too.

What made it so special for me was getting to go to the OR coast twice in one week. I not only got to go for my birthday, for the day, but at the end of the week I had signed up for a weekend long photography workshop. Thanks to Beth Buglione and Chela Melendez of  http://www.throughlightphotography.com several women came together to share their love and learning of photography. Beth and Chela are fantastic teachers, they have a way of making you stretch way out of your comfort zone, put yourself out there for all to see. The weekend was very well organized and set up so that there were several challenges and assignments to meet.

The first evening was set up as a "getting to know you" kind of evening. Several of us have been in a Meet Up group for a few years together but there were some new faces too. It was fun hearing everyone's story on how photography came into their lives and what it means to them. We visited, drank some wine and had some snacks to pass the evening. All provided by our hostesses. We all stayed together in a fabulous beach house with a great view of the ocean.

Our next morning was up at dawn and get out there and shoot the sunrise. Well sunrise was a no show,but so was the rain for the most part, it was quite windy. Back to the house for a beautifully prepared breakfast and time to relax and share some of our attempts from the morning shooting. Then class time, assignments for the afternoon and back out to shoot the images for our assignment.

For the sake of length, I am going to do several posts for each assignment. 

The dunes restoration project.

The little sea birds, scurrying about the surf.

Storm clouds

Manzanita beach, looking South

Blowing in the wind. Softened with a filter for an ethereal feeling

Just a Whisper

I am falling so far behind in the class at this time but plan on getting to all the lessons in time. I love the whisper prompt, as I have found that I am inclined to lean toward the softer images since finding Kim.  The lesson on resistance really hit home too. What is it about damp,dreary, cold winter weather that takes the creativity out of us? That is how I have felt all winter. It isn't that I haven't been shooting, I have, I am just not inspired to do anything with them. The sun is shining today so I think I will make it a point to get outside and soak up some vitamin D while I can, as the rain returns tomorrow.

This little gown belongs to my sis in law, it was her Christening gown. She loaned it to me so I could use it for photos. I just loved shooting it. The softness lends itself to the soft muted and "whispery" type of editing.
I wanted a quote that had something to do with God and found this one. I think it fits the occasion of a christening a bit. I am loving checking in with Beyonders and seeing what you are all doing even if I haven't posted many things myself. What a great talented group we have.

What's The Story

This week over at Texture Tuesday the prompt for the week was the photo had to have a story. My friend Jacqui and I have driven by this old place several times on our way to one of our favorite wineries and each time we say "Oh, we have to stop and shoot this house before it falls down". So the other day we were headed out that way to go to an antique mall to shoot photos for our camera club monthly theme of Vintage. It was one of the days this week with no rain, just fog. When we were done with the antique store we headed out the road to where the old house set. As luck would have it, there was a drive way up to the house and NO no trespassing signs. I do not know how this old place is standing. From the front you can see that it is leaning but there had been a fire and most of the back of the house is just hanging. It won't be there much longer so I am glad that we made a effort to get some shots of it. We both wondered just what the story of this old house was, who lived there, how long what happened to them. At one time it must of been a very nice place. It isn't giving up it's story, the ghosts were silent on this day.

I used #7 from Ben's collection and 10-10-10. masking some off on each layer.


Texture Tuesday

6 Words

I cannot believe how fast time gets away from us. Here it is almost the end of January and I have not done a blog post. I have been using Flickr for Texture Tuesday's entries but need to get back to my writing here.This year I am following Kim Klassen's Beyond Layers class. I am really looking forward to this bringing me to a  new level creatively, as well as personally. This week, our 2nd, the assignment was to use just 6 words as a memoir for our life. I wrote down 6 words that describe a part of my life and I am sure that for each phase of my life there are 6 more words. I will work on that part too. For now these are the 6 that came to mind immediately


                  LOVE FOUND, LOST, GRIEF, HEALING, LIFE.


I have written my life story, but have not edited it to the point that I can put it on the blog. I will be working on that one too. This class is making me, and I am sure most of us, really think about how we evolved as artists as well as the people that we are. I really needed this class, I have been searching for so long to find direction.

The photo I used today was one I took last night with my iPhone for my Instragram photo stream. I am loving instagram. By using the iPhone I feel that I can be less strict on myself, as far as taking the "perfect photo". I just do it!! The link to my photos is below.



Kim Klassen Beyond Layers
http://ink361.com/#/users/18289197/photos

Merry Christmas

Where oh where did this year go? The older I get the faster the year flies by.

I am posting a card for all my blogger friends that I have met this year. This has been an interesting year in that I have discovered Kim Klassen and all her wonderful textures and in doing so, I met all these marvelous women artists thru her linky parties. I wish I could meet all of you in person and just absorb all the magical artistic energy that would be found in that room. I can see how the "Shutter Sister's Camp" gave Kim and probably every woman there a super dose of art magic. When you are in the environment and the energy is in the air you can just feel it in your pores.

I am wishing you all a fabulous holiday season and most certainly a glorious New Year. What will the new yr. bring? Or better yet, what will we find to inspire us and what will we make the new year? I don't do resolutions but I do believe that if you write down your dreams  you may be surprised how many things you made happen just by putting them out into the universe. What will be on your list?

I used several of Kim's textures on this I think I used Cosmo, Inspired Magic and the day 8 texture "Storm". Thank you Kim for giving us the gift of "Twelve Days of Texture".


12 Days of Texture