Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Kreativ Blogger Award


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The latest talk in the corner of the blogosphere that I frequent is The Kreativ Blogger Award. Andreas Manessinger offers a description of the award and the spirit in which it is passed along. If you haven't already, visit Andreas' site. Be prepared to be stunned by his beautiful work.

Late Tuesday, I learned that Paul Lester has passed the torch to six more bloggers, including yours truly.
I am honored and delighted.



Now, it’s my turn to list six things that make me happy and then list six bloggers who deserve the award. What? Only six things that make me happy?
Okay, here are six of the many things:

- My husband’s smile.

- Learning something new.

- Watching the light of discovery go on in someone else's eyes.

- Sunrises and sunsets. (That only counts as one. Really, check the rules.)

- Long walks with lots of stops for taking pictures.

- Being the first one up in the morning and enjoying the solitude.

This is tough, because I just got started and I didn’t get to list: sunshine, finding a new friend, the sight of a horse running free, the feel of dog’s tongue when it licks your face, watching and listening to the Kern River tumbling down from the mountains, the comfort of my home with all my flea market treasures in place, or even the taste of chocolate. Oh, well.

Listing six bloggers who deserve special recognition was even trickier. First of all, Paul Lester has already listed many of my favorites and I can’t just copy his list. Besides, there are more names I would add. I don’t always leave comments at these blogs, but I aim to be better in the future. Because I am such a newbie at all this, I am regularly awed by the amount of time people are willing to spend sharing with others as well as the sheer volume of information and guidance made available. Sometimes, I still shake my head in wonder.

- Doug Stockdale at Singular Images. I began following Doug’s blog soon after I started blogging and have marveled at his productivity and evolution. He supplies information, inspiration, and personal reflection.

- Laurie Jackson at Capture This.
Laurie’s site has long been a favorite of mine. Her photos are gorgeous and full of all the feeling she has for her family and the world she sees.

- Niels Henriksen, My Camera World. Niels provides detailed posts packed with ideas and inspiration. His occasional travel photographs alone are a reason to stop by.

- Beau Harbin’s blog at Beau Harbin Photography.
I am enjoying following Beau’s journey and watching his photography grow. Meanwhile, his style has an ease and a wonderful down-home feeling that is irresistible to me. It’s obvious that he photographs with his heart.

- Mark S Johnson, recently of Radiant Vista, deserves kudos for his amazing output of information-packed tutorials. His CS3 tutorials saved my sanity.

- Sean McCormick at Neutral Hills Still will probably send me hate mail for putting him on this list. He is taking a short break at the moment to recover from some surgery and probably won’t be able to participate. Still, I couldn’t omit Sean. His blunt and passionate writing (occasional though it may be) fires me up, and his photographs are breathtaking.

It may not be within the spirit of the rules, but I have to list some folks that have already been named. (I am not certain whether the idea is to broaden the scope of the list and keep adding new recipients.) All these people are Kreativ Bloggers who have greatly influenced me and provide daily inspiration as well as guidance.

- Paul Lester (There is a reason his name keeps coming up on these lists.) When I spend time at Paul's site, I always feel as if I have sat down on a park bench beside him for a nice chat. And, after the visit, I'm a little wiser and I feel better about my day.

- Gordon McGregor Don’t let the sparse posts recently fool you. Gordon is normally prolific—sharing inspiration and information. I miss him when he’s quiet.

- Amy Sakurai defies a brutal schedule to create engaging work, delivered with an openness about the role of photography in her life.

- Mark Graf doesn’t post often enough for me, but that’s only because I enjoy so much everything he does post.

- Colin Jago is so smart he intimidates me a bit. Sometimes, I read his posts and it takes a while for my head to stop spinning. Still, early on—when I first discovered blogging, I devoured every word I could find on his site.

- Paul Butzi is, well, Paul Butzi. Paul’s site was the gateway, for me, to the blogosphere. Somehow, by incredible good fortune, I stumbled onto his site near the start, and a whole new world opened. I found many of the bloggers listed above through his site and still need my dose of Paul B. each day. His passion, knowledge, creativity, honesty, talent, and occasional delicious crankiness are all a source of joy. Besides, he brought us SoFoBoMo.

Thanks to all these creative and generous people, I learn something every day; and, I am constantly reminded that there are kind-hearted, creative, passionate people all over the world facing the same challenges and disappointments that we all confront.

15 comments:

  1. oh boy, first Paul making some remarks about me not posting enough, now here. I am feeling the pressure! :-) Thanks though!!

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  2. Mark - You have only yourself to blame. You're so good it makes us want more. But, in case you are too pressed for time to post more, there is this comfort: sometimes your posts are delicious enough to keep me going for days.
    (I don't want to be guilty of unnecessary piling on with the pressure.)

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  3. Gordon - Oh, no. I seem to have gotten myself into nothing but trouble.

    I only meant that you haven't posted as much in the last couple of months as you normally do (for very good reason). And, I wanted to point that out, since I hope people will visit your blog and become a devoted fan (as I am), and that they will stick around until you get back into full swing. Let face it, it was just bad writing. Can I claim that I misplaced my dictionary? [Note to self: Never write compliments in a hurry. You may end up writing things you don't intend to say.]

    Am I going to get out of this in one piece? Where do I go to do penance for bad blogging?

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  4. Anita, thanks again for all of your support and it has been a pleasure watching your work progress and for becoming an interesting blogger...

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  5. Doug - I have long been a big fan of yours, and I enjoyed passing the award on to you.

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  6. Wow Anita, thanks for listing me with such prestigious company. I appreciate the recognition. And I am glad to see that you were recognized as well since you have been coming along well in your own photography. Now I have to go make a list. Thanks very much. Best wishes.

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  7. Congrats on the award! Well deserved your work is stunning.

    Oh wow...thank you Anita. I am really flattered!

    I don't get to visit my favorite blogs every day and I missed this. (Thanks for the heads up.) I will work this into my next post which is scheduled for tomorrow. I've been pre-posting shots several weeks in advance due to time constraints.

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  8. Beau - My pleaure. I'm enjoying seeing your part of the country through your eyes. Have fun with your list.

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  9. Laurie - I know what you mean about keeping up. My "favorites" list has grown out of control. I am trying to get ahead with posts so that I can avoid those lapses in entries that occur when I get swamped.

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  10. Laurie - I will blame this on not having had my coffee yet, but I hit the Enter key, before mentioning what an inspiration you have been to me. Thank you.

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  11. Thanks for your kind words and I think this is a great Idea.

    I have already identified 6 more that are deserving of this award.



    Niels Henrisken

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  12. Niels - I enjoyed very much participating and I'm delighted that you will be passing it on. I always look forward to stopping by your site.

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  13. Thank you for the kind words. Surgery went well, but it will be three more weeks until I can wield a camera again.

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  14. Sean - What a joy to "hear your voice." For that three weeks, I will make do by wearing out the links to your previous posts.

    Take it easy and heal quickly.

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Anita