Another Moving Week

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We are in moving mode again. Oh, no, not a major household move. Thank goodness for that. Today, the horses were moved from one temporary boarding place to another. In addition, we have to collect a vehicle, that has been in the shop down in Los Angeles. I'm grateful that there were no boxes to pack, and The Husband did all the work moving the horses. I just tagged along to watch and play the mother-hen role for the animals.

In spite of the fact that the light was harsh during today's equine relocation, I shot for a few minutes just for the exercise. Since, I have been shooting mostly landscapes recently, it felt good to be shooting action and getting those "muscles" back in shape. The bright overhead light meant that the horses have chunks of coal where their eyes should be. I rarely process horse photos if there is no light in the eye. It takes an otherwise outstanding shot to overcome that handicap, and the horses weren't doing anything exciting today—simply walking down the road from a pasture at one facility to another facility with a new-to-them pasture.

Still, I had a good time shooting in a different location, and along the way, I found a great spot for location shots. Futhermore, the horses' new temporary home is a great spot for catching some candids of them either one morning or evening.

Since the middle of October, I have been shooting more photographs per week than I was previously shooting in a month. As a direct result, I am feeling a distinct shift in my comfort and familiarity with the 40D, as well as a greater freedom to experiment. I may never get all the boxes unpacked, so perhaps we will never completely move in. Still, I am feeling more at home, and we are optimistic about staying here.

Way Down Yonder

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The last time we spent some time in Bear Valley, we were treated two evenings in a row to a visit by some of our four-legged neighbors. On both occasions, the deer hung around the little stand of trees at the far edge of our property about a quarter mile (according to The Husband) from the house. (This deer, "way down yonder" is actually just beyond our property line.) I don't have the lens to get a good shot, but I tried my new 70-200 f4 IS lens combined with a 1.4 teleconverter and, after a bit of cropping, I managed to get this teaser.

I don't know how I long I will be able to tolerate not having a good 300mm lens that will work with that converter what with deer, coyotes, and hawks tempting me on a regular basis. A person can only tolerate that sort of pressure for so long. Right? Heck, I have even found myself fantasizing about a blind of some sort out in that field. Too many temptations.

To Blog or Not to Blog

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After reading Niels Henriksen's thought-provoking post this week about reasons for blogging among other things, I realized that I am approaching an anniversary of sorts here at my blog thinking about some of the same issues Niels discusses. Just a few weeks short of a year ago, I chose the name for my blog on the spur of the moment and started this venture with some rather vague notions as to its purpose. Like Niels and many others, I am still trying to clarify exactly why I am doing this. Paul Butzi had a short, but fascinating series of posts on this topic of why we put ourselves and our work out there and his comments had been, in turn, partly motivated by a post from Joe Reifer (Paul includes a link to that post).

For me, blogging is partly about getting permission to sit in on a remarkable round-table discussion peopled by photographers who could well teach workshops that I couldn't afford to take. Alone, I don't have the expertise to carry on an intelligent technical discussion with probably a single one of the people whose blogs I read regularly. Yet, because the talent and skills of these people are matched by graciousness and generosity, I have been welcomed to sit at the table picking the brains of individuals who have decades of experience to go with their talent. My persistence and my effort has allowed me to feel part of this community. Since I don't have a local community of photographers, I have come to depend on this web-based community and it has now plays a vital role for me.

For quite some time I was a lurker on the web. While I read avidly, I rarely left anything behind. Finally, I got brave enough to post comments (often questions) and that became a little easier when I learned how kind so many photographers are. I still have far more impulses to post comments than the number of comments posted. Often, I am intrigued or inspired by the articles written on a blog that I frequent, yet I can't seem to put into words thoughts that are worthy of the original post.

When I began to get comments on my own blog, I was, for a time, a bit intimidated. Because I was keenly aware that these people had forgotten more about photography than I will ever know, the notice of my existence rendered me virtually mute. When I did get my bearings, I looked back at another reason for starting the blog. I wanted to thwart that part of my being that gets stuck on perfect. (Like the typical perfectionist, I am a million miles from perfect in any thing I do, yet I have long struggled with the need to get an “A”.) Any virtue can be carried to a vice and my work ethic and determination to do the best I can frequently veers into paralysis brought on by that nasty thinking circle: I can’t do it as well as others, so why do it at all. And this in spite of understanding full well that if you don’t do it, you will never get better at it. It is a struggle to stay on top of that—old habits don’t just expire and can’t be wished away—new habits must be cultivated to replace the old ones. The discipline—erratic though it is—to post frequently, urges me to let go of the need to put up worthy work (thoughts and images), and helps to keep me focused on doing the work. Meanwhile, the ongoing conversation helps considerably to keep me grounded , even when I am deeply discouraged.

Occasionally, a conversation with a friend or acquaintance in my non-web world leads me to mention my web-based community, and often that individual concludes that I am referring to a group where one posts photos for critiques by other photographers. Invariably, I find that once the person makes that assumption, I have almost no hope of explaining to them the real nature of a community that is based upon the exchange of ideas, support, and sharing of knowledge and/or experience, rather than ratings. Like anyone else, I'm sure, I welcome an occasional “well-done” or (with equal enthusiasm) the periodic “I wonder what would have happened if you …” Still, comments on the individual shots are almost incidental to the stimulating exchange of thoughts about the struggle to create. Being a part of this web community certainly does provide a form of validation and a critical one for me—just not the sort many people assume.

I have come to depend upon this exchange so much that when we make our trips to Bear Valley and I am without Internet, I feel a bit lost. It’s more than a trifle strange to feel so connected to a group of people I have never even laid eyes on.

Indoor Poppies in Bear Valley

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The poppies are still blooming in the Tehachapi Mountains and Bear Valley Springs has a healthy share. They add cheer to our un-landscaped property and remind me that, eventually, we will be able to put this difficult period behind us.

We drove up on Saturday and came back to LA Sunday evening and had a nice weekend. Since I am still very much in school mode, as I mentioned, I stayed busy while The Husband cleaned brush in the bright sun. Fire season in California is something we take seriously. I know that makes me sound lazy as all get out—and perhaps I should just plead guilty. However, the real story is that no matter how much I would love to be outside soaking up the sunshine, I am seriously prone to heat stroke (probably as a result of the medications I take, and mostly the ones for high blood pressure). Since I don't get hot, I will think I'm fine—I prefer hot to cold—then bam! after no time at all in the sun, my body simply shuts down to a bare survival mode. No fun. Being determined to make lemonade from the great big bowl of lemons I have been given, I am determined to explore indoor photography. Not my first choice, but I will find a way to fall in love with it.

The photo above is an example of my work in the little indoor studio I have snagged. After all, garages are guy-territory, right? Still there is a window with northern light and it's just too perfect to pass up. Consequently, The Husband, poor fellow, finds me encroaching on his space. Hey, it's a big garage. There's room for both of us. At any rate, a red paint bucket with water, a poppy plant that had to go anyway, since it was intruding on some lavender thoughtfully nurtrured by the former owner, and I had a subject.

School Daze

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It's back to school for me. I finally buckled down and installed CS3. That means that in addition to adjusting to a new camera, new lens, and second flash, I am making friends with an upgrade from Photoshop 7.0 to CS3. I wonder why I have this nagging headache. Hmmm.

Inspiration To go

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If your spirits could use a boost, check out this post by Moose Peterson guest blogging at Scott Kelby's Photoshop Insider:
http://www.scottkelby.com/blog/2008/archives/1470

The Verdict Is In For Me

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Today, I received from Shutterfly the book I ordered last Thursday and, while there are some advantages to working with Blurb and overall I like the book I got from them, I prefer the paper stock used by Shutterfly. For now, this leaves me with no solution for publishing a book with a layout as complex as the one I used for my SoFoBoMo book. Furthermore, the better grade of paper comes at a cost. Still, I like the Shutterfly paper that much. When I loaded my pictures for this book, I made a point of turning off VividPics and, at least for this book, that made the big difference. This time around, I had no devastating color shifts or any other disturbing changes in my prints. That's not to say I didn't make a few goofy mistakes in my frantic rush to throw the thing together, but it was a terrific learning experience and none of the mistakes resulted in a book I could never show anyone. I consider the money well spent.

Toys Are Me

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I hadn't thought too much about upgrading my 20D, being keenly aware that what I most needed was to improve my skills rather than get a better camera. The 20D is a great camera and it wasn't exactly letting me down—more the other way around. Actually, what I found myself longing for was a 5D, and for quite a while I watched eagerly for news of the update for the 5D which would give way to the wait for the reviews to come in. I have utmost respect for my limitations as a judge of anything mechanical and wait for the far more experienced to find the bugs. I lack both the expertise and the nerves to serve on the front lines.

In the meantime, I went to Samy's one day knowing full well that these casual pilgrimages to the giant candy store for photographers will be a thing of the past if, indeed, we ever get to move. I made the mistake of "just looking" at a 40D. The huge (to me) screen and the perfectly beautiful viewfinder were a revelation. It was love at first sight. The story is a familiar one to most photographers. One thing led to another and I am once again coping with the learning curve that results because, of course, they always move all the buttons.

So far, I am happy with the decision. With decades old eyes, just the larger screen and better viewfinder were enough to convince me. But, there's more. I suppose I will blather on about the new additions to the gear in the next few weeks—yes, that's a plural. I didn't stop with the camera. But, right now I have to explore my shiny new toys and accustom myself to the considerably larger files.

Drained

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I have completed my second special project in two months and feeling totally drained. Yesterday, I received notice that the order has been shipped. Now, by the first of June, I will know how the venture turned out. Besides being absorbed in that job, I have been hiding out lately—feeling overwhelmed by circumstances. If I am going to post anything for the next few days, it will have to be just some images without words.

Aaand We're Off!

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Best of luck to all those participating in the SoFoBoMo game. And a special big thank you to Paul Butzi for coming up with the concept and issuing the challenge. In theatre, one wishes colleagues a good show with “Break a leg”. What is the equivalent in the photography world?

It is a joy to be part of such a fine crowd. We have our hero, Paul Lester, who showed us that we could do this. After all, if Paul could accomplish “One” in less than three hours, surely a month would be more than enough time for even those of us who may be slowpokes to produce a project. Paul Butzi named Gordon McGregor as our cheerleader. Gordon has been doing yeoman service for some time, but outdid himself with his new “pipe”. Combine that with John Seltzer’s blog, “Tell the World”, Colin Jago’s list of participants and collection of posts, plus Paul Butzi's collection of posts at the mother ship and it’s easy to keep track of what the SoFoBoMoers are up to. Recently, I nicknamed our fearless leader, Paul B. The Instigator, then later elevated him to Pope Paul. Now Paul L. has picked up that name and repeated it, and I find myself wondering what other names Paul B. might earn in the course of this coming sixty days of feverish activity. I think I see a wicked streak in him with this offer of a print to anyone who completes two projects in the sixty days. Hasn’t he yet learned that you don’t throw down the gauntlet to this crowd? He is bound to get a few takers, so I hope he has chosen that print and is prepared to ship some “prizes” to the “winners”. Perhaps he should also be prepared for some spouses or significant others producing voodoo dolls of the fellow who started this sublime madness.

SoFoBoMo Early Lessons

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In the process of collecting on my free Shutterfly book, I learned a few things. Filling in the provided template is simple. Inserting your own pages created in Photoshop is no fun at all. Working in Blurb, on the other hand, makes inserting those pages produced in Photosop quite doable. I may not make my final decision based on this single piece of information, but for me, it puts Blurb way ahead in the race for POD.

Trying to Get Off the Roller-Coaster

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I have been pretty busy this past week just hanging on through a dizzying ride of ups and downs. Within two and half weeks of our first open house, we had two excellent offers. Pretty amazing for this lousy market. We were giddy. Then we crashed to earth. One offer could still come through, the other may have gone forever. At one point, we had a schedule set up that would have had us here through April—meaning I would have done my SoFoBoMo project here and then dealt with moving in May, but that plan went south and now there are just more question marks. I got a surprise present from good old Shutterfly (I had tested their service a couple of years ago) offering me a free 8x8 photo book. Hooray! A great practice run in case I decided to go that route for printing. My deadline was March 26. Meantime, I pounced on the wonderful information Gordon McGregor posted regarding printing at Blurb and began burning some midnight oil. I collected a batch of images and, with my newly installed profile, I tweaked them to match the profile. Whoa talk about out of gamut colors—not a pretty sight! Of course, it was the perfect time for a glitch in a hard drive. I won’t start talking about how much I lost, because if I do I will cry and we all know that you don’t want to get a keyboard wet. Not a good thing.

Well, on the roller coaster, the thrills never end. Ultimately, I had to look at the realties of the timing on our house sale and the rigors of a 30 day escrow that could start any day. The SoFoBoMo project appears to be out of reach. (For one day, I considered going to Pope Paul (that’s Butzi, of course, whom I have named The Instigator) for special dispensation on the start date, but after reading his post today on “Jumping the Gun”, I’m glad I didn’t. Whew! He’s tough. (Only kidding, Paul) Seriously, I know I can always do this solo once we are finally settled and I know where I will be the following week. However, Paul is so right about the value of doing this along with the group. For today—don’t even ask how many times I have come up with a different scenario—I plan to begin my project April 1 and face the fact that I will likely have to suspend work if we go into escrow. I will almost certainly miss the deadline. At some point when this is all over, I will finish the project. I can limit myself to a total thirty days spent on the project and celebrate the learning experience, then look forward to next year—that is if anyone is left standing and foolish enough to sign up again. Meanwhile, I can work like mad to learn as much as possible, do what I can, and celebrate the efforts of other participants.

It has been an intense week filled with growth opportunities. (Sometimes, don’t you just hate growing?) I have learned more than I ever wanted to know about the vagaries of the real estate game. I threw together a twenty page book for the free Shutterfly offer (hey, it gives me an opportunity to see how my normal editing holds up for their printing process). I experimented with a couple of cover designs and got past some of the intimidation posed by that job. I bought two new 500 gig hard drives and vowed to never trust another drive (I know, I know. It was only a matter of time) and to stop forever using Lightroom as a primary storage system. Details would only put my keyboard at risk. (I can’t say I wasn’t warned about Lightroom’s quirky and proprietary storage either.) I familiarized myself with the frustrations of adjusting to the Blurb profile and survived the shock. On the real estate front, we continue showing the house to a few prospects, while I strip more and more of the things from the house that make it warm, cozy, and mine.

Do they have a merry-go-round at this carnival?

Neither Here Nor There

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The Husband and I are in waiting mode. Certainly, it isn’t as if I have hours on my hands to spend sitting around waiting or fretting. I have errands to run and all those pesky household chores—nowadays “company”, meaning prospects to buy our house, might pop up at any time (I can’t remember ever doing this much housework). There are meetings, Open Houses, boxes being delivered to Bear Valley, and endless forms to complete. I am having a wonderful time experimenting with camera and lenses as well as working out software issues I will need to produce the “evidence” that I complete a photo book within the time allowed. I am seeking a balance between packing things I will need at the last minute and leaving too much to pack until the last minute. We have even found time recently for some socializing.

Still, the overall mode is waiting. Waiting to see if any of the offers on our house will result in a final sale, waiting to see if more offers are made, waiting to move, waiting to fully engage in the SoFoBoMo project, waiting to move and begin this big life-adventure as a yikes—a retiree, shudder—some days that seems a dreadful mistake, others an enormous relief. When I meet strangers now, I am not so comfortable when the conversation turns, inevitably, to “What do you do?” After all, for decades, I had an answer and it didn’t fluctuate. Suddenly, the old answer doesn’t apply. To complicate matters, even “where do you live” triggers a bit of disorientation. We are headed there, but most of our things are still here. We still are not able to say that we are even in the process of moving. The answer to both questions could be, “Can I get back to you on that?”

Waiting isn’t a painful state or a negative one in any way. It’s just an unfamiliar one for me. I have been so busy going and doing for years that waiting is requiring some adjustments. It’s a good time for reflection and evaluation—a time for gathering thoughts and storing ideas for future projects.

Software Puzzles

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This past week, I celebrated having survived our first Open House and spent some time exploring the possibilities of laying out the photo book in my creaky old Pagemaker. I have an early version of InDesign, but just never could get anywhere with it—not that I had ever become a power user of Pagemaker. To complicate matters, I have seldom opened that program during the last three or four years. Furthermore, I decided that I had better learn to compress a PDF for posting on the web—another new skill. Not surprisingly, I stumbled about quite a bit.

For some reason, I couldn’t remember how to number the blasted pages in Pagemaker and floundered around in Help before finally solving the mystery. I had only ever used Adobe Acrobat for the purpose of creating simple PDF's limited to two or three pages. Up until now, compression hadn’t been an issue. I still don’t know exactly what date I will begin my SoFoBoMo project, but these are the sort of things that I wanted to work out before April 1. I certainly won’t want to devote two out of my thirty allotted days to stumbling about in the Pagemaker and Acrobat Help sections. So far, so good. Pagemaker will never be my favorite program, but horses for courses, as the saying goes.

Losses

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If you have a friend you have been meaning to call, call. If there is someone you have been intending to get together with for lunch or dinner, go. If there is someone you have been meaning to write, write. We hurtle through our lives planning all those things we will do next week, next month, even next year. Meanwhile life passes by; things change; and people who were there last week are gone. There’s no taking it back. There are no second chances. Gone is gone.

R. G., rest in peace. We will miss you and your quick smile.

Paradise and Mush

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It definitely ain't art, but I just wanted to show you one of the things I will have to leave behind at our little home. The Birds of Paradise were here when we moved in and they have survived all our sputtering attention and neglect. They have not only survived, they have treated us to a grand display of outrageous color each and every year. They will be sorely missed.

With the bedlam here, I missed an opportunity to celebrate a tiny anniversary this week. The post on the 26th was post number one hundred. I should have had a small celebration.

For the last couple of days even if I take a break to sit down at the computer, I stare at the screen, but nothing happens. My brain has turned to mush. I think one or two neurons might be firing—might be. This moving thing is for young people, or the wealthy. (Some days I fantasize about what it would be like to simply direct others to do all this work. I could just walk around directing others to handle the chores.) I have read numerous fascinating entries in the blogs I visit most days (all the Paul's—Butzi, Lester, and Maxim—have been posting some wonderful material. Meanwhile, Doug Stockdale continues to describe his progression as he develops a series and enlightens the rest of us in in the process. But, I sit like a lump unable to articulate my admiration for their work, much less add anything to the conversation. Since the 2008 Great Rebellion of my digestive system, those jolts of caffeine that can coax a few more neurons to fire are no longer an option. I would love to tell you stories about The Husband sanding and painting the front door (we are still tweaking and polishing); the relief of finally being on the market, our one day trip to Bear Valley delivering still more boxes. But, I couldn't do any of them justice. So, I will settle for letting you know there are stories—just not today.

Town Center Campground

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I found another image from the Town Center Campground that I wanted to share. If you ever make it to Bear Valley, you may very well find me there. We were supposed to make a trip up there today for some errands, but some highway closures resulted in a change of plans.

Okay, back to cleaning, repairing and packing. I would so much rather make pictures!

Close to Home

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I can't resist "drive-by photography". Besides, sometimes it's the only way I can photograph a particular scene, and I lack the self-discipline to pass it by. This is just outside the town that is closest to our community. At this point, we were only ten-twenty minutes from our house.

January in Bear Valley

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Posting here has been sporadic, at best; but, I expect to do better within a few weeks. I am looking forward to having more time to spend on my websites and on photography, in general.

Yesterday,we spent the day in Bear Valley—signing papers and making it official. Early next week, we get the keys to our house and we will officially own two mortgages—we hope that doesn't last very long. It was lovely to spend some time there and remember why we are doing all this work.

The shot above was taken in one of the community campgrounds. I have a feeling I will be spending some time up there with the oak trees. The snow had fallen the night before—more snow fell during the day—and turned the entire valley into a wonderfully picturesque scene. I didn't want to be cooped in offices and busy with the final "walk-through". On the other hand, I wasn't eager to go for a long hike, since the warmest it got all day was about 34 degrees. Not the ideal weather for a southern californian and former central Texas gal. I was by far happiest when we had time for a drive around the valley and a little bit of shooting from outside the car window. It looks as though, I will have to get over being such a wimp about the weather.

A Bird in the Bush

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Yesterday afternoon, I took a short break from packing to enjoy the clouds and grabbed the G7, on the way. As I headed back inside, the movement of this bird caught my eye and I snapped. I didn't get a second try. A cyan filter seemed appropriate for this one.