Southern Foliage??

Okay, so everyone knows that all the good fall foliage "happens" in New England.  I lived there for 15 years.  I know.  I've seen it with my very own two little eyes.  I hate to break it to you folks, but this year not so much. 
That FREAK snow storm a few weeks ago did it in.  Knocked down leaves, branches, and even entire trees that hadn't had time to prepare themselves for the onslaught.  :(

So, I was a little sad that I might not get to see any foliage this year.  Well.  This afternoon when I went to pick my daughter up after school there was this tree.  Yeah.  Holy tree-on-fire, Batman.  I actually threw her into the car, RACED home, grabbed my camera, raced BACK to the the tree, and fired off a few shots.

The sky was full of all these wonderful, spotty clouds that (for some bizarre reason) reminded me of the Simpsons.  Yah.  The light was so wonderful and warm and rich.  Obviously the time change did wonders!

You tell me.  Was it worth it?  Who says the South doesn't get good foliage!?

First Self-Portrait

Okay, so I was fooling around with my daughter's "camera" this weekend (it's really just a teeny jungle-animal viewfinder) and I caught myself in the mirror and thought, "hey, that's kind of cute & might make a good head shot!".  Which means, of course, I have to get in FRONT of the camera for the first time in a long time...

Well, I got everything all set up and snapped away.  It's a pain the ass to take your own picture.  Maybe there's some way to hook your camera up to your PC so you can see what you're doing while you're posing, but I didn't feel like trying to figure that out at 10:30PM.  So it was setup, snap, run around & check camera, setup again, snap again, run around again, ad nauseum until I got one that I thought might work.

Here's what I ended up with.

Cute, huh?

I wish the little "camera" were angled up a bit more towards my camera, but at this point it was 11PM and I have to get up at 5:30AM. :)

How YOU doin'?

Well.

Hello, gorgeous.

So, anyway, I finally broke down & ordered this vintage Argoflex box camera to try my hand at TtV photography.  If you're not sure what it is, it's when you "digitalize" an older camera by taking a picture with your DSLR through the lens(es) of an old box.  Neat, huh?

Anyway, my new baby arrived tonight and, get this:  it had FILM in it.  620 film.  Not made anymore.  And only one shot had been taken.  It took ALL my willpower not to run right out and blast away the remaining 11 shots (though, I did take 2 of my daughter just to see if the film advanced).  :P 

It also came with 10 flash bulbs - the freaky kind that basically light on fire & blow up in a small scale inside the bulb.  I did NOT come with the flash itself, though, so off to eBay I go!

The very best part for me, though, was the typed letter from 1978 from the previous owner to Argus asking about purchasing accessories. In this day & age, when one can pop online & order whatever you want, it's nearly foreign to me that letter writing was once the standard way to communicate with people.  The cherry on top, though, is the HAND written response from the company at the bottom.  Unbelievable.  Can you imagine Canon or Nikon WRITING you back?  Hell, you'd be hard pressed to even get an email from a real person!  :P

So, keep an eye out (all 3 of you!) for future posts with *hopefully* some pics through this baby!

Callaway Gardens

Frangipani (Plumeria)

Okay, so if you're ever over on the Western border of Georgia (by Alabama, for the directionally-challenged out there), you really should consider stopping by Callaway Gardens for a day.  It costs just under an arm & a leg to get in ($18/adult, $9/child, 5 & under/free), but it's a wonderful way to spend the day.  They have bikes to rent (though I didn't see anything for pulling small children, which is really TOO bad) and miles and miles and miles of trails to ride on.

Pioneer Cabin

The place is HUGE (13,000 acres), home of the world's largest azalea display, an incredible butterfly conservatory, and a magnificent vegetable garden, where PBS' "The Victory Garden" is filmed.  Then, there's random weirdness like ping pong tables and a shuffleboard court, a pioneer log cabin to explore, and a stone chapel.

Their newest recreation is the Tree Top Adventure... this looked like so much fun; I was cursing the fact that my littlest one is only three and the staff at CG would probably frown on my hooking him up & dragging through a ropes course, 30' off the ground.  Well, that and my 5 year old is afraid of heights.  Boooooooooo.  They were both fascinated watching people come down the zip line, though.  That might be my selling point in a few years.

Lake on Golf Course

If you're more into golf, God knows there's plenty of that to be had at Callaway.  Though I haven't touched my clubs since I was about 7 months pregnant with my first born, the course at CG looked really nice.  It was a beautiful day here in GA (sunny, about 70 degrees), so the course was pretty busy, but not annoyingly so.  The course runs between several lakes, so at least you have something lovely to look at while you're waiting for the foursome of 90 year olds in front of you to get on with it.  Oh, and there were beverage carts driving around, too, I saw.  Adult beverage carts.  That certainly makes the waiting more tolerable.

So, anyway, if you're in the area, stop by.  

ACEO / ATCs

So, I decided to try my hand at making some ACEO cards to see how they work and how they are to make.  I must say, it was a lot of fun!  I used Bristol paper for the backing and the acid free, photo-safe adhesive to adhere the photo to the board.  While they're essentially the same thing, ACEOs (Art Cards, Editions and Originals) are usually sold, while ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) are usually traded or exchanged.

by Mary H. Hamilton

If you don't know what they are, the are miniature works of art about the same size as modern baseball cards (always 2 ½ x 3 ½ inches) small enough to fit inside standard card-collector pockets, sleeves or sheets. The ATC (Artist Trading Card) movement developed out of the mail art movement and has its origins in Switzerland.  Cards are produced in various media, including dry media (pencils, pens, markers, etc.), wet media (watercolor, acrylic paints, etc.), paper media (in the form of collage, papercuts, found objects, etc.) or even metals or cloth.

by hokata

Some artists have started embellishing with 3-D objects like jewels, beads, and paper accents that stand off the card.  These are particularly interesting and, I think, would look great displayed in a group on the wall.

Apparently there's quite a movement these days to collect and display ACEOs.  They're a great way to own several different works of art by various artists and various media types.  Prices range from about $3 to over $20 for an original mini-painting on Etsy.  Get out there and look around; there are some really creative and clever designs.

Swing Pic!!!

I got it!!  I told you I would (see post waaaaaaay down there from Oct. 7)!  :)  It may not be the prettiest, coolest, or funkiest "swing pic" you've ever seen, but I think it's not too bad...  I wish I could have talked my 5 year old into riding these high ones so I could have a picture of HER on said swings, but no dice. 

Photographing Children

Okay, so I know I'm biased, but I think my two little ones are pretty darn cute.  My son is such a ham and my daughter is so used to having a camera stuck in her face she barely even notices anymore until I holler at her to hold still.  I love photographing them.

I do not love trying to photograph them together.

Have you ever tried to photograph two race cars that are going in opposite directions?  Now, imagine if those race cars could shut their eyes or make strange faces.  Randomly with no warning.

That's what it's like trying to take a picture of two little kids together. All the pictures in this post started life as pictures of the two of them, one looking so sweet, the other looking like they're about to sneeze, throw up, or cry; or maybe even do all three at once.

I try not to let those pics throw me for a loop.  All I can say is "thank God for the crop tool in Photoshop". In this pic of my little girl, my son was rolling his eyes and picking his nose.  Yup.  Classy, that one.

Crop.

And then, look at this gorgeous boy!  He was smiling for all he was worth and his whole little face just lit up! My daughter, however, was blurry from rolling the grass, looking the other way and like she'd had one too many doses of children's NyQuil.

Crop. 

Of course, once in a while, it all comes together and you get the perfect happy-family-together pic.  Everyone's smiling, everyone's looking at the camera, everyone's eyes are open and no one's blurry.

When I get one of those, I'll post it.  Until then, I guess I'm stuck with funny faces!

Namaste.