Playing with effects

You know, I'm really not a baby person. Really. But I have a LOT of recent Charlotte pics and I spent a couple of hours editing them instead of doing homework last night.

Anyway, so this is all about effects I love. I usually love really true, really saturated color in my pictures--that or a very clean, sharp black-and-whites.

Last night, I went a...different direction.




Okay, full disclosure. That one started as an accident. I was trying to color-correct for white in a shadowy shot and it blew out the rest of the picture instead. And for some reason, I loved it.

This next one was on purpose. I wanted sort of an overly dramatic, graphic, superhero shot that was still, you know, baby and fun.



This next one feels a bit vintage and dreamy to me. I kind of want to see what it looks like on canvas.




And finally, we have the mama. I like the sort of lost space of the majority of the shot. It's dreamy in a different way and I think it's fab.



That's me playing! What do you think?

Action Charlotte!

Sometimes I like to amuse myself.

This is one of those times.


Make your own animation

Charlotte

Please, behold the cuteness that is this child.



This is Charlotte Fay. She's my sort-of niece, the daughter of my best friend Amy and her husband Andy. She drools. A lot. Like, a lot, a lot.



Despite her moistness, she's pretty secure in her parents' love.

"Yeah, I know my dad digs me," she says.



Yep, she's pretty sweet, this one. I think she's a keeper.

Blaze of glory and all that

I don't just love fall because it signals the cessation of summer's heat. Nor just because it's nostalgic, bringing to mind the start of the school year (and the actual start of school this year) and the memory of new clothes and new class kleenex boxes and new things to learn. I don't just love it because I know the apples are arriving and pumpkins and hayrides and all that goes with.

I love it because it's gloriously beautiful...far more so than my camera can ever capture.




My name is Katherine and I cannot live without beauty.

Brave Hands

There was this exhibit at ArtPrize--pianos distributed about the city for anyone to play.

So Debbie did. Background here: Debbie played the piano growing up, but it dropped off when she grew up, as so often happens in our lives. A few years ago she sort of wandered into piano playing again...and discovered she was better than she'd ever been.

It's still not generally a public thing for her. But she couldn't resist the lure of these pianos just sitting out in the open all available and stuff.



She sat down and the sweet sounds of "Linus and Lucy," the classic Charlie Brown tune, floated out into the ArtPrize crowd.



When ArtPrize ended, the pianos were donated to schools and community groups in the area.



I really can't decide which of the last two pictures is my favorite. They're both lovely, I think.

Yeah, I just like this picture.

In her shoes

I'm supposed to be writing a paper right now. I'm...not. Instead, I'm here, sharing a pair of shoes with you.



These are not my shoes, though I'd love to have a pair of my own. These shoes (and the feet inside them), belong to Brianne Celeste, a 14-year-old friend of mine. She and her shoes came along to ArtPrize when I visited Michigan a couple of weeks ago. Heavens, it seems longer than that.

I can't decide if the charm of the shoes rubbed off on their owner or if they've been imbued with her spirit. Whichever direction it went, there was just something about these shoes that stole every shot they were in.





They remind me of her, in a strange way: intelligent, bright-spirited, a little diffident, solidly supportive, and unexpected.



Kickin' shoes. Awesome owner.

Off to the races

I moved to Kentucky, I started school, and suddenly, I DO things. Interesting things. Things I've always wanted to do, but somehow never have. Like going to the races.

No, I did not wear an extravagant black and white hat, nor scream at any horse to "move your bloomin' arse!"

I did, however, have a great time and get pictures I love. I call this one, "I'm on a horse."




I did not know this at the time, but the man in this photo is one of the anthropology professors in my department. He wields a mean parasol, too.



And this is one of my favorite pictures of all time. Cronies! Racing cronies! Bellybutton!

Orchards

In today's world of supermarkets and packaged foods, I suspect most of us rarely think of phrases like, "the bounty of the harvest," or truly understand the both the glory AND the satisfaction of rolling amber waves of grain. I know it's not constantly on my mind.

I can't help being confronted by that frankly miraculous notion of harvest when I go to an orchard. Have you been? You are suddenly surrounded by the warm, rich scent of soil, overripe windfall apples, often the spiky smell of hay, and the intoxicating aroma of freshly pressed cider. The off-kilter globes of pumpkins tumble over each other, fighting with the leaves for the title of greatest reflector of the sun. The leaves that have already ceded the fight crackle underfoot, preparing to become the nourishment for the next growing season.





There truly is an abundance of health and deliciousness in the autumn, a gorgeous and fecund wonderfulness.

Speaking of deliciousness, may I recommend a cider slush float? Odd, but extremely pleasant. My adorable friend Katie models the happy experience.




Find an orchard near you. Buy a cup of hot spiced cider or peach turnover or just a bag of apples (and maybe caramel dip, too). Take your kids on a hayride. Pick your own pumpkins instead of buying them at the supermarket.

Rediscover the earth's bounty...and maybe give thanks a little early this year.

Leaf me alone!

You may be noticing a theme lately.



They won't all be leaf shots, I swear.

Probably.



Oh, fall. I adore you.

Things on my shoe

On Friday, an accidental and very small series emerged in my photography: "Things On My Shoe."

First, there was the butterfly at Robinette's.



(I think my foot looks kinda funky in that shot).

That was followed by the leaf at Pickerel Lake.



(Huh. My foot looks weird in a different way there).

That was all. I said it was a tiny series. A dyad, if you will. But it amused me.

You'll notice I'm trying to post more regularly. It helps that I'm actually taking pictures again. I can't guarantee an everyday post, but I will try to make it happen more often, for those of you who are interested. I have quite the backlog going, so I may as well. :)

ArtPrize!

If you've been with me for...oh, a year or so, then you may remember last year's discussion of ArtPrize. Well, it's annual, though this is only the second. I'm so glad it did come back this year and even more, that I was able to come back to Grand Rapids to visit. And to take pictures, of course.

I haven't the time, space or inclination to show you all the shots I took, but I wanted to share a couple of my favorites (and there may be more tomorrow--we'll see).

At Rosa Parks Circle, there was a small pool with scads of steam rising from within to cascade up the hill behind it. And suddenly, there was a little girl cresting the hill, dramatically surrounded by the mist.



Okay, fine, she was playing. But it was still pretty cool. I rather wish she'd been wearing diaphanous scarves or even something post-apocalyptic...

On the face of the circle itself, right where one ice skates in the winter, there was a woman creating in chalk. She was surrounded by onlookers, primed to appreciate talent. However, ArtPrize was technically over. I have to wonder if perhaps she's out there all the time, crafting transient beauty for her own soul's edification and ArtPrize is just giving her a wonderful opportunity to share.




Hooray, art!

Sorry, Hols!

Happy Autumn, everybody!




I'm home for the weekend, and my heart is full of joy.

A vagrant, a bum, a rail rider...

My friend Holly is quite lovely. She's tall, elegant, usually well dressed, carries herself very nicely. Reminds me often of a curly-haired Anne Hathaway in many of her features and mannerisms.

She also has one of the most malleable faces ever. It's a wonderful thing to behold. Truly.



For example, there she's imitating a hobo.

No, no, don't try to make sense of it. Just enjoy...

Michaelmas

Meet Michaelmas Monkey. In this picture, he's taken the passenger seat on my final move from Michigan to Kentucky. Please note his commitment to staying hydrated.



Michaelmas was a gift from dear friends as a mascot for my upcoming grad school adventure. At graduation from this particular program, I shall have a tiny sock monkey pinned to my gown. Finding out about this ritual caused several of my friends to take to calling this the "sock monkey school." Knowing my friends--heck, BEING my friends--you'll understand why they were rooting for it from then on.

When I pulled this charmingly goateed fellow out of his gift bag, it was love at first sight. And not too many minutes later, he told me his name. Don't laugh; a lot of my things name themselves. They just do, okay?!

Anyway, he said his name was Michaelmas. I thought that was a bit odd, but who am I to protest?

Today I looked up the term. I knew it was the feast of St. Michael and a colloquial name for a flower. But do you know what else it is? It's the fall term of a year of college. Yup. My monkey named himself for the adventure he represents...which I'll be undertaking in just two or three weeks.

This is why I let things name themselves.

You angel!

I've been neglecting you. My focus has necessarily gone elsewhere once my year was up. But I'd like to do better in future.

In the meantime, random picture.



There's a certain sorrow to stone angels that appeals to me.

I'm not sure what that says about me. It's probably best not to think to deeply about it.

Photosaurus Rex!

(Holly, this is for you).

Photosaurus doesn't want you to miss this.

"Um...excuse me? Pardon me? I don't mean to be rude. But..."



"If you'll just take that exit there, you can drop in and say hi."



"In fact, if you'd like to take a picture or two with me, I'd be happy to oblige."

And so we did.



Smile for the camera!

New friends

This is Frank.



Frank joined us in the middle of Indiana when we stopped to take four thousand pictures of the wind farm. Frank was surprisingly trainable, actually. I couldn't get my camera to focus on him at first and when I did, he crawled to the edge of the gear shaft. I scolded him ("No, Frank, I need you centered! You don't show up on the edge!") and herded him back to the top. Where he posed nicely for a couple of pictures to the amazement of Cindy and Jody. I never doubted, though. I had faith in Frank all along.

Then I thanked him and sent him on his sluggish way.

Frank, ladies and gentlemen.

Announcey things

Yes, I promised you dinosaur pictures and art fair pictures and ice cream pictures, and I still mean to get to all of that. Really, really.

But there's a reason I decided not to post them last week as originally planned (and, really, you can't complain about getting a new Josh picture instead, can you?). A good reason.

The reason is that all of those pictures I was planning to post were from a recent trek to Kentucky. And while it was vacation and Cindy, Jody, and I did many super-fun things, the main reason for the trip wasn't vacation.

The main reason was to visit the city I'm moving to.

This fall I'll be starting grad school in Kentucky. I really needed to find a place to live and I had five days in which to do so. I did it in one, essentially. Found it, loved it, got it. So in a month, this cute little white house will be mine, all mine!



It's not huge, but it's tucked away by itself, it has a fireplace, and it's surrounded by trees. I'm a very happy camper, my friends.



I tell you this today because today I officially quit my job. Gave notice. Resigned.

If any of you own a moving truck, I'd be glad of your help. :)

Josh has an idea

You know, all my fun Josh shots aren't solely my idea.

This afternoon, Josh realized that he was dressed exactly like one of our editors. Josh has admired said editor's style before--and today, he was therefore able to admire himself.

So we took a picture.



It's so, "I'm just like my big brother now!!!" isn't it? Right down to the lack of socks. I love how indulgent David looks.

It was a big day.

Random update

Oh, my pretties, I've got SUCH pictures for you! Dinosaurs and art fairs and tasty treats and all sorts of fun. It will be so glorious!

Once I get home.

And am done with jury duty.

So next week sometime, I will have pictures galore!! Please don't give up on me yet.

Because I love you,

Me

Slides

In my college photography class (lo, these many years ago), we learned how to develop our own black and white pictures. But everything color we sent out to a lab to be turned into slides.

That's how I discovered how much I LOVE slides. They're so honest. There's no image manipulation and no color change depending on paper or machine ink.

Earlier this week I pulled out a couple of my old slides and went super-meta, taking pictures of these tiny pictures.

Starring my friend Randy.

I love how dreamy this one is, held up against the woods so that the trees cast a green glow on the small scene.





There's a whole story in my head about that picture. It looks like he could just step out of the slide and into the continuing world of trees beyond.

This one I just like the graphic feel of it. The slide shot is a little blurry (not the original, mind you, just this new shot), but I don't mind. And I really like how he's caught in the circle of the lens.





Yes, I was going to take a hiatus from this blog. Then I decided that I'll just post when I feel like it, not when I don't.

So far, I've felt like it. :)

Whatever day I want it to be

Leftover picture showing my camera progression. Click on the picture and look into the camera lens.

DAY! 3!6!5!

I did it.

I DID IT!!!!

I've gone an entire year on this blog. Three hundred and sixty-five days! Honestly when I started this last year I thought I'd probably go two or three weeks and then the posts would start to slacken or I'd miss a day or two here or there and then a few days and then three weeks would go by without me remembering or taking any pictures. But for the most part, I've posted every single day (barring weekends, which I was never planning on, and vacations). I've accounted for and backtracked to each day like I was getting paid for it.

I thought my interest would dry up and I'd run out of creativity and get sick of taking pictures or that my itch to snap shots of the world around me would fade. I thought I'd have to resort to gimmicky themes just to force myself to get out there and take a picture of something, anything. But while I did have theme weeks and I did sometime take creative liberties, the itch never went away. My interest never dried up.

I thought I would regret my extravagant--by my standards, at least--purchase of a camera. I could have used the money to fix my car a little or to buy part of a couch. I have not regretted it once. If use determines value, this is one of the best purchases I've ever made in my life. I take pictures almost every day and, given that my output has consistently outstripped my space for posting, I'm pretty certain I would have even with this project.

I have, to date, 11 official followers, only half of whom I know in real life, and several others who swing by on a fairly regular basis. I have nearly 8200 views. I have a new blog friend who loves birch trees and beauty and silliness as much as I do. I have an account of my last year unlike any I've ever had before.

I had grandiose plans of an elaborate post with antique cameras and old slides and pictures and all sorts of stuff.

But when it came right down to it, that seemed like too much.

What I really want to say is:



Thanks to those of you who've been here since the beginning. Thanks for stopping by if this is your first time. Thanks to my friends and family who have encouraged me. Thanks for letting me take your picture and post it where the entire world can see it (even about 5.999 billion of them never will). Thanks for listening to me ramble on about leaves and trees and clouds and all that. Thanks for taking me interesting places.

Thanks for sticking by me.


I'm serious.



See?*

Most of all, thanks to my darling cousin Jen who gave me the idea for this Project 365 in the first place. You're the extra special awesomest and one of the most extravagantly creative people I know.

Hooray!!!!

*Special thanks to model Josh who went in for one of my schemes one last time. Please note that both poses were part of his creative process and in no way suggested by me. All I asked was that he hold the sign.

Day 364

Lilacs, my friends!



Lilacs.





That is all.