We had a nice day in Portland visiting Torrey and his girlfriend, Kate. Spent some "talk time" in the apartment and then went out to lunch. The fast down & back trip (my second this week) leaves my head spinning and it would be great to have more time, but... it was good to see Torrey as always.
Jen's Mom is failing and we had a cry about it today, so thinking about mothers seemed to be on the menu in general. Then as I was cleaning up the studio, I came across a small photo of my Mom. I remember Dad making prints in the bathroom in the evenings, but I think he was worried about brother and I getting into the chemistry or something, so I never got any lessons from him or anything like that, and by the time I was in high school I don't remember him doing it any more. I suppose by then it was easier to just send film away to have it processed, and color was a big deal when it first came out. I know, it's hard to believe that I've lived in times that have seen so many advances with imaging, but here we are!
I'm posting that picture of my Mom, she was born 90 years ago, and it's hard to believe that she's been gone for 30. Also a detail, shot with the eye loupe and iPhone, of brother and me.
I got an email yesterday from a retired colleague who is a photographer and sends me a lot of interesting links, and it was of a stop-action animation shot with a cell phone and a special magnifier system. Well, he got me to thinking as I'm sure his intention was, and so I tried holding an eye loupe over my cell phone lens and wow! I'm posting some of the shots I got tonight. A whole new world of magnification! Thanks a million, Galen!
Part of this afternoon was spent outside in the sunshine shooting drifting snow and other various objects. The drifts were like sand dunes in the desert I've seen pictures of except for the pure white color. Two major screw-ups (and I learn new things every day of my life - and not always because of mistakes) today were; one, I reset my camera to a lower "film speed" and went to shutter mode to shoot some moving water and forgot to set it back when my subjects changed, and two, didn't think to clean my lens well before going out. Shooting snow is probably the worst subject with a dirty lens as there is little texture to hide dark fuzzy blurs! Ahhh, PhotoShop.
I'm reading a biography of Georgia O'Keeffe, as I may have mentioned here a few posts ago, and it is absolutely fascinating how much I am feeling connected to her philosophies and sense of space and self. I've known for years that I admired her both as an artist and as a woman, but reading and understanding many of the gaps in my knowledge of her has affected me greatly. I thought of the spareness of so many of her paintings when I was shooting these photos in the snow today. Funny how we humans can influence one another.
So I went out to clean the snow off the boat cover and ended up down by the shore with a camera in my hands, as I guess I should on certain days and this is one. Here they are.
Certainly meant just in fun, no sense of blasphemy or anything like that, but Christmas eve with the family is about as good as it gets! A little zombie humor was in the mix thanks to my music/video class movie and Matt's purchase of "glow-in-the-dark zombie finger puppets for stocking stuffers. We are all headed to Portland early tomorrow morning to try and make Torrey's Christmas bright!
Instead I peeled an orange and did a journal drawing from the peeling, which looked an amazingly amount like a person dancing (or at least in my imagination). Photos posted.
