with camera in hand

Tricycle found "Help me title this!"

2009-11-10T01:28:00.002-06:00

roses of childhood

2009-11-09T23:28:00.007-06:00

My mother had the most magnificent rose garden when we lived in Pacifica. I wished that I could have had the opportunity to photograph it. One of my favorite photos of myself is when I am like 7? standing by a rose that was as big as me, but it is in black and white. I don't have a scanner right now, or I'd scan it in.
When I saw this rose up in the Paseo Arts District in OKC this weekend, I thought of those childhood days. It's similar to those roses. I decided to enhance it and have shared some of the versions here. Which is your favorite? I'm curious to know!
Also, if you have a favorite rose story to share, I'd love to hear it in a comment below. (P.S. - click on it and it will load up large, you are welcome to use it as desktop wallpaper for personal use only)

2009-11-08T15:42:00.001-06:00

Paseo Arts District, OKC

2009-11-08T14:33:00.003-06:00

My husband and I made our first trip to the Paseo Arts District in Oklahoma City Saturday. The weather was perfect and we didn't even visit all the galleries first trip out. Mostly because I spent lots of time visiting with the gallery owners.

Met Cynthia Wolf and we instantly hit it off. Of course, having something in common was key. She also shot photos of the Oklahoma Centennial Cattle Drive, farther north. Her gallery, Adelante! is perfect. Artist Thomas Stotts was outside painting and he and my husband spent lots of time talking too. Cynthia and I are considering collaborating with our Cattle Drive photos and doing something really cool. She does these fabulous transfer emulsions with her photography also and had some cool tiles. Definitely a great Christmas gift item.

Love this architecture (above). I think this will become a piece to hang in my home.

I love yellow! this was at The Elms.

Gorgeous building. Reminds me of California.

Can't wait to go back. I saw so many things that kicked my creative zone into overdrive and wished that I could afford a few pieces even. Loretta Young-Gautier's horse images are awesome and I saw some other things too.

Barn in paradise

2009-11-07T03:42:00.002-06:00

I shot this a few years ago and am anxious to go back. It's in NW Arkansas and such an idyllic setting. I will be putting it in my etsy shop, it's 8x10.

Springtree Road cards!

2009-11-05T14:07:00.002-06:00

I love the photography on springtree road blog. This month is black and white over there, click on the link to the right when you finish here. I visited her etsy shop on Sunday and found these lovely cards.
Why do I like them?
1. colors! love red and blue!
2. subject matter. I don't 'yarn' around, but my mom did.
3. children's chair..I have a few!
4. and I just love cards from other photographers.
I have an etsy shop and pretty much after expenses I take my profits and put it right back into etsy by spending it in other etsy shops. I've managed to get some nice photography and other items. It's nice to have something on my walls besides just my own stuff!
But now I'm broke, so I need some more etsy sales so I can spend more on etsy!

Yogurt - finally!

2009-11-03T23:48:00.003-06:00

It makes me want to say Oikos three times really fast, but all I could do was enjoy the thickest yummiest yogurt I've ever tasted. I don't know that I could ever go back to those 'other' yogurts that are packed with sugar and are like melted ice cream. This stuff, by Stonyfield Farm, is a bit pricier, at $4 for four, but it is definitely worth it and when you consider what you pay for an single ice cream or soda these days, it's a better buy.
No, I'm not getting paid to say any of these things. I just really really like this yogurt. And if I were getting paid, this would be written much better and not at midnight! I had no idea this is what yogurt should be like. I am a blueberry nut, so of course, that's the flavor I bought. No photo with this post, as my camera is in the bedroom and the container is empty. So just visualize the spoon and container.

gone to the dogs!

2009-11-01T12:06:00.004-06:00

I'm a bit behind in posting images, but these are some from Bark in the Park. I love being a 'dogographer' and really should do this more often. These were at the event, but when I do private sessions, it's a blast and the dog isn't distracted by all the activity like they were at this event. The event generated a reported $20,000 this year for the Stephens County Humane Society shelter. That's awesome, considering that the economy is still struggling. Several donations provided 'free adoptions' so about two dozen animals went home with new owners. This little guy by the tree was so adorable. Total PUP! His owners plan to put him through obedience training.

Happy Halloween~!

2009-10-30T22:04:00.002-05:00

Whoohoo! Halloween is such a fun time. Area churches host fall festivals for children to have a safe place to enjoy and the camraderie of dressing up, trick-or-treating and pumpkin carving is what great memories are made of. My kids (adults now, young though they be) attacked the pumpkins Thursday night. Jeremy's was the best, him being the artist and all anyway. We saw the photo online and then he did his version. The other pumpkins though died a painful death at Kia's carvings! But at least she gave it a try. That's the fun part! MM though had a hysterical meltdown when she thought the pumpkins were being hurt. After she saw it lit up though, everything was good. I even got photos of her by it. Forgot to size it, will add it later tonight. My favorite memory of pumpkins when I was a child are roasting the pumpkn seeds with my mom, and visiting Half Moon Bay pumpkin orchard on school field trips. I'm not much of a carver either. One year I painted the pumpkins, that was fun.

I think this one is my favorite that I shot. I love the pattern on the patio from the mouth. Reminds me of piano keys. Which makes me think of my mom and my sister and hours at the piano. Don't forget to have fun, play safe and drive even safer because of the goblins out ghosting.

More Fall goodness

2009-10-30T01:54:00.004-05:00

just one for now. exhausted, need sleep..early work day tomorrow-today? I made the mistake of loading elements 7 on my new computer, only to have an issue restarting it...duh..the program is for xp/vista..everything's OK but the program seems to be 'missing something'..or maybe it's just me being tired...more to explore on this later. enjoy and have a happy Friday!
Oh and my youngest son carved the coolest pumpkin tonight..pictures later today!

Fall beauty and MM's impromptu session

2009-10-26T22:43:00.002-05:00

We were out in the backyard 'exploring' and decided to do some photos. I had my Canon on landscape setting since I've been doing a lot of fall color shooting, so MM's hair is a bit more golden, but I love it!

Not our backyard, darn! Isn't it beautiful?! If you want family portraits for your holiday cards, call or email me NOW so we can take advantage of this lovely setting.

This tree is the reason I stopped at this place. Look at those yellow leaves. Yes, they really are that vivid.

And this last one is my favorite and not even one that I took! My son shot this one. Isn't she just adorable!

3rd place!

2009-10-25T20:04:00.003-05:00

Professional category, judged by Danny Bills, curator at the Wichita Falls Museum..3rd on my weathered barn photograph. The barn sits behind the Shiloh Museum in Springdale, Arkansas. It was a last minute decision to enter and I didn't even have a mat on it (horrors!) but it still got a third. There were like 50 of 68 entries that were in pro category.

Meeting great authors

2009-10-25T00:06:00.007-05:00

Dusty Richards, Western Spur Award winner, motivates crowd with his talk.
Velda Brotherton, also of NW Arkansas, writes stories of historical interest.
Ginger DeVine, California children's author, and Ron Churchman, former Comanche resident, lives in Texas, just published his first book. I did a feature on him for the paper.
Una Belle Townsend, has three children's books published, is a school teacher in Yukon. Grady's in the Silo is an Oklahoma Book Award winner. Put it on your Christmas list!
Dusty and Pat Richards show off his latest book, Texas Blood Feud.
Read and enjoy the photos.
Saturday was the Chisholm Trail Book Festival at the Simmons Center here in Duncan. There were plenty of authors and I got to meet Dusty Richards. Even got an autographed copy of his latest, Texas Blood Feud. Looking forward to reading it. Bought a book from Ginger DeVine, California children's author. Have another children's book on my list - author Una Belle Townsend ..Grady's in a Silo! Can't wait to get that copy. She's a school teacher in Yukon, Oklahoma, and the story is based on a true event from 1949 that made national headlines. She also has a couple other books out that look great.
With all that though, as I was talking to Dusty and his wife Pat, the author at the next table overheard me say something. As I moved to her table and looked at her name, Velda Brotherton, bells went off in my head! I used to read her writing online a few years ago when I was doing some family research. We hit it right off and she's got another book coming out. She's written several stories about my ancestors. I'm so glad I got to meet her.
Anyway, here's a few photos from the event. I hope this event grows and gathers great local and state public support. These authors invest a great deal of time and money to attend book festivals. Show some support by going out and talking with them and if you can't afford a book from them at the moment, keep them in mind for buying gifts.
Dusty also spoke and told the youth there and adults that even if they never write a book, to make sure to write down family stories. He's a great speaker and I loved every word. If I'd been in reporting mode, I would have been scribbling it all down.

Rural Beauty

2009-10-24T01:33:00.005-05:00

Yes, I'm back! Spent part of the day editing photos, but took time out to take a drive with my husband to Waurika. It's time for the Waurika Fine Arts Festival. It's a great little show and the work is on display through next Thursday. A reception is Sunday afternoon for the artists.
The leaves are definitely showing fall colors in southern Oklahoma. It gave me a chance to shoot some photos. Plus, we found some great horses down that way and I have a ton of new horse images. Some of these though are from a few weeks ago at the Pruitt Ranch out by Velma.The second horse image and this bottom one are from Pruitt Ranch. The others were today in Jefferson County. Do you like them?!

Cutest Pirate Girl Ever!

2009-10-19T18:43:00.002-05:00

I used Picnik to work on some of these and a photo resizer too. Color may be off, but the subject is the sweetest! Mya had such fun running, exploring and being a little pirate girl today. Great weather! Happy Autumn!

Wagon fun

2009-09-24T18:16:00.004-05:00

This is just one of the fun things I did this past weekend. Riding a wagon in the cattle drive into the Chisholm Trail Heritage Center. Steve Tevebaugh was the wagon owner, horses are Mike and Pete. My granddaughter joined me in the last few blocks.

Pinafore, tomato and the red screen door

2009-09-10T12:19:00.002-05:00

Just a few from the other day! Found the screen door on the side of the road, gave the guy $10 for it. Bought a huge tomato, found the little pinafore and it all came together for a photo session in my backyard! She poked a hole in the tomato though. These are SOOC, hope they look OK online.

Christmas gift for western art/history lovers

2009-09-04T06:09:00.005-05:00

If you bought my Riding The Chisholm Trail collector's edition book - seen at the right - and will be in Duncan during the Western Spirit Celebration, I'll be happy to sign your copy. I had plans to have a booth at the event, but things are not working out for me the way I hoped. I'm needing to borrow a vendor's tent, so if someone has one to loan, I'd be so happy! But I need to know within the week. And for those who haven't bought a copy, I've extended the introductory price on my book for another month. It would make a great Christmas gift for a western history/art lover. By the way, the photo is the postcard I designed to promote my book. It's a 5x7 card and has an image on the back.

Etsy Discovery

2009-09-02T00:09:00.005-05:00

Was searching for paper memorabilia on etsy tonight and came across this near neighbor listing! It's a photo album filled with Will Roger sayings.
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=24749622 It's in the Country Road Gifts shop. It's interesting and as the listing says, a goldmine for a collector of such stuff. And I thought this particular image featuring it was pretty good for today's standards too.

Photos! A birthday, county fair and more

2009-08-31T02:57:00.004-05:00

Someone had a birthday. This is a two part post in one post! Enjoy the photos, then I wrote something farther down and added more photos.

Finally, I am able to get some photos online! This past week was so busy. There was a lot of major news, locally, state and nationally. Without writing a bunch, just quick captions by my photos. Enjoy!
A winning melon at the county fair. (Don't know who entered it, no name on it!)

My youngest son got 6th place on a drawing he did ages ago in high school.

K. got a 3rd on a photo she shot last summer of MM!

And isn't this one darling? Can't remember who entered it.

A photographer friend, Shirley Helton, entered this cute pic!

Serendipity

2009-08-30T12:57:00.005-05:00

“Only he can understand what a farm is, what a country is, who shall have sacrificed part of himself to his farm or country, fought to save it, struggled to make it beautiful. Only then will the love of farm or country fill his heart.”
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900-1944)

I feel I'm on the brink of something positive, life altering. Get a cup of coffee or something cold to drink. This might take a minute to read since I must explain why that quote is there and where I'm going with it. The other day I was at the book store and saw a book by Paulo Coelho and almost bought it. I knew it was the author of The Alchemist but I couldn't remember why it was so memorable. I haven't read The Alchemist, but knew there was a reason why it should be familiar.
Then yesterday, after I got my computer back on, I was looking for inspiration. I ended up going to Jennifer J. Parker's blog to see what she's been up to lately. And then later, I ended up on some other photographer's blog, who had a reference to The Little Prince.
Years ago, when I first met Jennifer, she was selling her studio and I interviewed her about her plans. Jennifer doesn't just sit there and answer questions. In fact, all I had to do was listen. She's quite the compelling storyteller and I was fascinated by all that she had to say. She talked about how The Little Prince and The Alchemist have played roles in her life decisions. The correlation between the books and things she's accomplished. At that time, I also had some decisions to make, but they weren't the ones I planned on, but I rolled with it. Three years later, again my work plans changed, partly something I wanted and yet, not a full transition. Again, I met with Jennifer for a story and she filled me in on the previous three years of her life.
She talked quite a bit about The Alchemist and how it seemed to be consistent in her life. A year or so went by and I ran into Jennifer again and of course, more changes of interest. This time she really used the word Serendipity and her words from that meeting have stayed with me. I always keep thinking about some of the things she's said and I try to use that in a directive motion for my life.
I know this all seems vague, but the idea is that so many people are always looking for the big picture when it's the smaller things that may set your life in motion. This morning I sat down and noticed I had a new Twitter follower.
What amazed me was that this Twitterer? "Light Stalking" has almost 10 followers and follows more than 10,000 people. That's not by chance and it's serendipitous to find that it's for photography tutorials, landscapes and such.
That's what I've always loved doing, always! Outdoor Photographer Magazine was the very first photography magazine I read, back in the late 80s.
But it takes a lot of money and equipment to be able to go shoot the big landscapes. Money because it takes time to travel. Well, working a regular full time job trying to make ends meet, I don't foresee that happening anytime soon, traveling to the Arches in Utah or other great vistas of America. That's OK. That day will come, hopefully next year's vacation.
Let me get back to where I'm going here. So I go and check out Light Stalking and click to one of the links which takes me to Wisconsin Weekend blog post on the Windy Pixel blog and there's that quote above, with a horse photo by Annie Elmer. I instantly have to write about this, before I've even read the blog entry.
Everyone who follows my blog and such know that I've been busy promoting my Chisholm Trail Cattle Drive book. Doing well, with several sales of it now. Everytime I read that quote I keep thinking of the history of this country and how it was founded by hard workers. The quote also kind of goes along with the photo session I did of MM at the Cooper's farm. That trip to the farm reminded me of how when I first started shooting "landscapes" they consisted of old barns around the country. I got away from that but lately have been wanting to do that again. A lot of this country's history has been dismantled or lost to Mother Nature. I've always wanted to capture it through my photography before it's gone. I also have an advantage as a writer to share its history.
I'm not sure where I'm going with this except because I can't analyze the whole thing. I tend to do that, try to rip things apart until I have an answer. This isn't meant to be analyzed. Whatever will happen is just going to happen. The answers are there in front of my face and will be revealed when the time is right.
If you are wondering about a direction in your life, that's a first step to making your life better. My mom always said that you have to have something to show for your life. That doesn't mean "material things" but something of more intimate value. So leave this blog post with that for thought. It's Sunday and I wrote this entry in bits and pieces over the past two years, so forgive the thought process. It's still in motion! I may come back later and read this and think what was I thinking!!!

I'm Back!

2009-08-29T22:41:00.003-05:00

Lots to post, but right now just a quick hi and to let everyone know I'm 'kind of' back. My photoshop programs are vanished, but I got my computer limping along, just can't resize anything to upload to web.
It's been a busy week and the county free fair was this weekend. I went out there for a little bit one day. I missed taking MM to the fair. That would have been fun, but schedules didn't work out well, I suppose. We did celebrate her 2nd birthday this weekend and it was fun. We had pink and yellow crepe paper all over the patio, balloons, mini cupcakes, a green 'Dora' cake, strawberries, pixie sticks, animal crackers and more. She squealed when she saw her "birthday party." How I ever managed to rack up nearly $80 in 'stuff' and presents, I'll never know. And most of that was at the Dollar Tree...go figure!
Well, I'm still working at getting photos figured out to resize. Any hints?

Quick announcement

2009-08-26T20:05:00.002-05:00

Having major withdrawals. My computer went on the fritz. I'm 'borrowing' the one I gave my son, but his keyboard sucks. I have no idea when I'll be able to get a new computer (DONATIONS gladly accepted..or just have UPS drop off a nice new one with XP...anything but VISTA, not interested in VISTA troubles!)
So, please don't forget me while I'm out of commission. Boohoo. I will be back...I just hope it isn't the year 2013!
Daphne, I got your blog comment! Thanks friend!

MM's trip to the farm

2009-08-15T16:43:00.003-05:00

Now I finally have a blog banner that I really like.
The day started out to be perfect for a drive in the country, and MM and I just went for photos in front of my friend's barn. It's an official Oklahoma Centennial barn and was built in 1907. It's the oldest one in the county and we didn't get there until in the middle of the day, and then the Oklahoma crazy wind started kicking in. So between that and the heat, both of us tired out fast. We made a picnic out of the trip and she got to eat big juicy green grapes while I shot lots of photos.

I remember the first time I shot the Cooper barn. It was during 1998 and I have some awesome black and white photos. There were chickens running around and it was like a day out of my childhood when I would visit a farm in northern California and also visits to my mom's friends who lived in the country after we moved to Oklahoma.
Not much changes in 35-40 years sometimes. That's pretty good in my book.
I've already come up with a creative fall session at the barn for MM. Can't wait til the leaves start changing and falling.
There's a reason for shooting MM's August photos here. Last year, her mom and I shot her photos at another Oklahoma historical site, the W.T. Foreman Prairie House in Duncan. She sure has grown since then. I forgot how fast little ones sprout. I plan to shoot her August photos (since this is her birthday month) each year at some Oklahoma historical location. I've got quite a list that are just in Stephens County. Right off the top of my head, I can think of five years of photos.
Back to our visit to the Cooper farm. I got there and Bettie's husband, George, came to the door. Bettie wasn't there, but I knew she'd show up before I finished. Sure enough, she did and we got to visit for awhile. She's always got a project going and today's story was as interesting as any other time. She's working on a project for the Marlow Redbud Park and a memorial area for veterans. Anything Bettie does always has a purpose. I've known her for 12 years and she has accomplished so much, from helping establish a museum, to getting the median filled with wildflowers just outside of south Marlow and putting on an environmental school.
The barn has been in the Cooper family since it was built on 'lottery land.'
I knew it would be worth the trip. Even if the wind battled us. Hey, that's Oklahoma!
If you like my photos, I'd love to hear a comment!

Some etsy love

2009-08-10T00:06:00.004-05:00

OK, it's officially Monday here, so here's my Monday morning post (since I'm going to bed and work is a must tomorrow). It's been a long while since I etsy-shared, but look at this etsy shop, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5889375, please forgive me, but I have the worst time trying to link things in my posts, ?any tips?... anyway, the shop's name is baby bomb and I love, love, love those wooden embroidery hoops with fabric and sometimes she makes felt flowers on them. My mom would have loved the idea, now it's given me some ideas. And yes, I've had a glass of wine, Oklahoma wine, little sweet, but I'll sleep wonderfully. my idea though? I've got some little baby outfits from way back in the day...I'll salvage the material and make some of these. but that means digging into our storage unit to find the hoops that I have packed away. ahhhhhhhh...