Saracat's Photo a Day 2006

PAD 2006 Officially Closed

2006-12-29T12:29:00.000-08:00

Please note that this blog is officially closed and will no longer have new posts.

If you are interested in following my work, please check out my 2007 photoblog.

Saracat's PAW - Exposing the self

Thank you all for your interest and comments.
Sara

From the Beach

2006-09-04T07:08:00.000-07:00

The girls. Taken on our trip to Charleston.
Mary (top) at Edisto Beach. This pic has some contrast masking to bring out her face (it was almost totally shadowed), but I'm still not completely happy with the editing.
Alice (bottom) at Charleston Harbor. She's sitting on a capstan. No editing other than resize and slight USM. I'm very happy with this pic.

So much happening...

2006-08-10T12:59:00.000-07:00

... I don't even really know where to start.

This pic was my entry for the Bits & Pieces Challenge over at DPC, titled "All That's Left Are Pieces of Her". I don't know how "appropriate" it was for the challenge, but for me, it really fit the idea behind the challenge. I wasn't trying to make a "statement" or trying to make people feel anything in particular. It just seemed like the honest truth.

Because she is gone, and all that we have are memories. Bits of the past, brought to the present by the pieces of her 'life' that we have left. July 18th we went to Edisto Beach and scattered her ashes. It was what she wanted. Dad told me about the last time - the only other time - that they had gone to Edisto. I don't recall when he said they had been there, just that it rained the entire time and she was bitterly disappointed that the weather was so bad. He said they spent about twenty minutes on the beach in between rain showers. After they got home, she kept telling him she wanted to go back when the weather was good and they could spend some time on the beach and in the water.

Not long after that, she was to take to her bed and not get up again.

So I guess it was fitting, then, that on the day we scattered her ashes, the weather was perfect. Sunny skies with puffy clouds. A light breeze. Warm. Very few people on the beach. She would have loved it.

I miss you Mom. I love you.

My Card

2006-06-18T12:31:00.000-07:00

So. I am in the process of getting my butt in gear to get a photo studio started. This is a little brainstorming I've done in the area of business cards. I don't yet have a business website. When I get one, it will be added to the card(s).
Questions, comments, and rude remarks are welcome.

Mother

2006-06-17T09:33:00.000-07:00

OK. I was going through my old pictures (most of which were "recovered" (after a computer crash) by getting family members to send me a copy) and I found this pic of my mom holding my littlest one. The pic is from 2002, and I honestly don't recall who took the picture.
Anyway, I re-edited it and decided to post it here. I know it's been a while since I talked about her, and I know there's been a couple people who've expressed interest in seeing what she looked like. This is probably the best pic I have of her (and not because she's holding my baby! :P). The not having good pics of her was the main reason I did the self-portraits (and will probably continue to do them, though perhaps not as frequently - at least until I get a camera and remote!).

Hangin' On

2006-06-02T09:55:00.000-07:00

One of my Green II outtakes. I figured the spider was the 'subject' more than the green was, and that I'd get hammered for it. So she ended up here. I'll have this one up for print sale (along with a bunch of others) by the end of the summer. I'll be posting a link to the storefront when it's up and running if anyone is interested.

Mum's The Word

2006-05-31T14:19:00.000-07:00

Just playing around and got a good shot of a chrysanthemum. Well, a decent one anyway. :)

Baby Girls

2006-05-28T16:58:00.000-07:00

Well, I got a 'new' picture sorting program yesterday. Picasa has been ported to a Linux platform, so even though it's the first beta release, I get to play with it. Yay!

Hanging Backdrops

2006-05-18T15:10:00.000-07:00

These are very quick shots of how I have my backdrops hung up in my den. We removed a strip of the molding from just under the picture rail and screwed the bike hooks into the space where the molding goes.

Rhythm Entry and Outtake

2006-05-10T06:44:00.000-07:00

Staccato Signals, as entered in the Rhythm II challenge. And yes, it's a CD that was microwaved (2 seconds if I recall).
One of the many outtakes for that challenge. I'm thinking about making a print series from all the outtakes from that challenge, as they're all pretty neat looking. Dunno. Still playing with them a bit, so we'll see...

Mary

2006-05-09T14:42:00.000-07:00

Pretty much straight from the camera. Rotate, crop a little off the top, resize. That's it. Whatcha think?

30 in 30 shots moved here

2006-05-04T12:32:00.000-07:00

I got tired of trying to maintain both blogs, plus do the DPC thing, the MySpace thing, the LJ thing, the wife/mother/maid/cook/taxi driver thing, and come up with all the stuff I need to come up with to start a business.
Was way behind on the self-portraits, so I just moved 'em over here. I have to say that I loved getting the comments and feedback, and I'm grateful that so many of you continued to check in and see what was going on.

More proof...

2006-04-20T14:03:00.000-07:00

...that I'm figuring this out! Last one for the day. I'm about edited out.

Proof Sheets

2006-04-20T11:11:00.000-07:00

Well, as some of you know, last Friday I took some pics of a friend of mine, Adriane. I've been editing all week, and just today had the thought that I might, at some point in the future, want a proof sheet.
Now, the GIMP, lovely program that it is, does not have a ready-made template for proofs. I could probably have looked one up on the 'net, but I figured it would be quicker and less frustrating for me just to make one. Et voila. Two proof sheets.
Whatcha think? (Honestly, I'd like some feedback. I'm gonna post these over at DPC as well, but I thought it'd make a lovely entry for my woefully un-daily PaD project.) :)

*edit to add: Glad I looked at this again. I just realized that one of the pics on here is a little too similar to my challenge entry, so I'll have to wait until Moday to post over there. Argh!

Pics

2006-04-17T15:25:00.000-07:00

Here's some pics.

Where We Get Baby Duckies

2006-04-11T06:36:00.000-07:00

Just goofing around.

The View Down The Street

2006-04-10T07:33:00.000-07:00

So, down at the end of our street there's a little hiking path that goes out through the woods. You follow the path and it takes you out onto a large granite outcropping. Climb about 3/4 up the granite, and this is the view.
Purty, ain't it?

Another of Alice

2006-04-09T07:38:00.000-07:00

I know you're probably getting tired of seeing her, but all the pictures I took of the other one have been blurry. :( She keeps moving on me!

Yard Clean-up

2006-04-03T17:35:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't been posting lately, but I've finally been getting some strangth back after the surgery and we've been busy. Between taking challenge pics, cleaning the house, finally getting around to cleaning up the yard, and just taking care of daily stuff, I haven't had a lot of extra time. But I managed to get this shot of the little one helping out, and I thought I'd post it.

Outtake #2 and #3

2006-03-22T16:34:00.000-08:00

So. These are the #2 and #3 outtakes for the Low Key challenge. Yeah. Same pic, different crop. Couldn't decide which was better, so I went with the other photo (which I should NOT have converted to B&W - lesson learned).
I think I need to reshoot the whole series with a little more light. Not much more, just a little.
Maybe I'll do that tomorrow. I should be able to have some help doing it (a temporary assistant since my littlest brother (age 13) is staying with us a couple of days), which, with any luck, will make it a quicker re-shoot.

I think with a little more of a 'Hollywood Glamour' lighting, these could be reminiscent of 1920's and 1930's 'vamp' pics. Maybe? Something to 'shoot' for anyway...

Low Key Entry - Advanced Editing Outtake

2006-03-21T07:32:00.000-08:00

WARNING: This photo is the same one I entered for the Low-Key Challenge, just with different editing. If you're concerned about anonymity during voting, either don't look at this one, or don't vote on my entry if you recognize it.

The editing I used on this version is definitely not legal for basic editing. I'm not 100% sure it would be legal in advanced. But I like the way it turned out.

Anyway, I had fun shooting with this session. Mary again pressed the shutter for me (got to get a remote!), and a fun time was had by all. I think, though, that she had more fun watching me put on makeup (I don't usually wear it) than she did with actually taking the pics.

For lighting, I used a halogen work light, bounced off the ceiling. The backdrop is a navy blue fleece blanket tacked to the wall. Camera settings were f/3.2, 1/8 sec shutter speed, ISO 100. I underexposed by about 3 stops.

I think it might have turned out a little better if I had been brave enough to cobble together some sort of shutters for the lights so that I could have used it more directly on me and had a more focused beam, but those lights get so hot, and I didn't want to burn anything down. Eventually I will get a "real" lighting system (and the camera to go with them!), but for now, it's "Redneck Camera Gear to the Rescue!"

:)

It's Spring! Yay!

2006-03-20T14:05:00.000-08:00

Finally. After weeks of 70 and 80 degrees temps, Spring is officially here, and it's 40 degrees outside. Blech. :)
Around here, pansies are some of the first annuals to bloom really well, and around about mid-March is when happy little gardeners plant them by the thousands into their perfect little beds. Yeesh. For all the money they spend on these flowers, you'd think they would pick something that lasted a little longer. Or at least something that would come back year after year. But no. Sigh.
Doesn't anybody like perennials anymore? Tulips? Hyacinths? Iris? Crocus? Nope. None to be found. Just the silly little pansies.
I guess they are pretty. But still...

Reedy River Falls

2006-03-19T12:12:00.000-08:00

Here's some more pics of the falls on the Reedy River at Falls Park. The first two pics are taken from the bridge that spans the upper falls (you can see part of it in yesterday's post). The third photo is the lower falls about 1/8 mile downstream.

The Reedy River Falls are probably some of the easiest falls to visit in Greenville County (with the possible exception of Wildcat Branch Falls which is roadside off of Hwy 11 in northern Greenville County). They are located just below Main Street in downtown Greenville, SC. The Camperdown Street Bridge used to be directly above the falls (effectively hiding the falls from above) until the county decided to put in the Freedom Bridge (in yesterday's photo) and remove the old bridge. It played havoc with traffic patterns, but the falls are now much easier to see and visit.

I'm sure that as more flowers start blooming I will again visit the Falls Park and show more pics from there.

Falls Park

2006-03-18T19:44:00.000-08:00

Had a day off from the kids, so the hubby and I went to downtown Greenville and walked around and took some pictures. This is the view from the bottom of the falls (and across the bend in the river). Oh, how I wish I had a wide angle lens!
I may post some more pics of the falls tomorrow, but it's late and I'm going to bed.

Impressions of Spring

2006-03-17T17:05:00.000-08:00

The maple trees are blooming like crazy now. Saw the red against the blue and just had to capture it, but it never quite turned out like I wanted it to - the leaves moving ever so slightly against the sky. Every picture I took was static, stark, harsh.
So I GIMP'ed it. Upped the saturation just the tiniest bit, cropped, resized, USM, and then applied the GIMPressionist filter.
At last. Visions of a spring breeze fulfilled.

(So I'm a little silly tonight. First night in a week I've felt silly, so :PPPPPP)
:)

Texas Rose

2006-03-16T19:32:00.000-08:00

So. The calendar says four more days until Spring. The Texas Rose in the front yard says otherwise.
I don't think I've ever seen a rose bloom this early. And the bush is just covered in these buds, not one of them larger than a dime at this point, though the flower may open up to perhaps the size of a quarter. Miniature sized roses on a normal sized bush. Can't tell yet if they have a scent, but they're sure to be pretty. I've planted some forget-me-not seeds (dark blue flowers) around the base of the rose, and there's some red hardy amaryllis bulbs around the edge of the bed. I'll be sure to post pics when they're all in bloom.

Edit to add: Wanted to post this last night but Blogger seemed to be having some sort of internal error. Ugh. Just when I'd made a resolution to get up one a day, something goes and messes it up. Ain't that just the way...

Lunch Rush

2006-03-15T15:56:00.000-08:00

Apparently our bird feeder is popular.

Square Crop Challenge

2006-03-14T06:37:00.000-08:00

Smile for the Camera.
This was my square crop challenge entry. Finished with a 5.305, so not too bad, and I really like the picture.

I know, I know. I'm falling behind a little with the PaD. I hereby resolve to get 'back in the habit', and by that I don't mean that I'm becoming a nun! :)
And spring is here (even though it's still one week from being official), so there's gonna be plenty of excuses for getting out and taking photos. (Warning: Be prepared for lots of pretty flowers!)

Don't know how many portraits will be put up; I'm still kinda leery after the stuff that happened with Mary's pic. I've added some security features, and I'll moderate the comments if I have to, but I really don't want to start doing that.

See you tomorrow with a new pic!

Totally Different Subject

2006-03-10T17:59:00.000-08:00

Thought I'd post something other than portraits today. This is one of several places here in SC that I can go and relax. It's calm, it's pretty, there's a little stream with little waterfalls, and it's just kinda nifty.
This is Poinsett Bridge in Greenville County. It's the oldest standing bridge in South Carolina, and it originally went from Greenville to Asheville, NC.
Did a little desat on the stones of the bridge because they're unfortunately covered in old graffiti - sometimes people just suck. (And no, the horizon's not off, you're looking at the undersiade of the bridge at an angle.)
This view is looking up from beside the stream that runs under the bridge. Saw the leading lines when I was standing there and thought it'd be purty. No desat on the stones here - all the graffiti is further down.

Anyway, just some calm, pleasant pics for today.

Poor Baby

2006-03-07T07:30:00.000-08:00

REMOVED PICTURE

This photo was removed due to 2 comments that were received from a blog with the signature "your". The comments were nothing more than lists of links to XXX porn sites. The profile of "your" is not available to the public, so I have no idea who this person is. I was extremely uncomfortable with these comments being left on the picture of my daughter, so I have removed the photo.

Please check your comments for any of your pictures that contain small children to make sure that this person has not left you similar comments. Thanks for your understanding. Sara

Well, we go to the bone doctor today to see what he says about her arm. She was feeling "un-pretty" (her word), so we got her dressed up and I put my rhinestone necklace and clip earrings on her and put her hair up. So now she says she doesn't feel so bad about wearing the sling. Little girls...

Anyway, I think the photo turned out pretty decently. The floor she's standing on is actually an oatmeal color, but I think I managed to belnd it in pretty ok. The backdrop is my bedroom curtains. And I think the lighting actually looks ok, especially considering that it's lit with the overhead bedroom light and the on-board flash. In respect to the flash, I guess it helped that I was about at the edge of its range, so it didn't wash her out or look funny.

*Edit to add:
Well, it's broken. She has to wear the splint for a week (until the swelling goes down) and then she gets a regular cast. Sigh. Now if I can only convince her she can still do things for herself...

The Hubby

2006-03-06T12:32:00.000-08:00

Well, I thought I'd post a picture of the hubby today. This is Robert, and yes, that's the natural red of his beard. I can't count the number of times people hve asked him if he dyes his beard (or hair - he doesn't dye either one).
This is probably more of a 'snapshot' than 'portrait', but it's one I like. One day I'll get around to taking some portraits of him in his Confederate uniform and some of him in his kilt. It's hard to get him to cooperate in front of the camera, though, so we'll see...

I hope to have my backdrops finished soon, but I've pretty much got my hands full at the moment. My older beastie, Mary, fell yesterday and injured her elbow. She's either got a hairline fracture or torn cartilage. We have an appointment to see the orthopedic docs tomorrow, since the ER doc felt a second opinion would be best before putting her in a cast, so at the moment she's splinted up and relaxing on the sofa (with the help of some codeine). Poor baby - she's so frustrated because the splint weighs a ton and she can't use that hand for anything.
So I get to play nursemaid on top of being mommy for the next little while, which means the backdrops have to wait.

Oh, well.

Square Crop Outtake #2

2006-03-05T17:33:00.000-08:00

This is yet another of the outtakes from the Square Crop Challenge. These are Sun Conures and they're from South America. The reason this became an outtake rather than my entry is because of their cage. The lines of the cage are fairly obvious in the background, and there is some slight distortions on the birds themselves because of the cage in front of them. I don't yet feel that my cloning abilities would overcome all of that, and I figured I'd probably get dinged by the voters for it.

And, to answer a question from yesterday, it's a photo of Joy's face (the elephant at the Greenville Zoo) in front of the rocks in her enclosure.

Square Crop Outtake

2006-03-04T17:53:00.000-08:00

I was going to use this for the Square Crop Challenge and title it something like "A Study in Textures", but I couldn't quite get it to turn out like I wanted. I think maybe it would be better suited to a different crop... I dunno. It just wasn't quite 'good enough' - plus I have another three or four to choose from that are better!

Joy and a Camellia

2006-03-03T17:56:00.000-08:00

Went to the Greenville Zoo yesterday with the kids. This is Joy II, the resident African elephant, and my favorite stop at the zoo. I must have taken forty pics of just her! Anyway, Joy is 36 years old and weighs 8000 pounds, she eats about 200 pounds of food every day, and gets a bath and a pedicure every morning. (It's amazing the things you learn when you have homeschoolers along!)
And since I didn't post yesterday (due to exhaustion and spending time with family), here's a camellia that I played around with. The original photo was okay - a little on the boring side and slightly washed out - so I decided to see what I could do. Inspired by A1275's February 27 post ( http://a1275.blogspot.com/2006/02/bad-girl.html), I decided to make it into "digital art" rather than keep to a "true" photograph.

My Other Beastie and a Sunset

2006-03-01T16:19:00.000-08:00

This is Mary, my "Other Beastie". Didn't have any photos of her posted yet and she wanted to know "Why, mommy?", so I'm posting an extra today. We were in the Discovery House at the Botanical Gardens (this was taken yesterday) and upstairs in the Art Galleries they had a small room with this mirror in it. Ham that she is, she couldn't resist, and neither could I.

This is why I LOVE my new house. Well, partly why, anyway. This is the view out of my kitchen window (minus the houses below the treeline). Every time we get a really nice sunset, I get to see it. This is a big deal for me since both of the other houses I've lived in for the past seven years were situated so that I didn't get to see any sunsets unless I went for a drive (darn mountains blocking the sun grumble grumble). I didn't realize just how much I'd missed them until I got them back.

I also didn't realize just how much the combined Mom's-death-surgery-funeral-recovery thing had sapped my strength. Yesterday's trip to the SCBG was about a 4 hour walk, some of it flat, some up and down, nothing really "hard". Today, while I'm not too incredibly sore, I have no energy, and therefore, little patience. But we managed to resume our homeschooling without any (well, without many) problems (attitude or otherwise), so I think that, despite the low energy, it must have been a pretty decent day. The next few weeks should see me fully recovered from all the physical things, so hopefully I'll be more able to take the girls on field trips (that's code for "photography outing plus some educational stuff). :)

Turtles, Take Two

2006-03-01T05:57:00.000-08:00

This isn't my 'official' pic for today. A couple of commenters on yesterday's turtles remarked about their reflections being cut off, and I realized that I had edited the wrong photo and posted it. D'oh!
:)
Anyway, I had meant to edit and post this one, as it does have the full reflection. I was kind of in a rush yesterday and edited and posted while trying to keep the kids out of trouble.
C'est la vie!

Tuesday Turtles - For Mikey

2006-02-28T16:30:00.000-08:00

Before any of the wisecracks start up, no, this is not intended to be a self-portrait! :)
I had the opportunity today to go out to one of my favorite places (the South Carolina Botanical Gardens in Clemson, SC) and take some photos. This was the first time since January that I've been able to go on a photo excursion. Yay!
Between my trip and keeping house and watching babies and making new backdrops and taking hubby to work (and picking him up - both about an hour away from here), I decided not to try to do a fresh set of self-portraits. So you get turtles today.
I'll probably put a few shots into my DPC portfolio over the next few days. When I get that done, I'll put a link to 'em here.

Oh. And the 'For Mikey' part of the title: Mikey is my brother. He collects turtles of all kinds. He owns several real water turtles, and I think maybe a couple of land turtles (I can't keep up with it any more!), in addition to his pretty impressive collection of stuffed, carved, molded, etched, and otherwise hand-made turtles.

Just a fun day all around! :)

Satisfaction

2006-02-27T06:46:00.000-08:00

Satisfaction is overrated. Being unsatisfied is what goads us into seeking more, trying more, doing more, being more.
I know that I've not been entirely satisfied with my self-portraits. I also know that being unsatisfied with them is the main driving force that is behind my continuing to do more of them. I am unsatisfied with what I produce, therefore I strive to learn more about what I am doing.
I'm not saying I don't like the pictures I've done recently. Far from it, in fact. But I know that I can do better, and until I am truly satisfied with the results of my 'experiments', I will continue to learn, to try new things, and to simply take pictures.

Yeah - I'm not really all that 'deep' today, but, hey, it's Monday. :)

Seeing in Technicolor

2006-02-24T09:45:00.000-08:00

When we grow up, we lose the ability to see things only in black and white. All the shades of gray gradually creep up onto us, forcing us to see that not every action or event is all good or all bad. Then one day we realize that those shades of gray have 'flavors', and all the colors around us come into play. We begin to see the nuances behind decisions that are made, the little events that lead up to the big ones. We see that there are decisions that are agonized over that once would have made us certain that it was a bad decision, yet now that we can see the colors of those little agonies, we understand that it is merely a sacrifice that must be made for a greater good. We still may not like it, but now that we can see those colors, those shades of nuance, we can understand.
And with understanding comes a hard-earned wisdom. We cannot become wise without leaving behind the black-and-white vision of childhood, leaving behind our certainty that there are only shades of gray. We must accept that life is comprised of color, of flavor, of textures both subtle and bold. As much as it might be easier to think in black and white, as much as it might pain us to discover that even shades of gray can be broken down, it is something that all of us must come to understand so that we all may become truly wise.
I look back at my life sometimes and laugh at some of the things that I have done and cry at some of the experiences I've had. There is very little in my life that I can say that I am truly ashamed to have done, and for that, I am thankful. There is nothing in my life that I would go back and change. A couple of posts ago, I mentioned that my mom had asked me about that and I told her no, because I was happy with who and where I am, and that that might not be possible if I changed anything. But it's a little more than that, really. If I had not experienced all that I have, the good and the bad, I'm not sure that I would have been able or ready to really understand and accept the decision that she made when she accepted Hospice care rather than try to fight for a chance at a few more months of life.

Someone once told me that life is what you make of it. I think perhaps that is one of the most perceptive and true things that I have ever heard. The ways that we act and react determine more than just immediate consequences. Our choices determine not only how we are perceived by others, but how we cause ourselves to feel and act in the future.
Taking joy in the counted moments before a known death is one of the hardest things I have ever done. But having made that decision, it was far easier for me to spend time with my mother than it would have been if I had decided (consciously or not) that her death was nothing more than a senseless tragedy. I did not dwell on her death then, and I knew that she did not want me to. I do not dwell on her death now, nor would she have wanted me to. Instead, when I think of her (as I often do), I remember her as she was: full of life, loving, funny, loyal, friendly and outgoing. Fifteen or twenty years ago, her death would have been written for me in stark black and white. Ten years ago, gray shadows would have been in the script. But now when I think of her or her death, I always see her in Technicolor.

Humor and Grace

2006-02-23T12:17:00.000-08:00

What is it that causes us to react so negatively to criticism sometimes? Is it insecurity? Jealousy? Impatience with the speed at which we are learning something new?
I think that perhaps it is a situational thing. Sometimes we are touchy because we are unsure of ourselves, and sometimes we react badly because we are so sure of ourselves.
Whatever the cause, it is something I am trying to root out of my behavior. It is certainly not something that I am proud of. :)

So I pledge that, beginning today, I will try to react to criticism with humor and with grace. I shall remain patient as I receive the criticism, realizing that the critic is not coming from the same 'place' as I am. I will accept the views of others as valid and honest. And I will incorporate the best of it, and merely leave the worst. The opinions of others do not, in and of themselves, change who I am or what I do, but they can help me to become a better person or to become more proficient in what I do.

Yeah - I know. I'm in a weird mood today. But so be it! :)
Image details: f/4.0, 1/12 second exposure, ISO 100. Single light source (100W halogen work light) placed six feet from me, gold reflector placed opposite the light, about 2 feet away.

Self-Image

2006-02-21T16:40:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's a self-portrait. And yes, it's a self-image - of sorts. Growing up (and even into my adult years), I was never comfortable with how I looked or with the face I presented to "the public". I never saw myself as beautiful, or even close to pretty, for the most part. I was always the skinny-nerdy-goth-chick (and yes, in that combination!). I envied the girls with the nice figures, the perfect skin and hair, and so on. I didn't start to become comfortable in my own skin until I had children. I don't know if it was reaching a certain age or a certain maturity level, or even if it was the simple fact that bearing children changes the body chemistry. I do know that, for all the flaws that I still have, it doesn't matter so much what I look like as who I am. With that realization came acceptance of my body, of me. Am I beautiful? To some, possibly not. To others, most definately. To myself - yes. I now realize that I can be, that I am, and that I always will be beautiful if I but accept and welcome myself as I am and not as others wish me to be.

What We See

2006-02-20T14:23:00.000-08:00

I've made a lot of choices in my life, and like most people, not all of the choices I've made were, at the time, what seemed to be the 'right' choice.

My mother asked me before she died if I had any regrets about my life, if there were anything I would change if I could. Much to her surprise, I laughed and told her that no, I would not change anything that I'd done, nor would I want to go back and make the 'right' choice if I were given the chance. She gave me a quizzical look and asked me why, since I'd been through so much pain and misery (and I know she was referring to my first marriage), would I not want to change what had happened. I looked at her and told her quietly that if I were to go back and 'fix' the things that I did and to make different choices then that I most likely would not be where and who I am now.

I know that she was trying to tell me that there were things that she would have changed, either in the way that she'd raised us or things that she'd done that in some way affected us. She was very thoughtful after I told her my philosophy on life, that we are who we are because of what we've done and the decisions we've made.

I know that what we see is not always who we are. The face that we show others can be misleading, but I'm beginning to see that what we show to other people defines the way that we act, which in turn defines who we are.

Happy Little Beastie

2006-02-19T18:57:00.000-08:00

Well, I know I'm a little slow to post my next self-portrait, but oh well. This is me and my youngest beastie (the same baby doll I did the high-key pic of). The original plan for the self-portraits was to have them of just me, but she's a little camera hog and would not let me be until she got her picture taken, too.
Anyway... the light is once again natural sunlight filtered through my den curtains, and we're using the same bedsheet as our backdrop. Exposure details: f/4.5, 1/30 sec shutter speed, ISO 100.
Post processing is pretty simple. I copy background layer, apply heavy blur and erase where I want crisp details, adjust opacity till it looks right. Copy background layer again, use soft light mode (to give it a slightly warmer feel) and adjust opacity. Flatten image, clone out a couple of fuzz-balls and smudges, resize, and save.
One more thought on this one: Is it just me, or is there a slight resemblance to Drew Barrymore in this pic? :)

Back in the Swing of Things

2006-02-17T13:02:00.000-08:00

Well, I've resumed my PAD project! Yay! For the rest of this month, I'm gonna try to do self portraits. This is one of my first attempts at self-portraiture (along with my new DPC profile pic http://www.dpchallenge.com/image.php?IMAGE_ID=296737 ).
I'm trying my hand at self-portraiture for a couple of reasons. First of all I've got family members asking for pics of me - and I tend not to like the ones other people take of me! Second is that I realized that there are very few really good pictures of my mom, and I think she avoided the camera for the reason I just mentioned. I decided that if something should happen to me I didn't want to leave my family wondering why no one managed to get any pics of me (since I'm usually the one behind the camera).
The light on this is natural sunlight filtered through thin muslin curtains. The pic is taken in my den with a sheet draped over the sofa as a backdrop. I couldn't get the self-timer and auto-focus to work at the same time (I don't have true manual focus - rats!) so I cheated a little and got my 6 year old to press the shutter. The exposure was 1/30th sec, aperture f/4.5, and the ISO was 100 (camera default when using manual mode).

I do want to take a moment and thank all of you who have expressed your concern and support and prayers for me and for my family. I really appreciate all of you, and you really have given me another post to lean on (so to speak) while dealing with all that has happened in the past month. From the bottom of my heart, Thank You.

PaD Temporarily Suspended

2006-01-14T17:25:00.000-08:00

To all of you who have shown interest in my work:
I am temporarily suspending daily work on my PaD. My mother has been given about 3 weeks to live and I feel it is much more important to be with her and the rest of my family than it is to work on my photography for a while. I may post a picture or two, but only if I have the time and resources.
Thank you all for your understanding,
Sara

Edit:
Mom passed away in the early morning hours of February 2nd. Her passing was easy, and she was with my Dad.
Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers.

Vertical Lines

2006-01-13T13:37:00.000-08:00

Oooh. Trees. How pretty. (Yeah, I'm sarcastic today.)

Desaturation

2006-01-12T18:04:00.000-08:00

Running short on time today, so I'm posting one of my earliest attempts at desaturation. I'm using my PaD to focus more on the editing aspects than on anything else, so I'm not too put out at not having a 'new' photo up for today.

Detail of Station Cove Falls

2006-01-11T08:13:00.000-08:00

This is one of the few decent pics I got up at Station Cove. The ambient light was really too bright for decently long exposures (since I don't yet have a polarizing filter), so the detail shots of the falls turned out much better than the ones of the falls in their entirety. I had hoped differently (it was overcast), but apparently the clouds weren't thick enough! Another thing that kinda diappointed me was that there wasn't much water coming over the falls. :(

Food II Challenge

2006-01-10T07:12:00.000-08:00

Finally got this up for ya'll. Sorry it took so long, but as most of you know there's been some stuff going on...
For those of you interested in reading comments made during the challenge (or just getting the recipe, the DPC link is as follows:
Fruit, Vegetable, and Chicken Salad

Moss on Wood

2006-01-09T06:45:00.000-08:00

A macro shot today. Went to Station Cove Falls and was amazed at the number of downed trees (most of them had been there a while, but some were due to the recent ice storm). One of the few good shots I got was this one - it was just a bad trip, photographically speaking. Oh, well. Better luck next time!

Alice

2006-01-08T06:00:00.000-08:00

I took the original photo (see below) outside late in the evening and decided that I didn't care for the way it turned out - too cluttered. So I messed with it in the GIMP and finally got it how I liked.

2006-01-08T05:59:00.000-08:00

Glowing

2006-01-07T06:30:00.000-08:00

This is one that I like, but that I feel would not be well-received over at DPC because of the extreme post-processing look. It's a 100% crop from a macro shot of a double petalled bachelor's button. PP is invert colors, levels, adjust hue/sat, crop, adjust sat. Not a whole lot of pp steps, but pretty much all of them taken to extreme.

The Secret Garden

2006-01-06T06:21:00.000-08:00

An old photo that I liked and finally got the editing the way I wanted it.

De-construction

2006-01-05T07:41:00.000-08:00

I've always been fascinated by de-construction, and when the textile mill down the street started coming down, I waited for a sunny day to get the bluest sky I could. I love the contrast between the red of the brick on the outer wall, the yellow painted brick of the inner wall, and the blue sky - they're not quite primary colors, but they're close, and I think they work well together.

The next time I go up there, I'm hoping for fog or mist...

The Way Up

2006-01-04T07:44:00.000-08:00

In an inversion of the law of gravity, in this case, what goes down must come up again! This set of stairs leads from my husband's Aunt Helen's house down to the creek at the back of their property, and this is only about 2/3 of the stairway. This is surely not for the faint-hearted!

Rippled Dock

2006-01-03T07:26:00.000-08:00

Reflections of the dock on Lake Oolenoy in Pickens County, SC.

Broken Wall

2006-01-02T05:41:00.000-08:00

Detail of the crumbling rock wall of Poinsett Bridge in Greenville County, SC. The colors and textures really appealed to me when I took the picture, and I didn't notice the hidden faces until I started editing it.

Winter Waterfall

2006-01-01T06:55:00.000-08:00

A small waterfall in Greenville County, SC. One of the benefits of living in South Carolina is that there is nearly always some green to be found, even at the turn of the year.

Collins Bridge

2005-12-27T14:10:00.000-08:00

Collins Bridge, Pickens, SC
This photo won First Place in the Greenville Photography Group's September 2005 Photo Contest - my first ever win in a photo contest!