I'm Making Portraits!

A couple months ago I was given the opportunity to shoot some Senior Portraits! This is Cate.

And a couple weeks ago, her mother called me back to have portraits made of Cate and her sister Megan!

Oh, how I enjoyed doing this!  I really hope I get to do it again.  I want to photograph children, families, siblings, seniors, babies (eek!)!  From the session to the editing, I LOVE doing this!!!

Seeing in Monochrome

It's funny how I am influenced by my husband without even being aware of it.  A couple weeks ago he painted a giant mural for a client who runs the Traditional Martial Arts Institute in Pantego, Texas.  As the mural progressed, he'd send me images to look at.  It is a monochromatic mural, filled with meaningful symbolism for his client.  I finally got to see it in person yesterday.  I think it is one of his best.

It was during the time he was working on this mural that I decided to rework some photos I'd taken in Puerto Rico this past Summer and have them framed for our home.  I originally processed them in color, but this is what I ended up with.  At the time, neither of us saw the connection.

Arches

Portal

Music Man

Right now, I'm in the middle of creating a series of photos of objects I've been collecting for years while out walking.  It's kind of strange how they they turned out monochromatic, too.

Nest

Duo

Trio

Stars

I didn't see this correlation until about an hour ago, when I uploaded the images of that mural.  What about you?  Are you influenced by the people around you?  How so? 

Mabel Dodge Luhan House

Entrance to the grounds of the Mabel Dodge Luhan House

During our trip to New Mexico in January, we drove over the mountains to Taos, as we do every visit.  After visiting our favorite places, Scott took me to a "lodge" that he and our son found last Summer.  We only stayed long enough to shoot a few pictures, but I could tell it was extra special and I KNEW I wanted to return and stay for a while.



The Sitting Room

This wasn't just a lodge, this is the Mabel Dodge Luhan House.  We grabbed some information on the way out and it turns out this house was written about by D.H. Lawrence himself!  Others who were guests of Mabel and her full-blooded Taos Pueblo husband, Tony,  include, Georgia O'Keefe, Ansel Adams, and John Collier, to name a few.



Dining Room

While we were there, we were allowed to wonder around and were even offered tea and cookies.  I was struck by the absolutely beautiful ceilings.  And once we made it back to the kitchen, I was completely in love with the place.



Isn't it charming?  I can't wait to go back.  I'm thinking maybe this summer, when Texas gets SO hot I'm ready to move away.  That usually happens around late August, early September.

Bird Houses



Aren't these fantastic?  They're giant and they're in the courtyard.

Go here to visit their informative website.  And go here to read a post from their blog that features an essay written by a guest (who happens to be a photographer) that captures the feeling of this beautiful place.



Found in the courtyard.

What a beautiful place.....

Scat

The neon beckoned us down the long alley and
into an elevator that took us down to heaven.

  This weekend, a dear friend of mine came to visit and we decided to stay up past our bedtimes, but we didn't want to be the oldest people in the room.  Just our luck, we stumbled upon the coolest place I've been to in AGES.  I'd heard about Scat Lounge in downtown Fort Worth, and was curious to see if it lived up to it's image.  After all, it has a tough act to follow.  In high school, my fellow band buddies and I would sneak our way into a tiny jazz club in Dallas called the 6051 Club on Forrest Lane, because it made us feel like grown-ups but mostly because the music was so fantastic.  I don't remember the names of any of the musicians we saw, but there were many.  Scat reminds me of this place.  The clientele is low key, great music is the focus and the drinks are de-lish.  My friend, Lynne, and I spent the night gabbing, and trying to nail a good shot of Joel Cross, the performer that night.  You can see her shots here and here.  I think I learned something that night, dirty martini's and all.  I need to stay up past my bedtime more often.

One Hot Day in December

It was on December 21st that my husband, son and I decided to head over to Fort Worth, finish up a little Christmas shopping and hang out at the Botanic Gardens.  We ended up a the Japanese Gardens on that day.  I had to take my shoes off because the temp had reached an really strange 80 degrees Fahrenheit.  After I wondered around barefoot for a while with my film camera, shooting up the last of my Kodachrome film, I found this guy!

We were laughing at him because he looked like he was eyeing the giant Koi in the pond, like he was going to have one of those mega fish for lunch!  Then, suddenly... he speared a smaller fish.  And we got to see the entire thing unfold before our eyes!

Taken just before he speared his lunch.

Had I not been so surprised, I might have gotten all his beautiful wings in the shot.

Down the hatch!

I'll never laugh at a Great Blue Heron again!  I wonder if he's ever gotten one of those Koi....

Oh My Getty

Today, I am doing a little happy dance in my head.  Atleast a year ago, I submitted some photos to Getty Images.  Didn't hear a peep out of them.  I just figured that I wasn't "there" yet.  But, still, it is a little goal I've set for myself.  Some of my favorite Flickr photogs have that cute little "g" down by their licensing info. 

Okay, so today I got a request from Getty.  They liked these images:

Yaaaayyy!!!  Happy dance, happy dance!

For the Love of the Lake

White Rock Lake in Dallas has been a lifelong friend of mine.  My mom and dad brought me there as a child.  We'd pick up a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken and have a little picnic by the water.  It became the permanent home of my childhood pet duck, Herman P. Duck, when he got too big for the bathtub (much to my dismay, I might add).  In the early eighties, it went through a rough period, seemingly forgotten by everyone except for motorcycle gangs and druggies.  Then in the early nineties it had its renaissance.  People began taking an interest in it again and recognized it for the jewel it is.  When I worked in Dallas through the nineties, I'd ride my bike around it several times a week - which soothed the artist in me that I was trying to force into a "real job".  And it was a place for healing when my world fell apart over ten years ago.  There is a bench there that I would sit in for hours at a time to watch the sailboats race and the sun move across the sky.  What I wouldn't give now to sit in one place for that long! After my father died (only a month before my son was born), my brother and I planted a tree there in his honor.  He loved that lake too.  The tree overlooks the playground, giving shade to the kiddos on the hot days we have here.  Each time I visit White Rock Lake, I notice new improvements they've made to the lake.  Right now they are building a new spillway - complete with an observation deck!  It is such a beautiful and well loved place.  Thank you,  For the Love of the Lake, for taking such good care of my lifelong friend.  Thank you!

I visited the lake last week when I had some time to myself.  The whole time I was there I kept wondering why I hadn't come there to take photos yet!  I guess there's a time for everything, right?

I remember this day at White Rock Lake.  That's my dad's Impala.  He took this picture.  I'm 3 1/2.

I loved my soldier dress.  And I LOVED my dad's car.  We went fishing in it together and
I spilled a milkshake in it.  He didn't even get angry.  I just had to sit in the milkshake until we got to the lake!

Sweet Rosie

Last week I needed to take a trip to Dallas to deliver a couple of my prints, and I had some time to tool around my hometown, alone, with my camera.  The first place I stopped off was the McKinney Avenue Transit Authority garage.  Before I actually got into the garage, I ran into this sweet little lady.

This is Rosie. She's 100 years old!

The moment I stepped into this streetcar, I could feel a sense of her, like I
feel when meeting a person for the first time.

I don't know what this does, but it's pretty, isn't it?

All rides are free, but please make a donation so Rosie can stay as beatiful as she is now.

Later, when I finally made it into the garage, I found out that Rosie may love her passengers, but she is a cantakerous old woman.  The head mechanic told me that she has a reputation among the streetcar mechanics of MATA.  "She'll hurt you if you let her," he told me.  I'd be a little fiesty, too, if I were 100 years old!

Find out a little about Rosie's history, here.  And here's a little movie I found of the streetcars that were in operation around Fair Park in Dallas in the 1950's, before the took them all off the road and replaced them with busses.  Legend has it that the day after they took them off the road, a huge blizzard hit Dallas.  Not a single bus could make it out.  That would not have been a problem for these lovely streetcars.  I'm so glad we have them back.



Playing with the Lensbaby 2.0

I've had a Lensbaby 2.0 for atleast a year now and I've just now gotten around to taking it out for an afternoon.  I've seen some beautiful photographs made with one of these things, both landscapes and still lifes.  I am no where near controlling this thing like I'd like to, but I'm having fun playing with it.

Here's a little video made by the inventor that shows how to use the Lensbaby that I have:

The Lensbaby website also has some videos and a gallery, so you can see what a photographer who knows what she's doing can do with it.  I need way more time with this little toy!