The Art of Beach Week

One of the great things about having a beach house is that people always want to come visit you and stay with you and move in with you and never want to leave you.

This is why...

I have a picture in my bathroom of a wave that I took a couple of years ago.  My mother said that she really loved it, so I thought I'd surprise her with an updated version all for her.  When she saw it she said,

"It's New Wave!"

I know you have to be, like, older than 40 to get that, but trust me, it was funny.

Evidently, this is called "Cub Fighting" and it's what tough guys do with each other. 

I call it "Agh!  What are they doing!?  Stop that!"

Faces of a Beach Baby

And though she be but little, she is fierce.

~William Shakespere, A Midsummer Night's Dream~

Or, alternatively,

my niece...

I don't think I can add anything more to that.

Lovin' you...

Go Flack Yourself

I took a bit of flack recently about some images that I did in black and white.

The person giving the flack basically felt that black and white sucks the big fat one and should never be used on anything ever, then they asked me to surrender my camera, my lenses, my memory cards and my broken tripod so that I could never inflict this kind of infectious torture on another image ever again.

The person receiving the flack (that would be me), pumped out her fists, squared her shoulders, narrowed her eyes and growled from deep in her gut,

"You wanna' a piece of me!?!  Bring it!"

Okay.  Okay.  I'm just joshin' with ya'.  I don't actually growl from my gut.  It usually more of a throaty thing.  

I did take some flack, though.  That part is true and real and actual.  I've come to realize that people have very different opinions about black and white images.  Some people really love them.  And some people really don't. 

For me, a lot of photography is about form and light.  The shapes.  The lines.  The story.  Taking the color out of an image can help you see that more clearly sometimes, which is what I was trying to explain to my flack-giving opponent,

who did indicate that he thought that when he looked at my images.

I didn't mind it.  I felt confident in my black and white choice.

Anytime you put something out there, people are going to have opinions of it.  It's just the nature of the beast.  You can take it to heart and get upset and defensive.  Or you can roll with it and realize that it really has nothing to do with you and everything to do with how they have chosen to interpret the work.

People are free to voice their opinions and I, in turn, am free to nod,

look interested

and then starting wondering when my new True Blood disc is going arrive from Netflix.  It's been at the top of my Queue for, like 2 weeks.  Come on, already.  I'm needin' me some Eric.

Then I nod some more,

through in an "Mmm-hmmm,"

thank them for their input and interest in my work, and excuse myself to go shove my head in a case of wine.

No problem.

Let's Do 52 ~ Week 29 {Self-Portrait}

She'd been threatening this for some time now.

"I'm going to do a self-portrait week!"...."Self-Portrait week is coming!"...."I promise a self-portrait week!"

Awesome.  Because if there's anyone I love photographing more than myself.....it's....well, no one.

Not.

I always want to try and look fierce or lovely or come-hither like other photographers do in their self-portraits.

I doesn't work.  But...you know...it's self-portrait week.  Yeah!.....Yeah.

I took the opportunity at the beach last week while Prince Charming was out walking the sand to work on it.  I never like to try self-portraits when he's around.  He asks too many questions.

"Why are you doing this?"

"You just want to put these on Facebook, right?"

"What's happening with your lips?"
 
Never mind.  Anyway.  I had a go at it, and while this ended up being my favorite shot, and the one that I used for the project,

a friend of mine said that she missed seeing my face.  So, fine.  For her, here's a few more.


Oh, hello.  What are you doing?  Why yes.  That is a toothbrush.

Oooo!  One handed!  Thank you.  Thank you....

 

Oh, nothing.  Just takin' my picture.

The thing about taking pictures of yourself is that everyone always assumes that you're airbrushing out all the wrinkles and making your skin smooth and your eyes sparkle.  So, to that, I would just like to say,

Ummmm.....yeeeah.  Of course.  What am I?  Nuts?

The other thing about taking pictures of yourself is that you can pretty much do anything you want to them and no one is going to complain that their skin is too pale

or their eyes look too fake

or they don't like black and white

or why is there a chicken on my head....

Oh.  Sorry.  Wrong picture.

Moving on.

My point is, you can get as artsy as you want and no one can say anything about it.  See?

"Wow, Mom.  Your face looks really white....Like.  Really.  White."

Back off, kid.  My art is me.

Whew!  Self-Portrait Week.

Check...

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go photograph someone laying down in green pastures and walking beside still waters.

Wanna' guess what this week's theme is?....

Hugs!

Deck Math

This is a reel of fiber, minus the fiber.

This...

plus this...

equals this:

Do not fear the orange.

Be bold.

Be bright.  

It's summer.

This...

plus this...

multiplied by this to the 10th power....

equals this:

Don't ya' just love summer?

Tomorrow I think I'll spray paint my deck chairs and turn them into cushioned loungers with an ottoman that speaks the same language but doesn't exactly match because matchy-matchy makes me gag.

Cheers!

Sunsets and Silhouettes and Cowgirls

I love photographing at sunset.

It's my favorite time of day.  Mostly because the massive onslaught of the day is behind me and a lovely glass of hooch is in front of me.

I love the light at sunset.  It makes everything golden and magical.

It makes me want to dance and wander in the wheat fields.

"We don't have wheat fields."

It makes me want to make out.

"Stop it."

Fine.  It makes me look thin.

"How much hooch have you had?"

None...yet.  Why?

I love how sunsets make silhouettes.  I love a good silhouette.

As I was trying to think of what I wanted to say about these silhouette pictures that I adore, my daughter suggested that I say,

"I just love you."

I mostly think she suggested that so I would finish up and she could play her game.

But, it works.

I just love you.

*Sigh*  And I love a good sunset.