Blog
What Matters?
My husband, our three kids, and I have been full-time RVing for the past 20 months. It's probably the craziest thing we've ever done. We sold our house, and sold or gave away the majority of the rest of our stuff. Then we struck out on our adventure. The thing about doing something like this is that it gives you space from regular American life, which is extremely hard to get otherwise. I think it's good to get this distance, at least for a time. But in this space, uncomfortable questions arise. The one that is most persistent for me is, what really matters?
November 19, 2019
Thoughts On Turning 35
I turned 35 yesterday. I know it's not popular to say this, but I like getting older. Each year I gain experience in life, and a little bit of wisdom if I'm lucky. Every year, I feel a little freer to just be myself. I am enjoying watching my kids grow up and move towards adulthood. My face has more character than it did 10 years ago. I have some lines around my eyes, and a few on my forehead. I also have a few gray hairs.
November 14, 2019
Hidden Potential
Yesterday I was getting my daily 6 mile walk in, while also stopping and photographing anything that caught my eye. And then I saw this thing: Although it was rather tiny, it looked kind of menacing. I didn't dare touch it, for fear of getting stung. But the nature of macro photography is that you must get very very close to your subject. Every time I had to move my lens closer to his spiny body, I winced.
November 13, 2019
Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.
There's a lot to be said for slowing down. The more I slow down, the more I get accomplished. The more I slow down, the fewer errors I make, resulting in less redoing of the original work. The more I slow down, the more I notice the little things. The more I slow down, the more I enjoy life. On the other hand... The more I rush, the less I accomplish.
November 11, 2019
Don't Breathe
[caption id="attachment_65" align="aligncenter" width="900"] Mushrooms on a Mossy Bank (prints available here)[/caption] Macro photography presents some challenges. Most of the things I'm interested in photographing are inside the woods. Right now that includes things like mushrooms, and acorns, and bugs. The thing is, the forest is rather dark, but photography needs light. The etymology of photography comes from two Greek roots: photos, meaning light, and graphe, meaning drawing. Light is a key ingredient. So how does one get more light in the dark forest? Well, you could use a flash, which makes the lighting rather harsh. You can decrease your f-stop, which lets in more light by opening up the aperture, but then your field of focus is smaller. Another option is to slow the shutter speed, so that more light can come in. But if you're holding the camera, this gets tricky.
November 9, 2019
Unrealized Potential
[caption id="attachment_68" align="alignnone" width="900"] A Deadly Intrusion (prints available here)[/caption] Have you ever seen an acorn with a tiny hole in it? Ever wonder what caused it? I've been looking at, photographing, and walking on a lot of acorns lately, and I noticed that some have this tiny little hole. A quick Google search turned up the perpetrator: the acorn weevil. It's a funky looking thing. It's interesting how a tiny little thing could stop a mighty oak from coming into being.
November 8, 2019
Shelf Fungus
[caption id="attachment_70" align="alignnone" width="900"] Turkey Tail Mushrooms and Lichen (prints available here)[/caption] I've taken up macro photography. It's something I've been saying for the past 7 or more years that I'd love to do. And now, I'm officially doing it. We recently watched a movie on Amazon Prime video called "The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn." In it, the character of Noah Dearborn, played by the incomparable Sidney Poitier, asks, "What good is wanting to do something without going out and doing it?"
November 7, 2019