On Thursday morning Michael’s father took us to the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota. The 9.5-acre bayfront property is best known for its living collection of more than 6,000 orchids as well as its large representation of warm tropical epiphytes. Epiphytes are plants that grow upon another plant (such as a tree) non-parasitically or on objects such as buildings or wires. They derive moisture and nutrients from the air and rain and are found in temperate zones. Epiphytes include some ferns, cacti, orchids, bromeliads, mosses, liverwort, Spanish moss, lichens and algae.
I shot the image below at the Koi Pond at Selby Gardens. I saw this statue and visualized the koi swirling around it, but the fish were right up against the edge of the pond, begging for handouts. So Michael ran off to buy fish food to help make my image happen (isn’t he the best?). He came back empty-handed since they ration out only a day’s worth of fish food for visitors to purchase. Not about to give up on my vision, I asked him to just splash water toward the statue. Bingo—the entire mass of fish started swimming in that direction. Psych! Click! (click, click, click…9 shots later…)
Wikipedia:Koi were developed from common carp in Japan in the 1820s and are a symbol of love and friendship. The carp is a large group of fish originally found in Central Europe and Asia….The ability of carp to survive and adapt to many climates and water conditions allowed the domesticated species to be propagated to many new locations including Japan. Carp as known as koi in Japan.
I especially enjoyed the art exhibit, Batiks Botanicos—Gardens, Plants and Flowers for the Soul, on display until February 23 at the Museum of Botany and the Arts in the Mansion at Selby Gardens. A native of Colombia, artist Angela Maria Isaza captures tropical and exotic plants using the batik process. Originating in the East, batik is a wax-resist dyeing technique. Isaza applies hot wax and various dyes to natural fiber cloth to create her beautiful paintings. This step-by-step process is based on the principle that wax resists the water-based dyes. After wax is applied to certain areas, the fabric is dyed in one color. The dye penetrates the unwaxed areas. This process is repeated several times. The wax is removed by ironing the cloth between newspaper pages.
Many of the paintings that are on display can be seen on her website here.
Michael and I just got back from Sarasota, Florida, where we had been visiting his parents for a few days. Later this week I’ll be posting some images from our various adventures, including visiting the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens on Thursday, a windy walk through Historic Spanish Point on Friday, and showcasing and selling my Polaroid transfer notecards with his mother at an art show in their lovely community on Saturday.
On Sunday I spent a truly blissful day with my friend Camilla and her children—son Nolan and the twins, Ellie and Claire. After breakfast, we headed to the Mote Marine Aquarium and Laboratory. The twins were especially enamored with Hugh and Buffet, two manatees who were born at the Miami Seaquarium and brought to Mote in May 1996 to help teach the public about sea cows. Mote Marine Laboratory is the first facility to have been granted permission from US Fish and Wildlife to conduct basic husbandry training with captive-born manatees.
I’m not sure if the manatee below is Hugh or Buffet, but he was as drawn to the twins as they were to him (he probably thought he was seeing double!). A Mote employee told us that this one had weighed 2,000 pounds, but currently weighs 1800 pounds. The average weight of a manatee is approximately 1,000 pounds, but it can exceed 3,000 pounds. Learn more about manatees on the Mote Aquarium site here.
According to the aquarium’s website, Hugh and Buffet eat about 72 heads of lettuce a day! (Which begs the question—if all they eat is lettuce, how do they pile on all that weight? Are they going heavy on the ranch dressing, shredded cheese and croutons?)
The manatee below would grab a head of lettuce with his tiny flippers and slowly eat it as he sunk to the bottom of the tank (slow food fashion). The other manatee stayed up at the top of the tank, swimming in circles and grabbing chunks as they floated back up (drive-thru fast food style).
Interesting fact: Manatees are not aggressive and they have no social hierarchy. Humans could learn a lesson or two from them, couldn’t we?
Speaking of seeing double, the twins are identical, so it is very difficult for me to tell them apart. I learned that at this point in time, Ellie has all of her front teeth but Claire is missing a few. Unless they smiled and showed me their teeth, I kept calling them by the wrong names all day—despite my internal repetition of this refrain—Ellie Teeth, Claire No Teeth, Ellie Teeth, Claire No Teeth. I took a closeup head shot of them facing the camera and when I showed them the photo on my screen, I asked “which is which?” They both pointed to the face on the right and simultaneously said, “that’s me!” If they can’t tell each other apart, how are we supposed to?!
The Orlando Sentinel reported on manatee deaths in record numbers here. Most of the deaths have been linked to the cold snap that hit the state in early January.
It was a bit chilly that day, so you’ll notice that the twins are wearing coats. What you don’t see are their summer shoes—blue thong sandals and pink Crocs! And speaking of chilly—we left mostly mild and sunny Sarasota yesterday to return to Washington, D.C. and the remnants of the weekend’s blizzard…just in time for another possible snowstorm beginning today and not ending until tomorrow (with a predicted 10-20 inches more of the white stuff). Oh, joy.
In 2003 I photographed the wedding of the daughter of some friends in West Virginia. The wedding was held outdoors on their 33-acre farm, and for July, it was remarkably nice weather! The bride’s best friend was supposed to shoot the wedding as a gift to her, but her parents gave her a trip overseas as a graduation present and she just couldn’t pass it up. I had already volunteered to help with decorations and flower arrangements, so my friends asked me if I would consider covering the event for them. I was very happy to do so. It was my first wedding shot in digital format—utilizing my (then new) Fuji S2 camera. I also wanted the opportunity to do some of the more popular and more casual “photojournalistic” style now popular in contemporary weddings. The majority of the 100+ weddings I’ve shot in the past were a bit more traditional (I even had a list of specific poses to cover when I worked for a wedding photographer one summer!). Obviously, I still covered the traditional group shots (just a few are shown below), but I had the freedom to shoot whatever caught my eye, too. Below is collage with just some of hundreds of images I captured that beautiful day.
Many of my regular visitors know that I do volunteer design and photography work for Mary Ellen Ryall, founder of Happy Tonics, Inc., a nonprofit 501(c)(3) environmental education in Shell Lake, Wisconsin. The purpose of the organization is to promote organic gardening and open pollination for biodiversity. Happy Tonics is dedicated to teaching about the risks of invasive species and genetic engineering to the food supply, and their impact on the environment, other species, indigenous and native crops, and health. Happy Tonics created a restored remnant tall grass prairie two years ago (the Monarch Butterfly Habitat).
Happy Tonics has applied for a $999 grant proposal with Brighter Planet and is in fourth place now. Voting takes place from Feb. 1-15.
Please take a minute to visit the Happy Tonics blog here. You’ll find a link to the sign-up and voting page for Brighter Planet in the first posting. You can also skip the blog and register to vote here. On this second link, you’ll meet Mary Ellen, founder of Happy Tonics.
It doesn’t cost a thing and will only take a moment of your time!
Thanks to Elizabeth for passing along this fun video—”If I Made a Commercial for Trader Joe’s.” For those of you who are not fortunate enough to have this unusual store in your neck of the woods—we are truly sorry that you are missing out. (But why did the singer leave out Pirate’s Booty white cheddar popcorn?—talk about “addictive as crack!”)
This is one of Sue’s favorite stores—she will drive an hour to Nashville from her home in Huntsville just to buy their lemon curd for her scones!
A few years ago I dabbled in scanning flowers on my Epson flatbed scanner and got some pretty good results. The technique works best if you can cover the flower arrangement with a dark piece of fabric or black cardboard. While the original images were nice “record” shots of my flowers, I wanted to do something more with them. I ran the scanned images through some artsy Photoshop filters to give them a romantic, soft-focus glowy look. So there you have it…photographs without a camera!
Not long after I toyed with the process, I saw an exhibit of photographer Robert Creamer’s images at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. These large-scale works were amazing! He scanned all sorts of things—dead birds, flowers, fruit, bones, and more. You can read more about his Smithsonian exhibit here and see more of his work on his website here. Watch the video here for a demonstration of his setup.
Pancreatic Cancer Challenge: Know it. Fight it. End it.
Please take a moment and send Congress an urgent message to increase funding for pancreatic cancer research by filling out the form here.
Carmen recently sent me this “Take Action Now” message from the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (pancan.org).
Pancreatic cancer is the 4th leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S. Every day there are approximately 116 people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. More than 35,000 people will die from pancreatic cancer this year. The five-year survival rate is only 5%.
Carmen’s husband, George Ledbetter, lost his fight with pancreatic cancer on November 9, 2007. He was a very dear friend and is still very much in my thoughts. Only 56 when he died, George rose to the rank of full-colonel during his U.S. Air Force career, and had retired from that service some two years before his death.
He was brilliant and witty, and filled to the brim with stories of his career as a military attorney. Some of his stories Carmen deemed “not quite appropriate for mixed company,” but he always responded to our pleas for him to “tell it anyway.” He was completely enamored with the world of finance, and when he retired he began studying to become a financial adviser. However, he was never sure whether he would pursue that profession on completion of the intense course.
George was a familiar sight to the staff at a local McDonald’s restaurant. He spent several hours there every morning, eating breakfast and drinking coffee, with his workbooks and notepads spread over a table for four.
One of my favorite memories of George—and one of the stories I love to tell about him—occurred on a trip Michael and I made to the Green Valley Book Fair, one of our favorite day trips. We invited George and Carmen to go, and while en route our conversation turned to this question: “What would you do if you won ten million dollars?”
We each offered up a variety of plans, items such as “pay off all my bills, buy a house in the mountains, or on a lake or on the beach, travel the world, build a giant studio in a barn, save the animals (insert species here), fund animal rescue leagues, etc.” George, usually the last to respond in such conversations remained quiet, listening closely while forming his answer.
Finally I said, “George, what would you do if you won ten million dollars?” His answer was ready, and he immediately launched into all the ills that would befall one in such a situation—how much the government would skim off the top, how much interest the money would gain if one didn’t spend any of it, what tax bracket it would throw one into, how it couldn’t possibly solve all of one’s financial problems, and how friends, ones that one didn’t know one had, would come out of the woodwork to claim their piece of the pie! I responded, “Gee, George, ya really know how to kill a fantasy, don’t cha?”
Michael says he thinks about George every day, primarily because George taught him a stretch exercise to avoid foot pain caused by a shortening of the Achilles tendon. Michael has done this stretch faithfully every morning since learning the exercise.
After Carmen retired she embarked on a new career, and she and George moved into a beautiful home in South Carolina. Restless in retirement, George returned to Alexandria every chance he got, frequently by agreeing to babysit a friend’s dogs whenever she was out of town. During those solo visits we continued meeting frequently for lunch. His favorite restaurants were Ruby Tuesday and Roy Rogers, and while there he would offer up firm opinions and lengthy diatribes, give sage advice and voice acute observations on a variety of topics—everything from politics to finances, and from celebrities to neighborhood gossip.
George was a consummate conversationalist—no topic was taboo, no subject uninteresting and no angle unexamined. He had what we felt was an unwarranted fear of health problems—George was physically fit and took daily walks, but his fears concerning his health were always present in our conversations. His greatest fear was that of developing diabetes, a condition that was prevalent in his family.
We found it very sad and ironic that he would ultimately be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, a devastating and incurable disease which usually strikes without warning—those afflicted rarely see it coming.
I shot the photos above at our Second Annual Pesto Fest in 2006. They show George and his wife Carmen toasting, George in uniform for his retirement ceremony, and George with Angus, his beloved Cocker Spaniel.
Famous people who had pancreatic cancer:
Actor/director Michael Landon, age 55 (1936 — 1991)
Actor Patrick Swayze, age 57 (1952 — 2009)
Professor Randy Pausch, age 48 (1960 — 2008)
Operatic tenor Luciano Pavarotti, age 71 (1935 — 2007)
Actor Joan Crawford, age 72 (1905 — 1977)
Composer Henry Mancini, age 70 (1924 — 1994
Actor Juliette Prowse, age 58 (1936 — 1996)
In an article I read on www.medicine.net, Gagandeep Singh, MD, director of hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery at the John Wayne Cancer Institute at Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif., and a spokesman for PanCan, reported, “Pancreatic cancer is almost equal in its incidence in men and women, so sex is not a factor. It occurs most often in patients about the age of 60 through 65, so at age 55, Patrick Swayze is young. The youngest patient I have ever treated was 21 and the oldest was 86, so there is a spectrum.”
In answer to the question, “Does pancreatic cancer run in families?” Singh replied: “Yes. About 10% to 15% of these cancers do have a genetic or familial predisposition. In fact, former U.S. president Jimmy Carter was the only person in his family who did not have pancreatic cancer. His mother, father, and all of his siblings had pancreatic cancer. We do know that there are certain genes that may be linked to pancreatic cancer.”
Thank you to my friend F.T. for sharing yet another fascinating item with me this morning. He wrote: Watch the 2-minute video that shows a drop of water falling into a puddle at 2000 frames a second. You will see something totally unexpected. It is the first time the physics of the event were explained to me.
This is a Polaroid transfer I made of an image I shot in Maine back in the 90s. The Pemaquid Point Lighthouse is located at the entrance to Muscongus Bay and Johns Bay, near the town of Bristol. Read about the history of the lighthouse here. Fun facts: Congress appropriated $4,000 for building the lighthouse in 1826. The land was purchased from its owners for just $90! It was built for just $2,800, and forty-year-old Isaac Dunham of Bath, Maine, became the first keeper at $350 per year. Check out the Pemaquid Point webcam here (it appears that today the snow has melted, but what a difference a day makes—check out the view from 1/24/2009 here).
Want to learn how to make Polaroid transfers from your slides? Check out Sarah Wichlacz’s visual tutorial here or download Holly Dupré’s free online book here.
I made all of my transfers using a Daylab Slide Printer and Polaroid 669 film. I still have a boatload of 669 film in my storeroom (stored in a cool, dry place, of course). I should get printer out and make some new images soon! Check out the collage of my favorite transfers in my posting on October 21, 2007 here.
I ran a “tell me your favorite garden story” contest with a pack of my notecards as the prize—and didn’t get even one bite. Kinda surprising you can’t give away free things these days! That posting can be found here. Anyone interested in free notecards? Tell me a story!
I received the sample magazines I purchased from MagCloud (http://www.magcloud.com) and am quite impressed with the reproduction quality. I ordered two—Plant Societyby Matt Mattus and International Photographerby Bryan Patterson. I was really impressed with the quality of both the paper and the printing.
MagCloud allows you to publish your own magazine using any layout program (InDesign, QuarkXpress, Photoshop, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Publisher, Apple Pages and Scribus—see specs and download templates here). When the design is completed, you must export to Acrobat pdf format (read their “how to publish” specs here.) You upload your pdf to MagCloud, fill out the description, and order a proof, which they print, bind and mail to you in two weeks or less. You review the proof, make changes (if necessary) and upload a new pdf file.
When you are happy with the final proof, you mark the issue as “published” and set the price. MagCloud charges 20 cents per page and the publisher (you) specifies any markup above that. With the issue “published,” visitors can buy it on the MacCloud website using a credit card or their PayPal account. Orders can be shipped to the U.S., United Kingdom and Canada. More countries will be added in the future. When someone orders your magazine, MagCloud prints, binds and mails the issue to your buyer. You can also send an order to a group of people using their “Ship to Group” capability. Publishers collect royalties via PayPal.
When publishing any magazine, your publication must be set up in “signatures” of four pages. This means your publication can be 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28 pages, and so on. The total number of pages in the file must be evenly divisible by four. A MagCloud magazine can be as cheap as .80 cents per issue (4 pages—perfect for a marketing brochure!), all the way up to MagCloud’s maximum of 100 pages at ($20.00 per issue), plus shipping. You determine whether you want a markup above the cost of printing to be added for your audience/buyers.
From the MagCloud website: This service is ideal for publishers of small run magazines—special interest groups, clubs, schools and niche magazines—looking to minimize their setup, operational and print costs, and increase their advertising revenue. MagCloud also offers a great opportunity for electronic magazines and popular blog and website owners who are looking to provide their readers the same great content but in a portable and slick printed magazine style format.
Check out the “recently featured magazines” here, or use the search feature on MagCloud to look for magazines on topics that interest you. Some publications are personal efforts (such as family albums, cookbooks, calendars, design and photography portfolios, etc.), while others are published by businesses and associations. Even actor Ashton Kutcher has jumped on the MagCloud bandwagon—in collaboration with GQ Magazine, HP, and The Gentlemen’s Fund, Kutcher published a photo essay to raise awareness of the flood that devastated Cedar Rapids, Iowa in the summer of 2008. All proceeds from the sale of the magazine go to support the rebuilding of Cedar Rapids. Learn more about the publication and see an online preview here.
One Respe: A Photographic Benefit for the Survivors of the Haiti Earthquake features the donated works of several photographers, including photojournalist Mary Ellen Mark. All proceeds from the sale of this 40-page publication go to the American Red Cross International Response Fund for Haiti relief.
Love dogs? Love Shirl Magazine, a 56-page, ad-free magazine published by Lee Spillennar, is whimsically designed and highlights living, working and playing with your dog.
Check out Lance Armstrong’s LIVESTRONG Quarterly, published by Spot On Media LLC, with stories of survivors, athletes, advocates and articles on healthy living, nutrition and cutting-edge medical advances.
Publish a magazine showcasing your photography! James Worrell has done just that with Food for Thinking. Drinking. Eating. and Make-Up. Give family members their 15 minutes of fame with a family reunion magazine like publisher Andrea Bagley has done with Roeber Family Reunion. Having trouble getting things done? Check out publisher Michael Sliwinski’s Productive Magazine. Frog lover? Check out Leaf Litter, published by Tree Walkers International, with beautiful photographs and articles related to amphibian conservation, ecology and natural history. Are you a Foodie? Check out Off the Vine Magazine, published by Jennifer Anne Shorr. This 44-page publication covers new flavors, fine dining, travel, wine review, cooking and beautiful photography from the west coast.
Publish your own calendar! Take a look at Brian Jones’ 2010 Pacific Northwest Nature Photography calendar. The publication runs 28 pages, so the cost is approximately $5.60, plus shipping. The list price is $10, which gives him just over $4.00 profit (won’t make him rich, but it’s something if he generates enough interest for volume purchases!). If making money isn’t your priority—say, you just want to publish your family reunion magazine and have it available to your family to purchase directly, you can list the price for the actual cost. The best part: you can use your calendar for marketing purposes. There is no minimum order, so order only what you need—no excess inventory in your studio. I really love this concept and have all sorts of ideas spinning in my head right now!
In between design jobs and the massive spring cleaning I’ve undertaken, I’m working on a “how to photograph your garden” magazine with photographs and how-to articles. I hope to have the magazine available for purchase by early summer. If the venture fares well, I might make it a regular series on different topics (how to photograph portraits, weddings, special events, landscapes, etc.).
I’m now inspired to put together a portfolio magazine with my garden photographs, accompanied by my own poetry and garden essays as well as some of my favorite works from other poets. I’m letting each image I pull from my archives inspire the design and this is one of the layouts that is completed. This two-page spread features a lacecap hydrangea I photographed at the Atlantic Botanic Garden. The poem is by one of my favorite writers, Rainer Marie Wilke, and has been translated by Guntram Deischel.
Blue Hydrangea
Just like the last green in a colour pot
So are these leaves, withered and wrecked
Behind the flower umbels, which reflect
A hue of blue only, more they do not.
Reflections are tear-stained, inaccurate,
As if they were about to cease,
And like old blue notepaper sheets
They wear some yellow, grey and violet,
Washed-out like on a children’s apron,
Outworn and now no more in use:
We contemplate a small life’s short duration.
But suddenly some new blue seemingly is seen
In just one umbel, and we muse
Over a moving blue delighting in the green
Originally posted in January, 2009—I apologize in advance if this ginormous collage crashes your system. I realize I got a little carried away with my collection. Pink just plum(b) took over.
(Oh, and do be patient while the collage loads. It might take a little longer than usual, but I promise it is worth the wait.)
If your system does lock up, you could also blame my blogger friends (and my Dad):
Their recent comments gave me the impetus to post the colossal collage below.
“oooooooooohhh What a show, Cindy! I literally said that all the way through. Ooooh. Gorgeous. We’ve had some sunshine on and off the past few days. I think you need to get out of your basement more. Only 49 days until spring!!” — Jan
“Oh, man! You’re always taking my breath away like that, jeez!” —Heather
“Absolutely GORGEOUS! Your photo of the back of the day lily is particularly interesting. Have a wonderful weekend.” — G G
“The begonia shot is: Beautiful! Astonishing! Unbelievable! Gorgeous! Breathtaking! Damn, that’s a purdy pitcher! Please put me on your e-mail announcement list for every workshop. I won’t be able to attend, but I’ll be there in spirit if I know when and where (I’ll need the schedules so I’ll know when and where to send my spirit).” — Dad
I replied to Heather that I would soon be posting a rather long “pink collage” that could potentially crash her system. She replied, “bring it on!” So that’s the skinny and here we are.
Okay, the color pink wins by a long shot (so far) in the number of times it shows up in my garden photo archives. I thought orange was prevalent, but I was so, so wrong. I can only imagine how many times purple will show up—I tend to gravitate toward that color in my garden, even though I wouldn’t dare actually wear that color. Actually wearing that color or any shade of burgundy makes my skin itch. But that’s a whole ‘nuther topic. We artists are very sensitive to color, you know.
Well…now that I have revealed this little-known (and useless) fact about me, I should also tell you that I will not drive a burgundy car—and my anxiety doubles if the interior is burgundy, too. I discovered this about myself about 20+ years ago. So just guess what color car I am inevitably assigned when I rent a car. Yep. Burgundy. Or red (which I don’t have as much an aversion to after driving a sporty little Jeep in California two years ago…red = acceptable…burgundy = don’t go there). It doesn’t matter if every car left on the lot is white. The rental agent will start walking, keys in hand, directly to the only burgundy car in the place. I kid you not. Ask my cousin Bill. (He recently confessed that he now asks for “anything but burgundy” and “no rental plates, please”—the second request came about after I read something about never-do-wells stealing from rental cars because they know they’re driven by tourists with some good loot in tow.) And if someone traveling with me is renting the car, they usually don’t care what color it is, but I always comment, “betcha it’s going to be burgundy, mark my words.” Then the rental agent will lead us to only burgundy car in a sea of other colors. I kid you not. I’m jinxed. So now when I rent a car, I request “anything but burgundy, please.” This request is met with raised eyebrows more often than not. And I feel compelled to explain, “I’m an artist. I’m sensitive. No burgundy, please.” On one trip to San Diego, Michael went to rent the car while my friend Norma and I waited in the parking lot. It was late in the day and we said if burgundy is the only one available, then we’ll take it (but we won’t be happy about it). I said, “I just know it’s going to be burgundy.” Michael got the keys and met us across the parking lot and was laughing uncontrollably. But wait! Under the vapor lights…it could be…it just might be brown…yeah, it’s brown. We got out of the parking lot and saw the real color…yep, you guessed it. It was burgundy. Once again.
Now I must admit I don’t mind using it in my graphic design pieces. Burgundy has always been a nice corporate-y business color. And I don’t mind if other people wish to wear burgundy or drive a burgundy car. Just don’t ask me to ride with you. Especially if you’re wearing burgundy in your burgundy car with your burgundy seats. I will then offer to pick you up in my passive silver car with its quiet, unassaultive gray interior. I will not apologize for this particular peeve of mine. It is what it is.
Now back to pink. There is an off chance that I actually have something pink in my closet to wear. If not, I should. I do believe all women look good in pink (in particular shades depending on their skin tone and hair color), even if they don’t think so. I speak from experience as a portrait photographer. It’s a very flattering shade on women. And sometimes on men, too. There’s something youthful and joyful about the color pink, especially in the garden. And I love all the pinks in my garden—from pastel pink to just-look-at-me! magenta.
Ever wonder where the preference of “pink for girls” and “blue for boys” came from? I found this on www.wikipedia.org:
“In Western culture, the practice of assigning pink to an individual gender began in the 1920s. From then until the 1940s, pink was considered appropriate for boys because being related to red it was the more masculine and decided color, while blue was considered appropriate for girls because it was the more delicate and dainty color, or related to the Virgin Mary. Since the 1940s, the societal norm apparently inverted so that pink became appropriate for girls and blue appropriate for boys, a practice that has continued in the 21st century.”
The use of the word for the color pink was first recorded in the late 17th century, describing the flowers of pinks—flowering plants in the genus Dianthus.
Just 49 more days until spring, huh? Can it be? Oooh…now it’s just 48!
Originally posted in May 2008…on this chilly Friday night, I went back through my archives to refresh my memory—right now, in the middle of winter, our garden looks nothing like these photos. I know I must have patience…gardening season isn’t that far away…(and looking at that last photo reminds me that Michael needs to finish recoating the last three sections of our sidewalk!) If there is just one thing that my garden has taught me in the last six years, it is patience (I am, by nature, not the most patient person in the world—insert snickering from family and friends here). Gardeners have patience (and faith)—even in the dead of winter when their gardens are sleeping and at their saddest point visually—that the garden will rise again. And so it goes…
_________________________________________
“Organized chaos,” was Michael’s response yesterday when I asked him to describe the front yard garden. I also asked him to guess what passersby might be thinking. I’m thinking they think I have too much time on my hands…or perhaps I have an illness that could be regulated with medication. I must say that when I’m in the kitchen, near the windows overlooking the two sides of the garden, and someone goes by—I try to catch their expressions and see how long their eyes linger over the garden. So many just pass by without even a glance to their right. How in the world can they do that? Those that take time to pause from their running, walking, jogging, baby-stroller-pushing, dog-walking jaunts get a silent stamp of approval from me. Aside from my own visual gratification, I create this “organized chaos” for them, too.
Recently my friend Gina spent an entire afternoon helping us clean up the backyard and plant those last few bulbs and impromptu plant purchases from the Green Springs Garden plant sale last weekend. I cajoled her into taking leftover bulbs, excess plants, garden ornaments, an old table, empty pots, etc…anything to just get my backyard looking like paradise again. She and Michael kept shaking their heads every time I came up with a statement like, “oh…um… I forgot about the free sundrops someone abandoned in the parking lot. Where should we (shove) those?” Or, “if we just stake up that bunch of plants, I’m sure we can find several inches of valuable real estate in which to plant these lily bulbs I forgot about.” Or, “we’re almost done, guys, just six more things to plant. Okay…I forgot about those, okay, eight more things, and then we’re definitely done.” I confess. I’ve never met a plant I didn’t like. I take great comfort in knowing that I am far from alone with my disease. I’m in such good company with other plantaholics!
The front part is about half in bloom. Right now, the penstemon, beard’s tongue, sweet william, catmint, yellow yarrow, sweet william, coreopsis, thyme, veronica, rose campion, salvia, ice plants, and sedums are in various stages of bloom. My ‘Purple sensation’ alliums are past their prime, now in their architecturally-interesting “koosh ball” stage. The multitude of lilies are just starting to form buds. Tiny blue forget-me-nots, a gift from Peggy’s garden, are still flowering. The bearded iris (a gift from my friend Karen’s garden several years ago) are almost done with their show. The false sunflower plant surrounding the iris is about halfway to its height and will reach 8-9 feet before bursting with small yellow flowers against the blue summer sky. (Insert amusing sidebar here: I bought this plant a few years ago when my friend Debbi took me onto base at Fort Belvoir. The tag on the plant read, “sun-loving perennial, reaches 4 ft., profusion of yellow flowers throughout summer.” The plant proceeded to reach “Jack-in-the-beanstalk” proportions—9 feet the first year—forming a swaying canopy over the steps before it finally spewed forth beautiful miniature sunflowers! Several friends asked if we were growing corn that year.)
The liatris, a favorite of bees, are just a quarter of the way to their height. A bank of lovely lamb’s ears, started with cuttings from Karen’s garden, offsets the other plants with their silvery green hue. The Autumn joy sedums are puffing out, waiting until everything else steps out of the spotlight for it to shine in the fall. Michael’s olfactory favorite, the moonflower, is slowly making its way up a trellis on the front of the house.
Yesterday, I planted mina lobata (firecracker vine/Spanish flag) in a pot at the bottom of the steps (just so I could get more photographs like this beautiful one I shot last summer: http://cindydyer.wordpress.com/2007/09/03/mina-lobata/. In front of the pot I planted three new coneflowers and another shasta daisy. We added another hellebore to the large bank (another offering from Karen) in the shade. On the front porch, there are two topiary frames planted with hyacinth vines. My beautiful (and very photogenic) stargazer lilies have returned, making their way upwards from a terracotta pot. Three baskets hang over the railing, filled with verbena, sweet potato vine, allysum, marigolds, portulaca, and marguerite daisies.
Farther up, in front of the morning glory trellises, everything is verdant. When that area begins to peak this summer, there will be a profusion of lavender, multi-colored lilies, silvery purple thistle, yellow black-eyed susans and sundrops, take-your-breath-away Heavenly Blue morning glories, red bee balm, deep pink butterfly bush blooms, grayish-greenish-blueish sea holly, blue-eyed grasses, shasta daisies, various other sedums, and white, purple and orange coneflowers….I’m sure I’m forgetting something.
I replied to Michael, “Organized chaos presumes I did not have a plan.” To which he countered, “There was a plan?” Of course there was a plan. My plan incorporates textures, scents, colors, varying heights, creepers, crawlers, climbers, and a botanical variation of Noah’s Ark—two of everything, please. How is that not a plan?
I’ll accept “organized chaos.” It’s preferable to “needs medication.”
We toured the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum/Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center yesterday afternoon with Michael’s sister, Ann. Although it opened almost a decade ago, we hadn’t been out there until now. Since Ann is an engineer and has designed brake systems for business airplanes, we thought she might like this excursion. (We also learned that “Hazy” is pronounced “Haa-zee,” not “Hay-zee.”—good to know we were wrong all these years!)
Whether you’re an airplane enthusiast or not, it’s a spectacular collection of 163 aircraft, 154 large space artifacts, and more than 1,500 smaller items. I was amazed at how small the cockpits were in some of the smaller planes—some look like they could only hold a person the size of a 10-year-old! There are two hangars: the Boeing Aviation Hangar is 103 feet high, 986 feet long and 248 feet wide (293,707 square feet); the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar is 80 feet high, 262 feet long and 180 feet wide (53,067 square feet). The museum has an observation tower (164 feet high—seen in the last photo), a 479-seat IMAX Theater, three multimedia classrooms, a museum store, public dining facility and simulators. Admission is free (IMAX movies additional). Open daily, 10 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. (closed Dec. 25)
One of my favorite planes was the incredibly shiny Boeing 307 Stratoline Clipper Flying Cloud(the large silver plane in the second row, right). This plane was the sole surviving Boeing S-307 Stratoliner, arriving at Dulles International on its last flight, August 6, 2003.
The Fulton Airphibian FA-3-101 (the red plane that looks like it’s broken into two parts) caused me to do a doubletake. The Fulton Airphibian was the first roadable (never knew that word existed!) aircraft designed to be used as a car or an airplane (how convenient!) certified by the Civil Aviation Administration in 1950. According to the Smithsonian’s website: It could fly to an airport and then, after disengaging wings, tail, and propeller, become a car. While a technical success, the Airphibian did not become a marketable design. The weight of its automotive parts caused sluggish performance in the air, a problem with all aero cars—average speeds were 160 kilometers (100 miles) per hour in the air and 89 kilometers (55 miles) per hour on the road. A former company officer donated the Airphibian in 1960 and Robert Fulton III restored it in 1998.
Another interesting plane was the Waterman Aerobile(the cartoonish-shaped blue and white plane, 2nd from bottom of collage). This vehicle made Time Magazine’s “50 Worst Cars of All Time” list. You’ll see the Concord Air France directly below the Waterman Aerobile in that photo. At 202 ft., 3″ in length, it spanned the entire width of the building!
The information below is from the exhibit signage:
Boeing 307 Stratoliner Clipper Flying Cloud—First flown in late 1998, the Boeing 307 was the first airliner with a pressurized fuselage. It could carry 33 passengers in great comfort and cruise at 6,096 meters (20,000 feet), while maintaining a cabin pressure of 2,438 meters (8,000 feet). This enabled the Stratoliner to fly above most bad weather, thereby providing a faster and smoother ride. The Stratoliner incorporated the wings, tail, and engines of the Boeing B-17C bomber. The wide fuselage was fitted with sleeper berths and reclining seats. The wide fuselage was fitted with sleeper berths and reclining seats. Ten Stratoliners were built. The prototype was lost in an accident, but five were delivered to TWA and three were purchased by Pan American Airways. TWA owner Howard Hughes purchased a heavily modified version for his personal use. The airplane displayed here was flown by Pan American as the Clipper Flying Cloud. Boeing restored it in 2001.
Waterman Aerobile #6—In 1934 the Bureau of Air Commerce recognized the Waterman Arrowplane as one of the two award-winning designs for its flivver (light, easy to fly, and affordable) aircraft competition. Waldo Waterman’s improved Arrowplane, the Aerobile #6, fulfilled his dream of designing a tailless roadable airplane. The Aerobile was a two-place, high-wing, cabin monoplane with a transmission drive system that operated the propeller in the air and the rear wheels on the ground. The one-piece wing was removed by moving a lever and pins. Painted in “Buick blue,” it had many standard Studebaker, Ford, Austin, and Willys automobile parts to keep the price down and maintain the look of a car. It received FAA certification in the experimental category in 1957, but no market materialized. Gift of Waldo Waterman
__________________________________________________________________
Several exhibits showcased various cameras—including a Graflex Model RB used by Charles and Anne Lindbergh. Click here to see some of the other still and movie cameras on display. Another interesting exhibit was the Apollo 11 Objects Collection, shown here.
The last photo in the collage below is of the front of the museum at dusk—how serendipitous to have an airplane passing through at the time I captured the image!
Michael’s younger sister Ann was in town this week for training for her job as an engineer (she previously designed brakes for business class planes and is now in a supervisory position). She added a day on to visit us and we spent the afternoon exploring the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum/Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington Dulles International Airport. If you like the Air and Space Museum on the Mall, you’ll love this center—it’s spectacular! Steven Ferencz Udvar-Hazy, owner of ILFC, the largest owner of aircraft in the U.S., is responsible for a $65 million grant to the Smithsonian Institution. This grant allowed for the building of the Udvar-Hazy Center annex, which houses more than 120 aircraft and 140 space-exploration exhibits.
Later in the evening I photographed Michael and Ann together for our wedding album (since there weren’t any photos of them together at the event), and cajoled Ann into posing for a quick “cover girl” session afterward. And it was quick—we got our session done in less than 20 minutes—and that’s a record for me for a portrait session like this. She was excited because she was able to take 4×6 prints home to surprise her husband. I made the prints on my little Epson PictureMate printer that I picked up for just $25 at Ritz when they were closing last spring. That little printer is fast and although prints are a bit more than getting them done at Costco, you can’t beat the convenience of printing images you just shot 15 minutes earlier and at almost midnight, too!
The January/February 2010 issue of Hearing Loss Magazine, published bimonthly by the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA), is in the mail to members this week. Classical guitarist Charles Mokotoff is our cover feature.
The original cover I had done earlier just wasn’t doing it for me…so I went through all the photos I’ve shot of Charles since March to see if any of them really popped. This one was originally shot horizontally, so I tilted it in Photoshop and filled in the gaps with the background to form this vertical cover image. Now this is a cover! I love the movement blur on his hand at the neck of the guitar. Purely unintentional—downright serendipitous! Bonus: You can even see his hearing aid—always a plus for a magazine focused on hearing loss.
I shot this issue’s cover when he played for the HLAA staff this past spring. I first profiled Charles on my blog in November here. I did some outdoor shots for the interior pages in mid-November, then went to hear him play and photograph him at a recital for the Friday Morning Music Club in the Old Town Hall in Fairfax, Virginia on November 19. Read that posting here. And finally, Charles was our well-received live entertainment at our first-ever Tapas Party on November 14. You can read about that party and see photos of the soiree in my posting here.
To learn more about Charles, visit his website here. Listen to sound clips here. You can order his CD, Autumn Elegy, from CD Baby or itunes.com.
Charles will be performing at two venues in March:
Central United Methodist Church at 4201 Fairfax Drive in Arlington, Virginia on Friday, March 5 at 7:30 p.m. He will perform a recital of solo guitar works by Scarlatti, Albeniz, Boccherini, Rak, Mozart and others, and will be accompanied by Barbara Cackler on piano. For more information, call 703.527.8844. (Free, goodwill offering accepted)
On Saturday, March 20, at 8:00 p.m., he will perform at the St. Albans Episcopal Church, 3001 Wisconsin Avenue, N.W., in Washington, D.C. He will perform a recital of solo guitar works by Scarlatti, Albeniz, Boccherini, Rak, Mozart and others, with accompaniment by Sonya Sutton on the harpsichord. For more information, call 202.363.8286 or e-mail ericg@st-albans-parish.org. (Free, goodwill offering accepted).
One blog led me to another and I stumbled onto “Lull,” the lamp that opens and closes like a flower! It’s designed by Varmo, an award-winning Norwegian design group. Clever folks, those Norwegians! Check out the Lull website here: http://www.lull.no/ Below is an animation of how the lamp works.
This is one of my favorite Polaroid transfers. I shot the original image (Velvia transparency) one summer at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, MD. While the original isn’t a bad image, it has more impact as a transfer, I think. This image was one of many I posted in a collage in October 2007 on this blog. See that posting here. I’ll post some more of those images enlarged and individually in the future. I’ve also run across some additional transfers I hadn’t scanned yet, so I’ll post those when I do.
FYI: I found this link here on photographer Holly Francis Dupré’s website. She has developed a comprehensive guide to creating Polaroid transfers that is free to download.
I shot this photograph of my dad and my cousin Bill in the 90s when we took a day trip to Fredericksburg, Texas. Enchanted Rock State Natural Area spans more than 1600 acres north of Fredericksburg. The Rock is a pink granite exfoliation dome that rises 425 feet above ground, 1825 feet above sea level, and covers 640 acres. Now that’s a big rock! It is one of the largest underground rock formations uncovered by erosion (batholiths) in the U.S.
Will someone PLEASE come to my studio and give me one-on-one lessons in Lightroom2? If I have to read another manual, I'll pull my hair out! 1 month ago
Recent Comments