• Black and White,  People/Portraits,  Self-portraits

    Self-portrait Friday

    A few years ago I belonged to a photographers website called pbase. Someone on that website started a Self-portrait Friday challenge. It seemed like a good idea for a weekly project so I jumped right in. It required me to plan scenes rather than post a selfie in front of the bathroom mirror. This is one from that weekly project. I was living in Westerville Ohio at the time. I envisioned this image after seeing the street light and the mystery it created along with the brick wall in a small alley located in the older part of town. So after a bit of planning I set out to create this image. I needed the cigarettes and the lighter as props and was dumbfounded at the cost of those cigarettes. Glad I’m not a smoker anymore. Not sure this is exactly what I had in mind but it works for me even 13 years later. Here is a link to the post I made on this blog from that project but with a slightly different pose. Actually, I think I like this image better.

    I actually spent some time snooping around on pBase to see what it’s like. I saw some familiar names of photographers who are still active in that community. One is our friend Faye White, who’s blog can be found here. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

  • landscape,  People/Portraits,  Self-portraits,  sunrises

    love beyond my fear…

    A predawn self-portrait near Horsetooth Reservoir – 2012

    Wakan Tanka, Great Mystery,
    teach me how to trust
    my heart,
    my mind,
    my intuition,
    my inner knowing,
    the senses of my body,
    the blessings of my spirit.
    Teach me to trust these things
    so that I may enter my Sacred Space
    and love beyond my fear,
    and thus Walk in Balance
    with the passing of each glorious Sun.

    Lakota Prayer
  • Candid Portraits,  coffee life,  coffee shops,  gratitude,  haiku,  Holidays,  People/Portraits,  writing/reading

    Day of Thanksgiving

    with hands of gratitude
    wrapped around coffee cups
    they share morning time together
    a simple conversation
    sometimes without words 
    on this day of thanksgiving

    ms

    Since Mugs at the Oval was closed today I went to Mugs in Old Town. Streets were busy as they were having a foot race called the Turkey Trot. Being a people watcher I noticed a couple sitting across from me with their coffees. I was taken by their hands. So, I asked for and was given permission to take a couple images of their hands. Thank you, Scott and Michelle, and may you two have a wonderful day and life together!

    I have much to be grateful for in my life. I regularly journal a gratitude list and that is what I will do throughout this day. I find it a great habit and can place me in a better mood when I list what I have rather than what I don’t have (or think I need). I put on a crock pot of andouille sausage and vegetable soup that is good for a cold day as today. Have reached out to family and friends through text messaging and calls letting them know I love them and they are on the lists! The sun came out so I got a walk in and burned some calories. No pie for me this year but an apple fritter made it to my plate.

  • Candid Portraits,  coffee life,  coffee shops,  People/Portraits,  shadows

    Usual Morning Crowd

    Adriana

    My weather app said 23 degrees this morning. So, I decided to take the bus for coffee because I didn’t wanna scrape frost off my windshield. Think I’ve done enough of that in my lifetime. Walked into the coffee shop and found this cute little devil peeking around the coffee carafes. She made a darn good mocha for me. I saw a few other coffee shop regulars all dressed up in their finest. Then caught the glimpse of a blue dragon and a black gorilla at the transit center. Just the usual morning crowd around campus. 😂

    Around midday I drove to Wolverine Farms to write and soak up the sun. Was thrilled to see tiny creature costumes all over Old Town, children hungry for candy. There were little firemen, princesses, dragons, super heroes, pumpkins, skeletons, bats and cats and more. Yea, for the businesses in Old Town to support the children. Just the usual morning crowd around Old Town. 😂

    Selfie at the bus stop

    Nature abhors uniformity.

    Nature not only produces species diversity but also individual diversity.

    Nature produces individuals. No two days are the same, no two snowflakes, no two flowers, trees, or any other of the infinite life-forms.

    Thomas Berry

    Interesting how I wanted to fit in when younger then later in life wanted to be different. Now I want to become my authentic/true self, wearing no masks or costumes, belonging in this world. Happy Halloween!

  • Black and White,  Candid Portraits,  People/Portraits,  quotes,  street photography

    A couple of questions to ponder…

    New York City – 2008

    “I’m a child of God, and being a child of God, I’m essential, and no one has the right to limit, or the power to limit, my ability to be somebody.”

    Ruby Sales

    “What would our world look like if everyone believed and were given the ability to be somebody?” Please spend a bit of time with that question. Which then leads to the next question, “Does our inability to believe we are essential lead us to think of others as inessential and treat them as less than?” I find it important to ask myself those questions and then how do I live the answers to those questions? Sorry but I actually asked three questions. 😁

  • People/Portraits,  quotes,  Self-portraits

    Today’s Discovery

    “… when we write in a journaling mode we are getting in touch with the many selves inside our self.”

    Naomi Shihab Nye

    I enjoy this process of self-reflection in my life. I’m finding it to be an exciting inward journey and yet outward, vitally connected to all of creation. My journaling and photography are tools I use in that journey. Today’s discovery, I need a haircut. Now for some homemade vegetable soup.