Posts Tagged "photography"
Sunrise Photography, or “That Stupid Tick Gave Me Lyme Disease”
At 6:30 AM on a quiet dirt road I took this picture. I breathed in the cool morning air, revered the silence and the incredible power of my Creator.
I took a million of these shots. It seemed impossible that I could take enough to actually capture how amazing it was.
What I didn’t know, what there was no way of knowing, was that this commune with nature was going to change my life drastically.
I got a tick bite. Just one. A very tiny one. So tiny in fact that I didn’t even notice it until many hours later. So tiny, in fact, that once my husband took it out I didn’t give it a second thought.
Until a week later.
Turns out that tick wasn’t so harmless. I caught Lyme Disease from this little, tiny, tick. The bacteria from the Lyme Disease triggered an acute case of Fibromyalgia.
I haven’t blogged in a month, I haven’t shared my awesome pictures from our trip to the Disney, because I’ve been in bed, in pain, figuring out what went wrong.
Luckily, I have amazing doctors. Luckily, I have a history of blood clots and realized there was something very wrong with my body after just one week. Luckily there are medicines that can completely cure this disease when it is found this early.
In all actuality, the Fibromyalgia has been the bigger issue. Usually very manageable, this attack brought me to my knees. For three weeks I laid in my bed, unable to walk or even sit up without a great amount of pain.
I’m on new medication that has made a world of difference. I’m up and around, taking care of my children, getting my house back in order and running errands. I’ve been out taking pictures, had dinner with friends and I am bound and determined to get myself to Type A Conference next week in Charlotte, NC.
So how did this photograph….this sunrise that brought me to my knees….change my life?
I can no longer push my body to ridiculous extremes. It is now normal for me to go to bed by 9:30 or 10:00 at night instead of 2 or 3:00AM. In order to make it through an entire day without crippling pain, I need to rest myself during the day. I need to be more selective with my schedule so that I don’t end up back in bed.
I no longer ask “Why Did This Happen to Me?”, I haven’t for years. I am a firm believer that if you look and listen, you will be able to see the reason, the plan laid out for you and you will understand. I’ve not been listening. I’ve been doing too much, pushing the limits; this is no longer an option. It is a painful lesson to learn, but one I will respect and will not be quick to forget as I move forward through my life.
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Indecision
I went GeekTastic last weekend taking pictures up in Nebraska. I took a bunch of pictures at my Grandparents’ house … things that are interesting to me. What I struggle with is editing. I want my pictures to look like what I see. I don’t want to have to edit them. Unfortunately, I am not talented enough at this point to get magnificent pictures, so edit I must.
I did two edits of one of my favorite pictures, both had to be lightened but other than that, they are drastically different. I like the one that looks the most like what I saw, obviously, but I get hung up when I play around and then I kind of like the artsy colorizations, too.
Leave me a comment and tell me which one you like best.
Cloud Factory
SuperGirl: “Mom, you know what that is? It’s where they make clouds and blow them up into the sky.”
34 years ago another little girl riding down the highway with her Mom had an awe inspiring revelation and exclaimed: “So THAT’S where they make the clouds!!”
Like mother, like daughter.
Read MoreApple of My Eye
I love taking pictures. Any kind of pictures, really. I’m still such a novice and such a geek that I will take hundreds of pictures of the mundane, just to experiment with the different capabilities of my camera and light. I’m often disappointed that I can’t make my pictures look like what I see … or more accurately I have difficulty making my pictures convey the same emotions I feel when I’m taking them.
So I practice.
Yesterday I was cutting up apples for applesauce, which I intend to turn into apple butter, and thought “Oh! I should take a picture of the apples because they are so pretty and red … and maybe someday I’ll write a post about the applesauce/butter.”
So I proceeded to spend over an hour taking photos of a basket of apples.
Not gold apples.
Not apples emblazoned with the face of Jesus Christ.
Just apples. In a basket.
It was fairly dark outside due to the rainy weather and I’m still struggling to never use a flash (detest flash) so I broke out the tripod and my remote shutter release (which I’ve never used) and geeked away.
I had no one to share this adventure with. I posted on Facebook so that a few folks would get a giggle; but that was it.
Then SuperBoy entered the room and asked why my camera was on that thing with legs.
I talked with him a little about shutter speed and focus, aperture and light. He really enjoys taking pictures and the little bits I’ve explained to him over time he soaks up like a sponge. (He always checks to see where his light source is when he is taking pictures so he doesn’t get “back lighting”!)
He thought that was pretty cool and wanted to try out the remote. I showed him how to work it. He took a picture and thought it was cool. He adjusted his view with the tripod and thought that was cool. I showed him the light meter and we talked about how it worked; he figured out how to change his point of focus and experimented with that a few times.
It was SO MUCH FUN watching him play and discover…and he wanted me to tell him all about it (be still my heart). He looked adorable standing there directing the tripod around.
Then he said to me: “Mom. You know what I love about this picture?”
No sweetie, what?
“I love the way the apples are so red. And smooth. I like that they are smooth and the basket is not. I like the way there is a shadow over here and how that makes this apple look.”
*Jaw Drops Open*
Maybe I do have someone to share my photo obsessions with after all.
SuperBoy, 5, shot these pictures on my Nikon D3100 with a 50mm f/1.8
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Three Little Things
I had grande plans to blog today. Perhaps about the amazing and wonderful new store I got to visit last night in downtown Lawrence… Sweet Baking and Candy Making Supply. My own private utopia: the colors, the decorations….
And then I thought I might blog some photography experiments I’ve been doing. I’m taking the “Intermediate” photography class at the Lawrence Art Center and we are experimenting with different settings on the cameras as well as light and white balance. I’ve got some interesting photos I thought it would be cool to lay them out and list the settings (cool as in: if you are a photogeek).
But it is 11:49pm and I’m still trying to follow this NaBloPoMo onec a day thing and I’m also really tired. So I’m just sharing three pictures I took today of three things that I’ve been trying to focus all of my positive energy on. It’s been hard… but I want to be a better mom…raise good people…so I’m looking into these beautiful faces with intensity … to help focus me on what is important.
