All The Little Things

Creative Outlet

This outlet is on the side of the wall next to my desk. I often sit at my desk while on the phone and this particular time, I was on the phone with my mother when the afternoon light hit the outlet and the wires, casting wire shadows on the wall. My camera usually sits on my desk as well, so even while we chatted, I picked up the camera and began taking shots of this very dusty outlet with the sun hitting it.

My mother and I talk nearly every day on the phone, separated as we are geographically by an entire continent. My husband often asks what can we possibly find to talk about every single day. I tell him we talk about all the little things, the daily details that we notice around us. Sometimes its about how much laundry we've done that day, or how one of the dogs misbehaved, or how the afternoon light hits an electrical outlet and makes me want to photography it. All of it is important in the way it weaves us together, reinforcing our connection across time and distance.

The Center of the Sun

The Center of the Sun

Having come from the northeast, I am still astonished at seeing roses in bloom in December. The yellow roses on the side of the house are prolific and sweet-scented. There's no cliché in stopping to smell these roses. Yellow was always my least favorite color, but these roses have taught me to love yellow.

Slant of Light on the OED

Slant of Light on the OED

Late yesterday afternoon a beam of sunlight slants across a page of volume VIII Interval-Looie of the Oxford English Dictionary.

Ornamental

Ornamental Self-Portrait

Seems that everyone must do a self-portrait shooting into a Christmas ornament this time of year and I'm no exception. I love having the Christmas tree up and decorated. More often than not, I'm shooting the things I see around me, particularly when they're only around once a year.

An Ungraceful Moment

Scratching An Itch

We have many hummingbirds hanging around the back yard even in the winter here in southern California. It's an embarrassment of riches sometimes, with upwards of twenty hummingbirds mobbing the feeders (we have five). I stalk them quite often with my camera and many have gotten used to me. Still, sometimes it takes an ultra zoom lens to capture moments like this.....a  hummingbird in an unguarded, ungraceful moment in between trips to the feeder.

Orange Rain

Orange Rain

The rainy season has begun in southern California making everything look bejeweled when the rain stops. Drops cling to the orange hibiscus on the side of the house.

Holiday Appreciation and Gratitude

Christmas Through A Wine Glass

Preparing for the holidays. This is the first year in a while that I can assemble the tree (we use a fake, pre-lit tree so we don't have to kill any trees) and decorate it earlier than a few days before Christmas because I'm under the gun to finish academic papers. It's been a difficult year for us, as it has been for many people, but we're still very fortunate and very grateful.

Weekly Photo Challenge--Self-Portrait: A Thin Slant of Light

A Thin Slant of Light

Been busy with many other things, finishing course work for the PhD program, now studying for qualifying exams. Still, my time behind the camera has fostered a creative outlet that has helped to keep me sane. A friend and photographer E. Renard recently posted a quote online that I found myself agreeing with whole-heartedly: "If a day goes by without my doing something related to photography, it's as though I've neglected something essential to my existence, as though I had forgotten to wake up." --Richard Avedon. In spite of my intense focus on completing my PhD, I find this to be true and the camera is teaching me how to see differently, to see newly, to continue finding the sixpence all around me.

The Camera and the Vine

Vine

Another foray into the back yard with the macro lens. Seeing things close-up makes me realize how many beautiful things I can miss noticing in a day because I'm moving too quickly or am too distracted.