It Just Keeps Coming

Another foot descended overnight, on top of several feet of snow already on the ground. We're out of places to put it! Bacon doesn't seem to mind, though. The park is like a little slice of New Hampshire right here at home.

Happy New Desktops

Click, save, and set as your desktop wallpaper. Happy New Year!

Happy / Southern Arrangement

New / Modern Windows

Year / Weathered Shed

Two / Target Practice

Thousand / Nephews' Hands

Eleven / Winter Sheep

Toxic Nudibranchs (Sea Slugs)

Via National Geographic

Why Am I Marrying Him?

Photographer Kate Hutchinson is doing a beautiful series of portraits of her fiance called "Why Am I Marrying Him?" that I find extremely compelling in their universal, everyday nature.







So compelled am I that I took a break from my silly wedding blog hopping to put together my own little series. After all, the real reason behind this shindig we're throwing is in these pictures below...

Scouting

Some pictures from our weekend in NH. This first image is where we think the wedding tent will go. The sheep will be on the other side of the fence by then.

More here

An Artist is Born

I was in the room when my nephew was born, saw his eyes open for the first time and even witnessed his first step exactly one year later. For someone who lives over 2000 miles away, I've been remarkably involved in this little life. My sister is not terribly artistic (when prompted she could not name the primary and secondary colors) so I have set up residence as the official artistic influence in my nephew's world.

I used to make him tiny, baby-sized books that he could put stickers in and color on; I have painted pictures for his room and, just last Christmas, I bought him his own easle and paints and taught him the fundamentals of color theory (blue + yellow = green). But it looks like I've been imposing the wrong medium on him.

This is his photograph taken with a Canon Digital Rebel SLR. He is 4 and a half years old. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying its a masterpiece, I'm just saying that its impressive—the light, the composition, even my brother-in-law's chopped-off head. I'm thinking this Christmas I'll buy him a camera. Maybe an Holga...

Experimenting with Plastics

For a little less than a year now I have been experimenting with HOLGA – a bulky, plastic, medium format, "toy" camera from China. It is a delightful cult phenomenon which anyone who enjoys picture-taking should read much more about at this website. The joy of the HOLGA lies in the unknown. With only two real manual functions – a 4-step focal length ranging from "one person" to "mountain" and a simple light setting to distinguish "cloudy" from "sunny" – this is one camera where advanced knowledge of camera mechanics does you absolutely no good.

The manual wind is completely free moving which means that sometimes I wind too far and end up straddling frames.



Or I don't wind far enough and end up splitting frames.



Or, when I was first starting out, I would forget to wind altogether and superimpose frames.



I also forgot to remove the lens cap a time or two during that first roll (the viewfinder and the lens are not connected). I won't bother posting those shots here.

Delightful accidents happen all the time with the HOLGA. But sometimes I try to make accidents happen and end up with trash.



HOLGA is 100% plastic, lens included, which means all sorts of light seep into my exposures. Sometimes its sort of cool.



HOLGA has a mind of her own – she will focus (or not focus) on whatever she wants and cruelly crop on a whim.





But even with all these variables and amidst the inevitable blank frames and undistinguishable shots, there is also beauty in the most unexpected places.

















HOLGA has taught me its OK to let go a little, to just let things happen.
Thank you, HOLGA.

Backyard Bucolic

The subject of art for some, a childhood playground for others. A few pictures from *girl and my recent weekend trip to my parent's house in pastoral NH for some relaxing and leaf peeping.