Travelin' About

My friend, graphic designer, photographer, speaker and author, Mark Heaps , helped develop a brand new plug-in for Light Room that helps with editing your photos.  The plugin, called Reactive Exposure, can be found by going to RAWPlugins.com and it changes the way you edit your images and costs only $29! The Plug-in is designed to "speak natively with Adobe Lightroom" by adjusting the Luminosity and Tone controls as a response to Exposure controls. I have been playing with this plug in a lot this past week. I've been going back in my archives finding images that I took a few years back that I probably should have tossed, since they seemed to have very little information in them, but I guess I was waiting for something that "brought them back to life."  I start out the Reactive Exposure plug-in and try to determine how the image looks like it has the "correct" exposure. I then make adjustments from there, opening up shadows, decreasing highlights a...

I've been preparing for a Landscape Workshop at Precision Camera in the Fall and getting my PowerPoint presentation ready. I started out with some of my favorite quotes and my friend Stephanie Sharif suggested I add photos of the people who spoke the inspiring words and perhaps an image that person is known for. So, I researched George Eastman - and I was thrilled to read about his life - did you know that not only did he invent the first roll of film and the first actual camera, he was a major philanthropist, giving money to the arts, music, medicine and education including historically black universities in the south. “Light makes photography. Embrace light. Admire it. Love it. But above all, know light. Know it for all you are worth, and you will know the key to photography.” - George Eastman Wow! I'm impressed!  Another quote I've stumbled on and loved was from Elliott Erwitt: “To me, photography is an art of observation. It's about finding ...

I just returned from an exciting two week tour of Italy. Naturally I am inundated with all of the pictures I took. Thankfully, there are many good ones, and many fond memories of a wonderful trip. I've spent the day trying to select a handful to make a book.  This was quite a challenge. I don't seem to be able to get past our first three days in Venice.    We received a Rick Steves book on Italy as a Christmas present from a dear friend who was planning a trip of her own.  While the book was chock full of good information, we were somewhat overwhelmed with choosing which great things to see and do. I thought "I wish this Rick Steves would just offer a tour" and when I googled his name, I discovered that he does. (www.RickSteves.com) Not him personally anymore (although he still does do some tours) but he has a whole big company that provides tours all over the world. We were serenaded by this gentleman on an evening gondola ride. Everyone sang along. ...

  I think I was born to be a student - I love learning as much as I can about photography, and, even though I've been practicing the craft for years, and taking numerous classes over time, I still find there is so much more to learn. Recently I debated taking a Macro Class at Precision Camera with Scott Sitkiewitz. I've been playing with Macro for awhile - I've taken plenty of flower shots and water droplets - so could I possibly learn something new?    It turns out, yes, I most certainly could.  First of all, Scott is an awesome teacher. He made a point of memorizing and re-using the names of all 12 participants in the class. His enthusiasm was contagious as he showed all of the many things he brought to photograph and showed us a variety of different ways to set up lights and make your own little backgrounds and lighting. Who knew clothespins had a worthwhile purpose? And construction paper can be used to bring color to objects. And there are better t...

Foggy Morning Gathering, Summer 2015 I've been busy preparing 18 photographs for a February 2016 exhibit at The Old Bakery and Emporium, 1006 Congress Avenue, Austin, Texas. (512 974-1300, Hours: Tues-Sat. 9-4).  It's a beautiful historic building that was formerly a Bakery and has been preserved by the City of Austin as a place for local artists to sell their work. There is also a history museum and an art gallery upstairs.  One has to apply in August for a juried art exhibit and I was honored to be selected as one of the artists that will have my photos hung there from Thursday, Feb 4 - Thurs. March 3rd.  I am sharing the exhibit with Anna Lisa Leal who paints images of the Southwest and Ann Newman whose artwork is entitled Visual Language.  Frozen Swimming Hole, Winter 2011 My theme is Water - and my photographs are from all over the United States during different seasons, showing our country's diverse geography and awesome beauty.  When I first...

  On a recent trip to my hometown, Yonkers, my sister offered me the opportunity to "check out Untemeyer Park," a spot we had never explored before.The day was bright and the hour was early, so it sounded like a wonderful idea.   We were blessed by the last of Fall's glorious colors - we even saw a few roses. But my thrill was the cool architecture.  A brochure at the site called this place "America's Greatest Forgotten Garden."  Owned by prominent lawyer, Samuel Untemeyer, these gardens were acclaimed to be the finest in the Hudson Valley in the 1920's and 30's. The brochure claims that 30,000 folks visited in a single day in September 1939.   the gardens became overgrown and lost in time. Designed after the Persian Gardens with an influence of Spain, India and Italy, the Untemeyer Gardens have a universal appeal.   I was taken by the lines and shadows on this crisp Fall morning. The views of the Palisades and the Hudso...

  I just came back from five glorious days in West Virginia. I wasn't quite sure why  was going to West Virginia - I wanted to go to Utah...but several friends had come back from an Ed Heaton workshop in the Grand Tetons and were raving about how much fun it was and how much they had enjoyed to help and support of Ed and Kelly Heaton and the weekend was far more affordable that a week away (that my husband would have insisted on going along) so now I have to save up for Utah next year because West Virginia exceeded all of my expectations. First of all, I had no idea how beautiful West Virginia is. It seemed chock full of waterfalls, bridges and quaint country roads and Ed Heaton has scoped them all out and knows just how to get a small group of photographers motivated and up to photograph them in their best light. Many of us came just to see this (and I am so happy I was able to capture it): Glade Creek Grist Mill, Babcock State Park Ed, Kelly and their s...