Tag: inspiration

The Importance of Friends and achieving creative goals

For years I had always wanted to enter the Oregon State Fair photo contest. I had been entering the Lane County Fair photo contest for several years and the competition was STIFF !!! I think the best I ever got was honorable mention. I figured that you had to win at the county fair level to enter the State fair level. Before I achieved any coveted awards I moved to Central Oregon and Deschutes County. My first summer I went to the county fair and …. was disappointed at the quality of the photo displays. I could not say I was disappointed at the photos because all I saw was a jumble of poorly displayed 4×6 photos on construction paper with an occasional 5×7 and 8×10 photos thrown in the mix. I didn’t enter my photos in the next years photo contest…. Truthfully my photography had also taken a hit with lack of funds, a new hobby Quilting, and a new interest Volunteer fire fighter…. Photography was not on my radar anymore. Several years later I had moved into Fire Prevention and volunteered at the county fair at the new Fair Grounds…. One of the forest service Fire Prevention officers and my friend Karla, said lets go look at the displays. We wandered around and eventually came to the photo displays. My impression of them was similar to my first impression. Very jumbled, but slightly better at least the 4×6 on construction paper were gone…. Later that year our prevention co-op worked at the state fair and again Karla said let’s go look at the displays. What a Big Difference everything was neat and organized and while I don’t remember much, I remember looking at the photographs and enjoying walking around the room looking at them. One photograph still stands out to this day almost 30 years later…. A simple Black and White of a Calla Lily on a black background and framed with a black mat. Karla always said you can do that….. I will always miss her, but I still hear her encouraging me with that little chuckle she had…. You can do it!!!!
Several years later the Volunteer Firefighter Fire Prevention officer is no longer, and the quilting has been put on the backburner (maybe) but the Photography has come back strong with new equipment that achieves my photo desires. I had joined a group of photographers online and we participated in a 52-week photo challenge…. by year 3 I had made many photographer friends, and each challenge was a contest to see how I could do better than the year before or even improve on another photographer’s idea….

This was one of my favorite photos. It was a layering technique that I had planned out. I knew that this prescribed burn was going to happen, near my home and when they lit up the fire, I was able to take a photo of the smoke column rising over North Sister, from the front of my house. Later in the day I went down to the fire and photographed it from the road while the wildland firefighters were working on the mop up… I used the photos for two different weekly competitions. I was encouraged by Neil, Maryanne, Nicole, Jim, David….. and many other people in the group… While I was active in the photo challenge, I looked up what it would take to enter the Deschutes Co. Fair and the Oregon State Fair. I found the county fair was a jumble but easy to understand, with many different categories. Way too many categories…. The State fair I saw 4 categories and one special category. I really didn’t understand what they wanted….. So I did nothing. My printer had run out of ink during the covid pandemic and when I did get new ink it would not work with my laptop or my new desktop computer. They were not communicating.
Over time my interest in the 52 week contest had waned and many of my biggest supporters had also lost interest. I looked for a different social atmosphere and a way to get exercise…. I joined a swimming pool class that looked fun and after about a year was invited to join a group of ladies called the Pool Pals. A variety of ladies with a wide variety of experiences. Also, we all had similar political interest…. When the current president was elected there was a lot of shock and disbelief…. There are many different levels of activism within this group of ladies, and I admit I am one of the lowest …. I really don’t like to go to rallies…. I chose to use my camera as my protest…. I also like to go hiking or even walking, so 4 of us gelled and started hiking at least when we could… Thanks for those hikes, Susan H, Robin, and Geri…. for me those hikes are a support that say, “You can do this”…. A quiet affirmation that getting out and taking photos, walking and talking with friends is a powerful thing…

I bought a Constitution of the United States booklet and the parchment paper style printed documents that included The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights….
Adding a faded flag that I had hung during COVID pandemic. I photographed them, I even had notecards made from them. I wanted to submit that original photograph to one of the fairs but for the county fair I needed to get my photo printer working, for the State fair I needed to decide on what I was going to submit and it had to be done in by July 20th. Then I had to make sure I could print them. I missed the deadline for the county because I hit a snag with the printer. I had it working a couple days later. I did get the 3 photographs that I had chosen to enter the State Fair in. I waited until the last day and just before I was ready to submit I rephotographed the flag constitution photo without the booklet.
In my mind I could hear the encouragement of the many friends, saying ” You can do this”,” Just Do It”,” I dare Ya…..” I think the last phrase is my Friend Lynne, I don’t think she actually said it, but she has that twinkle in her persona that could have…
This is a long post, and you will notice there are only 3 photos. These are the photos I submitted to the Oregon State Fair in my first ever entry…. The first photo did not get accepted; I knew that the competition for that entry would be stiff… But it represents to me the values of my friendships and that each of my friends, have provided me with the words on those glass beads.
The other two, the layered wildland fire fighters, and the constitution flag shots were accepted but did not win any awards. They do say to me that I can do it… and that I can “Up my game” in the photography genre.
It is to all of my friends I send up a special THANK YOU for all the positive you provide me and the inspiration you provide in my journey to be creative.
Thanks to the ladies of Cinco’s who have been friends for more than 20 years, Lynne, Marcia, Yetta and Susan T. always look forward to our morning posts on FB.
Thanks to Susan T who has been willing to go with me to Salem several trips in just a few weeks (still have one more to go). I only got lost a few times each trip.
Special thanks to Maureen and Vicky for making an effort to go to the state fair on the day that Susan and I went and met up with us in the photo area also the rest stop….. You really made my day on that rainy day….. I am not sure the photo section could recover from some of the current pool class hijinks…. at least we didn’t hold up the flow…
And Robin I am still working on that Question ” What if I ???? for Next years Entries….

expanding my photo ideas with new props

My housemate Susan sells clothing patterns online in her Ebay store… She is always on the hunt for more patterns to list, which usually results in shopping trips for me to expand my photo prop collections. Last week she found large collection of patterns for sale locally on Facebook Marketplace and we went to check the collection out. She bought all of the patterns and as we talked with the lady we found that we had a lot of things in common…. and that the she had several things that she was going to send on to the thrift stores would I be interested in them. The answer was “SURE I could do something with the stuff….” a couple of bags and a box later I had some interesting things that could show up in my photographs…. These tarnished silver plate creamers and sugar were part of the collection. I usually avoid things that are shiny and reflect … well…. Me photographing it. I loved the detail of the set and that afternoon I tried to photograph them with some flowers…. but it was hot in the studio the flowers wilted quickly as did I.

This is probably the best of that photo shoot and there I am reflecting in all three wearing a bright red shirt…. I didn’t like the tablecloth background there were too many flowers so you couldn’t see the creamers or the sugar bowl. I did decide to start over the next morning in the coolness of my studio.

Thinking about that quick shoot the day before I decided to change things up. Use one of the photo backgrounds I had picked up last year. Use the off-white fabric I had picked up at a garage sale a month ago. Grab some of the 2x4s and 2x6s that I had painted earlier this spring and use them under or on top of the fabric.
Grab a couple of my floral frogs. One home made from chicken wire and the other belonging to my mom. This was my basic starting point.

Before going out to my studio I had noticed these books that are some of my favorite reference books. I grabbed them put them in the basket with the camera equipment I wanted use. I love these books because they give me ideas on how to accomplish what I want with my own flowers, vases and other objects that could be used to make the photograph mine. I also love our local public Library where I can check out these books and read them, then decide to purchase them for my own collection. (There is another one on the way to me, that I ordered after finishing it and returning the original to the library).

With the inspiration of the books I cast about in my studio area for something that would go with the creamers and sugar bowl. I found this broken and chipped teacup and two of the swans in my small swan collection inspired by a couple of swans I had gotten from my grandmas and moms’ collection.

Now to arrange them.
And then to go collect new flowers from my own yard…

All of these books used fruits and vegetables in many of their arrangements. So the strawberries were a first collection… and I could eat them as I was working because I have more in the garden. Then came the long salvia stems and the thyme sprigs. The very hardy rose was next with its small open blooms that scattered on the table, and the violas were last.

I am much happier with these photos that I took the time and thought into arranging. I was hard stopping but well ….. The temp in the studio was heating up to the upper 80’s. We still have some more insulation to install and to get a ceiling put up. I would also like to make a better hanging frame to put the background on. Something that is easier to put the background on and stretch it out so that the fabric is not wavy. PVC frame should work. Lord knows one of these days I will climb on top of the table trying to make that background look just right and I will tumble off….
Could I do better? Yep. But that is for another shoot with different flowers…and props…

Inspiration from the thrift stores

I find my best photography props at the local thrift stores. I rarely buy new unless what I want cannot be found in the thrift stores. I am always open to a trip to the thrift store for whatever catches my eye. A couple weeks ago one of the pool pals said I want to go thrifting with you, I need some things for an art project I will be working on. So we set a date of Thursday, next week. My housemate Susan, Robin, and I descended onto the first of two shops. Each with a mission. My plan is to find things to photograph. Glass bottles always catch my eye, especially this shape. I am always looking for good vases with a strong shape and colors, that don’t compete with my flowers. I saw this brown and gold vase filled with Black Eyed Susan flowers, or Sunflowers, maybe some dahlias in orange colors. in my basket it went no hesitations. I tooled through another isle and found some photo gear. A couple lighting tripods, one with the umbrella and lighting assembly. both of those went into the basket, with some back and forth thought. The whole assembly was a bit more than I wanted to pay, but ultimately much cheaper than if I ordered it online. I only needed the umbrella to replace one I bent… but….. I always can use more lighting options.
Next I found this galvanized metal lantern. I visualized it with one of my cream colored pillar candles in it. Surrounded with flowers and maybe some greenery.

Into the basket it went. Time for checkout and time to go home. Only I missed my turnoff at the new interchange system and ended up going to Redmond. Susan and I checked a couple of thrift stores there, but there was nothing that caught my eye… sometimes it happens. by the time we got home the fog had rolled in and I was not inspired to go play with my new items.
The next day dawned chilly and foggy but I was inspired to go play with my new items. I grabbed up the battery powered pillar candles and some of my fake silk flowers and started. First challenge was that my candles did not fit inside the lantern. Well that is a bummer. Will probably need to go find some shorter ones. Later.

digging into the fake flower bins and checking out the cabinet with my vases and jars, gave me more options to play with. each click of the camera or movement of something sparked another idea and back into my stash of props. a couple trips into the house brought out more items

By the end of the day, I was happy with what I had , but?? I noticed a big open area on the right side of the shot and thought I needed to add something in that spot. So I went out and shot it again with some of my other vases. But still….. Not right. I pulled the original vase and started re arranging things…..

finally, I got the arrangement better. But??? What if ?

The next day I pulled the glass bottles and added the fairy lights I changed the angle of the studio lights and turned some off

Then I dug into my bin of silk flowers and pulled out some lilacs. Much better. Not perfect but…. Well maybe I go out and shoot it again tomorrow.