I finished the book drawing with the dominate Eye the last chapter was about portraits so I gave myself a challenge to make a portrait of me without photographing me…. It is not that I don’t want to have my photo taken but that I am always on the other side of the camera…. and the camera does add a few pounds mostly to my face. With this photo of me, I took about 3 years ago, in mind I gathered things the I felt represented ME…
I showed this photo of Me to some friends, and they all agreed that it did represent me But…..Not. The camera was too hidden…. Which is a main part of my personality… and where were the rest of the trolls… I explained that this troll is the one who started that collection and is my alter ego…. I also, felt that the photo it was not quite right because a portrait is usually vertical and this worked horizontal. The coffee mug was the wrong color if I wanted to convert the photo into black and white. It is nice and I was comfortable sharing it but….. I can do better. So back to the Photo Table I go. Second day photo shoot.
I wanted a plain look in the background, so I went with the linen fabric.
Then I added some of my Painted and stained risers.
Added some music to the mix…and the atmosphere…. Thank you, Whitney, for introducing me to Michael Farnti’s “Be Who You Are…” It was the perfect song for this shoot.
Add the coffee, because everything flows when I have Coffee.
Add books because I love to read.
Flowers because I do like to garden and I want to photograph them. Hiking boots because I love to get out on a good hike. Binoculars because I have a lot of birds in my garden.
I then realize that I have run out of time. I have somewhere else to be and need to pause in my work…. I also realize that I have way too much stuff in my shot. I needed to leave myself a note. That ended day 2 of this photo shoot….
Day 3 photo shoot. Adding and subtracting stuff
In came the positive signs and finally the camera
Not quite right yet, what else have you got? rearrange things
Remember the note?
Pare it down some more what can you do vertical?
hmmm pretty basic
It works but …. Maybe too basic
I think this is as close as I can get to capturing… Me. One in color and then converted to B&W. I like the color best…. What else can I come up with???? I guess that is for another day another shoot. Although…. Now that I think about it???? Gotta Go another idea is in the works…..
I hadn’t been to Sparks Lake in a couple of years and decided that yesterday the last day of summer and the first afternoon of Fall would be a perfect time to go. The road into the boat ramp was much rougher than I remembered and I was glad that I had a car with a higher clearance. The forest service is responsible for this road and they have not maintained it at all in the last several years.
This photo is of a sign that represents the lake when it is full. It is quite huge and shallow which makes it popular for kayakers and paddleboarders early in the season. Sparks lake was formed when Mt Bachelor erupted 10,000 years ago and the lava created a natural dam which began collecting rain and snow forming the lake. As the summer goes on the yearly captured water trickles down through the lava and runs underground until it comes back up at the surface for several streams and Little Lava Lake.
By late September the lake has usually drained enough that there is a large meadow with several channels running through it.
These last two shots overlook where the boat ramp is South Sister Mountain is in the background
I decided to go back to my car and then access the lake just beyond these trees. I didn’t get to that exact spot but I got close anyway.
From the other side of the trees, I was able to get a close up shot of South Sister, by using just my favorite 90 mm macro lens.
And a close up shot of Broken Top with the same lens. Both of these mountains I can see from my house on the north side, but they are so different from this angle. I am hoping I can remember to go back to this lake in July or early August of next year…. Assuming I don’t get busy….
I am very proud of myself for actually submitting photographs to the Oregon State Fair…. and Thrilled that two of the three were accepted for judging. My last post was about those 3 photographs and the friends that have influenced me to actually make those steps…. It hasn’t always been easy; I tend to move at my own pace and then jump off the cliff…. Or maybe just scramble down the side with many stops along the way. There is always something to stop and look at. Or photograph. Saturday I was texting with one of those friends, Robin. We were chatting about some natural acorns leaves and other things that a friend had sent her for a project that we were planning… Eventually the conversation moved to the trip my house mate Susan and I had made last Thursday to the state fair, and my impression of the photo show because I had, had questions about some of the categories. I knew one of the best ways to answer those questions was to go to the show and study the work that was accepted. Robin asked if I got the answers I wanted? My answer was sort of…. Yes I got the answers to some of the categories but no I didn’t get answers to other categories. And much like scrambling down the cliff side, I managed to come up with more questions. The biggest question that will never have an answer but create all sorts of ideas is “What If I Did This????” While we were texting I was photographing this old coffee pot the straw hat and a pair of glasses on my phone… My thinking was, What if I shot this in Black and White ?
I sent the color phone shot to her and her answer was” Tell me More?”
What if I added some dried cones I had picked up on our walk Wednesday afternoon, and a small crock with dried Black Eyed Susans? and I sent her the color photo but my mind was still saying Black and White
Her next question was ” what about something in the background ?”
By now I am thinking I need to go into the house and get my real camera because I don’t have my phone synced with my computer and those photos will not transfer over. I am on a roll that whole conversation was a little over 15 minutes long. I came out with the camera and a cup of coffee. Her suggestion was to finish up the photo shoot tomorrow, but I really am on a roll….
I added the cup of coffee to the shot . I actually picked that coffee mug because it coordinated with the Black Eyed Susans.
Then I spent the next several minutes deconstructing the photo shoot one shot at a time so I could re photo the process, convert the photos to black and white, and share here…. Will these shots show up in next years fairs…. Not likely, But What If I changed the background???? What if I found a pair of old battered cowboy boots or an old book ???? What If I spent the next year working on …. What If I….?
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….
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…
I first posted some photos of this trip up highway 242 to the Dee Wright observatory, to capture the Aurora Borealis, in October of 2024. That was before I purchased this new Luminar Neo Photo processing program. I didn’t like the quality of the photos and couldn’t wait to see if I could make them better with this new program and the Digital Neutral RAW files. They came out much better than I expected, but the files were huge, and I could not download them onto my Facebook page. Time to learn how to lower the size of the photos, without losing the quality. In other words how to make a photo that is 20 mbs into one that is 6 mbs or 3 mbs… This photo just happened to be the smallest of the photos I picked to share. I liked the look of the moon rising over the main structure of the observatory, with North and Middle Sister mountains on the left side. It was about 9 in the evening and everything was dark except for the moon. I was packing that sort of fixed tripod, that had broken, and hoping I didn’t run into anybody since the legs were extended. My housemate Susan and I climbed to the top and got set up before the larger crowd of people showed up.
I loved the look of the cars coming up to the parking lot and the reflection onto the blue coats of the two people coming up the lower steps.
The light show started of gently with a light blush of color and you really couldn’t see it unless you had a camera.
Then the color took off.
I loved that I could see the stars behind the light show and even headlights coming up Highway 242 from the east and passing Black crater.
Within an hour of arriving at the observatory the light show was pretty much over and the moonlight was again reflecting off of the clouds with North and Middle Sisters silhouette at the horizon. I hope I can see the Auroras again and maybe next time I will have new tripod legs.
Winter has finally decided to arrive. We have awakened to fresh snow on the ground, several mornings, the most we have seen all season. Cloudy breezy days, clear crisp warm afternoons, then the snow is gone by evening only to return the next morning. it feels like late winter and early spring here.
I think I have mentioned that my favorite laptop is dying. In anticipation of this a year ago, I bought a computer tower to replace the laptop. I hated the new windows 11 program and had it removed. So, the tower sat for a year+ unused. Now, things have gotten so bad with the laptop that I finally decided it was time to switch my photos and processing programs to the new tower. It has not been easy. The tower refused to recognize my external hard drive and everything I use. The final straw was that my favorite photo processing program that I used daily would not transfer over. I then found myself downloading my photos onto the laptop and processing them then transferring them to a flash drive and uploading them to the computer tower. The laptop crashed several times during this process; I then decided to download the photos onto the tower and then pick the ones I wanted to process and transfer them to the flash drive and ultimately to the laptop process them and then transfer them back to the tower. That worked ok but if I had another idea and went out to photograph it the whole process had to be started over again. Photos were getting lost or left behind. The computer tower program was different, photos were getting lost, files were getting lost. The computer has a different idea of how I should organize my photos, and I couldn’t find them by their date. In order to get the photo processing program, I had been using onto the computer tower I would have to buy the program again. The thing is, the program I was using was limited, it did what I wanted with the photos I had, I knew that there was more that could be done with my photos. I had been photographing with the basic JPG photo program and with the RAW digital neutral program. That means I could go deeper with my photographs but only if I had a program that could work in the RAW and then convert the photo to the JPG program for showing. I decided that if I was going to have to use the new computer for my photo processing it was time to upgrade my processing program. I had an idea of what program I wanted to purchase but I could not remember the name, So I asked my friend Neil Schmottlach, a fellow photo enthusiast what program he was using. He said he was using Luminar Neo. I checked it out found that it was indeed the program I wanted and purchased it. I Love IT !!!! So much easier and faster than my old program. Now to start practicing using it. What to start with ?…. I am so ready for spring, I decided to go back to last year’s April photographs. There were spring flowers on the west side of the mountains and I had photographed them. The waterfalls were flowing at full force and I had photographed them…. On this gray day where the skies are threatening snow but not actually delivering, I will enjoy last year’s spring flowers.
I will admit these photos are from two different weeks last April, but I just wanted to enjoy them and am putting them in one post.
Sahalie Falls on the McKenzie falls is one of my favorite falls and in the morning, you can photograph a rainbow. This was early in April. I headed down towards the valley and stopped off at my favorite resting spot where I can get out stretch my legs walk down to the river.
because it was early in the spring there were few leaves on the maple trees. I took this shot with the plan to process it from the RAW file. Otherwise the shot is impossible to get a good photo, too much light too much shadow….
This shot was the same idea the only thing lit up were these leaves against the dark Douglas fir tree.
On my return trip home a few hours later I stopped off at Sahalie falls again. The sun had moved further west, and this area is in shadow. It would have been harder to see in those shadows with the regular program, and I am always trying to capture the turquoise color that seems to move through the water as it falls down to the base. Success. after this shot I backtracked about a mile or so and stopped at Koosah Falls which is below Sahalie.
Again the late afternoon light was not the best but did enrich the turquoise of the water. I have shot this in the mornings as well and sometimes the sun blows out the details of the falling water. I ended that day’s photo shoot with a shot of this little sword fern in growing in the moss.
It was kind of dark for photos but I always try to get the shot…. with the new program another success. The next group of photos were taken about two weeks later when I knew there would be my favorite calypso orchids.
This trillium was just past its prime, when the white petals change to magenta. The trail down to the river was very shady, perfect for trilliums orchids and wood violets
Because it was April and we were in the shade of the Maple and Douglas fir trees, a warm spot in the sunlight was a good reason to stop and enjoy. Which my housemate did.
It wasn’t long before she had her sweatshirt on though. I admit I am having a lot of fun with this new processing program and well I did go back into my files two years ago to 2024 and the Aurora Borealis shots I took in the spring and fall. Tomorrows post.
For the last post I shot this photo with some of my glass bottles, to go with the new ones I had purchased, the day before. I was looking for different but similar shapes. That is when I realized that I have a lot of glass bottles, and a lot of other things, too. These things were purchased because I liked them and I wanted to use them as photo subjects. I don’t collect anything. I don’t say “Ohhh…, That is a glass bottle I have to add that to my collection.” I say ” Ohh! How would that look to photograph with a sunflower in it? or that is an interesting shape vase, it would look so Cool with….” or “That is the most funky buffalo planter and he needs to be photographed with the trolls surrounded by daisies…” It is not until I start putting things together that I realize that I have a collection, or two, or ten, or??? During this photo shoot an idea for a new blog post was inspired, I cleared off my photo table and started grabbing glass bottles, not the jars just bottles…
This is a pretty good representation of my bottle collection that is usually spread all over my house and photo area. It is not the whole collection, and I admit some of them I have had more than 20 years others just a few days. While it was fun to find these bottles, it quickly became boring to photograph them by themselves. I had so many ideas for things that I had collected and if I tried to photograph each group of things individually, I could be photographing for days…. I decided to add multiple collections in one photo. A lot more fun to make it interesting.
My first idea was using the fake flowers, and then adding some of my vases, not just the ceramic vases but some of the pottery vases as well. 3 collections in one shoot.
I remembered the shot of the feathers and natural forest and decided to recreate that again. Every time I photograph them it is different. I looked at the small rocks and crystals and thought…. I have many collections of big rocks in my yard. All of which have been used in various photo ideas including my coffee cup and thermos collections
Again, a small sampling of all 3 different items, but the boulders are hard to move so you have to work with them where they are…. all over the place…. These rocks have been good backdrops for the troll family and their pet lizards and sometimes if I am lucky, I can catch a real lizard.
I admit the troll family and their pet lizards have been of my most favorite subjects to photograph. They inspire my sense of whimsy and they are quite portable…. I can take them most places, simply tucking them into a backpack, tote, or basket and placing them wherever I think I can get a fun photo… Each photo idea that was photographed inspired another idea and all were taken within a 3- or 4-day period of time. Truth is I would come up with a new idea and go out and shoot it then come back in and deal with the photos. The next day I would start the process over again. Adjusting this, tweaking that.
Thinking I have more backgrounds and cloths that could be used but I have never used them, wanting to do something with my collection of string, adding a paperweight and a brown glass globe, a couple strings of faux pearls some shiny beads, marbles, small Christmas ornaments and glass stones. I played with the idea of circles…. The balls of string were made by me as a rehabilitation exercise for my left wrist, that I had broken one summer.
I have taken a stash of 2x4s and 2×6 scraps and painted them some of my favorite colors or just white simply to use as photo props. Those were inspired by some wooden cubes that I picked up at a business closing sale. Most of the time they are under a cloth giving me elevation in my photos but what better way to use that collection of props than to show off my collection of broken of old cameras and lenses. All of these cameras except for the two Polaroid cameras, I have used in my photography journey and with the exception of a couple of them most of them are just worn out from use. Lots of use. I have a pretty good collection of photographs, Too….
Looking back at my work this last few days and realizing how much the 52 week challenge allowed me to grow…. Actually forced me to grow. I learned how to process the photos and actually use my processing program to make them shine. I learned how to run with an idea that maybe one of the other photographers suggested. I learned how to be a bit more patient I admit this subject originally didn’t inspire me in 2022, and I had a hard time getting into framing.
So I went for the easy classic find a subject and frame it with some trees. I took the photos and moved on to something else. I didn’t do anything special with them I just posted them. I didn’t organize them in files other than the date I photographed them on. I hadn’t made friends in the group yet and at this point there were about 20 active photographers out of 100 who signed up. So the little sideline comments that spark creativity were not happening…. “There was Great Photo… Do you live near there?” It took a while for things to click with everybody. Trying to go back to that years challenge is hard I actually had to figure approximately what date /week the framing challenge was on and pick a couple photos that I thought I might have posted. They were terrible. I wasn’t using my processing program to clean them up with a nice sharper image. I didn’t remove or crop anything. for this post I did run them through the processing program. but first I had to copy them from the External Hard drive to the laptop, then into the processing program, then file them, download them onto a thumb drive and then put them into the file I have on the new computer. Remember that patience I mentioned? I used quite a bit of it this morning trying to find these photos. And so we move on to the second year of the challenge 2023
By 2023 several of the photographers had clicked and we were inspiring each other. by this time I had set up a small table studio on my back deck and would go out into the cold set something up then pop back into the warm house to see what I had, and posted what I liked the best. The next day I came up with another idea and spent the morning photographing it, and posting my favorite from that shoot.
by day 3 of the week I was thinking of all the different ways I could photograph framing
and because I was now friends with the 15 or 20 photographers left in the challenge I could interject my sense of humor, wanting to know who put a rubber ducky in my cup of coffee… there were lots of side challenges going on and we crashed the site a few time. The challenge was revived again for 2024 and the same photographers joined again.
This time because I had already done the challenge for two years. I was able to anticipate the challenge, I had been out thrift shopping and looking for things I could photograph for this challenge. the frame and the fake flowers were additions to my photo prop selection.
These swans were also a thrift store purchase that I thought I could use in symmetry challenge but liked so much I used them for framing. By day three of that week I noticed the mountains framed by the clouds and fog and submitted that as well to the challenge.
Moving on to 2025, I was challenging myself to find a way to make a creative statement by using the processing and editing programs, include my sense of humor and some of the past ideas thrown out by the 5 or so members of the group that had a similar sense of humor.
At one point we had a frog theme going on during one of the challenge years, I had picked up this frog and this frame in my thrifting and wanted to make something with them.
The trolls were now being featured in my challenge shots as well as the dinosaurs.
although this shot didn’t make it into the final collage. The question in my mind was how to make these three shots work in one shot that featured framing?
A simple shot of the frame on a white fleece background. resize the photos of the frogs trolls and dino’s and paste then into the frame shot.
Then post those three shots onto the white fleece background
And crop. So what started out as a challenge that I wasn’t interested in, in 2022 became one of my most favorite challenges.
In 2020 I bought a used reconditioned laptop. It had 1Terabyte of storage on it… Knowing that I take a lot of photos I knew I would need that storage… I had already bought, and used an external hard drive a couple years prior because my laptop before this one died. It was to protect my work should this reconditioned laptop die… Now in 2026 the laptop is in need of major repairs. I have managed to limp along with it for quite a while even though I had bought a new computer tower the summer before last. I was not happy with the windows 11 program and had it changed back to windows 10 then never activated it till now. I am finding all sorts of issues. My newer Computer tower will not communicate with the laptop, nor will my external hard drive, or my printers. Each thing is taking a lot of work to either make work or needs to be replaced just to get the drivers I need. In 2022 I had joined a 52 week challenge, never imagining just how much it would inspire me and how many photographs I would go through in one year. I quickly filled up the laptop with photographs and had to download them onto the external hard drive. The first year I was not organized by the second year I knew all 52 challenges and was able to put each week into a file, by the third year and every year after I have preset up the challenge files. I admit last year the challenge did not hold my attention and I drifted away. So I now have about 3 Terabytes of photos just from this challenge over the years Most of them are on the external hard drive and I have not delt with them. Yet. What I have been doing is going through the photos that are still on the laptop and downloading them( again) onto Jump drives. 3 of them that hold 32 gigs each. Then taking each drive and uploading them onto the computer tower, and filling them up again. It is taking a long time to download them I am on my second round of filling up the 2 jump drives. So while I am working on getting photos transferred from the laptop I am looking at 2025’s photo work and the file for 2024 challenge work, thinking I need to do posts of some of my favorite challenges.
So this post is simply some of my favorite collages I made for the various challenges, that were still on my laptop, and easily available for this blog series idea.
