Saturday, October 29

Some beach favorites.

Shot with my Pentax K1000 + expired Kodak Porta 400VC film.



We stayed at the house in the middle. It's tiny compared to the houses on either side! And those are tiny compared to some of the mansions on Ocean Boulevard. Crazy.



The clouds! Oh the clouds. Isle of Palms always has the most amazing clouds. They revival the beautiful clouds that we get here in Santa Fe.



This shot is one of my most favorite from the trip.



Again with the clouds.

I'm really pleased with the photos I took with my Pentax K1000. The photo lab even made images of the ones that I screwed up by shooting 400 ISO film with the camera set on 1600. Ooops. They're super grainy, but I was so pleased that they came out.

If you follow me on Flickr, you are probably getting tired of all the beach pictures! I am getting tired of posting them. But I am almost to the end and I am excited about the photos from Pittsburgh! At least the instant ones. I haven't gotten the 35mm film processed yet.

I know most of my beach photos are very similar. It's in part because when I take more than one camera, I always end up taking the same shots with all the cameras! And it's also in part because when we're at the beach, it's all about the ocean, the view and the palm trees! So that's what I shoot. Over and over and over again! I find the differences between cameras and films interesting, but I know for others, it probably gets tiresome. "Oh look, it's the view from the bedroom! AGAIN."

Lately I've realized that I really miss taking pictures of people. It's something that I used to do a lot when we lived in Pittsburgh, but since we moved here, it's all been cats and flowers and mountains. I need to figure out a way to remedy that and work on shooting some portraits.

Now I'm off to get on with this Saturday. I'm going to be sewing together flower hair clips with the television going in the background. Of course.

Cheers!

Friday, October 28

Snow covered zinnias.



Or more accurately, snow dusted zinnias.

First snow of the season in town. It was barely anything at all and was gone by mid-morning, but I still count it as the first snow.

I'm grateful for any moisture we get here, but I'm still not ready for winter. Our house is already filled with the cold that won't leave until sometime next spring. Such is life in old houses with no installation. I guess it could be worse.

It all could be worse, right? That's what I keep telling myself as I deal with some difficult things. Trying to convince myself to feel grateful instead of tortured. It works, sometimes.

Here's hoping for a good weekend for all of us!

Tuesday, October 25

Golden (and a bit of rambling).







Check out the latest Words To Shoot By for more "golden" photos.

Last week I managed to pull myself away from my obsession with The Vampire Diaries long enough to drive up to Aspen Vista and check out the last of the golden aspen. It was nice to get some fresh air and appreciate the golden leaves and sunshine.

Admittedly, I also let my imagination get a little carried away and felt a bit scared about daylight vampires kidnapping me. Or compelling me. Or maybe just ripping my throat out. There was a long moment when there was no one else around and I felt completely isolated. It was so quiet, it was a little eerie. And enjoyable too, but after watching various scenes of vampires in the woods, I couldn't help but wonder what might be wandering around our forests. Usually I just worry about mountain lions, but hey, you never know, there could be vampires out there. Or werewolves.

I know, it's silly. But that stuff gets in my head when I have been watching a show, day in and day out. And getting so invested in the characters and story lines, man, it gets emotionally draining after awhile. And that feeling of wanting to know what happens next but at the same time, never wanting it to end. I feel that way about some books as well. I can't put them down, but then when I get to the end, it feels a bit like losing a friendship. Or something like that. A bit of despair at it all being over. And that feeling of what am I supposed to do now?

(Of course that is the Big Question all around right now, but that is another story.)

So.

Hope you are enjoying autumn wherever you are. And if you have time, watch The Vampire Diaries. It's a good one.

Thursday, October 6

Birds.



I love watching birds at the beach. In Isle of Palms, there are always seagulls, of course, the little sand pipers that scurry along the sand, never standing still long enough for me to capture a close up, and my favorite, the pelicans.

This year, we hardly saw any pelicans which seemed rather strange to me as usually there are lots of them, swooping down into the ocean to catch fish. So every time I did see one, I got super excited. Pelicans!

One of the most exciting bird sightings though, was not a marine bird, but a red tailed hawk that settled in on the roof of the house next door.



There were actually two of them, soaring high in the sky and then sitting perched on the roof, looking out toward the ocean.



We stood on the second floor balcony for a long time, just watching them. Hawks are such majestic creatures.

Tuesday, October 4

Wish you were here.



And I wish that I was still there!

This was our view from the second floor balcony which was so conveniently located right outside of our bedroom! I could have sat up there forever, just looking at the ocean. And in fact, I did spend quite a bit of time stepping out on the balcony, breathing in the ocean air and watching the waves.

The moon was full while we were there so at night, we had some incredible views of the moonlight reflecting off the water. It was magical. Really.

Sigh.

I miss the ocean.

[A total aside here, but one night, Will and I took a walk on the beach. He asked me if I would get in the water. I said no, of course, because I have seen Jaws a million times and it has totally instilled the fear of sharks in me. I used to get scared of the drains in the deep ends of swimming pools. Seriously. So getting in the water at night? Under the moonlight? And maybe making out? That's just asking for a shark attack.]