Mellow Yellow

Happy February!

One of the favorite photography subjects for me has always been flowers. I love shooting them and have a instant chemistry with them. It shows up in the photos. Chemistry with the subject is an important element in photography. You have to have it to create fabulous captures. This became clear to me when I took photos of some extremely rare and interesting cars. I really am not into cars. And regardless of how beautiful the cars were, my photos ended up being super boring and blah.

This month, I want to share my flower photos. Yes I know every flower has already bee photographed by much superior photographers from every angle. But... since this is the month of celebrating love, I'll share with you my favorite photo subject.

Enjoy.

Unknown Flower

During the rain storm that lasted for days, I saw something red in my backyard. It was pouring outside so I grabbed my camera with the macro lens to see what it was. Yes I often use the macro lens as a magnifying glass. 

Much to my surprise, it was this lovely flower. I don't know what it is. I certainly did not plant it last fall. Probably a few years ago and it never flowered. Love surprises from nature!

Since it was pelting outside, I grabbed an umbrella, scissors and darted outside to rescue the flower. Yesterday I took photos of it with my iPhone and various apps. The top picture you see is taken by an app called CameraPlus. It is free and offers numerous features. 

This one is taken using an app called Hipstamatic. I think I paid 1.99 dollars for it. Cool effects. Right? The only thing I need to figure out is how to make this larger.

For this one I used an app called CamZoom another free app. But could not get it to focus for some reason. Oh well...

So anyone know the name of the flower?

Happy Friday!

Work TImeout!

So that's how I spent yesterday afternoon. Work Party! We had yummy food from Chuy's and then went on a boat. It was simply awesome.

I considered taking my real camera but did not want to lug it around. Plus this month, I want to play around with my iPhone Camera. Took the previous shot using an app called Camera Plus. Love how blue the sky looks!

And here is another one...

We are trying to jump start the long weekend! Tomorrow, I get off at 1:00 pm! How awesome is that!

What are your plans this weekend? Anything exciting?

Va-cay!

Sorry my little chikas and chicklets for disappearing on you.

Q:

Did you miss me?

If so why? Write a 500 word essay for me right now. Title should be, "My 20 step program to get find a purpose in life and stop fixating on Scriber."

If not, why the heck not? What's not to miss about me? Write a 5000 word essay for me right now titled "I am a moron because I don't give a damn about Scriber."

If you did not even notice that Scriber was away from the bloggy world, well shame, shame, shame on you! Love me, hate me but don't ever be indifferent to me. I will smother you with love and kindness and feed you bon bons until you beg for mercy. Write a 1 million word essay about "I never gave a damn and now karma is biting my behind."

So there. I feel so much better now.

Seriously, last month has been crazy busy. Work, personal life, parties, art stuff and a list of things to do. You know, I took up photography and painting and then encaustics to entertain myself. To pass the time. To explore my creativity. When the heck did it become a full time gig? I need to write bios, get self portraits done, enter all these "call for entries."

Anyways. I am self-reflecting some.

The boys are back from college. I love, love, love having them at home. My plan today is to make cookies and try to convince/trick them to get portraits. I bloggy-met this fabulous photographer in Austin. I so want her to take photos of my boys. But they don't give in to this easily. I'll keep you posted.

I need to go now and make cookies. I realize that the title of this post, the photo and content have nothing in common. So to wrap up:

I am on vacation for next 2 weeks. Yeah! I'll float around doing this and that like a penguin! I can't wait to catch up with your blogs. I missed you. Did you miss me?

XOXO

Need Camera Lens Advice

So I have a very unusual situation going on right now. Let's just say it is a rare situation. I have a bit of money in dire need of spending. Yipee!

Here is what happened. The company I work for got bought by a bigger company. As a result, I made a tiny amount of money. So now I want to spend a little money and get a little momento to reward myself. It is a rare situation for me. What to buy?

Some choices:

• Private Island LOL. Not that much money.
  
• A mac laptop
• Uggs
• Camera bag
  
• Camera Lens

You would think it is easy to figure out how to spend the money but it is really not. What should I get? I keep changing my mind every 5 minutes. I am annoying everyone including myself.

Help!

I am thinking of buying a new lens. Micro lens is what comes to my mind. But I am not sure. I have a Nikon D 60 camera. Should I get a telephoto or another lens instead?

Someone asked me why I wanted a micro lens. And I said so I can take close up photos of bugs and flowers. Somehow that made it feel small and insignificant. Now I am second guessing myself.

What is your advice? What do you recommend?

Any advice? Help please?

Cosmopolitan Yellow

I am excited to say that this piece got into a prestigious show in Austin.

I often wonder what art is. What is beauty? Who gets to decide what is beautiful?

And then I think... I got in! I got in! I got in! It is freaking Moma of Austin and I am in! Yeah!

Who would have thunk?

Yeah!!!

My family and close friends often don't get it. They are mostly literalistic and often ask me, "is this slightly out of focus?" I try to tell them that I like to paint with my camera. I take regular shots but every once in a while, I want to shoot something that looks like a mystery waiting to be unraveled. Don't tell me that if you saw this photo at a gallery or at a bank or at a restaurant, you would pause and stare at it. What the heck is it? It is mysterious, enigmatic and pleasing. Yellow makes you happy. And it is named after a drink. What more do you want?

Anyways. I am super happy and excited.

And I want to share my happiness.

If you want a print of any photo of mine, leave me a comment and tell me which photo print you want. I will print it, sign it and mail it to you. For free. You will have to provide a shipping address though. Depending on the response I get, this may take some time. So bear with me.

Also, I might have to change the rules on the fly. No idea how many people would be interested in this.

So the opening reception is on September 4th. You are all invited!

12 by 12

An artist friend of mine, Mary, recently asked me to participate in a 12 by 12 show. 12 local artist would create artwork on a 12 by 12 canvas. Sometime in September, we will have a show.

Sounds great. Right? Except I've never really painted. So what to do? Mary assured me that if I could paint with my camera, I could paint on canvas too. It was just a different medium.

She told me to buy some canvas and practice. She even offered to give me painting lessons. She told me where to buy the canvas from but I got overwhelmed when I went to the website. So many choices! What to do?

So she sent me a link to the exact canvas she wanted me to buy. I ordered 5.

Paint was next. Do you know how many choices there are? Ridiculous! And everything was so expensive! Oye.

So I dragged my other friend Carol to the art supply store. I have to admit that I complained a lot during the whole time. Everything was ridiculously expensive. Nevertheless, I came home with some paint.

So there you go. You heard it first here. I am going to paint. And it is going to be part of an exhibit. A show. When I told my mother, she burst out laughing. We laughed until we were crying.

Yesterday I started on my first piece. I applied an orange base coat to a canvas. I rather enjoyed it. I would hang it on my wall as is. But no. There are textures to apply and even more paint. So I'll keep working on it. And report my progress.

If you've never tried painting, I suggest you get some supplies and go for it. It is fun.

PS: Don't put the paint cleaner in a plastic cup. That would be stupid. In 3 minutes, the plastic will dissolve.

Sucker for Paula Deen

At Paula Deen's shop.

The other day, my friend Carol and I were looking at all my Savannah photos. When we saw this one, both of us looked at each other and burst out laughing.

It is just so odd. Maybe Carol will comment about it. There are all the Paula magazines that say, Paula! Paula! Paula! Paula! Her face is on every magazine. With almost the same expression.

Then there is this kid in overalls with a lollipop/sucker sitting on the magazines. He has freckles and a goofy smile. And he is saying, "Hey Y'ALL!"

The other kid is plumpish wearing very unfashionable clothes and has a little toy in his hand. And he says, "Hey Y'ALL!"

In between them is a big fat chicken. Which was probably cooked right after getting its portrait done. Probably with a recipe from one of the Paula magazines.

How odd. Surreal.

I took this photo for Janice who wonders why I never say y'all even though I am from Texas. Just like I took the photo of the mannequins I posted yesterday for Carol. These aren't things I would typically photograph but somehow my eye caught these and I took the photos. Somehow, somewhere, I was influenced by them.

What are your reactions to this photo? Am I way off? Is it bizarre to you or just normal? I would love to know!


PS: Thanks Janice for sending me a photo of your tits:)

Wordless Letter

A while back, Mythos and I collaborated on a project called Letter. It was for a gallery in Baltimore, Studio 2219.

I sent him some photos and he created fabulous collages out of it. All three pieces got into the show. I was way too excited about it and if you are a regular reader you know I went on and on about it.

The wonderful thing about this show is that the gallery owners decided to make a book out of all the entries. Last week I got the book. It is the most amazing collection of artwork. I was completely stumped with what I saw.

Here is one of our entries.


The best part about this project was certainly the collaboration. Both Mythos and I had a blast! The only catch about this? I had to tell Mythos my real name:)

The book is available here.

Hot Love

Yesterday I went to a theater in Leander Texas to hang a couple of my photos for an exhibit. The theater is called Way off Broadway. They are displaying this piece and this one that Mythos and I did together. The theme is last of the red hot lovers. A play by Neil Simon.

I call this piece hot love. For some reason the red on red makes me think of turbulent relationships. And of mad crushes. That is all I have to say about that.

So I had to frame 2 pieces. And let me tell you that it is a pain in the a$$. I am simply not mechanically inclined nor have any desire to be. So I bought ready made frames with matting. I paid extra per frame to get a wire hanging thingy. All I had to do was pop the photo into the frame.

And I could not do that. I mean I ended up doing something but it took longer than what I expected and it was so not fun. And the job was mediocre at best.

Next time, I delegate this task to someone else.

Happy Monday! And do tell me about any mad crushes you've had. I will tell you this... Years ago, I stood on one foot (a yogic position) and prayed for 15 minutes. I wanted a certain boy to fall in love with me.

It did not work.

Thank God!

Deep in the Heart

This photograph made it to a local gallery show. I found out last night.

Yeah!

Further proof.... keep trying. You never know when and what will give you the lucky break.

The Commute to Success

No one told me that the road to success was paved with lots of hard, hard work. And also a thick skin and persistence. Not to mention determination.

I remember that a few years ago, I wrote an entire novel. In my opinion, it was fabulous. But when I submitted it for publishing, I got one rejection letter after another. One publishing company even recommended that I completely give up writing. But if I continued, please do not bother sending them a manuscript. I was crushed. I gave up. I deleted all the files on my computer and shredded the manuscript away.

I remember giving up photography for years. Even I hated the results of my work. It was way back when I used my manual camera. My eye to recognize a good photo developed much faster than my skills as a photographer. So I gave up.

I also remember that years ago I was told that I could never be a technical writer in US because I was not a native American. And I was a woman. The technical writing industry was dominated by white men. I would never get a job as a technical writer.

I refused to give up this time. And after years of hard work and tons of ignoring the nay sayers, I became a successful technical writer. I worked hard and did not give up. I believed in me when no one else did.

Last year, after much insistence from my friend Carol, I bought a digital camera. And started playing with photography again. Digital cameras are a wonderful thing. They provide fast results and there is not cost to develop the photos. I loved it.

Sure there are some terrible photos I took. But somewhere, I would find a gem and go, Did I really take this photo? Wow!

I started applying for exhibiting my photography. Once again, a ton of rejection letters. But I was determined to break into this world. One show that I applied to was called flowers. I love flowers and took some fabulous photos. I knew what the jury person's style was and knew that I had a very good shot at getting in.

But they rejected my photos. I was OK with it until I saw what they had accepted. Almost all were mind boggling except a couple that just did not fit there. There were these beautiful photos and then a photo of a cow in blue bonnets. It did not fit. It wasn't a good photo at all. But .... this person was a famous photographer and she got into the show. And I did not. Regardless of the quality of my photos.

But I did not give up. I worked harder and harder.

Next month, I have 2 shows. And I am already applying for July shows. If I get in great, if not, I'll keep trying. And use this to grow.

So if you are trying to pursue something, go for it. And don't let the nay sayers bother you. Keep going and keep trying.

The commute to success is a hazy path. But if you keep trying, sooner or later you will reach your destination. Work hard and keep trying.

We got in!

A while back, my bloggy friend Mythos and I collaborated to create some collages. The project was called letter. I snail mailed him some photographs and he created beautiful collages. We sent the collages to a gallery in Baltimore.

Yesterday I found out that all 3 pieces got in. All 3. I almost had a heart attack. I have never ever had a photograph or artwork in a gallery. How exciting is that?

Here are the pieces in case you are interested...

Alex in Wonderland: 1

Alex in Wonderland: 2

Escape to Nowhere

Here is the blog that we created for this project and other art projects.

Today I am just going to savor this moment. The best part about this project? Both Mythos and I had a fabulous time working on this project.

Question: Have you ever thought of entring a photo or some artwork to a gallery or a competition?

Mistakes

I am so thankful for my photography mistakes because they always teach me a lesson. And make me a better photographer.

Yesterday I spent some time with my photography mentor Carol to go over the 22 flower shots. We had to pick the 3 most strongest ones. It was tough. Carol is brutally honest with me and will tell me what worked or what did not. And when I am over forcing something. She helps me grow as a photographer and develop my eye.

So we made a decision and then I showed her some of the other photographs. She liked some of my rejects so we changed the top 3.

Then I told her that I had a wall in my house that did not have anything on it. Could she please give me advice which photos to put on the walls? I was looking for interior decorating tips. Instead... she loved one of the photos of the wall, cabinet and flowers. It had to be in the show.

For a lot of photos I took, I spent a lot of time creating a composition, thinking and planning them. This photo, I just snapped. But she loved it. It was gallery worthy.

So we went back to the square one and started picking the top 3 again. I can tell you this. It is so nice to have a veteran photographer in your pocket. I would share these with you but I still have to put some finishing touches. And maybe even re-shoot some of these.

The deadline is this Saturday morning so I have to act fast. If I get in, I get in. If not, I am turning my house into a gallery. And you are all invited to the opening.

Jars

My hubby doesn't know this yet but I've decided to turn my house into an art gallery. A Scriber's Web gallery. So what if I am not getting accepted in galleries? I will create my own. There. Every single wall in my house will have my photographs plastered on it. That way, when I have visitors, they will be forced to look at my photos. And I will expect lavish praises. I won't let them escape until they comment on at least 6 of my photos. If they give me more, I just may feed them. It's going to be all about me. Me. Me. Me. Me.

So with this stealth new project in mind, I went last weekend to IKEA to buy some frames for my black and white photography.

I know, I know. You are wondering what the heck this has to do with jars. Trust me. It will all come together.

I can spend an entire day at IKEA. But I told myself only one hour. Zip in, zip out. Find the frames section, buy them and run out.

Everything went according to the plan. I found some fabulous frames in my price range and grabbed them. I have 13 photos so I got 13 frames. And then I went to the check out counter.

There were at least 40 people ahead of me. Shocked, I asked a lady in line, "this is the line for checkout? what is going on?" And she said, "oh there is some special going on today. They are selling some jars for 99 cents."

I did not need the jars but darn it I was not going to miss out on the bargain. So I turned around and stood in another line to pick up the jars. After about 30 minutes, I picked out 6 jars. That was the maximum you could purchase per person. And happily went back to the checkout line. This time there were about 50 people ahead of me.

I stood in the line for 2 hours. I kid you not.

When I got home, the first thing I did is to takes photos of the jars. The infamous jars that robbed me of almost 3 hours of my life. What was I going to do with them? No idea.

Anyone want any jars with my photography on it?

See? I told you I was going to tie it all together.

Scavenger Hunt: 2

In my haste to publish the Scavenger Hunt photos, I forgot to thank Nicole for organizing everything. Thank you Nicole! You did an awesome job!

For some reason I thought that the deadline was US midnight. So I thought that all day Sunday to post these. But the deadline was midnight European time.

So I scrambled to get everything uploaded.

If you haven't participated in the first Scavenger Hunt, I encourage you to participate in the next one. It was a ton of fun! It is also a lot more work than I anticipated.

Uploading the files took forever. If I do this again, I will create a draft post and keep uploading my photos as I make progress instead of waiting for the last minute.

Sometimes good photos just happen. I must have shot the stamp photo 20 different ways. I just did not like any of them. And then on the morning of the deadline, I threw some random stuff together and viola! There it was.

The Sunrise was a challenge. It had been raining for a while and was very cloudy so it was hard to do. So I had to improvise. Same thing with the night skies. All I could see for days was black clouds. Would certainly not make an interesting photo.

If you haven't already visited Nicole's blog, please take a moment to do so. There are numerous people who have participated and it is so much fun to get a glimpse of their city.

I love to see how everyone has interpreted the themes. It really is a very fun experience.

And vote!

XOXO

PS: The photo in this post has nothing to do with the content. I was going to make a "on the fence" connection but the post is long enough already.

Coloring

Coloring with a digital camera.

So did anyone watch the Oscars last night? I did. At least parts of it. Then I fell asleep. Right before all the good stuff came.... I so wanted to watch Slumdog win. But the show was so so boring! I wish that they would publish a list of winners before the show. Then people can sit back, relax, and watch the song/dance routine. But it is almost like... I will tell you who won the best movie but first I must force you to watch me dance. Or sing. And then I must torture you before I tell you the next results. Ha.

About the movie Slumdog Millionaire... people often ask me if the slums are really like that. And the answer is yes. And probably even worse. Maybe someday I'll write about that...

So the plastic surgery is off for now. While watching the Oscars, I was looking at everyone's faces. How much botox does Hollywood consume? How many face lifts have they had? Do I really want to look like a plastic doll?

Don't you guys love me as I am? Granted you have no clue what I look like but surely you have perceived me as someone beautiful.

OK. This post is going in a completely different direction than I intended. So I will shut up now.

Jai ho!

British Car Show

So I went to a British car show this weekend here in Austin.

Why you ask? Well... I am not sure.

If you ask me what kind of car I drive, my response will be, "a red one". I am just not into cars. I don't care for them. I am not passionate about them.

But I thought it would be interesting to take pictures of cool cars. So I went. The cars were great. But I wasn't very pleased with the results. It was very bright and there were tons of folks in my way. The cars were all shiny and glossy so tons of reflection or what looked like a flashlight. I'm sure I can use some images down the road but the quality was not that great. The pictures are just blah.

When I take some pictures and see the results, I say giddy with excitement, "I can't believe I took this photo. I am so awesome." Well I don't really tell you guys about it but I do tell myself.

But this weekend I came back and was utterly disappointed. Photography is much like writing. You have to put your emotions into it. You have to share your feelings. You have to have chemistry. If we all wrote daily blogs that said:

Today I ate tune.
Today I ate chicken.
Today I ate beef.

Well who really cares?

No one.

But if I describe the tuna I ate, share my thoughts and feelings about tuna, then people will be more interested in the blog. If I share a funny story about tuna, then even better.

So my point is, yes I do have a point, you have to have some passion about your photo subjects. I clearly could care less about the cars. I will have to work very very hard to get better at this. A photo of a flower? No problems.

The photo of the car you see is a very very rare car. I wish I could remember the name. But this photo cracked me up. Not because it is a great photo but look at it...

It reminds me of a buxom lady with a very well rounded bottom.

Ha! See how bad I am?