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El Fin

No, no drama. Just the end. Blogger is a pain to post more than a couple photos to and get them to line up properly. So I've decided to close down this blog and just keep my Photoblog blog. I was duplicating myself between them a little anyway. But I wanted to do one last post. To say thank you to all of you who've read my blog and commented. And for your compliments. :) I appreciate them immensely.

I thought that a good way to end this blog would be to go back to the beginning. To the roots of my photography. Back when I was a wee lass. Ok, maybe not quite that wee. To when I was around 13 or 14. By then, I'd already had my first camera (a Kodak instamatic 110) a few years. In the beginning, I'd used it mostly to take pictures of families and friends. When I was 12, my parents seperated and my dad started taking us on road trips. The top 3 photos in this post are from one of those trips. He rented a motorhome and took my grandparents, my sister, and I through Ariizona and New Mexico for two weeks. To the Grand Canyon, Sedona, Tucson, Albuquerque, and Carlsbad Caverns. Anyway, I think it was these trips that started me on the path to photography as being more than snapshots. Oh sure, I still did plenty of those. But I also tried to capture the beauty of the places we saw. Which wasn't easy with that little 110, let me tell you.


These last two are of my dog Tiny. We got her when I was 7 years old and she was my dog for 19 years. I loved this little dog so much. She definitely helped me thru a lot of turbulent years. Always good for a smile or a laugh. She loved car rides and sunflower seeds and sitting in window sills. The top photo of her was with my 110. I was 13 and she was 6. Yes, that is a Hall & Oates album in the background. And a Trixie Belden book on my bed. She was pretty used to having her picture taken as you can see by her professional pose. :P The last photo I took when I was 17 with the "new" Canon AE-1P that my grandmother bought and I inherited. She was a scrappy little thing, eh?


So that's my blast to the past. 20+ years difference but I guess I haven't really changed much as far as subjects go. I still take photos of the people I love and the landscapes around me. :)

Like I said, I'll still be posting on Photoblog so if you are curious about what I'm up to, you can visit there. Photoblog allows anonymous comments now if you'd like to drop a line or two as well. But if not, thanks again for reading this one. :)

http://vollenda.photoblog.com

Spring Exploration

Spring has sprung. Last weekend, when it was hot and smoggy, I couldn't find anything outside that I wanted to photograph. I'd hit a block. But what a difference a week makes. This weekend, spring was sprouting all over and my camera and I went exploring just a few feet from where I live. And we found a treasure trove of opportunities.

The top photos are more of what I'm comfortable with - flowers in a controlled environment (background, lighting, wind, etc.) But there's something to be said about messy, spontaneous shots in nature. The kind that don't stand still. That you can't force to pose for you. That keep you on your toes, looking up, down, and all around. That force you to be quick but precise. A good stretch. Like Yoga for Photography. The photos below are just a few of the ones I took on Saturday. I was pleasantly surprised at how many photos I "found" and actually liked. Maybe I was just in a more open place to see them.





P.S. The hawk is part of a pair that lives by me and I often see them circling overhead when I'm out and about. This is the first time I had my camera with me. The dog is named Duke and I don't know him. He was out for a stroll with his owner. He was cute and seemed happy to be exploring! Like me. :)

When Irish Eyes Are Smiling

Happy St. Patrick's Day. :) Today I'm Irish thru my nieces and nephew - Morgan, Madison, & Max Douglas. Hmmm...I guess it doesn't really work that way, does it? Well, anyway, their ancestry is 1/4 Irish, 1/4 German, and 1/2 Mexican. It's why Maddie is light with cute freckles, dark hair, and blue/grey eyes while Morgan has beautiful golden skin, lighter brown hair, and brown eyes. Although, we must also have blue/green eyes in our background somewhere since brown eyes is the dominant gene. Max is somewhere between the two of them.

Definitely, they are exposed to their Mexican heritage more than their others. It's what my sister knows, what I know, what my mom, dad, & grandfather know. Jack, their dad, wants to give them more exposure to the other. They get some of that from their grandma Judy who is an excellent cook and sometimes, on holidays, makes traditional Irish or German meals. While today may seem frivoulous what with the wearing-o-the-green, and pinching, and green beer (but not for them), it does give them a chance to celebrate that side of them. Although, I think the devilish glint in their eyes says it's about the pinching.

So today, I wanted to post photos of the M&Ms and some moments that made me laugh and made my eyes smile. :) You know, it's pretty easy to get a good photo of Morgan or Madison or Max when it's just one of them. It's slightly harder to get a good photo of the girls together because one may blink or look away or stick her tongue out. :P But throw Max into the mix with both of them and it's an adventure! It's not just three times as hard, it's more like 10 times as hard. But I keep trying. And at least we'll always have photos to look back and laugh at. :D

Grapes

Here are some purple tulips I picked up this weekend. I love tulips, as you may know, and I couldn't resist them. They reminded me of grapes. I never used to be a purple person. My favorite color is green. Emerald green. There's something about a lush green that makes me feel calm and happy. But my niece Morgan's favorite color is purple. And she used to pair purple and green together (because she knew it was my favorite). And the color combination grew on me. I began to notice it more and more in nature. Now it's one of my favorite color combinations. :) I argued in favor of it a few weeks ago. How could Mother Nature be wrong?

The first three photos are in natural, outdoor light. The first one is in direct sunlight. The next two are in the shade with my apartment wall creating the blue background. More standard beauty shots. Beautiful, colorful flowers.

The last two photos were an experiment with natural light indoors and an ISO setting of 1600. It created noise and made them grainy. I kind of like the harshness of it. Like it's trying to be tough and gritty. A bad a$$ tulip.

Do You See Me?

Laurie commented on my blog last week with this comment:

"Funny how easy it is to identify a pic that was not taken by you."

It got me thinking. Do my photos have a stamp on them that says it is a "Lisa" photo? Do they have a quality to them that says I took them? I like to think that my landscapes are crisp and colorful. That my floral shots are lush and saturated. That my portrait are thoughtful and real. But what about the other stuff. The things that catch my eye that I don't usually shoot. Can you tell then? Is it the subject? Is it the style?

There are two photographers on photoblog who I think have a "stamp". I can instantly recognize a photo belongs to them. I love their work.

Whibley for his b&w portraits:
One of his portraits
My favorite photo of his
Whibley's photos have great lighting and great expression. His blacks are crisp and the photos have incredible detail. My favorite, "Wrecking Ball", I would hang on my wall in a heartbeat!

And LisetteT for her still lifes:
A "typical" LisetteT photo
One of my favorite LisetteT photos
LisetteT also has great lighting in her photos and wonderful composition. And a touch of whimsy which I really enjoy. Plus, I am learning a little bit of french from her posts and her comments on my blog! :) I have to admit that I've been using babel fish though. Cheating, I know!

Ok, yes, they both sign their photos. But even without their signatures, I would still recognize one of their photos. :) By the way, they are only two of the awesome photographers on Photoblog. I am really inspired by my friends there and what they post and their commitment to photography.

These photos I took at Victoria Gardens a few weeks ago. I thought now would be a good time to post them considering the price of gas these days. Although, since I ride my bike every where and don't own a car, it doesn't affect me! :P Anyway...do you see me in these photos?