Category: Photos to share

Hard Look in the Mirror

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Looking back at the images I have made the last several years has been quite the wake up call. Very little time has been spent with me behind my camera, which I knew. What I didn’t realize until going through my Lightroom catalog, was how few images had been made. You know the saying “take a hard look in the mirror”? I did. And I didn’t like the reflection.

What happened to my photography? Stress. The level of stress in my life the last several years has been high and negatively affected my photography and well, life in general. It made me a person I didn’t like. Recently, that stress has been taken out of my life and my goal is to get back on track with the person I once was. Happy.

My images have been forced the last 4 or 5 years. Looking at the images, yes they are technically correct, but artistically, I find them trite. My vision behind the camera is not what it once was. How many years has my photography regressed? How long will it take to get that vision back? And can I get it back?

Over and over in photography workshops you will be told to photograph every day. Every day? There have been several months at a time that my camera bag just sat and collected dust! Do I need to start all over practicing basic photography skills? Or will it all come flooding back once I get out in the field again?

Here is a gallery of images that I selected to share while still waiting for that pink card to arrive from the Iowa State Fair. And thinking about my reflection after taking a hard look in the mirror.

Leaf in Snow
Bleeding Hearts
Virginia Bluebells
Yellow Nasturtium
Yellow Nasturtium
Shasta Daisies
Purple Coneflowers
Fall Harvest
Family Farming
Fall in Rural Iowa
Fall in Rural Iowa
Pep Ventosa Style Paperwhites

Waiting and Looking Back

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Waiting to hear if any of my photos were chosen for the Photography Salon for the 2022 Iowa State Fair can be trying. So on this holiday weekend, I thought it would be fun to take a look back from the last few years of images that haven’t been shared, at least on this site.

Interestingly, another photographer submitted a very similar image to my bleeding hearts image to the 2019 Iowa State Fair and was chosen for display and I believe received an award. Am I sorry this image wasn’t submitted, a little. But it also makes me feel good that another photographer chose to “steal like an artist” as this is a huge compliment and was chosen for the Photography Salon.

Next up are two images of wildflowers native to Iowa. These two images were made the same day as my image Spring at Lacey that was submitted this year to the Iowa State Fair. It’s a few years later and I am still pleased with both images.

This crabapple tree was in full bloom. I have photographed this same tree in the fall. I like to do that, photograph the same scene during the different seasons.

This juvenile robin had recently fledged and was perched in my lilac tree. At first I was startled to see it as I wasn’t aware a nest was near by. Surprisingly, it stayed in the same spot while I went inside to grab my camera. Granted, wildlife and birds, are not subjects I photograph, so to be able to make this image was quite exciting!

One of my favorite flowers to grow are zinnias. The bees and butterflies love to feast on their pollen. Below is a monarch that would visit my flowers each and every day at about the same time.

The final image to share today was made at Geode State Park.

Over the next couple of weeks while waiting, I may look back and share more images.