Bride and Her Photog in Action at Louisiana's Old State Capital Building

When Brandilyn and I visited the Old State Capital Buildings in Baton Rouge, I noticed a female portrait photographer and her subject on the steps leading to the front  entryway.  As we entered the building, we walked around to the spiral stairway.  There, we caught a glimpse of a beautiful bridal session in progress.  After ambling around downstairs, Brandi and I  made our way up the spiral staircase to the second floor.  Again, we happened upon the photographer capturing his bridal portraits.  This time they were in the ballroom.  I asked him if I could take their picture.  He kinda laughed and said that he prefers to be "behind" the camera.  Hey, I hear that!  I think that behind the lens might be my secret motive to become a photographer.  :)    I posted  a few snapshots of the shoot.   I asked him for contact information so that I could email the files to him.  He quickly gave me a business card.   I would have loved to find out more about who he is & talk all day about photography.  But,I couldn't hold him up, he had work to do. 

Well, this morning, I remembered that I had placed  his card in the side pocket of my purse.  I decided that I needed to honor my promise and send him the pics.   When I went to his site, I was blown away.  He really has done an amazing job with his web page.  More importantly, his photography is incredible and inspiring.  I enjoyed cruising around his site and gobbling up all his tips.  I noticed that he is offering a Mentorship Workshop in the Baton Rouge area.  The next one available is in November.  I would love to participate in that workshop.  Since, my birthday is November 3rd, maybe I can call it my b-day present to myself!  If you would like to check out his work go to http://www.markeric.net/.  He is based in the area of Alexandria, LA.

Hands, Helping Hands...

Hands, Helping hands...

I don't know about you but old fashioned "barn raising" scenes in movies really move me. When I see people come together in a spirit of community & compassion, it really makes me believe...I believe in brotherhood. I believe together, we can move that mountain. So, this photo of my dad, uncle and brother's hands together helping with a family workday & house painting for my aging grandfather reminds me of an old song called He Ain't Heavy, He's my Brother.  

PawPaw celebrated his 87th birthday earlier this year.  Although, he continues to live as independently as possible, the family joined forces and painted his house.  I think I can speak for the rest of the family and say, "He Ain't Heavy, He's Our PawPaw".

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He Ain't Heavy, He's my Brother

song by The Hollies

(B. Scott and B. Russell)

The road is long

With many a winding turn

That leads us to who knows where

Who knows when

But I'm strong

Strong enough to carry him

He ain't heavy, he's my brother



So on we go

His welfare is of my concern

No burden is he to bear

We'll get there

For I know

He would not encumber me

He ain't heavy, he's my brother



If I'm laden at all

I'm laden with sadness

That everyone's heart

Isn't filled with the gladness

Of love for one another



It's a long, long road

From which there is no return

While we're on the way to there

Why not share

And the load

Doesn't weigh me down at all

He ain't heavy, he's my brother



He's my brother

He ain't heavy, he's my brother...

Family Workday at PawPaw John's

Airport Good-byes

Today's photo challenge:   A Single Window

I had to run errands, pay bills and do some Monday stuff.  I grabbed my camera on the way out the door but did not find any inspiration for a photo to go with today's challenge subject.  That may be because when I saw the subject, I immediately remembered this sweet picture of my nephew.  I rode with his MawMaw, PawPaw and Aunt Tracie to bring him and his mom to the airport for their return home.  This photo is soooo precious to me.  He and his mama live in a different state and we do not get to see them as often as we would like.  So, Caleb is a big boy now and his birthday is this month.  The family is anxiously waiting for them to come home in a couple weeks.  We are excited to celebrate his B-day with him this year! 

Sherrie and Caleb, We can't wait to see ya!

Modified shelves to fit the 73" tv for the man cave!

Terry had to cut out some shelves from the built in bookcase unit so that he could fit his new tv! On Father's Day last month, the television flipper (him!) came across QVC selling this tv as a Today's Special Value. I told him to 'change that channel'! I am a recovering QVCaholic. He said, 'Wait, I want to hear what they have to say....' Minutes later he had me calling in the order for this 73" tv. When it arrived, we had some modifying to do. We set it up temporarily on a stand until last night when he could cut out the shelves. So, I was painting and staining to repair the patches at midnight last night. When I saw that my photo group's challenge for today was shelves, I told him to strike a pose.

Smokey and the Bandit movie was on. See that hot spot on the screen? That is the hot spot from the flash. I thought it worked out that it looks almost like a huge headlight beam from the big truck.

Terry asked me how much of my stuff actually needs to go back on the shelves.  He told me if I didn't hurry up and put my things back up, he was going to put his football paraphanalia up there.  With 2 daughters and me, he has lived in a girl world for a long time.  I think he is ready for a man cave.  Actually, this is the living room.  It would be super nice to build a cave for his retreat.  He would hibernate there I am most certain!

Follow up: 

Jean Ann (blog: http://jakozlowski-athousandwords.blogspot.com/), asked a great question about the hot spot and how I was able to get it line up with the headlights on the big truck image. 

Here is my answer:  "Anytime, I tell my family members to 'go over there so I can get your picture...' and IF they decide to cooperate...I have to get that shot is 2.3 seconds or Its Over! If I take longer than that, I get eye rolls, shoulders thrown down in a huff, and looks that say "Would you hurry up and get this over with!" So, there is no time for creativity. I did a test shot with no flash and the tv picture was great, but all else was dark. Tried a couple different apertures but I knew I was going to lose my subject. So, I cranked it over to auto and let the pop flash fill up room. Timing of the two shots were deliberate. I wanted to have an iconic image on the tv screen and there was big ole Burt Reynolds, larger than life. I couldn't pass it up. Then, when I saw those big trucks rolling down the interstate, I knew I wanted that image too. Terry had no idea what I was getting excited about but I told him it was so cool. I knew I was getting the hot spot but, 'whatever'...ya know? So, when I downloaded the images, I noticed where the hot spot was on the trucker shot & thought, "HOT DANG!"

So, longer answer short, dumb luck. "

Brandilyn and me - photo field trip to the State Capital

Brandilyn, my niece, went on a photo field trip with me to the State Capital a few days ago.  I had some resources that I needed to return to ELBA so I asked her if she wanted to ride with me.  Brandi is always so easy to be around.  Anyway, another place that I had in mind to visit was the Walker Museum.  I had seen that John Gallager's beautiful nature photography was currently on display.   When she jumped into my car, I handed her my Panansonic Lumix and told her she can take shots of anything that she finds interesting. 

Silly me, I went to Walker and realized that I had not gotten the directions to the museum.  We stopped at the Police Station and they helped me with directions.  We finally found our destination and went inside the small old house turned local museum.  They have really put together a very nice collection of artifacts.  I especially loved looking over all the old photos that are posted on huge display boards.  One in particular, piqued my imagination.  It looked like a WWII period photo in sepia coloring of a couple in love.  What I liked was the manner in which the man had his arms wrapped around his girl.  It was like he was hugging her around the waist in that WWII kind of way.  I know, I know....hugging in a WWII kind of way?  That was so silly and vague sounding to try to describe it like that.  If you would see it, you might know.  The way they were laughing into the camera was terrific also.  It made me want to attempt to recreate the vibe and style of that earlier era.  I find it so interesting how there is a certain 'flavor' about those old photos.   I think my parents would very, very much enjoy browsing through this museum.  Lots of local interests there.  I can't wait to go back and discover many more treasures. 

After we left the Walker Museum, Brandi and I decided to go to the new State Capital tower lookout.  I had not been there since I was a little grade school kid.  Listen, I remember that school field trip and I didn't like it at all.  Oh my goodness, walking up to the guard rail and feeling the sway was terrifying.  Dizzy!  All I wanted to do was sit down flat on the ground.  So, almost 40 years later, I went back to the tower lookout.  As we were riding the elevator to the 24th floor, I could feel that school kid apprehension rising up in me.  But, I decided that I could do this now.   At floor 24, we had to catch a different elevator that went up to the tip- top of the tower.   Ok, we made it.  I stepped out onto the landing and voila!  I did it!  It was not so bad.  Although, when I would walk around, I kinda got a bit dizzy.  I asked Brandi if she felt it too.  She said she did. 

I took some pics of Brandi.  Here she is taking pics from the top of the State Capital tower lookout.   The following pictures are Brandi's images.  To Bran, I think you have mad skill!  I love you and Happy Sweet 16 on Thursday, next week!!!

She took the picture of my reflection as I was studying the replica model of the Old State Capital Building in the glass case.  I saw my own reflection and was reminded of an photographer's interesting work that I had seen here:   http://craftandvision.com/authors/eli-reinholdtsen/   Her name is  Eli Reinholdsten.  She sells a pdf version of her book Chasing Reflections.   She teaches technique to capture artistic reflections in photographs. 

I had just seen the front cover of Reinholdsten's advertised book this morning so it was fresh on my mind when I noticed my reflection.  I asked Brandilyn to try to capture the image.  At first, I could see her and the camera in the glass reflection. I knew she would be in the picture and it would not be as effective.  So, I asked her to move around to the side until I did not see her camera reflection.  We laughed as she kept adjusting her position around the glass case in order to capture the right angle.  You can see the lady and son who walked into the room as we were experimenting. We just kept going with our project.   It was fun and her photo turned out neat.  To me, when you catch human reflections, sometimes it appears as an apparition. wooooooo....spooky. 

I gotta say, "Great job, Bee-RaaN!"  :) Oh, yeah and congrats on that driving learner's permit! 

I think I am going to purchase that pdf that I mentioned.  It is only $5.00.  I think that it is great value and definitely worth a look see! 

Remembering Maw Maw Irene's Coffee Milk (Café au lait)

Daily Photo Challenge
Subject: Stretchy
July 27, 2010

For the stretchy challenge, I tried to get my husband to draw back the sling shot. He finally cooperated with a stipulation which was... "IF" I took his pic while sitting in the big boy chair as he was watching TV. Not alot of enthusiasm there. So, that was not really the image I was going for. Then, I looked around and remembered that I had flexi straws. They are a tiny bit stretchy, right? You know how one idea leads your imagination in all kinds of directions? Suddenly, I remembered my favorite drink when I was little kid. MawMaw Irene would fix me a big glass of sugary sweet coffee milk. She had this one certain green glass that was THE coffee milk glass for my brother and I. In good ole MawMaw style and for the special touch, she invariably plunked in a bent flexi straw. Well, actually she would put it in straight so that I could bend it over to hear that cranky sound.  Oh, yeah. It was so delicious down to the last little slurrrrrrrrp! Lastly, I would turn the glass up and throw my head back to get that final tiny drop. What a simple treat but a memory in my heart forever. Now, I am nostaglic for the Sunday evening program I used to watch when I stayed with MawMaw...Wild Kingdom.