time.

it seems as if time is flying. i arrived here just days ago and i turn around and it's been 6 weeks since i've slept in my own bed at night, dined in my own kitchen, snuggled with my puppy, or seen my husband.

everyone said there's a 6 or 7 week breaking point and i believe i have almost reached mine. as we enter our first extended break, 4 days, i am perplexed at what to do to fill my time. as i sit here in the coffee shop watching another patron playing chess by himself i feel as if a part of me is missing. my camera is sitting on the floor back at the house.

an interesting man studying his notes on offensive and deffensive chess moves taken on yellow paper, written in scratchy haste. his green and white board addorned with ivory and mahogany pawns, queens, knights, and rooks calls to my creative eye.

my brain is swarming with new knowledge that has hardly had time to sink in, yet, i still crave more. this adventure, this new life, is going to suit me well.

rodeo fun

had a great time at a small town rodeo over the weekend. the first photo is probably in my 'top 5 favorites' for the summer so far. and i love color editing! we also had a blast camping the night before. fun with night photography, glow sticks, and light painting. hope you had a good weekend too!

a few more...

...for good measure.

good food

starting to learn a bit of color editing. still need to calibrate my monitor but i figure it's unlikely yours is calibrated anyway. i just love that everything here can be found fresh at the saturday or sunday farmer's markets. i love how this place is so active and outdoorsy and puts high value on health. (yes, the top photo is the new and improved, edited version from a few days ago).

a little blue.

just some interesting 'blue' photos from around town. could be inspiration for my final project??? i'm liking the door better than the chest though. hmm, maybe with a model in front of it.....

weekend.

had a nice, relaxing weekend. good times photographing, eating, and socializing with some new friends. enjoyed the saturday sunshine at the farmer's market and a local co-op farm. then had a cook-out with some new friends. we had the prettiest, most colorful meal i've eaten since arriving in montana. after that we met up with some more people to listen to some live music at a local bar. been having a lazy sunday and left the camera at home for the day. hope you're having a good weekend too!

farm

spent some time at the local co-op farm taking photos of the animals. it was a beautiful, sunny day yesterday while i was there visiting the ladies and my new mouse friends. still only cropping to edit, soon i'll have a calibrated monitor and training on color editing.

post-processing

same photos after a little lightroom magic. still loving that second one and i realize now that the image was a defining moment in my photographic education - i want to photograph something that can react and relate to the camera (and me, the photographer) and i'm just not going to get that from photographing stuff.

small world

ran into a band last night from a town right next to where i live (back home). they were really good and i enjoyed photographing something that i have no experience shooting images of (stage). the second image is actually my favorite because i established a relationship between my camera and the musician which lead to him turning his hat around for the photo (he lurked in the shadows with a hat brim pulled down to his eyes for the entire performace).

The Giving Tree Band. they play folk music and are a green band, the recording studio they use is solar powered. check them out here, and go see them if they are near you because they were great.

flare

just a little intentional lens flare.

70-200

went through a day or two with little inspiration and then had some great light last night at a bbq fest. still feeling a little blah about my images but i think it's just the switch from jpeg to raw (raw looks a little flat). my 70-200 should arrive on tuesday so i'm excited about that. sort of feel a little like i need to just get out and shoot more but the weather is great today with a bright sunny sky (not ideal for photograpers)....

got my laundry done and some computer things set up on saturday which was refreshing. not sure what i'm going to do the rest of the day today.

laundry

this is not my laundry, but laundry is on my list of things i need to do in the next few days. didn't shoot anything today because of class and rain/bad light. very tired today so i hope to get to bed a little earlier. anyway, enjoy the neighbor's underwear!

a favorite

honey bees

as i sit here at barnes & nobel i realize that i have so much to learn this summer (and i'm thankful that it's not geometry like the tutor is instructing next to me). but still, photography is so complex that i'm hoping there is room enough in my brain for all the information headed my way.

I had the opportunity to shoot some great bee boxes with perfect light but feel like my images are not as bold or striking as i had hoped they would turn out to be. should i remove my UV filter? do i just not get exposure? do i just need to be patient until i learn lightroom3? whatever it is, i hope that i hope i can figure it out.

today started out very early, 2am, with a sunrise shoot and then a ghost town, a historic downtown, a waterfall, and a review lecture. my brain is so tired that i don't even know what happened today and what happened tomorrow. so i'll leave you with my favorite shot of the day, enjoy.