The day after Christmas, Central Ohio woke up with amazing and unusual weather that I call: “Frog” (technically I think it’s called Hoar Frost, but Frog sounds cuter to me). It was like Mother Nature gave all photographers her holiday gift one day late.
All photographs shot on Canon Rebel xsi / 55-250mm
So it’s obvious to see that after my last post about the Badlands in September, my website was really neglected for the rest of the year. And that’s probably because of several things:
And so here we are. Over the last 12 years I’ve published 5 different blogs (including this one) and have written the same sentence over and over again that reads similarly as: “Hi Everyone, Sorry I’ve been away so long!” But I’m not writing that this time. The concept and the reasons for blogging has changed over the years so it’s not always the back and forth conversation happening like it used to. That’s what Facebook is for.
However I would still like to keep this site going again. It’s my home base for all my photographs and current information on art exhibits, works in progress, and ambitions. But to start the year 2019 with a bang, I have to close up 2018. There were lots of photographs I hadn’t published here yet in the later part of the year, so without further ado, here they are on digital and film….
All photos shot on iPhone, Canon DSLR, Pentax K1000 35mm
The first real, full day of the vacation was at Keystone, SD. We drove to Mount Rushmore and on the road we could see it on the horizon and I started to say, “OMG, there it is!!” If you haven’t been to Mount Rushmore, there is a winding road to drive to get to the monument and at one point, all of the sudden you see it in the distance and it’s… well … breathtaking.
I have never in my life ever felt so American.
After the amazing monument it started to rain and we checked out “Bear Country” which wasn’t just about bears. There were Bighorn Sheep, Arctic Wolf, Grizzly Bears, Black Bears, Lions, Elk, Bison, Badgers, Otters, just to name a few. We saw a bear fight and I really enjoyed watching two adorable young mountain lion siblings acting like siblings.
All photographs shot with Canon Rebel xsi and iPhone 8
Next stop: Badlands
It took two days to get us to a landscape we had never seen before. And the long drive was completely worth it.
It has taken a long time to go through all the thousands of pictures I took on our trip to South Dakota and I’ll start with the photographs taken when everything in the landscape changed. They don’t call it “Big Sky Country” for nothing.
Next stop: Mount Rushmore and Keystone, SD
All photographs taken with a Canon Rebel xsi and an iPhone 8.
I am definitely not the kind of chick hanging out at 6am on a Saturday, but these are the things you do for your kids, right? We left at the crack of dawn to get to Genoa, Ohio and we met his fellow high school cross country runners; following a nice lunch buffet. And so it seemed, we are now back into 5k season into the fall. Because there’s another 5k next Saturday morning…
But for this photographer, the old town Americana and country vibe in Genoa, Ohio was full of photography opportunities. So I was ‘OK’ to be there. I’m not going to post all of the pics I took of my son and his friends because I’ve been told that it’s “weird” if I post pics of him and his friends on my blog (I’m only doing to post pics of him on Facebook 😉). Funny how things change in generations, but in a way, they don’t change. Remember when our parents found our diaries in the middle of the mattress? 🤔 And our response was like, “Mom, you read my diary?? I hate you!”
Yeah, I’m a mom with a bunch of teenagers now. So I get it.
Here are the pics that I took, no pictures of my son. I’m always inspired by these little Ohio towns when I get out of the Columbus metro area.
After a 2 year hiatus (which was needed), the garden is back alive (after lots of freakin’ work!). There is still weeding and working to do (and that’s what you get for ignoring your gardens for 2 years), so this is still a work in progress. Here are the first pics of 2018. Definitely more pics coming through the summer as everything grows.
It’s funny though, Why does a young Jersey chick who grew up in an urban setting enjoy planting vegetables and flowers as an adult so much?? I don’t know, but all I know is that I love the feel of the dirt in my hands, the sweat on my neck, the reward of watching vegetables grow from seeds to something I chew on – it’s wonderful!
I haven’t posted all the pics of the garden yet so here’s a sampling. But here is what I planted this year: green bell peppers, habanero pepper, tomatoes, basil, arugula, chives, lavender, snap peas, catnip, lettuce, pumpkins and in the perennial garden we have strawberries and raspberries, a blueberry plant, peonies, roses and some random plants throughout the front and back yards. Oh and Andrew also planted his own seeds of bachelor button flowers. Can’t wait to see them grow! So happy to see him so enthused to plant something.
Also, in this new season, make sure you patronize your local farmer’s market!
Arugula
Chives
Tomatoes
Strawberry
Lilac
Lettuce
Peony
Snap Pea
A fly?
All photos shot on a Canon Rebel xsi
Last weekend I went to a tour headed by the Young Preservationists Society and learned lots of more info on this fair midwest city of Columbus. Of course it was also a great opportunity to take some shots in some usual and unique locations – from the State House to an old historic building during construction.
The Selfie!
All shots taken with a Canon Rebel xsi and an iPhone 6.
During my quick trip to NJ last week, I was able to get away for a few hours and take some shots of the boardwalk in the iconic town of Asbury Park, NJ. Enjoy!
All photographs shot with a Canon Rebel xsi and an iPhone 6. Edits on Photoshop, Snapseed and DistressedFX.
