Photographs are taking an ever-more important place in my life; perhaps they are in yours as well. I'm talking about photographs that I've taken of events, people, and scenes in my life--for better or worse, they are the "proof of life" for me.
Four things have led to this increased documentation: 1) my husband bought me a great camera for Christmas in 2009; 2) my son, Jesse, has a similar camera and shares tips with me; 3) I began attending a workshop once a month where several women get together to work on scrapbooks and talk photos and family; 4) there is so much to see in the world and I want to remember the scenes, events, and people who are so important to me.
I now take photos on my Canon
Rebel, iPhone, a small Cannon
Powershot that I keep in my purse, and a
Diana+ camera. When we go on vacation, I want to take them all! The room I save by bringing my books on an e-reader is now lost to cameras… hmmmm….
Anyway, this morning I went through and picked out a few of my favorite photos thus far this year. They aren't necessarily the best photos, but they are the ones that have meaning for me. Here they are with short descriptions…
In February, Jesse visited and, when out for a drive, we stopped at a small cemetery that held the remains of soldiers of the American Revolution, War of 1812, and Civil War. It was very meaningful to me to take photos there with my son. Later in the year, I joined ancestry.com and began researching our family history. This has been a wonderful project, full of interesting surprises.
In 2010, Mark and I ate at L'Albatross in University Circle area of Cleveland, Ohio. I had squash soup and it was the best soup I'd ever had in my whole life. So delicious that at the performance of the Cleveland Orchestra later that night, I kept thinking about the soup. I longed to have more! So, this past February I found a recipe and made squash soup and, yes, it was every bit as good. This was also during Jesse's visit and he advised me to take photos of food from the side, a little above the side, rather than straight down. It was a very helpful tip!
One afternoon last week, Mark said there was a katydid on the sliding glass door in his office. Well, it took no convincing at all for me to leave the fascinating world of small publishing to investigate a large bug that masquerades as a green leaf. Little did I know, how endearing this little creature would seem to be.
I grabbed my "big" camera, a Canon EOS Digital Rebel (nothing fancy to you photographers out there, I'm sure, but the best camera I've ever owned…I am in love with it), and scuttled into "Shakes, Shivers, and Dithers' " domain, parking myself on the floor in front of the glass.
Katydid had no idea she was there to teach me the finer points of the "M" setting on my camera and how to use f-stop and ISO more effectively, without losing my cool. There was no way to get what I wanted without fussing extensively with the settings, and then when I did get the light right (what did people do before digital cameras?) I had issues with the focus. And then I remembered the manual focus switch near the lens, which my son, Jesse, had shown me on his last visit. (I wish I'd remembered that a week earlier when trying to get a good shot of a spider web…)
(Photo 1) Here you can see Katydid and her (or his?) shadow. I like how you can see her wings and how much they resemble a green leaf. From what I've read, I think this is a young katydid because the back legs are not that long in relationship to the length of her body. Maybe this is why she was not at all afraid of me…I continued to snap photos...
(Photo 2) When I figured out the right setting, I got the background (above) dark and I started to see the incredible detail in Katydid's underside.
(Photo 3) Later, I took one of the full body
Jackie, December 2009
The following post originally appeared online in 2004. I'm pairing it now with some photographs of the wonderful dogs (and birds) in my family's life. Enjoy!
The media is all abuzz about new science findings regarding dogs who "are much smarter than scientists have thought." Thousands of dollars of research might have been saved, had they spent anytime at my home, or observing the lives of many of my friends who also have dogs. Here's what I could have told scientists, for free:
- Dogs know when you are happy, sad, busy, angry, worried, ill, and in love.
- They know when you mean it, don't mean it, aren't sure if you mean it, and are consulting dog behavior books to find out if you should mean it.
- Dogs know that exercise is good for you.
Well, this brings me to my last post on our trip to New Orleans...sigh. Have you enjoyed seeing glimpses of it as much as I've enjoyed telling you about it? I hope so.
Here are the various posts on our trip:
1) Wonderful Food and Restaurants
2) The French Quarter and Street Bands
3) The Garden District
4) Shopping, Books, and Miscellaneous
5) People and Animals
I want to share with you a few photos of people and animals. I realized that while it is easier and I am more drawn to take photos of buildings and landscapes and beautiful trees that, as a writer, it would be good for me to spend more time looking at people. How they are dressed. How they hold themselves. How they interact with others. What does their body language say? This new travel camera Mark gave me has a "discreet" setting (no flash and no "click"). I found that in crowds no one is really paying attention to me; I can get some good photos.
In one case, where musicians were involved, I felt hesitant to draw close for the photo I wanted (and couldn't get at night using the zoom feature...I had to be close). But then I realized that musicians who play on sidewalks in tourist centers probably aren't worried about having their photo taken.
The photo at the top of this post was taken while we were sitting at Cafe Du Monde. A group of uniform-clad schoolkids was milling about and this young lady on the left and her posture were interesting to me. I wondered what sort of books she liked to read. Would she like Lucky Press's latest YA novel, My Beginning? (By Melissa Kline) She sat on the bench a while, then got up and these young men came in and sat down and I loved their posture.
Here is my guy at Dickie Brennan's Steakhouse.
I loved the view from our table into the kitchen at Emeril's. Here is a waiter, waiting.
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In 2010, Mark and I ate at L'Albatross in University Circle area of Cleveland, Ohio. I had squash soup and it was the best soup I'd ever had in my whole life. So delicious that at the performance of the Cleveland Orchestra later that night, I kept thinking about the soup. I longed to have more! So, this past February I found a recipe and made squash soup and, yes, it was every bit as good. This was also during Jesse's visit and he advised me to take photos of food from the side, a little above the side, rather than straight down. It was a very helpful tip! 
