Do it for Half-an-Hour a Day

Alice laughed. “There’s not use trying,” she said: “one can’t believe impossible things.””I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”  ~ Lewis Carrol

filling up & flaring out

alice’s new mirror

slurpee!

sit & stretch

fill & frame

Wow, what a week. It’s been a wacky, wild, weird week? I’m not sure if it’s the energy of the full moon along with the solar flares but something is helping me to believe some things I thought were impossible … perhaps it’s the friends & family who believe in me when I forget how to believe in myself?

Grateful to all of you ❤

How was your week?

Create a Poem

Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known.~ Oscar Wilde

It’s time to curl up on the on the couch and create-a-poem. Using the visual inspiration from the photos above – CREATE a poem.

• It could be a combination of one word captions inspired by each photo.
• Each line of the poem could be a phrase created by each photo.
• It could be any form of poetry or word play you choose, inspired by the photos.

I came up with this idea on a whim and it has become one of my favorite practices. I’m looking forward to reading a photo-poem by you in the comments.

All artwork, photography, and text in this website copyright © 2011-2012 Christine Young Contact 

On Fire

Build a man a fire and he’ll be warm for the night. Set a man on fire and he’ll be warm for the rest of his life. ~ Terry Prachett

I spent last week warming up in Austin TX. My husband took part in an ‘Editors Retreat’ learning all of the latest & greatest for TV, film & web video production. The retreat included meals & activities from breakfast till after midnight most days. When I join him on business trips, he will try to take an afternoon off and we usually eat dinner together, this trip was so wonderfully different. He was like a kid in a candy store with 60 other ‘kids’ so excited to be together sharing their obsessions & expertise. I hardly saw him, but when I did he was so happy.

When he creates TV shows he often directs, produces, shoots and edits, if I had to choose, I feel like editing is his expertise. I think he is one of best in the business. He got back late the first night and talked about how exciting it was to be around so many editors who knew so much more than him! He loved the class on 3D editing.

On the second night they had a poker tournament, when he rushed out to join the group he said “I’m going to win this thing” I said “How? you don’t play poker” He looked at me with a big smile and said “I read people”. I think I rolled my eyes a bit and said “Have fun”. He got back to the hotel room about 1:00 am carrying the $2000.00 grand prize…. some fancy brand new video storage device that he and all the other editors treated like royalty.

The retreat set him on fire!

I did not mind having lots of time to myself. I found the greenbelt and went on wonderful hikes. Beside all the birds that let me get so close, I found two turtles sunning! I was tempted to crawl on the warm rocks and relax in the sun with them.

Look how close this guy let me get! That pattern on his neck is beautiful.

This guy was a little more reserved.

I jumped across a few rocks and found these bubbles on top of some green gooey stuff in the water… hmmmm??

I ran into so many friendly locals, two asked me to join them on their hikes, later in the day, a group of dog owners let me play with their dogs in the water. The vibe in Austin is so relaxed & friendly, I could live there. I was warned about how terribly hot and long the summers are but when I have a choice, I prefer sweating over shivering. What do you prefer?

I was so happy to be out of the cold wandering and finding all kinds of new things to photograph. I love the shape of these seedpods, they look like skirts dangling with mini bowling balls ready to drop.

The sun sparkeled after a brief rainstorm, I think getting caught in a warm rain is one of my favorite things.

It was such a good trip. We both came home fully refreshed and ready to take on the world.

Have you been on any retreats with peers that inspired you?

Playing in the Street

I still get wildly enthusiastic about little things… I play with leaves. I skip down the street and run against the wind. ~ Leo Buscaglia

It was a warm rain last night so I decided to go out and play in the streets with my camera. I don’t know much about street photography or night photography so it was mostly a fun experiment…

I started my journey wandering over a bridge.

The shiny wet guard rails created some nice reflections.

I waited for a big bus to go by to get some cool streaks of light.

Once I crossed the bridge I was excited to see these lovely ladies walking. I’m getting braver about taking photos of strangers.  I’ve read about street photography and was relieved to learn that many of the best street shooters don’t worry about permission. I have mixed feelings about this but have decided to take on a new mantra recommended by Eric Kim… “I am a street photographer here to capture the beauty in the mundane and I mean nobody ill will,” When I’m at ease and full of gratitude shooting something that I find interesting or beautiful… like this matching umbrella with her bold black & white dress, I’ve found that I can kind of disappear.

Here’s a view of the bridge I walked over from the 10th floor glass elevator. It’s such a cool elevator with glass & mirrors, I’ll have to go back and get a better self-portrait… another area of photography that intrigues me…

I got a little wet in the rain but it was worth it.

Yes, I definitely need more practice with self- portrait… this was the only way I could get enough light on my face with out a flash…I’m looking straight up into a big street lamp. It was a fun evening but I sure prefer taking shots of natures tiny treasures in the golden light.

I’ve been taking photography seriously for a little over a year now and my favorite subjects so far are tiny treasures. My style seems to lean towards finding beauty in mundane bits of nature like a lonely decaying leaf. Yet it’s so exciting to try new subjects & styles. Traveling has been one of the best inspirations for me to grow and expand, it’s been a great trip here in Austin so far.

What type of photography do you love to shoot or view?

More Mystery

 A lazy rhythm looms in the dreamy air and the atmosphere pulsates with bygone duels, past-life romance…  ~Bob Dylan

Do you know much about these amoeba like particles that float in the air?

These nearly invisible particles, inside the hexagon, that float and seemingly roam as if they were alive moving on a plane of existence that is only rarely visible?? I see them when I’m sitting quietly inside and the light comes through a window a certain way. I see them when I’m very still, quiet and paying attention to the moment.

When I’m outside and the sunrays create the portal needed to see this magical amoeba dust?? I have not had my camera, until the other day… It was a gorgeous morning and I could easily see the moving particles in the hexagon sun spots. They are tiny clear worm like things?

My guess is that it’s probably some boring sciency answer that might ruin the magical way I feel when the portal opens and I see something rare and strange. They always remind me of Philip Pullman’s fabulous trilogy  His Dark Materials. Have you read these mystical otherworldly adventures?

I want to know as much as I don’t want to know… What the…

Sunrays makes everything looks so dreamy and magical… what a beautiful world we live in.

P.S. It was so fun to read the answers to the challenge in my last post. Many got 5 or 6 out of 7 right! I was most entertained by all the wrong but incredibly creative answers and captions. The crowd favorite was Lisa A’s captions.

Here is what each of the photos actually are…

1. This is pond scum… beautiful pond scum 🙂

2. A few red berries out of focus.

3. Some breakfast potato oil floating on water in a fry pan by the sink.

4. A deflated basketball, now a dog toy, covered in frost.

5. A mushroom spore print. If you’re interested, I’ll share how to make them in the summer.

6. A guy standing on a dock taking a photo.

7. A sappy icicle.

Since no one got all 7 right, I used random.org to generate a choice from all 16 comments. The winner of an 8″x10″ print of your choice is #10, Lady Fi.

What the ….

Be obscure clearly. ~ E. B. White

In my last post my little crystal ball sitting in the window sill stumped so many. It’s inspired me to share a few other obscure shots. Some are just strange focus experiments, others perhaps a bit  more tricky to figure out…

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2.

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4.

5.

6.

7.

Fill in your thoughts or captions

1.

2.

3. Electric Berries

4.

5.

6.

7.

The first person to guess what most of these are, and/or fill in cool captions will get an 8×10 print of your choice from my archives. Have fun!

Quiet Reflection

Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action. ~ Peter F. Drucker

I hope you have some time this weekend for quiet reflection.

I Love Lisa


She is a friend of mind.  She gather me, man.  The pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order.  It’s good, you know, when you got a woman who is a friend of your mind.  ~Toni Morrison, Beloved

I was on the phone with my friend Lisa for hours today, we get into conversations sometimes that go in all kinds of directions. First we chatted about some aches and pains we are both trying to remedy… which led to a talk about the aging process and baby boomers… then it took a turn into ideas about house projects… which got us making plans to visit each other… somehow I started to download how I stayed up all night ( because of the aches & pains )… I was journaling and had some aha moments as I wrote that may shift my whole way of walking in the world bla bla bla… I went on and on in that punch drunk way that happens from not getting much sleep. In the last half hour she helped me understand how to proceed on my new website design. That could have also been part of the reason I was up all night. My mind has been swirling with new ideas for my new website.

I’m so grateful to have girlfriends who can dance around all of these topics all at once. I can’t even imagine having a similar conversation with my husband, though I’ve tried!

I seem to hike in a similar fashion, wandering off trail when something new calls at me. After I found the bark carved with ‘ I LOVE LISA’ all kinds of bark started to jump out and call me over, it’s taken me a few weeks to gather these…

A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though (s)he knows that you are slightly cracked. ~ Bernard Meltzer

A Feather for You

The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship. ~ William Blake

Did you know that when you receive a feather it is a token of friendship and respect? One of my students in a creativity class I was teaching years ago gave me a beautiful note thanking me for the friendship I offered. She included a soft gray feather letting me know of this native american tradition. I still have it tucked into a jar filled with all the other feathers I find hiking. Every time I look at the jar full of feathers, I think about all of the friendships I cherish.

I wish I could give you this actual feather, hopefully the cyber version will suffice? I found this beautiful gray quill with a soft red tip a few months ago, each time I wander to the ponds out back, I look to see if it’s still stuck on the branch. I’m delighted each time I find it floating in the wind or tangled in the damp conditions. It’s so fun to have something to visit and check in on.

Once I walk past the feather I go check on my nest. The first time I found this tiny treasure, I was devastated to see the broken abandoned eggs, but that’s life, sometimes things just don’t work out. (Sometimes they do, I’ve found so many other wonderful empty nests). I’m so curious about what kind of bird used to live in this one, it’s pretty small, it could fit comfortably in the palm of my hand and the white eggs are about the size of jelly beans?

Do you have something or someone to visit on a regular basis?

Here Comes the Sun

Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth. ~ Buddha

Each day that we get more sun, I feel more alive and filled with a renewed sense of possibility. Even though winter officially starts on December 21, solstice somehow feels like a half way point for me. As soon as the days start getting longer, I shift into knowing that things are getting brighter and some part of me thinks, oh good… winter will soon be over. It’s a weird way of thinking, but it seems to keep my spirits up on the cold gray days?

Luckily the sun has been shining bright the last few days and it feels so good!

For me, I think it would be ideal to live in the northern hemisphere May – October and the southern hemisphere November – April. Maybe someday.

What would be ideal for you?