RANT

"We should put aside partisan rancor and honor that lecherous, corrupt, murdering Commie Kennedy. I mean it. No attacks 2day." - posted on a social networking site by someone I used to know.

Hmmm …

Lecherous, not in 20+ years and not since he got sober (are we now judging people on their behavior from 20 years ago – this poster might want to remember I knew them then!)

Corrupt? How does one come to that conclusion?

Murdering? Really? So you, who weren’t even alive when Ms. Kopeckne died, now know better than the police and district attorneys who saw all the evidence and the coroner who did the autopsy. I grant that he didn’t do the right thing, he himself regretted his actions. Do you feel the same way about Laura Bush, who killed a friend of hers in a car accident when she was young and dumb?

Commie? You are kidding right? You think the civil rights act was communist? You think the American with Disabilities Act (flaws and all) was communist? You think providing healthcare to children was communist? Maybe you should explain just exactly what you mean by Commie … is it that you think attempting to be fair to all even the “least” fortunate (a Christian value much espoused in the New Testament) is somehow communist?

Honestly, this post on a social networking site, from some one I knew in high school, pissed me off in a way that I haven’t been in a long time. It makes me wonder if this person claims to be a Christian (given the tone of the post, and others said person has made, I would guess yes).

He’s dead; he lived his life in the fishbowl of media scrutiny not initially of his own choosing. He did a great many things for a great many people, none of which was his obligation in this world. He could have been a football player; he could have been a sailor; he could have been a painter. He chose to remain in public service, even after he was castigated for his flaws. He was held to a higher standard of conduct because of his last name. I grant you that Edward M. Kennedy was an imperfect man, but he was also a man who understood that and did his best to make up for his shortcomings. Can this poster say the same of themselves?

Aside from my personal feelings on Mr. Kennedy and his life; I am offended and the concept of attacking a man who is dead. It’s cowardly. If nothing else, have a little respect for all of the people who are mourning him.

We need to go back to being a civilized nation and remember that just because someone disagrees with you politically, doesn’t make them a bad person. With apologies to Molly Ivins for paraphrasing her sentiments, “I like Republicans as people, I just don’t agree with them politically.”

Miscellany

Miscellaneous info one. My office is moving. I don't like moving, but at least when I move, I get the pay off of a new place to live, and the "opportunity" to go through all my stuff, not that I throw much away, but I get to see it again. This move, well I haven't been with the company but a year or so, and there is not much I can throw away. There is a new workspace to look forward to, but really the hassle of moving for a new workstation, well not really the payoff one would expect for the energy expended. However, I am sure it will save the company money since the building is owned by a majority owner in the big umbrella that owns the entity I work for (don't try to unravel the spaghetti, I just don't want to go into the relationship I know very little about).

Miscellaneous info two. I am trying to remember to appreciate the beauty of nature even when I don't have my camera with me. Instead of getting upset I don't have my camera when I see something I would like to photograph, I just try to be thankful for the experience. It's not always immediate, but I am working on it.

Miscellaneous info three. I am looking forward to rejoining the ranks of the public transportation commuters. My new office is twice as far from my home as the old one, and Austin Capital Metro has a Park & Ride lot 1.6 miles from home, woo hoo!

Miscellaneous info four. Our kittens do not like rain, they didn't used to mind, but since the hailstorm earlier this year, they run for the closet when rain hits the window. This is mildly amusing until the rain stops and pounce mode returns.

M. i. five. I really don't like filing, and I am beginning to think that I might have a mild allergy to the files we used. Whenever I work with them, my arms where they touch get itchy. Oh well such is life.

I think that's it for now ... although I am sure that there is something I am missing.

More fun than a barrel of monkeys

Not really. I think I have narrowed down one calendar to it's 12 pics. Then I upload it to the place I intend to use to print it. Several of my carefully selected photos are from a camera that had lower resolution than my current camera. This means I can't use them for the calendar because they will come out crappy. I can't believe I didn't remember/realize that. In order to keep with the carefully laid out order (well more to stay within the sort of color scheme that sort of fell together while laying it out) I have to go figure out flower picture(s) that are the color of the one(s) they will be replacing.

I didn't realize how few photos of red flowers I have (few being a relative term). So I finally have gotten all the photos either replaced or edited (this makes the file bigger and fools the printing systems that use file size as a correlation to resolution - that is an entirely different subject and could take up several days of ranting - not pretty) and uploaded. This is for one calendar ... I have several more to do, ah well, it's a learning experience.

However, as a "reward" for getting that done, I allowed myself to take side trips, just a small road here, and different route there, that led to getting a couple of really nice photos. May have to try that approach around here more. I deliberately went out yesterday with the intention of getting some more Texas photos. Got a few, but in less time this morning, I got more.

So I guess the lesson, yet again, is go with the flow, it leads better.


On a different note ... one of my favorite subjects, especially for discovering new features on my camera, is my kittens (they aren't yet a year old). Some days one is easier than the other to photograph. Yesterday, it was Karma (the brown and white one). Time before that it was her sister Dharma (who appears black in person and some photos, but is in reality, a dark brown and black striped cat).

Yesterday I caught Karma in mid-jump, and while it's not the best picture, it's awesome for the look on her face. She looks almost like a carousel animal, mid-stride and minus the pole.

Karma and Dharma are actually sisters. They were abandoned near a feed store, along with their 3 siblings, before their eyes were open. The benevolent folks that rescued them (feed store owner's son and his girlfriend) and hand fed them until they could be adopted, have my undying gratitude, as these two are endless entertainment, even when they annoying. Now if they could just learn to type.

The Trouble with Calendars

A number of people have asked me why I don't put out a calendar. Well there are several reasons. First and foremost, production costs on a quality calendar are not inexpensive (for commercial printing about $2700 including tax for a small run). I can get around that, it just ups the cost per calendar. After figuring out what I would need to retail the calendar(s) for, I asked some folks if they would pay that price and the overwhelming response was yes. The second, and more important issue is it's not easy to decide on 12 images, just 12 images, to conform to a theme. It can be downright maddening.

However, I decided I would try. I took some time to lay out several calendars, because you know one is not time consuming enough. At first I thought, how hard can this be, pick a theme (flowers, water, sky, Texas) and put your best photos for that theme in a folder, then narrow it down to 12. Sounds easy right? I did that, starting with Flora, I had enough photos picked out for 3 or 4 calendars when I sat down to whittle it to 12. After looking at all of the pics, I decided I better do two Flora calendars, it would be better that way. Part of the problem is that I have some close ups, I have some broader views, I have flowers, and then interesting tree/leaf photos and trying to put all of those in one calendar is not going to work. So I then created a new folder for Flora II and made some progress.

Then I tried to layout my Texas calendar and discovered I need to go take more pictures of home. I had a hard time coming up with 12 really good quality photos of Texas. This calendar may just wait a few more weeks before I finalize the layout. I thought I had taken more photos than I have recently. Oh darn, I have to go take more photos, gee guess I'll just have to suck it up.

Okay so on to one of the more challenging layouts, Water. I love water as a photo subject. It's sort of like me, ever changing (ha ha). I could make several Water calendars, one for Tahoe, one for Oahu, one for Texas streams, one for MacArthur Burney Falls, one for .... oh sorry got carried away there. The main Water calendar has the same problem I had with Flora - too man to chose from.

I am working on putting together a Sky/Light calendar, but I am not liking the results yet. Will have to spend significantly more time on that one, if there's one thing I have more photos of than water or flora, it's Sky. I love clouds, they are like the precursors to cartoons. You can read into them anything you want.

I am also thinking about doing a calendar of Snow pictures as I have lots of those and maybe one of photos I have transformed into Black & White, maybe one of animals (wild and tame). Wait I have to stop this madness, seriously, I could think up themes for years! Unfortunately, if I keep coming up with themes, I will NEVER get the calendar(s) done.

So for now, I am focusing on Water, Sky, Flora, and Texas. I want to get those done, then get some feedback from folks on them. If all goes well, calendars will be available for sale in September.

Photography Jones

This morning I indulged in a bevy of travel shows on PBS. They were interesting as always, one featured a photographer that was making me jealous, but I actually had to turn the last one off. The host was irritating me. I was so anxious to be sitting in Alaska, just taking the photos this horseback riding trekker was missing, that I had to take a break. I think it was that she was gushing about how beautiful the scenery was, but she kept herself in the frame so much that I just wanted to yell - GET OUT OF THE WAY so we can see for ourselves. I mean if you are doing a travel show, shouldn't you be showing off the scenery instead of trying to describe it? It's not a radio show after all.

Anyway, the upshot to all of this was that my camera, which has been calling my name for days, finally got through to my trigger finger, and I will be going out this afternoon to find something to photograph. Haven't decided what, have no idea if any of them will be worth showing, but I gotta go. That's one of the things I have discovered about truly being passionate about something - you don't always get to be in control when the urge strikes. You can fight it for a little while, but eventually you will give in - and be happy you did!

Tomorrow, I will probably take the long way home from visiting and take even more photos, once the urge strikes it's rarely quieted by one round of photos. Anyway, have a good day to all and indulge your passions, they can lead you to wonderful places!

Hmmm ... taking the challenge

This is the first installment of what may turn out to be just another time waster. A friend of mine suggested I post a blog, I am not sure if it was because she was tired of listening to me (probably) or because she thought I actually had something to say (doubt it).

Who I am ...

So anyway, here's some background, my name is Amber, I am 39, married to a man (Robert) who is, due to circumstances beyond our control, not home right now. One thing about my husband's unfortunate absence is that I have discovered more of his artistic talents. When he gets home, he is gonna have to start spending his some of his time working on some art projects, he's actually much more artistic talented than I am, which is AWESOME. The best thing is, he loves my photos.

We have two cats, and miss having a dog, but well apartment living is not conducive to owning a dog and two cats. When my hubby gets home, we'll move and get dogs. Yes, plural on the dogs, and probably more cats, and any other animals we can afford to feed and care for. With our luck and openness to helping others, we will probably pick up a few stray people too, but that's in the future.

What I want to do ...

I have started listing some of my photos for sale on Etsy (check them out here). I have tried posting photos elsewhere but never had much luck driving traffic to my photos. Listing on Art.com or it's subsidiaries is a little like trying to find a single roll of toilet paper for sale at Costco - not gonna happen! Flickr is a great storage site, but not really designed for sales. With the addition of Facebook as a built in marketing audience (all those people who sort of remember you from high school, or at least remember your name) I am at least driving some traffic directly to my photos at Etsy. I have also been able to post a small sampling of photos on my Facebook profile so people can see my work. I am hopeful that this will take off and I will be able to claim my photography as more than a hobby.

Anyway, that the beginnings of this blog ... more to follow.