Friday's photolife--Time at the barn

Wednesday's answer and winner: It is a mounting block with two levels. If you look closely you can see the hoof prints in the gravel of the path beside it. The first to get it right was Stina Lindenblatt, but it's not just for the disabled. Using it helps keep the saddle padding, etc., in place when you mount. They're not necessary, but they're nice. I rarely used them when I was young, but I don't get on a horse these days without one.

I almost used this picture, but I thought it might be too hard. What do you think?

On to the photolife:

My kiddies (and myself for that matter) have a particular love for horsey kind. We have spent tons of time over the years at barns hanging with the horses. I don't usually take a lot of pictures there though. Sure, every now and then I will, but, when there, it's more about the enjoyment of the experience than keeping a record of it. There's just something about these amazing animals. Time with them is uplifting. It's no wonder there are great rehabilitation and therapy programs that use horses. 

My youngest with a pony she has a soft spot for.

The youngest grooming one of the sweetest ponies on the planet. She wasn't riding that day just wanted to come while her brother rode. 

I love how different riders express their individual personalities.

We find ourselves reflected in their eyes.

Application to writing? I've often wondered if I should write stories with horses. I almost included them in one WIP but ended up cutting the horse person. She was extraneous to the main plotline, and I found I only put her in because I wanted to include someone like her. That should be a clue, eh? They say you should write what you know. What do you think? Should I do a horse story?

Friday's photolife--Aspects of an icon

Wednesday's Answer and winner: Hannah Beth was the first to get The Washington Monument. Congrats.

On to the Photolife:

When I'm taking pictures of iconic subjects like The Washington Monument, I like to capture as many different elements of them as I can.

With this view, everyone probably would have known exactly what the subject was.

This one would have been pretty obvious too.

It's good to get distance shots with other elements like the trees here.

Or up close, showing the variations in color in the surface and things like the security wires or even chips in the stone.

Here's a part that many of you may have never seen before. You have to go inside for it.

Another more obscure aspect. This is of the floor mosaic inside. I love that the stars are brass. These kinds of details are fascinating to me.

Getting up close and personal we can see what an icon is made of. Its mortar and imperfections.

Application to writing? This concept goes so well with characterization. It's important to include as many different aspects of our characters as we can to add dimension and authenticity to them. Show how most people see them. Their strengths and weaknesses. What they're like on the inside and out. What they're made of. 

Friday's photolife--UP close and wacky

Wednesday's answer and winner: It was indeed a pinewood derby. I thought the track was pretty slick. My son went to the regional and this was the track they had there. Congrats to Nisa for being the first in with the answer.

On to the Photolife:

Think about the way you take pictures of kids. Do you shoot them straight on with a smile? Are you shooting down at them with them looking up? It's a standard take for adults. I like to get some pictures like that, because it's the most common way I see them. 

BUT. It's also nice to get down on their level.

OR, if you want something with more impact get below them and shoot UP. Let them get crazy. Don't forget to get close and fill the frame with their wackiness.

Application to writing? It can be good to include different perspectives of your characters--different aspects of who they are and how others perceive them. I like to include some of the funny things they do. It can infuse your writing with humor, and every book needs a little humor--even the most serious or maybe especially those.

Friday's photolife--document it all

Wednesday's answer and winner: Ellis Island. (And yes I did go by it--I took that picture--but it wasn't open for tours at the time so we didn't get to go in.) Congrats to Domey Malasarn from The Literary Lab for being the first to get it right. I thought this one would be trickier. I guess my hint was a little too helpful.

On to the Photolife:

I'm a big proponent of documenting everything when taking pictures. It's kind of like when you're documenting your life including the prices of a gallon of gas or a loaf of bread the year you were born or telling stories about your dog's penchant for climbing trees (my mother had a dog that did that) or your favorite shoes in the summer. I love those sorts of details. Here's a picture that my niece took at a family get together.

I love all the details: the darkness of the foot imprints (they've obviously been well worn), the size differences (a nephew's and a niece's), that both shoes are Rainbows (an incredibly comfortable flip-flop that one niece swears by--in SC they know their flip-flops), etc.

Application to writing? It's important to give details of things that may seem trivial. It adds authenticity. 

Friday's Photolife--editing

Wednesday's Winner: This was my first time using Random.org. It was so nice. I assigned everyone numbers according to how many points they earned, then plugged those numbers into Random and voila! Today's winner is testament to blogging, tweeting, and facebooking to get extra points and so more chances to win. Congrats to Samantha Vérant.  Email me at lacmoss (at) gmail (dot) com with your address, and I'll send the book out to you. It's actually the one that Beth is signing in Wednesday's picture.

On to the Photolife:

I love a good photo shoot. I think I've told you that the k-check of the shutter snapping calms me. I can find peace puttering around the yard, lying on the ground, or cozying up to a tree capturing little moments in time. I'm actually a bit of a purist. I like the shot I take to be the final one I'm going for. BUT. Lots of them aren't. Sometimes, to get what I want, I have to make it happen on the computer.

Here's a shot from one of our recent snow storms. You should have seen the splits I did to get it. Very acrobatic. This is the raw shot. It's really nothing special, but I had the bare bones of something to work with.

Here's a cropped and doctored version. It's natural and you may prefer it, but what I wanted was to highlight the leaf.

So... In this one, I photoshopped it in layers maximizing the color of the leaf and minimizing the color of everything else. Now the viewer's eye goes straight to the leaf. Its impact is much more powerful.

Application to Writing? I think of the photo shoot as a sort of rough drafting. It's wonderful to get things right in that first draft, but not everyone has that particular knack. I have a well known author friend who writes in such a way that his first draft is his final draft (other than minor copy edits). He insists that it keeps the writing fresh. I agree (mostly). It's like getting the framing, angle, and lighting perfect in a shot when you're taking it or being able to do minor edits to get it (like in the 2nd picture). I wish I could do it in my writing, but I'm much better at taking my raw draft and layering and tweaking to craft what I want. Some effects* (like in the last version of the photo) are only available through editing. Not everyone will like it better, but some will. It all depends on what you, as the author, want.

*An example of this in writing would be things like flashbacks or interwoven plot lines.

Friday's Photolife--Life is Fleeting

Wednesday's answer and winner: Yes! It was a wrestling tournament. Congrats to Samantha Vérant! She was very quick on the draw (nice cliché). The actual venue was the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, NC. It was a special tournament where only the top 2 or 3 in each weight class from each state were invited. One of those was my amazing nephew.

My kids and I were coming home one evening about a month ago and the sky was an astounding, eerie kind of cool. This was during some powerful storms that were passing through. I was kicking myself that I didn't have my camera with me. I knew my cell phone wouldn't be able to do it justice, so I just hurried home thinking I'd get what I could when I got there. 

I rushed into the house grabbed my camera and dashed immediately into the front yard. At 6:04:12 I got this photo:

At 6:05:37 It has dissipated to this.

At 6:05:55 to this:

After that it was completely gone. If I'd stopped to change lenses or think I'd have gotten nothing. As it was I'd already missed the most amazing stuff (not being prepared with a camera in my car--shame on me--but that's another discussion), but at least I got something. 

In photography, as with most things in life, you must (cliché alert) strike while the iron is hot.  

Application to writing? Snap up opportunities when they come your way. Talk to that agent at a conference. He may not be there next time you walk by. Sign up for critiques when they are offered (if you need critiques). If you delay, the time may have passed or things may be filled up before you (cliché alert again) pull the trigger. Learn to act quickly or your chances may pass you by.

Friday's Photolife--Pick your distance

Wednesday's Answer and Winner:  It was the Pompidou Center in Paris or as Domey Malasarn said the Centre Pompidou. Kudos to Elaine for giving the theory behind it with her comment: "Design is uniquely flared when they create it with the inside on the out!"

Business: Next week with all the holiday doings and goings on I'm going to unplug. I hope you all have a terrific Thanksgiving (US) or week (everywhere else). In further business, I'm going to give Intense Debate a little more time. I'm still not sold on it, but I like being able to link to specific comments. Remember to click "links to this post" to comment (such a bad downside).

On to the Photolife:

We're going to put the traditional side by side with the modern (or is that post-modern?) for this so you can have whichever view of Paris you prefer. When documenting something like the Pompidou Center or Notre Dame, it's good to remember to get close-ups,

 

middle range shots,

and shots of the whole (or as much of the whole as you can get).

Application to writing? I'm going to come at this from a little bit different take today because I read a very interesting post yesterday that has me thinking. Scary. I know. It was about an experiment into kids reactions to various books by Shelley Moore Thomas. Go read it. Think about your reactions to the Pompidou Center and Notre Dame. Which do you like more? Are these two buildings both valid forms of artistic expression? Pleasing everyone is impossible. Not even chocolate can do it. Write what appeals to you. If you like it, then chances are there is someone else who will like it, too. Just make sure it's written well.

Friday's Photolife--One of the Crowd

Here's me in the Hall of Mirrors.
Don't you love the funhouse quality of the mirrors?

Wednesday's answer and winner:  It was the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. Who knew this would be way easier than kudzu? A lot of you guessed Versailles. The first to say the Hall of Mirrors was Natalie Whipple. If you haven't checked out her blog, you should.

Business: Intense Debate is finished with its update for blogger, so starting Monday I'm going to try that commenting system and you can see what you think.

On to the Photolife:

In a popular tourist destination like Versailles, you're always having to deal with the crowds. When taking pictures, sometimes it's good to embrace them. Hey, you stood in that line for hours. Why not show all those people?

Show them even in your individual shots. They're hard to avoid so why fight it? (I used to fight it really hard.) It's all part of the experience.

The garden was teeming with other tourists.





Don't let it stop you from recording your journey and capturing the day. Why avoid them?

It makes for a lonely picture.

Here's the gate for Versailles with all the people coming and going. Who cares that I didn't know any of them. It's all part of the experience.



Application to writing? When writing a scene in a crowded place, "show" the crowd and be sure to include how it impacts the characters. I love it when someone from an anonymous crowd becomes important later or is someone I recognize. In Sarah Dessen's books, she includes cameos of characters from former books. It's like a nod to those who've read previous novels.

Friday's Photolife--Tweaking to death

Wednesday's answer and winner: It was a shed being devoured by kudzu. The first to get it right was Sharon K. Mayhew. It grows around here (NC) like wildfire. Here's the story of how it first got here from Japan and what our government did to help it spread (crazy). Now we're trying to figure out how to get rid of it (you gotta love that some herbicides actually help it grow) or use it. I've heard tell of people trying to make a sort of gasoline out of it.

Update on the commenting: I'm going to give it a week. There are things I like about it. There are things I don't like about it. One of the things I really wanted was for it to email you notification specifically when I write a comment back to you and not necessarily when everyone commented. Let me know if that's working for you. I think for the pictures that's something you will have to do, but it bothers me that you have to do anything but comment, so I'm still not sold.

On to the Photolife:

It'll be quick because there was so much business this week. With all the new changes on my blog, I've been tweaking up a storm (when I'm really supposed to be cleaning--ah, NaNoCleMo, I'm trying, but I just had to completely change the look of my blog two days in. I had to. I'll catch up. I promise.)

You've seen this. It's before the latest yellow tweaking. (That for some reason barely shows up on Blogger. Great. Must tweak more. Now it mostly just looks dingy. Maybe it would be better to go back to the crispness of this one.)

How would it look on this background?

Maybe fine. Maybe it's better on the background it has now. Tweaking may be a disease with me. Tweak it till it screams, till it bleeds, till the flies are swarming and I'm swatting them away so I can tweak some more until it's a pulverized bit of dust. 

Application to writing? Sometimes we can tweak something too much. When that happens, it's better to just start over. Fresh. Too much tweaking can suck the life and spontaneity right out of our prose.

Do any of you find yourselves in my same tweaking shoes?

Friday's Photolife--changing up an icon

Wednesday's answer and winner: We only had one person get it right this week. Congrats, Crimey! The answer was the Empire State Building.

On to the Photolife:

Here are a few more views. I love getting different views of famous things. Lighting and angle are great ways of changing up something that is very familiar.

Put the sun behind you and it's all lit up. Include the name so people will know what it is. (For less familiar things this is nice for you as well. I've been known to take pictures of street signs and exhibit names just so that I will know where I was and what I've taken when I go back a couple years later. Now a lot of cameras have GPS and will log that info but it is still nice to have the name in some pictures.)

Put the sun in the picture and get a sunburst and a rainbow, AND with this angle from a little farther away it's much easier to identify. How would you have fared on Wednesday if I'd used this picture?

Wait for a change in ambient light, and include surrounding buildings. It's especially nice when you get a reflective surface like the building on the right to continue the sky or some other element of the photo. With this angle, I bet most of you would have known what the building was.

Application to writing? When describing a scene, think about how familiar you want things to be or how you can change up something that everyone knows. e.g. image 1: the glowing window strips ascending into the blue..., image 2: the sunburst painted a rainbow..., image 3: the window washers hung in the evening's reflection with the Empire State Building looking on...

Friday's Photolife--Outings

Wednesday's answer and winner: Y'all are so smart. This week Alyssa was the first to get the answer right. It is, indeed, an apple press to make cider. Or in other words a cider press. In today's photolife I've included a view of the whole thing so you can see the process.

On to the Photolife:

Documenting outings is often in the details. Here are a few pictures from a family get together apple picking in Virginia. (There are tons more pictures, but this just gives you an idea.) Autumn is my favorite season. The crisp air. The vibrant colors. The falling leaves.

Apples.

Cider.

Look at the color of that cider--caramel, golden brown with a tinge of red. We strained it then boiled it--and partook. Taste bud heaven.

When we take pictures of outings, it's good to include as many aspects as we can. The cider dripping off the press into the pan, my nephew-in-law climbing a ladder into the trees to knock the apples down,

roasting marshmallows (my daughter and two of my nieces),

another daughter who was obsessed with the tractor we used to haul the apples from the orchard to the fire pit and cider press,

my take-home-cider waiting under my chair for the ride home along with a bag of apples, my daughter's poncho (that I knitted), and my backpack.

The memories are in the details.

Application to writing? One of the things I've been thinking a lot about lately is how putting specific details into writing makes it more vivid and sucks the reader in more and more. The aroma of the cider boiling, the crispy charcoal taste of the burnt marshmallows, the red-orange glow of the apples in the sunset, the sputtering chugs of the tractor, the buzzing whine of the go-cart, the nip in the air of evening setting in, the dirt under my fingernails.

Friday's Photolife--Let it be easy

Wednesday's answer and winners: Great job this week. The first to answer correctly was Carolyn V with water lily, but in my head I was thinking lotus because of things like Lotus Rising and Lotusgirl, so, since Yat-Yee was the first to give that answer, she also gets a nod.

On to the Photolife:

Recently I watched the videos that go along with my Aperture program (like Photoshop but for Mac). Now I've been using it for quite a while--trial and erroring my way through tweaking my pictures. While trying to adjust the lighting on the picture below (for a stinking long time) and not getting what I wanted, I finally decided to watch the videos. All of them together took maybe 20 minutes (probably more like 10). And voilà:

the picture the way I wanted it. I learned how to use the presets. I thought I knew how to use them before. I didn't, and I wasted tons of time trying to recreate what I could do with them in seconds. SECONDS! Seriously. Seconds.

By learning the tools I have at my disposal, I made my life a lot easier.

I can just slide my curser down the presets and choose various options.

It even shows me what the picture will look like in a thumbnail image.

Here's a look I wouldn't have thought of for this shot, but I loved it when I saw the thumbnail, so...

Application to writing? 1. Learn the tools of the trade and use them. My writing life has become so much easier since I learned how to use things like "track changes" and "Find..." in Word (one of my tools). AND 2. Listen to those who know what they're talking about and learn from them. I've been reading a book the last few days that has had some excellent advice. I wish I'd read it a year ago. There's some amazing advice online for free. Here's an excellent post from Georgia McBride for newbies.