Art Slam

Today, the Cincinnati Enquirer published a story about the Cincinnati blogging scene. My blog, along with Julie’s Wine Me Dine Me, Shannan’s Mommy Bits and Debba’s Girlfriendology and Laura’s Carbon Footprint were featured in the article.

The story is all about the growing blogging scene in Cincinnati. Especially among women bloggers. Blogging has brought many opportunites and friendships my way. Last year, I was invited to speak about the Art Slam at one of the most popular conferences, BlogHer.

Cincinnati does have a thriving and growing network of women bloggers who meet regularly. If you are local, check out the Cincinnati Women Bloggers and attend the next gathering.
Subscribe to the Art Slam with the link above.

“I didn’t get to where I am by thinking about it or dreaming about it. I got there by doing it.” – Estee Lauder, entrepreneur

So, what are you doing? Do you have a plan for getting where you want to be? I admit I do not always have a plan…most of the time, I do not have a plan. I have lots of good intentions, but I am easily distracted. Lately, I have been doing a lot of soul searching about what is really important to me. Instead of trying to do everything, I have picked a few things I want to grow or improve on. All of them being things that get me where I want to be. I won’t share them all, but one I will share is being a better photographer.

One of my goals is to take my photography to the next level. While I enjoy shooting just for the heck of it, I want to enter more competitions and truly compete for the top prizes. I want my photography to evoke emotions. I know I can do that with my portraits, but I want to do it with everyday ordinary images. I have to admit, since I received the Lensbaby Composer Lens, I have been seeing things differently. The lens is manual and because of that, I think more about the end result I want to achieve. I plan to display more of my photography around my home. I know a lot of photographers who hardly ever print out their images. All of their best work either resides on sites like Flickr or on their hard drives and even on memory cards. Pictures are best admired when they are out on display, so I am going to display more of mine.

By putting a little more thought into where I want to be with my photography, I have a better chance of getting there. I will be more dedicated to it and you know, when you put stuff like this in writing and a public forum, people hold you accountable.

I took this picture for my middle child while I was on the plane to Denver. She kept asking me what the clouds look like from a plane. These are not as spectacular as the ones I saw flying to California, but looking at the clouds from a plane is spectacular regardless.

I have been up for a couple of hours and my day has not yet started. I am already tired and it is not even 8 a.m. I am praying for sunshine otherwise, I might go crazy being in an office all day. This person is a free spirit and I treasure my moments in the middle of the work day to recharge and get some fresh air.

Pride, I am filled with so much pride. Thankful, and so hope-full. This moment fills me up with unwavering faith for the human spirit and what we are capable of doing when we come together. Congratulations, President Barack Obama. God Bless You and America.

I am trying to stay on track with the Diptych project, but this month has proved to be rather demanding of my time. Even still, I have been enjoying the inspiration coming from the Art Slam Flickr group. The diptych above was created using my Lensbaby Composer. I also have the Macro Kit filters which allow me to focus from 2″ to 13″ from my subject. I love them to pieces and I am really enjoying shooting manually again.

This has been one exhausting week. I had three days of training for work at the beginning of the week and the last part of the week, six of my co-workers’ positions were eliminated. Today, I attended the funeral of a dear family member who will be missed. The daisy above came from the flowers at her grave site. Funerals always make me reflect on my own life. Am I living my life to the fullest everyday? Am I wasting time letting stupid things bother me? Am I trying to control situations and people I can not control in the first place? Am I being present?

Honestly, I am not always present, but I am doing so much better at learning to be and live in the moment. Today, I did not reflect on how I would not see Cheryl again, instead I stayed present and watched and listened to all the people celebrating her. They celebrated how she brought dance to our church and her passion for the Lord and life in general. She had a rare illness, but I can not recall ever hearing her complain about it. She taught me how to knit. I could crochet my butt off, but I could not cast on a stitch to save my life. She braided my hair before I went to the Bahamas, even though she was not feeling her best. One Easter, she prepared the most incredible leg of lamb. Sweet Jesus, it was heavenly. So, today, I celebrate her and I will not be sad, even though I am a little sad. I am beyond thankful to have had the honor and privilege to know her and have her touch my life.

This image I call, Meditate. I took the picture using my LensBaby and I love it. Definitely one of my favorite images to date. I had quite a few creative projects I wanted to do this month, but I have had to take a detour from those to work on some other things. I am not complaining. Sometimes, taking a detour can lead you down an unexpected path that ends up being better than the one you were on, and as far as I am concerned, that is a good thing.

I am…

passionate

sometimes blue

intense

a loud laugher

a friend for life

sensitive

a quote collector

working on being in the moment more

an avid reader

practicing yoga

not a milk drinker

not admitting I am slightly addicted to twitter and facebook

a much improved photographer

a student of life

a fan of bad ass boots

a Prince fanatic

I was tagged by Tracy after reading her 16 things. So, consider yourself tagged! I look forward to reading your sixteen.

My middle child was eating a bowl of frosted flakes  and gasps suddenly, “Momma! Look, come see!” She is smiling as big as ever and shows me the heart shaped flake in her bowl of cereal. I tell her how cool it is and she tells me to get my camera. “You have to take a picture of this before I eat it, Mom.”

Last year, she found a heart-shaped strawberry. Seems she has been inspired to find heart-shaped things and it has been a long time coming. So, you can imagine her excitement and at finding a darn near perfectly shaped cornflake almost at the bottom of her bowl. Now, that is some love for you right there!

I love these two images together. Bokeh is the theme and I think it fits the diptych theme perfectly.