Week 12 - 2018 in Photographs

Day 78

 Better week for the camera and me. Not that I was less busy than the week before. In fact more busy and ergo had less time to do anything but take the camera along and snap a few. A little bit of bad weather, some much needed snow, also helped. A wet spring snow even dresses up a plain wooden fence, dry grasses, and wintering trees.

Day 79

Day 80

 And the snow even helps with green house photos because it turns the landscape beyond the glass white.

Day 81

Day 82

Day 83

Day 84

Week 11 - 2018 in Photographs

Day 75

One of my favorite photographer stories is from a National Geographic employee I had the pleasure to meet and have as a cabin guest for a week. At the time serious cameras were film. Rolls of standard film had 36 images, but if you loaded carefully you could squeeze out 37. You had no idea of what you had captured on that film until after it was "processed" or developed.

I asked my new friend how many keepers he got out of a roll of film. And he told me sometimes none. I was shocked. I occasionally wasted a whole roll of film but he worked for National Geographic. 

"You are a very good photographer if you get one keeper out of a roll," he said. "And as you get better you may get less."

I was sure it was the tequila talking. But I have come to know the truth of what he said. And even if we are now in a digital image I still hold the one good photograph out of 36 measure in my mind. And even be thrilled when I upload 243 images from my camera to the computer and find one which blows me away.

Some days are diamonds and some days are stone. Some days the magic works and some days it doesn't. This has not been a stellar week of photographs. I am still trying to capture a great image of my yellow orchid, and reminding myself that yellow is a difficult color. And holding on to that other bit of advice he handed out, "But you will never get that one out of 36 if you don't take any pictures." 

On this particular "roll" of photographs there is Day 81. It works for me.

Day 74

Day 73

Day 76

Day 72

Day 77

Day 71

And as to why do you get fewer "keepers" as you become a better photographer? I only have guesses. My lead reason is you take more risks but that could just be a function of digital technology where every click of the camera does not have a price sign. But it also is true that as your skills mature you become more critical of every photograph you upload. 

As I go back through my photo files from time to time I find myself more often asking myself, "what was so special about that one?"

Week 10 - 2018 in Photographs

Day 64

 The week I was suppose to be posting before I realized I had not posted week 9. This week's photos include another trip over the mountain to Questa to visit the dentist and a place where I used to live with my late husband. More images of an icy Eagle Lake.

Day 65

 And also pictures of the burn scar on the mountain. That fire was in 1996 and the mountain still has not recovered. It makes for a very dramatic photo with snow blanketing the scar.

Day 66

Day 68 - Baldy from Eagle Nest Lake
The way mountains should look

Day 67 - The Village of Questa at the foot of the burnt mountain

And to round out the week two still life studies. I love both of these but especially the garlic.

Day 69

Day 70

Week 9 - 2018 in Photographs

Day 57

 Life must be getting too busy. Even when I get out to take photographs I am forgetting to post them daily. And when posting them I am forgetting to do the weekly blog post. Did not realize until I went to post Week 10 that I had not posted Week 9. And there is another week missing from this year. Have you spotted it?

Day 58

 And this week has some of my favorite photos on it. I personally love the Buddha holding the pink quartz. 

Day 59

Day 60

Day 61

And I like the banana better in black and white than the natural green. And more elk this week. Same elk just different frames. A wild life photographer wants to get up close and capture the elk. A landscape photographer wants to capture the landscape with the elk. Either of the two below would be great printed on canvas, but especially the panorama.

Day 62

Day 63