photowalks

I'm transitioning my photo essays to tumblr, so if you'd like to follow me over there, please stop by.  Click on the link below to see my latest posts.

photowalks

musing again

 I'm happy to be musing again (even if only on a guest-muse basis) over on Mortal Muses today.  Stop on by and learn about how to get started exhibiting your work locally. And while you're there read all the other great recent posts on photography.  It's a great source of inspiration and a wonderful community of fellow photographers.  Click here to read my muse post.

phototalk

here's an interview with me

talking about my photography

BTM AC Lucy Loomis from Sarah Beal on Vimeo.

i see : 53 project week 46

On the first day of Christmas

my true love gave to me

an iphone (for iphoneography).

And now i see
through i-colored glasses.

xoxoxox

just because

Because it's almost my birthday...

And because it's almost spring...

And because you have all been so sweet and wonderful to read this blog every week...

And because the world is round, the wind is high, and the sky is blue...

I'd like to give you a little something back for all you've given to me.

Leave a comment here anytime through March 30th (the big day) at 12 midnight, 

and you might be the recipient of one of these lovely gifts:

 A copy of Looking In : Robert Frank's Americans, "widely celebrated 

as the most important photography book since World War II."

 The sweetest little photo album east of the Mississippi.

A collection of 4 notecards by yours truly.

I will draw three winning names, and post the names here on March 31st.  

Please make sure your name links back to your email address, 

so that I'll have a way to contact you.

If you leave a comment AND become (or already are) a follower, 

you'll get your name entered twice for the drawing.  Whee!  Now it's getting exciting!

To become a follower, click on that little button over on the right-hand sidebar, 

(the one that says FOLLOW), follow the instructions,

and let us all see your nice face. 

Winners will be chosen completely at random, 

using the scribble-names-on-little-scraps-of-paper-and-pull-them-out-of-a-sweaty-old-hat method.

I am truly grateful to all of you for following along on this photo adventure.

And for those of you who also followed my 365 project last year, you deserve a medal.  

You have helped me grow as an artist, and it's been 

a pleasure to get to know all my fellow photographers and bloggers...
I've so enjoyed seeing your work and artistry. 

Thank you from the bottom of my overflowing heart.

xoxoxo

picture this

My photo of the dunes on Sandy Neck was a finalist in Massachusetts Audubon's Picture This photo contest.  See all the amazing photos taken by the winners and the finalists on their website.

join us @ mortal muses

Want to share your photographic vision and see the fantastic work being done by others? Come join us over at our new blog Mortal Muses for a great photo collaboration.

Mortal Muses is a group of nine like-minded female photographers from the USA & Europe -- and I am one of them! Each day one muse will post a photo based on a weekly theme and select a companion photo from our flickr pool. Visit with us each day as we celebrate the beauty of everyday life and friendship.
You don't need a blog to join -- you can just join our flickr pool, check out the weekly theme, submit your photos, and we we'll take care of the rest. Get creative....get inspired....and share your vision of the world around you.

Photographers of all skill levels are welcome! Don't worry about your camera or your expertise. Your photographer's eye and passion will guide you. Please join us!

holiday flash

Last year I found some film for my old Brownie Holiday Flash camera, and I've taken two rolls of pictures over the last 6 months or so. I finally sent it out to be developed, and out of 16 pictures, only a few came out. But I like the moody results, especially the birdhouse with the superimposing of the frame number (which could be 999 or 666 -- you decide).

The cost of the film processing is too prohibitive to be able to do this again, but I'm glad to know that my trusty low-tech little Brownie still works.

same difference

One of the magic things about having children is to be able to see glimpses of myself, their dad, our parents and grandparents in their faces, their mannerisms, even their way of speaking. Nick's got my eyes, his Dad's talent for drumming, his grandfather's interest in helping people through medicine. Hannah's got my hair, her Dad's ears (:)), her grandma's love of cards.

But to me, even more magical and mysterious and wonderful is to see how very THEMSELVES they are. How unlike me they are. How they come with their own look and style and set of talents and personality quirks and frustrating tendencies and creativity and intelligence.... amazing. Like the photo above, we may all be beans, but we're unique beans after all. (Human beans?)

They both love math (insert puzzled mommy-expression here). Hannah has amazing organizational skills that would put any life planner to shame, and she just DOES things so easily, without making a big fuss about it. Nick has this deeply spiritual side and a quiet curiosity about the world that always takes me by surprise. Both of them are capable and competent beyond their years -- I feel like when I was their age I was still stumbling around in geek-land, trying to figure out how I could get away with all play and not much work.

So -- today, I'm reveling in the differences. A great example is Hannah's willingness to take photos when I hand her the camera -- but in her own unique way. When I need a photo of myself, I trust her to take a good picture and delete the bad ones. On our recent road trip, I asked her to take some photos out the car window so that I wouldn't set a bad example of shooting and driving....(at least not while she was in the car.)


So she takes the pictures, and I edit them -- like a little photography team. What I LOVE is that she has a talent for taking pictures of people which I don't have at all. And she has her own unique vision that is completely different than mine -- which is, to me, what photography is all about. So today, all the photos in this post (except the last one), are ones that she took. Now I'm wondering what we'd see if we handed Nick the camera? Stay tuned.

She gets me. I love that.

Uncle Tom

Conor

Me and Fallon, with Sara and Grant in the background (shellseekers)

Claire and Livy

Holiday lights

So, to Nick and Hannah -- here's an old cliche -- thanks for being exactly who you are, similar, different, YOU.

still life : composition and perspective

It's C & C Photography's 2nd photography assignment, and the focus this week is composition and perspective. So I gathered together some beach stones, seaweed, shells, a bowl from Ron Dean pottery, a witch ball, and a little sequined ball. I arranged them on a painted nightstand, with the afternoon light coming in the window. I used 3 different lenses to achieve these effects. I did my photo editing using Picnik.

Straight on

Bird's eye view

Up close and personal

Off center

Unfocused

Monochrome

I'm throwing in a few bonus shots, just because I couldn't leave these behind on the cutting room floor.

Sequins abstracted

Witch light

Textured

I took two other series of shots using different objects -- the first set (beach finds) was too busy (too many items) and the light and setting were wrong. The second set (toys outdoors) was cute but not really still life material-- more like a series of portraits.

I have to say I love the results of this assignment. The light was perfect, and the different textures and tones really helped. I like that because of the textures and light, the monochrome shot is interesting as well. Thanks to Camilla and Carolyn for another great learning experience.