Refresher Course

I love learning new things!  I also love returning to refresh my mind and skills at things I haven't done in a while.  

Recently I took an online course in Nature Photography.  I know, you wonder why someone with a college degree and years of experience in photography even needs to do this.  Well, it's fun, for one thing.  I love the classroom environment - in this case the virtual classroom.  The students are always interesting and eager to learn, curious and open minded.

The course was challenging and I learned new skills with my digital camera.  I admit, there are just some things about digital photography that have eluded me until now.  When I was in school it was all film!

So this was great fun and a great step to better understanding.

One of the things I most loved about my early photography education was the challenge of light and time.  With a little time exposure and the right aperture, you could make water look like this.  That was one of our assignments in this class.  I have to say that I haven't really experimented that much with my manual settings on this camera, but with a tripod and using the timer it worked out!

We were also asked to find something abstract in nature.  It's not as easy as you'd think!  I am attracted to abstract patterns everywhere, but they are usually buildings, rocks, and fabrics, to name a few.  So for this assignment I chose this log.  I was surprised by the perfection of circles here and how it blended so easily with the cross lines from the saw.

This one I used in my previous post.  We were supposed to go out and find something in nature to use the macro lens on.  Another of my favorite pastimes here at my place that borders on the forest.

These tiny mushrooms were growing all over a stump.  The sun was just coming up over the hill and this angle allowed me to get the light to almost illuminate them.  These little guys were only about one to two inches tall.

So if you ever get to thinking you're getting too old to learn new things, think again, go out and do something you've already done!

Have you done anything like this recently?  I'd love to hear from you in the comments.

New Images, New Projects

(imported from my former photo blog)
It's been a fascinating couple of weeks in the making, but finally it has all come together.

After reading a great new book Choice Point, I was inspired to create some new abstract images to use in a tarot style card deck.

It was one of those projects that just flowed easily, the ideas came, I wrote them down.  I worked on the images only when I was inspired to.  

 It was almost spooky how the text part of the project came.  I sat down with the images and started writing, it just flowed out of me.

This tarot style card deck is uplifting and positive.  The messages are created to enlighten the reader and give them positive guidance.

It's called the Shift tarot.  It's a 12 card deck.  There are 8 Master cards and 4 Element cards. 

This is the cover card for the deck.

In a reading you pull one card from each deck while focusing on your query.  The messages written on the back of each card will give you clues to how you should proceed. 

I have also included a numerology equivalent to the messages, along with an additional pleasant quote for guidance.

"Cycles" from the Master deck

"Water" from the Elements deck

This is really one of the most inspired projects I have created since the 2012 project I created in 2010.

I'm still working out the best way to have them printed and waiting on the first order to arrive.

Ultimately, of course, I would love to connect with a publisher who could fine tune the details and create a final package.

If you find this interesting, please comment or leave any suggestions for printing that you have had experience with.

Meanwhile I'd also like to promote the book Choice Point, Align Your Purpose, by Harry Massey and David R. Hamilton PhD.  A very interesting and new approach to the concepts in the title.