End of the Line

 My favorites from the year.

One Month To Go

I think everyone will agree 2020 sucked like a galactic black hole at the edge of the universe engulfing good sense, compassion, civility, fun and everyday life.

 

On the other hand, I am on the last month of a 365 day photo project in which I’ve posted a picture every day for -- going on 12 months with 30 days to go.

 

While processing the postings with Photoshop and Blogger got old fast, interacting with the cameras, keeping one on hand and pushing through the resistance or laziness to -- hang on, there’s a picture, shoot that thing -- reminded me of every relationship with photography I ever enjoyed.

 

It’s a direct connection from image to brain to emotion without any complicated language digression.

 

Plus, time travel. It’s time travel.

 

And fun, you know. Fun in a year that nearly burned down every good thing.

 

Having a camera sitting on the coffee table was how I was ready when the local mule deer herd turned my creek bottom side yard into a party bar complete with booty call.

 

 

Yep. Deer sex. 

 

With 30 days to go, who knows what’s next?

11 - 1

Gosh, I love the GoPros. 

Well, mostly, kinda, yeah well, maybe like an old boyfriend you'll still visit.

I was one of the last people who won when GoPro was giving away one of everything they made in a daily drawing. 

Whoa! 

I even made one of those goofy watch-me-open-all-this-GoPro-stuff videos which was me in front of a very large box going -- "ooooo look at this ooooo." 

Goofy. Yes. Dork alert. Absolutely.

Hero 4 Black et al. Way cool, and by the way, the ONLY GoPro that never failed me (knockwood.)

So, GoPro had my heart and I followed along with a 5, then 7 and finally 8. The Five was good. Seven froze too often. I sold it. Eight seems to still have that freeze problem but I haven't used it that much.

Seems to me, they've added too much computer in too tiny an package attempting to corral their market share instead of making and continuing to support a good product. But that's just me.

So, the teeny, tiny camera I always carry (in addition, of course to the one I call the fukin' phone) is DJI's Osmo Action which never does anything surprising, except take very nice pictures, moving and otherwise.

I still have the GoPros. I still love them. 

Mostly, kinda, yeah well, you know. 

And sometimes I think the GoPro is embarassed to be seen with me. We've never jumped out of an airplane, skied off a cliff or swum with whales. When he gets together with the other GoPros down at the local, he must hang his lens in shame. "Today she rode the mountain bike up and down the street in front of her house." Of course, there was a wedding video that one time ... 

Anyway, a match made in heaven. Albeit a slower-moving, down to earth one.

-- NOVEMBER in the One a Day for a Year -- 

Who can believe it's November already? What a suck-fest 2020 turned out to be. Next week will it turn the corner or continue on unabated? I'm afraid to look.

Anyway, I'm closing in on an entire year posting and shooting a picture every day. I've played with the cameras more than I had in a long time. I'm glad I stayed with it.

--  --

 

Seek and You Shall Find ...

... if you know where to look.

I was up at Vigilante, sitting in the dirt, playing in the water with Os, 

 when a woman with binoculars walked up and asked, did I see "that" bird?

And I'm like, what bird. I don't hear any bird. 

Then I heard a very small chirp. I looked around. She was scanning the tree tops with her binoculars. I replied, "I hear it, but I don't see anything."

She stayed for a bit longer, searching the trees then she gave up and walked away.

I shot a couple of creek videos, shut off the camera, crossed a small runoff, and stood in the brush by the creek where I heard a very small chirp. There he was. Not in the trees. In the water.

So, I guess the lesson is -- things aren't always where you expect them to be, or you can find what you're looking for if you look in the right place.

10 - 1

 Three months to go

What a year.

Meme

Haven't done one of these is a long while. Copied from The Dackel Princess.

A is for Age – Old enough to know better. Young enough not to care

B is for Booze – Am working my way through the book DRINKING FRENCH. Have to keep buying ingredients. Who knew such a thing as Chartreuse existed.

C is for Career – Writer. Photographer

D is for Dad - My favorite is watching my husband be one. 

E is for Essential Item Sense of humor

F is for Favorite Song Memories - Maroon 5 

G is for Goof off I’m a writer. Staring into space is a required activity

H is for Hometown – Home is where the heart is.

I is for Instrument Ukulele! 

J is for Jam  Lemon curd.

K is for Kid My best accomplishment is raising a decent human being.

L is for Living as opposed to … 

M is for Mom’s name – Annie.

N is for Names Just don’t call me late for supper.

O is for overnight hospital stays – More than one, unfortunately.

P is for Phobias – Don’t think anything rises to the level of phobia, but you can mark me down as just generally nervous.

Q is for Quote “Courage is the price life exacts for granting peace.” Amelia Earhart.

R is for Relationship To everyone now is six feet and a mask. Thank-you.

S is for Sibling – 1.

T is for Texas Lived in San Antonio for a while. Learned to LOVE Cajun food. 

U is for Unique We all are in some way or another.

V is for Vegetable you love – Artichoke.

W is for Worst Political news. Can barely stand to read it anymore.

X – is for X-rays I had a pair of X-ray glasses when I was a kid. Geeky little me.

Y is for Yummy Recently discovered a blended Scotch that is just that.

Z is for Zodiac sign – Leo with Sagittarius rising.

9 - 1

Nine months in, 244 days. Time flies, no?

That is my first camera. Made of plastic. Won in a contest by my mother.

Now I mostly use something like this.

Or, you know, the fukin phone.

8 - 1

Eight months in and, good grief, not only do I find it hard to believe I've managed to maintain the 365 Day Project, I can't believe it's already August.

7 - 1

365 Day Project.

Seven months in and I have to admit it's getting a bit tedious. Not the photography, but the computer blogging work to put up the pictures.

Could be doing something else, like be outside taking pictures.

Go figure.

Six Months In

Six months in a picture a day for a year and still going.

I like to look at people's tech stuff, so I thought I'd show you the cameras I'm using.

Left to right -- DJI Osmo Pocket (I love that thing.) Olympus Pen 8, small and sharp. DJI Osmo Action (I really love that one.) Nikon D7200, heavy but a workhorse. GoPro 8, haven't used it enough to tell if it is as freeze glitchy as the last one. And of course, the fu*kin phone.


It amazes me that such a powerful camera and computer fit in this small a package. Which is probably why the Nikon seems to get heavier and HEAVIER.


This project does seem to be inspiring me. When all  A N Y O N E  has to do is rip off a click on their smart phone and make a picture, I got out a tripod and sat for an hour watching Western Tanagers.

Onward.

Mother's Day

My mother -- way back in the day -- look on the far side of the pony for Grandma squating down to hold little Annie on the pony.

And me and mine. No pony though. More's the pity.

May Day 2020

I was raking the yard and something across the creek caught my eye.

Ooo, I thought. I should take a picture of that. But I stayed true. This yard is not going to rake itself. If only.

Stayed with me though. That picture waiting to be made. 

So, next morning, Oly and I took a walk across the creek to the deer bones.

This is not the first time I’ve photographed deer bones in the forest.

This is from a grant sponsored exhibition entitled “The Devil’s Backyard.”

But this is something that feels new -- that picture waiting to be made. 

And that’s what I’ve learned five months into the Picture a Day for a Year project.

A Message From Guinness

And now I'm thirsty.

Four Months Gone

So, I've managed to keep the picture a day project going for four months. I can't believe it myself. 

Here's what I've learned so far.

I am seeing now when I look. A nice slow-down advantage in life. After I missed a picture of a Golden Eagle sitting on a telephone pole near my yard, I moved the camera to the table next to the couch.

A difference I noticed today is that now that I'm noting what I'm seeing, and the camera is handy, I am also more likely to make a picture.

I was building a fire since Montana decided to grace us with a spring snow storm and I noticed this pattern on the underside of some bark.

I picked up the Oly and took a picture, but the light was no good. So I moved the bark over to the window.

I had a helper too.

What the heck is this?

Why aren't you making a lap?

What in the world could it be?

Missive from a lost and ancient race?

Hieroglyphics from a misplaced Egyptian?

Ogfam?

I didn't look it up, but I suspect it's the path some bug took sometime during the life of the tree.

Fun to wonder though. More fun to stop and make a picture.

All for this.

Coping With Solitude

DISCLAIMER: I know the Coronavirus Pandemic is serious. People are suffering and dying. There is nothing funny about that. However …

Like everyone else stuck at home with internet access, I have thought up three ways to keep busy while waiting out the disaster.

1. Practice French braiding your hair.

Corey O'Brien

I have watched 100 YouTube videos of young girls with thick flowing locks instructing the rest of us on how to do this. So easy, they say.

meh.

2. Depending on availability and climate, enjoy the sun. It’s spring. Even Montana’s been giving us a break.

2b. If you have a dog, play with him. He’s probably wondering why you’re sitting around the house so much. There’s a chance the dog will remember the Coronavirus Pandemic 2020 as the fetch marathon between cold-cold and out-out.

3. Write a screenplay.

I saw this one on multiple other websites and I have to say, think again. 

It’s not just that among the things the world doesn’t need is a thousand more spec scripts; it’s that there are easier, faster and cheaper ways to break your heart.

But I won’t stay don’t, because even now I’m waiting out film festival notification for a couple of my scripts. Although the festival has been postponed, the announcement day was still today, but apparently not today at 8 AM which is when I started checking the website.

We’re living in interesting times, friends. 

Last week, staring at the empty toilet paper shelves in Albertsons, I found myself having a conversation about bidets with a stranger in overalls and a gun brand gimme cap. 

Interesting times.

Good luck. Keep warm. Stay safe.



-- THIS JUST IN --

Finished as a Finalist with a horror script,

WOLF CON.