digging out...

365: feb 7 shoveling-out, originally uploaded by ALifeInFocusPhotography.

bridal...

bridal..., originally uploaded by ALifeInFocusPhotography.

going through my hard drive, cleaning up my files and folders. i have quite a few photos that didn't make it for the final cut for whatever reason and i have had fun playing with them.

it is very bright, cold and snowy here. seriously thinking about going out and building a snowman, with my husband's help. After fortifying ourselves on coffee and pancakes, we feel ready to take on the drifts.

..."for a while old Doady was clinking and rattling things in the kitchen; a stubby age-broken old figure; then there was silence. the bar of gold light on the terrace suddenly disappeared; all was blackness except for one dim globe of the Japanese lantern that burned over the table on the terrace, and the dripping silver beauty of the moonlight, splashing on the fields and on the furry tops of the oaks..."
Kathleen Norris, The Sacrifice Years

winter whites.

winter whites., originally uploaded by ALifeInFocusPhotography.

our winter storm!

our winter storm!, originally uploaded by ALifeInFocusPhotography.

in the night the snow turned to rain. now snowing hard again.

a favorite author, Kathleen Norris (1879-1966)

Kathleen Thompson Norris (July 16, 1880, San Francisco, California – January 18, 1966, Palo Alto, California) was an American novelist and wife of fellow writer Charles Norris, whom she wed in 1909. She was educated in a special course at the University of California and wrote many popular romance novels that some considered sentimental and honest in their prose. Norris was the highest-paid female writer of her time, and many of her novels are held in high regard today. Many of her novels were set in California, particularly the San Francisco area. They feature detailed descriptions of the upper-class lifestyle. After 1910 she contributed to Atlantic, The American Magazine, McClure's, Everybody's, Ladies' Home Journal and Woman's Home Companion...

I think i have most of Ms. Norris' books...mostly bought as used paperbacks on ebay. and i have read each one once and this winter am re-reading them again. i love them that much. i love them for the homey, domestic details and well as the memorable stories. i found Ms. Norris through Sarah Ban Breathnach book, Simple Abundance, she recommended her as one of her favorites. i went to the library and found one old copy of Barberry Bush and was smitten instantly! I just want to feature some excepts from her books as a way of sharing her lovely descriptive style. i thought last night, i wish i could take photos that translate her words into pictures. The book i am currently re-reading is entitled: The Callahans and The Murphys.

..."it was sunset, June sunset, and the world was flooded with glory and it was filled with men and women streaming home along the broken sidewalks, the windows flashing back the red light, and the children sqawking and running like scattered fowls. there were magnificent elms along the shabby street, elms rich in rustling leaves, and the end of the irregular lanes lost themselves in a gold haze-a haze charitably disguising into beauty even heaps of rusting old iron and old dated stables, and minor factories, and lumber piles, and jutting bits of rusty fence and grassy cliff, set irregularly with shanties and shops.
the air was warm, moving and alive, but still sweet and warm, and scented with kitchen fires and cut grass, and now and then a clean rift of bacon smoke. everyone was out murmuring and laughing and exchanging cheerful views of this punctual world, where warmth and long evenings never failed in June. men jaded from hot offices, and women jaded from hot kitchens, met at the bakery door, and the children whose small hands they held exchanged shy smiles."
...on a Saturday afternoon in October they were all in the Callahan backyard, Jim cleaning his car, Josie sewing on the steps, Mrs. Callahan coming and going in and out of the kitchen and porch, Mary, Annie and Frank raking leaves and cleaning the premises generally. it was sweet, soft blue afternoon, distances were hazy, the air was thin and sweet, scented with leaf fires, and the first autumnal rains had washed away the last traces of heat, dust and summertime."
..."the dark, disorderly kitchen was full of warmth and comfort. days were lengthening now, and Jim sat by the open window. the street was full of pleasant spring time sounds; Mrs. Callahan knew every dish and colander she touched like an old friend. she knew every motion of wiping and wringing, every click and splash; this was her kingdom."

I need a fresh vision...

...since i started the 365 post on flickr, i find i am burning out. i just can't seem to take those personal, off the cuff, slices on life that some do so effortlessly; that seem to universally strike a note with many viewers. i just try too hard. i noticed too that some on flickr seem disappointed when i shoot casually...like i have let them down... part of the reason i try so hard is because some people pay me to take their portraits and i need to be as good as i can so i practice all the time. but when i am not on someone's payroll, i can't find my "vision"...a personal moment that is just there and can be shared. maybe it is just this week, this day, this hour, and i will feel differently tomorrow, but i know i am getting uptight about the one of the things i really love and i don't want to ruin it. i thought about just shooting with my point and shoot and just forgeting all the lenses, lighting, etc...maybe i should buy a disposable film camera, but i need to break a few rules, heck, forget the rules, the shoulds and oughts, and just shoot. or maybe i have had too much coffee today, but there is a warning bell sounding in the mind, that i need to back off...any advice is welcome guys...

p.s. i wish just riding in the car, coming back from the vets and it struck me what i was speaking of earlier was a kind of universal quality to photos that initially draw you in, make you think and then let you, the viewer, "finish the story"...make sense?

practicing self portraits...

365: feb 3 me.., originally uploaded by ALifeInFocusPhotography.

adobe helped me out here.