~how does your garden grow..

..or where do you draw the line between photography and digital art? I recently snapped the photo to the left shortly after I'd finished misting my little porch vegetable garden. It was only one in a series of images, but the one I felt was the best in composition and colour. I submitted the photo to a professional photographer friend for critique. Other than a single class in Photography Basics while in college prior to the invention of the digital camera or Photoshop my professional photographic training is limited to life experience. The comments I received along with the edited photo below were as follows:" Did you use glycerine? Nice effect of water on the fruit." "The smaller green tomato distracts. You might have plucked it along with some of the less than perfect leaves or merely edited out the distracting portions with Photoshop." The tighter cropping was not justified other then the mention that it had been done.
I wonder if I struggle with the fact that now my original photograph is no longer a true representation of my little tomato hanging on my tenderly cared for tomato plant or the fact that I may be just a little defensive that I have never learned how to use Photoshop to enhance my work, or for that matter received professional instruction on how to effectively use my Nikon D50. Maybe its time I took a couple continuing education classes. I would invite and enjoy any comments from my professional and not so professional photographer viewers. *:)

~Singing for our supper..

As a young child, my favorite holiday, with possibly the exception of Christmas was Halloween. My brother and I, and a few years later my little sister, would rush home from school in anticipation of that magical night when we would wiggle into our one-of-a-kind homemade Halloween costumes painstakingly hand sewn by our creative mother. We'd quickly down a steaming bowl of Mom's vegetable soup to help ward off the chill of the fall night, grab our empty candy bags fashioned from pillowcases, and wait for Dad to put his coat on and pick up the keys to the green and white Buick station wagon. Then once the sun had set and the moon was on the rise, off we'd go to gather our loot amongst the other goulies and goblins from our area neighbors. It didn't always come easy. Sometimes we would have to sing for our "supper" or trick for our treat. But when we'd finally return home, cheeks flushed, tired and happy, we would spill out our goodies onto the floor, the terror of having to perform on a split second's request dissolved into the spooky shadows of the night beyond our cozy and familiar family room. There we would sort, barter and trade our nights haul way past our usual bedtimes. To this day a vague memory of a bellyache or two still remains from the days following All Hallow's Eve.

Some of the cutest stamps I've had the pleasure of working with are the clear sets from Kim van der Sanden 's My Favorite Things. Kim's wise insight in teaming with Illustrator, Christy Beckwith has, in my opinion set this this stamp company apart from all others.

~Switching Gears..

Its been a busy summer. My sister and niece who come every summer for the summer all the way from Denver have headed home now, and my days and evenings are not nearly as full. I hadn't realised how long it had been since I'd posted to my blog.
Since they left I've been having fun with a few of my A*Muse stamps. It all started with my wanting to find a Santa stamp that might be appropriate to the Florida climate. A Muse had a Santa in sunglasses and flowered swimming trunks who looked as though he was dreaming of surfing, but alas.. no surfboard. And then i ran across my little surfer boy. He led me to the mermaid and the palm tree and one thing led to another. The result was this RAK made for a friend who isn't a stamper but loves the sea.

It's occurred to me random acts of kindness don't necessarily have to be shared between other bloggers or stampers and I'm slowly working through my list.