Yesterday....

Yesterday was the scheduled "reunion" of all of us that went to the Photography Workshop to the Smoky Mtns. back in October.  Oh what fun to gather with all my photo family that I spent 5 days with in Tennessee.  I must say, we all cleaned up really nicely.  In Tennessee we were dressed for hiking, loaded with layers and layers of clothing, make-up and hair kinda took a back-seat, so yesterday seeing everyone all "dressed up" and lookin' good was a real treat along with just visiting, eating and viewing photos from our special time together.

We had our gathering at "Lovell's of Lake Forest" a beautiful restaurant....now there is a story here to be told....  My traveling partners, Susan along with Jim were both from the northern suburbs. (fyi, I knew neither one until that morning when we introduced ourselves)  We met up at my house which is much further south and took off on our adventure together.  Now we spent 6 days together, traveling, eating, classroom time, taking a kazillion photos and not once during this time did I wonder if Susan Lovell was any relation to Jim Lovell, ya know the astronaut that was part of the team of Apollo 13 (in case you are still wondering who the heck is Jim Lovell, just watch the movie, Apollo 13 with Tom Hanks portraying Jim Lovell then you will remember.)  It wasn't until the last night, when only my traveling companions, Susan and Jim and our instructor Lou were having dinner together, all the remaining classmates had already headed for home, but we decided to wait until the following morning to take off.  It was then that I discovered who Susan Lovell really was.  Oh my, surprise, shock and awe were written all over my face.  And it wasn't until last night over dinner that she really talked about her Dad and growing up during the time he was an astronaut.  I wasn't the only one surprised, most everyone else did not put two and two together either until last night.  Anyway, we had a great spread of food, casual but yummy, wine aplenty, and lotsa laughter.

Lou is having another workshop in the Smoky Mtns. in April, but since I am going to a photography workshop in late March into early April in Charleston, SC (be still my heart) I don't think I will register for this one.  I can't leave my kids that much.  Leaving for Phoenix the end of this month for 10 (yippee) days and then again in March, is a challenge.  Having animals always presents a problem when traveling but there is no way I would give them up for the few times a year I travel.  My daughter always cared for Toby, but now that I have two and with her 1 dog and 3 cats it is too much. Oh what's a Mother to do?

Anyhoo...on my way home last night I spotted a little grocery store across the street from the restaurant called "The Sunshine Market"...and thought, I need some flowers.  Now that Christmas is over and all the prettiness from the holidays has wilted away, I need a little color on my kitchen sink.  And, no surprise, it's red.   The little primulas, one of the early, early signs that spring will return is now adding cheeriness to the kitchen.

And do you have as much trouble with photographing reds as I do?  Trying to get the brightness but not over exposed is always a challenge for me.  But I gotta say, using Lightroom 5 really helps in the editing.  And fyi, taken with my 50mm....someone asked what class this is.  The class is given by Kim Manley Ort.  Here is the link to her website where you can find all of her workshops... Kim Manley Ort Photography .  I don't know if anyone can join the workshop now, we are in to our 2nd week out of 4, but she may offer it again in the future.  Our challenge this week is street photography.  This will definitely be a challenge for me, not that I don't love street photography it's that I am not sure how many people are going to be out and about during this horrid weather.  It has warmed up but the predictions for the week are back in the deep freeze once again.  Oh Phoenix come to me baby.

And thought I would share a few of the shots that I displayed yesterday from my trip to the Smoky Mtns.

This is why they call them the Smoky Mountains...

OK, that's enough.  Got alot to do today, busy week ahead.  Hope yours

is a great one!!

And thanks to those that suggested Whirly Bird app...now I'm hooked.

"We owe it to each other to tell stories". ~ Neil Gaiman

Until next time....

Coming Down Off of the Mountain....

I am trying, really trying to get back into the swing of everyday living. After being gone for a week, experiencing the sights of an absolutely beautiful place, it is really quite difficult to come down from those mountains, both physically & mentally.  How many times in my life will I see sunrises like this??  Hopefully again and again.   

I am back now re-adjusting, unpacking, washing the dirty clothes, and dreaming of that time spent up in the mountains.  And while I have been slowly re-entering everyday life I did snip off a branch of my "new" tree and it does have some beautiful color in its leaves.

The apples have just about all fallen to the ground.....I did manage to snap this one and add Kim's lovely Jamal texture to enhance it.  I kinda like the way it looks with the texture added.

Linking to Kim & Nancy

"We must not allow the clock and the calendar to blind us to the fact that each moment of life is a miracle and mystery."~ H. G. Wells

Hope you all are having a glorious week!

Until next time.....

The Value of a Bottle of Ibuprofen

I arrived home from Tennessee and the Smoky Mountains on Saturday night after a wowzer of a week. Busy from before dawn in the morning, until after sunset each evening.  The instructor kept us on the go every minute of the day.  Did I mention that I was totally exhausted when I fell into bed Saturday night, or each night that I was there??  Did my body ache from climbing mountains, or were my fingers frozen from early morning shoots, did the bags under my eyes become more prominent from lack of sleep....yes, but it was soooo worth it.  I definitely learned the value of a good tripod, which btw I did not have and how you cannot without a doubt hand-hold your camera at an early morning sunrise when there are so many clouds that you can barely see any light creeping through. Thank goodness the instructor was generous with allowing us "virgins" to use some of his equipment.  I also learned the value of a bottle of Ibuprofen and a tube of Aspercreme (aka Ben Gay)

It was a small class of only 7 students which meant that our instructor was able to give ample time to each student as we were shooting in the field.  Many were much more experienced nature photographers than moi....which ofcourse meant that I did more whining, oh I mean needed more coaching than others. Early morning shoots, more shoots, lunch, back to our rooms to choose 4 photos to be critiqued, classroom time, then back out for an afternoon shoot, then dinner, then back on the road for sunset, topping the days off with a long hot shower and collapsing into bed to begin again the next morning.  A couple of mornings I had to set my alarm for 4:40 AM....yes, you saw that right.  I don't even know what the world looks like at 4:40 AM, except maybe a short trip to the bathroom and back let alone up and dressed.  He is having another workshop in the spring at this same location, and believe it or not, I am tempted to do it again.  It will be a totally contrasting experience with the landscape being so different in the springtime, instead of falling leaves there will be wildflowers.

Early morning sunrise...

A sunset that you could not even see the trees on the side of the hill...

The last morning we were there (yes, this was a 4:40 AM alarm) there was a little snow and frost on the mountain which gave the trees a coating of white.

And you cannot ignore the leaves and color....omg the color was phenomenal.

Fallen leaves....

Hanging leaves....

Waterfall leaves....

How the light hit the leaves....

Or seen thru a window....

There are so many more photos from this experience which will pop up here and there in the future...but I wanted to give you a taste of what the Smoky Mountains looks like in October....pretty awesome, huh??

On the way home we decided to stop around Lexington, KY to find some of those gorgeous black fences and a horse or two.  After all, Lexington is known for it's race horses.  We just happen to stop at a farm for retired thoroughbreds and took a few shots.

It was indeed good to be home, my kids (aka dogs) were sure glad to see me, I don't ever remember my children or my husband ever jumping up and down when I walked through the door after a trip, but my kids sure do, making me feel totally and unconditionally loved. That's what dogs do.

"Where we love is home, home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts."  ~  Oliver Wendell Holmes

Until next time....