On Hiatus

It’s been way to long since I have posted.  I glanced at my stats and saw that people are still finding me and looking at my blog.  This pleases me very much.

For those that maybe haven’t seen my first blog…..I started this to NOT let life get in the way of my passion and that is photography.  I found out fast that, it is sometimes impossible.

I own a seasonal company, and I am in my season now, actually since May.  Life and the responsibilities of it, got in the way of my photography.

I will start back up just as soon as I can…….so please continue to glance this way, and one day soon you will see photos again.

Thanks,

No Letter

OK so here’s the deal.  When I started this blog, it was to get me out, so I could do what I enjoy doing, (taking photos) and to prevent me from getting caught up in daily life.  I started this while I was being a summer bird, (never could figure out why people running from the snow are called snow birds?)  And what do people, that do this, have on their hands…….lots of time……..So now that I am back to the real life, and working, I am finding that I don’t have the time I was hoping for.

Not to sweat……..I am not shutting down or stopping this blog……couldn’t do that to you or myself.  I am however, giving myself more time to gather the photos for us to enjoy.  So I am going to post ever two (2) weeks instead of every week.

I have discovered since I have been back, that since I am busier, I am rushing the photography, and I don’t want that.  It’s not enjoyable to me and I am not being as creative as I could be.

Since I have taken the time to fill you in on my plan, I will also post a few photos from my library for you to look at this week.  When I have time I play with PSE (Photoshop Elements). These are just random and not being posted for any real reason.

Hope you understand and will continue to follow my blog.

Happy Shooting

WINTER REFLECTIONS

PICTURE IN A PICTURE

ROCKY SHORELINE

RED BRIDGE

PURPLE IRIS

FLOWERS AT NIGHT

EXPLOSION OF COLOR

CHURCH

SEE YOU BACK HERE NEXT TUESDAY FOR THE LETTER “L”

Letter “K”

Another week and letter.  What can I say……….I’m not sure if it’s because I’m in the states, and the weather is a bit cool, the surroundings a lot different, but it seems as though I’m having more difficulty finding the “shot”.  The one that interest me, cause really in truly I shoot for me.  If I’m excited or thrilled with my shots, then naturally it will show in my photography. It may be the letters.  Not a whole lot to shoot, for the letters I have shot since back in the good old USA.

I had ups and downs shooting the letter “K”.  The best part of my experience was shooting the KETTLES.  In my home town of Schaumburg, we have a real old working farm from the late 1800’s.  The people who work there dress from that era, and give demonstrations from that time period, either in cooking, wood chopping or working with the chickens, cows and horses.  My adventure there was perfect timing since there was a group of KIDS watching and participating in how to cook biscuits.  The morning I went was a bit crisp outside, about 50 with the sun shining, so after this stop I walked the grounds and had some nice me time.

The down was, going to the pet store to shoot KITTENS, to find out that the vet had not yet looked at them, so they weren’t available to the public.  Now what, I really wanted that shot.  So, I decided to look at th fish to see if maybe there was one whose proper name started with a “K”.  Bingo another up, KOI fish, lots of them, really big ones, much better than KITTENS.

My final shots, I did on the sly.  Remember in my last post, how none of the stores here, will let me take photos of their stuff.  I decided to sneak the photos and hopefully not get caught or if I did, well what’s the worst…..kick me out and ask me not to take any more.  So that’s what I did.  Good plan, will have to do more of that for sure.

Hope you enjoy these, and look for the letter “L” next Tuesday.

Happy Shooting

Letters “I” and “J”

Hello, so glad to be back.  I am truly sorry for not posting last week.  I really didn’t forget about you my readers and followers.  The flu bug decided to invade my body and literally wouldn’t allow me to even post a short “I’m sorry for not posting”.   Totally laid out in bed.  I was then thinking a few days later about posting, but I really want to keep my post to Tuesdays.

I have learned a valuable lesson, actually a lesson my blogging instructor taught us early in the lesson.  That is to always have a back up post waiting in the wings for those days that you are unable to post.  Yep I can write a post, and then tuck it away for a rainy day or even write my post early and set my blog to release it on Tuesday.   So this will be the plan, however since my photography is current to the week, I will post photos of days past, non related to the alphabet.  Just some fun shots to look at till I am back on track.

Now lets talk about this week.  The letter “I” is a nasty letter, unless it was winter or somewhere very cold……Igloo, icicle, ice skates, and we all know that won’t be happening for me.  I also thought of  iris, ivy, but still to early in the season.  I had a great idea as I was flying back to the states…..Island, but as it would have it, I was sitting on the wrong side of the plane.  So I have posted just a few for this letter.

The letter “J” was a bit better, until I got into the thick of it.  I went to Toys R Us to take photos of Jack in the Box, both closed and opened, Jigsaw puzzles, jump ropes and anything else fun to shoot.  “No can do”, said the manager.  I was at Jimmy Johns for lunch……how much better can it get for “J” than that, and the menu was really cool.  “No can do”, said the manager.  I miss island life.  Everyone here is too uptight!!!!!

What can I say……I am going to have to really pull out my creative hat while here taking photos.  Thanks for following and hope you enjoy this week.

HOPE YOU ENJOYED THESE

LETTER “K” WILL BE NEXT WEEK

Another Another Day

As I had to say back on March 2nd, I again have to say…….”Hello to my readers.  Today is Tuesday, and unfortunately my personal life has trumped my blogging life.

With closing my home in Aruba, flying back to the states, and then starting my business back up, I have found that I ran out of time to shoot my photos.  This is exactly why I started this blog, to get away from it all and find time to shoot.  However, life sometimes gets caught up with you.

So next Tuesday I plan to post not only the “I” photos, but also the “J” photos.  Partially, cause frankly there isn’t a whole lot to shoot that begins with the letter “I”.

So until then,

Happy Shooting

My “H” Photos

In my last blog…….My “G” Photos, I stated “I’ve started to notice that besides getting out and shooting, which was really the reason for starting this blog, that I’m also looking for the story behind the photos.”
I have to say that this statement is short-lived, since this week there was no story.  Nope none at all.  I just went out and had fun.

When I began this blog, I decided that I had to be honest with my readers, as I would hope they would be honest with their comments.  I’m bringing this up, for those of you that pay attention to detail.  Some of my followers are very talented in the arts, and for that reason I thought I should be up front, and let it be known that the Horse photos were taken in the spring of 2009.  I have so many photos of horses, for two reasons…..One I really like horses, and two we (my husband) own one.  So for those reasons I really didn’t want to spend the time to shoot more.  The sure way to tell, is look at the foliage.  Last year the island had a sufficient amount of rain, and everything was green.  This year…well no rain in about 6 months, so everything is brown.

Until next week, when I shoot the letter “I”, which I anticipate to be a difficult week unless I was living in Alaska.

I want to close this week with a quote from one of my favorite photographers.

Life is your art. An open, aware heart is your camera. A oneness with your world is your film. Your bright eyes and easy smile is your museum.- Ansel Adams

A HILL CALLED HOOIBERG

HILLS OF ARUBA

A BEAUTY

HERE’S LOOKING AT YA

BATH TIME

ONE OF MANY

ALSO ONE OF MANY

HUTS ON THE BEACH

SEE YOU NEXT TUESDAY FOR MY “I” PHOTOS

My “G” Photos

What can I say about this week with the letter “G”.   I’ve started to notice that besides getting out and shooting, which was really the reason for starting this blog, that I’m also looking for the story behind the photos.    In fact, the two are becoming hand in hand.  Really, what fun would it be to just go and shoot a bunch of pictures.

I did run into some trouble this week with my camera.  No, not the same as I spoke about in my Review and Redefine post.  What happened was I noticed, after I had uploaded the photos into my computer that many of them had a black spot almost in the center of the photo.  I immediately, researched and found that if your camera gets dust on the mirror, your photos reflect the dust with a black spot.  Makes sense.  I did a cleaning and should be good to go for the letter “H”.  So I wouldn’t have to spend a ton of time in PSE, to remove this spot, on the photos, I decided this week will be quality over quantity.

My story for the week is about the garbage dump.  I went to take photos, and of course there is a barb wired fence around the site.  I took a few photos from a distance and thought well that is that.  I then remembered something my husband always tells me………”Remember it’s always no unless you ask”.  With that, I drove to the entrance, told my spiel about being a photographer and wanted to shoot the garbage dump.  As usual that person would have to ask his supervisor.  Ok, so we talk to the supervisor and that person has to ask his manager.  The manager is nowhere to be found, so the supervisor stated, that he would take responsibility for me going into the dump, that the rules are no photos are allowed, but would I write my name down for him.  No phone number, no address, just my name????? I did and off I drove deep into the dump.  Back in the states on the evening before garbage day, a couple of guys drive around the neighborhood looking in the garbage, for items that they can get money for. such as metal objects, appliances etc.  Here in Aruba, there are actual people in the dump looking for who knows what.  I can’t imagine what they would be finding, didn’t want to ask after sneaking and taking their photos.

One quick note:  I am a passionate gardener, however, here in Aruba all the homes are fenced in, so without getting permission, there is no way to get photos  The two I’ve posted are from the million dollar homes that have landscaped outside their fencing.

Until next Tuesday

Happy Shooting

nice gate

GARDEN

SHOPPING FOR GROCERIES

GOATS

GARBAGE DUMP

SEE YOU NEXT TUESDAY FOR MY “H” PHOTOS

My “F” Photos

Well here it is another week, and letter.   When I was out and about, I started looking for that interesting shot.  This is pretty much the same routine I do every week.  More often than not, I spontaneously think of objects more so than using a list from the wide world of cyber space.

I captured a variety of objects this week, some you might find only on an island.  That’s what I feel in part, makes this blog interesting.  In a few weeks, I’m back in the USA, so you will see a change in my photos.  I’m thinking that  will either open up my choices, or challenge me more.  Time will tell.

So, my week started out uneventful, but then I actually received a perk.  When I was down at the piers waiting for the fishing boats to arrive, bringing back the family’s who had fun fishing……one boat came in early due to someone being seasick…..while I was waiting for the other boats, the captain filleted the fish they had caught, and then gave me some to bring home for dinner.  Tonight we are having fresh Tuna on the grill.  How much better can it get?

One last comment, it was very difficult for me not to saturate this week with photos of flowers.  Besides photography being a passion of mine, so is gardening.  That just might have to be a theme for me one day.

Until next Tuesday,

Happy Shooting

FIRST AID ANYONE

HUNGRY

HOT

BEAUTIFUL

NOT A WHITE PICKET FENCE

NATURAL FENCE

NICE SMELL

FLOWER POTS FOR FLOWERS

FISHING ANYONE ?

FAMILY HAVING FUN FISHING

FISH

AND MORE FISH

FILLET THE FISH

ALMOST DONE

SEE YOU NEXT TUESDAY FOR MY “G” PHOTOS

My “E” Photos

This week I have decided to go off the beaten path, and instead of shooting a lot of different objects that begin with the letter “E”, to shoot one object but all different kinds.

In truth, when I was thinking about the letter “E”, before even thinking of different objects this idea popped into my head, and then after starting to make a list of “E” objects, I discovered that there really aren’t many, well many that would be interesting shots.

Enter sign, exit sign, Easter objects, elephant (none around), ear, earrings, energy plant and so on all sounded non interesting to me.  As I stated in the beginning of my blog, the shots have to interest me in order to get good photos, and then good photos will interest you the reader.

So I hope you enjoy 9 different shots of eyes.  Yes, eyes.

Well until next Tuesday, when I shoot the letter “F”.

Happy Shooting

UNTIL NEXT WEEK

My “D” Photos

This was certainly a difficult week.  Not many objects to shoot that begin with the letter “D”.  It’s a very good thing that there is a Donkey Sanctuary here in Aruba.   It is quit interesting, the story of how the Donkey came to the island some 500 years ago.   Once the automobile was introduced, then the donkey was no longer needed.  I’m not going to go any further as you can go to their web site and read all about them yourselves.

The funniest part of my day was when I decided to go to Dunkin Donuts and take photos of the donuts.  I explained to the salesperson, (as I have, when I need to take a photo, somewhere I might need permission) that I am a photographer on the island and my assignment this week is to take photos of objects that begin with…….this week it’s the letter “D”.  She, the salesperson, stated “she didn’t know and would have to ask the manager”.  Ok then if that is what she needed to do, but the problem was he wasn’t there.  Well, after suggesting that she call him, cause I NEEDED THE PHOTOS, she agreed.  I spoke to him going through my spiel again, but he asked me who I worked for…….never happened before…..think fast Katie…….”Well I”m from Chicago and am on the island for a photo assignment.  “Oh, he said, for sure go right ahead”.  The amusing part was,  when I was setting up my camera,   the girls asked me if I would wait for a few minutes while they changed the dirty paper under the donuts making everything crisp and clean.  I wonder who the manager thought I was working for.

Until Next Tuesday when the “E”S” come alive

Happy Shooting

OH WHAT A DAY

THIS IS THE LIFE

WHAT A CUTIE

JUST A BABY

ANYTHING DOWN HERE TO EAT

I LOVE YOU

YUM YUM

MORE YUM YUM

VERY COLORFUL

GO PINK

UNTIL NEXT TUESDAY HAPPY SHOOTING