4th Assignment Critique Ready: Stairs, Steps, Ladders and Pathways.

CRITIQUE: Linda Jeffers (Stairs, Steps, Ladders, & Pathways)

1 BRICK STAIRS


Wow! I love this shot!
It's all about warm tones, texture, verticality, and light/shadow. Everything in your picture has a warm glow to it -- the weathered bricks and the golden/bronze-colored railing. It's just beautiful. What's nice is how the bold dark forms of the shadows stand out against all the warmth. The texture on the bricks and the mortar lines creates an interesting repeating pattern. The mortar lines merge here and there with the shadows, but instead of being a distraction, the shadow/mortar merges seem to intensify the feeling of texture. And then, here and there, we have the shadows of the ironwork design that softens the hard upright shadows. It's busy, but it's a GOOD busy. The movement in your photograph is primarily vertical. But breaking up the verticality are the horizontal lines of the steps and then the diagonal line of the iron railing. By opting for a vertical format, you enhanced even more the feeling of looking up. As we move up the photo, notice how the topmost steps begin to look crooked. That's a distraction. Not much you could have done about it -- this is a perspective control problem -- but when you frame your shot, you can ameliorate the problem somewhat. See how at the top of your picture it ends with a dark shadow line? That line is so prominent that it EMPHASIZES the crookedness of the steps. But if you had moved in just a bit closer, you could have ended your photo up top with a line of brick. The brick isn't as bold as the black shadow, and so your photo doesn't look as crooked. Let me crop this down from the top a bit to show you what I mean . . . What do you think? What a good photo. You should be pleased with this one. But it's not as good as . . .

2 WATERFALL STEPS


Oh. My. What a lovely, golden, creamy, delightful photo this is. There are so many things right with your photo. I can't think of anything I'd change. So here we go . . . The light. There's a bright overcast look to the light that makes the wet stone gleam, that makes the water glow. If the lighting had been ultra bright sunlight, we would have had a lot of hot spots, some dark shadows, a much rougher and coarser image. It helps, too, that the stonework on either side is also wet. Often in situations like this, or if we're photographing a stream that has rocks in it, the dry rocks will look brighter and less colorsaturated than their surroundings, causing them to stand out and detract from the scene. (This is why, when we conduct photo workshops in California's eastern Sierra, we always send Chris out into the stream to splash water onto the dry rocks so they'll look better. The same concept applies here.) Your stonework looks great. I like how you've put everything on the diagonal. Not only does our eye travel across the frame, but it also stairsteps upward (and downward) along the waterfall steps and along the layers of rock on either side. I like the slightly blue cast to the water at the bottom, which COMPLEMENTS the golden tones of the rocks. I like the relatively slow shutter speed you used. By shooting at a shutter speed of 1/125 of a second or slower (1/125, 1/60, 1/30, etc.) your shutter is open long enough to give the water time to move through the frame, creating a more softly flowing look. If you had shot at a fast shutter speed of 1/250 second, 1/500 second, 1/1000 second, then you would have "frozen" the water in place, which in my mind creates a more static look. You did this just right. And finally, I like the way our eye follows the repeating lines across the frame. Here's what I mean. Very pretty photograph. Well seen. Well executed. Major kudos to you, madam.

3 WHITE AND BLACK

Now this one doesn't have nearly the same impact as your waterfall. And it's not because it's black and white. It's because there's a bit too much going on that our attention gets scattered throughout the scene, rather than following the flow that you created in your previous picture. I do like that you started with the steps right in our face at the bottom of the frame. But instead of following the repeating pattern of the steps traveling upward, I find myself getting lost in the weeds, thinking about the window, looking at the shadow on the right side of the frame, and wondering what's at the top. When you photographed this, you probably noticed the light and shadow, the repetitive lines of the steps, and the cool window. And you probably noticed these things one at a time. But a camera sees all this at once, and presents it all at once, and we're left befuddled, bemused, and bewildered, wondering where we should be heading, looking, going. Throw this one away. Admire your first one. But print and frame your second one. It's special. Carol Leigh

Carol,

You made my night with the critique you gave me on the Stairs assignment. I was so happy…..all smiles and somewhat giddy after reading your critique. This is the first time I’ve put myself in a position to have someone (a teacher) give me feedback since school days, very, very long ago. You have no idea how much your complementary critique meant to me. Thank you.

My experience in school while growing up was horrible. I was not a good student. I couldn’t retain a thought, couldn’t comprehend and had test anxiety beyond belief. The smaller I tried to be in a class (so I wouldn’t be called on), the more I went dumb and couldn’t say a word when called on. Classes of any kind have been the bogie man. I have avoided taking classes my entire life.

My fears have altered all my life choices up until around age 53 (some 10 years ago) when I couldn’t spend one more day taking path B rather than path A. I’d had it giving so much power to fear.

At the beginning of each year for the past 12 years, I have generated an Ideals’ List of things I want to do, change, be in the upcoming New Year. I hoped in making this list AND reviewing it over the year I would be more accountable to myself. For all those years I have written down – Take a photo class. At the end of each year when I hadn’t taken the photo class I would carry over to the next year the same desire – Take a photo class!

I was intimidated to sign up for this class last year when Carol Davis told me about it. Many months later I got the courage to sign up for the class before this one but it was canceled. And then this class started!!!! I was nervous. All those old feelings and fears came up. But I just followed your instructions, got out there and shot, am learning so much, am having such a ball, feeling excited and interested in ways I haven’t felt forever and now have just received this incredible critique!

I am so glad I didn’t leave/quit when thoughts to do so came up.

I loved your response to the student who wrote about being intimidated. I understand only too well what she feels. Thank you for making this class setting such a safe place to learn.

Most humbly and with much gratitude to you Carol, and all of you in the class. All of you students teach me too. Thank you.

Linda Jeffers

p.s. Damn, I just noticed in the email I sent out I spelled compliments - with an e (complements). I first learned about the word "complementary" when my sister, Leila, asked me about my first class assignment called: complementary colors. She asked if the word was spelled with an "e". I said I didn't know. We looked up the definition of complementary on the internet.

Salton Sea photo shoot with Carol.

This is Carol. She turned me on to the photo class. Carol takes all of Carol Leigh's classes all the time.I took about 300 photos while at the Salton Sea. I was using my telephoto lens when I shot this bird as he was catching his lunch! Well, brunch. It was about 10am. Carol and I had a ball the 5 hours we were shooting.

These two below are my favorites.

Critique #3 Neons is posted.

CRITIQUE: Linda Jeffers (Neon)
PICKFORD THEATRE

Shots like this are tough to compose for because basically
you've got a skinny sign in a vertical format and a lot of
"dead space" on either side, especially on the right. What
can we do about a situation like this? Not much. You
filled your frame as well as you could, but there's still a
fair amount of empty space on the right, which isn't
helping your composition.
I do like your colors -- the yellows and reddish-orange
tones. Your zooming technique is impressive -- very
smooth, no jiggles. The one negative about the sign is
how we can't really read the words. The zooming has
distorted the individual letters so it's not obvious what the
sign is saying. But that's okay -- this is all experimental
stuff, and some of it's going to work and some of it isn't.
The point is: we're out there giving it a good shot.

SHOW GIRLS

Now see how we can more easily read this sign? The
letters are a bit more defined, especially the
"GENTLEMEN'S CLUB" at the bottom of the frame.
What I really like is the swirling element that the blue
lights make in your shot. The swirl/zoom combo creates a wonderful feeling of left-right
movement.
What causes some letters to show up well and other letters to become more blurry? I think it
depends on the style of the font
(the fancier the font, the more
difficult it is to read when zoomed)
and how quickly we zoom. If we
hesitate just a bit right after we
click the shutter, spend a little bit
of extra time not zooming, then the
letters will look more in focus. I
probably didn’t say that very well.
If your exposure is two seconds
long, and you spend all two

seconds zooming, the letters won’t be very clear. But if your exposure is two seconds and you
spend the first second not zooming, then the letters have more time to “burn” into the shot, and
will look clearer.
I like how you've placed the sign in the frame -- you opted for symmetry, you filled the frame,
you created drama. And you didn't crop in so tightly that we feel claustrophobic. Good one!

CAR WASH ELEPHANT

Ah, I remember this elephant -- it's at a
car wash, right? Palm Desert? This is a
TERRIFIC shot!
Your focus is sharp. Your exposure is
right on. I like how you placed the
elephant's eye in the upper right-hand
sector pursuant to the Rule of Thirds. Our
eye focuses on the elephant's eye, then
runs down the trunk, then down to the
word "Rancho." Lots of movement in
your photo.
I think what might make your photo even
better -- and this is something that's easy
to do in Photoshop -- is if you were to fill
in all the little dots in the "shower" with
light. Why, because there's a lot of
contrast there, a definite demarcation
between light and dark, and so we really
notice that there are bulbs "missing." It
becomes a distraction. (I realize that the
bulbs look burned out probably because
the neon hadn't rotated into that area yet,
but it's the APPEARANCE that matters.)
Here's what I mean (below). (I actually attempted to duplicate the example of filling in the lights on this shot. Carol's example was much better but I can't upload her changes here.)
Good shots, Linda. Kudos to you.
Carol Leigh

Saved Dog Story AND...Photo Assignment #4 - Stairs, steps, ladders and pathways.

While out photographing stairs a couple of nights ago I heard a whimpering sound. The sound appeared to be coming from the lake near the Tee box of the 18th hole on the Pete Dye golf course here at my club.

There were ducks and coots in the dense reeds so I thought maybe there was some mating going on. I walked over with my tripod and camera hoping to get a good shot of the lovers. The closer I looked I realized the tiny black moving object was not a duck or coot after all but a drowning very tiny dog. My heart raced. I yelled hoping people in the houses nearby would hear me and come help. I yelled really loud. No one came out. The sun just went down behind the mountain. There were no golfers out playing. And I mention all this because in order for me to save the dog from drowning I had to descend into the weed/reed/choked lake down railroad ties that, once in the water, these ties were so high they'd prevent me from getting out on my own.

I kept looking around, trying to figure out if I should just jump in (I didn't know how long this dog would stay above water) or drive up over the hill to find a golfer.

I decided to run up the hill to see if anyone was at the driving range. I was in luck. I yelled to this golfer. He couldn't hear me. I yelled louder, "Do you have a ball retriever or something....a dog is drowning over there in the lake." I didn't wait for the answer. I ran back to the lake and slid down the railroad ties about 3 feet into the yucky water. Moving to get to the dog wasn't easy. The reeds were preventing me from easily moving my legs forward. The dog is whimpering. I am so afraid I'll get to him too late. I finally get close enough and lean forward grabbing the dog by the scruff of his neck, hoping he wouldn't bite me.

I get him in my arms and fall. I am wet up to my breasts. I'm cold and the dog is shivering. By now I look up and the golfer from the range is standing at the break in the fence where I slipped down into the water (and probably where the dog fell in). I reach up and put the dog on the grass. The golfer asks if I need help. Yea....aaaah! But before I take his hand, I thought I'd show him how strong and agile I am by putting both my hands on the top of the ties, rehearsing how I will jump up and push myself up high enough to kick one leg up god knows where. I jump. I fall back into the filthy lake because whatever growth there was under foot caught my foot and prevented the foot from moving even though I was trying to jump up. It was comical as I fell backwards getting wet up to my neck. The golfer says, "Are you alright?" (thank god i didn't think about the fact there might be things like snakes in this lake.)

Now I take the golfers hand and he gets me out of the lake. The dog has run away to a dirt hill where he is shivering and rolling in the dirt trying I guess to get the creepy cold water off himself.

I thank the man. I gather up my fanny pack I'd ripped off, I pick up the tripod I'd dropped on the grass and get in my golf cart to check out where the dog is going.

The dog is hiding way up high on a hill, under trees and close to a road. The road freaked me. Great, I'm thinking. I save the dog only to have the dog run over by a car. I can't leave this dog. The dog is sitting, staring at me, shivering and apparently in some kind of shock. So, I go to pick the dog up and it growls at me. Great. But I show him I'm not afraid (right) and with dog in my arms I get in my golf cart.(all wet with the smelly lake water. Poor Ray - it's his golf cart.)

I drive around to the front of the houses and go to the first door. A woman comes out. She doesn't know who the dog belongs to. She'd love to help me out but she is going out of town in the morning. She does run back in the house and gets the dog a towel I can put on him...he's really shivering now. Of course so am I by this time but I don't get a towel. No. Just the dog.

I continue walking from empty house to empty house. No luck. I go to the guard gate. The woman will not take the dog. I don't want the dog in my house. But I have run out of options because the one option the guard gate lady gave me was call the animal control people. I know what these people do with dogs. I was not going to call them.

So I drive back home, in the dark, both the dog and I are very cold and shivering. I get an idea as I approach my home. Our neighbors have dogs, love dogs. I ring their doorbell. They come to the door with drinks in hand. They have their couple friends there with them. All four people look at the dog, say how cute etc.....I say, "Please take the dog, I can't take him home." They do.

Long story trying to be short.....Fast forward... The next day the couple friend of my neighbor Pam fell in love with this dog. Showered it, sleep with it, took it to the vet to see if it had a chip in it to determine who the owner was, and bought and dressed the dog up in the outfit in the picture. I have the picture because my neighbor and his friend Pam came by to show me the dog in his new pink collar and pink sweater. Pam is now trying to convince her husband that she really wants to keep the dog.

But, even if that doesn't happen, Pam has someone who wants to take the dog.

Now isn't this is a nice story?

Well yes and NO! I have poison oak on the wrist and hand that was holding Mr. cute little dog and it itches like crazy.

I'm too tired to go back and read what I wrote. I hope I don't have too many mistakes.

Good night.

Christie and Kevin with San Jacinto behind them.

There were only 3 of us on yesterday's hike. (I was bad and only sent out the email to members on the PCT hike ,north from Hwy 74, on Friday before the hike.)

Meeting Christie and Kevin, who are new to MHCC, and having so much time to get to know them because we were alone on the hike, was a treat. I enjoyed their enthusiasm, relationship with each other and love of hiking.

Christie may even be open to learning to backpack!

More photos of this hike and other Saturday MHCC hikes are in my Flickr.com photo site.

Thursday.

Twenty five minutes into our drive to LA today on the I-10 Freeway. SNOW!

It snowed for about 20 minutes.

The clouds parted thank goodness. It was getting a bit scary. No one in LA knows much about driving in snow and on icy, slushy freeways.

And then beautiful Mount Baldy.

And some late night photo play on the way home from LA. In two weeks I have to turn in my 5th photo assignment. It's reflections. I wonder if this shot qualifies?

This got me. Bet it gets you too.

My sponsor Debbie sent this out to all her gals.

Get your Kleenex out.

http://www.stservicemovie.com/

Busy last week seeing lots of people I love.

Last Tuesday, Feb 5th, I drove in to the SF Valley with Sandi, Hannah and Katie. We had our first Baby Meeting at Milly's place. At the Baby Meeting we had our first ever teleconference where the out of town gals were on their phones and included in the meeting. Everyone enjoyed hearing from Andrea, Susan L. in New Mexico, Debbie A.
in Washington and Susan A in Montana. I only took two photos that night. Above is one of the two photos I took that night of Milly with Hannah and Katie.

Wednesday I was in the desert. Then Thursday Ray and I both drove to the SF Valley. Because I was picking Milly up and flying up to Concord, CA to attend my sponsor's 32 nd Birthday Brunch, I decided to stay over in the LA area rather than driving back and forth to the desert.

After spending the night with me and doing some morning work with Mike, Ray drove back to the desert. On Friday I met with Katya for about 7 hours in the Courtyard Marriott. Later I went over to Balboa Park to shoot some reflection shots before the sun set for one of my upcoming class assignments.

Saturday I picked up Milly and we fly up to Debbie's. Twenty three of her thirty five sponsees where present to celebrate Deb's 32nd birthday. Here is a photo of all of us. Debbie, my sponsor, is seated in front (in the RED outfit) and Milly, my grandsponsor is seated to Debbie's right.

After flying back to Burbank later Saturday night, Erica picked up Milly and drove her home while I went over to Alima's home 6 minutes from the airport to spend Saturday night and Sunday morning. Click here to see more photos I took of Alima's children.

Request for Critique to my teacher, Carol

Thanks so much everyone for taking the time to give me your comments on which Neon photos you like. It means a lot to me that you took the time. Thanks to Ray, Cupcake and Alima who also gave me their feedback. Below is the list of photos I chose to submit for critique and sent in today. My teacher Carol will not begin giving critiques on this 3rd assignment - Neon until after the deadline for submission this coming Tuesday.

Dear Carol,

What a mind opening experience this neon assignment has been. I haven’t had this much fun in a long time (I haven’t felt this alive from an adrenaline rush –yes, I went out alone!). I had no idea there were so many weird people out at night.

The hardest part of the Neon assignment has been selecting only 3 photos from all I shot. I haven’t a clue what is good, what I like best, what is following the class assignment. This is all so foreign to me.

I asked 6 friends which neons they liked. Their opinions varied. My problem is that I like more than I am allowed to submit for class critique.

But I’ve chosen….Below is the list of the 3 photos I am selecting for your critique:

1. Pickford Theatre
2. Show Girls
3. Car Wash Elephant

(But I also really like, Red Rose Bar, Color within Color, and Beauty Shop and others I didn’t post.)

So here I go with an extra request….. As you will see, I placed all the photos I had trouble choosing from in my Yahoo class folder.

Would you (certainly NOT critique all these photos in the folder but) only list which 3 of the 7 photos you would have submitted for this neon assignment. I understand if you don’t want to do this, I just thought I’d ask. Pllllllllllllllllllllllease?

Thanks so much for all your time, knowledge and effort. Again, I love this class.

Linda “Gottago” Jeffers

Need Help. Undecided on submitting which 4 photos for Neon photo assignment.

Which ones would you suggest I submit?

#1 Hair shop.#2 Gentlemen's Club
#3 Show ticket sign
#4 Bike
#5 Car wash elephant
#6 Close up ticket sign
#7 Pickford Theater sign
#8 Red Rose Bar

Vince, a man who will live on in my memory and heart forever.

Pat and Vince Y. (at Club Med in Turks and Caicos '08)

I received a phone call last night from Ray while having dinner with the ladies in Encino before the Baby Meeting. I took my phone and walked outside because I was stunned, saddened and heartbroken by the news that Vince had had a massive heart attack and died hours ago.

Vince touched my life in so many ways with his unique way of passing on his experience, strength and hope. When Vince spoke, I listened. I was a little afraid of him. He was a father figure to me. He knew so much about so many things.

Vince intuitively and in the most concise way, confidently and succinctly, would give me feedback that motivated me to take his suggested actions (actions that I'd not thought to take or was previously unwilling to take).

Vince helped me in so many areas with:
1. Seeing the truth about my spending $$$.....How I was spending money for emotional reasons...to take me away from whatever I was feeling. (No one had ever or would even think to tell me to not use my credit card for 3 months before!!)
2. He got me to put down a cookie (nobody has ever been able to get me to put down a cookie!) he saw me eating outside Starbucks one night before the PG meeting after complaining about how unhappy I was with my obsession with food.
3. He asked me to call him everyday to report what exercise I was doing when I told him I was unable to get back into exercising again. If not for Vince's motivation, I would never have hiked the PCT.
4. Learning to be direct with my communication and not giving thought to what the other person might be thinking about what I'm saying.
5. To go to a person directly with a concern rather than make that person wrong, slander and resentment resent them.
6. Show up when I don't want to. Do what I might not want to do.
7. Being respectful to my husband by Vince's good relationship example with Pat.
8. Want to be more of service, to reach as many people as possible, sharing my experience, strength and help.
And, so, so much more.....

Vince leaves me with a wonderful legacy - The legacy of Love and Service.

In Vince's memory I will continue to honor my commitment to be of Love and Service.

My heart goes out to Pat, my friend, and Vince's wonderful wife.

My Kitchen Art Critique is up!

1
CRITIQUE: Linda Jeffers (Kitchen Art)

PASTA DECOR
You indicated that you "tried to do what
(you'd) seen a chef do for table
decoration" and I like your set-up. Once
again (are we seeing a theme here?)
you've got things radiating outward (like
your previous purple/yellow pencils) and
it's an effective compositional technique.
Your composition's good, your colors are
good, the subject matter's terrific. What's
bothering you about the shot? There's
something bothering me, too, but I don't
know what it is.
Hmmmm . . . what if (and I wouldn't know unless I actually saw it) there were no white bow-tie
pasta in the mix? Is the white somehow diluting the rich colors of the green, red(dish), and
warm yellow colors? Do the white guys stand out so much that they're distracting our eye from
the overall warm tones? Could be.
And what if the background hadn't been red? We can see bits of it here and there through the
spaghetti. What would have been a good color? Nothing. I believe you needed to completely fill
your background with pasta, pack it in so that we don't see the background at all.
Your photo is all about rich-yet-subtle color and repeating patterns. White isn't a color. Red
background interrupts the pattern. I think that's it! Your lighting and composition are all good.
(Except for the one bow-tie up at the very tip-top that's trying to escape.) You did well with this
one. Kudos to you.

RED HOT BURNER
Another in your series of "focal point with things
radiating outward" and it's another good one! What
you've done with your composition is you've
forced us to look at something quite ordinary (the
burner on a stove) in an artistic way. You've
broken the scene down into color and line -- and
both are bold.
2
Your blue/red combo is your photo's
focal point. It's the more colorful, most
in-focus element in the frame, so our eye
goes there first. From there, the three
(three!) metal lines of the burner lead
our eye over toward the upper left. We
then slide back toward the flame. Very
good.
Since your photo is about simplicity,
color, movement, what about the dark
area in the lower left corner and the
curved element in the lower right
corner? Would your photo have even
more impact if they were gone?
I brought your picture into Photoshop
Elements and cropped your picture and
then messily cloned away the darkness to give us an idea.
(Upper photo is my submitted photo. Lower burner photo is the teacher's edited example.) Better or not? Yes, I think so. Our
eyes now go back and forth, back and forth, without feeling we have to look down into the
lower corners to see what you’ve got there. There’s more of a smooth flow. Minor tweakage,
but I think it makes a big difference. Very good photograph overall, Linda.

INSPIRATION EGGS
You gave up on this, but your concept
was excellent, your colors great, your
lighting just right. I like how the purple/
orange combo is reflected here and there
in the glass pattern. I like how your eggs
look glossy and orange and how your
lighting enhances the glossy feel, but
doesn't fill the frame with annoying white
spots. I like how your focus is all on the
right stuff. And I like the surprise of little
bits of light teal colors show up here and
there.
So what's the problem? I'm thinking that you have too many eggs. How many would have been
3
better? Three! And if they'd been huddled together more, those three eggs, maybe more toward
the left of the bowl, that would have been very effective. Why? Because here we've got no
really tight composition of egg yolks. Your composition in general is tight, but the yolks are
sort of spread out and not in any particular design. Limit the eggs to three, cluster them together
on the left, and you've got it aced. Why three? It's just that magical compositional number --
and three eggs ALWAYS make a pattern -- a triangle -- which solves your problem right there.
Of course, I might be wrong . . .
You should be so proud of yourself. This assignment was a difficult one. (Almost as tough as
the "ice" assignment I give in the macro class.) But you handled it well. I feel sorry for your
husband, however, being "forced" to take this photo class along with you!
Thanks for posting these.
Carol Leigh

P.S.

Here is some of yesterday's online correspondence with a classmate to help explain the reference to my husband in the last sentence of Carol's critique: The student wrote:
My Kitchen Art photos are ready for critique. I want you to know I really enjoyed this assignment and took what seems like zillions of pictures--learning all the time! Choosing what to submit became a monumental task in and of itself. I finally found myself asking two questions to help me select: First, is this just a photo or is there "art"
to it? Second, what
technical achievements do I feel I have achieved and want your feedback on?

And now for a complaint...-this project became such an all-consuming, task that it often determined which dishes we were allowed to eat from on some days! My husband accused my right brain of taking over the kitchen! He also accused me delaying dinner on several occasions to take pictures of a meatloaf just out of the oven, loaves of bread fresh from the oven and other "inconveniences" incurred by my right brain!


Then I wrote back:

Ditto to Betty’s post.

After interrupting and calling my husband over to give me feedback on which of the zillions of kitchen art photos I’d taken he liked best, he finally said, “I didn’t know I was going to be taking the photography class too!”

Linda Jeffers

Kitchen Art - pasta decor

Kitchen Art - pasta decor, originally uploaded by gottagolinda.

Ok, so I'm posting my 3 Kitchen Art photos in anticipation of a critique on them tomorrow so you'll have something to reference when I share my critique here.

I'm thinking this photo needs more light. It might be too busy too.

Maybe the teacher won't like the ends of the spaghetti pasta showing.

After having looked at the other student's work I'm finally getting that my photos are supposed to look like art. Hmmmm. Would I want to hang this on MY wall? I don't think so.

I better move onto something else tonight. My head is getting the best of me. Don't give me too much time to think.

Kitchen Art - red hot burner

Kitchen Art - red hot burner, originally uploaded by gottagolinda.

Here is another Kitchen Art photo submission. I wonder what she'll think of the darker gray shadows running southwest to northeast? I just now noticed them and wish they weren't there.

I also feel like more of the lower right side of the burner should show.

Kitchen Art - eggs

Kitchen Art - eggs, originally uploaded by gottagolinda.

I'm waiting quite impatiently for the critique on my 3 Kitchen Art photos I submitted for critique. My teacher didn't do any critiques over the weekend. I know because I checked my email for notification of my critique every 5 minutes.We students were sent out the lineup for Kitchen Art critiques and I am next in line for a critique on Kitchen Art.

Today's hike with the Mission Hills CC Hiking Group

Click here to view the folder that contains the hikes I've organized. The Art Smith Trail is the hike I went on today.

Lost all my photos

I don't know what happened. I am sick.

Woke up this morning to find all the photos back up on my site. Really happy about that. Not happy about how late I stayed up trying to trouble shoot.

And here is a Big Thank YOU to my friend JJ who took time to trouble shoot too after I sent him a panic email at 2am.

I love you JJ!!

More later today.

Oh, today is probably when I get my next photo class critique. Yipppppeeee.

Off for a hike with Suzy and Sandy who I knew when they lived in LA too.

Before I go, Happy Birthday to two special people: Quincy (20)and Lamont (8).