Never left this position all day!

Today was overcast. Ray was sore from yesterday's hike. I had domain website stuff going on. And the tone was set.

What a glorious day I had after I got email back once the my domain site decided to allow connections again after shutting down for a few hours. It's time for updating my sites. Erik in the UK is working on transferring my stuff from my present web host. We have been in contact daily. He has been working on some really cool Front Pages for my new blog site on WordPress and my photo portfolio on Smugmug. Gottago's Adventure site will keep it's same look and hopefully will stop causing Erik so much trouble moving it to his domain for web hosting. Hopefully soon these 3 sites will be accessed and linked on one URL - www.lindajeffers.com.

I played lots and lots of Word Twist on Facebook. I am totally hooked. Damn Cindy. She topped my high score today by 2 points.

I watched many Adobe Lightroom tutorials online. I'm becoming so much more familiar with this software. Knowing how to use it has saved me lots of time. Time I'll have no trouble quickly filling.

Back to the rest of my evening. Ray is in bed and I figure I have another 45 minutes before I join him.

Online photo class assignment #2 Halves - Critique

CRITIQUE: Linda Jeffers

HALVES
1. MEEEEEEEEE
I hope I included the right number of "E's" in the title!
This is a cute photo of you, Linda, and it was a good
idea for this assignment. And just as an aside — isn't it
weird when we examine a photograph of ourselves? If
we stare long enough it's almost as though the
photograph is of a stranger and you begin wondering
about this other person . . . Nah, probably just me . . .
Anyway, I like this photo. I also like how you post processed
it. The black and white treatment is
appropriate and it's flattering. You've also softened the
image, which again is appropriate. And it looks as
though you may have overexposed the shot somewhat,
which is ALSO appropriate. The little I know about
people photography, I know that the black and white
treatment removes some of the distractions that color
can create. And the softening aspect draws our attention
to the eyes, which are the most important part of a
portrait. And slightly overexposing a black and white photograph often removes a lot of the
deeper lines in our faces.
Please note: I am not saying that you are an overly tan wrinkled old hag and my, what a good
job you did disguising it! No, no! I'm saying that we digital photographers have the skill and
tools to become self-portraitists, and we can do exactly what a professional portrait
photographer might do. We can soften lines or we can emphasize lines. We can max out on
color or we can be more subtle. We can selectively soften an image, making the eyes leap out in
sharp focus.
Your lighting is such that the background really blends, providing just enough shadowing and
texture to be interesting, yet being soft enough so that your face really stands out against it,
especially the strands of your hair and the peach fuzz on your cheeks. (It's said that Marilyn
Monroe had this same soft fuzz in her face, which gave her a naturally luminous glow.)
Your glasses blend in well, don't they? We know they're there, but they don't interfere with our
connecting with
you via your eye.
Good shot,
Linda. You look
cute.

2. HALF DISTORTION
Beautiful. What makes this shot (to me) is (1) the bit of
yellow in the reflection and the sharpness of the base.
You filled your frame with 2/3 glass and 1/3 background,
which works great and ties in with the overall Rule of
Thirds in composition.
Your background is completely out of focus but has
strong bits of color in it, making your glass stand out well
against it, but without overpowering the image. Your
glass is darker than the background, which makes it stand
out even more.
My eye goes first to the lower left, focusing on the
yellow. Then it sees the yellow in the reflection, and so
my eye works upward. It then begins looking for
something in focus, and it finds the base of the glass/
vase.
This is important:
Did you notice that my eye concentrated just on the
bottom of your photograph? The yellow, up to the yellow,
then down to the base? Maybe THAT'S where your
picture is. Maybe if you turned this photo into a square, it
would be jam-packed with good stuff, without any
extraneous empty dark stuff on top. Let's take a look. (Carol Leigh posted a square version here on my critique cutting off the upper third of the vase.)
Hmmmm . . . I think I like this version a lot better. I think
we see all of the interesting things at once — yellow/
yellow/base. What do you think? Less is more?

I’m sorry, I just
had to do this.
Here’s how
you’d look as
Yoko Ono! Ha!
This looks
NOTHING like
you! (I couldn’t copy the photo Carol that appeared here to explain this last comment. In the critique she posted a full face photo she’d created of me, by somehow flipping or reversing my face to seamlessly post a full faced photo.)

3. TV SHOT
Very interesting. I'm glad you added descriptive info
— TV and poster edges — that helps me out a lot.
I'm not sure about this photograph, but I'm finding it
intriguing. Let me just sort of ramble on and maybe
something will come of it.
First of all, my initial impression was Obama/
Kennedy. I shan't go into politics, but my thinking
was, "Oh, give me a break!" The important thing
about this little thought bubble is "teeth." My eye
went first and foremost to the teeth and to the guy on
the left rather than the guy on the right, who is much
darker. So to me, you're emphasizing the person on
the left. But what's tying the two together is the bright
white of Obama's shirt. So I go from teeth to shirt and
then up to Obama's eye. All I'm trying to do right now is point out the movement in your photo
and how our eye goes from point to point and why.
I truly like what you did here. It's fresh and different. And the poster edges filter in Photoshop?
I think it worked great! You took what was (I'm assuming) a relatively grainy photograph of a
television image. So your photo is not only of halves, but of grain. How can you enhance the
concept of grain? Poster edges does it beautifully. Ink outline sometimes is a good filter for this
sort of thing, too. And the black and white treatment? Again, it works for a TV image — a sort
of retro TV feeling.
Photoshop filters can look gimmicky and obvious, but they can also enhance a concept that's
already in place. When we use filters for a reason, not just because we can, we add our own
artistic touch and vision to an image. As you did here.
I think you did a great job with this picture. It made me stop, look, and think. Congratulations.
Carol Leigh
August 10, 2009

It's me back.........I'm so sad Carol is no longer going to offer these online classes. Here is a link to her blog where I'm sure other learning possibilites will be offered under her web pages section.

Guilt free down day in bed.

I hoped I was wrong, but last night I knew my glands were sore. This morning something I have sucked all the energy out of me. I don't want to be sick. We're leaving to go to Mammoth for 3 weeks in a few days. Well, maybe whatever I have will go away over night.

Following the second part of the 5th step I heard from 7am to 10am, I got back into bed....with books! What a luxury. I've been wanting to watch the Canon D40 tutorial DVD I'd watched a long time ago, and did. There were some things I didn't know how to work on the camera, but was surprised with how comfortable I am knowing how to use the camera. In the DVD the guy suggests we learn how to use the camera by feel and intuition like we do when driving cars. I don't have to look at the stick shift to know where it is or how to use it, so that's my goal with the camera.....knowing how to use the controls without pulling my eye away from what I shooting.

Half of me.

The following is an excerpt from Scott Kelby’s Wednesday Guest Blogger featuring David J. Nightingale (aka Chromasa)!

“In early 2004, when I’d been blogging for a little over six months, and posting a handful of images each month, I came across Sam Javanrouh’s blog: Daily Dose of Imagery. One of the things that impressed me the most about Sam’s blog, other than the consistently high quality of his work, was that he was posting a new image each day, and I can clearly remember thinking two things. First, what a great idea, and second, it can’t be that hard to post 365 shots a year, can it? Well, for the remainder of 2004, 2005, and most of 2006, I attempted to do the same, and discovered that it was harder than I could possibly have imagined.

Now, if I’d had nothing else to do – like eating, sleeping, working as a full-time lecturer in a UK university, helping to bring up my young family, and everything else that goes along with being a human being – it would have been a piece of cake… Surely almost anyone can take one reasonable shot every 24 hours? But, in and amongst everything else, there were many days when I really didn’t have anything even halfway decent to blog, nor any time to shoot any new material. On those days I would sit at my computer and decide which was the least useless shot from a fairly bad bunch, drag it into Photoshop, and attempt to turn it into something more interesting.”

Because I haven’t gone out to shoot in the last two days, I didn’t have a photo for my blog. I went looking at my old photos for a photo I could maybe clean up and post. I found NOTHING I liked even remotely. None of the zillions of photos I have is worth saving. I even took a peek at some of last year’s photo class and workshop photos. Nada. I can’t even stand to look at my stuff.

This is a wakeup call. I need to pick up my camera and stop reading about photography and start shooting. I also need to start shooting in the EARLY morning light (which means I need to get up earlier than I’ve wanted to get up.)

Well, today, after 10am when the light isn’t so great outside, I picked up my camera fitted with the 50mm 1.8 lens. I got my diffuser out of the closet, stood by a window in the dining room that had some good light coming in through the glass doors, and shot half of my face. Why half of my face? Because my second photo assignment is “Halves”.

Here is the photo I shot.



I just need to be patient with myself, stop comparing my photos to the great photographers’ work, and just schedule in time with my camera.
While reading David duChemin’s new photography book titled, “Within the Frame”, I came across this sentence on page 156, “One of the most helpful parts of my process is an AAR, or After-Action Review. It consists of spending time at the end of the day, usually while looking at the day’s selects, and asking myself what went well, what did not go well, and what I shot today that I could shoot better tomorrow……………………Don’t let the knowledge you gained on today’s shoot go to waste if you can redeem it tomorrow for the images you really wanted.”

Interesting, this concept of AAR can be applied to life too. I even gave someone feedback who was asking for help to do the same thing by looking at the top of p. 86 in the B. B. “When evening comes……………”

I should listen to my own advice.

This quote below was also in David's Wednesday Guest Blogger post on Scott Kelby's blog.
"For me, though he was a psychologist rather than a photographer, Jean Piaget summed this up quite nicely when he said "What we see changes what we know. What we know changes what we see".

Working on my golf swing.

Hiking the golf course with my pack.

I have too many hobbies/interests. I need a lot more hours in the day to maintain balance and moderation in all areas of my life.

Comments on some of my interests and how I'm doing in the area of self care:
-Food/eating has to head the list of interests. If I'm not eating good, I'm not a happy camper. I have been excellent in the area of eating to live, as opposed to living to eat. I've been planning, shopping and making good clean food for Ray and me for 175 days now. No sugar, no white flour, writing down and emailing the 3 daily meals and two snacks to Xochitl every day for the 175 consecutive days and I feel good. I'm afraid if I don't send in my food, I'll go back to my old ways of eating. I've been feeling in balance emotionally as the result of changing my food choices and my relationship with food.
-Exercise. Hmmm. I could always do more. I've been carrying my backpack a couple of times a week hiking about 2 hours. I walk around Mission Hills CC a couple of times a week. Certainly not enough exercise to get me ready for the July 17th backpack I'll be doing. Oh, I'm also doing sit-ups nightly with the hope my stomach muscles will help strengthen my back.
-Photography. Not good here at all. I seem to have put practicing taking photos on hold. But I paid attention yesterday when I blogged that I hadn't picked up a camera lately, so this morning I clicked off the shots below and other shots this morning while climbing up and down the hills on the golf course. The golf club workers, getting the traps and greens ready for the 8am shotgun, were laughing at me climbing up to the tops of a hills, turning around, descending them, only to hike up the same hills again. The goal is to hit all hills on the fairways.
-I subscribe and am monthly automatically deducted for the cost of online access to photo lessons and don't even do the lessons.
-Golf. I've been going out with Ray a couple of times a week around 5pm where he helps me with my golf as we play about 5 - 7 holes. The weather has been really beautiful at that time. We've been lucky to have temperatures under 100 degrees lately.
I'm trying to get my old stiff back ready for our 4 day trip to Pebble Beach where we will use the two rounds of golf given to Ray by his sponsees a year and a half ago. Thank God I made and paid for the expensive golf room for two nights before the market crashed.

I do have a thing with taking photos of my shadow. Pretty place we live in isn't it?

Gottago playing.

Five and a half days of dirt washed away in seconds. Aaaah. Cold but wonderful.

I couldn't wait to finish our NM section hike at the exact point where my trail partners, Cookie and Paul, and I missed taking the creek to Snow Lake and hiked up the wrong creek the previous year. Long before I arrived at this spot I knew I'd strip down and get in the water at the confluence of Gilita Creek and the Snow Lake outlet/Gila River. I also knew I was going to ask Tailwinds to photograph me (once I was clean) holding up this year's PCT Class of 2009 bandana.


At the end of each trail day after setting up my tent, I would spend the last half hour of light looking around for some camera playtime. I looked up and noticed my shadow (I can't pass up taking a photo of my shadow) and knew I liked how my shadow looked on this tree.



p.s. Today was the day I could shower and get my sutures wet. Getting clean is such an attitude adjuster on AND off the trail. I'm over feeling sad about my face being cut on and feel hopeful my scar will be barely noticeable in the near future.

Another cancer surgery!

I'm paying the price for all those years in the sun sun bathing, playing tennis, paddle tennis, running, golf, horseback riding, hiking and backpacking.

I was a little freaked today (and so was Ray who was in the surgery room with me)after this surgery. The emotional stress knocked me out for the rest of the day after having been in the doctor's office for 3.5 hours. Much of that time was waiting to see if after the first cutting I'd need more cutting which I did need. But all the yucky cells are gone.

I came home and watched TV and slept the rest of the day. Ray brought some Tylenol home for the pain after the Novocaine wore off.

Last Friday and Saturday with Paula and Katya.

Ray took this photo of Katya, Paula and me before leaving for dinner at Tipico's. Katya spoke at the ABC Club one block away from the restaurant. Katya gave a great talk.

So I'm eating clean right? As is Katya, Ray and Sandi (who joined us for dinner and the meeting). We're at the Mexican restaurant where the chips and salsa arrive as we are seated. On the food plan you get one grain or starch with dinner. Hmmmmm. I'm starving. I want to eat chips, NOW. But then if I eat the chips I can't have the tortilla with dinner. While going back and forth in my head..."Chips or Tortilla?"....I decide to lay out chips on the table in a circle the size of a tortilla to see how many chips I could have if I decided to choose to eat chips. Paula thought that was funny. I was quite serious! The tortilla won. Actually, I had two tortillas with my Fajitas dinner!!!!!


Katya feeling her oats heading up the Bump & Grind hill. Paula and I were dying in the 95 degree heat.


A nice lady took this photo of us on our way down from the top of the Bump & Grind hill.


Down from Bump & Grind, on the walk back to the car, I asked Katya if she wanted to carry my pack. She said, "Carrying it makes me walk funny."

My low and high in the day!

The low:
Before leaving this ER room, I shot a photo of where I'd hung out this morning from 7am to 11am after waking with a pain in my chest that scared me.

I'm fine now. No one thinks the pain was heart related, but after calling and canceling a morning workout with Stacy who said I should go to ER and then calling and talking to Keenan (Ray's retired cardiologist golfing buddy) who said have Ray take you to ER , I decided I better go. Ray drove me the 7 minutes to Eisenhower Hospital's ER. Ray knew the procedure would take about 4 hours from the last time we'd been there.

This is the second time I've gone to this ER since we moved to the desert with concern over heart related pain. I didn't want to go. I hate going there. I feel like a hypochondriac or the girl who cried wolf. It's the 4th time I've been in the hospital or ER since we moved here. First when I fractured my hip bike riding, next when I had an systemic reaction to a red ant bite, and then the two heart pain related scares.

The pain in my chest went away in the hospital. After eating lunch at home, the pain came back a bit. The ER doctor wants me to have another cardio stress test but he, and I too, think this is gastrointestinal. Maybe my nightly popcorn snack is playing havoc with my intestines or esophagus? Do you think? Wouldn't that be horrible? Anyway, I am not worried, so I hope you aren't either. Just reporting my day.

The high:
On the evening news, Brian Williams reported a story about this lady singer and gave the viewers this link to hear what he was referring to. On the news clip I noticed Simon Cowel was involved as it was some British American Idol type show. I raced to my computer to view this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY The judges mouths fell open and remained that way as the woman continued to sing for her audition.

Another video brings tears to my eyes.

I need a nap.

I had my regular Friday afternoon massage. I was relaxed and in a dream-like state when I pulled in to the Bed and Bath store.

On my way to check out, a man and woman passed. The man, looking at me, said, "I need a nap too." His wife chuckled. I thought, did I just yawn? Why are they saying that to me. Do I look THAT tired? I was hurt. I was confused. Then I was mad. How dare he!

I thought to myself, let me remember to never say to someone "You look tired. Or, you must be tired." I kept wondering why he thought I look so tired. I went on a trip in my head about how old and tired I must look to others anymore. I wasn't a happy camper.

The lady at the check out counter handed me back my credit card. I was trying to fit the credit card back into my wallet when she said, "I need a nap too. That's a great t-shirt."

She had no idea why I smiled so broadly and looked so relieved.
Duh. That's what that man meant.



I snapped off the photo below while waiting in line to check out of Bed and Bath. On April 7th Katya had posted this blog entry about muffin tops. I never knew what a muffin top was before I read her blog.

Once I bought a yellow car. From then on all I saw was how many yellow cars there were on the road.

Well, now all I see are muffin tops.

A little giddy at the end of our visit to the Getty yesterday.

Almost out of the Getty, I felt the need to do one more video. Stacy is always a great subject. I saw the stage and asked Stacy to sing. She sang her Grammy song. I love Stacy. She always makes me laugh. I bet you can't watch this video and not smile!