In response to friends’ queries about what I’ve been up to creatively, following are a few beginning of the year updates. I’ll do my best to post something like this monthly. Enjoy and have a good day!
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Motivated by a friend’s generous and delicious gift of persimmon butter, I went in search of a whole persimmon and came home with a bag of different fruits and inspiration to launch a new gallery of food-related images.
http://photosbycynthia.smugmug.com/Arts-and-Crafts/Food-2010/10856699_roeYa#757419223_fhcWE
I work near Edmands Park, a 33-acre green space in Newton, MA. Every chance I get, I grab my camera and go for a walk in the woods. I’ve begun a new gallery to highlight my favorite features. The Newton Conservators has been nice enough to post some of my pictures on its website as well.
http://photosbycynthia.smugmug.com/Nature/Edmands-Park/
http://www.newtonconservators.org/5edmands.htm
Upcoming …
I’m working to gather photos and information of blood oranges. Blood oranges are primarily available during the winter months. Sicilian in origin, they are now grown in Texas and Florida as well. They are good for you and beautiful to photograph. 😉
I keep hearing that January is National Letter Writing Month. So, I’m going to focus this month on putting pen to paper to reconnect with old friends and to make professional connections with regard to my photography and creative writing. Setting goals is easy. Carrying them out … much harder. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Last year I had great fun taking short photographic expeditions with my boyfriend and hope to do more trips this year. Mostly we venture to local nature areas. We have different shooting styles and techniques and we certainly use very different camera equipment. We’re both very good at directing the other to get some perfect shot… usually without argument. 😉 Who knows? We may do a joint show some day. I’ll keep you posted!
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes, Photography, Photography Exhibits, Publication Updates | Tagged edmands park, food photography, fruits, national letter writing month, nature photography, persimmon, Photography | 2 Comments »
In winter I feel an intense yearning for gardening and flowers. This year I decided to try my hand at winter bulbs. I picked up an inexpensive all-in-one planting package (e.g. bulbs, soil, the pot and instructions). The bulbs were planted in loose soil. I tucked them in a cool dark place until they sprouted, and then placed them in a coveted sunny spot. Seemed like it was taking forever for them to sprout. Then overnight they blossomed explosively. How lovely they were. I walked back and forth past my garden admiring, with some pride I must say, how the sunlight shone through the leaves and petals.
Eventually though, in the area near my plants, I noticed a scent that I found unpleasant. I wondered if a mouse had died under the table or in the wall and was decomposing. Or perhaps someone in the building had a trash can that needed cleaning.
Oh the horror when I realized that the scent arose from my paperwhites!
Next time I’ll do my online research beforehand instead of after the fact. Maybe then I would have discovered interesting facts such as about a quarter of the population cannot stand the scent of paperwhites.* Don’t get me wrong. I’m grateful for their beauty. I may plant them again, but perhaps a different, less fragrant variety! 😉
More about the lovely paperwhite:
*http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/planttherapy/planttherapy-the-smell-of-paperwhites-042428
http://www.vintagegardengal.com/2009/11/20/how-to-grow-perfect-paperwhites/
http://www.designspongeonline.com/2009/12/we-like-it-wild-paperwhites.html
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes | Tagged paperwhites, Photography, scents, white flowers | Leave a Comment »
Reference: http://www.creativity-portal.com/articles/cynthia-staples/creative-spark-color-challenge.html
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Because I work part-time in a bookstore, people often ask me if I’ve read anything good lately. My favorite book of the past year had about 3 pages of text in total as an introduction. The rest of the several hundred page book is portraits — animal portraits by UK photographer Andy Rouse.
There are traditional wildlife photos of the big cats, great apes, and so forth. But then there are the images that took my breath away as I tried to figure out what was happening in the picture or understand how such emotion could be captured on a page. In particular look for the mammoth head of an East African Cape buffalo covered by insect-eating birds or the red-eyed lepilemur blending into the multicolored bark of a Madagascar tree.
I found the book on a remainder’s shelf for just a couple of bucks, but I would have happily paid full price. Seek it out in a bookstore or at your public library.
Andy Rouse’s website: http://www.andyrouse.co.uk/
Posted in Books I Love, Inspiration, Nature Notes | Tagged Andy Rouse, animal portraits, Photography | Leave a Comment »
May 2010 be filled with peace, happiness and much color! 😉
Posted in Inspiration | Tagged color, happy new year 2010, pencils, Photography | Leave a Comment »
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Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes | Tagged color, flowers, Photography, winter blooms | Leave a Comment »
Today I did something that I haven’t done in a long time. I sat in the sun on my narrow window seat and had a cup of tea. I looked out the window admiring sunlight on water droplets — droplets that just yesterday were patches of ice and snow.
On the window sill sat rolled up blinds, taken down for the winter. In the quiet, I could study the beauty of shapes and forms to be found in even the most mundane of objects.
It felt good … though I did have to take a moment to remind/convince myself that taking such moments is good for the body, the soul, the creative spirit and the career. 😉
Posted in Inspiration | Tagged Photography, sipping tea, sitting, sunlight, water droplets, window | Leave a Comment »
Words + Images 