Believe in every shot.

I've been learning some things about photography lately . . .



Know that the best shot will happen tomorrow.

Willingly fill up your memory card with photos. Have fun!

Then ruthlessly delete the shoddy ones.

If you've been barefoot for a while, try on some pumps. Or vice versa.

Take photos of the thing or place you've taken photos of for years. Find or make new eyes for yourself.



Shoot in the wind.

Take a picture of something plastic.

Fail if you need to.

Don't let dust settle on your camera.

But rest from searching for a photo every so often..

Don't let yourself down.



Get up at sunrise.

Work for excellence.

Shoot golden hour to the point of exploitation.



Be humble.

And grateful.

And adaptive.



Don't wait.

Carry paper and pen.

Be inspired.

Don't grieve over the fabulous shot you miss.



Chill out.

Do something about your dreams.

Ignore the curmudgeons.

Have strong convictions and an open heart.

And believe in every shot.

~6.7.2011

I get it now.

I know why people do 365 Day Projects for their photography. I just figured it out.

Photography has not been the constant companion to me that it used to be. I have been busy with other things, and have been inclined to spend my free time reading or playing the piano instead of taking pictures. (That is really okay, though; for a while there, I was hardly reading anything.)

Two of 2011 Resolutions/Aspirations were print my photographs, and create print-worthy photographs in small, beautifully disciplined amounts. But I'll be honest: I haven't taken over 10 art photographs since January 1st. I have turned on my camera to take a picture of something that needed documenting, a picture of my darling little sister reading with the dog, or the new floors in the upstairs of my house . . . life happenings like that.

But if I want my skills as an artist--and in this area photographer--to grow, I need to learn how to see and take photographs of what I do see. My new photography philosophy: don't take twenty pictures of the same thing, searching for the perfect angle or whatever, just because there is room for 1,000 more pictures on your memory card and you aren't wasting film. Take a picture because you know it will be beautiful. Work hard for the perfect shot, because that will make it so much more precious.

So I think that I have a new idea in mind. I am going to start a 365 project. Now I am smiling . . . it's gonna be exciting to take at least one photograph everyday that I can devote my willingness for perfection to. This will be great!

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Well, have a delightful day, friends! I don't know about you, but I love this harsh winter that everyone is experiencing. I am gonna miss it once March rolls around. :)
Signed with anticipation and other good feelings,
Margaret

PS-- Once again, my quote of the day gadget gives me a perfect one:

Each day provides its own gifts.
~Marcus Aurelius

It's my new job to wrap 'em up in good photographs!

Music for when

Music is so incredible! It has the ability to influence a person's mood in a big way. I am constantly listening to it, but I am very picky about what I am listening to at a certain time. I went through my CD stash and here is the list I came up with:

Bach, Rimsky-Korsakov, Debussy, Vivaldi, Copeland- I am a classical music junkie! Sure, some of it may be 'boring', but it's all really pretty if you listen. Whenever I encounter someone who screams at the mention of classical, I direct them to The Four Seasons and put their name on my convert list. Just kidding about that last part. :) But anyway, now that you know that I love classical, I will tell you when I like it best. It's very good for school, especially Bach. The last four guys are really good for reading to. Rimsky-Korsakov's Sheherzade is adventure in musical form. A good semi-classical composer is John Rutter. His Requiem is wonderful.

Celtic Woman- This is good all-purpose music. I clean my room to it, as it's fun to sing along with, I do school to it, as it's interesting enough to take my mind off the insanely boring subject I am doing, yet I can still concentrate. The best part of these Irish ladies is their variety- they do old folk tunes to movie music , and they make it all sound good!

Phil Keaggy- Here is someone who is a bit more obscure. He's a guitarist that has been recording since the 80's. His music is so relaxing and beautiful- this is one of those CD's I have to be careful I don't over-listen to and tire of! I listen to it when I am tired and don't want to sleep quite yet, among other times.

Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas- This is the best pairing of musician's ever. Alasdair Fraser can fiddle like a banshee and Natalie Haas can back him up with the coolest cello techniques. The music is modern yet classic and completely amazing. Truly.

Enya- Where do I begin? "Enya makes good music" is a shameful understatement. I am somewhat new to the ranks of Enya fans, but I am already devoted. Her music has a wide range, bur ethereal is the dominating theme. And there's so much of it! She has been around for a long time and has recorded enough to keep me happy for a long time! I listen to Enya at lot of various times, but writing is my favorite time to. I can even give her lovely song Only Time some credit for helping me out a most annoyingly severe writers block. :)

Movie soundtracks- Haha, these are great! The ones I have been listening to lately are The Fellowship of the Ring, Pirates of the Caribbean, Phantom of the Opera, and The War: A Ken Burns Film. I write mostly write when I listen to them, except Phantom; it's too dramatic. :) It's another very good school CD, though! Fellowship is my favorite. This is kind of funny:

Last night, I was writing with this music in the background. I hadn't meant to listen to it at that point; my sister just wanted music and I was not going to listen to Phantom of the Opera at 10 PM! I started writing unexpectedly, but I was very glad to, so if course I kept at it. Well, I got to a part in the piece I was working on and the weirdest thing happened. The emotions the current song was conveying was exactly what was going on in my story! And it wasn't the music affecting me- I had things already planned out in my head before the music came. It was really cool. :)

George Winston- More writing music! This is my favorite stuff to write to. George Winston's piano solo's are very... feeling. Sad, a lot of the time. It's easy to get depressed if you listen to him too much, but in rationed amounts it's simply beautiful.

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Well there you have it! That's my music, or most of it. :) What's yours?

Oh, and a big thank you to Nela, my newest follower!

~Margaret Rowena

Have you voted on my poll yet? I would love it if you would!

Antique farm

I recently went to an old historic farm. It was very beautiful and full of photo ops for crazy photographers like me! :)

Looking out from the parlor.

The hallway.
Tools in the cellar.

One of the old workhorses. I think his name is Jack?


Looking up the cellar stairs. I loved those stairs!

Vegetables in the cellar.

The re-en actors (?) were doing laundry that day. They let my little sister and I help, which was really fun. I like gathering experiences like that to maybe one day use in my writings.


That orange swirl is a barn cat. They were very cute and funny.

A storage room in the barn.

There were a couple darling lambs running around the barns.

Aren't the sky and hayfield perfect together?

Sadly, my camera began to give up the ghost (Or battery juice) while I was there and I had to be very careful with how often I had it on. But it was good for me, too- instead of taking 500 mediocre snapshots like I normally would have, I knew that each time I pressed the shutter button I was getting a worthwhile picture.

Thanks for looking and reading!

~Margaret Rowena

The evolution of an idea

As a writer, I am always looking for ideas for stories and characters. Some of the ideas are forgotten or simply uninteresting after a time, but some are remembered, destined to become key elements in a story. I have several ideas that I hope to turn into novels, with one main one that is rather dear to me. (I will tell you about my life as a writer later. It's kind of weird.) I can't remember where the idea came for my main story, but I do know the inspiration for another one. . .

A few months ago, I was reading the Farsala trilogy by Hilari Bell, which is a great set of books, by the way. It is a fantasy loosely based on Rome's invasion of Persia, so Farsala is a place that is much like that area of the world: spices, heat, and silk. I thought of India a lot. As I read, I wondered what it would be like to leave a cold, harsh place like Norway to live in a place like Farsala. What if I couldn't go back? What if I never saw all that was familiar to me again? It stayed in the back of my mind for a few days, until I was playing Barbies with my little sister. I looked at one of the dolls and thought that she would make a very good princess. The more I thought about it, I was reminded of the girl from the North that went to 'Farsala'. This is the Barbie that tied down my idea of the girl. I named her Cadish:

I have not given much thought to the development of the plot, but the story is still in my mind and binder, ready to be watered and tended.
The other night, I was looking through a Bridal magazine and stumbled upon this picture:


It looks just like how I imagine Cadish to look in real life! A perfect match! I love finding pictures of my characters. And a few pages later, I saw this picture:

It looks exactly like a setting in the Persia-like land Cadish travels to. Excitement abounded. :)

Well, there is one story of a story. From where do you get inspiration?

~Margaret Rowena

Sky and sun

I was just looking through all of the pictures on my computer and noticed that I really like to photograph the sky. Here are some pictures taken from different places in America:

These two are from Arizona:

The next four are of Lake Superior:

This one above is interesting, with its varied colors in the sky.


The next three are from Iowa:

Isn't this one silver?

Whenever I am in a place like this, I feel so small under all that sky!

Don't you love the glow?

And these last ones are from my own yard:


Last October, during a lull in a rainstorm.

A November sunset. (The blurriness is intentional. I think that it makes it look somewhat like a Monet painting!)

My favorite part about these photos is that although they were taken in several very different places, the light was provided by the very same source: the sun. And even if these skies and sunsets are beautiful, wouldn't their Creator be even more so?

And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light -Revelation 22:5