FarmFresh

52 Fridays: Another Self-Portrait

So it is the end of the year-long photography project, and we are ending just as we began, with a self-portrait. Could there be anything more excruciating than taking a picture of yourself, trying to pick one out, and posting it?

It has been a fun personal project. Some weeks had themes that were easy to imagine and capture. Other weeks had themes that really pushed me and made me work hard. Although I will miss this weekly project (and the super-talented ladies I have been working with!), I have a new monthly project starting next week.

 

*these do not look this way in photoshop – when I put them in the post, the color shifts oddly….any hints anyone as to what I am messing up? Must find a solution!*

How I feel about self-portraits:

 

Check out Debbie of DeLight Photography for this last assignment!

Project 52: Toys

My year-long photography project is winding down. This week’s theme is “toys.” With a 12-yr-old and 15-yr-old, there are not the mounds and piles of toys scattered around the house any more. There are, however, plenty of Lego sets – pieces, half-built sets, and completed works all around. Jackson has recently moved his Lego workshop from his bedroom to the boys’ playroom and now works on top of the air hockey table – plenty of room to spread out in some sort of half-ordered Jackson chaos.

Please continue through the blog-circle by starting with Debbie of DeLight Photography.

52 Fridays: Cold

This week’s theme is *hard* for me. Living in South Texas affords little opportunities for showcasing anything cold, and the impending Christmas holidays has sucked up any speck of free time for a creative shoot. So today’s image is just for me, one of those little snippets of life that will be a cherished memory – a little slice of what’s going on around the house.

In our house, though, there is one sure sign that the temperatures have dipped at night: when Jack asks to let Scout in to sleep. She has terrible hip issues and she has such a hard time moving after a cold night outside. When it is cold, Jack lets her in and she marches straight to the boys’ room, gets settled on Jack’s bed, and doesn’t move again until the morning, except to snuggle up to her warm human.

If it is really cold, Jack makes sure she is warm enough by letting Scout use his blanket he made in elementary school.

Terrible picture, but, ah, the memory of my baby and his dog…..

To see how the other talented photographers took “cold,” head to the creative Debbie of De.Light Photography.

52 Fridays: Whimsy

I live with 3 boys – one grown, one teenager, and one who is 12 today. There is little whimsy in my house full of testosterone and dead animals on the walls and balls of all sorts spread throughout.

But on my Christmas tree? There is a place for whimsy.

What else but whimsical can you call on ornament with a few of my favorite things – a black lab and plaid – with angel wings no less.

Take some time in this busy holiday season and click through the talented photographers in the blog circle. Next up is Danville, CA photographer Krista Keller.

52 Fridays: Thankful

Having to post this one early – we are headed to College Station early Thanksgiving morning for a little football and won’t return until Friday.

There are so many things for which I am thankful – the list would be unending! I am most grateful for our family, of which this image represents but a few.

Somehow, we were able to get the cousins on Jon’s side of the family together to get some pictures for my mother-in-law. They range from a college sophomore through a sixth-grader. Trying to get them all in one place, at one time in a small feat.

Check out Debbie Wibowo of De.Light Photography to see what she is thankful for this week.

*I used a preset from Visual Supply Co to process – they have a set that emulates various films.

52 Fridays: Favorite Song or Album Cover

Favorite song? How can I pick a favorite song? Do I go with some retro 80’s? The Smiths or The Smithereens? Songs from my childhood? The Eagles or Steve Miller? The ones that got me through college? The songs that get me through today?

Narrow it down – where to start – The Avett Brothers, Mates of State, Pat Green or Reckless Kelly…..

I love music – it took over 4 hours to transfer our iTunes library last night to a new computer. I can’t possibly pick one favorite song.

I can pick one that I sing in my head, over and over. It pertains to our livelihood, and fits quite well. I loved it long before I met Jon. Nanci Griffith has been a favorite of mine since junior high. Singer/songwriter/folksy/sometimes Irish-y type music. “Trouble in the Fields” has such a personal meaning, especially in the past decade when we have really had some tough farming years. Each spring, as the seeds do their work under the dirt and slowly emerge, forming first long straight lines then transforming the brown into seas of green, there is the hope and optimism of a fresh start.

Jessica Richter is the next photographer in the blog circle. Head her way to see what she’s cooked up this week.

 

Trouble in the Fields
Nanci Griffith and Rick West

Baby I know that we've got trouble in the fields
When the bankers swarm like locust out there turning away our yield
The trains roll by our silos, silver in the rain
They leave our pockets full of nothing
But our dreams and the golden grain

Have you seen the folks in line downtown at the station
They're all buying their ticket out and talking the great depression
Our parents had their hard times fifty years ago
When they stood out in these empty fields in dust as deep as snow

[Chorus:]
And all this trouble in our fields
If this rain can fall, these wounds can heal
They'll never take our native soil
But if we sell that new John Deere
And then we'll work these crops with sweat and tears
You'll be the mule I'll be the plow
Come harvest time we'll work it out
There's still a lotta love, here in these troubled fields

There's a book up on the shelf about the dust bowl days
And there's a little bit of you and a little bit of me
In the photos on every page
Now our children live in the city and they rest upon our shoulders
They never want the rain to fall or the weather to get colder

[Chorus]

You'll be the mule I'll be the plow
Come harvest time we'll work it out
There's still a lotta love, here in these troubled fields

52 Fridays: Shadows

This one is going to be a stretch, and not one of the "hey-that's creative" kind. More like a "it's the best I can do this week" kind.

Payne's last football game was last night. The boys had a great season, and seem to have once again (as in the third year in a row for the freshmen) won district. The stadium lights were shut off immediately, so this what my 7D was able to get in the shadows.

To change things up as we head into the end of the year, we have switched the order of the blog circle. You need to see what Danville, CA photographer Krista Keller has done this week with shadows. Very creative!

52 Fridays: Think Pink

I knew exactly what my subject would be for this week's Think Pink theme.

My mother-in-law. 11 years ago she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She was lucky - it was caught early. We continue to be thankful.

Next up is Shea of Peepeye Designs. She happens to have 2 of the cutest little boys you have ever seen!

52 Fridays: Wind

Plenty of wind here on the South Texas coast.

I took these early one morning this week. Isn't the sky strange-looking in the first 2?

Visit Denver family photographer Lisa Turner to see her take on wind next, then continue through the other photographer's sites.

52 Fridays: Lines

I am back in the groove of the Project 52 this week. :)

I love lines, and things squared up and all patterny. I love plaid and the orderliness of it. I love the long, straight lines of the cotton and grain crops growing in the fields. This week's theme of "lines" would be great for me.

Until my inspiration went in a totally different direction - to the football field. And yes, the field has nice square lines and boundries. But that is not where I went this week.

 

The lines that stood out to me this week were the lines of boys after the game, exhausted and worn from trying to annihilate the other team, lined up and crossing with "good game" and "nice job" and probably some not-so-nice things the mamas don't want to know about. And see #85 towards the top? That would be our own OchoCinco. :)

For more photographs of lines, check out Denver family photographer Lisa Turner, then continue through the circle to see what the other creative photographers have posted.