Let There Be Light

The theme for week EIGHT of the My Four Hens 52-Week Challenge was LIGHT. About three or four  minutes after Sarah announced the new theme (she was in Vegas and posted the theme late....She was also inspired by the Vegas lights for this theme.) I knew what I'd post. mu choice wasn't immediate. It took me a few minutes to realize I didn't have to think of an idea for the picture. I had the picture already.

A week ago the boys and I drove to Denver so Jeddy could go to an Anthony Green concert. The concert was at the Bluebird Theatre in downtown old Denver. I love neon and really loved the marquee at the Blue Bird. As we were driving down Colfax Ave, we passed the Bluebird and the neon sign lights were not on yet. I joked that I hoped they worked. We parked the car around the block and  as we turned the corner onto Colfax the lights magically turned on, just for Jeddy and me.

{This is my entry for WEEK 8: LIGHT}

Here are a few more Jeddy related pictures from the Denver trip:

 This is Jeddy Grant. As a child I called him my gentle giant. He was a calm, soft-hearted, big for his age little boy. He is now 17 and  6'1". Soft-hearted, very busy and loud, but in a musical way.  He is the LIGHT in my life... or one of my SIX individual, unique lights.....You can see his inner light looking into his green eyes in this picture.

Week 7/46 Non-Conformist

This week's M4H's challenge theme was a wild card... choose whatever we wanted. Usually, I wait til the last minute to look at my week in photos to choose the image that to me is about the theme. However, I am posting today. My personal theme is NONCONFORMITY or nonformist.

non·con·form·ist (n n k n-fôr m st). n. 1. One who does not conform to, or refuses to be bound by, accepted beliefs, customs, or practices.

....and here is my photograph for week #7:

 I do have a different title for this picture. It could have been BROKEN HEARTED. But I am a nonconformist like this conversation heart. Today is Valentine's Day and I refuse to be one of the crowd who gets depressed because they don't have a Sweetheart. This is a commercial holiday, but truly, love should be recognized daily, not just with that someone special one day each year, but with your friends and family and even random strangers through kindness, words and thoughts all the time.

I am not going to curl up and say DON'T touch me, Don't come near, Don't love me..... like this heart appears to be doing.  I'm going to make this day and each day special as I hand out love to all.

Week 6/47 EMOTION

The theme for the 52-week challenge at MY FOUR HENS was emotion. I'm still not sure I have a picture to use, but I'll share what I got..... you can each choose which one speaks EMOTION to you.

On Tuesday I drove Jeddy to school because he was playing his trumpet in the Pep Band during the basketball game. As we arrived at his school the full moon was just coming up over the mountain; the light, the clouds, an awesome huge moon, was enough to take my breath away. However.... I did not have my camera with me. I dropped Jeddy off and rushed home to grab my camera. All the while watching the light and clouds change. I saw the moon as it slowly came all the way over the mountain. I still made two images I really like; one of the Moon Over Albuquerque and one of a Descanso (Spanish for to rest or resting place). Both inspire emotion in their own ways. Both are very different styles of photography and processing.... but neither felt like what I should submit this week.

Sarah at My Four Hens mentioned her baby sister is coming to visit and said she needed to schedule time to get some pictures of them together. That reminded me of the only picture I have of my sisters and me together. It was taken in 1976 when I was 14 at Robyn's wedding by Allen Gibby. I hated this picture. I was a late bloomer and felt so awkward. I held my older sisters on pedestals and I felt like I was inferior to their beauty. I hated the dress I am wearing. They didn't have time to finish my dress, so Mom rushed out and bought this dress. I hated yellow (I still do not think yellow is my best color, far from it!) My panty lines show (oops!) I can't use this picture for the challenge, but looking at it brings tears to my eyes. Sylvia died 9-years ago and Robyn and I are not close. This picture evokes emotion to me... it is about three sisters and a wedding long ago. And it is about missing both of them now.

Again, this morning I woke up... feeling I had not gotten something I felt EMOTIONAL about for week 6 of the challenge. I put water on to make tea. I let the dog out. I sat down to check my email, Facebook and Smugmug. A neighbor posted on FB that it was snowing. Snow? There was no snow when I left Champ out. What snow? I went to let the dog in and look and... it was snowing! I decided I needed to wake the boy up so he could "play" in it before it stopped and melted, but once he is up the house is so full of him and his incredible energy and my silence would be gone. Instead I grabbed the camera and a few bras and went out to get the girls playing in the snow.

  When I came into the house, the Boy was sliding down the stairs, singing, "It's Snowing, it's Snowing. I'm going to play in the snow!"  Actually, it had stopped snowing. Yes... Oh No.... He was awake. I quickly made him some hot chocolate and said I wanted to take a few more bra pictures, and then I wanted to get some of him in the snow.

The Boy and the Dog were not very cooperative, but here are a few of the pictures I got.....

Sadly... the snow stopped after about 45-minutes and now it has all melted. That is all about emotion too.

Full Moon Over Albuquerque

I drove Jeddy to his school yesterday evening to play in the pep band during the basketball game. AS we pulled into the school the moon was just rising and it was extremely amazing. BUT I did not have my camera. I rushed home, grabbed my camera and took this picture. This one is still good, but the moon as it came over the mountains from the vantage of Atrisco Heritage Academy (AHA) was spectacular.

 

 This was taken about 1 mile South-East of my house. The camera was hand-held. 

AHA is about 7-miles South West of our house. Next time there is a full moon I want to try and get one from there. The perspective was just a little more interesting. However, this moon was a once in a life time experience.....

Week 5/48 Simplicity.....

This week the 52 Week Challenge theme at My Four Hens was {SIMPLICITY.} The first thing that came to my mind was the pattern company Simplicity. I considered digging out some old vintage Simplicity patterns and taking a picture, but I never got around to it. I have been sick and ten days ago was in the hospital. I have very little energy and, sad to say, I have not done much with my camera in two weeks. This morning I woke up feeling I had failed the challenge this week until I remembered this series of sewing photos. They were taken in November, so they are not NEW, but under the circumstances, I decided to use this image.

I also considered other images I have taken lately that could fit the theme of {SIMPLICITY} and I thought of this peacock feather. A month ago, El Jay and I went to the zoo. It was dark and overcast and late in the day. There weren't many people there. The Peacocks and Peahens were putting on a show for us and El Jay found a tail feather. He asked if he could keep it and I said we had to turn it in before we left, but he could carry it around until then. Almost immediately a woman swooped down on us and told us it was illegal to even pick them up and took it away. I asked if I could take a picture of El Jay with the feather and was told yes. Then the lady asked if El Jay wanted to go with her to the Zoo Education Center. We followed her and turned the feather in.

 

 Original Feather with a little cropping and a little basic saturation and contrast added.  

This image is simplicity at it's best!

 El Jay with his feather.

And finally, getting complicated, the background turned indigo, 

with text and a frame to use as my logo.

Lately, because I have been sick, I have had to simplify life and let everything except priority stuff go. Simplicity was a good theme for me for this week. 52-Weeks is a long time to do anything and there will be other weeks when I may feel it is necessary to post from my archives, just so I do post. I figure an old image is better than NO image at all.

PLUS, I didn't want to join the Flickr group created for the challenge. I feel I have an online gallery or four and don't need to add another one. I also, didn't want to feel I needed to comment on the pictures--I do that at SMUGMUG. Instead, I post this blog link on My Four Hens' Facebook wall. I think I have to belong to the group if I want to be one of the featured images or be the #1 foto that week and win a prize. SO, really I am doing this for ME, not expecting any pats on the back.