pamgarrison

more flickr eye candy

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Originally uploaded by pamg.

Don't think I ever shared this one with you non-flickr participants. Sooo many pretty things to see over at flickr.com Hope you have a bright and cheery Sunday.

{Edited: For those of you, like Sue in comments, who feel out of the loop, you can easily learn more by going to www.flickr.com and then click on "take the tour". That will hopefully clear up any confusion.}

since you asked

I get many questions as to how I take my blog photos. It seems eventually all bloggers do a post on it, so here's mine. Above you'll see my little camera, a Canon PowerShot. I use this for about 5% of my photos on the blog, mostly only when on a trip that involves bringing lots of other art supplies, like teaching events where I need to lighten my load. I use it exactly as it comes, except I turned off the flash. I am actually pretty happy with the photos it takes, and love how light it is. I picked Canon because my big camera is also a Canon and that way I can just leave one cord plugged in to the computer all the time and upload photos from both cameras.

This is the camera I use for almost every post. It's a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT. I LOVE it! It was my 40th birthday present. It is the first digital camera I have ever owned. I wasn't sold on digital vs. film until they came out with SLR's (Single-lens reflex). I chose the Canon EOS because my old film camera (had it for about 15 years) is a Canon Rebel and the lenses are interchangeable between the two. It also came highly recommended by recreational as well as professional photographers that I know. I usually use the 18-55 lens that came with it, but also use the 75-300 lens that I had for my film camera. That was a birthday gift from my two brothers a few years ago...pretty nice, huh? They are both very into photography and all the equipment/accessories/etc. that goes along with it. The three of us have always been into photography on some level. I think we get that from my Dad, who had many cameras and took lots of photos while we were growing up.

Someday I'd love to take a photography class so that I'd really know what I was doing, but for now I stick with what I know, which is not much. Basically, I leave my camera on one setting that my brother set it on when I told him that I wanted to do close up photos with a somewhat shallow depth of field. Dave? Care to share what my setting is? See, I told you, I do not know much, he set it, I like the photos, I don't mess with it. I take almost all my blog photos in the portrait setting. (Edited: I talked to my brother, and he told me what I'm doing and why- basically, I use the P setting which is Program Mode, not portrait at 400ISO- because I shoot indoors and this allows the sensor to capture an image with less light, faster- the equivalent to "film speed") I try to take all of them in the house in a room with lots of natural light. I realize that in Southern California I'm lucky with that one, I can pretty much count on access to that. For outdoor photos like garden shots I stick to the shade or early morning or early evening. I upload my photos to iphoto (I'm a Mac girl) and edit them there. That's pretty much it in a nutshell.

Any of my blog photo questions I'm not thinking of?

scenes from a summer sunday

plums from my neighbors yard

gathered nectarines and plums from our yard

apples growing on our tree

old hardware for the potting shed doorknob.

the view from my seat on sunday afternoon.

simply summer. trying to slow it down.

it worked for about 15 minutes.

last day to bid on an angel

There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up. -John Andrew Holmes

Today is the last day to bid on the artwork over at angelsforbrianna.com . There are even some new additions, so go back for a visit if you haven't seen them. The donations and bids have been incredible and I know everyone involved is very grateful.

Have a wonderful weekend. xox

a self-portrait collaborative catch up post

After sending off more self-portraits, I realized it's been a long time since I've posted photos of what I made before passing it on. For those new to the blog, or those that can't remember what the heck I'm talking about, I am lucky enough to be one of 25 artists collaborating on self portraits. We each made a book/box/whatever to pass on. It's been going for two years now (!!!) and we are nearing the end. I can't wait to see my book again and all the incredible pieces of art inside. Here are some of the most recent self portraits I've done in other artists' books.

These two are the left (above) and right (below) open pages in one book.

In a completely different book:

the front above and back of page below

another book, which was a box with slots, so I used an old glass negative (?) slide (?), not sure what you call them, as a base...

and a page from yet another book:

I'm kind of glad that I have forgotten to show you along the way, because all together it's fun to see the two different sides that I feel tug at me in my art- there's the black and white/sepia and cream side of me, and the messy and colorful side. I think I only have 4 or 5 books left until mine returns home...of course, I'll share the rest.

p.s. All the photos of me and my children (except me as a little girl) were taken by Tara Whitney. I'm telling you, one of the best things our family has ever spent money on! We love that girl and her ability to share what she sees via photographs.

Angels for Brianna Auction

This is my contribution to the Angels for Brianna Auction that begins today. It's titled "Angels Always", and was created in honor of Brianna Grant, an angel herself, and lover of angels too. My heart aches for her family, and I am at a loss for words.

Sylvia Anderson, Kitty Forseth, and Colleen Moody are hosting this auction for their friend and fellow artist, Ivy Wilcox, who shares her story of love for her beautiful Brianna here.   I love that art can play a part in the healing process.  A small part, but a part none the less.  I am honored to be one of the many, many contributing artists, and hope you will check out the auction which begins today, July 8th, and ends July 14th.

hello

Enjoying the fruits of the season. In every way. I love these plums growing in our yard. I love the changing colors of the fruit as it ripens; from chartreuse to deep purple and everything in between. I know I'm supposed to thin the fruit as it grows, but I have never been able to do that. I have a hard enough time cutting a few blossoming branches for flower arrangements on occasion.

We have been home, enjoying summer, having lovely days doing nothing more than spending time with friends and family. My daughter will attend high school next year...how can that be possible?!?! I have not been taking it well. It strikes me as sad, how fleeting time is. I can feel it disappearing with each day. Trying to make it pass a little more slowly. That Anna Quindlen quote you've probably seen many times in emails, on blogs etc. keeps running through my head. It reads in part:

All My Babies Are Gone Now

...but the biggest mistake I made is the one that most of us make while doing this. I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of the three of them, sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages 6, 4 and 1. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night.

I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing and little more and the getting it done a little less.

This quote always gives me a lump in my throat and always makes me want to do better, love more, live in  the moment. 

In the photo above, we are visiting a friend that lives in Venice (California). When I parked on a side street near her house, I said to the kids, "I bet that is a paparazzi behind us." Much to my son's displeasure, I went up to the window of the car and asked him, "Is she in town or something?" To which he replied, "Yes! With the new baby." You see, my friend lives in the "walk-street" section of Venice, which is a rather hip little neighborhood. Julia Roberts actually lives on the same street as she does...(well, one of her homes anyway). Of course, as soon as Julia bought her house- and the one next to it (that was then torn down), beautiful, mature landscaping and two cool, antique gates went up for privacy. Here's a peek at one set of gates...I didn't get a good one, because I didn't want her to think we were trying to photograph her or anything! With the paparazzi hunting her, the immediate need for privacy is clear. So, back to the paparazzi. I was so curious. "What do you mean? You're just going to sit here all day and hope she takes her baby for a walk?" "Oh no, I'm waiting for them to drive out. That guy right there is waiting too," he said. During our visit, we took the kids for a walk, came back and played in the baby pool, went to lunch etc. etc. Each time we saw him. He was still waiting when the kids and I drove off many hours later. Weird, and oddly fascinating to me. 

Here's another gorgeous set of gates in the neighborhood. Love love love these!

Someday...

And this is Jack, the cutest little guy...just look at his curls! We were up playing with Jack.

Here's my contribution to Jack's room:

Old letters (except the Pottery Barn E), and an old gate for a bulletin board.

We also had fun on our friends and family trip. Here is my favorite photo from the whole trip. It's almost worth the pain I'm experiencing in my back now due to the boat ride and car trip. Yes, that's Kate, the sweet girl I made the crown for, and her brother. How funny is her face?

And other than that, we've been having some beach days. And  evenings. Here's Kate's sister, Meg (you've met her before too) last Saturday night.

I took this picture just before I took the next one, which gave my heart a start at first...

phew, just dolphins...

So, here's a little quiz for the local girls...what beach were we at? Here's the view looking left...

and the view looking right..

I'm figuring someone  (Paulette??) will know it...

{Ed: Yep! I knew Paulette, our Laguna Beach girl would know! -See her comments below- It is indeed Crescent Bay in Laguna.}

And lastly, congrats to Lisa Congdon who I discovered when logging in is "Typepad's featured blog". No surprise to me, I've always loved her blog and art!