photography

Insight (Sight & Seeing Red)

/ Janna Hill / 6 Comments

This post should have been the Indie update I’ve been planning, giving you all of the gory details about what I’ve learned on this Indie adventure (now having a full year of experience under my belt) but…

I was seriously composing the post meant to share my progress when I diverted my eyes. Did you know you aren’t supposed to stare at the computer screen for more than twenty minutes without looking twenty feet away for at least twenty seconds? It’s called the 20/20/20 rule.

Being the rule devotee that I am [go ahead and laugh if you know me] I looked away and spotted a lovely red Dianthus. WeddingOf course I had to grab the camera and take a walk…

 

 

 

WeddingI spied a red aphid on a yellow Iris. The eye tends to be drawn to these two colors. You didn’t think McDonald’s success came from their fresh delectable burgers did you? Oh, okay.

 

 

I suppose the Red Wasp, Nandina berries and Red Tip Photinia are all shades of red but they look kind of orange to me. That may be from staring at the monitor for too long. See what happens when you don’t follow the rules?

I ended my journey with a collection of red shells. Red ShellsI didn’t find these on a beach but they were near a body of water. Hmm, now I’m wondering if there might be a body in the water? Or a story in the making…

Seeing Red has nothing to do with the upcoming post regarding my first year as an independent author/publisher, I just thought I’d share this little excursion. On the contrary I’m in the black and all lights are green. It’s a go for another trek. I really will post something in the near future that offers more personal insight until then take care of your eyes.

P.S. I once had a patient with Macular Degeneration who told me she saw the most unbelievable shades of red and that she painted more beautifully than ever just before she went blind.

Marching Into Spring

/ Janna Hill / 11 Comments

If the old folks in East Texas are right we will have another cold snap so don’t plant your tomatoes yet. I’m not in any hurry, after all we are just getting to the Ides of March and the Spring Equinox is still a week away. What does all of that mean? I could write about it but I’m afraid it would bore you straight to death and I don’t want to be listed on your death certificate as the official cause so how about I show you some pictures instead? Okay! Moving right along…

From the Bluebird outside my window.
Jonquils
Looks like me without coffee.
Pretty purples
The Eight Spotted Forester Moth

Weekly Photo Challenge: Lost in the Details

/ Janna Hill / 7 Comments

I have been busy – I mean crazy busy! Or maybe I’m feeling lazy and every little thing feels like a huge undertaking?  No, I’m going with the crazy busy but that doesn’t relieve me from commitments. I made a commitment (if only to myself and my mother) to participate in the weekly photo challenge and by golly the show must go on! Besides, these challenges give me a reason to take a break from the mundane and enjoy what others have to offer. As I a writer I’m prone to get so involved in writing and research and blah blah blah that I forget life’s fundamentals. Not just the bathing and eating, I forget to do that all the time. Sometimes I literally forget to breathe… to get up and take a walk… to look outside the scenes inside my head. That’s when Honey (aka my husband) steps in and performs CPR.

My chaos is no more trying than the next persons and probably less than many. The world is spinning faster for everyone and we hamsters must pick up the pace. We must also admit when it’s just a tad too much and relinquish the wheel or the camera in this case.

So, without further ado I present Honey’s take on this week’s photo challenge: Lost in the Details.

Finding Myself lost in the details.

Finding Myself lost in the details.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Forward

/ Janna Hill / 15 Comments

This week’s photo challenge is titled FORWARD not foreword as in preface, prologue or introduction although I am prone to confuse the two or is it too? It’s two.

The pictures should convey what forward means to the photographer. I considered a covenant i.e. a contract or an agreement (since I couldn’t use an overview) but those definitions didn’t inspire a snapshot. Maybe an advance like a picture of a million dollar check? Yeah, right. How about the front of an object? No that won’t do. Think (I said to self) forward as in opposite of reverse. And voila! It was as simple as going for a ride.

Construction is moving forward.
This is more of a standstill.
Which way should we go???
Away from the city. Onward ho! Mush mush!
Some move faster than others.
Leaning forward & rural construction. They call it progress.
Growing forward on a quiet country lane. (The tree & pole seems to be reaching for one another)
Well phooey! It may look like the end of the road to some…
I call it an adventure. It’s not IF we are going forward but HOW. 🙂
Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Keep moving forward.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Kiss

/ Janna Hill / 11 Comments

This weeks photo challenge is Kiss

I had almost decided to pass on the weeks photo challenge but Sunday some of the family were standing around watching Cameron retrieve a tennis ball from the roof (yeah, that’s how we play) and the idea struck me. “Hey! Y’all start kissing” I said as I readied my camera. Of course they all gave me a wary look and mumbled amongst themselves with lifted eyebrows. “It is for this week’s photo challenge” I explained. They sighed a unified ohhh, stepped back a few feet and crossed their arms. I think I would have gotten better results if the challenge had been show me your naked butt. I considered using the kiss and make up card but there was no circumstance to warrant such harsh punishment. I was left with nothing but kiss my… when Cameron (now off of the roof) went in to action. He is my partner in pictures and has helped me more than once with a photo challenge. We all know he loves to take pictures but [hApPy dance] he also takes direction well. “Work it Cam. Worrrkk it.”

Happy Kisses
Kisses to comfort and bless.
Brace yourself. The Kissing Bandit
Playful Pecks

Weekly Photo Challenge: Home

/ Janna Hill / 2 Comments

The Home Inside My Home

The home depicted here is only one of many inside the house where I dwell. After all I do did have a sign that says Mi casa es su casa.

The lamp (filled with moth carcasses and webs) might be witness to my housekeeping but I prefer to see it as testament to my many philosophies. Live and let live. Live and let the spider have the lamp. Live and let the over abundant population of moths sacrifice themselves. Live and hope the spider never comes out of the lamp…

There is no place like home.
Two bedroom web for rent.
Dining in.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Unique

/ Janna Hill / 4 Comments

For the Weekly Photo Challenge: Unique & the Stories Behind My Oddities

The Plate: The plate was made expressly for ENG-SKELL CO. The funny thing is I had never paid attention to that detail before rinsing it off for this week’s photo challenge. For the last fifty years it has only been known as the three plated plate. That sounds absolutely ridiculous I know but if you were to ask any one of my siblings they would agree and probably wonder what ever happened to the highly coveted three plated plate. Well kids, now you know.

I have no idea how my family acquired the offbeat plate but it certainly stood out among the everyday serving set, generating many battles and negotiations. One brother would barter, “I’ll give you two matchboxes and a chicken leg if you let me have the three plated plate.” “You’ve got a deal but just for supper. It will be mine again tomorrow.” The other would agree.

Democracy worked for quite some time but like all systems we reached a point when negotiations broke down and civil war erupted. In order to keep peace mother took the beloved dish off the table. Literally. We would have to find something else to fight over.

Fast forward a few decades and I am sole proprietor of the three plated plate. I don’t recall exactly when or how I gained possession of the weighty tan piece of Wallace China. Well maybe I do but if I told you – I’d have to kill you.

The highly coveted three plated plate.
All the way from Cali-For-Ni-A.

The Ring: The unique amethyst ring was found on a beach about 33 years ago and no one knows I hid it came forth to claim it. It appears to be missing a stone in the center. For years a tiny pearl rested there but superglue does not last forever. Recently I was attempting to re-glue the shiny white mineral as my daughter watched. I told her about finding the ring so many years ago and about the pearl I placed there, the one I had picked from my jaw after eating a plate of oysters. “How can you be sure it’s a pearl and not part of your tooth?” she asked. “Because it is smooth and round, I don’t think a piece of tooth would be smooth and round.” I told her. “But you can’t be sure can you?” she giggled. “No I can’t.” I confessed. We had a few good laughs and pondered the ring’s history before I put it away once again and stored the pearl in a Ziploc bag for the tooth fairy further analysis.

See how well it fits my lovely finger.
All the glitters is not gold.

 

The Bowl: I adore this bowl. Not only for the beautiful and unique pattern but because it was a gift. It was during a ladies pinterest project I noticed the woman across from me had a hodgepodge of glassware. I had to walk over and see this bowl with all of its lovely features. I am not a dish collector (I don’t even do pinterest) but I do enjoy peculiar things. Seeing how I admired the dish the nice lady gave it to me. No, really! She said, “Do you want it?” Of course I said yes seeing it was already in my purse.

An intriguing dish. Goldilocks would be pleased.
It looks like China but this says it was made in Japan.

 

 

Learning to Love Winter

/ Janna Hill / 15 Comments

I have never loved winter. The truth is I have hated her most of my life, I say her because she feels like a cold b*tch.  Sorry warm fuzzy lady friends but winter to me has been a bitter woman with a barren womb… a frustrated old spinster that has never shared an orgasm. She is an ugly gray witch with a huge wart on the end of her nose, or maybe it’s a mole…

Today however I have decided not to hate her. I actually made the decision yesterday but just now got around to sharing my ‘come to meeting’ with Mother Nature. You see we have been experiencing some warm sunny days in this part of Texas, warm enough to spark a storm (lord forgive me I do love a storm) and it was that very tempest that let me see the heart of winter.

I saw her weakness in the barren branches

Her sorrow in the ashen sky

Her longing for an absent lover

As lonely as the winter rye

 

I saw her weakness in the barren branches…
Her sorrow in the ashen sky
Her longing for an absent lover…
As lonely as the winter rye

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Love

/ Janna Hill / 14 Comments

What’s Love Got To Do With It?

What’s love got to do, got to do with it. Only everything! The lyrics of Tina Turner’s song are entertaining but they speak from a damaged point of view. Resounding fear disguised as brashness, calloused pains and the inability to get past unhealed scars.

What’s love but a second hand emotion. Her voice is bouncing around in my head but all I can imagine are happy hearts.

Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken?  Everyone Tina. Everyone needs a heart. Sure it is bound to be broken at least once but so are bones.

Is it better to have never loved at all? Does one suggest a hardened heart? If bones can be broken so can a brittle heart. Nay, I say it is better to love always. Don’t argue with me on this Tina, I know broken bones tend to heal faster than broken hearts but that’s because a bone has never known the fullness of love.

The Heavens paint a lovely picture with a heart shaped cloud.
Love doesn’t care what you wear when you’re fishing.
There is nothing like a mother’s love
Spying on young lover’s Lake Tawakoni
Salty kisses that say I love you.
Heart shaped lines in the sand. May only sorrows be washed away.
Oh heck, now the Bee Gee’s are asking me How can you mend a broken heart? … Love Barry! All you need is love.

Scrapbooks & Culls

/ Janna Hill / 4 Comments

Did you know that scrapbooking is not the same as collecting culled items?  Well it’s not. So what am I supposed to do now with a junkyard collection of photographs? I know they’re snapshots only a mother could love and a professional photographer would never get so attached, but I didn’t claim to be professional. Did I? Dear me I hope not. I think my husband propagated that misconception; he’s always getting me into something. He doesn’t read this blog so it’s safe to make that statement.
Well, with the bride’s permission (and a promise to make her a character in a future story) I’m giving scrapbooking a whole new meaning. If word gets back to hubby and he doesn’t agree with my prior statement I have an entire scrapbook with his name on it. I just giggled to myself at the idea of all the pictures he thought got thrown away. 😀