Tag Archives: photography class

Odds, Ends and Quail

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I have only seen Red and Mrs. a few times since we got back home from Hawaii for the New Year. I was disappointed with the photos I took. They were blurry, fuzzy and altogether not good. While I was taking photos of my quail, Red showed up and posed for me on the pink flamingo. I kept trying to snap photos, but my camera wasn’t cooperating. There was a large “E” on the screen.

Then I exchanged the camera battery, thinking that might be the issue. It wasn’t. I glanced back at my laptop to see the dongle plugged in with a card reader. The SD card wasn’t in my camera. No wonder the photos of Red weren’t going to happen.

Red flew away. I had to be content with quail photos.

A female quail acting as “look out” in the tree. This is normally a man’s job.

A male doing his job.

Then he flew up into the tree from the rock.

While in Hawaii, I received an email from my photography professor. He said the class is no more. I had registered for Spring semester which was to begin this month and run until May. There were five others in the class along with me. The class is by invitation only, so there’s no signing up if the professor didn’t think you’d be a good fit for the class. He told me before I joined that everyone is dedicated to learning and improving in photography. That everyone is on the same learning curve, just at different points along the way.

I’m sad the class won’t continue. But in the meantime, I’ll continue working on my learning curve, wanting to improve my photography. What’s really sad is that professor said after 26 years of working at the college, he was sent an email coldly telling him he was no longer employed.

I’m starting off the New Year with a very light calendar. No more ladies’ group, newsletter, photography class. Even the neighborhood coffee has ended. With all this free time, I’m going to get back to my focus on writing. I have several projects and manuscripts that need my attention.

What would you do with a cleared calendar?

Is there a project you’d like to start on or continue?

“All good things must come to an end”

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I was looking through my “bird folder” and found a few photos I really liked but didn’t remember taking. They are from April and May. I brightened them up in Adobe Camera Raw and cropped them.

“All Good Things Must Come to and End” is a line attributed to Chaucer, a 14th century English poet. It seems fitting for my life right now.

First, I decided to no longer serve on the board of my women’s group. Then I learned a few weeks ago that the organization is caput. I believe it lasted for more than 30 years and I’ve been involved for about three. I was in charge of communication for membership and for the public, promoting our work and events. The group post COVID had dropped in membership from 200 to 20. Plus a lot of women are getting older. It just wasn’t feasible anymore.

Next, I decided to resign from the HOA newsletter. I worked on the newsletter for four years. I enjoyed it, but a new board was micromanaging and it was no longer a joyful experience.

Does anyone know what type of bird this is? I’ve only seen it once. I’m glad I got a photo.

I had my last photography class last week for the semester. I’ve really enjoyed it and have learned so much. There are five other students who have taken the class for three to nine years. I’m the newbie and this was my first semester. I thought this was going to be an ongoing experience for me. In our last class, I was the last person to present my final project, which I posted HERE.

Then the professor said he had some business to go over. He said the community college may be discontinuing the class. He won’t know for sure until January. So this too may pass.

A Harris’s hawk taking off.

The class is over zoom and there was complete silence when we heard the news. Apparently a student in another one of the professor’s classes was causing trouble for him. He didn’t go into detail, but said the other issue is low attendance. The advanced workshop is by invitation only. It’s not open enrollment. The group is very cohesive and everyone is talented and open to improving and trying new things.

There’s nothing I can do but wait for the New Year and find out if I have a class or not.

Mourning dove landing on the fence.

What good things in your life have come to an end?

Sea Glass Anyone?

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I’m trying a few ideas for my sea glass project that is due the Thursday following Thanksgiving. What I did was bring in a glass table from outside and put a lamp under it. That way the light is shining up through the table and glass so it looks backlit. The only issue I have is the glass table is a smoky brown and I think it changes the color of the glass.

It seems heavy green and yellowish — which I’ve tried to tone down in Adobe Camera Raw. The photo below I played with in ACR and changed the colors. I’ll be back to the drawing board with more ideas to take sea glass photos that come out in a better color.

Here are the colors of sea glass that I prefer. I took these a few weeks ago out in the sunlight.

I have a few more days to play with my sea glass and try to get some unique photos. Then I also need to work with my scanned images from our beach days to tell a story about hunting for sea glass and summers at the beach with the kids.

I found sea glass on Etsy and there are artists who make jewelry from sea glass. Something else that caught my eye was bird art using drift wood with sea glass birds on it!

Cute.

Which sea glass photos do you like and why?

Did you know that Arthur Miller married a photographer?

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I was reading Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” as part of my DIL’s syllabus for her AP English students. I had agreed to read along with her class. I wrote about that HERE and HERE. In the introduction to the play, there was a mention of Inge Morath who married Arthur Miller after his divorce to Marilyn Monroe. I had never heard of Morath. I didn’t know Miller married a photographer.

I had to prepare a presentation to share either my photos with my photography class — or introduce a photographer to my classmates. I looked at Inge Morath’s work and thought “this is it!”

Below is information I used as crib notes to share with the class. I talked off the cuff, but glanced down at the material for reference. I’m not posting my favorite photos of hers, because they are not in the public domain. The Inge Morath Foundation owns them. Instead I’ll post links to her work so you can explore them on your own.

I especially like her iconic llama photo she took for Life magazine, her bicycles in China and her photos from movie set of The Misfits — where she met her husband-to-be Arthur Miller. Miller wrote “The Misfits” for his wife Marilyn Monroe.

Here are the Inge Morath notes*:

Inge Morath (1923–2002) was an Austrian-born photographer known for her intimate and expansive portraits of people and cultures across the globe, who became one of the first female members of the Magnum photo agency. After surviving WWII, she worked as a photo editor before becoming a photographer in 1951, and later co-published several books with her husband, playwright Arthur Miller, whom she married in 1962. Her work includes documenting the sets of films like The Misfits, and capturing intimate portraits of artists, writers, and everyday people. 

  • Early life and career: Morath was born in Austria in 1923 and grew up in Germany during the Nazi era. She became fluent in several languages, and after the war, worked as a translator and journalist. She began her career in photography after working as a photo editor for Magnum, where she learned by studying the work of photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson.
  • Magnum photographer: Morath became a full member of Magnum in 1953 and was a pioneering female photographer in the male-dominated agency. She traveled extensively for her work, documenting life in countries like the Soviet Union and China, often preparing extensively by studying local languages and cultures.
  • Work and style: Her work is characterized by its cosmopolitanism, literary influences, and the intimacy she achieved with her subjects, whether they were famous artists like Louise Bourgeois or actors on a film set. She was known for both large documentary projects and candid, poetic moments, such as the staged but famous “A llama in Times Square” photo, which she documented for Life magazine.
  • Marriage to Arthur Miller: After meeting on the set of The Misfits, she married playwright Arthur Miller in 1962, with whom she had two children, Rebecca and Daniel. They collaborated on several projects, including the books In Russia and Chinese Encounters. Morath continued her own projects throughout their marriage, and she and Miller were married for 40 years until her death in 2002. 

Links to Inge Morath Foundation and Magnum Photo Agency.

*I had copied and pasted pages of information about Inge Morath. I was editing it down to something manageable when AI popped up with the condensed version. I’m terribly anti AI, but in this instance it was a welcome aid! I guess there is some use for AI after all.

If you looked at Inge Morath’s photos, which did you like and why?

What thoughts do you have about AI? Do you think it’s useful or a crutch?

First Photography Class

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I took this photo a couple days ago after my first photography class of Fall 2025.

So how did it go?

I was introduced to the five other students in the group. The class was by zoom. Then after we gave a short bio of ourselves, the professor shared our first photo assignment. We each got a turn to talk about our photo.

I was blown away by the talent in our group! Like the professor told me, everyone is internally motivated to improve. “We are all on the same learning curve, just at different points along the way.” Some are way, way ahead. It’s exciting to see their work.

The main problem I had was the time. 7 to 9 p.m. I’m not sure if it’s me getting older, recovering from surgery, or getting up early, but I fizzle out around dinner time. That day was busy with an earlier zoom call meeting from 8:30 to 11 a.m. and all my other daytime duties.

I managed to stay awake. I enjoyed seeing other photographers’ work plus learned about the semester project.

Memory and Meaning.

That’s the theme. I’m been noodling on it since Thursday. The professor gave all sorts of examples of what we can do. He said to reflect on the questions, “Why did I take this photo?” and “Why did I keep it?”

We can use photos from the public domain, photos we’ve taken before, new photos, or photos we’ve restored….those are just a few of the examples he gave. I’m thinking of taking photos with sea glass. I have tons of it from the days hanging out at the beach with my kids from when they were infants to before they left for college. My sea glass gives me memories of my favorite days at the beach with them.

We used to rent a cottage a few blocks from a cove in Laguna that was home to a bootlegger during Prohibition. The story the locals tell is that one stormy night, his ship came in to the dock by his house, and the liquor all went overboard. That cove is an amazing place to find sea glass. My daughter had a special eye for it and would spend hours wading in the waves, diving down to pick up pieces of royal blue, lavender, yellow, white, green, brown and turquoise sea glass. Some of the colors are unusual because of how old the bottles were.

I found a lilac piece of sea glass for the first time in my life, while praying during my DIL’s cancer surgery. I thought it was a good omen.

Then in my Palm Springs home, I refinished our wood block kitchen counters. I practiced on a nightstand in the garage that belonged to my husband’s grandmother. I didn’t know turpentine would self combust. I smelled smoke and was shocked to see the rags I tossed on the nightstand were on fire. Thankfully, the house did not catch on fire, although there was soot going up one wall.

I used sea glass and shells to fix the nightstand:

Although it smelled like an ashtray for a few years, I thought this was a creative fix for the smoldering hole on the nightstand.

I have sea glass displayed throughout the house and I found a banker’s box full of it. My daughter used to decorate picture frames with it. We had a grand idea of beautifying a glass table with sea glass. We never quite figured out how we would do it. Then she grew up and moved away before we got around to it.

I’m thinking about different ways I can photograph sea glass. I have tons to set outside for morning light, use water, different settings, frame beach photos. The choices are endless.

What are your thoughts for sea glass being an element in my Memory and Meaning photography project?

Spring has sprung!

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Throughout our neighborhood, the Palos Verdes trees are in full bloom. The bright yellow flowers against the blue sky are so gorgeous.

This is how beautiful our driveway looks right now. Most of the year, the plants are brown without blossoms.

Even the saguaro in our backyard is bursting out in blossoms. A Gila Woodpecker is taking advantage of the nectar from one blossom.

I took the saguaro photos Monday. Today there are seven blossoms. I’m taking pictures each day to see how the blossoming crown progresses.

This is the walkway from our driveway to our courtyard and front door. I have never seen it look so “Springy” before.

Then there’s RED:

I decided to take a few more photos of the saguaro blossoms for this post and guess who showed up? He landed right in front of me and started singing with all his might! I think he wondered why my camera was pointed at the cactus — and not him!

Here is Red singing his heart out! None of the photos today are edited, cropped or touched. My professor’s last words of wisdom for us this week was we can start editing in Adobe Photoshop — but it has a steep learning curve. I’m thankful for the lessons I’ve had with this professor and that he didn’t let us crop or edit — we had to be aware of what our photos would look like untouched.

Even the bees are buzzing today!

Happy Spring and thanks for going on my photo journey with me.

Perhaps it’s time to get back to writing and editing my manuscripts?

Flora with a little fauna

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I was out on a walk yesterday morning when a neighbor walking her dog said, “There are so many beautiful blossoms, you need your camera for your class.”

I had run into her once while taking cacti blossom photos for the class, which by the way, the professor said weren’t creative but rather ordinary. I was thrilled they were in focus!

I continued with my walk and noticed several gorgeous blooms and blossoms. My neighbor was right. I beelined back home for my camera and got my Macro lens.

I took blogger friend Danny Watts’ advice. His blog is Fountain Pen Chronicles: Adventures in Analog. He told me to get down on the ground for photos to get a better Point of View and Depth of Field. I took my husband with me, to help me up (Also Danny’s suggestion). My husband’s phone was blowing up with clients and he had to head home. I was left alone. I got on the ground. I managed to get myself up, which wasn’t that comfortable on the sidewalk or gravel. But I did it.

This is the blossom featured above from a distance. It’s so beautiful but lasts only one or two days.

Here are more cacti in bloom:

And a Fairy Duster!

Here’s for the little bit of fauna to go with the flora:

A Curve Billed Thrasher on the Century Plant.

My latest and final photography assignment for the class is to tell a story using six to 10 photos. I’m not sure what to do, but he’s giving us an extra week to work on it. I’m taking photos of my creatures, hoping a story line reveals itself to me.

Any suggestions for my final photography project?

Which cacti blooms do you like and why?