CARRY IT WITH YOU ALWAYS

I am on a street photography kick right now.  I absolutely LOVE shooting this genre.  I am going to pledge right now to start carrying my camera with me EVERYWHERE from now on.  You see such interesting shots at the grocery store, on the street corner stopped at a red light, and walking the streets.  You just never know what you will find.

This week will be an interesting one so stay tuned!!

I'M LIVING ON BLUES POWER

 Lately I have gravitated towards the color blue so here is another posting of "BLUE" thoughts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuqFHc5ewlQ&playnext=1&list=PLB1C137FC5D4D29E5

 

Blues Power

by

Eric Clapton, Leon Russell

Bet you didn't think I knew how to rock 'n' roll.

Oh, I got the boogie-woogie right down in my very soul.

There ain't no need for me to be a wallflower,

'Cause now I'm living on blues power.

I knew all the time but now I'm gonna let you know:

I'm gonna keep on rocking, no matter if it's fast or slow.

Ain't gonna stop until the twenty-fifth hour,

'Cause now I'm living on blues power.

by Eric Clapton and Leon Russell

These are Dale Chihuly flowers taken in Vegas at one of the casinos.   He is such a fabulous glass artist.

COOL CALMING COLOR

Blue is the coolest color - the color of the sky, ocean, sleep, twilight and the heavens.  A pure blue is the color of inspiration, sincerity and spirituality. Blue is often the chosen color by conservative people. Blue is the calming color. Dark blue is the color of truth and moderation. Wednesday's color is blue.

 Here are some of the "BLUE" shots I have taken:

LADY LUCK'S COLOR

Orange Energy

Orange is a power color. It is one of the healing colors. It is said to increase the craving for food. It also stimulates enthusiasm and creativity. Orange means vitality with endurance. People who like orange are usually thoughtful and sincere. Lady luck's color is orange.

I took this photo of fresh flowers in Vegas at the Bellagio Hotel.

Orange is associated with the benign warmth of the sun. A dynamic color to be sure, orange offers  thoughtful control. Curiosity is a driving characteristic of orange, and with it comes exploration of new things.  I guess that is why artists like this color.

Put some orange in your life when you want:

• to spice things up when you feel time is dragging
• to become more involved in something
• to increase creativity
• relief from things becoming too serious

TILL DEATH DO US PART

Yesterday I was doing my usual morning surf on the internet and landed at the New York Times Sunday website.  What is so much fun is to read all the entries in the wedding/celebration section.  Check it out for yourself when you have time: http://www.nytimes.com/pages/fashion/weddings/index.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1307369174-hlZYs2JMgcsmGsCRZU4Log


It is a much more liberal account of all the weddings than one you would see here in Houston, Texas.  I was also told that to make their column you have to be VERY, VERY important and have LOTS and LOTS of money! Although I am not a wedding photographer I do enjoy shooting them when we are invited.  Here are just a few of my photos from my last wedding we attended in January.  My nephew Noah and Lauren were married in Austin.

WHERE HAVE I BEEN?

I can't believe that I haven't posted on my blog in so long.  Sometimes I just am so busy that I don't make the time to write a few words or pass on some really interesting links.   (S*O*R*R*Y) I have been busy taking lots of photographs and posting to my ZEE AT HIGH NOON PHOTOBLOG.  You can always check out my work there daily.  It is a 365 day blog of posting one photograph each day.  I kept up with that since 2007, if you can believe it? http://www.photoblog.com/TWOZEES/

 I had a fabulous photo shoot with a family for Easter.   Here are a few of the more 'artsy' photos that I took.

TREE FUN

Having fun with my fish-eye lens I captured this tree and played with it in Photoshop.  Do you remember this book by Shel Silverstein?  I thought it went with my posting today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TZCP6OqRlE

BUBBA

My brother passed away this past week.  He was my older brother who was known as Bubba.  I will really miss him!
 

RALPH DAVID STEKIN, JR., born in Houston, Texas, on April 29, 1950, to Betty Mae (Cohen) and Ralph Stekin, passed away on April 19, 2011. Ralph graduated from Bellaire Senior High School, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Houston Law Center. He proudly served as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. Ralph was predeceased by his father, Ralph Stekin. He is survived by his mother and stepfather, Betty Mae and Selwyn Dante, his sisters and brothers-in-law, Susan and Dr. Ed Septimus, and Kathy and Perry Zieben, his nephews and their spouses, Dr. Joshua and Ali Septimus and Rabbi Daniel and Amanda Septimus, and by his nephews and niece, Brent Sacks, Lane Zieben, and Avery Zieben. He is also survived by his great nephews and nieces, Mia and Noah Septimus and Talia and Jonah Septimus.

PHOTOBLOG

I have been working really hard on capturing meaningful shots with my photograpy.  Finally one of them paid off.  My photo was picked for the front page of http://www.photoblog.com/.  It was quite a surprise to be chosen, too!  It was a photo of a flamingo that I took on a class photo shoot a few weeks ago.  Normally I am really into street photography because it allows us to freeze one of those moments and study all of the small dramas that were taking place. But this was taken at the zoo without any people in the shot.

ART FESTIVAL

Hundreds of Houstonians visited the 40th Annual Bayou City Art Festival March 25-27 in Memorial Park. The festival, which transforms the 1.1 mile trail of the park into a unique outdoor gallery, showcases the work of more than 300 artists from across the country.  Perry and I were two of those people counted for being there last Saturday.  Although I didn't think the art was that exceptional it did motivate me to revise my own mosaic work and apply to show there next year!  Here are a few of my photos that I took.

ZOO SHOOT

Yesterday my photography class had a field trip to the Houston Zoo.  I was taking pictures of people rather than the animals most of the time.  The genre of street photography fascinates me so much that I am constantly looking for those candid shots to capture.  I can't even remember how long it had been since I was at our zoo!  This little boy looked at my camera just at the right time!

STORY TELLER

I have been thinking a lot about my photography and where I want to take it. Currently I am taking an intermediate photography class to try and understand my camera a little better. I am learning about Photoshop, the exposure triangle, and practicing taking pictures that I normally wouldn't shoot. But I feel more like a storyteller than a photographer. I love the genre of street photography because you get to capture moments in time. Instead of words, I am using images to tell my stories. In traditional portraiture, we most often focus on the face of our subject to narrate the shot. But I like to look at the whole picture and capture the story behind the photo. Here are some images I have been taking. Hopefully you can tell where or what I was shooting.

MR. LOYD BROWN

We recently visited Montego Bay, Jamaica for a day. This is a photo of our tour guide-taxi driver named Mr. Loyd Brown. He was an interesting character that showed us around Montego Bay, Jamaica. It was an interesting day driving through the streets of the city (away from all the tourists) and shooting out the windows of the cab as we sped through the crowded town.

We had an authentic jerk chicken lunch with him at a place called The Pork Pit.

This is how they smoke their chicken. Notice how they use a roof panel to hold the meat down!

We enjoyed Jamaica's local beer.

Loyd enjoyed a grape drink that I had never heard of called "BIGGA". More pictures to follow...

STREET PHOTOGRAPHY

I started my street photography class last night. This is a genre that I absolutely love and really have a strong passion for! I find that candid shots taken when people are not posing tell such wonderful stories. I also like the black and white shots. Somehow they are easy on the eye and allow you to "paint" by number (so to speak) the colors on how you see it. My favorite street photographer right now is Vivian Maier.

Here is a link to some of her work:

http://vivianmaier.blogspot.com/ Please take the time to read her story because it is fascinating! I will be posting some of my work here for you to see soon.

NANO HUMMINGBIRD

The Pentagon received a $4 million dollar grant to develop a pocket sized drone dubbed the Nano Hummingbird for the way it flaps his wings. This hummingbird is a tiny robotic battery powered drone built to look like a bird for potential spy missions. Its guts are all motors and a video camera. Keep in mind that it is only a prototype but how cool is that? Anyone that knows me can see how much I love hummingbirds!

THE LIVING CAMERA

Ok, I know I haven't posted in a while. No excuses, just life getting in the way! But this artist is someone I had to share with you. His name Stephen Wiltshire and he is such a talented artist! He has been nicknamed "THE LIVING CAMERA". Why is that you ask? He has the unbelievable ability of painting and drawing detailed landscapes completely from his memory! His work is brilliant as you can see in the following video.

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2MBBxU

After watching the video visit his website: http://www.stephenwiltshire.co.uk/

THE SILENT EVOLUTION

http://www.underwatersculpture.com/index.asp

Jason deCaires Taylor is an artist who developed a love of the sea at a very early age. Much of his childhood was spent on the coral reefs of Malaysia. He had a fascination with the natural world. He graduated from the London Institute of Art in sculpture and ceramics. This ambitious underwater project is so unusual! He carved cement instead of stone and had to use cranes to lower his art to the ocean floor.

PAPER OR PLASTIC

Don't you get irritated when you go to check out at the grocery store and they ask you "PAPER or PLASTIC"? What difference does it make?

But Italy's ban on single-use plastic bags took effect on New Year's Day.

This couldn't come too soon, considering that Italians use about 20 billion plastic bags per year.

Environmentalists are pleased with the ban because plastic bags are horrible on the environment, degrading extremely slowly and taking decades to decompose. They are also potentially harmful to marine life and other animals.

In September Treehugger reported that Brownsville, Texas banned plastic bags. The ban goes in effect on January 5th, when customers who forget bags will be charged a dollar for an extra one. Pharmacies, hardware stores and dry cleaner are exempt. Why is that? Either get rid of all of them or none at all!!! USA Today reports that the anti-bag sentiment is spreading. California couldn’t muster the votes to ban bags, but individual cities like San Francisco, Malibu, Fairfax and Palo Alto are already there, and more cities are threatening to follow suit. Our neighbors down south are getting in on the action too. Mexico City banned plastic bags in August of this year.

SO TEXAS, WHEN ARE WE GOING TO STEP UP AND BAN THEM?

SILK PAINTING

This is a really interesting video about a silk painter and his performance art. It is something that can be admired by art quilters, painters, and performers. I normally don't "get" performance art that is weird or off the wall but this is different. I am now inspired to use my watercolors and work in my sketchbook today. I love the fluidity of the motion of the paint and how it flows over the silk and is absorbed by it.

2011**A NEW BEGINNING**

I couldn't help but think that 1/1/11 was a cool way to start off the new year! Numerology sees the number "one" as self, new beginnings, the individual. If you look at 2011, it's the "two" that comes first. "Two" is a partnership. When you add the numbers 2011 you get "four". 2+0+1+1 =4 Numerology says that four will affect everyone all year. Four is square. Four is the box. Four wants everything done right! So we are entering a year where one should build a stronger foundation on which to hold your new year's resolutions!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things. - Robert Brault