Sometimes stripping away the color of the world leads you to finding beauty in the in between.

Nikon Z8,  ISO 100,  f/1.2,  1/3200 sec.

An idea worth pursuing.

Nikon Z8, 35mm,  ISO 100,  f/1.8,  1/1600 sec.

I check on the giant sunflowers now every morning when I go out to the patio with my second cup of coffee. It makes me smile in wonderment how they know which way to face the rising sun, how they manage to chase it throughout the day, even on cloudy overcast days. I also decided that I'm going to flood next year's flower gardens with sunflowers of all colors and sizes, have nothing but happy smiling sunflowers in our back yard. I think the goldfinches will be thrilled.

Nikon Z8,  85mm,  ISO 64,  f/1.2,  1/1600 sec. Godox AD100Pro strobe set to 1/128th power.

I have never had such a fun morning or shot such a fun event. There were adult races, kids races, dog races, bartender dashes . . . and they all had to be finished by 9:00 because there was going to be a train crossing just before where the finish line area was. Such a fun, fun start to the day!

Nikon Z8,  135mm,  ISO 250, f/1.8, 1/1000 sec. Dickson Street Mile

 

I love my new lights. 

Nikon Z8,  85mm,  ISO 100,  f/1.2,  1/4000 (first picture),  1/8000 (second picture) Godox AD100 Pro

 I really need to start getting out of the house with my camera. 

Nikon Z8,  135mm,  ISO 100,  f/1.8,  1/3200 sec off camera flash in a reflector

All of a sudden, my strobes began working again. Maybe they knew I had ordered replacement lights and decided to cooperate for me. Tried my broken external hard drive, keeping my fingers crossed, but it remains broken. At least I have reliable outdoor lights again. I'll take that as a win today.

Nikon Z8,  135mm,  ISO 160, f/1.8, 1/4000 sec. off camera strobe set at 1/8 power

With the weather being stormy and knowing the woods were going to “daaaaaaaaawk”, I decided to conduct a little experiment with yesterday’s race and brought one, and only one, lens. Having no choice but to shoot with what I brought, it freed me up to play with composition, position, made me much more mobile, cut down on second guessing myself and overall just made the race much more enjoyable and fun. May have to start doing that more and more.

And the rains held off throughout the race only to start pouring down no sooner than we shut the car doors to head home. Sideway sheets and sheets of rain kept us company all the way back to the house.

Nikon Z8, 85mm, ISO 1250, f/1.2, 1/2000 sec. Ozark Enduro Lite, Siloam Springs, AR

We talked of ex-husbands, children, depression, marriage, our moms, anxiety, Etsy, stained glass, photography jobs. We laughed and drank coffee and interrupted each other as new subjects came up to talk about and forgot what we were going to say and talked and talked and talked until almost lunch time. It was a good morning.

iPhone

Tucked away pocket of daisies and evening light.

Nikon Z8, 135mm, ISO 250, f/1.8, 1/2500 sec.

I realized yesterday that you really can’t be mad when you see a sunflower. They’re just such happy flowers.

Nikon Z8, 85mm macro, ISO 800, f/4.0, 1/160 sec.

It took them a while to remember where our feeders were, but our little family of hummingbirds have finally made it back for the year and the dogfights and indignant squeakings have been a sheer delight.

Nikon Z8, 70-200mm, ISO 800, f/2.8, 1/4000 sec

First sunflower of the year, planted for us by a crazy squirrel that thinks he’s a dog because he always chases his tail, rolls around in the dirt and pounces on anything that moves. But he’s a great little gardener.

Nikon Z8, 85mm, ISO 100, f/1.2, 1/1600 sec

Complimentary colors.

Nikon Z8,  35mm,  ISO 640,  f/5,  1/400 sec, off camera flash 

Despite a busy, busy day - - - gardens watered, laundry, Mom to the airport for her flight to Denver and too see Stephen, more bloodwork, mammogram scheduled, oil change scheduled, eye doctor papers filled out, prescriptions picked up, a work out, fresh hummingbird juice put out - - - despite all that, I still made time to notice the beautiful morning light.

Nikon Z8,  50mm,  ISO 100,  f/1.8,  1/3200 sec.

 
During church this morning, I thought about complimentary colors, B&W and hard light vs. soft light and all the picture ideas that were lining up in single file in my head, begging to be let out this afternoon. Maybe I shouldn't have looked at my Pinterest board before going to church. 

Nikon Z8,  50mm,  ISO 100,  f/4,  1/400 sec. off camera flash

 

We walked the route yesterday and was amazed at all the tree carnage the was still left over from the Memorial Weekend tornadoes. Massive trees lay in ruins in the gullies and valleys of Coler, the sounds of chainsaws and backhoes hard at work clearing debris. The tree canopy of Northwest Arkansas has forever been changed. 

Nikon Z8,  85mm,  ISO 640,  f/1.8,  1/1000 sec. Paradise Found 5K Trail Race

 

Lightroom has a sense of humor.

Nikon Z8,  85mm,  ISO 80,  f/1.2,  1/4000 sec. look in the right side of the frame. There had a been a small child in a bright red shirt standing with his back to me. I used the generative AI feature to remove the child and Lightroom provided a meerkat (?) to replace him. One of the funniest things I've seen. 

 

I ate a peach when I was twelve, standing in the middle of Haworth common in Yorkshire. The peach was the best peach I'd ever tasted in my life. The juices were dribbling down my chin, spilling onto my shirt and dripping into a puddle at my feet. It was the biggest peach I'd ever seen, too, having to hold onto it with both hands. I closed my eyes, feeling the fuzzy texture crunch in my mouth as I took bite after bite. It was so good. Mom and Dad had bought it for me after we'd toured Thornton, the birthplace of the Brontee sisters, as a special treat. The peach vendor had set up his stall at the bottom of the parsonage to vie for tourists and passersby's business. He was red cheeked, jolly and spoke in a heavy Yorkshire accent. I don't know where he got his peaches from so early in the spring, but I remember standing right next to his stall, Dad handing me my peach and me eating it right there, not even bothering to wash it. I can still taste it, 46 years later.

When I was in Hot Springs last week, I resolved to make a flash picture everyday until I knew artificial light like the back of my hand. I wanted to figure out the placement of it, the type of light (soft vs. hard) I wanted, how to use it inside and outside, different types of lighting - - - Rembrandt, rim, chiaroscuro - - - how to blend off camera light with natural light and make it look natural. It's a fun project, a frustrating one, but it only takes an hour at the most and it makes me feel good figuring stuff out as I go. 

And it's always fun to make a mess in the kitchen. 

And it also makes me appreciate how easy it is to shoot in natural light. 😉

Nikon Z8,  50mm, ISO 800,  f/1.8,  1/2000 sec. speed light set up in an umbrella 

The two of us stood in front of the purple onion bin at the grocery store, each of us looking for a small onion that might be mixed in with the colossal sized others. I glanced up and told her, "I only need a half for my recipe!" She smiled and said, "Want to split one?" The wonderful stories that happen at grocery stores. 

Nikon Z8,  50mm,  ISO 160,  f/2.5,  1/13 sec. off camera flash bounced off the ceiling.

Rim lighting has always eluded me. I think I may have cracked the code this afternoon.

Nikon Z8, 85mm, ISO 64, f/1.2, 1/8000 sec.

When I said good bye to the lake this morning, I could see Little Meghan and Little Joey’s faces in the cove below our balcony. I saw their big smiles, could hear their laughter, watched as they did cannonballs off the boat dock, each one trying to out do the other. I could hear their voices chanting, “Momma! Momma! Momma!” as I watched myself take a running start on the boat dock and show off my own cannonball, splashing everyone around. This lake is a place of magic.

Nikon Z8, 50mm, ISO 100, f/4.5, 1/1250 sec

We drove over to Sheridan for lunch, big, gooey cheeseburgers and crinkle fries and big icy cold diet Cokes. We had ice cream for desert and talked about what this place may have looked like back in 1955 when it first opened. David’s mom wouldn’t let his dad take her home from a date without stopping here first for ice cream. I bet it was straight out of American Graffiti.

Nikon Z8, 35mm, ISO 100, f/1.8, 1/2000 sec

Watching all the boats and sea doos going back and forth in the channel this afternoon, I thought about how all the wealthy residents of Newport Beach would promenade in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Everybody who was anybody would go out and either walk up and down the popular sidewalks or cruise by in their carriages. Seeing all the boats out today reminded me of that time.

Nikon Z8,  500mm,  ISO 640,  f/5.6,  1/2000 sec.

Deep in the woods on my morning hike, I tripped and skinned my knee. Just one more future scar with a story behind it. 

On the way back to the Point, we discussed locations that have cooler summers (today it hit 96, with a feel like temperature of 110 degrees) and Bellingham, Washington and Green Bay, Wisconsin were the clear winners (although it would be quite the commute back to Arkansas for our enduro events). 

Nikon Z8,  50mm,  ISO 200,  f/1.8,  1/640 sec.

Sitting out by the pool, listening to the delicious sounds of motor boats, children shrieking, boat docks slapping against the water and the cicadas warming up overhead, I thought to myself that this is the only place I wanted to be.

Nikon Z8,  85mm,  ISO 100,  f/1.2,  1/12800 sec.  Lake Hamilton, Hot Springs  . . . I almost fell in camera first after taking this shot over the sea wall.