People watching with your camera.

You never know what you will see when you people watch.

I once met a woman who was a professional photographer. She talked with me at length about using my camera as a people watcher. "You have an advantage," she said. "You take the time to sit and watch and capture moments that others pass over."

After quite a long discussion, she shared that some of her best photos had come from her sitting on a park bench and simply watching. People playing chess or having a picnic lunch. Children exploring, perhaps blowing bubbles. Grandmas and grandchildren. The possibilities are endless.

It is important to make certain you carry release forms with you in case you snap a photo that you think is a keeper. In a situation like that, you need to approach folks for their permission to use the photo. I carry releases with me whenever I go people watching. 

The world is at your feet.
Inside: I believe you can be anything you want to be.

Every once in a while however I snap a photo from behind ~ like this little boy playing in a puddle at the zoo. I have had this picture in my portfolio for years. By now, the child must be a teenager. When I saw it a few months ago, I decided to pull it out and experiment.

This little guy is now one of my more popular greeting cards. The picture actually takes me into days with my own boys when they explored and splashed their way through many a rainy, muddy day. Perhaps that is why this photo warms my heart. It somehow captures the innocence of those good old days when for a little while none of us had a care in the world.

Comments always welcome.

Let photographic visions drive creativity.



I love you, honey.

A photo advantage is often about expanding your vision. Let me tell you about my cats. Actually, let me tell you about two kittens.

They were born in October, sometime around the 6th or 7th of that month, in a liter of six kittens. The mother had all good intentions of raising her wee ones. However, she fed them well for two weeks and then stopped.

I’m uncertain whether the kittens were too hungry or whether they bit her as they suckled. I do know she abandoned them. They were so little and young and pretty. I joined with several other friends, and we raised them on a milk supplement that surprisingly we found at a local Walmart.

One friend selected a yellow striped tabby cat. Another took that cat’s twin along with a second, white with splotches of grey stripes. I kept a white male cat with splotches of yellow striping and a female calico. While the sixth kitten didn’t make it, I thought we did pretty well with pulling these wee ones through.

Share your vision with others. It's totally fun.

I’ve had a lot of fun photographing my two kittens as they’ve grown. They are known as Starsky and Hutch, with Hutchie being the female. This photo was taken as they slept in a rocking chair. All tuckered out from hours of jumping in the air and tumbling over each other, Hutch sprawls atop her best friend sound asleep.

So here is my vision about cat photographs. I want more than to focus on their face. I want to capture a feeling of some sort so that I can communicate a message.

This picture isn’t the best in the world. Far from it, and yet it is a huggable pose that says ‘I love you’ in its easy way. I played with the picture even more using a Topaz Filter and then in Photoshop used layers to add text.

The resulting cartoon-like picture takes on a whole different feel and still says ‘I love you’. I’ve used both photos in greeting cards. The results are quite captivating. It all started with a vision…and so I encourage you to play with your pictures. Tell a story. Look for a feeling, and then find a way to use it so that everyone takes pleasure from your creativity.

Your comments are forever welcome.

Simple cropping creates intimacy.

The combination of orange and purple is so lovely.

As I write about my photography and the love I have for the adventure of making new captures, I think about the concept of working a subject. So often I will come across a gathering of colorful flowers or an interesting building, maybe old dilapidated cars or playful children. I can't just take one photo or two. I have to snap and snap from all different angles until I feel satisfied.

Then of course it's a matter of downloading my photos and playing with them in the computer. I always feel like a kid in a candy shop as I click from one pix to the other. Great rainy day fun. It's wonderfully entertaining. Guess that's another advantage to being a photographer. I always have something to look forward to, and that makes life pretty terrific.

Often I have a vision in my head about what I am looking to accomplish within a picture. Maybe it's a feeling I want to communicate. Perhaps it's a focus on certain colors, lines in architecture, or even rust on a truck.


Close cropping creates intimacy to your subject.

The photos I'm showing you today illustrate the beauty of springtime tulips at the Botannical Gardens in Buffalo, New York. I want to give them credit because their spring flower show is always breathtaking. These particular tulips were a new color. I hadn't seen them in previous years.

What I'm aiming to show you here is how you can play around with simple cropping to get a closer, more intimate look at your subject. This is something every one of you can do. Play around with what you have in your picture, and sometimes you will find delightful results as I did here.

I've learned to use the same technique with animals and children too. There are often subtleties you can highlight by focusing on a smaller area. That intimate focus draws the viewer into the experience. Here for example, don't you feel like you want to pick a tulip or at the least bend over and look inside each bloom?

Comments welcome. May your Easter be delightful.

Animal photography challenges me.

Why just look at that cute little girl over there.

If you’re into taking photos of animals, good luck. It takes a tremendous amount of dedication and patience. I find them much like children because they find countless ways to fiddle and squiggle, and twist and turn.

Cats and dogs are a huge challenge, especially in their playful moments. Horses are constantly chewing or flicking flies off themselves. Zoo elephants will rock from side to side as they think about the day. Monkeys like to fly through the trees with the greatest of ease. They are almost impossible.

I made a few good captures at dog shows. Groomers constantly work with their animals so they sit very still. I’ve found if I am around later in the morning or afternoon, I’ll come upon some tired dogs napping or looking bored like they’re ready to call it a day. That’s when I get my best pictures.


Make my day! I would so like a backrub.

The zoo in Buffalo, New York can be fun. I make frequent visits in the spring because on a pleasant, sunny day, many of the animals are lolling lazily in the sun’s rays, occasionally waking to yawn or check out the tourists. Snap! Good picture. The same animals may get overheated and dive into pools of water. Another good photo op! Feeding time doesn’t always work because the animals are restless. They have one thing on their mind and it isn’t sitting for a portrait.

I have luck in our zoo’s gorilla house. Those gorillas sit and pick at each other or their food for hours; meticulously making sure everything is clean. When they are content, they lie around and stare at the world walking by their windows. I feel a bit sad for them because they are so contained. I must confess I wonder what they are thinking as we harass them with our cameras.

What I like to get in my animal photos is similar to what I search for in children. I like the photo with an expression that fleetingly presents itself. In one moment a tip of the head, a blink, a slight smile, a bored or thoughtful eye, even a yawn tells all. If out of 50 photos, I get one good expression, then my afternoon at the zoo is totally worthwhile.

Comments welcome. Feel free to share.

Take a risk. Be an artist.

Be an artist and smile.

I love color. I love all color. How could I ever pick a favorite? There was a golden book my mom used to read me when I was little. It was The Color Kittens: kittens playing in paint and spilling colors until new colors were created. It fascinated me.

I don’t think of myself as an artist. However, when I indulge in photography, I marvel over color combinations that catch my eye. The brighter, richer colors light a spark that warms me all over.

Once I have a photo with color, I enjoy playing around with it. Often I adjust the levels and then accept the photo for what it is. At other times, I diffuse it or apply a vignette blur as I did in the photo above.

The blur in this picture used one of the Nik Color filters. I like that the filter helps me make the picture soft and easy while highlighting the flowers at the center.

As you’re playing around with your camera, think about color combinations: purple and yellow, red and blue…all the colors of the rainbow. I guarantee the resulting photographs will brighten your day. In the process you will feel like the artist you didn't think you were, and you'll smile. I guarantee it.

Comments always welcome.

My New Year's Day in Spring!



Just whisper a little prayer.

In my last few posts, I've written about ways to escape the doldrums of grey days. Doesn't matter whether it's snow, rain or just the darkness that comes with the tug-of-war between winter and spring weather. Photography is an escape for me, and reading.

Now since the purpose of this blog is to help you know me better, I'm sharing yet another escape. It's one I enjoy every April, and because I love photography, I can communicate my escape in a photo or two.

The Buffalo Botannical Gardens hosts a spring show that is always awash with color. As a photographer it thrusts me into the bright, beautiful world of daffodils, tulips, lilies, and hyacinths, taking my breath away. A visit into the glass garden walls empowers me and gives hope. It's my 'coming out' celebration. I leave winter behind to capture growth in its purest sense.


Inside: Let's escape. Maybe plan a picnic and spend the day?

When I enter the Gardens, I stand under the large dome and look up. Here I feel as though I am in the presence of greatness. I smell the earth that nurtures so many blossoms. I hear voices chatting as they 'oh' and 'ah' over this flower and that. I still look up as folks walk around me. I can't help but whisper a thank you prayer that I am back to start yet another year. Spring to spring. It's like another new year's party for me.

There are benches strategically placed in this dome area. I find one and sit to gaze as the sunshine streams in through the glass. It's perfect. What more could I want?

Tall vegetation reaches proudly for the warmth. I lean back and stare up, then look around at the crochuses and tulips. I feel small next to this beauty. Thankfully I have time and a camera. I've even packed a lunch. This will be a great day!

Comments forever welcome.

Photos show you I am also a bookworm.

Nicholas Sparks is one of my favorite authors.

I love to read. I could lose myself for hours in a book. In fact, I make myself stay away from reading during the day because if I got started I would still be immersed in that book till dark. Then I’d get nothing done. That would not be good. I have too much to do.

I reward myself with books normally. I have this internal dialogue that says, “If you get this done or that done, you can sit and read for an hour.” Sometimes that works out just fine. Other times, I have to delay my reward until I have uninterrupted time to wallow in the wonders of fictional adventures or pursue the knowledge of non-fiction insights. Often I read before I fall asleep at night, frequently waking up with the book straddled across my chest.

Snow days in the wintertime are the best! I wrote in a previous post that I indulge in my photographs on days like that. When I’m not doing photography, I’m rewarding myself with a good book. That is especially cozy when the electricity goes out. I light a candle or find a flashlight and curl up with my book. Sigh.

Some of my best reads have been Jodi Picoult’s Nineteen Minutes, House Rules and The Pact. I give them a great reference. Most of Nicholas Sparks books warm my heart. Wish I could write like he does. I loved The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. That’s a book I will never forget, and then Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese is totally memorable. The Harry Potter Series will be an all time favorite. I could list my favorites for hours and hours.

Inside: Take a book off the shelf and put your feet up.

I’ve decided to make myself a snow day even in the summertime. Periodically, I think we all would benefit from leaving our responsibilities for an afternoon or a day and retreating into a good book. Make a cup of tea. Depending on the time of year, curl up with a quilt or sprawl in front of a fan. It’s the most wonderful mental health day ever…like a vacation without spending a dime.

For that reason, I've created a greeting card that you can send to a deserving friend or family member, especially if they are on the 'schedule treadmill' meeting all kinds of deadlines and taking no time for themselves. Invite them to take a snow day even in summer. Take a snow day. Grab a book. Explore new lands, solve a murder mystery, fall in love or read up on a subject that is yet unknown.

I hope you get everything done you want to do today. I will do my best because I have 'a carrot' waiting for me tonight. I will read and love every minute of that relaxation. Join me?

Comments welcome. Maybe recommend a good book.