Bird Tweets

Day 247 Robin Laws, Photographer and Writer: Drum Roll and Congratulations!

Good Morning Friends! I thought i would make the title of the post "all about me" and then move on to the more central theme of this post, friendship. As you can see i was published again in Somerset Life magazine this month and i couldn't be happier! Jenny Doh,  the editor-in-chief is a consummate professional and yet she manages to let her true self shine in her work with artists. She is kind, friendly and helpful at every juncture of the writing process. Thank you Jenny for allowing me to be myself too.

My friend  Maddie, who has been published in Somerset many times wrote a perfect tribute on a post earlier this year, she says: "Somerset has the talent, love and respect for artists, taking the extra time to celebrate each unique personlity with care. Attention resonates off each and every page."

My article and photographs are featured in the department of Locales of Intrigue. Anyone who follows my blog will recognize the subject of the article. Cindy, The Queen of Tarte and her monthly event and vintage art sale. Sometimes I can hardly believe my good fortune in friendship. The relationship gods must have singled me out for special treatment in another life because truly i have been blessed! Cindy and her circle of friends have welcomed me as one of their art troupe from the very first day i arrived on the scene. 

Get your copy of this issue and find out where to find the magic :) 

You all know that in this land of blogdom there is the chance to meet new friends that would never have crossed our path had we not offered ourselves up for love on the internet wire. I have found amazing women that have become good friends and i hope to visit many of them in real life during the coming years. (more surprises on that topic later this week!)

One such person is Debi who often shows up in my posts due to her place in my life as muse and friend. It was Debi's idea that i submit this article about The Land Tart. She saw the potential for me to shine my artist beacon out into the world. Her encouragement, editorial assistance and applause accompanied me on the creation of this story. I love you girlfriend!

I have a big P.S. to add here at the end. I am working on another story to be featured in the January issue of Somerset life about the Barn House  boys. I will show you the magnificent Barn House sales they host as well as the ways they express themselves as artists in every aspect of their life together.

There is more good news to come!

Love, robin

Day 246 Keeping it Simple

"Photography is an art of observation. It's about finding something interesting in an ordinary place... It has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them." 

Elliott Erwitt 

I took this photo way back when while on a photographic outing with my friend Elizabeth. Elizabeth is a good influence because she often sees photographic images where i do not. I am too much of a literalist when i'm feeling under pressure to use my camera to see the everyday world. If i could relax and let my mind  flow through my heart the way my poetic friends  Debi and Isabel do i would be more able to record the way i see the world rather than the way the world actually is.

Photography is the art of observation. That tells me i can slooow way down, which is a natural state for me if i let myself just be. I could take my time and let a vision unfold, raise the camera only when i know what it is i want you to see. 

I really wanted you to see this bucket of fresh flowers as i did. I was feeling  poetic that day. Color can do that to me. I also captured this blue bell  in that same shop.  I was in a small shop of exotic salts. Yes really, ordinary salt made extraordinary. There were walls, and shelves and rows of colorful salts in small glass bottles.  I saw the bucket of ranunculus and Debi's  blue bell dress when i was supposed to see the salts :) 

My friends have a positive artistic influence on me :) Who do you have as muse and friend who helps you to see with your best photographic eye? 

Love, robin

Day 245 It was an Invitation to see

I have come across many photo galleries that include photographs of bugs at work. Sometimes i see things i would rather not. Once it was a spider that had just captured a moth and was busy preparing it for storage. I saw a macro shot (shockingly close-up) of a Praying Mantis eating a grasshopper and another of two iridescent blue-black beetles having intercourse. It isn't always appealing but it is always interesting and educational. But these were not subjects i wanted to see up close. Butterflies..  now that is another subject. I have wanted a butterfly experience since i first raised a camera to my eye.

For me capturing this photograph of a Tiger Swallowtail was very exciting. It makes me smile to think about what i was going on in my mind while i watched this creature float around our sunny garden. Initially i didn't seriously consider taking a picture. I was caught in a state of mind that said "i am unlucky, she won't be still and i will get a blurry photograph." So i kept going in and out of the house. I would watch her float off away from the garden and i would go inside to wash dishes. Then i would see her shadow float over the grass and she would return to work on that Tiger Lilly, scraping, and culling out something i couldn't see. I'm not sure what she was doing. But i would go outside and get as close as i could so i could watch. I got very close and finally could not longer allow myself to be foolishly sensitive to failure so i ran in the house for my camera. 

She finally rested on this Daphne bush and laid out her magnificent wings for me to see. I think she knew this was her shining moment to be captured on film so she posed in perfect stillness. Wasn't that nice of her?

What subject have you longed to photograph but thus far has eluded you?

Love, robin

Day 244 Midnight in the Garden

This image transports me to places where the woodland elves must dwell. sigh... This is my reward for nourishing the earth that is placed in my care.What have you recently discovered that makes you a believer?

Love, robin

Day 243 What else is there besides the image?

Do you believe a photograph records what the eyes see? Or do you ask for more than a visual revelation? Often when i am taking a photograph my intention is to capture what my eyes see. However that isn't what happens. Never. In fact i have yet to have the experience of looking into the viewfinder, pressing the shutter, and finding that twin image on my LCD screen. Mostly i experience bewilderment at the contrast between what i see and what i get. That isn't always a bad thing. Sometimes i 'see' something that has little to do with my eyes, something that is revealed when time is stopped in it's tracks and the viewer a willing pilgrim. Other times i wonder if perhaps i do not have the necessary compositional eye to be a good photographer. One is the voice of the heart, the other the voice of the mind. The magical or technical. Which will i chose?

As i drove through the desert on my way home from Phoenix i would look out the window and see something that i should capture with my camera. There was a gold-mine of compelling photographs sliding past and yet each time we stopped my resulting images neither rang true to the physical reality or the heart. I didn't feel much. I think my heart was too busy, too distracted to be fully present for taking good pictures. I decided to surrender and let go of effort. I just looked out the window and let my mind wander. 

On the last day we stopped for lunch and walked down a wooded path that led to a river. There were no people or cars, nothing to distract from the sounds of the wind and the song of the river. It was here that i found what i was longing for. I watched in silence as the natural world around me came to life. Instead of the camera i had binoculars. If i wanted to capture and hold something of the moment it would have to be with my own memory, my heart. We saw a brilliantly colored bird dart over the river to meet it's mate. It was such a surprise, like nothing i had ever seen before. Then an otter slid out of the water on the opposite bank and went about the business of doing whatever it is that otters do when they are on land. There were dozens of swallows that swooped in formation  making that trilling, chirruping sound. Their choreographed movements seems to reveal a hieroglyphic message that i couldn't understand. They flew with a natural grace and agility that they made me smile. A little ground squirrel stood quite near and watched us watch him darting into the ground when we turned the other way. Like he was trying to keep a secret. All of these things made me feel glad to be alive. Happy to be able to walk upon this glorious earth.  

The only photograph i kept from our trip is this one of my sister and me as we stood front of our Dad's house for the last time. 

When taking a photograph what are you looking for besides the image itself?

Love, robin