Inspiration Strikes Again

I’ve been away for too long! My job has kept me way too busy and stressed out to have the energy to write anything. But I’m on vacation now, so I’m rested and ready to get back to business!

I went to the Loveland Art Show last Sunday with Roman, Steph & Greg. It was an arts and crafts show, and a lot of artists from The Loveland Art Studios on Main were exhibitors. There were lots of painters, photographers, jewelry makers, and fine artists. It was about 99 degrees outside (yes, in September), so walking around around wasn’t so fun.

Steph actually has a studio at the Loveland Art Studios. She recently left her corporate job to become a freelance designer & illustrator.

My main arts and crafts interests are glass, beads and photography. I usually find myself hating all the other photographers’ works because there’s that voice in my head that says, “I could do that.” And there’s that other voice that says, “So why aren’t you doing that?” That voice usually comes from Roman. But I digress.

There were a few artists inparticular that inspired me. The first was was a woman who made amazing jewelry. Her company is called Danglez, and her work looks a lot like the Silpada and Sundance jewelry. Which I LOVE. It took me about 20 minutes to decide which piece I wanted, and I ended up paying around $30 for an amazing necklace (right). The woman who designs this line is an inspiration. I love beads, and I wish I had the energy and patience to make pieces as nice as those.

Another artist, Lauren Buchan (who won first place in the bead category), does lampwork, and she also works extensively with seed beeds, and she actually teaches classes. She’s going to teach me peyote stich and freeform peyote stitch. I’ve tried to teach myself peyote stitch from a book, but I’m not a great book learner. Lauren is another artist at the Loveland Studios on Main.

I was inspired for the day by looking at everybody else’s art. Now it’s time to get back to creating my own!

Propack Success at the Birthday Party

First of all, in the true spirit of the Emmys, I’d like to thank the creators of ebay. Tonight, I won an auction. I’d like to thank those auction site creators because tonight, I finally completed my set of Crate & Barrel blue-green bowls. I will now have SIX small bowls to accompany the large one. I’d like to thank God, too.

I’m happy to report some ProPack success! I went to a birthday party last night, and in addition to my Nikon P1, I decided to bring the ProPack. I hadn’t used the flash yet, so I thought I’d see how it worked.

The first picture I took was of Christen and Shaun. I turned the flash on for this shot at dusk, and again, the blue lightspots appeared. At that point, I was still a little discouraged. I brought three packs of film with me, and I wanted to keep trying.


The next shot I took was of Greg (the birthday boy) and Steph (the hostess with the mostess), after the sun had set. I pulled the film out, timed it to 60 seconds, opened the print from the opposite end I’d been opening it at, and... no light spots! I continued to take successful shots for the rest of the evening.

My hypotheses (and Roman’s) is that sunlight is somehow sneaking in through the bellows. When I took away the sunlight and only used the flash, all was good. I still need to investigate taking pictures in the daylight (couldn’t do that today because I had a little TOO much fun at the party last night). When this pack of film is all used up, I’ll shine a flashlight around the bellows to try and find holes.

Happy 30th birthday, Greg. I hope somebody doesn’t hit you on the back of the head the next time you do Blue Steel. Or was that Magnum?

Gonna Get Fit for a Lifetime

Two things that are really important to me are my health and and my fitness. I’ve gone up and down on the scale, and gone from flab to firm to flab so many times in my life. I feel like I’m at an age now where I need to develop some better habits or else. So I joined a new gym. I know what you’re saying... “But you already belong to a gym!” And I do. Now I actually belong to two - the one at work (until I figure out how to quit) and the new one, which I refer to as “The Country Club.”

I joined Lifetime Fitness a couple weeks ago. It’s not only a gym, it’s an exercise resort and spa. The gym at work only cost about three times less than The Country Club, however the work gym doesn’t have a room that spouts hot eucalyptus-scented steam that clenses my pores and refreshes my soul. It also doesn’t have a rock climbing wall. The only thing different between LF and one of those Royal Caribbean cruise commercials is that there’s no ocean. Unless, of course, you count the INDOOR AND OUTDOOR POOLS!!!

I found this place by a fluke. My ex-coworker, Steph, decided she wanted to check the place out at lunch one day, and since I had no plans, I tagged along. They had me at hello.

We took the tour of the place, and I was amazed at how big and clean it was, and how much great stuff was included in the monthly fee! When it came time to deciding whether or not to join, I didn’t hesitate to sign both me and Roman up. Roman’s not a big fan of gyms (he’s an outdoor run lover), but I thought he just might like this place. Turns out he doesn’t think it’s half bad - we’re still in the 30-day, money-back guarantee time period, so we’ll see.

I’ve already taken several of the classes - Cardio Kickboxing, Total Conditioning, Cardio Dance (where it was confirmed that I have absolutely no rhythm), Fitness Yoga, Yoga/Pilates Fusion, and Core. I’ve also swam laps in both the indoor and outdoor pools, experienced the sauna, the steam room, the clean showers and this fabulous machine that dries your bathing suit. I can’t wait to climb the faux rock wall and shoot some hoops.

I love The County Club, and I think I’m gonna develop some good habits for life. And have a lot of fun doing it.

I thought about posting a self portrait in this post, and then another in six months (when I’m all buff), but I don’t do “before” pictures. :)

Gonna Light This Candle

My Uncle Pete was one of the greatest men I’ve had the honor of knowing. He passed away on August 3, 2007, after a four year battle with cancer. He beat the initial prostate cancer, as most men diagnosed with it do, but then developed cancer elsewhere in his body. He fought it as long as he could, and with as positive an attitude I could ever imagine anyone having. He told his wife, my Aunt Sylvia, that he was gonna beat it. And he meant it!

For four years, he and Sylvia lived it up, during the chemo treatments, during the recessions, and during the chemo treatments again. He made his nurses laugh, as he made everyone laugh during his life. His sense of humor was unmatched, as far as I’m concerned. So was his outlook on life. I learned so much from him, and if I take anything away from being a part of his life, it’s that I need to make every moment count. Sounds cliché, but it’s so true. According to Uncle Pete, “We can always go to Plan B.” As he’d also say, “Trust me. I’m a professional.”

Today at work was the kickoff of the United Way (UW) campaign. I typically don’t formally give to the United Way. My company offers ways to give informally, like through raffles, auctions and casual-day options (meaning we can dress casual for a week, for a $5 donation). That’s how I typically gave to this charity.

My boss was chair of the UW marketing, and I actually designed all the pieces given out to the company. It was a great chance for me to get to design again, and also a way for me to learn more about what UW does for my community.

If we made a formal pledge today (meaning a payroll deduction or one-time pledge), there was a chance to win some cool prizes. That inspired me to read more about the places to which we could designate our pledges. I found one that seemed relevant to me: Cancer Family Care. Their mission is to strengthen the well-being and alleviate the suffering of children, adults and families struggling with cancer. I looked over their website and decided to designate my pledge to them, in honor of Uncle Pete and Aunt Sylvia. I brought my pledge card to the official UW table at lunchtime to put it in the raffle box.

Now, since I designed every piece of collateral that my company saw in regards to the UW campaign, I thought I knew it all. We had several companies that received help from the UW lined up to talk about themselves at the UW table every day during lunchtime. I designed posters for what I thought were all the companies to be represented this week. I guess I was misinformed, because Cancer Family Care (CFC) was the organization present today. When I realized this, I was kind of shocked. I told the executive director, who was the CFC spokesperson present, that I had just decided to designate my contribution to them. After I did that, a respected co-worker told me that his wife worked for them, and they were some amazing people. I mentioned that my Uncle Pete had passed away recently from cancer and that I think some family members may have benefited from their services.

I think it was one of those things that was meant to be. The order of events today was, I guess, serendipitous. In my gut, I knew this organization was good, and then it was confirmed, out-of-the-blue, by someone I respect (the man whose wife works for the CFC).

I miss my Uncle Pete. I will always remember him and his laid-back attitude and sense of humor. I thank God that he was in my life for as long as he was, and I wish everyone had someone like him in their life. At the end, Uncle Pete told his family that he’d had enough of the chemo. He said he was ready to “light this candle.” This was a reference to a commercial that made him laugh hysterically. Even at the end, he was making everybody else laugh.

I only hope I can be half as inspiring to someone as Uncle Pete was to me.

Love you, Uncle Pete. Hope you’re catching big fish in heaven. Also hope you’re not allergic to cats anymore. Pet Burt for me. :)

Junior Fan Makes Some Noise

Last night, we went to see the Cincinnati Reds play (and get beat by) the Milwaukee Brewers. It was my father-in-law’s birthday, and he wanted to watch a Reds game in really good seats at Great American Ball Park.

My father-in-law’s the type of guy who knows everything about baseball. He answered all the trivia questions on the big scoreboard screen before I could even finish reading them. He’s met and got autographs from baseball legends like Hank Aaron, Mickey Mantle and Pete Rose. He used to play baseball as a kid and says he was really good. So good, in fact, that if his dad had let him, he thinks he would have had a good chance at the Majors as a pitcher.

I don’t consider myself a huge sports fan, but I do like baseball. I understand baseball - the rules, the plays, and I love the energy. The other sports I understand are basketball and bowling. Roman tries to teach me the rules of football as we watch either the Cincinnati Bengals or Ohio State play, but I still think it’s just a bunch of men running around for the sole purpose to knock other guys down. Makes no sense to me.

Back to the baseball game. Our seats were great. During the 6th inning, my father-in-law (who’s also a photo nut) and I took our cameras down close to the seats near the dugout (about 25 rows down from our seats) to get some shots of Ken Griffey Junior on deck. Luckily, there were some seats open so we didn’t look like squatters. I only had my Nikon P1 point-and-shoot with me. Had I known we’d have the opportunity to get that close, I would have brought my Canon! It seemed like Junior even posed for me when he saw the beautiful woman with the camera. ;-)


I managed to get some good shots, but I’m a little disappointed in the amount of noise in the shots. There seemed to be a lot. When I use the P1 in very well-lit situations, I get great effects, like I did in the Orchid house at the Krohn Conservatory. I even enlarged that one to 16" x 20" and it looked fantastic. No noise at all.




All in all, it was a great night of baseball. Even if the Reds did lose. I got to see some great players do their thing. Here’s a shot of one of the best pitchers in the league, Aaron Harang. if you look closely, you can see the ball just leaving his hand.

ProPack Blues

It’s taken me forever and a day to figure out this whole blogging thing. I’ve pondered actually doing it for a long time. Part of me says, “who’s really gonna want to read anything I write?”And the other part of me says, “This could be a decent creative outlet.” The creative outlet side obviously won out.

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My husband, Roman, and I recently celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary (thank you, thankyouverymuch). He got me a Polaroid ProPack, a camera I’ve been hunting for for a long time:



We go thrift shopping nearly every weekend, and on every excursion I think, “THIS could be the day...” But it never was. I purchased many old Polaroids at bargain Goodwill prices, but I never found that elusive ProPack. I discovered ProPacks when doing research on emulsion lifts a few years back. I’d insanely decided it was a fabulous idea to have one on every single one of my friend’s 100 wedding invitations.

The ProPack is a newer style of land camera that has a flash (modern - no bulbs). You more or less guess at the focus, and it has a plastic lens. Polaroid discontinued producing them back in 2003. They go on ebay now for $100+.

Naturally, when I opened the ProPack (and the 20 packs of film he also gave me), I was so ready to get out and shoot. We were in Athens, Ohio, where we met when we were going to school at Ohio University. It’s a beautiful place with a gazillion photo opportunities. We went to the old mental asylum (The Ridges) that the university now owns. I know it’s SUCH a photography cliché (like shooting old barns or cemetary gravestones), but the buildings have some visually appealing architecture, and I just wanted to take pictures, dammit!

The first few pictures I took were black with some blue blotches. At first I though it was because the place was haunted, and the ghosts of mental patients past didn’t want me there. Then Roman convinced me I’d probably just loaded the film incorrectly. Because the film is fairly expensive, I wanted to leave after the two failed exposures. We went to a dark room, took the film out and reloaded.

I shot the rest of the roll with disappointing results. I managed to capture some images other than ghosts, but the blue blotches of what I think is overexposure were on every shot:



So then I thought maybe I had a bum pack of film.

I reloaded the camera the next day with a fresh pack of film and headed to the cemetery. Ok, yes, a cemetery. But see, there’s this beautiful angel statue that I used to pass while walking up State Street, and it reminds me of the good old college days. Again, I had disappointing results:




The only time I got a semi-decent result was when I let the film develop for 90 seconds, versus the recommended 60:



So I’m wondering if light is getting into the camera somehow, and how. Or maybe I just have several bad batches of film. I’m so afraid to take any more pictures for fear of wasting this expensive film! I’m on a quest for answers. Anybody out there have any suggestions?