LIGHTROOM CLASSES

photo by karen kuehn in Jerry's coarse SF, NM

Workshops with Jerry Courvoisier 

* * * *
Excellent Investment
Lightroom is the program I use and highly recommend.

Event Name: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Workshops:
Start to Finish Workflow for Photographers

Location: Multiple Cities USA

Feb. 25/26        Jacksonville FL
March 3/4         Albuquerque NM
March 10/11         Indianapolis IN
March 10/11         Seattle WA
March 17/18        New York City
March 17/18        Atlanta GA
March 17/18         Denver CO
March 24/25        Houston TX
March 31/Apri1      Hartford CT
March 31/April1     Washington DC


Description: Workflow Essentials. “Learn by Doing, and Walk away Knowing.”
Don’t miss this chance to immerse yourself fully in a 2-Day Lightroom Workshop at a city near you.
These unique, hands-on workshops are led by one of four award-winning digital photography and Lightroom experts.

For more information and how to Register go to:

http://lightroomworkshops.com/workshops

The Cat's M E O W

Tommy our farm cat found in the HWY as a kitten with his eyes barely open.

He cruises the landscape and helps me feed livestock in the am.

Very dog like.

Ike & Tommy both HWY finds cuddling.

Looked for some song to post about Siamese Cats and found these links.

Walt Disney on song writing with his animation community.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyHP9b7RK6Q

I love Peggy Lee

A priceless video

Siamese Cat Song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sL9hooe-yKQ


Grew up on Walt Disney...here's one of my favorites to put a lift in your day!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrQQZuLru9s&feature=related

Since the TV Americans have been over saturated with images.
Thinking about Sunday nights in front of the tube with my siblings.
My life makes sense, so many animated animals....and prior to Disney was the Mutual of Omaha's Animal Kingdom show.
As I downsize my animal kingdom I realize that they are one the purest form of LOVE we humans have in our lives, those of us whom share our worlds with fur babies.
I am blessed for the rooster crows, hound dog bays, meows and purrs, and even the tortoise's whom grunt and move in the world with fierce intention.
Were just here horsing around, me and my sheep.


Bo Peep...baa ah

Gnarly

Some Trees I Know

Do do do looking out my back door!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNczeP33Yk0 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cottonwood 
Cottonwoods are fast growing and short lived, 80 as an average!

They run the stretch of the Rio Grande River.

Growing like weeds an easy tree to start.
The do need water so their roots reach far and wide to grab hold.
Native and home to many, raccoons, blackbirds, hawks eagles (bald), herons and neighboring peacocks are just a few you might spy with your eye.

The Cottonwood tree, definitely a "looker" with it's shades of grays are easy on the eyes.
They feel old and full of energy as they reach for the sky!
Unpredictable, their limbs can snap to the ground in a sudden thumb.
Don't plant them near the house.
When we have campfires I always think I'm going to place some sort of alien dolls in some of the trees to add a little levity and silly edge to those nights under the New Mexican night sky. Create memories that maybe my son will recreate later for his family one day.
 Just another thing to do when the time is right!
Our farm is a place where folks leave and want to return for the experiences here are vital and unforgettable for most!
Us too we love our guest and always they love our trees.

The Cottonwood trees and the Sand Hill Cranes are the two things that
make winter in New Mexico awe inspiring.

THE CRANE FAMILY

A crane couple were doing the mating dance as I was driving by 1/6/12, 
 I interrupted them for a photo and they waiting patiently for me to depart.

Sunrise and Sunsets the Cranes Grace my property during the Winter
In the fall as the leave change its for me a time of melancholy, I love the heat, the blue Sky's and warmth of this State.  As I say goodbye to summer and Indian summer I can now say hello to the cranes, the geese and other migratory birds that come to winter here in NM.

When I purchased my property I had no idea what a huge blessing these regal birds would create on my heart.  They arrive in a trickle that multiplies into flockage in our farm fields.

  The cranes make a difference upon one's heart. They have a very uplifting affect. Wingspans 6ft are not uncommon. When you watch them often it feels cinematic and time slips by for they can be mesmerizing to the observer.
They talk a lot.

Cranes Talking

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hl2DW556NmA

Cranes Mating Dance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCzEl9QwuCc&feature=endscreen&NR=1

Sunrise and sunsets the cranes fly overhead cackling...I've learned to find the poetry in the winter season because of this incredible bird.

I always feel some sort of Japanese inspired thoughts when watching them hop and take flight in the fields, tail feathers so delicate that whisper as they land in slow motion I will be forever thankful for their elegant presence has graced my life.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandhill_Crane

Spirit Catcher

 Southern Spirit Catchers with African Roots

It used to be that you could see bottle trees scattered all over the Southern landscape. Usually in the country or along the bayous of Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennesee, and Alabama, bottle trees are a colorful folk tradition with the purpose of warding off evil spirits, while at the same time recycling colorful bottles.

My mother and grandmother made bottle trees and proudly displayed them in their yards. Not surprisingly, I have taken up the practice, too. I find it to be a wonderful way of displaying all of the those cool vintage bottles I have collected over the years that tend to gather dust in boxes or on the windowsills. On a bottle tree, they now work for me by keeping evil spirits out of the house. The spirits become mesmerized with their dancing colors in the sun, and are drawn into the bottles only to be trapped for all eternity. At least, that's the way the story goes.

Are you ready to go green and contribute to a dying Southern tradition by making your own bottle tree? Then read on, because I am going to tell you how to make several variations of the Southern spirit bottle tree.

LUNCH BREAK

Onion under the sky light...I just keep observing!

 Fresh Spinich and my girls eggs

 I love my Wedgewood Stove its about 60 years old

 My spice shelf, 49 Mercury Bumper

 Simple Fuel

 Hood River Pears topped with carmel

 Taco, my model for the promo, not a norm to be on the table, only a photo op!

 Spoiled Poly sneaks a bite from her guest seat

 

TAP on any of the images and they enlarge and look better!

James Snipes modeled with Taco for the Nacho Promo Shot

Making promos to do the hustle, a dance for hunters and gathers of images.

CAKE always CAKE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XcUHUU3ziw

POINT OF VIEW

photo by karen kuehn, Sammy and Poly Spring 2011

STORY TELLING

So one of the things I walked away from in college was the concept of Pt of View taught to me by the founder of Aperture, Shirley Burden 

(photographer,  philanthropist and more importantly genuine being beyond the all mighty dollar, he cared.)  

  I love natural shooting, for me that means just meandering around the subject and being part of their experience in life.  Images can come around in a variety of ways but I try to not limit my way of seeing but to open up and explore a subject.

Observer: This is what photograpers like Joseph Koudelka , Cartier Bresson, and my friend Nick Nichols do so well. Usually more journalistic in nature.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Koudelka
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartier-Bresson
http://michaelnicknichols.com/

Direct Engagement: Co Creating and making concepts and images that are more formal.
Irving Penn, Annie Leibovitz, and Arnold Newman are good examples of photography that best reveal a story in one frame.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irving_Penn 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Leibovitz 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_newman 

If your always making art from your point of view, be it 5, 8 or 6.4 it will be limited...try going low and high and make a story.
The Coen Brothers did such a great job in the movie Raising Arizona.
It's a good example of point of view.


Click.

FATES

The three Greek Goddesses of Destiny and Fate.

Otherwise known as the Moirae, these timeless old hags weave the threads of destiny that control your life. The original spin doctors.

Clotho |ˈklōθō| ‘she who spins.’ - TheYoungest of the three "FATES" she spins the Thread of Life that controls your destiny. It's slender and delicate, but extremely tough stuff. You could use it for mountaineering. But sometimes it can get very tangled.  Her Roman name is NONO.
Lachesis |ˈlakəsis|‘obtaining by lot.’ -  She measures the Thread of Life spun by Clotho with some kind of fatalistic tape measure. When she decides it's long enough, her sister  Atropos gets out the scissors and you get snipped. This makes the question 'How long is a piece of string?' rather more important than you might have realised.
Fate reveals that under the Romans she changed her name to Decima.
Atropos |ˈatrəˌpäs| ‘inflexible.’ (the final one)- Oldest of the three FATES.  She's the one who cuts the Thread of Life with her fatal scissors. These are always razor-sharp and there's no danger of split-ends. Her Roman name is Morta,which sounds far more fitting.
All the good and evil that befalls you is woven into your destiny and cannot be altered even one jot. You may find this a little unfair, but it's the stuff of great Greek tragedies.

As the daughters of primeval night deities Errebus and Nyx (though some claim that Zeus and Themis should be held responsible), the FATES control the destinies of all. Even the Gods are subject to their decisions.