Each week, for the next year, I’m going to try to do something creative and post the results here. You can read more about Inspiration and Perspiration in my About page and why I’m doing this. Basically, though, it’s a carrot on a stick I’ve set up to keep the imagination working and producing.

We taped a Thyme In The Kitchen show this week. This is the first one we’ve done since moving and in a different kitchen. The logistics for pulling this off were “interesting”, but we managed. One of the things that we do for each recipe is have a closeup photo of the resulting dish. These appear at the beginning and/or end of the show segment and I try to make the shots interesting and mouth watering. (Well, doesn’t every food photographer want to do that?)

Thinking about this week’s Project 52, I thought, why not use my food shots! They are creative to the extent that I have to arrange the food, light it, point my lens carefully. Yup! …that’s creativity. But, I also wanted to kick it up a notch. So, I thought, “Why not a poster?” I hadn’t used my Fotofusion software in quite a while and this gave me an opportunity to do just that. Now, I’m not a graphic artist and, for sure, I’m not creative enough to make a poster jump out at you, but here’s what I ended up with…

…and that’s what I have for this week!

This week has been a rather relaxing one. The pace of life is slowing down as we are getting used to life in Feeding Hills. There’s still a lot to be done, but we’re letting some of that Summertime Easy Life overcome us. Perhaps it’s the fact that the heat wave has let up a bit? Maybe that it, too.

I signed up for a new website/service called Fine Art America. I started uploading many of the images I’ve posted in Project 52 to an artist gallery there under my name. After these uploads, I dug through some older images, made some improvements to some, and have uploaded those, too. The idea is that if I can get one sale of an image online, it’ll pay for the yearly fee I’m being charged. Check out the site if you get a chance. There’s a lot of good art being done out there by a lot of people! For my, personal site, click here.

While going through my older images, I came across a Memorial Day event in Spencer from a few years ago. I had been inspired that morning to make some photos and sell them in Spencer if anyone inquired at Ooma’s. No one did. The images have remained in my computer. One of the images was of the Spencer Police Honor Guard standing at attention. I revisited that image today using some of my newly learned effects and post processing skills and came up with the version shown below. This was more than just a simple conversion to black and white. I had to fool with glows, contrasts, clones, and so on. I rather liked how it ended up and, already, on the same day it’s been posted, someone visiting the Fine Art America site made a nice comment about it.

So why claim this as a Week 26 effort? After all, it’s old! Well, it feels like a much better image to me as a black and white and, due to the “creative” effects, there’s a silkiness and subtle feel in the image background that makes the honor guard officers stand out more. Here’s the original for comparison…

…the color seems to rob the image of impact. The large amount of blue and white in the two central flags draws the eyes away from the officers and their respectful poses. I think that, if you look at the black and white version, you’ll be more inclined to even notice the two American flags in the scene. At least, that’s how I now see it and that’s good enough for me. I’ll take the credit for this weeks creativity.

Can anyone say “heat and humidity”? Wow! …after our move from Spencer to Feeding Hills, we went through a few days of unbearable heat. Then, we had a reprieve from the weather gods for a few days. Then, it came back with a vengeance. It took a while to get some air conditioning up and running. (We have tall, narrow windows in the new home so the old style AC’s wouldn’t work. We did have a portable one, which sort of helped. Eventually, we found a tiny one that we could squeeze into the bedroom window.) Really, I think that through all of this, my brain did melt a little.

During this week, I got a call from a magazine. They wanted some photos of Ed and Tina Bemis of Bemis Farms Nursery to be used for an article they were doing about them. Neat. This would be my first magazine cover. So, in the middle of the heat, I managed to spend a few hours back in Spencer and got some good shots. Knowing that I had a creativity challenge coming up for this week, and my quickly melting brain would offer no help in letting me achieve my goal, I took advantage of what was in front of me at the nursery…

Last time, I waited until the very last day and, out of desperation, I managed to craft an image that, in hindsight, worked out rather nicely. I had gotten some positive feedback from people I trust so my instincts must have been working OK. This time, a similar experience I guess, but without the desperation. I had put up new window blinds a few days ago and, this morning, the light was hitting them just right. The room was dark and the contrast gave me the idea for this photo. There’s really nothing new or uber creative here…well, maybe just a tiny bit. Nevertheless, having this one in the bag lets me concentrate on other creativity opportunities should they arise during the rest of the week.

It’s been a busy week with the move to Feeding Hills having been accomplished during the weekend in between. We have a lot of richly deserved thanks to send to all of our friends and family who helped pull this off. Now, during Week 23, after the high adrenaline level, from the stress of moving, has returned to normal, we found ourselves slowly getting the “home” part of our new home to comfortably fall into place. As I was sitting, here, in front of my computer on this, the last day of Week 23, I was wondering about what I might do for my creativity commitment with so little time to go. I looked up toward the east facing wall and thought how nice things ended up. Lee could make anything look nice with her “touch”. It took just the addition of some photos and other wall hangings to make it just right. She decided on the placement and I did the work, of course. So, as I was sitting there admiring the view, I though, why not this as my creativity sumbission…

There’s a little bit of everything here. Art’s photos of Lee’s cookies from her baking past, some of my photos from throughout the years, a dog toy to remind us of our love of dogs, some kitchen stuff because good food is so important to us, a hint of a ceiling fan which we’ve always had somewhere, and a watering can spout because Lee is such a green-thumb.

Despite the HDR effects, it looks kind of inviting.

Oh, and did you notice the “It’s a major award!” lampshade?

I had a one hour presentation I had to do in Douglas at the Wallis Cove Photo Retreat. During the presentation, the class and I worked on a photo I had taken on the beach there just minutes before the class started. Thanks to their help, I have my week’s creativity commitment fulfilled…

What was especially nice (for me, maybe not for them) was that the weekend was rainy and this morning, although it wasn’t raining, the rain clouds were ever present. What I’ve learned in my HDR-Bam! technique is that, often, it’s this kind of atmospheric condition that really shows how much fun the “Bam!” part is. I knew that the drab colors the original image would produce would just “pop” with the right amount of tender loving care – Bam! style. The class helped me by voting on how much and how many of my regular set of effects to use. So, in part, this is a collaboration…but I’ll gladly take all the credit for this week’s Project 52.

Given that this is the very same week we are moving, and my primary home “creativity” computer is shut down, and there really isn’t enough time to do anything else creative anyway, I’m lucky to have been able to free my Sunday morning from packing and cleaning and do the retreat session. I sure hope the class enjoyed it as much as I did!!!

Wow. Who would have thought this would be so hard. I guess anyone who, like us, has had to break down a lifetime of possessions – sorting and sifting the things of life – only to move and replant our roots somewhere else…only someone who’s done it would know.

I didn’t have much time for creativity this week, but forced myself, this morning, to write a poem about my thoughts at this moment. We’re about a week away from leaving home…

I've live in this house for half of my life,
Having arriving in this town with my child and wife,
And through the years, during ups and downs
We would strive to keep our home safe and sound.

Friends and family would often stop by
To say hello, sometimes, goodbye,
To share their joys and their happiness,
To help us with love and life, I guess.

In those early days, when we had just begun
To renew the house, and, yes, it was fun,
With each year we worked, we would realize
We had made a good choice; we'd idealize.

But fate is fickle, and now we find
We're moving on. We really don't mind.
The grass is greener, we're lead to believe.
It's a new way of life for us, I perceive.

And we'll surely look back to this place we love
And likely visit, as we're bound to think of
So many reasons to come back here and see
The friends we had made, such good company.

The old house is solid and will always be here
With a new set of faces, year after year.
Remember us well, old South Spencer Road,
We will miss you so much, from our new ZIP code.

Another busy week. This time, a bit of pressure has been released as I had to resign my duties as a Federal Employee. The Census work, which I had been doing less and less of because of the move, is behind me. To fill the void, packing, cleaning, packing, cleaning…it doesn’t end.

But, in a lucid moment, I thought about my life’s condition, and came up with the idea that I sometimes feel like I only get a nickel back on ever dollar investment I ever make. (Yeah, sometimes one feels like a loser, so many songs come out of that despair.) So, I offer this…

ROI of Love - by Casey

I only get a nickel back
On every buck I spend
I never get ahead in the end

My ROI in finance terms
Is less that it should be
And it has made a poor man out of me

But I am really way ahead
Where it matters most of all
Coz when I fell in love I fell for you

And you loved me back
And made me see
There's more to life, you showed me it's true

[Short Bridge]

You give back
So much more than I put in
I feel I'm so underserving of

The things I get
For loving you
I have a winning ROI of Love.

[Long Bridge]

I only get a nickel back
On every buck I spend
I never get ahead in the end

My ROI in finance terms
Is less that it should be
And it has made a poor man out of me

But I am really way ahead
In a world where nothing's free
I don't mind the sense of poverty.

Cause when I fell for you
And you said, "I do."
That's all you had to do to rescue me.

[Short Bridge]

You had so much
Love to give
I still feel I'm undeserving of

The way I feel
When it's just you and me
I have a winning ROI of Love

[Long Bridge]

I hear a strong Rock rythme with some of the lyrics. So, there’s a melody kicking around and, of course, as this song develops, some of the lyrics may change. But, it’s what I was able to do for this week.

Well, push has come to shove. With three high-priority activities working against me (U.S. Census, video work, moving), I have little time for creativity. I have to admit, though, that occasionally, I awake with a musical though in my head and one such thought came to me last week. Over the intervening days, I put down the following lyrics. I even had a melody noodling around, but it’s not fully baked. Unfortunately, today is the last day of Week 19 and I have to offer something, so here it is…

Get Up! Get Up!

Get up! Get up!
There's a buzz in the air.
A new day is coming,
You can feel it everywhere.

So come on! Come on!
There's a lot for you to do.
The world is starting up again.
It's counting on you.

It needs your big bright smile,
And that endless supply,
Of the charming way you make us feel
Whenever you go by.

And then it’s, "Have a good day,"
And "How do you do"?
You keep us smiling all the time,
So easy for you.

You always come around.
And sometimes leave way too soon,
But in the evening darkness,
You always light up the moon.

[Bridge 1]

We need your sunshine smile today
And a little bit of lovin' that you throw our way.
We need to be right there with you
Coz you can make the world feel so new.

[Bridge]

Get up! Get up!
There's a feeling in the air,
A lot of joy and happiness,
It's out there everywhere.

So, come on! Come on!
You don't have a care.
Your blue sky is waiting,
It will take you everywhere.

We need your big bright smile,
And that endless supply,
Of the charming way you make us feel
Whenever you go by.

You give us, "Have a good day,"
And "How do you do"?
You keep us smiling every day,
So easy for you.

I guess we’ll see you around,
As the day ends too soon.
But we can always laugh and dance at night,
When you light up the moon.

[Bridge 1]

We need your sunshine smile
And a little bit of lovin' that you throw our way.
We need to be right there with you
When you make the world feel brand new.

So, there’s still some work to do here but, if you forgive the lack of pure creative effort for just this week, these lyrics will just have to do.

This has been a really tough week. There has been way too much to do and so little time for creativity. One of the U.S. Census routes I undertook brought me into North Charlton. I kept passing this uprooted tree thinking, “Gee, this might be a good HDR candidate.” I submit it, officially, as my effort for this week, although I would have liked to have done things slightly differently with it.

Believe it or not, I also have a song that I was writing. It was definitely going to make it into this week’s post but I’m going to have to delay until next week. It’s really only 80% complete. I have some tweaking with the words I have to do and then there’s a melody which keeps changing each time I look at it. We closed Oomas Cookie Jar last Saturday and I had some store time then during which time I took to starting to write a rough draft. I finished it on Sunday but, rough doesn’t cut it. So, as tomorrow is Sunday of Week 19, I think it’s fair that I post it then. Right?