Then and Now

Well . . . since I did not have a human helper . . . and I could not get the goats or the dog or the cats to help on this project :) . . . this photo shows the set-up I used for photographing my Then & Now photo for The Family Curator's genealogy photo challenge for World Photography Day . . . which is the 19th day of August . . . I started out with my photo holder sitting on the top tier of this little step-ladder . . . but the hot summer breezes soon taught me a lesson . . . and the photo holder toppled over . . . and I had a torn photo! . . . because of the necessity of figuring out a photo holder for this project, I had already decided to use copies instead of originals . . . so the torn photo was not a big deal . . . I wound up using my little Kodak Z1012 for this photo session . . . it frequently malfunctions (zooms in and out and powers off . . . all by itself) . . . so I have not used it in a while . . . but it worked right today . . . and it worked great for this project . . .

Then and Now

This is my 1st attempt at a Then and Now photo . . . I obviously have a lot of work to do to figure out this method . . . I was not going to use this, but then decided to go ahead and journal about my journey thru figuring out this process . . . I tried this with my Canon Rebel T1i . . . did not like the results . . . looks like I need a wide-angle lens (which I do not yet have) . . . and need to take the camera off the auto setting . . . this was one of two photos taken with my little pocket digital camera . . . it has a wide angle setting . . . and it automatically compensates for the depth of field . . . I just did not want to stay outside very long in that 112° heat . . . so did not mess with the whole project more than a few minutes . . . the photo of my Bennie riding Yuma was taken probably 10-15 years ago (need to find the date) . . .

The photo collages (created in Picasa) above and below show the same photo of Bennie riding Yuma . . . and a photo from February of 2010 showing the same pasture across the street from my house . . . in an apparent attempt to help us think cool thoughts, the news guys keep showing video from the Super Bowl Snow Storm of February 2011 . . . so I drug out my snow photos from the year before . . . think snow!

One thing is for sure . . . creating a Then and Now photo in Picasa is a lot easier (and cooler!) than actually doing the photo outside . . . if anyone has any hints on doing these Then and Now photos, I would like to hear them . . . and FYI . . . the weatherman just said that it is still 103° in Dallas as of 9:41 p.m.!

Happy Birthday, Aunt Susie

Bricolage :: Flowers for Mothers

Dedicated to anyone missing their Mother today

You scattered beauty as the rose sheds leaves,
My mother, as you journeyed down life's ways.
You wove love's tapestry, as moonlight weaves
Rare shadow-patterns through a silver haze.
You lifted sorrows from the burdened mind,
And comforted the weary and distressed;
With gentle understanding, helpful, kind,
You brought the pain-wracked ease, the weary rest.
And now that you are gone, no monument
Of massive stone, however deftly carved,
Could fittingly portray the strength you lent
The sick and desolate and beauty-starved.
Remembering, I'll plant a thousand flowers
To banish suffering through countless hours.


My Mother
by
Nancy Richey Ranson




Clicking on today's photo will reveal a textured background image created from this photo of dried flowers preserved from my Bennie's memorial service in April of 2010 . . . which, along with a texture from Shadowhouse Creations, was used to create a double-exposure collage in Picasa . . . and was then texturized using IrvanView . . . please do let me know if you use this for a project . . . I would like to see what ideas you come up . . .

2003 SIMS Summer Jubilee

On this date in 2003 . . . Sunday, the 13th day of July . . .
Bennie Everhart (1948-2010)
wins the SIMS Summer Jubilee in Cleveland, Texas . . .

Happy Birthday, BLE III

These are some of the Everhart family photos I need to scan and share . . . the tall Everhart in this photo is 23 years of age as of today . . . and the short one will soon be 18 . . . they are standing in front of the azaleas in my Mom's yard in Rockdale, Texas . . . that is my vintage Canon AE-1 that was used to capture those images . . . there are lots of family photos around today, thanks to that camera . . .