Welcome to my 2024 blog, my musings about photography with a few photos sprinkled in.
Musings will be about once a month, with thoughts and photos about:
- Taking daily photos
- Contemplative photography
- Wabi Sabi Photography
- Self-Expression via nature and landscapes
- Photoautobiography and Photo Memoir
Thanks for coming to this page and reading about my photography.
Mary Ellyn Vicksta
Reviewing Blog Postings from 2013 to current
I was just curious this morning to see my various blog posts over time. I started using Zenfolio in 2009, but I didn't start posting a lot of photos until 2012 when I started a Photo-A-Week project which transformed into a PAD project, but with many pictures a day. That started in 2013 and that is when I really started blogging.
It was pretty consistent in the beginning with me showing various challenges that I gave myself or that were suggested by a group that I was in on Flickr with weekly challenges. That weekly group was inspired by Andre Gallant, a Canadian photographer and creative photographic workshop guru. I learned a lot about various aspects of photography from him from Minimalism to Wabi Sabi to creating interesting composites. All of this fueled my photography and my early blog postings.
In 2015, I started a group called Photography as a Spiritual Practice and my blog postings became fewer rather than greater. I spent a lot of time putting monthly challenges together using a Prepare, Do, Reflect approach. Most of my reflections were done not on a blog but in Pages.
But occasionally I would add blog postings and embed photos. Especially when I was traveling or I had some learning from a photo workshop.
This photo is part of a weekly challenge called....In Memory Of....and its memories of my piano lessons and teachers of the past.
Lately, however, I've been only posting a couple of times a year. And maybe, not at all.
Reviewing my blog postings, however, gave me another perspective on my photography and what I see, how I see, how I process, what I take into a more creative mode.
But then the pandemic and my travels changed. Now it was to find the vaccine, somewhere close.
It also revealed how the pandemic influenced my photography through my frequent walks around home or to parks that were within 90 minutes of where I live. Or, walkways that are only a mile away and I can take pictures of the Eagles on a blue sky day!
I didn't write much about my walks, but I have lots of wordless galleries devoted to my walks. I just have to remember to restore any walk that is greater than 14 months and then view and remember and respond the next day!
These frequent walks were what I reviewed at breakfast each morning. Or, I would go back and see when my extended family got together. Or, review the galleries from a photo workshop. As I think about this, my galleries in Zenfolio are really a part of my life, my visual memories. Whether it be during the pandemic, vacation, work related travels, photo workshops, conferences, or just viewing the world around me.
I do so enjoy reviewing my galleries of the past....
My Favorite Thing to Do in Zenfolio
I've been a part of the Zenfolio community since 2009. All of my family pictures, vacation, and daily photos are in an array of galleries since that time.
During the pandemic, one of my favorite things to do was to review family photos or vacations from previous years while I ate breakfast. Sometimes I would pick a family event that I photographed to entertain me while I was drinking my coffee or enjoying my breakfast. Other times, I would pick a year and look at the month's work of daily photos that I've taken. That habit started in 2012 so I had a rich array of photos to look at.
So, I think it's quite plain that I am a hobbyist who enjoys taking photos and looks at my photos as a sort of visual diary since 2009. This is 98% of what I use my Zenfolio galleries for. I do photograph an occasional wedding or photograph events for my church. But these are all done in a non-charging way. Although I have to admit that this has become less and less of what I do in the past 4 years. The emphasis in more on a visual daily diary of what I've done and experienced during the pandemic. Especially the walks around my hometown.
Now, I just unarchived some family photos and walks from what I consider fairly recent years, 2020, 2021, and 2022. Now, I have to think about what I want to look at so I can unarchive it the day before. Most of the time lately, that's been OK. But sometimes a request for a past photo takes time for me to think about when it was and what folder it might be in. Even though I tried to create a gallery organizing structure that would be simple for me to use to find family, vacation, and special photos. But sometimes that isn't an easy find.
Changing habits is sometimes a difficult thing to accept. For the next few days, I am going to enjoy and appreciate photos that were taken in the recent past. And try to remember what other fairly recent or in the past photos that I might want to unarchive for viewing later this month.
Early February Driving Adventures
I spent some time in early February driving rather than walking. I especially enjoyed driving and then stopping to take a photo or two along Lake Winnebago
This photo was taken in Oshkosh Wisconsin along Lake Winnebago. A change in wind and warmer weather caused the ice to shove towards shore. I wasn't expected an ice shove on this day in early February, but it was a joy to photograph and an effort to stay warm as the winds blew inland.
What Was January 2024 Like?
This month because of weather and a health issue, I spent most of the time inside. My photos are from inside my house, mainly. Looking outward....Here are just two examples...
One Last Look at 2023
I sent out a e-letter to friends with 15 photos that I selected from 2023 as part of my holiday greeting. I was reviewing the 15 this morning and realized that I hadn't written about them at all.
Now I have to admit that to get to these 15, I started going through all of my galleries from 2023. I narrowed it down initially to 429 in a gallery that I called My Possibilities for the Holiday Card. It was a very nice walk down memory lane.
From there, I got to 59 photos. I enjoyed all of these photos, but realized that at the holiday time that it might make more sense to have 15. I figured that most people would be OK with 15. These are the ones that I am showing below:
Photos in these 15 include:
Ancient Roman Glass from Evora Portugal
Tunnels in Europe
Pinhao, Portugal
Prince Henry in Portugal
Murren, Switzerland
Clara Schumann in Vienna
Steps to the Champagne Tunnel at Madame Pomery's in Reims France
Swiss Alps
Hope you enjoy my 15 from 2023