The Power of Water, part 2

Two posts in two days? Madness! (Or, you know, a while ago in the blog).

Note: we're back to my photographs now.

Here's what tons of rushing water did to the bridge:

Yup, that's a pretty deep gap. Also, all those rocks? What they used to fill the gap the *last time* part of the road collapsed from flooding.

And finally, a much more reasonable, though still high, amount of water coming through the culverts. More than 99% of the time, they're more than sufficient, but those rare other times, they're nowhere near large enough. Also, they become blocked easily when large debris is tearing downstream and then it's just a matter of time before the bridge floods.

I shook my head when I realized the town guys were dumping yet more rocks into the road gap to fix it. At least it's partially filled in now.


Two years ago on TTaT: Column 2 is kicking my ass, therefore break time

The Power of Water, part 1

Note: I didn't shoot the following photos, but I did crop & tweak them a bit in post.

On Sunday, since the power was still on, I was doing my best to watch the last day of a live online workshop at Creative Live.

Of course, five minutes in, there was banging on the door. I half listened to the conversation going on downstairs. A fireman was suggesting we pack overnight bags in case the police chief ordered us to evacuate because the road looked like this:

Grr. I pondered how many days I'd need to pack for and then slid my closet door to the other side to look at my backpack/luggage options. It'd only been a couple minutes, but the door banging resumed.

The fireman had returned to say that evacuation was a no-go because the road was impassible. I sighed with relief while thinking, Apparently I'm one of those crazy people who doesn't evacuate. However, we were stocked for power outages and hadn't planned to go anywhere anyway, so it wasn't a big deal. Also the likelihood that the water would reach the house was remote.

The town made a good faith effort at getting the culverts of the bridge clear of debris but eventually took their equipment elsewhere.

The fireman returned one last time to say that we could still be evacuated if we wanted...by ATV over the mountain. He also assured that we could be reached in the event of an emergency. We opted to stay.

Yeah, so tree trunks in front of culverts, not recommended. At least the water receded after a few hours enough to reopen the road.

I don't have a proper side by side photo handy, but the creek being this high is insane. Usually it's about a five foot drop before you get to some shallow, easy-going water. Even when the spring floods come, it's nowhere near this high.

I hope any East coast readers that stop by faired Irene well.

More photos to come!


A year ago on TTaT: Lakeside Splash

Life of Art SitRep #81 or 3 squared, squared.

Every week, I work towards creating a life of art for myself. This is the zigzag filled journey.

Play along in the comments with your own pursuits if you'd like. (That's where I'll cheer you on.)

*******

Don't forget: Through September 10, 2011, I'm donating 50% of my proceeds from my Rocklawn Arts shop on Zazzle to 50 for 50, Colleen Wainwright aka the communicatrix's amazing fundraising endeavor.

For her 50th birthday, Colleen aims to raise $50,000 in 50 days to support WriteGirl, a nonprofit for teen girls with a 10-year-long, 100% success rate of sending their seniors to college.



My photographs and designs are available on a wide variety of cool gifts: cards, prints/posters, binders, postage, mugs, magnets, iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch cases, Keds sneakers, and other delightful sundries.

You can get free standard shipping (details at my shop), so buy a postcard or something and help me help Colleen raise $50,000 for WriteGirl.

Please help spread the word!

This week, I

Shot 77 photographs: flowers, yard.

Wrote interview answers for Voix de Michele. My Life of Art interview is up now, so stop by and read it!

Renamed my first folder of images, woo!

Remember when I mentioned logistics 3 weeks ago? Well, this renaming process is a significant part of that. Not sure what kept me from starting until this week. Deuparth gwaith ei ddechrau, as they say.

Then I renamed 17 more folders of images. So, so very many left to go and some that are more complicated containing shots by other people. An avalanche of straightforward folders to keep me occupied for now though.

Made Golden Fountain Water, Golden Fountain Water 2, North Window, Raging Fire cards with message templates.

Did you know all of my greeting cards are also available as smaller (and less expensive) note cards? Didn't think so, so I wrote a line about it that I'm adding to my cards from now on.

Added my Rocklawn Arts store link to 4 lenses.

Rearranged my zazzle store and featured products some.

Tweeted and FB'd a sale.

You get a bonus for reading this far: it's Welsh and means, "Beginning is two-thirds of the work."

*******

How are your pursuits going?


A year ago on TTaT: Hard workin' dog

Would you like cheese on that?

Whenever possible, I avoid telephoning, which is to say, I'm really not a phone person. However, sometimes I try to be nice and make calls I normally wouldn't.

"Hi, I'd like to place a pick-up order," I began.

"Sure, go ahead."

"I'd like an 8 inch, steak and cheese. Plain." Pause. "An 8 inch, steak and cheese, with lettuce. Roasted peppers. And yellow mustard."

The woman on the phone read back to me, "An 8 inch, steak and cheese, plain and an 8 inch, steak and cheese with roasted peppers, yellow mustard, and I'm sorry, what?"

"Lettuce."

"Lettuce, right."

Looking at my mom's scrawled cursive on the back of an envelope, I read off, "And a turkey wrap with tomatoes. Black olives. And spicy mustard."

"Would you like cheese on that?"

"I don't know. Hang on a sec, I'll ask." I covered the mouthpiece, held it away, and turned my head to yell upstairs. "Hey, Mom! Do you want cheese on your wrap?"

Mom yelled back, "Sure."

I uncovered the mouthpiece and brought the phone back to my ear. "Sure."

"Is American OK?"

"Uh, hang on."

I put my hand over the mouthpiece and held the phone away again. "Is American OK?" I hollered.

"What?" Mom called down.

"American cheese, is that OK?"

"I don't want cheese."

I exhaled at the comedy of errors in progress and brought the phone back to my ear. "I'm sorry, no cheese on the wrap."

The young woman on the line said, "Sounds like my family," which made me laugh. "So that's a turkey wrap with lettuce, tomato, black olives, and spicy mustard."

Mom hadn't asked for lettuce but I figured she wouldn't care and I wanted to keep things simple at this point. "Right."

"Would you like spices on that?"

"I have no idea." I heard Mom walking down the stairs, so I added, "Hang on, I'll let her tell you herself," as I walked over and passed the phone off to her.

Um, next time I think I'll just let Mom call.


A year ago on TTaT: 4-H

Life of Art SitRep #80 Staying the course

Every week, I work towards creating a life of art for myself. This is the zigzag filled journey.

Play along in the comments with your own pursuits if you'd like. (That's where I'll cheer you on.)

*******

Don't forget: Through September 10, 2011, I'm donating 50% of my proceeds from my Rocklawn Arts shop on Zazzle to 50 for 50, Colleen Wainwright aka the communicatrix's amazing fundraising endeavor.

For her 50th birthday, Colleen aims to raise $50,000 in 50 days to support WriteGirl, a nonprofit for teen girls with a 10-year-long, 100% success rate of sending their seniors to college.

My photographs and designs are available on a wide variety of cool gifts: cards, prints/posters, binders, postage, mugs, magnets, iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch cases, Keds sneakers, and other delightful sundries.

You can get free standard shipping (details at my shop), so buy a postcard or something and help me help Colleen raise $50,000 for WriteGirl.

Please help spread the word!

This week, I

Shot 21 photographs of a mangled box.

Made Fountain Spray, Green Man, Light at the End of the Tunnel cards with message templates:

Updated 2011 calendars to 2012. In the regular and long format Eclectic Nature calendars, I swapped Cloudy Sky With Sunburst for Red Hibiscus With Raindrops.
  
  

Moved 2011 calendar descriptions and links to archive file.

Posted 50% for 50 for 50 post to Rocklawn Arts blogger blog.

Added 50% for 50 for 50 post to highlights tab on TTaT.

Added 50% for 50 for 50 info to both store tabs on blogger and zblog.

Added my store link to 3 sites/lenses.

Watched Chase Jarvis talk with Tim Ferriss on chasejarvisLIVE, starting about a half hour in. My takeaway: for the first hour you sit down at your computer, do not answer email or attend to any reactive tasks. Rather use that time to focus on the most important thing(s) you want to get done that day. Currently in day 2 of trying this out, and guess what? I feel better for accomplishing something early on rather than after a bunch of screwing around on the internet.

Zig: Think I'm going to stop making t-shirts but leave the templates where they are for now in case a suitable design comes up. Zag: Nah, moved them to old template folder and can use them from there if needed.

Tweeted various sales and 50% for 50-for-50 promotion reminders.

*******

How are your pursuits going?


A year ago on TTaT: Trillium

Life of Art SitRep #79: 50% for 50-for-50

Every week, I work towards creating a life of art for myself. This is the zigzag filled journey.

Play along in the comments with your own pursuits if you'd like. (That's where I'll cheer you on.)

*******

"Is this too much?" I asked myself. Ultimately, I let go of the question and went with my gut, which is to say I went with the words that kept running through my head. They just sounded right.

It's not the first time I've followed the words like this. This internal recognition is why my shop is called Rocklawn Arts rather than something with my name or photography in the title. It had just been in my head for years.

This time, it was 50% for 50-for-50. More on that in a moment...


This week, I

Shot 97 photos at a small airport with an amazing view on a gorgeous night. And watched a movie projected on a hangar door!

Launched 50% for 50-for-50:

From August 10 to September 10, 2011, I'm donating 50% of my proceeds from my Rocklawn Arts shop on Zazzle to Colleen Wainwright, the communicatrix's amazing fundraising endeavor, 50 for 50.

For her 50th birthday, Colleen aims to raise $50,000 in 50 days to support WriteGirl, a nonprofit for teen girls with a 10-year-long, 100% success rate of sending their seniors to college.



My photographs and digital designs are available on a wide variety of cool gifts, so help me help Colleen raise $50,000 for WriteGirl.

You can get free standard shipping by signing up for a free 30 day trial of Zazzle Black.

Please help spread the word!

Blogged, zblogged, FB'd, and tweeted 50% for 50 for 50.

Added 50% for 50 for 50 information to my Rocklawn Arts lens. Tweeted the update.

Changed cards in Rocklawn Arts lens to template versions when available.

Added Zazzle Black to coupon codes in Rocklawn Arts and American Southwest Scenes lenses.

Made Downtown Kansas City, Field of Basalt cards with message templates.

Downtown Kansas City by RocklawnArts
Begin selling my art online at zazzle.

Field of Basalt by RocklawnArts
Browse more Happy anniversary Cards

Updated 2011 Black & White Photography calendar to 2012:

2012 Black & White Photography Calendar by RocklawnArts
See more 2012 Calendars

Added 2012 Black & White Photography Calendar to links list.

Tweeted and FB'd some sales.

Watched "Canon Rebel T3i / 600D - DSLR Fast Start with John Greengo" and 1.5 hr beginning of "Nikon D5100 - DSLR Fast Start with John Greengo" on Creative Live.

*******

How are your pursuits going?


A year ago on TTaT: Relative motion

50% for "50 for 50"

Do you know the communicatrix? She also goes by Colleen Wainwright. We've never met, but by the magic of the internet, we go back a few years.

For her 50th birthday on September 13th, she's doing something I find totally amazing.


She aims to raise $50,000 in 50 days to support WriteGirl, "a nonprofit organization for high school girls centered on the craft of creative writing and empowerment through self-expression." If that wasn't cool enough, WriteGirl has a ten-year-long, 100% success rate of sending their seniors to college.

"Why writing?" Colleen says:

Because mastering the ability to write opens doors, builds self-confidence and self-esteem, and increases a girl's chances of earning a living for herself and changing the world for present and future generations.

Agreed, so from August 10 to September 10, I'm donating 50% of my proceeds from my Rocklawn Arts shop on Zazzle to Colleen's amazing fundraising endeavor, 50 for 50.

My photographs and digital designs are available on a wide variety of cool gifts, so help me help Colleen raise $50,000 for WriteGirl.

You can get free standard shipping by signing up for a free 30 day trial of Zazzle Black.

A smattering of products available at Rocklawn Arts:
Prints/Posters • Cards • Postcards • Stamps • Portable Speakers • iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch cases • Mugs • Tote Bags • Magnets • Stickers • Keds Shoes • And more!





Two years ago on TTaT: Recurring

Life of Art SitRep #78 Logistics

Every week, I work towards creating a life of art for myself. This is the zigzag filled journey.

Play along in the comments with your own pursuits if you'd like. (That's where I'll cheer you on.)

*******

Big picture logistics were occupying my mind this week which will likely alter my short term goals and strategies in favor of some longterm thinking. Feels important so I think it's worth altering course for a bit to get sorted.

This week, I

Shot 181 photographs: maidenhair ferns, flowers, views at a local park.

Made Bokeh in Spring, Circle With Fire Escape, Construction Crane, Burning Brush, Crane and Counterweight, Desert Silhouette, Double Arch cards with message templates.

Initially [zig] made blank cards direct only, but later [zag] made those blank cards visible to everyone again and added "blank card" to their tags. Started adding "blank card" to blanks as I create the new ones with message templates.

Rearranged my Rocklawn Arts store more by category rather than color.

Rearranged and deleted some featured products in my store.

Rearranged some store folders a bit.

Watched Lighten Up and Shoot Creative Live workshop.

The main thrust of this course was getting comfortable approaching strangers on the street to take their pictures. I totally get the value of it but feel pretty damn certain that I do not, in fact, want to earn a living taking people's photographs. Which is a shame really since that's the bread and butter of Joe and Jane Photographer. Clarity is useful too though and I did learn more about using flash. I learn something useful from all of their workshops no matter how unlikely the topic seems. Also won a monopod, so it was totally worth my time. :D

Submitted store links to 4 lenses.

Tweeted some sales.

Sent thanks DMs to new twitter followers.

Finished reading the chapter on selections in Photoshop CS5: the Missing Manual by Lesa Snider.

Watched "Scaling Layer Style Effects" Photoshop tutorial.

*******

How are your pursuits going?


A year ago on TTaT: I'm not going to apologize