Happy Easter or Spring, if you prefer

My leopard and I wish you a Happy Easter/Spring (whichever suits you better):

10 years ago on TTaT: Well, shucks

Climbing

Gettin' my climb on back in the day:

10 years ago on TTaT: How cheap am I willing to be? (Coincidentally, I recently rewatched both of those episodes of Star Trek: Voyager though this time on BBC-America. Those scenes still make me laugh.)

One of my happiest days this year

From a couple of months ago:

11 years ago on TTaT: Why should I wait?

Log skidder, for lack of a better guess

Copyright © 2016 Claire E. Skinner. All rights reserved.

10 years ago on TTaT: The Road is my Favorite Place: Day 3

A Recent Basement Discovery

Recently found in my parent's basement, I'd forgotten I'd done this painting. A little the worse for wear, but I don't think it hurts it overmuch.

Early days of my life of art.


10 years ago on TTaT: The Road is my Favorite Place: Day 2

Inspired by Wynonna Earp to Try Something New

I'm not a cosplayer. I'm not even someone who is gung ho to dress up for Halloween.

However...

Something about Wynonna Earp and its wonderful, funny, creative fandom inspired me to ask myself:

Which character could I look most like with what I have on hand?

The women I love from the show, Wynonna, Waverly, Nicole, all have hair for days which I do not. Nor do I dress remotely like any of them.

Hmm.

My hair is dark and about the same length as Doc's though much curlier. If I pull it back with a barrette to dry, it looks a bit straighter when I remove the hair clip.

So what does Doc wear that I have?

Vest: check
Long dark coat: check
Black stetson: check
Various button down shirts: check
Dark pants: check

Huh, go figure.

Of course, Doc is not Doc without his mustache, soul patch, and side burns. I cut those out of a small piece of black cardboard I found while looking for dark brown or black felt. No stubble for simplicity's sake.

Et voilà! Claire as Doc Holliday:

If I were to shoot it again, I'd skip the coat so the vest would show up more and maybe change to my blue linen shirt.


11 years ago on TTaT: Shot through the heart

Winter's Work

Taken March 4, 2015. The banks of rock hard snow by the driveway were about 6 feet tall when these photos were taken. A little less snow now but nothing looks much different today.

We had a few days that got above 40 degrees F, so I got a much needed haircut after those photos were taken.


4 years ago on TTaT: Life of Art SitRep #58 More inspiration from my closet

Behind the Candelabra

A few days ago, I posted this on Twitter and FB:

My birthday cake had a candelabra on it. I approve! Also, yum!

Cheryl suggested I write a "Behind the Candelabra" post.

So here I am, literally behind the candelabra:

I am endeavoring to not drive myself crazy with all of the things I would fix in this photograph. Fitting that I'm wearing my "prefectionist" t-shirt.


Two years ago on TTaT: Say Something Nice

A Glimpse of Summer

The following 3 photos show how I most often appear when photographed:

And no, I don't I usually walk around with my collar flipped up, but it was chilly and windy that day so I was using everything I had.


A year ago on TTaT: Wonder Woman: Mission's End

Unexpected

I wasn't expecting an advent calendar, but I love my day one treat!

Thanks, Mom!


Two years ago on TTaT: 43. Half Empty

An xmas eve glimpse

Several faves here. Note the mustachioed swimmer in the top left. Got him years ago at a shop in Tallahassee. Still amuses me.

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it! For those who don't, happy holidays or have a lovely winter/summer interlude!


A year ago on TTaT: Peace on Earth, Goodwill toward Legos

Splotchy autumn colors

Kinda weird but also cool.


A year ago on TTaT: Life of Art SitRep #36 So this is what distraction-free looks like

Thinking

This image has been on my mind a lot lately. The near silhouette of me looking out. It's what came to mind when I thought of writing about Steve Jobs. I didn't expect to be so affected by news of his passing. Perhaps that–grief seems too strong–that sadness is selfish since it is his vision I will miss most. I so would have liked to see what he would've come up with in another 30 years.

Thank you for all of the beautiful, increasingly easy to use technology, Steve Jobs. It's made many things possible for me.

*******************

Now if you'll notice in the photograph, I'm not just looking out, I'm taking a photograph. This is acutely on my mind at present since I may need glasses. It has perhaps always been inevitable if you were to look at photographs of my entire spectacle wearing family, but I'm not ready for it. I am holding off for now because the focus disparity between my eyes is very mild, and I hope that now I'm not concerned it's a reaction to medication that it will mellow out. sigh. Also, I may have blown the prescription by not pressing my forehead far enough into the thing. Seemed like it was a sort of button, but I was just against it rather than pushing into it. Did I imagine that or is it common to those lens determining thingies?

In any case, paranoia aside, it may just be age which means it's only a matter of time.


A year ago on TTaT: Pinecones and Leaf

Another one, eh?

So this is what 38 looks like.

Meant to post something closer to my birthday a couple weeks ago, but, like most of this year, I've been preoccupied.

Nonetheless, here I am out for a round of birthday miniature golf. Despite vastly overestimating my golf prowess, I had a good time outside on a lovely day.

A year ago on TTaT: Just my luck

Bona fide tower

We drove past a cool tower surrounded by scaffolding. "That's so cool," I said, "too bad the light's all wrong. We need to be going the other direction."

"Would you like to turn around?"

It was a token question, out of politeness. But you know what? Screw that. With undeniable conviction, I answered, "Yes. Yes, I would."

I caught this next shot while driving past: back in the bad light, but it gives you a full view of the tower.

Even though the scaffolds and structure don't look like it, my photos remind me of watching Atlantis launch live on Friday.

As excited as everyone doing the coverage was, I was anxious until they were in space and safely detached from the fuel tanks. The first shuttle launch I remember watching live exploded.


3 years ago on TTaT: Random Scan Sunday 8: Fall foliage

Goats in the wild

OK, not really the wild, but still seriously awesome! I have not seen that many goats all at once anywhere around here before. I actually had to crop out 5 goats from the third stampede shot because it was too wide, and that doesn't include any of the goats from the 1st shot under the tree. This was a super treat.

A camera with significantly better low light performance would've been great, but I'll still take it. Not sure what it is, but seeing goats (and particularly pygmy goats) always makes me happy.


A year ago on TTaT: Sketchbook, page 35

Venturing out...

...albeit not far.

Definitely a nice perk for my first real saunter out since surgery. Having a camera with me on post-op walks is definitely the way to go since I end up stopping every few feet to photograph something. Keeps me from pushing too hard.

Surgical Notes:
1. The morning of surgery, my doctor totally exhibited previously unseen OCD behavior, which honestly just amused me. If ever there's a time to get a little OCD, right?

2. My anesthesiologist's assistant was a young woman who looked an insane amount like Marla Sokoloff though I couldn't think of the actress' name at the time. I kept thinking, She looks like that cheerleader from Sugar & Spice. Well, except that she was in surgical garb with a custom cap covering her hair.

She had the syringe of awesome in her chest pocket, something to mellow me out and keep me from getting anxious on the way to the OR if I wanted it. Hell, yeah! In my pre-op interview days earlier, the nurse had described it as, "And then they'll give you some bee-you-ti-ful sedation." Bring it!

When it was finally time to go, Marla's lookalike said, "All right, I'm gonna slip you a mickey."

Had she been male or unfriendly, it would have been totally inappropriate and creepy instead of making me laugh with its unexpectedness. Context is everything.


4 years ago on TTaT: Sometimes narrow expertise is all you need

Spring Leaves + Wind

Leafy goodness!


Two years ago on TTaT: 20 self portraits from 1996, day 11

Biggest Bear Yet

Despite not having a new or updated logo, BearWatch 2011 is already a success! Success in this case equals me getting to see a bear in my back yard. From a photographic standpoint, I'm trying to learn from my mistakes rather than continue to kick myself for them.

I've been a bit down for the count the past week so when the bear call came, I was not at my best. My first mistake was flipping the camera dial from manual to auto. I was afraid I'd miss out on shots by being too slow adjusting the settings.

As I framed up my first shot below, I debated whether or not to wait until the bear had cleared the sculpture. I decided it wasn't an issue because I could take multiple shots.

But then the camera decided it was too dark out and fired the flash.

A fucking eternity passed as I waited for the flash to recharge so I could subsequently shut it off and take more pictures. Time stamps on my photos say it was just a minute or two, but I lost my chance to photograph the bear in prime location. It was long enough for me to realize I could've changed my shutter speed and aperture several times over.

This is probably my cleanest shot of the bear this go round:

The other thing I forgot to take into account is that the camera typically opts for slow shutter speeds in low light. 1/8 of a second is not what you want if you want a sharp image of a moving subject. If I'd been paying attention to the shutter speed, I could've at least tried panning with the bear to keep him in better focus.

Nonetheless, I think this impressionistic bear photograph is my favorite:

In preparation for next time, I'm taking advantage of the fact that my camera will remember its last manual settings. My f-stop is wide open and my shutter speed is 1/250. I'd go to 1/500 to be sure to freeze the action, but chances are fair that the bear will turn up late or early in the day when it's darker out. If I have to go to a slower shutter speed I can, but I'll also know if it's worth giving panning with the subject a try. White balance I typically set but in this case, I'll take my chances with auto white balance to save myself the extra menu fumbling. Mainly I'm trusting myself to think quickly in the moment.

With any luck, the bear will stop by again sometime. If not though, that's OK. Last year I didn't see any bears, so I'm really happy I got the chance to see this one.


For better bear photographs I've taken in the past, check out:

Claire's Bears

I'll take a bear in my Easter basket any day

The moment I've been waiting for

To sum up

A year ago on TTaT: Pick me up flowers

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The slow approach of spring

The pup's been completely buried for most of winter, so it's nice to see him again.


A year ago on TTaT: BearWatch '10

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