Foraging For Fragments

Time to forget about all that needs to be done and pull together the bits and pieces of the week. If you have found some fragments hanging around your place stop over at Mrs. 4444's and share them.

I came across this Getty image at the beginning of the week and until I read the credits I thought I was looking at a photo of Kate Winslet. So I decided to do some comparison and here is what I found. I thought they might be related but there is no evidence to even suggest that. What do you think?

This is from last week at the Sturgis Rally. I am a little confused as to why anyone would name their store Overpriced T's. Honesty is good and all, but from a marketing standpoint I don't see the logic. Am I just missing the appeal here?

Linking to Weekend Reflection and Skywatch Friday

How about a reflection of a reflection, and a sky shot all in one! It took a number of tries before I got it but I didn't give up.

Well if you follow me on Instagram or Twitter you may have already seen this. This is my first #Steampunk mini top hat hair accessory. I just really hope my client is as happy with it as I am.

I also shard the above photo on Facebook and my oldest brother commented  "way cool, how do you think it would look on me?"  So of course I took that as a Photoshop challenge. My reply was "simply dashing, see!"





Today's final fragment . . .
At the beginning for the month I wrote "I am not sure which direction my course will take but I will know eventually." Well, I still don't know exactly but taking a bit of advice from Cyril Connolly it will definitely be something that is true to myself. I even made myself this little sign as a reminder.

Thank you for stopping by.

Have a Fantastic Weekend Everyone!

Tranquil Reflections

My soon to be ten year old granddaughter took this photo the other day and asked me to edit it for her. She thought with a little work it would be just right to offer as a card in our gift shop. She sat with me while I was editing it and told me exactly what she wanted done. She wanted it to look like a worn olden day photo with the the appearance of worn edges.

This is the original straight out of camera shot. Seems I forgot to switch off the viewing window and she was having a difficult time keeping the camera level. Since I wasn't with her she figured I could straighten the horizon for her....LOL

That and getting rid of the foreground distraction were the first things she asked me to do.

After that she wanted the photo changed to sepia and a brush stroke added to the entire image. Next came the texture overlay which she wanted only on outer edges and heavier in each corner. All in all I think the result is beautiful and have added it to the note cards available in our gift shop. Don't worry, commission from the sales of this design will go to her. :D

Note Cards available here.

I hope you have enjoyed Sissy's reflection as much as I have. To see even more beautiful reflections be sure to visit Jame's Weekend Reflection.

FF: Telling it like it is

The business woman in me is telling me to post only the positive and not to over share. The emotional human in me is saying the hell with that, tell it like it is. As you can guess by the title the emotional human has won this round, so I won't blame you if you skip the first four fragments. I just think it is time to get this out there. Should you read my more emotional fragments and decide to offer encouragement, advice or even criticism I will be both delighted and grateful.  

Being an artist is confusing. Grief is confusing. Let's face it life is confusing.

Photographic Art by Nita Davis. Title: Confusion

People who know me will tell you that I am one of the most optimistic people they know.  In reality that is one of the masks I wear. Being optimistic does not come easy. I am not always happy, I don't always know what is the right thing to do or say.  Unlike many artists who channel pain and hardship into their art, most of the time such feelings tend to block my creativity. You see I don't like to create things that to me don't express the positive side of life. 

Grief and confusion

When my husband suddenly passed away last year I expected the transition from wife and caregiver to independent woman to be difficult but I really didn't know just how confusing and hard it would be.  I loved my husband dearly, however being the caregiver of a double above the knee amputee who suffers from Bipolar disorder 24/7 for fourteen years took a major toll. So much so that my first emotions were shock mixed with relief, quickly followed by guilt for having felt relief and sorrow. I've run the gamut of emotions over the last year and a half and in all honesty it has gotten harder in the last few months. All I will say now is that the above quote is so true, grief is filled with so much confusion. I could write an entire post on this subject, but that would be more like a book.

Artistic Confusion: Self Doubt

I know exactly how Elisabeth Shue felt! For years friends and family have been saying how talented I am, either at writing like in this post, or with drawing or photography or my photographic art and I just keep wondering if they are just blowing smoke. We all know that friends and family are not the best judges of talent. I don't really doubt that I have a level of skill but is that skill really good enough to be called talent? More importantly is it enough to actually earn a living?

 Company Confusion

 One last emotional fragment. I sure hope Jack Welch is correct.

Trying to make a living as an artist takes more than just hard work. Although Artisitx Network LLC is a family owned business it is my dream and the weight of it's success or failure falls to me. Val and Ted are both artists like myself only neither have any business training, experience or education so while they do help make decisions the bulk of organizing and promoting the business falls on my shoulders. Which is okay, I mean it is my dream and I am the one that convinced them it was a good idea to start the business. Here we sit nearing our four year mark and while last year we broke even, at this point we are no longer breaking even. We have discussed making major changes in our focus from creating memory photos for individuals using their photographs to focusing on our portrait photography, but even with the change in focus I sincerely doubt we will break even this year unless we can come up with funds for marketing. I made a promise to give the company five years to turn a profit but I am getting discouraged and wonder if I should just write off my losses and go back to creating art just for the pure joy of it. 

Now for some fun fragments:

Friends and Family

This month got off to a joyful start with a much enjoyed trip to Sioux Falls, SD to visit friends and family over the weekend of July 4th. I will try to pull myself together this weekend and get some of the photos posted on my blogs.

If you are wondering what I have been doing since we got home from our weekend away this next picture pretty much sums it up.

Who says video games are just for kids?

In an attempt to pull myself out of this funk, I have decided to go back to taking early morning walks. So far I just walk to the end of our street which is on a hill. We live at the bottom of the hill. This shot was taken half way to the top.

Although I haven't been posting on my blogs I have been taking photos to post. Here is a shot I took last Friday for Weekend Reflections. Better late then never.

Weekend Reflection

This afternoon I sat in the front yard for about 20 minutes trying to capture the lightening from a passing storm. I was happy I got this shot because the lightening strikes were few and I kept missing them. The storm passed just to the south of us so all we got was some wind, a bit cooler air and of course some beautiful stormy skies.

 

Sky Watch Friday

To wrap up my fragments I leave you with my life motto:

Thank you for stopping by, please be sure to hop over to Unknown Mami's to join in this weeks Friday Fragments.

Also linking up with:

Jame's Weekend Reflections

And 

Sky Watch Friday

Memories, Dreams and Reflections 2012

I am happy to be able to take part in Ashley Sisks


1. Me! – A reflection of myself taking this photo. Proudest accomplishment of 2012 . . . surviving!

2. I Love You –Since I couldn't decide on just one photo I did this collage of my grandchildren whom I love with all my heart.

3. Still Laughing… Shortly after going to live with my daughter's family my little dog tried to follow me out of the back yard by going through the fence and got himself stuck. To get him out of his predicament we had to coat him with cooking oil.

4. Winter Wonderland – One of my favorite shots taken near the end of winter before we left South Dakota.

5. Birthday – My youngest grandchild turned six this year. I can't believe how big they are all getting.

6. Friends – My youngest daughter with two of her dearest friends.

7. I Was Inspired… Much of my inspiration this year has come from my grandchildren and the ocean.

8. Spring Fever – I can't think of anything that reflects Spring more than a nest with Robin's eggs.

9. Travel or Vacation – During my vacation to Arizona I was inspired by this adorable couple who visited the Grand Canyon every year for their anniversary.

10. Summer Days – One of my favorite places during the summer has always been the beach.

11. A Day In My Life – Considering I have spent the majority of the year feeling out of focus,  I felt this photo best depicted a day in my life.

12. All Smiles – These two can always get me to smile.

13. Autumn Harvest – No photos this year of fields ready for harvest but I did get this Autumn shot.

14. Family or Home – Where ever my children and grandchildren are will always feel like home.

15. Celebrate! – Fireworks!

16. Let’s Do It Again… – Enjoying visits with my extended family. This one is with my brothers oldest daughter who came for a brief visit.

17. I Miss You – Looking through my photos trying to find a photo taken of my husband before he passed away last February I was disappointed to find that the last picture taken of him was at the end of 2011. Then it dawned on me that he had spent most of January and February in the hospital, so this photo of photos of him will have to do.

18. Beautiful – To me sunset is the most beautiful time of day.

19. Dress Up – One of my favorite photo sessions this year was this Civil War Period dress up session!

20. Macro - Macro of a King Crab found while walking on the beach.

21. Holidays – It looks like Santa forgot his boots.

22. My Favorite – My favorite memories of this year are all those created while spending time with my grandchildren.

23. Don’t Ever Change – This is Bubba, I hope he never loses his exuberance and zest for life.

24. Just Because…So There! – Isn't this a pretty tree?

25. Hopes and Dreams – My hopes and dreams for 2013 can easily be summed up in the words of Emerson.

May your year be filled with all that is good! 

PS. Please click on the button at the top to share your memories, dreams and reflections or visit others who have shared theirs.

Rainy Days and Sundays . . .

As the song goes, rainy days and Sundays always get me down. Generally that statement is not true for me, but it was this time. Typically although the rain can put a damper on things, I usually find the sound of rain soothing. That is as long as it doesn't last more than a day.  This time however, I had plans for the day that did NOT include rain. Like the kitty above I felt a longing to explore outside the windows. But not having the protective gear for my camera, I had to take my photos under the protection of the house. 

 Fortunately my daughters back porch is covered and I was able to capture some shots that I like very much.

Photographing rain drops can be a lot of fun. They make everything look so fresh. I posted a couple more of my shots from Sunday's rain shower on my Macro Monday Post.

Do you shoot in inclement weather? If so do you have rain gear for your camera?