Jamestown Virginia Images

Since Jamestown is so close to Williamsburg, we make it part of our annual fall foray into Colonial Virginia. These photos were taken of the chapel there. I particularly love the symmetry of the hanging bells. The baptismal font is from the 1600's, I think. Click on it to be able to read the verse hanging above.

It's a great place for children as well as adults to learn about colonial history. Next time I'll post photos from the glassblower's hut.

Dreaming and Living

~If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.~ Henry David Thoreau

I believe in this philosophy of life with one addendum; in order to have the desires of our hearts, we have to delight ourselves in the Lord. Our dreams should be lined up with the will of the Father.

I can have all the dreams in the world, but if I'm not doing what God wants me to do, I'll just be frustrated all the time. Believe me, I know from experience.

I still dream big, but I pray about what I want to accomplish and make sure what I want is what God has revealed in his Word. Then I can go forward with confidence that it's the right thing for me.

My Way of Seeing the World

Yesterday I mentioned reading the book Traveling Light by Deborah DeWit Marchant and that our photographs are very similar. Here's what she says about what motivates her photography, "I sought the familiar in confined spaces: the sky reflected in a window or the shadow of a tree on a sun-painted wall. I tried to connect with some sort of common

human experience. It wasn't the fantastic or the awesome that we shared, it was the simple daily things. The sights on my everyday paths were a deeper source of beauty than any extraordinary place. Soon, everywhere I looked some proof of humanity's moment in eternity captured me. A doorway, a cluttered shed, a rundown porch."

I've always been enamored with trying to capture small pieces of daily life. These are the cumulative pieces of our existence. I'm also reading The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp. She says there are two different ways people look at life; one if seeing the big picture, and the other is noticing the small details. I'm definitely in the later group, so I guess that's why I take photos of bits and pieces. Above are a few examples of what I mean.

Art and Simplicity

I took these photos this past weekend at my parents' house in East Tennessee. There are two spiders somewhere in the five photos. Can you find them?



"When the light fell, like a wash of truth, every corner that held obscurity also held the potential for beauty." Deborah DeWit Marchant in Traveling Light, A Photographer's Journey

I'm rereading this book for inspiration. Mrs. Marchant's photos are so much like my own. Our writing is very different, though. Her prose is very poetical and sometimes difficult to understand. I'm tempted to say, "Just say it in plain English!" I really don't like to try and wade through words. It frustrates me. I like forthrightness and simplicity in writing; except for Pat Conroy. He's absolutely hypnotic.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't like pretentious writing. It especially irritates me in an artist bio. You know when you go to an art exhibition and you read what the artist says about his/her art. Sometimes I think you need a doctorate just to understand what they're saying. I think they believe that the more obtuse they are the better. It's so annoying.

When I wrote my artist statement, I tried to keep it simple and understandable. I didn't start out this post with the intention of posting my artist bio, but I think I will. Do you think it's understandable? Is it too simple?

THE ART BIO

OF

DEBBIE BAILEY

Having grown up in the mountains of East Tennessee, I have a heightened awareness of the beauty of the great outdoors. I’ve always been happiest listening to wind whispering through the pines or lying in a field watching clouds float by. As a photographer, I now capture those pieces of the everyday and hold them as images of things remembered and cherished. If you look at one of my photographs, smile, and say, “I know that place…” or “That reminds me of…” then I’ve done a good thing.

Since early childhood I’ve been interested in many different art forms; especially music and photography. I’m proficient in piano but mainly piddle around with the lap dulcimer, recorder, and guitar. The hammered dulcimer is next on my list of things to try.

I became passionate about photography after a trip to Italy in 2001 with one of my sons. Since then I’ve tried different photographic techniques such as handtinting with translucent oil paints on black and white photos, copying my photos onto watercolor paper and painting over them, bleaching them, using many different film speeds to see what will happen, taking Polaroids with a 1970’s camera and then manipulating the images using different instruments while the emulsion is still wet, and attaching a photo to the back of an antique mirror after some of the silvering has been removed.

I believe in THE CREATOR who made all from nothing. I also believe all people feel the need to express their uniqueness in some way. As image-bearers of God, we can only re-create what is His. I want my art to show the goodness and beauty of creation. I affirm with the Psalmist David who said, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows his handiwork.”

Never content to do the same thing day after day, my art is always changing into something hopefully better. And just like life, that requires patience and perseverance. So I keep pushing onward and hope that my art will bless you as we go along.

How to Age a Map

I promised to tell you how I aged the giant map in our parlor. I bought it at Books-a-Million for about $7. When I got it home, I took a very wet washcloth and went over the map several times, letting the water stand. I then sprinkled it with coffee grounds.

I let it dry and liked the way the paper crinkled and the coffee has made dark little 'age' spots, but it wasn't dark enough. So I brewed some tea bags in water and soaked the map with that, letting it stay on for a few minutes. I kept doing that until it was the aged color I wanted.

I took it to Hobby Lobby for framing telling them to just attach the map by the top. I didn't want the wrinkles to be pressed out. I thought it turned out quite old looking. Double click on it to see a closeup.

This could also be done with copies of photos or maps. Just experiment until you get the desired effect and have fun with it!

Black & White Photography-Getting That Grainy Look

I've learned through trial and error, lots of error, how to get that grainy look I love in black and white images.

The three top ones were taken with my digital camera. They were all greatly underexposed (too dark). When I lightened them in IPhoto you could see all the colored pixels, which doesn't look good in a color photo. Unless you're trying to do something funky, which I very well may try at a later date!

But after changing them to black and white, the pixels now give a grainy look. I'm very happy to have stumbled on this, since I love, love, love a grainy b&w photo.

The bottom three were taken with true black and white film. And now that I'm comparing the two, the bottom ones are grainier. Is that a word? Should it be 'more grainy'? I still have one roll of b&w film left which I'll soon shoot. It's just too bad that the processing will be over $20.

And now that I've gotten used to instant feedback on a digital camera, it'll be hard as the dickens to take photos and not know if the exposure is correct. For me, that used to be the fascination of a film camera. You know, it's like being pregnant and not finding out the sex of the baby until after it's born. But now I want to know immediately! And I'm talking about photos, not babies.

*What is the dickens, and not Charles? That's just one of our 'southernisms'. But who knows what it means? We also say, "He's mean as the dickens." That doesn't make much sense either.

Longing for the Beach

I've got beach fever. Yeah, I know I was there in May, but that was almost two months ago. During that last trip, I saw this written on the sand. Unfortunately, all I had with me was my phone camera. I says Just Married, 5-22-11; very romantic.

Double click on the bird-in-flight photo. It's a pelican but looks like some kind of prehistoric bird. We were staying in a condo on a headland where the wind kept pushing against the flying birds causing them to stop in midair. We were on the third floor and level with them making

photographing them a snap.

I definitely like staying in a beach house as opposed to a condo. I like to pretend we live there, and I would never live in a condo. I need a yard, trees, animals, and all the things that make up a cozy home.