Beauty In The Ordinary

So I went down to the Hawksbill Greenway with my big lens hoping to see a kingfisher or a great blue heron...but there were none to be seen anywhere along the Hawksbill creek. BUT there were ducks everywhere! I didn't find the flashy king fisher or the regal great blue heron but the beautfiul glint of green in the sunlight caught my eye on this ordinary mallard duck.I guess beauty is where you find it.  :-)








 

Pay It Forward

I meant to write about this at the time but was too busy and never got to this so here goes. There is a pay it forward story that goes with this photo and one day I hope to do the same for someone when I have the opportunity and the lens. When you are a photographer you tend to have what is often referred to as "lens envy" when you see another photographer with a really impressive expensive lens that you don't have but wish you did. I met a really nice photogrpaher named Roy Woodford last fall and I made a comment about his big lens to that effect and to my surprise he said "would you like to try it?". I felt like I had won the lens lottery! In desbelief I asked "Are you serious?" and it turned out he was! He detatched his camera from the giant lens on the tripod and I very carefully attached mine to it. I think I heard my camera let out a "yippee!". Above is the photo I got with my camera attached to his big lens (a Nikon 600 mm 4.5 for those photographers reading this who are interested).I was amazed by the detail and brightness from the image. It was pretty hard to wipe the smile off my face and I thanked him serveral times. He said "somebody did this for me once". I hope I can do the same for somebody one day and make their day too. If you would like to contribute to my "big lens fund" to help make this happen plese buy one of my prints that would make a lovely addition to the nature lovers wall! :-)

Looking Forward 2015

I’m trying to keep my chin up and think positive but 2014 was a bit disappointing as far as sales go. When I started my website in 2011 I was very encouraged after I started making sales in just one month. Each year I sold a little bit more than the year before until 2014…when my sales went down from the previous year. Negative thoughts have been entering my mind: Are my photos just not good enough? Should I throw in the towel and stop wasting time and money on what’s really just a hobby? Can I really make this more than just a hobby? Am I just fooling myself calling myself a photographer? Can I really compete with the photographers that are selling? Have I lost my creative vision?

 OK so maybe it’s time to re-boot. What can I do to get moving in the right direction? Firstly I need to get my thoughts back on track and replace the negative thoughts with positive ones instead of hearing that voice from the movie scene in Wayne’s World “I’m not worthy”. Next I need to formulate some goals.

 Here are my 2015 photography goals, I’m not going to call them resolutions though since everyone knows that those only last about a month before falling back into the same old habits.:

1. Find new and better ways to market. Research online for other venues besides Face book for marketing/ networking. Since Face book went public in the Wall Street world , the site no longer seems to be very effective for sales for someone like me on a budget i.e. not spending money for advertising.

2. Write in my photo blog regularly to keep my creative juices flowing

3. Improve my photography skills by viewing/reading educational articles and videos and learning  techniques from photographer friends

4. Find my audience who wants to see and buy my photos

5. Create photos that inspire and instill an awe in the beauty of nature

6. Increase sales to be double or more of what they were in 2014

OK so that’s my plan for the New Year. One foot in front of the other…moving forward in to 2015. Wish me luck. :-)

Honey Bees Vs. The Hummingbirds

I love the honey bees....I love hummingbirds...that being said does anyone know how the two can peacefully coexist in our yard? We have an abundance of the little hummers this year (15 or 20 they are too fast to count them all) but a few days ago the bees invaded as you can see. The poor little hummers can't get to the feeding ports. My husband tried a plate of sugar water to coax them away from the feeders (something we had read about on the web) but it only attracted more! It's almost like we have a hive on our deck at times! We have some flowers that the hummers can feed on but our sugar water was a big part of their diet. For now we are just feeding them in the evening at dusk when the bees calm down and we're trying to move the feeders to other parts of the yard in the hopes that the hummers will find them but the bees will not. Does anyone have any suggestions for how to keep my hummingbirds fed?

Sights From The Shenandoah National Park

Sometimes I forget how lucky we are to have the Shenandoah National Park in our back yard just 20 minutes from home. Here are some of my favorite sights from our recent drive along Skyline Drive near Luray, Virgina. We saw a young bear cross the road too but I wasn't quick enough on the draw with my camera to get a shot. This cute little fawn made up for my lack of a bear photo though. She was so curious about the woman with the flashy thing. Every time the flash would go off she cock her head in wonder. Maybe it was the first flash she had ever seen. The beautiful orange flower is a turks cap lily. I saw it from a distance in the middle of a wildflower meadow filled with black eyed susans. Its bright orange color really stood out in the yellow and I had to get a closer look to see what it was. It was certaily worth a closer look to see this beauty up close.

The Colors Of Spring

 This past winter seemed unbearably long and cold and lacking in color. Growing up on the Oregon Coast I was a bit spoiled with the seasons. Sure it got a little cooler in the winter and rained A LOT but everything remained green year round. I didn’t realize how important color was to my life until I moved to the East coast and I really missed it during the winter months. Here in the blue ridge, we have what they call "seasons". We have beautiful dramatic changes between the seasons and some of those change over times are easier than others.  I love the Summer with its warmth but Spring has got to be the most amazing season to me. Spring is like a reward for making it through winter and its lack of color and warmth.  Spring is like that scene in the Wizzard of Oz after Dorothy has survived the trip in her house riding on the back of a tornado. Once her house has landed, she steps out her door and steps from her black and white world into a world filled with vivid colors!

After surviving winter in the Shenandoah Valley it's wonderful to see a parade of color from the flowers. First it’s the purple of the crocuses followed by the yellow of the forsythia and then the redbuds and then the light shades of green everywhere from grass to shrubs to trees. But that’s not source of color that Spring has in store for us winter weary folks in the mountains.

There is also a parade of brightly colored birds. There are bright yellow pine warblers and gold finches and one of my favorites, the rose-breasted grosbeaks.

The grosbeaks are only here for a short time. Our place in the blue ridg mountains is like their little vacation spot before they get to their nesting grounds to the north and west of us here in the Shenandoah Valley. When they first arrived this year the sight of them literally made my jaw drop and rendered me speechless. When I tried to tell my husband that they were here I couldn't get get the words out right because I was so excited! I read an article online from Cornell Lab of Ornothology here that described them as “like seeing an exclamation point on our bird feeder”. They truly are like seeing and exclamation point on your bird feeder!

Not only are these birds drop dead gorgeous but these birds have wonderful personality too. You would think that a bird that is only here for a short time would be a bit skittish and definitely not ready to have their portrait taken but these birds are just the opposite. I can be as little as 8 feet away and once that camera starts clicking, it is like they are mesmerized by the attention and they just stay put and pose away. Perhaps they are used to having their photo taken since they are such beautiful birds and have come to realize that they are in no danger. Whatever the reason may be, I’m thankful for such a willing bird model and a beautiful one too! Happy Spring! :-)

Christmas Sale Dec 14- Dec 20th!

Happy Holidays! I'm holding a Christmas sale starting today through 12/20/13 on all my prints and cards. Just use code KRJFKX during check out and recieve a 25% discount off of my markup. Christmas shipping deadlines: for Ground must order by 12/15 and for overnight shipments to arrive by Christmas you must order by 12/18. Thanks for stopping by!

Lara Ellis Fine Art Photos