Holga Blog: Flickr Friday

My photo was featured on Holga Blog's Flickr Friday! The theme for the week of February 17 – 24, 2010 is Out in the Cold, where I frequently find myself.

This is the photo that was featured (I posted it last week too). It is of Dan looking out at Levis/Trow Mounds in Clark County after we went snowshoeing around on Valentine's Day. This was my first time going there in the winter and also my first time taking pictures. Usually we go there mountain biking and I am not a good enough biker to take pictures while I ride!

Here is the link on Holga Blog so you can check out all the other great Holga shots:
http://www.holgablog.com/2010/02/26/flickr-friday-2/

Spring Fever

Although there are only* a few more weeks of winter left, I am getting spring fever. There is a certain quality about the evening light and the sky that make me think of spring.

*I hope!

Here are some photos from last spring.

 

    A double exposure of blossoms outside work

 

This photo was taken with a 14mm lens. My camera was large enough that I could dip the lens half in the water without damaging the camera or the lens.

Ice Age Trail

The Ice Age Trail is my favorite trail in Wisconsin. I went snowshoeing today on it in Underdown, in Lincoln County.

  

  

I like pictures of dead flowers or dead plants in the winter. I like the stark outlines they make.

Etsy Cards

I listed some new cards to my etsy.com shop - www.lschmitt.etsy.com.  I think I have a new obsession with balloons, except I don't like it when they pop. I wanted to make a Valentine's Day card, but I hate purchasing cards because it is painful. I thought of "happy things" because Valentine's Day is happy and I came up with balloons, specifically red balloons. These photos and cards are the result.

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=41344809

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=41345341

Winter

I am off for the following week due to a furlough. I prefer to call these "furcations", because really, who doesn't want a week off?

Hopefully I will be able to do some of these winter activities and go exploring!

Shutter Sisters

My photo was featured today on Shutter Sisters!
http://shuttersisters.com/365/

Shuttersisters.com is a website that features women photographers from the Shutter Sisters Flickr group. There is usually a guest blog on the first page and then they feature photographs from their Flickr.com groups, such as the One Word Project group, a Shutter Sisters group, and a 365 group, all of which I am involved in. It is a great website and I love looking through the Flickr groups to find inspiration and see what other photographers are doing. There is a ton of cool work featured on the website too. There is a really amazing style that runs through the group and lots of cool post processing techniques like textures that are used. I feel honored to have my photo featured, I admire the work that they feature and I am glad that I can be a part of it!

This is the photo that was featured.  Here is the link http://shuttersisters.com/365/

Open Heart Surgery

Today I had the chance to photograph an open heart surgery for work. The surgery was to replace two valves, the mitral and the aortic. It was one of the most amazing photo experiences I have had. The doctors stopped the heart and ran the heart and lungs off a machine for over an hour. I don't know any medical terms, but the idea of a stopped heart and to see it start again after surgery.... wow. The machine was huge, which in itself is impressive, considering the size of a heart. All that machinery to do something that we often never think about. It is also amazing to think of what the trauma that the human body can go through and the ability to heal itself.

This is the mitral valve before they suture it into the heart.

Photo is copyright of the Marshfield News-Herald
Any unauthorized use is prohibited

Inagural Post

After much debate, I have started a blog! I have decided to do this to show my photography all in one place. I have a portfolio/professional website, an Etsy site, a Flickr, and a professional blog, but I wanted a place where I could show all aspects of my photography. I feel like often I separate my work from my "play" photography, making work seem..... a lot more like work and making "play" something I can't quite commit to.  Kind of like my 365 photo project where I maybe missed the past two days....

Here are a few recent pictures from my Holga. I have been shooting a lot with this in the past three years. I purchased one in college and had fun with it, but only started shooting with one again once I moved to Wisconsin. I recently bought a new one after spilling Red Bull all over the first one when I got so excited because I saw three bears. The shutter wasn't working and since you never know what you are going to get with a Holga, I didn't want to add another variable to that equation.

Pine Trees

 

Highway 13 Bridge