I felt the urge to have comments on this album. Do you like it? Was splitting it in two albums a good idea? Anything else you want to tell me feel free!!

So this is sort of a notice that my blog is moving. Change your bookmarks to http://blog.phoenixfeather.net

Not a big change, and not going to happen fully right away, but I wanted to give everyone time to make the change.

So what am I going to do with the phoenixfeather.net site? Well I'll tell you. I am in the process of opening a small photography business which is going to take over the main site. I hope to have the new site up and operational by the beginning of June.

In the meantime I will be slowly making the total change over of the blog to blog.phoenixfeather.net. Currently there is a mirror site at that address, so make the change!!

*grin*

Kevin and I both received "Picture of the Week" awards for photographing each other last week!

left photos by Rachel, right photos by Kevin
(click on photo to see enlargement)

As a photographer who thinks quite often about the legal side of photography, I found this little story at overshadowed rather funny! (and the picture is rather pretty too!)

Randompixel.com has been getting a lot of attention lately! Its so very cool. Last Wednesday it was listed as one of USA Today's Hot Sites and this week Kevin was interviewed by the San Jose Mercury(Registration may be required) for an article that appeared in the paper yesterday.

Kevin was even sweet enough to mention the Random Pixies: Ammy, Rick and I.

So Photoblogs.org has a realtime list of Hot Photoblogs, which are photo blogs that have generated the most interest in the last 7 days among Photoblog.org viewers.

Phoenix Feather Photos the "In Pictures..." side of my site has made it to number 78 on that list!

I'm a Hot Photoblog!!! Woo Hoo!!! *does a little dance*

This is a SPECIAL - for Cinco De Mayo - wallpaper.

Click link for desired wallpaper size, then right click and save image into your wallpaper directory: Sm: 1024 x 768 : Lg: 1280 x 1024 : More Wallpapers

This photo is part of an upcoming photo album, but I have released it early so that your computer get enjoy Cinco De Mayo too!!!

A Photo With A Story!!

Nym vs. Hummy

Kevin and I have been turning our backyard into a Hummyland for our little hummingbird neighbors. We see them everyday now, they are getting used to us being there and we love it!

Yesterday, after my driving test, I picked up Nym to spend the day with me. She has been getting more and more interested in the outside and since Ammy and Rick, like us, have an enclosed backyard she is allowed to spend some time in the backyard if someone is with her (she is not the brightest - she isn't even close to figuring out she can jump fences).

Yesterday she was exploring our backyard for the first time and I was following her with the camera trying to get a couple of good shots. At one point she was checking out a plant not far from the hummy tree (prolly deciding if she could eat it) when one of our male hummy's appeared to check her out and inform her she wasn't to come any closer to the tree.

I AM A BAD MOMMY!! This has been decided since when a teritorial hummingbird appears to check out my cat and give her a scare, what do I do? I take pictures!

In my defense there was a decent distance between the two of them until the last photo. The Hummingbirds have buzzed Kevin and I several times, letting us know who is boss and testing us; they have never gotten too close. I wasn't too worried that hummy would hurt Nym - or at least not without some buzzing warning. I was never worried that Nym would hurt hummy - my poor cat can't catch a slug effectively; She is good at imaginary bugs though. In any case I took this photo right before I dove in, grabbed my cat and put her inside. I think she is still pissed at me for ruining her fun.

I do love this photo though.

I have been considering how I want to redesign the In Pictures... side of my site for a few weeks now. However I have sped up those thoughts due to a link from Random Pixel (a cool Kevin project) which has largely increased traffic my photo blog.

I wanted to better display my photos and take advantage of this opportunity to attract more viewers - so you will now find a mini redo of the photo site has taken effect. Don't fret, a larger redesign is still to come.

I still don't have comments up there, so for now feel free to leave a comment here on my recent album Off The Beaten Path. I will try and get something more specific up very very soon.

So this is one of those beaming proud kind of bragging sort of posts. But its not just for me.

Some of you know that Kevin and I are taking online photography classes at BetterPhoto.com. I am really really enjoying the class and learning a lot. I don't think I can ever go back to the time when I didn't take my pictures manually.

This aside this class has a reward for those of us with a slightly competitive nature, such as Kevin and I. Picture Of The Week is a reward that singles out the top photos for that week. Kevin and I both received this recognition in our respective classes.


Coiled by Rachel

Spinning Your Wheels by Rachel

Net by Kevin

I am still on my hunt to capture instances of Hummy in pictures! (If you don't know what I mean let me explain that I am convinced there is only one Hummingbird - its name is Hummy - it is my Hummy and each of us experience instances of this one Hummy).

In any case Hummy has been appearing again at the back window and I have been diving for the new Nikon with quick reaction turn on and trying to catch him, to no avail. Yesterday and today produced two very overexposed shots of a blur of a hummingbird. I did catch a decent one on saturday, but it was nothing wonderful.

I have learned to track them by sound. Its kind of a pop pop, or rather snap snap sound. I can figure out what direction they are coming from. Using sound I found one up close and personal instance, but with several branches between us and no clear photo until Hummy was gone.

Kevin says he is going to help me turn the backyard into Hummy-land!! I will bring them all to me!

So if you were here this morning you would have seen me, standing in the back yard in my pjs, camera ready, listening for the pop of a Hummy, watching at least one instance of him buzz around a eucalyptus tree in the distance, and trying to snap out a reply with my fingers so maybe he would come near. *sighs*

I will get him, I will!!!

Past Hummy Pictures:
3/10/04 Along Came Hummy
2/28/04 Hummy on a Wire

Announcing Random Pixel!! This is a Kevin project. Those of you who know him, know he has been working on this for years, or procrastinating this for year, whichever you prefer. And now its finally open for business.

It’s such a cool idea. He hands out disposable cameras and asks people to hand them around. Each camera has a name and once you pass it on, you can check in until your pictures return and are posted. Not all cameras return, but many do and its great fun to see what kind of pictures appear.

I really love this idea and I'm really proud of him for finally buckling down and getting the site active. Yay Kevin!

So I really love the photo side of my blog. Among other ideas I'm considering implementing, I am currently contemplating the best way to add comments to my albums. But one of the major things I have been doing lately is trying to get recognition for In Pictures... while discovering more about other photo blogs. I was telling Kevin about some of the things I have found and suddenly was really interested. So now I'm going to share my findings with you and hope for the same effect.

You don't have to have a photoblog to get involved in a number of these projects, just enjoy it!!

Photo Friday: http://photofriday.com - This is a great site. The basic idea is that they come up with an theme each week and people a photo that they believe represents that theme. Anyone is then able to vote for the photos they feel are most noteworthy and those photos are recognized. This site is fun and has a very nicely designed interface for viewing and voting on submitted photos. The theme this week is "Discovery" and my entry is #134 on the list incase you want to check out my entry and vote for me on Friday. (note: voting only takes place friday through sunday).

Photo Blogs: http://photoblogs.org - Cool site where you can find a large listing of photo blogs. You can also mark photo blogs as your favorite so that it gets a higher ranking. If you would like to sign up and rank me as a favorite click here, or use the "listed" button in the center navigation bar.

A Pictures Worth: http://1000words.net - This site has the cool concept of allowing photographers to submit a photo that pairs pictures with words. I have been invited to submit something, I'm still deciding what to submit.

San Francisco Photo Blogger Get Together: http://www.hchamp.com/bap/ - This saturday I will be attending a photo blogger get together. I know some of you who read here have your own photo blogs and might be interested in this.

Photo.net: http://photo.net - a great place to get photography advice, post your photographs, request critiques by other photographers, give critiques and enter contests.

Better Photo: http://betterphoto.com - If you want to learn more about photography this is the place to go. Not only do they have photography advice, contests and photography sharing, but they also offer online photography classes like the ones Kevin and I are taking. Take classes with professional photographers, with students from around the world and really learn something.

Theme Thursday: http://themethursday.com - Another site like Photo Friday and also fun.

Entry Add In: I'm not sure how I missed this one, its in my nav bar already.

Mirror Project: http://www.mirrorproject.com/ - This site collects photos that people take of themselves reflected in some kind of surface. Anyone can submit their mirrored photo and view everyone else's ideas on the same subject. Very cool.

Also for your information this is a list of other photo blogs I visit. Some are also in my nav bar, some aren't yet. Please enjoy all this fun info, but don't forget about me!! I love that you all visit my blog and photo blog! Thanks.

Photo Blogs:
Ephemera
Heather Champ
Reality Crutch
Martin Taylor
PHOTONLOG
Myla Kent Photography
Dennis Mojado Photography

And as a last item, a sneak peak at a photo from my upcoming photo album

This site is pretty cool. In an effort to find out what laughing is a photographer and a balloon twister have gone on trips around the world together making balloon hats for people and photographing them. They also ask the question "What is Laughing?" to which they have a variety of reponses. If nothing else check out the photos on this site, they will get you laughing.

"Laughing is the smile of the World."

Weerashon Puttrpadit, Mahasarakham, Thailand

So Phoenix Feather readers, what is laughing to you?

[Thanks to Photo Blog for this link.

This is a cool photography site: Modern Ruins. They only take photos of modern technology that has been abandoned. There are also stories collected from people who experienced these ruins. I really love this one.

"So you've taken pictures of the Alcoa factory that was my childhood fascination? Did you sneak through a window, and look up at fallen dust blanketed stairs? Did you hear loud thumping in the dark? Those were the sounds of the criminals who lived in that factory and plotted their crimes through out the night. I was always very quiet in there, and always got out very fast. But even when I was outside, surrounded by faded, scragally grasses and bright yellow danger signs I could still feel the life that had once come to work every day. I could still smell the sweat and see the small paths left by heavy boots in the ground. But hey, I was only eight and I really did believe that each time I left that edifice, there was a man watching me leave from the top window. He was probably an ex-worker who lost his livelihood when he lost his job, and that was probably his oil soiled, stiffened, leather glove that I had just stepped on, so I began to run as fast as I could.... maybe that's why I spend my time in the places that time has passed by."

(Thank you to Feed Me Links for finding me this link).

As sampled here, I have added two new wallpapers to the In Pictures side.

I'm also looking for suggestions about which photos you think would make good backgrounds! Thanks

Sorry this last photo album went up late: The hosting server has been having issues and I couldn't upload anything. So I went out with the new camera instead! ;)

Please forgive me!

Got the new Nikon D70 Digital SLR camera today! *bounce*

Us Portrait by Kevin Fox; Editing by Me

Kevin and I have both signed up for online photography classes at Better Photo.com. Kevin is taking The Art of Composition, (which I can't give you a link to cause the course is full now - I got him the last slot - and they took down the description) and I am taking Understanding Exposure. Both classes start in 12 days on April 7th.

So I logged in to the virtual classroom today to look around. There is a place for students to introduce themselves and provide a self portrait. I'm taking class with people from Denmark, Syndney Australia, and New York City among other places.

So I'm preparing to introduce myself to class, but I don't have a self portrait. So that has been one of my tasks for today. I have however discovered this is hard. Normally when I photograph its because I find something and I'm inspired by the subject. I don't know how to photograph myself, and I'm not sure what I want to say with the photograph.

*ponders* I'll let you all know when I come up with something, but advice is welcome!

While Kevin was in the eye doctor I did some photo wandering around the Berkeley campus. I found some beautiful flowers to photograph on a bridge near faculty glade. As I was photographing two men came onto the bridge and began setting up equipment. I was about to move on when I realized these men were setting up photography equipment. So I stopped to talk to them.

I ended up spending about 45 minutes chatting with freelance photographersEdward Caldwell and Jed Manwaring; asking questions about their equipment and backgrounds. Jed told me about Better Photo.com which is a website that gives all sorts of tips to beginners as well as offering classes online. Kevin and I are both considering taking a class.

Both guys were really nice and really helpful and wonderful. Their photography is wonderful and if nothing else comes of it, I really loved just talking to them. However I made one request of them: Both men were happy to offer me their email and agreed that if I sent then a couple of photos they would be happy to give me some feedback. I'm so excited! I promised I wouldn't pester them; I would just send them my photos.

So now I'm trying to decide what photos I want to send to them. I'm working on sorting through all my photos and narrowing it down, but if you have an opinion please let me know!!

So the question is, of all the photos I have up on In Pictures, which ones should be critiqued?

So I have had Phoenix Feather In Pictures open for a little over a month and I am starting to notice two problems with how I am dealing with photo albums.

Problem 1: I have lots of ideas about things that I want to go and photograph, however I have so many albums backlogged plus the photos I take just doing what I normally do that I end up feeling guilty going out to take more pictures. I really don't want that!

Problem 2: When I have first taken a set of photos I'm really excited about them and want to share them right away. But I feel guilty again because I have 5 other albums of photos that I'm also excited about that aren't up yet. And so I end up with more backlogged photos and more guilt.

As an attempt to deal with this situation I have initiated a marathon for photo albums. For the next two weeks I will be posting a new album every other day! That’s 2 weeks and 7 albums. The first of those albums went up today: "Irish Feet a Smilin'" is now up. The next one will be up on Tuesday.

So check In Pictures frequently for the next two weeks, and make sure to look back and see if you missed any!!!