Jeanne's Autumn 2019 Update: 2020 Calendars Now Available
Happy Autumn!
Welcome back to Jeanne's very occasional email newsletter.
2020 Photography Calendars
After a busy and adventurous summer, including trips to both Burning Man and to an International Digital Preservation Conference in Amsterdam, I finally had some time to sit down and put together a new calendar of my photographs for 2020.
The cover photo shown below was taken on a walk last weekend along Sligo Creek in Silver Spring, Maryland. I love the colors and texture of the rusting metal guardrail and the way they contrast with the drying fall leaves.
Most of my photos are taken on my phone (a Samsung Galaxy S10) as I travel the regular paths through my day. When I find myself with a precious spare half-hour out in the city or in a commercial area of the suburbs I hunt for a parking lot or an ally behind a building, hoping to find it full of rusty dumpsters and weathered railway ties. Even better if there are leaves or petals on the ground. One memorable day I found a frozen mud puddle.
I take photos at every opportunity, with an eye for the weird edges and beauty created through the tug of war between human creations and the endless patience of nature. Gravity and entropy are my partners in crime.
Most mornings, either on my way to work or over breakfast, I scroll back through my photos. I take them in batches. Different angles. In shadow. In the sun. Close up. Further away. I select a photo to work on based on it being in focus and interesting. I am often surprised when I crop and/or rotate an image. I often discover something I wasn't even aiming to photograph is suddenly the best part of the photo.
The image below is a photo I took in Haarlem while exploring the town and trying to stave off jet lag from our overnight flight into Amsterdam for my conference. I liked the different shades of gray and the way they were set off by the orange rust and green moss between the bricks.
Compare it to the cropped and rotated image below that I posted on Instagram. Changing the angles, zooming in, and squaring the image does so much to draw your eye to the elements to which I was originally drawn.
I tend to make very few changes to the images beyond crop and rotate. Sometimes I will adjust sharpness, contrast, and vibrancy - but only to make the image a better match to what I actually saw with my eyes. I've never studied composition formally, but I feel like I am channeling my mother's eye for design or recalling lessons she passed along without my realizing. I play with the image until something clicks - an angle or shape falls into the perfect spot.
I hope you enjoy my photos and the new 2020 calendar!
For those receiving this newsletter who might be in the market for STEAM-themed clothing that include pockets and comes in sizes from XS through 5X, I highly recommend Svaha. (And yes, I was tweeting throughout the conference - but my tweet shown below was the most popular by far. It was seen by over 5,000 people!)
The cover photo shown below was taken on a walk last weekend along Sligo Creek in Silver Spring, Maryland. I love the colors and texture of the rusting metal guardrail and the way they contrast with the drying fall leaves.
The Process Behind the Images
Did you ever play the game Red Light Green Light? When I am walking with my son and stop to kneel and take a photo of the ground, he invariably will say "Red Light" followed by a long-suffering teen sigh. When I finish taking my photos, I stand up and say "Green Light". It has gotten to the point where I will sometimes say "Red Light" as a warning that I need to stop and take a photo. That usually gets a smile out of him.Most of my photos are taken on my phone (a Samsung Galaxy S10) as I travel the regular paths through my day. When I find myself with a precious spare half-hour out in the city or in a commercial area of the suburbs I hunt for a parking lot or an ally behind a building, hoping to find it full of rusty dumpsters and weathered railway ties. Even better if there are leaves or petals on the ground. One memorable day I found a frozen mud puddle.
I take photos at every opportunity, with an eye for the weird edges and beauty created through the tug of war between human creations and the endless patience of nature. Gravity and entropy are my partners in crime.Most mornings, either on my way to work or over breakfast, I scroll back through my photos. I take them in batches. Different angles. In shadow. In the sun. Close up. Further away. I select a photo to work on based on it being in focus and interesting. I am often surprised when I crop and/or rotate an image. I often discover something I wasn't even aiming to photograph is suddenly the best part of the photo.
The image below is a photo I took in Haarlem while exploring the town and trying to stave off jet lag from our overnight flight into Amsterdam for my conference. I liked the different shades of gray and the way they were set off by the orange rust and green moss between the bricks.
Compare it to the cropped and rotated image below that I posted on Instagram. Changing the angles, zooming in, and squaring the image does so much to draw your eye to the elements to which I was originally drawn.I tend to make very few changes to the images beyond crop and rotate. Sometimes I will adjust sharpness, contrast, and vibrancy - but only to make the image a better match to what I actually saw with my eyes. I've never studied composition formally, but I feel like I am channeling my mother's eye for design or recalling lessons she passed along without my realizing. I play with the image until something clicks - an angle or shape falls into the perfect spot.
I hope you enjoy my photos and the new 2020 calendar!
2019 Calendars 40% Off
If you have my 2019 photo calendar, you are looking at the images below this month. Do you wish you had your own copy of the 2019 calendar? There are discounted 2019 calendars still available.
Conversation Starter
Attending a professional conference sometime soon? My recently earned wisdom is to wear interesting or amusing clothing relevant to your conference's topic. Case in point, I wore my Floppy Disk Dress to a digital preservation conference in mid-September. I think I had at least 10 conversations that day with people I might never have met - just because they stopped me in the hallway (and at the evening reception and in rooms where a session had just let out) to remark on the dress. I suspect I will be known as "the Floppy Disk Dress lady" for a while.For those receiving this newsletter who might be in the market for STEAM-themed clothing that include pockets and comes in sizes from XS through 5X, I highly recommend Svaha. (And yes, I was tweeting throughout the conference - but my tweet shown below was the most popular by far. It was seen by over 5,000 people!)
Thank you for your continued interest in my creative ventures!
Jeanne
2020 Photo Calendar
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