Photography quotes to live by!

 Today I have decided to post some really good quotes about Photography. Some are hilarious while others make you go aaaahhh that makes sense. Either way I hope you enjoy!

“There is only you and your camera. The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are.”
-Ernst Haas

“Photography is my one recreation and I think it should be done well.”
-Lewis Carroll

“A true photograph need not be explained, nor can it be contained in words.”
-Ansel Adams

Best wide-angle lens? Two steps backward. Look for the 'ah-ha'.
-Ernst Haas

The camera doesn't make a bit of difference. All of them can record what you are seeing. But, you have to SEE.
-Ernst Haas

“No man has the right to dictate what other men should perceive, create or produce, but all should be encouraged to reveal themselves, their perceptions and emotions, and to build confidence in the creative spirit.”
- Ansel Adams

I hate cameras.  They are so much more sure than I am about everything. 
~John Steinbeck

"The photographic image ... is a message without a code."
-Roland Barthes, French thinker

"I am always surprised when I see several cameras, a gaggle on lenses, filters, meters, et cetera, rattling around in a soft bag with a complement of refuse and dust. Sometimes the professional is the worst offender!"
-Ansel Adams, The Camera

"Notebook. No photographer should be without one!"
-Ansel Adams, The Camera

"To photograph truthfully and effectively is to see beneath the surfaces and record the qualities of nature and humanity which live or are latent in all things."
-Ansel Adams

"Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop"
-Ansel Adams

"Life is like a good black and white photograph, there's black, there's white, and lots of shades in between." -Karl Heiner










So I am really bad on this post, I forgot to save all the website I saw this on. I do know this I just googled Photography quotes. Happy hunting.

A veil so thin, you too can see.

Halloween by many is a time for fun. Candy, parties, dressing up. For others it's a time to celebrate a life once lived. 

It is said when the sun goes down on Halloween, that the veil between the world of the living and the would of loved ones passed entwine.

In the Celtic religion it is said that on this day, the druids would perform rituals in the open land. They would sacrifice crops, animals, and in some cases humans. They would create a bonfire,the original word meaning "bone fire". Meaning bones of animals and sometimes humans sacrificed. These bonfires are said to fight against evil powers. Sometimes stayed lit until the coming of spring.

It was once written in the Canadian Immigrant magazine that.
"Celts believed that on the night of Samhain, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred, and the ghosts of the dead returned to earth."

Spirits whether they were good or bad were able to walk among us. The tradition was born where we wore masks and costumes in hopes of trying to scare away the evil spirits.

Have you ever noticed that the month of October seems like the most active month of the whole year. Maybe it's just our imagination running wild with the anticipation of October 31st to come.

For me I am a believer of the thin veil theory, I have had many experiences with spirits since I was young. More than I would like to count and I have also learned to live with the gift I believe I have.

My experiences:
When I was about 5, I got woken up to being shaken so hard I thought it was an earthquake. Only to find out the next morning there was no such earthquake.

I was around 13 maybe 14 when I had this dream of this incredible woman. We were in her house, a house straight out of the 50's, so home like. I was sitting on the couch looking out the window and had noticed fields and fields of green grass,So green it was almost cartoon like. Out in the fields were trees with the wind rustling the branches and making the leaves fall. I know sounds like heaven, It was. I was given a message, to tell my mom "I am alright." I gave this message to my mom not knowing who this woman was, only to find out after the tears rolled down her face, that this woman was her godmother who just died not more than a year prior.

When I was 16 or 17 I was woken by my mom, she was telling me that she was going to go get something to drink. I thought it was strange for my mom to be waking me up in the middle of the night, just to tell me she was getting something to drink. I told her "O.k. I'll come with you", I reached down grabbed my flashlight and turned it on. No one..hmmm...she was just standing there. So I grabbed my flashlight walked down to the kitchen, only a couple minutes behind my mom, to realize I was alone. The time...after 3am.

I have lived in now 3 houses right after the other, that have been haunted. This makes house 3 that I am currently living in, but I have grown to appreciate that we have to live together, whether I can see them or not. Of course we get the flashes of light in the corner of the room. The occasional "shhh..did you just hear that, I swear I just heard someone talking." Nothing would be complete though without the occasional apparition.

I am a believer, I think I always will. This rumor about the veil being thin, it's possible. Do I believe? Oh yeah I do! The question for you is DO YOU BELIEVE?

Here are a couple pages I got most of my information from. http://www.jeremiahproject.com/culture/halloween.html and http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/blogs/thesearch/archive/2010/10/29/thin-places-don-t-only-open-at-halloween.aspx

Bridgeport, Penn Valley, CA

Have you every had one place that draws you into the history, the peaceful surround, and the gorgeous views. I have and that place for me is Bridgeport. Doesn't matter how many times I go even if it's for 5 minutes, It never disappoints me. This place to me is my thinking place, it gives me the quietness I need to sort through my thoughts and in turns gives me answers I'm looking for.

There are a couple hiking trails that take you into a world of your own. One more intense than the other but both with beautiful sceneries. If you choose trail number one so simple yet you hike along a cliff while looking at the river's current as you go. At the end is a small spot I call my thinking spot. In the picture below you can see why.

If you choose trail number two is it the intense one of the two and will not disappoint. You set off into what seems like a forest in the fairy tells. You hike along the forest's edge with a few glimpses of the river as you go along. At the end of your journey you will find a place where two parts of the river join into one. In a way it creates a triangle of sorts. You now have two options you can continue on the trail which creates a circle in the end or go the way you have prevoious came. Here is your warning though, if you continue on be prepared for the steep incline. While you climb you will get a great view too of the river you hike along. You are almost at the end, the river is gone, and you think how much further. Well I can tell you not much further, you will come across a green field, with a bench. You must sit on it and take a break. Listen what do you hear....Nothing. Nothing but the birds, the wind (if the conditions are right), and your thoughts.

"The Bridgeport Covered Bridge on the South fork of the Yuba River is one of the longest single-span wooden bridges in America measuring in at over 230 feet. The bridge here was originally constructed in 1862 and was part of the Virginia Turnpike Company Toll Road that served the northern mines and traffic to and from Virginia City and the Comstock Lode in Nevada."

If you would like to read up more about the place, the history, or how to get there here is the site for you. enjoy!
http://www.pennvalleycoc.org/html/bridgeport.html


A side note all pictures taken by me.

Ansel Adams

I have decided to do my first blog post on Ansel Adams.  I know its cliche since everyone out there, when given an assignment, would go straight to him.  For me his work is so breathtaking, that I can spend hours searching for his photographs.  Believe me I have.

Ansel Adams was born in San Francisco to an upper class family. At the age of four the 1906 earthquake tossed Ansel Adams face first into a garden wall, breaking his nose.  After the Panic of 1907, his families income had dropped dramatically.  By the age of 12 in 1915 he was taken out of private school and was private tutored, until 1917 when he graduated 8th grade. He later hung his diploma in the guest bathroom of his home.

At age of  12 he taught himself to play the piano. Playing brought him ' substance, discipline, and structure to his frustrating and erratic youth'. In 1916 his family took him on a trip to Yosemite, where his father gave him his first camera. An Kodak Brownie Box Camera and his first shot gave him the enthusiastic start he needed. The following year he returned with a better camera and tripods.

I can go on and on about his life. It fascinates me, his life of photography, how he got there, and the gorgeous pictures he took.  He was not only a great photographer but was multifaceted in the learning of knowledge he seeked.

I have decided to dedicated my first entry to his work and his life. I hope you all enjoyed!

                                                   Ansel Adams
                                                   February 20, 1902 - April 22 1984

If you want to read more you can find all the information that I had gotten from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansel_Adams