Spooky Time and Senior Portraits

Hello again dear readers. I hope this finds you doing well today. As I write this, we are on the verge of another weekend. This week just flew by if you ask me and I can't believe that October is just around the corner! Technically a good thing for me, as I love all things October! I actually dug my sweaters out of storage the other day in preparation!!! Buzz and I have a couple of fun trips planned, like the Pumpkin Blaze and the haunted Albany tour. I can not wait! Hot cocoa time and all things spooky...yes, that's for me! And who knows what I will photograph :) Something spooky and beautiful I hope.

What's not spooky though, is what else comes around this time of year. Senior portrait time is here again and I was lucky enough to have a shoot just for that last weekend. She wanted to do something a little different than the norm. So I chose Washington park as our background and boy, did we get lucky with the weather. We could not have asked for anything better than last Saturday. While my style tends to lean toward the more odd, I reigned it in a bit and I think we were able to get some beautiful and interesting photos that will be totally unique to her. My tip for a session like this is to listen to your subject, discover what they really want and work together with them to create that vision. Allow them some wardrobe changes and props. Let their personality shine through :) I am posting a few below and giving a shout out to Michaella for a wonderful shoot! Congratulations to you and the class of 2015!

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend! Happy Haunting :)
Anna

For Mark

Well hello there. How have you all been since my last entry? Good I hope. Fall arrived here in Upstate quite quickly. To be honest, the changing of the seasons came, literally from one day to the next. I am not complaining though, because I love this time of year! Crisp air and the smell of wood smoke in the air...ah perfection.Our leaves are changing here, but slowly. I hope that in another week or so we have some really good color. Yea, photographers dream! I hope you are enjoying this time of year as much as I am.

On to other things...I was talking with a friend this morning about writing. He heard that writers should write every day no matter what. No matter if its good or not, just get the words flowing. This is true and something I tend to do every day no matter what. My house is littered with little scraps of paper with scribbled words on them, notebooks filled with stories that I write when I have writers block. Sometimes an idea will come to me while I am in the shower and I will have to jot it down as soon as I am out. Like this thought I had today, 'What would a con look like in the 1600's? And if Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were really Vampires, would they be a part of it?' You know, something ala Oceans 11 maybe. I jotted it down and it went right on the pile of scribbles. Whoever cleans out my place after I am gone will be in for a treat, lol! Lots of paper, words and library books. Did I mention that I buy old library books? Our library here sells old books, $2.00 for a bag full. I always get my bag full :)

Anyway, on to the writing. Yes, its true...writers write. Sometimes every day. I generally wake up with a mission to create something every day if possible. Photos, Painting, Writing...I try to do something every single day. That's what it's all about, isn't it. There is so much beauty out there in life, in this great big world...I like to contribute to that beauty when I can. No matter if its good or bad. No matter if anyone likes it or not, because that's what its all about. You can choose to be positive and fill your space with words that feed your mind or art even when the world outside is hard. It can be a comfort food for your soul and a soft blanket for your mind. Create my friends and see what beautiful things start to bloom! Feed your soul...

 So Mark, this is what I wrote today. It's rough, bad even, but I find it very funny and funny is good right now!

They Never Call:

Castle

Stone walls

She waits

Endless fields of green

Spread out over the vastness of time

She waits

Line of sight on the blue horizon

No horses today

She waits

Tear stained cheeks

Feelings of love lost

She waits

Years fly past

Time stands still

She waits

The Reaper’s at the door

He knocks with bony knuckles

She’s dead

Death took her in his arms

Her love never called

She waits…………..

No more

Have a wonderful week my friends.

Light & Love~Anna

Super Moon

So, I waited patiently last night to snap some photos of the last Super Moon of the year...I got 1, LOL, To my detriment, I did not have my tripod with me because I was on a sloping surface. You almost always need it to shoot something like this, but I really need is a new telephoto lens. I have been looking at new camera and lens packages, and I think I may have settled on the Nikon D3200, 24mp DSLR. If any of you have used this camera before, drop me a line and let me know how you like it. I LOVE my Olympus so I know that this will be a hard switch for me, but I think I need to step it up a bit.

Don't let this detract from the beauty of the Super Moon though! It was an amazing site and I am glad I got to witness it. How about you? Did you get any photos of the moon last night?

Hope you are having a great week out there :) Keep snapping my friends!
Anna

18 Chapters Done!!!!

Ok, so I surprised myself yesterday by writing 3 full chapters. That makes a total of 18 so far and that is also sort of a big deal for me! The manuscript I have been working on has been in the works for a few years now and it feels really good to be almost done with it. Now, fingers crossed that the rest of it writes itself as smoothly. Sometimes it's hard to get the vision in your head down on paper and sometimes your characters fight with you for a new outcome. I am excited to see where they let me take it.

Anyway, thought a would share a snippet that I wrote yesterday. This is the beginning of my chapter 17, hope you enjoy:

My Dearest Love-

I am most sorry that I was not able to travel back to the city with you. Leaving you in the care of others was a very difficult thing for me to do, however, Mary is a most capable woman with admirable qualities. She has informed me that you actually know one another and she looks forward to continuing friendship with you. I can rest assured that you, my love, are in capable hands.

I do not know when I may see you again, as this war seems to consume me. The army made some progress at Manmouth. A victory of sorts and I thought that you would want to know that I believe the tide has started to turn. Just as you said it would. I do not dare to hazard a guess at how you know the things you know, but your constant support of our cause and my men is enough to keep me moving forward.

I continue to pray for your recovery and long for the day when I might hold you in my arms again. You have become my constant in such a short amount of time, so much so, that I find it hard to fathom. We know each other it would seem, so well and yet, I long to know more. To know that your thoughts are consumed of me too is one of my greatest wishes. I meant what I said to you dear heart. I may not be able to promise you all you deserve, but I will continue to provide you with all that I have.

Please do not be cross with me when you wake. I did not know that the doctor had plans to bleed you and upon my return, I almost whipped him for it. The amount of the loss was little and I dare say that you did start to rally afterwards. Mary has continued to send me word of your health and I am encouraged by what she says. You will be well soon and we shall all be glad for it.

Until the day that I may return to you, I ask you to please remember that I love you most ardently, and If I am not to return, please know that my last thoughts were most certainly of you dear heart. I have been blessed by your grace. You are my life, you are my love, and you are my everything.

Loving regards-

(C) Anna Patten 2014

I am leaving out who it's from on purpose, lol. You will have to wait and see when it's all done. Again, I want to take a moment to thank you for all the support. It has meant more to me and has encouraged me at times when I wanted to throw in the towel. 

I hope this week is a good one for you as we go into the last days of summer. Remember to keep dreaming my friends and always try to stay on the sunny side :) Happy Monday!

Anna

Happy Friday My Friends!

Well hello and happy Friday to all my friends out there. This week went by fast, didn't it? Happy that the weekend has arrived though. Not much to report, as this month has been somewhat quieter than the last. That's good in a way, gives me more time to accomplish what I want. How has summer been for you?

I have a couple of shoots coming up and I was able to get out and take a few of myself the other day.  I have a few art donations going out too. The one below is headed to the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society for their annual Art Saves Animals benefit. We found our Lola there so I am more than happy to help with this wonderful cause. I shot this in March and you can find this mural in downtown Albany off of Broadway.

I think that about wraps it up in my neck of the woods today. I hope that you are enjoying these last days of summer and are making great memories with loved ones! Stay safe and have fun my friends :)
Anna

Self Portrait Project 2014

Ok, while on the surface this post will seem extremely vain. Self centered even, but let me explain. Like most of my gal pals out there, I tend to pick myself apart any chance I can. Who's with me? As women I think that we are just conditioned to do that for whatever reason and I think I have just had enough of it. Enough of looking at magazines and the internet and seeing perfect bodies and faces everywhere. Enough self hating on myself or other women. Enough wishing that I could change something on my face or for lord sake, my thighs! I don't have a flat tummy and I suffer from boob butt syndrome, lol! I have them in spades and I tend to look down on them instead of embracing my curves.Well, enough! Enough of the male dominated, social media, fashion magazine culture that tells us that we have to be on and perfect all the time. Haven't you had enough? There is way too much fat shaming out there...skinny shaming too. Did you know that now the debate is about thigh gaps or lack of thigh gaps? It's just crazy!

When my daughter was born, I swore I would never let her pick herself apart. I told her every day that she is a beautiful and wonderful person, both inside and out. After all, our children are gifts and should be cherished. However, some of my self loathing leaked out of me and onto her, for lack of a better analogy. For she too has developed the same syndrome as her Mother and my Mother and all of the other ladies out there. It is sad really...sort of breaks my heart. My syndrome got worse after I suffered a bells palsy a few years ago from untreated lyme disease. Because I did not know I had been bit, and it was untreated, lyme is with me for life now and I deal with its effects every day. So, after I healed and my face got back to normal, well the new normal really, I tend to struggle to find myself in the mirror every time I look. It has been hard and damaging and a whole bunch of other emotions. I tend to beat myself up for it a lot.

So, I thought that I would start a sort of project to see if I could find something beautiful about myself. I do not usually like photos of myself, I picked that trait up from someone who I love, but will remain nameless. So, today I shot some selfies. Something I am not super good at, but I try. Don't worry, there are no duck lips to be seen, lol. I picked 4 that had something I liked about myself in them. These are not photo-shopped at all. (but I do have makeup on.) I just brightened them a bit. My faults are there, I have crows feet, a somewhat droopy eye and some weight to me. But it's ok. My eyes have seen beautiful things through the lens of my camera and my smile has greeted many friends warmly. My body brought a wonderful girl into this world and helped my husband through some tough times.

Today, I choose to stand up for myself and say enough is enough Anna. I hope that maybe it may inspire all the ladies out there too. You are beautiful! You are good and kind and enough just the way you are. Go ahead, hug yourself. Like your shoulders and your toes. It's ok. And maybe if we all start to love ourselves, we can change the world? Well at least our world, lol! After all, life is far too short to be anything but happy with yourself.

Have a blessed day my Mothers, my Sisters, my Daughters!

Photo Copyright Anna Patten 2014

Busy Summer & Other Stuff

So sorry, I know it has been a bit since I posted here. This summer has been incredibly busy for us and it does not seem to be slowing down anytime soon either. I enjoy being busy, but I must admit, I am looking forward to our vacation in October! Need a bit of downtime to recharge. How has the summer been for all of  you? I hope that this summer has brought many happy memories with your loved ones.

I have been doing a lot of writing this summer. I am happy to say, I am almost finished with the book I have been working on. I have 15 chapters done so far and expect about 5 or so more before this book is done. For the times that I have encountered writers block with the novel, I have taken to just writing whatever pops into my head. It has helped some and I think I could put all my ramblings together and make something of them....I could, lol, not sure if I will though. However, I could share one or two. Below is one of those ramblings:

Can you die of a broken heart? Can the heartache of it all reach down into parts of  your soul? Can it reach parts of you that you didn't even know you had and splinter them into jagged pieces that you cut yourself on every time you feel? These were questions that I was slowly finding out the answers to.

It had been three days since the news hit my ears and sucked all of the air out of my lungs.  Three days since the shadows darkened my vision and blurred my surroundings with tears that never seemed to dry up. The depths of this well I was in, knew no limit. What was worse was the fact that I was stuck in the past. Stuck reliving memory after painfully beautiful memory.

The current memory of choice was of a beautiful afternoon spent in a field of heather and earth. Brilliant sunshine touched all the loving faces gathered around us. With Lilly's wound in my hair and lips oh so red, I whispered, "I do."  The sunlight reflected off the darker hues of his blonde hair, I remember that it seemed to glow in the warm light.  He smiled, whispering the same and then those close to us cheered as he kissed those oh so red lips with promise. We had so much ahead of us. Wonders of a beautiful life stretched out over the path of time. 

Time...now there was a funny word. It gave you the illusion of infinity, but then slipped through your fingers like grains of sand. And just like that, everything was gone. Stolen in the middle of the night with just one phone call

(C) 2014 Anna Patten

I don't know if there is anything to this or not, but I thought I would share anyway. Maybe after my book is done, I will pick this up where I left off...

Anyway, I hope that you all have a wonderful weekend. Make sure to get out and do something fun. Go get some ice cream and sit outside in the grass. Feel the sand between your toes or the wind in your hair! Summer is fleeting and we must enjoy it while we can! 

Happy Lammas to all my Pagan friends and happy weekend to all of my friends.

Anna