Roll out those lazy hazy days of summer...

OK, so it isn't quite summer yet, but this spring has been so mild and with the temperature getting in the upper 80's lately I'm thinking about summer.  Perhaps because I'm not cooped up in an office building and able to step outside at leisure, I'm encouraged by the smells, sights and feel of the sun.

This past month I spent a warm Sunday afternoon by myself at Hoyt Park to photograph the creek that runs alongside. I recall early days, when along with my bother and perhaps some neighborhood friends, we would walk or bike there to go swimming. The getting there and getting home was quite adventurous.  After crossing Bluemound road; we went through the County Hospital Grounds (now Froedtert); then hiked a field and finally had to cross the creek.  Most of the time there were "stepping stones" but sometimes they were underwater and bloodsuckers were common. Those were truly lazy hazy days of summer.

The pool had rules back then.

1. Showers were mandatory before we entered and they were always cold. 
2. We had to stop to spread out our toes to be examined before entering the pool area.  I'm not sure why, perhaps athletes foot was running rapid at the time. 
3. All females had to wear bathing caps so after several afternoons at the pool I had a wonderful tan line around my face.  
4. Nothing was allowed in the pool except ourselves - no towels, toys etc.  If we got cold, we would go to a sunny dry spot on the cement and lay down to warm up. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't and we just got blue lips and shivered, but never, never wanted to go home.

So fast forward to now...click here for a complete list of the TOSA POOL rules.

Getting back to the creek - here are a few photos of how the creek looks today - I did not see any blood suckers.

Self Portrait

The current assignment from the Digital Photography School is a Self-Portrait.  They suggest taking a photograph of yourself everyday for two weeks.  It's supposed to be a good exercise in that practicing on yourself translates into taking better portraits of others. So early this morning, well not too early, maybe about 8:30 or so, I headed to the backyard to figure out a way to do this by myself.  Thinking the bright early morning sun would be great light, I setup my camera to snap several closeups with a 10 second delay, giving me time to get into position.  I took about eight photos, but only kept two.

This close-up was actually taken while I was setting up my camera in the shade.

This full head shot was in full sunlight.

What I learned is to not take a photo of someone in direct sunlight, too many shadows and not flattering with an overexposed face.  I did edit the "raw" photo quite a bit to even see who the person is.  Anyway I'm not sure I'll attempt any more self-portraits for awhile.  I hope the next assignment is not so terrifying.

carolea2012's photostream

carolea2012's photostream on Flickr.

April, 2012 Photos resulting from my first digital photography workshop. Two locations: Sharon Wilson Center for the Arts in Brookfield, WI and Downtown/Lakefront Milwaukee, WI. Several were processed in black and white. Two of those were posted to the Digital Photography School internet site for consideration in the "Landscapes: Urban Black and White" assignment. Can you guess which two?