Second Flood-iversary

February 16th marks the end of my second year with Photo Flood St. Louis! (My how time flies...) I'm so grateful that I found this group and that I can count many of the members among my friends. I love that we all have different interests and different eyes, varying skill levels and equipment and NO EGOS.  Everyone is willing to learn and to teach. And we're all around the same age, give or take.

On our most recent Flood, a group of four of us were walking around together. We all stopped around the same time and took our shot. I looked back after taking mine and just laughed. All four of us were pointing in different directions - we had all seen different things. That moment there epitomizes the group.

In the last year, I have attended 19 of the 25 Floods and Mini-Floods available which is pretty amazing considering my work schedule. I won one Flood that I almost didn't attend and I thoroughly enjoyed myself on all adventures.

I've chosen my favorite 2 (or more) from each flood from this past year:

STL250 - Biggest Birthday Ball

   

STL250 - Burning Love

   

The Ville

  

Botanical Heights (McRee Town)

  

Goldenrod Showboat

  

Bevo Mill

  

Clayton

   

Soulard Market

  

Fairground Park

   

Compton Hill Water Tower

   

Downtown, pt 2

   

St. Louis Hills

   

World Bird Sanctuary

   

Tower Grove Park

   

Debalivere Place

  

The Trestle

   

Joern Wedding

    

Carondelet

  

Hamilton Heights

  

Ferguson

   


Here's to many more adventures!

Lucky Seven?

7 years and 874 posts ago, I started this blog because my interest in photography was starting to kick up. Little did I know, the photography bug was going to take hold and never let go. Every year, I've tried to learn at least one new things and am constantly printing off articles to read for later.

In the last year, my participation in photography exhibition world really took off. I finally started listening to the friends, family and colleagues who have been encouraging me for a little while and gave it a real go at applying. And it has certainly paid off:

• 5 juried exhibitions including:
• a city-wide photography contest
• my solo photography show debut at Third Degree Glass Factory

I couldn't be prouder.

I'm sure some readers of this blog have noticed that there's no Photo Project 2015. That is true and it just kind of happened. Part of it is because I was on vacation over the holidays and I didn't have myself together on that front. Part of it is because it has been kind of nice to be camera-free for awhile. I LOVED my trip over the holidays but I always had my camera in my hands. Plus, January was a SUPER busy month at work for me - two of the weeks were 90+ hours at work which doesn't leave much freedom. And, St. Louis is having a snow-less winter which doesn't leave much photogenic-ness around.

But what I *HAD* promised myself is that I would put myself out there for more exhibits. Entry fee or no entry fee, themed or unthemed. And then, I was given the opportunity to have a second solo show - kind of out of the blue. I'm grateful for the opportunity and grateful for the friends and family who helped me curate it one of the more insane weeks of my life. And I am extremely happy with the result.

And shortly after that, I received notification that I'll be in another exhibition running from February to June in a local hospital.

I've applied to or will be applying to at least two more... and already I will be meeting my self-imposed goal. I must keep finding great exhibitions to be a part of.

So here's to another good year in photography and blogging!

Task #5 - Visit All 50 States - Update #7

See older lists here and here and here and here and here and here.

In my most recent national park spree, I crossed off another one! 

States I've Lived In: (4)

California, Indiana, Missouri, Texas

States I've Worked In/Already Visited: (30)

Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wyoming

States I'm Already Planning On:

States That I Still Need To Visit: (16)

Delaware, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin

Minnesota, Tennessee, North Dakota, South Dakota will be crossed off during national park jaunts... but where should I go in the remaining ones? 

Task #22: Visit all the National Parks in the continental United States - UPDATE #4

I've made progress!! Knocked 5 more parks off the list. See below! I've made a lot of progress since 2008 when I made this original list. Went from 31 parks needed to 16 in only 6 years.

Here's info on the original post which explains why there might be some missing. And the second post here. And the most recent post here.

Visited But Don't Remember Clearly and/or Would Like To Revisit: (6)

Acadia (Maine), Badlands (South Dakota), Black Canyon (Colorado), Bryce Canyon (Utah), Canyonlands (Utah), Zion (Utah)

Visited and Remember Clearly and/or Visited Post-College: (27)

Big Bend (Texas) 1, 2, 3, Carlsbad Caverns (New Mexico),  Crater Lake (Oregon), Cuyahoga Valley National Park (Ohio), Death Valley National Park (California), Glacier National Park (Montana), Grand Canyon (Arizona), Grand Teton (Wyoming), Great Smoky Mountains (North Carolina/Tennessee), Guadalupe Mountains (Texas), Hot Springs (Arkansas), Joshua Tree (California), Kings Canyon (California),  Lassen Volcanic (California), Mammoth Cave (Kentucky), Mount Rainier (Washington), Mesa Verde (Colorado), North Cascades (Washington), Olympic (Washington), Petrified Forest (Arizona), Redwood (California), Rocky Mountains (Colorado), Saguaro (Arizona), Sequoia (California), Shenandoah (Virgina),  Yellowstone (Wyoming), Yosemite (California)

Still Need to Visit: (16)

Arches (Utah), Capitol Reef (Utah), Biscayne (Florida), Dry Tortugas (Florida), Everglades (Florida), Channel Islands (California), Pinnacles (California), Congaree (South Carolina), Great Basin (Nevada), Great Sand Dunes (Colorado), Isle Royale (Michigan), Theodore Roosevelt (North Dakota), Voyaguers (Minnesota), Wind Cave (South Dakota)

I've actually figured out the remaining trip pairings during Thanksgiving vacation:

Arches/Capitol Reef/Bryce Canyon/Canyonlands/Zion

Black Canyon/Great Sand Dunes

Channel Islands/Pinnacles

Congaree

Dry Tortugas/Everglades/Biscayne

Theodore Roosevelt/Wind Cave/Badlands

Voyaguers/Isle Royale

Great Basin

Now, just the time, funding, etc needs to happen. Anyone, anyone?

Big Bend National Park, Day 3

Alas, there were no clear skies for us in Big Bend National Park. Friday dawned windy and overcast. Our dreams of stargazing and star/Milky Way photography had to be put on hold.

We headed back to Persimmon Gap, our entry point into the park and took one last slightly off-road trail. Definitely flurried lightly and we saw many more frozen desert plants.

The weather pretty much went downhill from there. We were plagued by ice and sleet for the vast majority of the drive to El Paso. Made for pretty scenery but crappy driving. (Thank you, L, for driving in that mess)

Skies didn't clear until we got into El Paso proper. Ah well, Another trip should be on the books to try for those famous skies - Big Bend is one of the darkest sky rated parks.

But to leave things on a high and pretty note, let me leave you with all the stuff we found blooming and alive in the winter desert.

Cacti:

                   



Cholla:

   

Spiky, unknown plants:

           

Fruit-bearing cacti:

 



Pink/Purple flowers:

           

Yellow flowers:

     

       

Brown-ish:

         

Blooming:

   

And white flowers:

   



This trip was definitely worth the winter chill... and I look forward to revisiting some of these places in slightly warmer weather and with clearer skies!