The Digital Academy, through the Adams Center and the Learning Studio, took faculty and staff to Gruene, Texas and spent the weekend helping them get the most out of their digital cameras.

Since I had only used the SLR three times, and my husband’s camera only to take photos of him that he had set up, I was a novice, a rube, a veritable beginner.

I am pleased with the pictures that I took at Gruene. These are pictures of the others who were at the Digital Academy photography workshop.

These first few are in Gruene Hall.

Kristen:

Brent:

Cynthia:

Images I took in 2011 at the Fall retreat. I am moving them from a different blog.

While you might expect that these pictures will be of the pottery at the Clay Festival, they are not so much. These are primarily the people I saw at the pottery show.

I only actually looked at the pottery in two booths. I couldn’t afford either set and I decided to stay away from the other booths because of that disappointment. I have since found out that I missed some amazing photo shoots because of that.

Perhaps next year I can go to the Clay Festival for its own sake (with my camera, nevertheless).

These first two pictures were of shoppers in the very first shop as I entered the festival grounds. I was amazed that I got shots good enough to actually see in the camera and, if their composition was not the best, at least it was a matter of simple cropping to bring them in line with the rule of thirds.

Gruene Clay Festival pots and lady in blue:

Gruene Clay Festival white capped shopper:

These next two are among my favorites, not because of their great composition, but because I love the colors. I think it was both relevant and potentially enlightening that the folks in the brightest colored outfits (me included) all had a tendency to drift towards the colorful pottery.

Gruene Clay Festival colorful ladies:

I love this composition because of the clarity of their accessories and the fact that their bright colors complement/coordinate with the bright pottery plates behind them on the wall.

Gruene Clay Festival colorful ladies with colorful pots:

Though this was actually among the last of the photos I shot at the festival, the coherency of the photo essay format requires that the pictures be grouped in a rational, visually understandable way. That means the two colorful ladies prints went together.

Here is a closer view of what both the colorful ladies and the older couple who are featured immediately afterwards were looking at so carefully.

Gruene Clay Festival frogs:

I loved these frogs. I didn’t even look at the price, though, because I hadn’t been able to afford the plainer, more simple autumnal plates that I admired. I also thought of my mother when I saw them.

I used to collect frogs, you see, and when we had a little bit of money, Mother would purchase a frog or two for me. They were always terribly kitschey and I dumped them at a Goodwill somewhere years ago–all except for the tiny pewter frog with the small crown on his head. I carried that into my married life with me and, though I don’t know where it is anymore, I still treasure it in memories.

I don’t have anywhere for these frogs to look beautiful, but I wished I did. I would have enjoyed owning one of these guys and, perhaps, just having him perch on the edge of the fireplace in the living room–even if that isn’t a typical froggy home.

Gruene Clay Festival couple shopping:

The fact that they are in Christmas-related colors, complementary rather than analogous, was evocative to me, as was the patience the older gentleman portrayed throughout the buying process at the frog-potter’s stand.

Gruene Clay Festival bargain hunting:

Really what tickles my fancy about this essay is that the older gentleman is waiting quite patiently for his lady, while a rather large hound dog hunts with his nose in the background.

Gruene Clay Festival waiting for wives:

Aside from the alliteration of the title, which appeals to my Old English-honed sensibilities, I like:
1. That the older gentleman’s wife is right in front of him, concentrating on her pottery purchase.
2. That the waiting of the older gentleman in the forefront of the picture is mirrored by the man in the background, with a similar cowboy hat, but a less patient arm fold.

Images from a soon-to-be-defunct website. From Fall Break 2011.
Dora has since retired.

Dora G– W– is the Learning Studio librarian and an old friend, from when her husband and I were in graduate school together. She is incredibly photogenic and I had fun shooting her (photographically only) this last weekend. She was a good sport and allowed the annoyance.

Unfortunately I was not able to upload the best black and white of Dora. Apparently I did something odd to it and made it too large. I will try to reconfigure it and put it up later.

Images from the fall of 2011 and posts I made on a different website back then…

One thing I did while I was playing with iPhoto and learning to use it was that I “fixed” pictures which were just too uninteresting or weird by making them look more like a piece of graphic design (which of course most of them were, since they were human-made) or art.

So, just for fun, here are some crazy pictures of things around Gruene.

Then, of course, once I had started that, I had to go in and take some pictures I liked but that didn’t work for one reason or another and play with them, too.

I had a lot of fun with this and hope that you enjoyed, or at least didn’t hate, the Made Art pieces here.

From a soon-to-be-defunct blog. Images taken Fall Break 2011.
One of the things I like to do, have thought about doing, think is cool (or some such), is to do a series of shots that are all about the texture. I like the idea, but I have so far found that my ability to produce what I am looking for is lacking.

If you want to see a wonderful motorcycle picture, see Dora’s from the Digital Academy weekend. (The biker picture is excellent as well.)  If you want to see a wonderful brick walkway picture, see Cynthia’s from the Digital Academy weekend. Unfortunately neither of mine worked out.

However, I do like what I did with the corrugated metal that was on a building on the main street, just around the corner from Hunter Rd.

Here is the series:

Corrugated Metal Series- 1

Corrugated Metal Series- 3

Corrugated Metal Series- 5

What I wrote and did:
Of the whole series, I think 1 and 3 are the best, followed by 5. However, I am not sure about what other people would think. I have gotten positive comments on 1 and 5, but not so much on 3. So why did I put up all five and not just the three best? Because I took them to be a long swathe, getting smaller and smaller. If I just did three it might be better, but it might not.

Why I thought better of it:
I realized that really, with pictured art as well as words, a person showing each step is not necessarily the best choice. Sometimes the point is to show a progression in a larger movement. So I am going to edit this and leave only 1, 3, and 5. I think the series is actually stronger without 2 and 4.

What this means:
It means that even after the Digital Academy weekend is (mostly) over–because we are having lunch tomorrow–I am still learning.

I am moving things from a soon-to-be-defunct blog. These images were from Fall 2011.

I love to look at antiques. And the antique store in Gruene, on the corner of Gruene and Hunter, has some amazing collections. They don’t have any blue glass I don’t already own, which is good, but they do have some other wonderful things.

Almost all of these pictures had to be lightened because I took them Saturday morning when I still didn’t understand light and the camera and what controlled what. However, I think they are good and I like looking at them.

Though I had intended to post them in no particular order, I ended up putting them in the order I found them in the store. I wish I had known then that I could figure out how to lighten the photos in iPhoto, because there were many other things I would have taken pictures of. Nevertheless, I did get some I liked and I will share them with you.

Spurs that jingle jangle jingle:

Yes, I learned that song in first or second grade. If you don’t know the song, you may wonder why I mention that. It’s because it is a folk song about a single guy who would rather roam than commit–but enjoys his multiple girlfriends in various towns.

“Oh Bessie Lou, Oh Bessie Lou,
Though we’ve done a heap of dreaming this is why it can’t come true…
Oh Sally Jane, Oh Sally Jane,
Though I’d love to stay forever this is why I can’t remain…”

And the chorus says:
“I’ve got spurs that jingle, jangle, jingle,
as I go riding merrily along.
And they sing, ‘Oh ain’t you glad you’re single?’
And that song ain’t so very far from wrong.”

I’ve thought up other lines over the years, because it is that kind of song.

“Oh ‘Manda Jo, Oh ‘Manda Jo,
Though I know I said I love you, this is why it isn’t so…
Oh Sarah Kate, Oh Sarah Kate,
While I said that we would marry, this is why you shouldn’t wait..
Oh Lisa Lyn, Oh Lisa Lyn,
You may see me, but I really don’t know when…”

Early modern kitchenware:

I liked the fact that the owners or sellers put this stack of light blue plates in/on two white and red kitchen tables.

99 plates of blue willow:

There were so many… I don’t know if they are really blue willow, but they are white and blue and the idea of 99 bottles of beer on the wall came up as I looked at the stacks of plates. I’m not sure why, except that there seemed to be so many.

Chichenitza bag and serapes:

I liked the fact that they placed an unzipped travel bag of leather, tooled with pictures of Chichenitza, on one or more colorful serapes, typical of the “cultural” fare sold around Corpus Christi as Mexican forty years ago when I was a young girl living there.

Brown leather purse:

I will say that this was the first of four attempts to get this purse captured in the camera and surprisingly it was the best of the bunch. I was sure I would have gotten better with each snap of the button, but such was not the case.

Gruene antique store toys:

I think of this picture as “airplane with bunny” but that seems a little odd, so I gave it the more prosaic title. I don’t know why, since I went with 99 plates and jingling spurs; I suppose I thought there was enough frivolity for this post already extant.