Souvenir

Souvenir-

  • a thing that is kept as a reminder of a person, place, or event.

There are two pronunciations of souvenir  (soo-vuhneer or soovuh-neer) Which do you say?

Perhaps you avoid collecting souvenirs, adding to the accumulation.  I have a few examples. A salt and pepper shaker from Yellowstone Park purchased in 1963 by me.  A Volksmarch Stein and a ceramic tile from Grafenwoehr Germany where we lived for three years 1983-1986. A dish towel. Christmas ornaments (from my Ohio family’s collection) a refrigerator magnet with Beignets.

In our city there is a shop up on Mt. Washington called love, Pittsburgh where you can get Pittsburgh themed gifts. The Florida pillow was in the U of Florida bookstore but I did not purchase it. The demitasse cup and saucer from a favorite restaurant, La Cucina Flegrea, no longer in business.

Do you keep a souvenir or two or three? Any special mementos of a place you have visited?  My sister’s Coney Island Paperweight was a souvenir in Saturday’s gallery.

When my friend Ann sees this post she will write and say “Pitch them!”

Reports from Joanne in St. Augustine Florida – Guest Blog

Here is what is happening with my friend Joanne in St. Augustine.

A guest blog report in gallery form.   It was actually Joanne’s  idea to post photos from friends in different locations showing what they have been doing as they shelter in place and are isolated from friends and family.  Since she has been updating me daily I’m a bit overwhelmed cause she has been doing A LOT.   Her to do list and the documentation of it is lengthy.  Here are some of the photos that tell the story of her activities in St. Augustine Florida (where my sister and I visited just last month) Thanks for sharing Joanne.  I am posting your crossword still life first.

It tells a story all by itself. She titles them Isolation Day Activities.  Here’s the gallery with her photos.  One thing I can tell you for sure is that is a lot brighter where she is than Pittsburgh PA.

These photos were taken throughout the week, not just one day. Phew!

Then she and Dan visited through a sliding glass door window

My photos turn up in unexpected places when I search

One time I explored various tags of mine on the blog posts over the years.

For example        Dogs was one. Cats was another.

This evening I went to search “soup rutheh” to see some other images of soup that I’ve posted.  And there are a lot. Soup season in upon us.  I like to make soup.

But here is what else I found.  There were at least eight other websites/blogs using photographs I’ve taken without having asked permission and there’s no photo credit.  Over the past decade I have received requests from magazines, textbook authors, CD producers and  brochure creators and a television show, asking to use a photograph and  I’ve granted permission for them to do so.

It’s something to see an early morning school bus headlights and recognize the scene as one I captured being used on a site to illustrate “The Impact of School Start Times” .  One of the sites with my jar of jelly beans photographed in my former Photo Class is on a website that is No Longer Found but still, how can they just take it and use it without even asking?  Another site of What Do They Eat? has all of my minestrone ingredients with my Spode dish on my kitchen table.  I get the idea of the Pinterest pins in different categories and somehow the internet knows they are my photos even though they are showing up on other’s sites and posts because there they are coming up in my search. I know my grandson saw their family dog on someone else’s website about Airedales.  Taken from the blog.

I guess one puts a photograph out there into the world and others think it is just fine to snare it and use it.

For all the people who give photo credit and request permission, thank you.  It means a lot.

Here are a few of the photos that come up when I searched “soup rutheh” and were found on other sites

Minestrone Ingredients Still Life

FoggyMorningSchoolBusStop

 

Guess How Many Jelly Beans in a Glass Quart Jar

We’re Talking Trash Now      Why trash comes up with a “soup” search is beyond me.

 

Pot of English Breakfast Tea   On this one they did include my name


I knew this was my photo too, on another site  Essie’s Orginal Hot Dog Shop

Oh well, you get the idea. There were a few others.

 

Extracting the Abstract: Gallery in Color

Yesterday I met the weekly challenge in black and white.

Converting pics to black and white  helped them transform into ABSTRACT

Today I sifted through photos from nature and tried to extract the abstract.

abstract autumn reflection1.

 

bluebonnets from the bus2.

 

lemon3.

 

lobster4.

puddle reflection5.

 

peeling paint

bridge in autumn

 

7

 

  1. Upside down Monongahela River reflection in Autumn
  2. Bluebonnets and Paintbrush in a blur from the bus, Austin TX
  3. Lemon wedge
  4. Ed’s Lobster
  5. Puddle reflection
  6. Peeling Paint
  7. Homestead Grays Bridge upside down- definititely still literal.

So I guess I think turning the image makes them abstract?

Fun to play with bits and pieces of photographs, like a jigsaw puzzle.

 

 

52 in 2016- Week #1 Reflection

The other day I was reading Say it With a Camera blog.   Mike Hardisty’s accomplishment of 52 in 2015 intrigued me.    I read about how to participate in the weekly themed challenge.  The part that appealed to me is you have to take photographs during the week of the theme- no archived shots.  I read the rules of the group and signed on the participate in the 52 in 2016 Challenge and Day 1 of Week 1 is Monday January 4th.

I like the idea of a new goal in photography. Actively working on something different.  A challenge.

Week #1 theme is reflection.  Today I was watching my grandson Charlie while his mom, Laura, was packing away the Christmas tablecloth and cleaning up the kitchen. She had just polished the electric kettle and I was standing there in her kitchen and thought, reflection.

 

Reflection Week #1