CHEAP CAMERA/10 SECOND TIMER SELF-PORTRAITURE

Monday, May 16, 2011

The Fog is Slowly Lifting


(All pics. snapped on 5/14/11)

The last couple of weeks have been nothing short of a technological nightmare. Like I've seriously felt as if some sort of hex has been placed on me, or that I've done something to piss off the technology gods. On the upside, I've kept myself busy during the downtime - by tidying up my yard, my studio and my house. The bad news though, is that my poor Little Pretties has suffered terrible neglect. Additionally, some funky stuff went down on The Big Ugly's comment board - and this is something that I must explain to readers "Reddogg54" and "Adrian Hudson"...both of whom recently left wonderfully sweet comments about me, my pics. and the blog. 

K, here's the deal: over about a 24 hour period, sometime last week - Blogger was down and I was not able to login to my account, respond to or post comments, or work on entries for either of my blogs. When Blogger was finally back up and running, not only did I discover (upon trying to post it) - that Reddogg54's comment "no longer exists", but two of Adrian Hudson's comments (which had already been posted) had mysteriously been deleted, as had my reply to them...I was so bummed. I couldn't stand that those guys might be sitting there thinking, "What tha hell? She deleted (didn't post) my comment(s)!" 

Anyway, I just wanted to let you two know that although I have no earthly clue why it happened - I am awfully sorry about the snafu...Lord knows I would never do anything to intentionally slight either one of you like that.


Oddly enough (aside from the glitch with the comments) I haven't been all that bothered by not being able to tend to my blogs. Matter of fact, even before everything blog/photo-related essentially went to hell in a hand-basket - I had decided to slow down the frenetic pace at which I'd been snappin' self-portraits and candids, over these last few months - in the hopes that it might be beneficial to my work, in the short term as well as the long run. In other words, I was feeling a wee bit burned-out...and I believed that a brief break would do me and my pictures some good.

It's not uncommon for me to do this, from time to time (as I'm sure by now, you well know). To sort of shut myself off from the rest of the world, so I can sort out whatever may have become rocky or uncertain in my life, or to evaluate my current situation, and ponder potential solutions to whatever may have become problematic. And a classic side-effect of these cyclical reclusive periods - is that basically I've no desire to talk/write...much at all...


As this past weekend approached however, I felt a vague desire to resurface...and possibly even socialize a smidge. So when a friend invited me to come over and visit, it actually sounded appealing...


I had left clearing, almost sunny skies - when I drove from my town towards his place on the mountain, but as I neared the top of that band of the Blue Ridge - the weather conditions dramatically changed. It was much cooler and rainy, and visibility was practically nil - because of a dense fog that had draped itself over the mountaintop. The closer I got to my destination, the more and more anxious I became. I just wanted to be done with the treacherous driving, not so much because I was worried about whether I'd make it to my friend's place in one piece or not, but because for the first time in nearly two weeks - I was seriously jonesin' to do some self-portraits...and since dusk threatened to steal what was left of that fabulously thick, eerie light (the very reason for my urgency to take self-snaps, in the first place) I knew that I needed to just get there...and fast

All I can say is, thank goodness I had the sense to pack up my camera, before heading to my friend's house that night. I hadn't really planned on even taking any pics., but I'd figured it certainly couldn't hurt to carry my gear along...in the event that something should chance to come up.

My friend greeted me in the driveway as I parked my car, hopped out, and spastically gathered what I needed for the shoot. I quickly explained that I'd come inside in a minute - but if it was ok with him, I'd reeeeally like to take a few pictures in the fog first.

I shot from 7:54 to 8:25, at which point nighttime put my spontaneous shoot to bed. I was so thrilled to have snapped a total of 52 frames - that I didn't pay much mind to the cuts on my feet, from having run back and forth across sharp rocks and broken glass...

This impromptu shoot was in no way a panacea for everything that's gone haywire in my life, of late...but it definitely helped to lift the gloomy, heavy fog - that's been draped over me lately...

10 comments:

  1. Hi Lauralyn

    You are not the only one who was hit by Bloggers glitches, I know a few blogs who suffered the same...lost comments, someone who had to republish their whole archive and someone who even lost whole posts.

    These pictures are amazing.....I think the last one is my favourite, the hint of the female form in the eerie setting. Perfect.

    Glad you are feeling a little less foggy, I can sympathize though, I am feeling pretty foggy myself and not taken a single picture for a couple of weeks now but am going to try and change that today.

    Mollyxxx

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  2. Oh, wow, REALLY awesome shots!! These just might be some of your best work ever, IMO!

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  3. @Molly - Woah...Sounds like I should consider myself LUCKY then! I woulda totally FREAKED if I'd had to re-publish my entire blog! That's awful...

    Yeah, I dunno...what tha heck is WRONG with us?! Haha! Nah...we're probably fine, you know? I think it's perfectly normal for artists to experience peaks and valleys in their productivity, motivation, and in the quality of their work...Take some new pics. today, Molly...I betcha anything it'll make you feel a million times better :)

    (P.S. - the last pic. is the one that I like best, as well)

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  4. @Steve Mouzon - I'm so HAPPY to hear you SAY that, Steve...AWEsome! It was just blind good fortune that I wound up in these wonderfully weird woods, right when I needed something like this - the most...

    I'm delighted that you stopped by, AND that you weren't disappointed after you got here!

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  5. I love the eerie lighting and fog here. Jealous, actually, because it's totally stunning. The part that's interesting to me is that, between the fog and the toycam thing you have going, it looks almost video-gamey.

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  6. @Wirehead - I don't know that I've ever been in a natural setting that was anything LIKE this before. "Video-gamey" actually makes total sense, because to be perfectly honest about it - there was something spookily surreal about this place.

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  7. Oh PHEW! I am so pleased is was just a glitch. I really thought I had pi**ed you off with my rather gushing comments. Phew PHEW!

    As to this entry. Another triumph! The first and last images are my personal favs. The light through the trees in that first and your pose are like wow. In fact, I could quite easily see that framed on my wall, although my wife might have something to say about it... although she really aught not because it is a lovely piece of art.

    I'm really pleased you got your mojo back. Don't ever stop Lauralyn.

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  8. @adrianh - Oh my GOODness, no...you didn't piss me off! I felt absolutely HORRible about the thing with your comments! Anyway, I'm just glad now that you know what happened, and that it was nothing that I intentionally did to you :)

    Once again (just as always), thank you so much for your kind and encouraging comments!

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  9. I don't know if you get to see new comments on your old blogs but I just have to say something about these amazingly wonderful photos.

    Being a somewhat conservative person, the second picture appeals to me most of all. IT IS JUST STUNNING. Everything about this shot is just right. The shape of the figure; the placing; the light; the atmosphere. I could go on and on.

    And you took advantage of conditions which were there. Conditions most of us would have thought put a kibosh on photography for the day.

    You are, without doubt, a great artist with the camera, and if I may offer this compliment: I wish that I had taken this photograph!

    Thanks!!!!!

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    1. @Raymond - Holy COW, Raymond! I'm positively BEAMing now - Thank You so MUCH!!!

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