“Admit something: Everyone you see, you say to them, “Love me.”

Of course you do not do this out loud, otherwise someone would call the cops.

Still, though, think about this, this great pull in us to connect. Why not become the one who lives with a full moon in each eye that is always saying, with that sweet moon language, What every other eye in this world is dying to hear.”

– Hafiz, With That Moon Language

when people ask for photography advice or suggestions, i always shy away from answering. it feels like i am the least qualified person ever to answer that question and have nothing useful to offer – because i don’t know so much more than i do know and because mostly i just play and have fun and see what happens.

except of course i have thoughts. (ha. of course i do. i have thoughts on lots of things, including things that i practice much less often – or never – than i practice photography.)

so, in this moment, here are my photography tips. i may have more later.

(use at your own risk. what i mean by that is, if there is something that appeals to you, use that and discard the rest. you are the best authority on you. this applies to everything, including photography tips.)

take pictures. a lot of pictures.

this is easier with digital cameras. yay, digital cameras! when i was young, i would often use an entire roll of film on a breaking wave. i liked waves, and every forward movement of the wave seemed even more photogenic than the last. i am very used to deleting (or discarding) pictures.

it’s partially the law of averages – the more photos you take, the more likely you are to take a photo (or photos) that you really love.

it’s also practice. the more photos you take, the more photos you see, and the more quickly you learn the compositions and subjects and and and that you prefer. this is how i learned about the rule of thirds. i took so many photos of nature that i noticed that if the main thing i wanted to capture wasn’t precisely in the center, i was more inclined to like the result. when i learned about the rule years later, it all made sense.

of course, the opposite is also true. there is something to be said for limiting yourself to a single photo and taking time to find just the right subject and to compose the photo in the way that feels just right and then experiencing the result. if you’re in need of a challenge, maybe this is it.

take pictures of things that you love.

you’re drawn to things. follow that!

it seems silly to try to force yourself to take pictures of things that other people take pictures of, or to capture things in ways that other people capture them, or to take pictures that you think other people want to see, if it’s not something you’re drawn to.

if you’re drawn to people, take pictures of them! if you’re drawn to flowers and birds and bees, take pictures of them! if you’re drawn to buildings, take pictures of them! if you’re drawn to light and shadow, take pictures of them! if you’re drawn to ice cream cones, take pictures of them!

your pictures are another reflection of you. it might feel vulnerable to share that piece of you, so you have total permission to never share anything with anyone ever.

i love atlas, the natural world (particularly flowers and trees and water), details, daily life, art, and lines/angles/color/pattern. can you tell?

again, the opposite is also true. there is something to be said for stepping out of your comfort zone. you might not need to take pictures of things that you don’t love, but it might be a good challenge to take pictures of things that you don’t normally capture. say, people instead of scenery or details instead of the entire scene.

play.

play!

hold your camera above your head or at water level or put it underneath a flower. snap a photo from your hip while you’re running with your dog or your child. put your camera on a new setting and take some pictures and see what happens. sit or lie down or twist at an odd angle. close your eyes.

use a slow shutter speed and press the shutter while you’re moving the camera. shoot through a sheer colorful fabric. hold a toilet paper tube or a kaleidoscope in front of the lens. shoot directly into the sun. cut off the top of someone’s head. stand too close to your subject. take a blurry picture.

ignore all the rules. break all the rules. don’t listen to anyone’s advice. do whatever you want.

in this case, i don’t think there is an opposite. when it comes to photography, play is work and work is play.

on that note, be your own expert.

you get to like your photos, whether anyone else does or not.

now it’s your turn!

feel free to agree or disagree or discuss or add your own.

atlas and i hiked to angel’s rest yesterday while my carpets were being cleaned. i like the hike – it’s not too far from portland, it’s in the gorge, a portion of it is shaded, and it’s less than 5 miles (the last two being important for a summer hike with a dog, i must say) – but i hadn’t done it in years.

i will confess that it was not as much fun as it could have been. this was purely my fault. i remembered the hike as being less rocky than it was, so i wore my five-fingered shoes, which have very little protection. i said “ow! ow! ow!!!” a lot.

can you tell what atlas thought about the hike? i will say that he did not like my ow-ing. (on the way down, i was idly wondering if that was how the trail felt on his feet, only i think his foot pads are much tougher, and possibly more cushioned, than my human feet.)

oh, mary oliver, we really should collaborate on a book of poetry and photography, you and i.

last year, i stumbled across a website for farm to fork, an oregon event company that hosts dinners where you travel to an oregon farm and meet the farmers and winemakers and eat a meal outdoors in community. it sounded so amazing that i immediately added it to my (very long) list of things that i wanted to do someday.

a friend and i, somehow, serendipitously, heard about this year’s dinners at the same time. we both wanted to go so we bought tickets for the dinner in bend the morning they went on sale. the bend dinner was in july, which seemed like light years away at the time.

the dinner was last saturday!

oh my goodness. it was so wonderful.

we toured the farm, heard from the farmers and winemaker, and ate.

the food was delicious. among other things, there was a cold goat cheese tart with blueberry salsa, shrimp in tomato consommé, roast beef, and a creme caramel cake with strawberry-rhubarb compote. (i don’t know why i didn’t take more pictures of the food, except that i was too busy eating it.)

i suspect everyone there was amazing, but we had really fabulous luck in table companions, and we had lots of time to talk to them between courses.

there was something so wonderful about eating good food at long tables outdoors under the sun and moon, with other people who love food, in a very leisurely manner.

i want to go again next year. also the next year. and the next. really, it needs to become an annual tradition.

i have to tell you a story, though. i live in hillsboro, which is about 3.5 hours away from bend. i was at my favorite pet store one day with atlas, talking to the girl who was working, when a couple came in to ask about the orenco station farmers’ market; they were thinking of becoming a vendor. we wound up chatting with them for quite a while. we all introduced ourselves and they said that they were jerre and sean and they owned the dancing cow farm in central oregon. a week or two later, i got an email from farm to fork with updated information about our event. it announced that the protein for the event would be beef from the dancing cow farm. i almost jumped in the air because i was so excited at my luck in meeting the people who were providing the meat for our event! isn’t that fun?! it made the world seem so small and friendly.

see. it doesn't have to snow this winter. i've already seen snow.

i saw snow last may when my sister helen and atlas and i went to lost lake and found ourselves driving through snow to get there. it was a warm day in portland and i thought hiking around a lake would be a great way to cool off.

we arrived at the lost lake campground – ready for a picnic and a hike around the lake – only to discover that it was chilly and snow-covered and the trail was mostly inaccessible. apparently they had plowed the road in order to open the campground for the year only a few hours before we arrived.

(i commented on how surprised i was to run into snow and helen said, "didn't you see the line in the guidebook where it said alpine lake?" apparently i did not. i was wearing shorts and sandals. let's just say that hiking in snow in sandals is not for the faint of feet.)

chill aside, lost lake has a lovely view of mount hood.

my friend heidi was here for a visit back in november and she took this photo of atlas and me. it’s four of my favorite things: my beloved foiry (his latest nickname – it was “my beloved furry” and then i adapted it), nature, the pacific northwest, and autumn. love.

i am so happy to have this photo. i have three photos of atlas and me that i love. one is from 2003. one is from 2007. and now i have this one from 2011. interestingly, they were all taken in autumn, they were all taken outdoors, and we both look pretty much the same in all of them.

goodness, do i love this dog. i tell him that i love him more than the sun, the moon, and all the stars, and i mean every word of it. even when he’s saucy. and i must say that since he turned 8 1/2, he seems extra-determined to get what he wants when he really wants something. it’s sort of like he got up one morning and thought, “hey! i’m getting old! we shall do what i want from here on out.” not that we weren’t mostly doing that already ..

joy to the world, indeed.

{my attempt to capture 52 photos that represent trust – my word for 2011}.

this image reminds me of trust for a few reasons, one of which is that in order to take the photo, i had to trust that i had enough balance to dangle over a ledge while holding my camera below me while trying to take a photo and not drop my camera and not let the strap fall into the water.

i managed. barely.

because i am drawn to the chaos in these photos.

patterns! and color! wheeeeeeeee!

also, fall is clearly the best time of year to visit the waterfalls in the columbia river gorge.