Just My Luck :)

We drove out to the family reunion in Texas this weekend. Three cars, a total of twelve of us trudged 990 and something miles just southwest of Dallas to a lake near Comanche, Texas, where I was born and much of my family still resides. It is more beautiful than I remember out there. It was great fun seeing people, some who I haven't seen in one, two and even three decades.

I took some great photos... lovely kaes scenes, butterflies, wildflowers, bugs of all kinds, water doplets and clouded skies. And of course a ton of family pics.

I downloaded them to my sons laptop so I could reuse my digital card. and of course his computer crashed last night before I could save the images to my own files.

It was a great trip, with any luck I'll be back with the pics to show you soon. ;)

Good to smile :)

My sisters Birthday was last Friday, and we went to dinner together. It was nice, if you can get past the migraines I have been experiencing.

Anyway, she showed me a photo she keeps clipped to her sun visor:



Yeah, that she and me when I was about four and she was about two years old. I was a fairly happy kid, she was as tolerant of me as she could stand to be. We didn't become real friends until about four years ago. Now I'd venture to say we are best friends. She called me the other day and told me how much she loved me because of this picture and a few others she had come across. It seems she noticed I always had my arm or arms around her, laughing and looking as happy as I could be just to be in her presence, (which is not a far cry from the truth) and for years she just hated me touching her at all. Now she appreciates my love for her, returning it hardily.

Maybe the moral of the story here could be that if you love someone long enough they might love you back. But I prefer to think that the joy was just in loving at all.

I have been neglecting this blog in lieu of my Enchanted Ramblings. Posting pics and whatnot. It's so easy to get back into the groove of writing.

On the Edge of Relaxation

I love Fridays.

I probably shouldn't, because they not only signal the end of my work week, but they also highlight just how badly I manage my time during the five days I have to get things done. Yet, despite the fact that I have so much left to do and only hours left to do it in, I already am excited by the prospect of relaxing a little bit.

Okay, fine. Maybe the word "relaxing" for me is taking it too far. On a typical Saturday I wake at 7 am, leap out of bed, dress, brush my teeth, and start cleaning house. Somewhere around 1pm I garden an hour or so, and then I get ready for whatever real chores or other work I have set aside for the afternoon. My weekends stay busy, but usually with the things I have wanted to do all week and could not.
It's my own personal time, and I look forward to it.

(Pictured above is my son, Logan Mimna, doing a "stall" on his elbow.)

Good Things

It is only June, and so hot already. With Temperatures already in the 90's some days, I am dreading the coming "hotter" summer months. I have hoped to do some outdoor shoots, but the bright light and heat limits my shooting time to a couple of hours in the morning and a few in the evening. I prefer the late day tones, but the remaining heat makes it fairly miserable if the shoot is more than half an hour. I have set up a temporary studio in a warehouse, but it is not air conditioned, so I need to think up some alternate possibilities.

I am in the middle of planning a shoot with another local photographer who I like quite a bit, Mark White. I enjoy his work, and I think we might create something good together. We both have some good things to bring to the table, so I am excited to see the results.

I am going to be part of a gallery show in September through October of this year. It will be at the Downtown Contemporary Art Center, here in Albuquerque, and is called 1 x 20. A cool concept, one model photographed by 20 photographers. Twenty different styles, ideas. I am looking forward to the opening.

I also just started a new job as the photographer for Posh New Mexico Magazine. It's a great opportunity, and the publishers are great people. I get to use my creative eye in a setting I haven't tried before. I know I keep saying this... but I am excited!

So many good things happening all at once. I've worked hard, and expect to work harder yet, earn the good things that come to me.

(View from my backyard of a storm meeting a sunset, 2007)

Tuning In

Well, as predicted, I am not good at keeping up a journal. My focus has rotated almost totally toward photography and my design work, squished nicely in the middle of parenthood, and a few miscellaneous projects I have on the side.

I am a board member now for the New Mexico Art League, a very worth while organization, and I am excited to imagine what kind of things might lay in store in the coming year.

The past few months have been full of spring and sunshine, gardening, and making pottery, and several new photo shoots. One of the most recent was for an up and coming gallery show which I am excited to be a part of this next September. I'll hopefully get around to posting some of that information shortly. ;)

It's late, I languish, and so I am off to bed. Tune in again, if there is even anyone out there looking at this at all, and perhaps I'll throw in something of interest soon.