More Montana, and why I take so many photos....

Beautiful Big Sky country farms...

I came home from the trip to Montana with close to 900 new photos to load into my computer. And that was after I had deleted the blurry or bad ones!

My brother's neighbor and his German horses

So why do I take so many photos? Well, this trip was a bit different from many trips I take; it was a family reunion, so many of the pictures are of family. But that actually didn't make any difference in the number of photos I shot. In fact, I came home from a shorter trip to Maine with well over a thousand photos to upload!

Glacier National Park: we played peek-a-boo through the clouds on our day there

I take photos of any- and everything that catches my interest: still-life setups in shops (if they allow it), interesting people on the street (with subtlety), landscapes with texture or beautiful shapes, plants, animals. You name it, and I probably have photos of it in my digital file!

I may never know which photo will stick in my mind and work it's way into a painting or a tapestry. I often have hints, in that certain images might speak to me louder than others. But when I travel I usually am with other people, and I do not have the luxury of stopping to paint, and of course not to weave(!), so capturing the photos is my best way to save the image I have become fascinated with.


Then, one or two of those photos will get busy deep within that right side of my brain, the part that is always busy. And a week, or a month, or a year later, it will pop into my consciousness again, and I will find myself sitting at the computer, looking for just that photo, knowing it will be the beginning for my next painting or tapestry.

Lightening from my brother's deck.

While it has been simmering in my brain, the image has usually changed. It frequently takes more than one photo to create the image I want to create, which is why I shoot several shots from varying viewpoints of something I am interested in.

My niece holding her niece in front of my brother's window. What a view! (Both inside and out)

When I take a trip like this one was, a long drive in a truck with a driver that will not stop, I take a LOT of photos through the window of a moving vehicle. I put my camera setting on 'action' and most of the pictures turn out pretty good.

The long road in Utah, where beautiful scenery tends to repeat itself.

I rarely use a flash. I am trying to learn to get night photos, but have not been very successful, so far. If you have any tips on that, I would be grateful to hear them!

Lest you worry that I will be sharing the almost 900 photos from my trip with you, I will reassure you that this is the end of my trip photos that I'll post here, though I feel several already working away in my right brain, so you may see them as finished works of art someday.

I am still 'tying one on' - warp-wise - today. I am tying new warp to my dummy warp, then will thread the heddles and tie it to the lower beam. I am hoping to weave a header and a hem tomorrow or Saturday.