Two Rivers Convention Center Display

I was asked to be part of the City of Grand Junction’s Hot Air Balloon art display at Two Rivers Convention Center. I have the six below images on display in the hallways of Two Rivers. Three are smaller traditional matted, framed photos; three are printed on 20X30 canvas. They will be up until sometime in mid June. If you’re in downtown Grand Junction, please be sure to stop in and check them out along with the other amazing artwork. All of the artwork is available for purchase if you are so inclined. If I can get over there in the next week, I’ll try to post a follow up showing the images actually on the wall. Thanks for your support of local artists in the Grand Valley!

 

Current Exhibits

I have an exhibit up at Aspen Photo Art Gallery, which is inside and a part of Main Street Bagels in downtown Grand Junction. My images can be found in the “vault” room, which is the small meeting room on the dining side of the restaurant. Please drop by, check out my images and buy some for gifts for your family and friends (or yourself)! I will be there at First Friday on February 7, and again March 7 from around 6 pm to closing. I’ll have some small prints, notecards and my Colorado fall foliage photography book on hand for sale as well. The display will be up through the end of March.

Additionally, I was selected by the jurors of the Monumental Art Exhibit to be included in their exhibit at Grand Junction City Hall, which will also be up through the end of March. My image “Pothole Sunset” was chosen as one of approximately 10 photos in the exhibit. The remainder of the pieces are paintings, pastels and mixed media works. I chose to hang a 24X36 gallery wrap canvas version of the photo. You will find it in the main lobby, off Rood Ave., right next to the front desk (to the left when you come through the door). Be sure to check it out!

 

CNMA 2014 Calendar Unveiled at Last

Finally, the wait is over!  Last night, I attended the annual meeting of the Colorado National Monument Association to see the unveiling of the 2014 edition of the annual scenic calendar.

I submitted my limit of 10 images back in February.  They had contacted me to ask for larger images, so I was hopeful that meant I was getting  a large monthly photo.  However, they would not divulge which image(s), how many, what size, anything…

I’m happy to report that I am “Miss June”!  My image of “No Thoroughfare Canyon Waterfall” is the monthly photo for June, and a smaller grid photo of “Monument Canyon Sunrise” is also on that page.  Additionally, I have small grid photos on January, May and November.  In all, five of my images were used so I’m pretty happy, especially considering there were over 400 images submitted.  What an undaunting task that would have been to review and pare down the images to the 45 (or so) total which were finally included in the calendar.

The 2014 edition is the 15th annual calendar the CNMA has produced, and each year it gets better, more brilliant, and more popular.  It literally goes all over the globe, as international visitors purchase them from the Visitor’s Center, and locals send them to friends and family literally everywhere, either to remind them of home or entice them to visit.  The calendar sales help fund some of the projects CNMA does each year.  Last year, one of those projects was installing a water filling station outside the Visitor’s Center.  What a great addition, and hopefully it will cut down on empty plastic water bottles (purchased at the Visitor’s Center) that would eventually end up at the bottom of the canyons.  The Visitor’s Center no longer is selling individual plastic water bottles and is instead offering re-usable ones, which can be filled at the station.  CNMA also helps fund the interpretive and scientific projects, such as providing funds to get busloads of school children up to the Monument to hike and learn.

The calendar is priced at $12.95 and is available for purchase at the CNM Visitor’s Center and numerous locations throughout the Grand Valley.  I encourage you to pick up a couple copies and share the beauty of this area with your friends and loved ones.

June 2014

Large grid photo, June 2014

Large grid photo, January 2014

Small grid photo, May 2014

Small grid photo, November 2014

 

2013 Colorado National Monument Association Calendar

Three of my photos were selected for the 2013 version of the Colorado National Monument Association calendar.

These are small “grid” photos which all appear on the month of May as seen in this photo of the calendar page:

I’m very excited to have photos selected for a second year in a row!

The CNMA runs the gift shop at the Visitor’s Center with volunteers, and purchases there help to fund the CNMA’s mission to assist the National Park Service in educational, interpretive and scientific programs at CNM.   You can learn more about CNMA here.

The calendars retail for $12.95 and are available in the Visitor’s Center and many, many locations in the Grand Valley (including my aunt’s downtown store, Alida’s Fruits.)

 

Colorado National Monument 2012 Calendar

Desert Friend

Several months ago, I submitted 7 horizontal format images to the Colorado National Monument Association for consideration for their 2012 calendar.  Months went by, and I heard nothing.  Honestly, I had given up hope. A couple weeks ago, I received an e-mail that I was on the contributor list.  It didn’t list which image(s) they chose or what size, so the anticipation built as I headed up to the Visitor’s Center the next day to pick up my submissions and my complimentary calendars.  The above image was selected as a teeny-tiny “grid” photo featured on the month of August.

I shot this photo a few short weeks after we moved here in late August of last year.  Early one morning, I headed out on the Devil’s Kitchen/No Thoroughfare Canyon/Echo Canyon trail.  Less than 150 yards from the parking lot, I spied this rabbit chowing down on desert four o’clocks for his early morning meal.  I kept firing off shots as I crept closer, hoping I could get close enough to get something decent.  Out of all the images I snapped, this was the best of the bunch.

I did not receive any compensation for use of the photo, but did receive photo credit next to the photo and also on a contributor’s list on the opening spread of the calendar.  The committee advised that “hundreds of high quality images” were submitted, so I guess I feel lucky that I was one of  36 photographers selected.  The CNMA runs the gift shop at the Visitor’s Center with volunteers, and purchases there help to fund the CNMA’s mission to assist the National Park Service in educational, interpretive and scientific programs at CNM.   You can learn more about CNMA here.

The calendars retail for $12.95 and are available in the Visitor’s Center and many, many locations in the Grand Valley (including my aunt’s downtown store, Alida’s Fruits.) 

Since I spend a lot of time up in the Monument, I’m sure I’ll have more images to submit next year.

 

Kansas! Magazine Summer 2011

My photo of the roof interor of the round barn at Mullinville will be published in the summer 2011 issue of Kansas! Magazine.  It will be located in the gallery section, which is in the back of the magazine, and will be a half page in size.

Round barn at Mullinville, Kansas

The Fromme-Birney “round” barn was built in 1912 by Henry Fromme as a place to house his 28 draft horses.  In those days, round barns were supposedly thought to be more wind resistent, made more efficient use of space, and used less lumber to build for the same volume in space.  Actually, the barn isn’t round – it is 16 sided.  The cost to build it was $8,000.  The barn is 50 feet tall and is 70 feet in diameter.  Sadly, shortly after it was built, tractors replaced the horses and it ended up being used mostly for hay storage.  In the 1980’s, Phyllis Birney became the owner, and in 1987 the barn was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.  In 1993 it was given to the Kiowa County Historical Society, and in 1995 it was restored using a grant.

The interior of the roof is an architectural wonder!  I shot this photo looking up at the roof, and I’m amazed at the craftmanship it took to complete this.  They sure don’t build them like this anymore! 

Interior shot of the roof, Mullinville barn

 

Also inside the barn is a neat display relating the history of the barn.  The barn also has a really neat weathervane on top, and a very cool windmill outside.

Weathervane

Windmill

 

If you’re ever near Greensburg, be sure to take the side trip to see this historic gem, as it is definitely well worth the trip.  Kudos to the Kiowa County Historical Society for saving and restoring this amazing structure (and if you visit, be sure to put a donation in the box located at the barn).

Directions:  from U.S. Highway 54 at Mullinville, go 3 1/2 miles south, then 1 3/4 miles west.

 

Thank you!

I want to thank all my readers for helping my blog surpass the 5,000 hit mark recently.   My portfolio at  photoportfolios.net has also surpassed 10,000 views.  Your support is very much appreciated! 

Very soon, I will be starting a new series here called “Wild Thing!”  People may not believe Kansas could be a wildflower hot spot, but the blooms in late spring/early summer last year in the Flint Hills were the best I had ever seen.  I’ll be spotlighting a different wildflower with each post, so please check back if you like wildflowers.

Also, sometime in December I’ll post a list of my favorite photos of 2010.  Due to my recent move to Colorado, I haven’t been able to get out with the camera as much as I’d like, but I still managed to capture some great scenes and have fun.

 

Another Weekly Pick Award!

Weekly Pick - NPN Weekly Challenge gallery

My photo of “wall to wall” sunflowers was selected as the Weekly Pick in the Weekly Challenge gallery on Nature Photographers Network.  The theme for the Weekly Challenge last week was “State or National Symbols.”  Naturally, when I think of my wonderful home state of Kansas, sunflowers come to mind (but maybe that’s because I have a sunflower “fetish”).  I posted two sunflower images last week, and this one was selected as the winner.  I feel so very honored.  This is the third WP honor I’ve received.  It was a good week for Kansas NPN photographers – Wayne Rhodus received a WP for his columbine image in the Flora gallery, and Rob Graham received a WP for his image of an oil rig at Monument Rocks in the Environmental Photojournalism gallery.

I made this image near Morrowville, in Washington Co., Kansas last August.  A fellow NPN member, Scott Bean, gave me the directions to this particular field, and I certainly was not disappointed.  I set my camera up in the bed of my husband’s Tundra pickup to get slightly elevated.  Since I’m so short, this is sometimes a problem, especially with tall subjects like sunflowers.  We found a great spot where the rolling terrain was covered with blooms, and I used my 70-300 mm lens to compress the scene, and focused on the first row of flowers nearest to me.  Looking through the viewfinder, all I could see was a sea of sunflowers – perfect!  The sun kept playing peek-a-boo with some widely scattered clouds, so I just waited for the sun to be covered up to diffuse the light a bit, and squeezed off a few shots.  My one regret is that I didn’t have my new Canon 70-200 lens for this, as it is much sharper than my old lens.  Guess that means I’ll just have to try and recreate it again sometime 😉

 

The Show Me State of Mind

 

Page from Columbia Missourian "Show Me State of Mind" supplement

My photo of the Lilly Pad Room at Onondaga Cave near Leasburg, Missouri was published in a special tourism supplement to the Columbia Missourian newspaper in May.  The supplement focuses on travel ideas in the state of Missouri, and various caves throughout the state are mentioned in the article.  The Onondaga Cave is fascinating, beautiful, and is very accessible and easy to tour, so if you’re in the area, I highly recommend making a stop.  More information about Onondaga Cave can be found here.

This photo also won a Weekly Pick Award on Nature Photographer’s Network in early November.

 

Hopping Onto Your Newstand Soon…

Summer Froggy

This is one of my all-time favorite photos, and I’m excited to announce it will be published in the upcoming summer 2010 issue of Kansas! Magazine, which should be hitting subscriber mailboxes and newstands sometime next month.  Look for my froggy in the Gallery section, which is usually located near the end of the magazine.  He will be a 1/2 page photo.  This is the 4th consecutive issue of Kansas! in which I’ve been published.

I took this photo in 2007 on a day on which I had planned to travel to the Concordia area to look for and photograph sunflower fields. However, the weather didn’t cooperate as it was pouring down rain out that direction, so I had to change my plans.  (You know, when life hands you lemons, make lemonade…)  I instead headed to Ensley Gardens at Lake Shawnee in Topeka and hung out near the big pond with lots of lilly pads.  The frogs were very active on this afternoon, perhaps because of the incoming weather.  I was amazed that this little guy sat perfectly motionless for at least a half hour while I shot him from various angles.  I used my 70-300 mm lens and cropped this pretty severely to achieve this close view. I also darkened up the water and cloned out some debris floating on the water to pretty it up.  I think what makes this shot unique is the upturned lilly pad leaves which add a really nice punch of color, and the frog’s pose.  And does he look like he’s grinning to you?!

Feel free to leave a comment if you’d like!