Category Archives: Digital Art

Weekly Photo Challenge – Perspective

Perspective – an essential tool in the photographer’s artistic arsenal – we use it to show our viewers what we want them to see. Cropping a shot to emphasize an element or viewpoint can make that shot more interesting, mysterious, curious. I will say, that I crop my shots while I’m taking them, we all do. But sometimes, I find an interesting element later – one that I’d like to emphasize that catches my attention in post-processing. An issue with post-process cropping is that the digital file must be large enough that when I crop it down, I have enough pixels that I don’t lose resolution. This shot was a very large High Dynamic Range image, so I didn’t lose any resolution. The cropping issue is one of the reasons that I always shoot in RAW rather than JPEG and I’m also fortunate to have a large sensor in my Nikon D600. Here’s my interpretation for this week’s challenge.

Perspective

Perspective

And here’s the original shot.

Rusting in the Foothills

Rusting in the Foothills

I like both, but I must say that I find the first one more interesting. What do you think?

To learn more about the Weekly Photo Challenge, click here.

This is my 300th post! Thanks to all of my readers and friends here on WordPress. I couldn’t have done it without you!

Cathy

Happy Anniversary, WordPress!

Today, I celebrate my first anniversary as a member of the WordPress family! Nearly 14,000 views, 400 followers, and a wonderful new group of friends as well as a Freshly Pressed, I’m so glad to be a part of the Blogosphere. My blog has evolved over the past year from an extension of my online healing course to a platform for my photography and new-found love of poetry. It has expanded my world in ways that I never thought possible.

Thanks to all of you who have followed, commented and extended your friendship on this journey. Thanks for your humor, insight and commitment in sharing your own journeys on your blogs. I have learned so much from all of you. My life is immensely richer for having met you, and I look forward to seeing what this next year holds for us here at WordPress. In conclusion, here’s a gallery of some of the highlights from the past year. Happy Easter, Everyone!

Love,
Cathy

Ode to the Blogosphere
Poppy Cross
Cat Love
Lavender Rose
Sunday Haiku
Two Trunkfish
Waning Gibbous
Eagle Camp Sunflower by Cathy Ulrich
Friendship
Desert Yucca
Colorado Sunrise
Love’s Fragramce
Banana Daydreaming
Mount Evans Goat

One More Blog

One more Blog.
Let me read one more Blog.
Just one more Blog
Oh, I could do this forever.

Just more blog,
I’ll only read one more Blog,
I promise, just one more Blog

Then I’ll (fill in the blank)
Go to work,
Go to sleep,
Go workout,
Stop commenting,
Write a post,
Turn off my email,
Ignore the little orange box,
Fix dinner,
Talk to you…

This post is dedicated to my husband, Peter who is amazingly patient with me and my blogging addiction. What other things are calling you to leave your computer and stop BLOGGING? At least for a little while?

Inspiration

Rock Garden – Digital painting by Cathy Ulrich

“In the midst of my skeptical, cynical, often pessimistic nature exists a slender capacity to believe, if only temporarily, in a guiding, unseen power, and whenever this happens, I go with it. That’s what inspiration is. You don’t get it from the gods. You make it.”
—  Jeffrey Eugenides

Ode to the Blogosphere

Blog Love – Zendala by Cathy Ulrich

Seven a.m.
Sitting at my Mac,
I check email,
click on blog notices.

Peter walks by.
“What’s happening
in the Blogosphere?”
he says.

“Oh, Madame Weebles
just got Freshly Pressed,
Le Clown was featured
on The Daily Post,
Clare went to Edinburgh,
Brigitte came back
from Woodstock,
and LameAdventures
is taking a break.”

“That’s nice,” he says.
Doesn’t know
the details,
but knows it’s
important to me.

Each day starts
with blogging.
More than writing posts,
I read,
like,
comment.
reply.

Sometimes, one comment,
sometimes back and forth.
It takes time
for me and them.

I don’t click “like”
unless I’ve read the post.
And I”d rather go
to their website
to click.
It raises their hits.

I’ll write a poem,
post a quote,
compose an essay.
Then go to my files.
find the right shot,
upload that.

Or create a mandala
on Painter,
trying not
to overload my readers
with too many posts.

I had no clue
how much I’d enjoy a
community of creatives.
Writers,
poets,
artists,
humorists,
explorers
of their inner
and outer
worlds.

Social media?
Yes,
but not like Facebook
and not like Twitter.

Blogging is people
taking the time
to write
or photograph
or paint
their lives,
their loves,
their passions.

It’s people
finding others
who share
these lives,
loves,
passions.

Or, learning
about lives
different
from their own.
My own.

It’s richness
in a
smaller world.
A world
that will never
be the same
for me since
I started my blog.

This poem and mandala are dedicated to all of you who share the blogosphere with me. To those who read and follow me and those who I read and follow. And to those who I have yet to meet. To all of you, thank you for this fabulous ride.

If you’re a blogger, why do you blog? What have you learned about yourself or others as a result of blogging? Is this experience what you thought it would be when you decided to start your blog? If not, how is it different?

Love,

Cathy

What Is It Like?

Wild Orchid by Cathy Ulrich

What is it like?
You ask.
This place where you live?

What is it like
where you come from?
I ask.

It is scary and sad.
Those who live there
are hurtful and mean.
Work is hard.
Life is hard.

It is like that here, too.

What is it like?
You ask.
This place where you live?

What is it like
where you come from?
I ask.

It is peaceful and calm.
Those who live there
are kind and serene
Work is easy.
Life is fun.

It is like that here, too.

Equinox

Oak Leaf Cluster by Cathy Ulrich

Seed heads on tall grasses
bend in unseen wind.
Shadows grow longer
in golden light.

Chamisa blooms cadmium,
soon to spread its seeds.
Autumn Blaze maple
shows signs of pumpkin.

Last tomatoes and green beans
await picking,
bearing final gifts before
first frost.

Orange orbs lie vibrant
in nearby fields ready
to sacrifice flesh
for pies,
to sacrifice skin
for carving.

Earth prepares to rest,
but how may I?

©CathyUlrich and LargeSelf, 2012

Mandala for Shirley

Mandala for Shirley by Cathy Ulrich

Shirley passed yesterday.
Smart, caring, kind,
she loved art, music,
friends, family and Chuck.

Shirley helped many
see their potential.
She taught people
to work together.

Shirley made art that
expressed her beautiful soul.
Mother Earth and those who love her
were Shirley’s themes.

Shirley is fine.
Better than fine,
she is magnificent.
No longer afraid,
Shirley shines.

©CathyUlrich and LargeSelf, 2012

Improv

Keyboard Variations by Cathy Ulrich

Life is like Jazz.
You make it up
as you go along.

A few rules,,
an underlying structure,
and lots of practice.

Mark taught me the blues scales,
Then intervals – thirds, fifths, sevenths, sixths.
Then how to improvise.
“Hum the tune in your head,”
he said.

And remember:
There’s no wrong note,
just the one after.

©CathyUlrich and LargeSelf, 2012