The Healing Journey Book Now Available

My first coffee-table book, which exclusively uses the photos chosen for the Lemmen-Holten project, has been completed. You can see a PDF 15-page sneak peek - or even purchase your own copy in advance, if you'd like. I have versions both in hard and soft-cover.

I'm waiting to give a copy to the hospital board for review. Hopefully the book will be produced in larger quantities by June, if the concept of offering them to patients or for retail in the hospital gift store comes to fruition.

For now, the books are individual printed on-demand through an online fulfilment center. They do an excellent job, and the books ship promptly in protective packaging. A great gift idea!

Have a Couple Hours to Spare?

It's that time of year again! Time to look ahead to Festival of the Arts 2008 and request assistance from you wonderful folks out there to help run my art sales booth! Festival is the largest all-volunteer arts event in the nation! It's a three-day arts celebration, held the first full weekend in June in downtown Grand Rapids. The event encompasses almost all of downtown Grand Rapids with six performance stages; lots and lots of food booths offering ethnic delights of all kinds; singers, dancers, thespians, visual artists, and performers from all over West Michigan; more than 20,000 hard-working volunteers; and over half a million people in attendance. Visit the Festival website for more information Booth staff assist in packaging up products such as cards, prints and framed pieces, inventory management, writing receipts, answering simple questions or making those all-important delicious Festival food runs (not a bad gig!). If you think you can offer two to three hours of your time, I need help on the following dates and times: Art Tents on Calder Plaza - June 6, 7 & 8 - Friday Noon - 9 pm - Saturday 10 am - 9 pm - Sunday 10 am - 5 pm I also need help on Thursday, June 5th with our two boys so that my husband Russ can help me set up the booth area. Help with the boys is also needed after-hours on Sunday, June 8th so Russ can help me take down the booth and pack up. If you think you can offer a hand - you will have your parking paid for (if necessary) and a new hat to wear sporting a fresh new logo design! Please contact me via email or call 616.863.9139 if you think you can lend a hand. You'll have a fun afternoon of art, snacks and people-watching!

She Does Exist!

A rare sighting of the actual photographer... who normally is behind the lens... not in front of it! This is the Upper Falls area of Old Man's Cave. What a perfectly wonderful place - I could have stayed there all day.


I purchased a new Bogen tripod and I'm very happy with it. My other one was a piece of junk. You HAVE to have a good tripod (not only for taking self-portraits!) but really - for every shot you take when possible.

Shoot the Hills 2008 Category Win!

I'd like to announce that I landed a First Place category win in an event called Shoot the Hills this past weekend at Hocking Hills State Park near Logan, Ohio!

Shoot the Hills is an annual photography weekend and competition in the Hocking Hills State Park. The highlight is a 24-hour photo contest. Photographers in three divisions (film, digital point and shoot, and digital SLR camera) compete in five categories in each division: abstract, flora, human interest, landscape and wildlife. Competitors can enter up to six images total in their choice of categories.

My image of a large magnolia tree in full blossom took first place in the digital SLR landscape category. There were approximately 185 photographers in the competition, and collectively we submitted over 1000 images across the categories. The level of skill and knowledge was very high, and seriously raised the bar to produce the best images possible. I'm so thrilled to have the image chosen from so many outstanding entries. Take a look at the winners!

The event was extremely fun (and yes - admittedly - a bit stressful!). Each morning I headed out about an hour and a half before sunrise, and stayed out until well past sunset. I also spent quite a few hours studying maps, contacting the Ohio DNR and chatting with local residents to find the best scenery. There was simply no time to rest! I was constantly on the lookout for great scenery and wildlife.

As it turned out, my winning image was "discovered" only an hour and a half before the end of the time period on Saturday! This beautiful scene caught my eye as I drove past a field someplace between Nelsonville and Zaleski, Ohio. I didn't know magnolia trees could be so large?

Click on the image below to see its detail:

Going... Going...

... Almost gone! This will most likely be my last blog post before taking off for the Shoot the Hills event in Hocking Hills, Ohio. I am packing up the camera bags and heading out with much excitement.

The weather is supposed to be quite good and much warmer than here in Michigan - on Friday - about 75 degrees! I wasn't planning on packing shorts, but it looks as if I should. Oh, those white winter legs...eeek!

In addition to the much-anticipated 24-hour photo shoot event, there will be an 8x10 print competition for images taken at any point while visiting the area. The image below is one of my entries - a view from the end of Conkle's Hollow in the early morning, taken in 2006. There was an extreme amount of humidity in the August air and I caught a sunbeam between the cliff walls.

The winner of the print competition takes 1/2 of all the entry fees. I think I will be submitting 3 images. They are voted on by the public. Keep tabs here at the blog - I have one hour of wi-fi from my little cabin each night and I might be able to sneak in a post or two!

April Showers...

The spring storm season has arrived! Last night, much to our dismay - the high winds pushed water right through our venilation system for our stove/microwave. There was a steady stream of water coming down along the wall behind the microwave, then down to the floor under the stove, through the propane connect and all the way down into the basement. There were also a few other spots (we've been here 10 years and haven't ever really experienced leaks before). The wind was roaring from the northeast - which is not very common. I could hardly sleep wondering what we were going to wake up to!

It was actually fairly dry come morning, considering how hard it rained. Now - this afternoon - we're having severe thunderstorms. I just took this photo 10 minutes ago (the photo above is is looking northeast towards Greenville from my own driveway at about 2:45 pm).

Ending World Hunger One Word At a Time!

This evening, I came across a very interesting and fun site. Helping end world hunger can be as easy as expanding your vocabulary. Don't believe it? Check out freerice.com.

For every word you correctly define, 20 grains of rice are donated through the UN World Food Program. So take this opportunity to improve your vocabulary and the lives of others in need.

I found the game very simplistic, but very entertaining (and addictive!):

• Click on the answer that best defines the word.
• If you get it right, you get a harder word. If wrong, you get an easier word.
• For each word you get right, they donate 20 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program.