Day in the Life Photography

Weekly Photo Challenge: (theme of the week)

dayinthelifephotography — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 03:07:04 +0000

Piedmont Park Silouette

How’s your day…

dayinthelifephotography — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 07:13:04 +0000

The answer lies in the question mark!

How’s your day? Mine’s been interesting, but they’re ALWAYS interesting.

Every human being who wakes up and is given the gift of another day can assure it’s going to be interesting , if nothing else. I’m no Pollyanna, believe me….I’ve had my share of downright crappy days and I’m the first in line to complain (to some poor soul!). But, the older I get, the more i know to look for the things I learn in any given day, the best to the worst and everything in between. Whether it’s a useful lesson (don’t ever leave the house again after 7:15 to take the boys to school. EVER! Even if they go naked. So not worth the dog-eat-dog traffic difference!), or a new fact (I had no idea peanut butter stuffed pretzels could taste so amazing dipped in Nutella – “Note to self: Remember this late night snack and keep these items on hand forevermore, amen.”)

So, pay more attention to any and every given “day in your life” and all there is to be learned, whether through the hard stuff or the pleasant revelations. It’s all there for the taking and a vital part of the process to get us from A to…..Z, and hopefully beyond to a place where our days are solely pleasant!

Use this comment section to fill us in here on a few of the lessons you personally learned in any given day – the beautiful, the ugly, the serendipitous, the “Aha!” moments. Really…..bring it on! It may be something as big as a revelation that you’d rather live in a log cabin in the middle of Nowhere, USA than in the crazy-paced metropolis you’ve known and lived in since childhood, or as seemingly insignificant as you finally learned the mailman’s name.

You name it. But name it!! I personally can’t wait to hear what you’ve learned from this or any “Day in your life”. I’ll keep revealing as well and ‘putting myself out there’… only fair that I’m equally vulnerable to the forum .

Simple wisdom: “If you get lost, just look down at your feet cuz that’s where you are”!

Father’s Day Surprise and the Flighty Adventures of the ADD Bumble Bees

dayinthelifephotography — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 06:32:38 +0000

Expensive trip to surprise my dad for Father’s Day who, incidentally, didn’t feel great while we were there . And, I lost my keys within 30 minutes of getting there and heading to golf course. We’ve all never looked so hard for anything and never not found it, until yesterday! So I had to get car towed to Aiken Honda dealership to have new keys made. They informed me that a couple of my tires were so worn, they weren’t sure if we’d make it safely back to ATL (“it’s a coin toss really”, I was told, in addition to being handed another list on my way out of pricey problems I “really should take care of pretty soon” ;-0!!
Seeing as how we needed to hit the road back to the crazy city life asap (as is us city folk’s MO, I took the risk, Cot and I said a prayer and headed westward….home. We happened to stop to get gas at a podunk country station. And they happened to sell a lot of tires there….hmmmm.
I got the pump going and went over to the watch-the-world-go-by bench in front of the joint to talk to the two old country dudes who were shootin’ the breeze like two old country men tend to do on a bench in a little town in South Carolina. They seemed bemused to be needed, when I indicated in my best casual city-girl-in-a-hurry manner that I hated it, but I may need to interrupt the country-pace conversation flow for a few minutes…or more, depending on their answer ;-/?! I suddenly thought that if it was inexpensive and quick enough (and there was no sign that they had too many customers!), maybe I could get in and out of there with some good tires and get a deal in the deal! I was right.
$415 for four tires just like the ones I had on my car already. Got a price for 2 ($220) and 4, and decided to go for it while I could and max out on four. My new best friend who is a rugged Andy Taylor look-alike – handsome fella with a lot of great white wavy hair and and a face-wrinkling smile on his wonderfully weathered face told me it wouldn’t take more than 20 or 30 minutes.
Hmmm, I thought, ‘ok, it’s a really nice day. I can, thankfully, now drive my car again and head back home (always a good idea to start with counting my blessings, I’ve finally learned Twenty to 30 minutes of hanging out in this dusty, time-staid…(seemingly providential) gas station we’d landed at seemed like an increasingly pleasant thought. And, we’d be spending that time missing the worst of rush hour traffic (uh-huh – brilliant idea )
“OK! Let’s do this thing,” I said, as the suddenly self-appointed cheerleader of the group.
And suddenly we’re all in with flickers of a bonding session forming right before our eyes.
“So, what’s the first step, Andy?, I asked Andy Taylor in my best Opie Taylor voice. “First step is to find the wheel lock and we can get going with it. So…where do you think it might be?” “Well, I just really don’t know. But I aim to take a complete gander about the car (of course, packed to the gills….i really need to find an Overpackers Anonymous support group).
The cheerleader announced: “Cot, get your gandering gloves on and be prepared to take another thorough eye-glazing through the car with our new pals, and help your 10-alarm ADD Mom out. After the three of us pulled every single item out of every single crevice that holds items, and then again for good measure (and of course to no avai)l, we had to wave the frickin white flag and say a dismal goodbye to our new BFF’s, who were oh-so-ready to serve us and oh-so-disappointed to see us go. Back to the women and fishing stories, I gather.
Cot and I both missed out on our primo rare opportunity to just sit on a bench in the country, take a few deep breaths and then simply wait and see what comes to mind on a sun-blessed day for 20 to 30 stress-free minutes. Maybe we would’ve even felt the strong desire to spit a time or two, just because we could…fitting behavior, right!?
Instead we became one with the highway again and trepidatously made our recommended slow way home singing songs – Carefree Highway, Into the Great Wide Open, etc.. until……….dundundun dun…we realized we’d timed it juuust right to hit the inevitable wall of non-moving traffic to the nth degree.
That was about the exact same time I personally hit a tired wall and thought, “let’s get some funk-up music. That’ll keep me awake.” And THAT was just about the same time Cot got tired and, seeing as how it was his turn to choose the music, I was instead relegated to listening to slow, smooth classical music – intended to lull him to sleep. Good for him, bad for me. THen he suddenly came alive and chose the Flight of the Bumblebees, of course. I became a sack of nerves in the middle of a seemingly endless parking lot on the highway. The frantic, anxiety-induced bees buzzing through my car hardly woke me up. THey just continued for waaaaay too long to bzzzzzzzz in my brain the phrase: could this music be any more annoying?!! We may as well have had a kingdom of bees in the car to buzz along with us. Maybe THEY’D wake me up! And as soon as he realized the Flight of the Bumblebees was beginning to REALLY annoy me, he turned it up….then down….then rewound it so we could hear the worst of the buzzing. Ahh, how adorable kids can be ;-/
We made it home on the tires, despite the bumblebees doing their best to bring me to the point of insanity.
Hallelujah!! Found the hide a key (my new house key) and went inside and c r a s h e d til the end of time.
Sad, but typical(!), end to the story. I cleaned out my car today, after realizing last night how badly that was apparently needed, and lo and behold: one of the first things I find…….wheel lock! In the pocket of the passenger door. I shoulda known. Heck, is it not an accepted truth that the whole male race is incapable of finding something when it needs finding – anything anywhere. It’s a phenomenon to me – ex-husband, two sons, old boyfriends, friend’s husbands….sorry guys, but its an irritating truth pretty much across the board . T
he one area I’d asked Cot to look in was his passenger side door pocket. He looked. He didn’t see. Why didn’t I look?! Duh. Note to self.
Off tomorrow, lock now safely secured in pocketbook, to get me some tires, baby, so I can drive my kiddos to camp and then drive my daughter and I to the beach to meet my parents for a few days of MUCH needed R&R at this point.
I’ll probably have to wait two hours and pay twice the country folk price, but ahhhh, the best laid plans….right?!
Just another day in the life of Lila, et al. The silver lining? Another choice to make in another day: do I spaz out (as my son refers to my ‘occasional’ stress-filled episodes) or stop and reassess and come to: “it is what it is and I’ll just have to go with *this* flow that’s now been laid before me? God? Think you can take this yuck emotion away and replace it with a happy-go-lucky approach? I’m officially asking.
Ok, well, thanks for that (‘yes’ was the answer, btw ). That was quick. I like it. I’m in it, and off I go with a half-smirk on my face to see the next tire wizard in the a.m. In any case, I’ll push for another bargain and a quick turn-around time. Cuz I”m a city girl in a hurry, and that’s what we apparently how we operate, like it or not!
Just another day in the life……
Hello? Tomorrow….?!

A Night in the Life of Lila

dayinthelifephotography — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 07:52:31 +0000

Another time I felt like a weary-boned refugee after climbing the two-hour Manitou Incline. Granted, this was and needed to be a daytime activity to take on this monster. But I Got ‘er Done!

A “Night in the Life” of Lila

Who ever decided it would be the ‘norm’ to be awake and performing our lives during daylight hours?! What about us nightowls… I can’t help it. I come alive at night and end up in a productivity frenzy – amazing what I feel like taking on when the moon starts to rise. Tonight, I went nuts with the hedgetrimmer all over my front yard, intense yard work resulting in shaking weak hands afterward…and yelping in pain from a killer bee sting nearly cutting my leg off when I finally untangled myself from the cord and threw the running blades down on the ground as fast as I could. Had to see why my leg was suddenly busting at the seams with pain – first sting in decades, and eye-rolling H U R T! Still hurts hours later.

As I rushed in to the house for ice and to google “bee sting treatments”, I remembered it’s Sunday: Haul-Herbie- to-the-street-night. I decided to ignore that and take a much-needed break of inside rejuv time. And considering that I was so beat tired, dripping wet, my bee sting needed wouldn’t stop demanding attention, and I was feeling like a refugee without another muscle fiber left in my weary bones, I left all the piles of discarded cut-offs all over my yard. Attractive: no, Did I care at the moment: no. Figured I’ll just pick it all up tomorrow and put it away for next week’s trash pickup.

When I moaned and whined my way into the house with a good pink-red swollen knee bump, I had to grab ice and a cold beer and then tried to talk my dog into showing a shred of sympathy for his poor momma. I showered, hit the sofa and made a list of things to do and remember this week. Then I totally dove in with mucho gusto to the ins and outs of my current focus project: majorly renovating my Lila Campbell Photography website and got (am getting still) reeeeeally into revamping it, step by step. It’s a looong process, but I love the creating every step of it – Like mowing the lawn, it’s a warm, deep-sigh feeling to see the final result result at each step. Well, done, faithful servant .

My Living room floor is completely covered at the moment with No-Box Thinking cards I’m making, to fill an order that I”m on the verge of being late with. I’m watching Housewives show, eating brunswick stew and toast, and going out to run around with my exercise-starved dog in circles and figure 8′s in the grass.

My hedgetrimmer-gone-wild experience yielded two big momma trashcans packed with the loose branches, leaves, vines, sticks, and too many sticker branches (which I preferred not to tangle with since bee sting on my knee was still smarting…..one prick was plenty. I decided around 12:30 that If I was gonna take the Herbie, I may as well round up the debris, pack it in my big momma cans and drag them to the street. I’ll be too tired in the morning to load it and just wait til next week’s pickup. So why not. I had the energy and it was right there in my face, although admittedly I found myself in a pretty dimly-lit scenario. Couldn’t quit til I packed two BMC’s to the brim, and dragged them to reunite with Herbie. Got ‘er done .

I”m sure my neighbors if they (God forbid) heard me doing yard work at 1 am, were wishing once again that I were on a “normal” schedule, like most peeps.
Now dirty and tired again, but will sleep easier knowing that once again my moon-powered chosen night owl tasks are either seriously progressed or DONE! My usual nocturnal MO goes something like that. Now, at 2:30 a.m., I’m thinking I’ll probably go read in bed and call it a day. Random…but fairly typical Night in the Life of Lila, for better or worse ;-/!
Peace Out….Good night…..sleep tight…..don’t let the bees bite!
LC

Combining work and play? No problem.

dayinthelifephotography — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 01:36:47 +0000

Throwing sand to the wind...

Caught in a sunny-skied rain and dressed for the occasion.

Enjoying a cocktail at low tide.

Down the hall to the rare sliver of sun.

Ahh, the beauty of a getaway, a short vacay. It almost always feels like more work to leave town for a few days than it does for an extended vacation for some reason. But, my boys and I headed to Seaside, Florida for President’s Day weekend (a holiday I’ve never paid the slightest bit of attention to until 2012!). And only because some dear friends across the street asked us to come along and stay in their rental for a few days. Great invitation….why not? Well, only because it’s a 6-hour drive (ugh) for 3 nights in predicted thunderstorms consuming the paradise island most of the short trip. Hmmm, is it worth the effort for such a short turnaround, I asked myself and my boys at least 84 times. After waffling for 12 hours, at the last minute we decided it was worth it, even if it did rain on our entire vacation. We finally made a firm decision six hours after our neighbors had headed south, threw some vitals together and hit the road.

When all was said and done, it was one of the most relaxing, fun, short vacations we’d had together and we created some great memories.
As a professional photographer madly in love with my job, I don’t particularly need a vacation from work. So, without thinking it through, I naturally took on a “Day in the Life” of a two-family vacation, out to catch those moments generally considered inconsequential. I fully understand that most people would rather ‘live out’ the present moments on their vacation than have to “interrupt” them by taking it all in through the camera lens. But for me, photographically documenting the present moment is living out the present moment in one of my favorite ways, and the enjoyment of having time away and soaking in the experience are not lost on me.

Doubling up on the way to town.

My son watching the rain in a pensive moment from his bed.

Our almost-rescue cat we named Lucky. A fixture at our rental but disappeared the night before we put in her in car to come home and be ours.

I’m incredibly thankful for what I see as a gift I’ve been given, and an incredibly applicable one considering my chosen profession! It’s the ability to enjoy work and play at the same time. And, with a serious case of ADD, I’ve come to see that I actually stay more focused with the camera along for the ride than not. Weird but often true. I also benefit from discovering new methods of being an unobtrusive snapper while still joining in the conversation. This always seems to surprise those who see a camera in front of my face and naturally think: “Oh no, here we go. Why can’t she just relax and live in the present moment with the rest of us!?!”

I challenge myself to keep that fine-tuned awareness fine-tuned(!), so that I don’t irritate the living hell out of my companions, knowing all the while I’ll have an intriguing, treasured end-product that each person involved will be able to revel in with awe and gratitude when all is said and done. This personal and professional challenge is becoming less and less challenging with each new “Day in the Life” as a documentary photographer.
Although I’m the one behind the lens, I can vouch for my personal vacation experience being just as enjoyable as everyone else’s…..heck, maybe more. And I’m in possession of the documentation to prove it! And fully remember it.

Soldiers in a 50-mile race. "We're halfway there. Should be home by supper."

Weekly Photo Challenge (theme of the week)

dayinthelifephotography — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:33:15 +0000

Any day now.....

In love again…….

dayinthelifephotography — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:36:35 +0000

First shot with my new Panasonic FZ150 Lumix "Bridge" camera. Always had Nikons and probably always will, BUT I needed a bridge camera and, after extensive research, decided on this one. This camera ROCKS in every way! I'm in love

I have an obsession with the moon. Maybe because I’m a Cancer and therefore a “Moon Child”, but how exciting to have this half-moon out when I first put my new camera to the test. Captured craters and all! It’s a keeper.

My “Mission” for Lila Campbell Photography just written on Facebook page…for your reading pleasure ;-)

dayinthelifephotography — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 04:53:01 +0000

Personal Creative-Thinking Mission:
To continue to take on new challenges in the ever fascinating field that is my (much appreciated) profession. I love what I do and I will be studying and learning about it til my dying day. One thing I love about it…..there’s an endless learning curve to this art and never-ending possibilities in first getting the shot, and then deciding in post-processing how I see it looking its absolute best. I’m blessed with a keen eye those ways, thankfully

Professional Mission:
To show real, raw life through photographs – at its best and worst…and moments in between.
Thus was born: “A Day in the Life Photography” – my latest baby I’ve birthed! See website for what this cool new idea I’m about to launch is all about – excitement prevails! http://www.dayinthelifephotography.com

And my underlying mission as a pro photographer is to continue to take on random photo jobs as time permits because I love the interaction with people, animals, kids that I have come across with each and every job, whether it’s family portraits in the park, 3 puppies’ annual ‘birthday album’, documenting a legal case against a child molester (ugh), a 50th Anniversary – or two-year-old birthday – party, a kid’s sports event, or good-looking headshots of two young insurance company owners. I feel like I’ve done it all, but I know I haven’t and I love knowing that

Also, I will always continue taking, and exhibiting, the unique-angle shots of things and life as it passes me by. I see life through a camera lens and I like to be able to live Carpe Diem-style, so, while that creative genre is something I aim to be a part of every shot I take – on assignment or not – I am drawn to the unique angle, the strong color, the meaningful moment, the human race interacting.

So….Carpe Diem!! There’s my mission

Into the Great Unknown

dayinthelifephotography — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 04:41:16 +0000

I went with my aunt from Atlanta to my ‘other home’ in Aiken, SC this weekend to visit my parents. Always good to escape from home #1 to home #2. It’s a great getaway weekend and only 3 hours away. I lived there for 11 years, and while I’m more suited at this stage of my life for city life, I need regular doses of my small town home.
While I was there, i had a perfect overcast day for a photo journey.
I headed out in my little SUV to see what photo-worthy subjects were around the corner. Boy, did I find them. Planned on forty-five minutes and ended up dragging myself back home an hour and a half later.
I came across a big wild dinousar plastered on a pink house with sunflowers growing all over the front yard, and in chalkboard – written next to the dino – someone had simply written “Vote!’
And right next door there was a pale pink mailbox in front of a pale pink, old Ford truck, with pink and black dice hanging appropriately from the rearview window. Someone had painted “Willy’s” (Willy, perhaps?!!) in pale blue on the backlift. Oh yeah…picture worthy indeed -I captured every angle possible. But it didn’t stop there……all sorts of campy art was covering the front porch of the pink mailbox house (yes, next to the dinosaur house!).
I also came upon a colorful horse statue in the middle of downtown that had horse sayings in different colors written all over its body. More good stuff to fill up my camera card.
Probably my personal favorite shots though were a couple of old-timers’ smiling faces – country folk who drove by in their trucks to check out what i was doing, slowed down and allowed me to catch them.
Considering i had set out to add to my repertoire of Aiken shots to use for a gallery downtown, I found what i was looking for and way more I wasn’t looking for. I’d struck gold on my spontaneous adventure.
This outing encouraged me to do this more often in my own home town. There’s a surprise around every corner if you keep your photography eye open, and I loved being able to go home after a short, fun stint – just doing my job – with a final result I couldn’t be happier with.
So, thank you God for sending me such a vast array of unexpected craziness and for giving me the eye to see them as I do. And for such a rare, unusually sophisticated, small town I also call home.
As a photographer, it made me realize the value in just setting out the door with no plan – only to look, see, shoot, and smile.

I am Woman (with power tools). Hear me roar.

dayinthelifephotography — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 04:37:18 +0000

There’s something to be said for taking a break from computer/technical world and hitting the great outdoors, whatever it may look like in your neck of the woods.
I started getting in a blah-I-have-to-remember-there’s-a-world-going-on-out-there mood, and figured it would be good for me to get out in it and breath some fresh (cool for a change ) air.
I unenthusiastically changed into my workout clothes and made myself take a 3-mile walk around the action-packed park. The golf course side is literally right across the street, and it’s a gorgeous park, but I was awful glad to be on foot today and not caught up in the 5:00 every-sports-practice-dropoff-known-to-man traffic…..ugh. If anything stresses me out these days, it’s THAT place in a car at THAT time. Serious insanity, no thanks ;-P
My walk was awesome – music blaring in my ear, cool day, a lot to watch and see along the way (people in lines of cars not moving!), and it did the trick in the “remember there’s world out there, Lila?!” department.
Then I started getting into yard work on my way back up the driveway to my house. It’s my new therapy in my new house with my new BIG yard. I’ve discovered that i really love doing yard work. So far, I’ve become a stellar mower, heavy electric hedgetrimme user on a tall ladder (yikes), weed puller and pile gatherer, and TODAY I pulled my new electric blower out of the box, and and fell in love with yet another power tool. I”m becoming a Power Tool Gatherer – who woulda thought?! I’m becoming obsessive-compulsive about my yard, and I think it’s because I get some good adrenalin-pump up using all these tools.
And, of course, as I learn to take on each new ‘man’ task, I’m singing in my head Helen Reddy’s “I am Woman. Hear me Roar, lalala-la-la-lalala”!
A good hard walk and a power tool fix did me right… back to my wonderful world of photography with a renewed vigor and She-Man attitude Note to self: When I get the blahs, the remedy is right outside my door.