This gallery contains a mix of personal work...

Most photos here were created for a group I've been part of for over two years, Inspired Photographers, created by friend and fellow photographer Anita Buzzy Prentiss. We get together once a month, and give ourselves artistic assignments. It's a wonderful, supportive group. Mostly photographers, along with some other artists. The goal is to inspire ourselves to keep thinking creatively, to keep our eyes and minds fresh - in the face of spending much of our week working professionally and commercially.

Recently updated...half way through this group, is a series of photos for a 'Shoes' assignment. My first thought, as the mother of 4, was to gather up ALL the shoes in our house, and put them into a giant pile. But since it was 5pm, and the meeting was at 7pm, not only did I decide it was too much effort, it just wouldn't get done in time! So I refined my idea while picking up my 16 yr old from piano lessons....

When I got home, I grabbed a bunch of shoes, my 2 younger kids, and some critters, and just let it sort of evolve....

Most of the black and white photos were for the "Shoot like a favorite photographer" assignment. Normally I can't do the assignments because of demands of work and family. However, I found an hour before this meeting started, to quickly shoot these...

I chose Edward Weston as a favorite photographer. I didn't have any books, so was going from memory. Actually, Weston was a starting point for these photos. After I did this assignment, I saw that he printed with somewhat low contrast. With these, I cranked up the contrast. And just used whatever I could find, along with quickly fading natural light. And my lovely 7 yr old, Ivy. (Thanks for always being such a good model, sweetie.)

And thanks to the Inspired Group - for continuing to inspire me!

Sometimes it's those quick artistic attempts that work best...

You don't over think them. And can rely on technique that's been acquired over time...

You can DOUBLE CLICK on each image to view it larger.