Susan Ewart

I am humbled by this whole group and the experiences I have here. Do you think Carole knows just how special this place is. I think back to how lucky I felt when I opened the Corel email and saw the bootcamp...just as I was about to give up on learning PSP. I never imagined all the other things I would be learning from everyone here, such interesting lives you all lead and such cool places you all go. I was out photographing today and I had a bee (fuzzy one, with beautiful colors) almost the whole time. I heard myself apologizing to it on occassion when i got it it's way. Thank you for the information about the hummingbirds. I was going to ask you how to entice them back to the yard. Love how you worded that last sentence, about Mother nature. You are quite right about next spring. I will be out there looking at the possibilities and I will start earlier too. And like you, when I'm in the photo "zone" I can be at it for hours. Summer is short so I'm trying to prioritize the flower photos now while they are out. Soon it will be winter and that will be time to go back into the photo studio and to learn the other stuff I want to be learning.

I wont quit. I think I was having one of those days when everything is a challenge (read: nothing goes right) and I was tired. I watched the video and felt way better and today I feel more positive about it. Thank you for the boost. I do understand "try and except", it's in every day life. If I try something and it doesnt work, go to plan B. I got frustrated when i was trying to use the files I shouldnt have been using. And Mireille has loaded me up with some things to try and now I'm looking forward to getting back in. I find I need to have a good chunk of time when I'm doing scripting lessons and the last few days have only given me little bits of time here and there. I really appreciate your post to me here. I need to hear that, and I need to somtimes be strongly nudged. Your first sentence is what made it for me. I read it and thought, no, I am not going to quit. I'm glad you said it the way you did.

Me too. and we loved Hope's show. We dont get it on any of the channels anymore but I do check in on FB sometimes.

That's crazy. I know they used to teach us to stay away from bats on the ground (when I live on a lake in a small town in the interior of BC). Because of rabies I think. I do remember a young man had an "encounter" with a bat in Kamloops, BC in 2019 and contracted a rarie rabies something or other and died 3 weeks later. We were told to steer clear of them if we saw them on the ground. They are misunderstood. I used to watch Hope for Wildlife (wildlife rescue show in eastern canada) and the staff handling bats had to have rabies shots.

Your papers are gorgeous. Especially that background.

I didnt know they were not rodents, and I love their name "Chiroptera", sounds like a greek mythical beast. although wouldnt a flying ground squirrel be awesome. You are so lucky to have lived among them. I bet you have some interesting tales of your life growing up in the UK. I'm surprised at the variety of bats there are in Alberta. So sad the white nose disease has reached Alberta now. It's makes me want to scoop them all up and keep them safe.

OMG! Is there anything cuter than that? Thank you. Just what I needed after "trying" to do my scripting homework. It was a fail tonight. Beginning to wonder if I'm just not smart enough for this. Or maybe I'm not logical enough. Yup, that would be me. And only on 5 of 25 lessons. Yikes! I'm just feeling sorry for myself...I wont be quitting just yet.

I know, right?

For sure! I love love love bats. Isnt that like a flying rodent. that's like the bestest of the best. A rodent and it flies. I really love the fruit bats. I think they are also called flying dogs, flying foxes or something to that effect.

This is fabulous. I had a good laugh at #2.

Wow, if anyone else reads this...STOP, DROP and ROLL...over to Facebook and have a look at Sue's images. Words escape me. I love all kinds of photography and when you see it done above average, it makes me speechless. Can you imagine how quiet around the campus is gonna be, with me being "speechless". ?. Kidding aside, GO LOOK! You'll love it. And Sue, THANK YOU. What a great treat for me. Great photography is the best motivator.

I applaud your macro work, especially with bugs (insects/creepy-crawlies etc). I was outside photographing flowers (I know, I actually left the sterile studio setting) and a bee would stop on the flower, so I took the shot. They are too buzzy and my settings werent set up for action (mostly for more DOF) so I have an infocus rear end and buzzy out of focus head. I'm so much more comfortable with things that dont move. My timing is horrible. The colors on this page are beautiful. Mother Nature is the best palette maker out there.

Yikes! I also have an astigmatism, so i'll say no to the fix in the future. I have had this really weird somthing in the back of my eye that my (now retired) eye doctor tracked for almost 25 years that I went to him. It hasnt changed but I have to have visual field tests every 2 yrs, which I fail everytime. Arent genetics fun. I'm adopted so I have no idea what's in store for me.

I'd like to see some of this in action. If I took off my glasses and you were 6 feet away from me, you'd look like a blob of color. I have pretty bad eyes. Perfect for picking photography as a hobby ?.

Wow, Corrie, that is quite a condition. Isnt it amazing what the brain can do, let you see something familiar straight again. I know, there are times in life where I've had to alter what I do, and still do. I'm just grateful I can still do the stuff I like, even with a few alterations. Having any surgery on or near the eye is scary. All the hobbies I do require use of hands and eyes and body (if I count working out/being active) as a hobby. I dont know what I would do if something permanent happened to me eyes. Good luck with lesson 5. Looks like we will tackling it around the same time. Now I get ready for work. I dont know if I'll be home after 9pm or midnight. They dont tell me if I have to stay until the end of the one job. It's a bit annoying, do i bring a meal or a snack. Would love a job with a proper start and end time.

ugh, I hate getting used to new glasses. My eyes get so tired. When I first got progressive lenses my head was moving all over the place trying to find the right focus point to look through. Even after 10 yrs of progressive lenses, I still cant tell if the photo I took is blurry or in focus. I'm about to delete it and I move my head a bit and it's clear. I need AI in my glasses. Some things look wonky to me when I first look at them. Like my eyes and my brain arent communicating and it just looks odd and I dont know why...at first.

I must be brain deficient, I only see it as a cut out. Maybe because It's on my second monitor and i'm at an angle to it. I tried to see it puffy. What I see that is puffy is the really cool moon tonight. I went outside....did you know mosquitos fly around at night. Why arent they in bed like the rest of the critters. Only moths should be allowed out after dark. In 6-7 minutes I got over 10 bites.

Wow, fireflies are a marvel of nature. And they have little soft fuzzy (I presume) grey fur coat. Since I grew flowers I am getting the fuzzy soft looking bees at the flowers, so far I've seen 3 different looking ones. Thaks for this post, it is really interesting information. I wish we had them here.

Love the colors in this and that background paper is gorgeous!

These are really beautiful Ann, they all go together really well. That open book script is fabulous for this workshop.

I thought I'd have more time when i got older and I seem to have less time. go figure.

These are beautiful. dont you find these look amazingly like real stamps. It's a great tutorial.

Ann, the link worked for me, the download button was on the black background upper right corner of screen for me.

I feel bad that I did nothing for this workshop. My idea, after the first one fizzled out (due to rain) got very involved...in my head, which is where it stayed. I just got so busy with hubby off that I had no time, even though i kept thinking i would. Here it is, Sunday night and still no time. I hope to work on something and post in the What are you Working on forum.

Wow! Bina, these are all very beautiful. thank you for the link I love your leather tags and that postage stamp on that background is really cool.