Sometimes old habits are good. We forget how much we enjoy things and slowly the grind of life puts those wonderful old things aside. This is what happened to me and my photography. A few years ago I got a great camera. I learned about it and took photos of everything. I even got some pretty great photos of the moon.
I forgot how much I enjoyed it. I began using my skills to take photos of my jewelry and items for sale. It became a tool for me to get a job done instead of the actual job. I've decided to pick up my bag, dust it off and begin taking photos again. I look forward to sharing my new works with you. I hope you're ready to join me.
I put an old memory card in my tablet from years and years ago today. It had a lot of old pictures on it that brought back so many memories. Since I use this space - A Witch's View - to show you the world thought my eyes, I thought it would be fun to go through my old memory card photos and share those with you. There were hundreds of photos on this card. Here are a few that struck me.
November 14, 2015 we were vending. It was SOOOOOO cold. It was also pretty Christian. I felt so out of place.
Photo Credit - Elijah Olson
December 25, 2015 - We had a Christmas Frog in the house. Hubby grabbed it and set it free. It was warm for December. But yea, we had frogs.
December 30, 2015 - Apparently I was being a troll doll! LOL
Photo Credit Elijah Olson
February 22, 2016, hubby was practicing his drawing. He has mad skills.
Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson
Artist - Elijah Olson
March 21, 2016 Pandora playing with her "Sock-o-Monkey Bunny".
Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson
March 26, 2016, I made Eggs Benedict. We were not vegan at this point. No hollandaise, just eggs, muffin and sausage.
April 8, 2016, we had marshmallows.
Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson
April 16, 2016, before a pee from Hurricane Matthew Eli and I were hunting for an RV. We were thinking about moving from our house into a travel trailer. I found this photo on the memory card.
Photo Credit - Elijah Olson 2016
I remember walking around the trailer lots and my hips hurting so bad. No wonder. Thinking back to that time I don't feel like a new person. I honestly didn't realize how fat I was. You can see the pain on my face. I'm so glad that I took the steps to improve my life. Today. Life is good.
In October of 2016 Hurricane Matthew. We had upwards of 36 inches of water on our property. This photo was taken when we were finally able to get back to the property after the water receded.
Photo Credit Renee Sosanna Olson
We set the yard stick up next to the back fence. You can see the waterline on the bushes. Pretty scary stuff.
Finding old memory cards are always exciting. Sometimes memories can be painful. Pandora left us later that year; her seizures finally getting the best of her. The house survived the flood and we're still here today. At the time of this writing we're expecting another hurricane to come through. I'm on travel and will be worried the entire time. Eggs Benedict and Marshmallows are no longer a part of my diet. Time goes by and changes so quickly. Always take a moment to stop and appreciate where you are in life. There may not be a memory card that you can whip out to see these actual images but they all live in your CPU. Dig in there and see what you can find.
Lately hubby and I have been working on some new products. We have been playing with resin. Along with the cold casting, we have been creating pendants with images inside them. I found some really nice public domain images from the Hubble telescope. I wanted to share those with you.
Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson
Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson
Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson
Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson
And here's a video.
I am really pleased with how these turned out. You can find them for sale on my website.
I continue to enjoy finding that perfect shot when working with my Nikon. I purchased a macro lens a while back to work on some of my macro photography and the weather is finally getting warm enough to be outside so why not start taking some photos again. The last few months my view has been on food box delivery reviews but now I'm switching gears and I'm going back to some photography. I'll be posting some of my older works as well as some new things I'm working on. I also would like to let you know that you can purchase my work on Fine Art America.
As many of you know last year we lost our business due to Hurricane Matthew. We re-branded and even though we can't attend the festivals as we normally would like to due to the loss of our Vardo, we are still making our jewelry and selling online. This past weekend was the kick off to festival season and many of our friends attended Festival of Legends this past weekend and will be attending Mayfaire next weekend. Ironically, we had another run in with the river this week. There wasn't a huge amount of rain all at one time yet the Neuse decided that we needed to see her power again.
As I sit typing this my videos of the swollen river are uploading to YouTube. I'm reminded of the chants from last year, "Water is life" and here I am realizing that it is also death. Water plays a huge role in magic. Water can be used in spells for love, friendship, healing, sleep and fertility. The Chalice is often used to represent water on the pagan altar. I draw upon the element of water often in my spell work. As a Piscean, water is near and dear to my heart. I have a healthy respect for water and after two near drowning experiences I tend to keep my distance, while always offering her respect.
I embraced her completely in this tarot card project I worked on where I represented the Star card.
The Star - Female Mystique Tarot
Many of the stones I work with in my wire weaving also represent water. Some of those stones are Amethyst, Aquamarine, Azurite, Celestite, Chrysocolla, Coral, Mother-of-pearl, Lapis lazuli, Lepidolite, Moonstone, Pearl, Blue and Pink Tourmaline, Sapphire, Selenite, and Sodalite. As we were walking the property to survey the damage I found a few river rocks that I plan to use in my jewelry. I plan to call upon the river energy to bless and protect the stones (and the wearer). I will have these up in on the site soon. I can't wait to share them with you.
I'll end with a few photos from the flooding we're having now.
This is the far side of the property. There shouldn't be water here.
Photo Credit Renee Sosanna Olson
I turned around to take a photo of the house so you can see how close the water is to the house. It is about 100 feet from us on the side. The tree line behind the house obscures the view so I couldn't show you that. It is about 25 feed behind the house right now.
Photo Credit Renee Sosanna Olson
This is the boat ramp downtown Seven Springs. The river has taken over the bank and part of the parking lot.
Photo Credit Renee Sosanna Olson
This is the Main Street bridge. Still in the boat ramp parking lot. You can't see the part where you back your boat trailer up to put the boat in the water.
Photo Credit Renee Sosanna Olson
Next we stop at Cliffs of the Neuse State Park. This is the overlook shot. I take a lot of pictures here. It doesn't really show the impact of the flood water, but it was a beautiful shot.
Photo Credit Renee Sosanna Olson
More of the Neuse River.
Photo Credit Renee Sosanna Olson
Respect the water energy, she brings life and death.
I'm taking a step away from politics and family this week. I thought I would show you what I captured with my macro lens this weekend. <3 I hope you enjoy