Well, I have been quite busy here as we are working on the Hungry Lucy songs for our latest album. Also, I have been busy in the garden, kitchen, writing the beginnings of a story and many other selfish indulgences.

I also completed a project for my youngest sister, Shara, and I felt a huge sense of completion with it. I did a photo shoot for her when she was pregnant and decided to make a true, old-fashioned photo album for her as a keepsake. I also gave her a disc with all of the files so she could get the enlargements she needed in the future. Anyhoo, since I completed the book, only last week, Micah, the baby, is now 6 weeks old… maybe even 7 by now. Gee. I didn’t work very fast, huh? But, it was great fun, and quite difficult in some areas, and I am happy with the outcome, as is Shara. She gave me permission to post a few pictures on here so you may see some as well. For now, I’ll just post my favourite one. I want to showcase them better in a gallery form soon, but this site isn’t quite ready for that yet.

I did a colour shoot, but then decided where I wanted the tone to be. This shot just screamed gentleness and rich blacks. It’s not quite stripped of all colour, but it’s just hinting at flesh tones. Shara and Chris, her husband, have such pretty skin and hands. Shara managed to have the perfect preggo belly!!

In other news, I have started the beginnings of a story I have been thinking of for a few years now. It was inspired greatly by my Father-in-law, Peter (I call him Dayadee) and my niece Christina. While the younger character Christina evoked has changed into an older woman, the essence of Christina’s spirit is still very much there. Then, while listening to David Darling’s album ‘Cello Blue’ I got the whole beginning scene/chapter in my head. I have since written that chapter and am thinking of what comes next. I got three folks to read it and they all wanted more. Good job on my part I suppose! My tentative title for this story is called “Days with Indigo”. I’m putting this out in the open web so people can ask me how the progress is going. I used to be afraid to do this, as it invited questions, and thought it would stress me out with people constantly asking me about it. I’ve done that with a lot of things in the past and never completed them. So, I’m trying a reverse method where I put out what I want to do in the hopes that people wanting it will make it happen faster! I do get distracted very easily with gardening. I think, in a weird way, it’s an avoidance tactic. If I don’t complete it, it can’t be judged. On the other side of that bitter coin, if I don’t complete it, it can’t be enjoyed either!

Another bit of inspiration for this story, the character of Indigo, is my eldest niece, Jasmond. When I saw the first scene in my head, I saw her as the kind, deep-brown eyes that stare back at the main character with hope and innocence. It’s not really based on her as a person, per se. But, certainly a frame of reference to the beautiful, kind people around us everyday. I think there will definitely be strands of Jasmond present in the character. How could there not be? She’s such a giving person, as is Indigo. Plus, I thought Jasmond might like that name It’s a bit mysterious, like her.

So, I hope to write this story/book or whatever it becomes by this time next year. The race is on! From this day forward, ask me how I’m doing on my story, “Days with Indigo”. If I fail to complete it by July 4th of next year, I shall forever face the shame of NOT completing my own work. You may hiss at me publicly and shout “for shame, for shame” in the streets!

I heard a quote from my tried and true old friend “Little House on the Prairie” just yesterday that made me wake up and realize I need to get a move on. The quote was this “There is no shame in the work you’ve done, only the work you haven’t.” I promptly sent War-N my thoughts and he loved that quote as well. It’s a good one!

Well, I’ve got a lot of work to do! I must, by the end of this year, make my end-of-year movie and finish the HL album. All the while, writing for ‘Indigo’. I love having a creative list of things to achieve. And the best part is they are all from my own desires! Maybe if I consider it just that, an achievement list, it will seem less like a task to be done. I don’t want to die not fulfilling my own dreams. That would be very sad indeed.

Ok then. Talk to you soon!

Much Love to All,

Christa Belle

I recently had a person use one of my photos in their blog to illustrate their story. While the story was nice, and my photo did go nicely with it, they did not ask my permission and didn’t even credit me or link to my site. Instead, they directly used MY photo and said nothing about where it came from. I could have ignored it and let it go. But, it really bothered me that they had done this. Therefore, I found a way to take the pic off of their site with a little notice replacing it that states how taking people’s pictures without asking is wrong. This isn’t done out of malice, revenge or anything like that. I simply tried to tell them that if they had asked my permission, I would have gladly granted it. They didn’t. So I took it back. If they were to now ask me nicely, and apologize for taking it, I would gladly give the picture back to their story.

To some of you, this may seem odd coming from the person who believes sharing music is lovely. But, that’s just it. When people play, display or comment on our music it’s always stated that it is in fact us. This person did not do that. So, I will be posting a Creative Commons stipulation on this site very soon to anyone wanting to use my photos in the future. As long as you credit me and don’t try to profit financially from my photos I have no problems. Nothing on this site is for sale. Especially if it was not done so by me. Now, where did I put those watermarks??

A non-aggressive Christa Belle

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

This year, I have found a couple of interesting things in the garden. What I thought was a blackened leaf turned out to be a petrified frog. What I could have mistaken for garbage was a bird skull. And then, there was Pullo’s baby teeth which kept falling out left and right in the house! I thought they were all quite beautiful and thought you might, too.

Here we begin with the teeth of our baby, Pullo. Pullo is our 7 month old kitty and is growing rapidly. I literally kept hearing his teeth hit our kitchen floor as they all decided to fall out in the span of a couple of weeks! It is rare to find so many from a kitten. They usually swallow them, poo them or just get lost in the carpet.

I found the first in our carpeted hallway, then two in the kitchen and another near the sofa. It was odd that I kept them, as I have never been a fan of loose teeth on humans or any other animal. In fact, my younger sister used to torture me and show me her extremely loose teeth to make me cringe! Thanks, Shara

All of the pics were shot underneath my seedling grow light. It gave a very daylight feel to the pics even in their raw state. I adjusted them, of course, to suit my wants. I really like how they came out!

My friend I-Li (owner and Master Chocolatier of Vice Chocolates) had given me a goodie bag of chocolate at the Blacksun Festival and I still had the paper bag on my shelf. I used the bag as a backdrop on a few of the pics so that I didn’t have to use material that I’d have to wash the death out of later.

Then comes the frog. His skin looks almost like wood or peeling bark from a tree. I almost stepped on him twice, which is why I decided to pick him up. I wouldn’t have been able to stand it if I had crunched those tiny little bones beneath my feet. “shivers down spine!!”

I shot the frog on white paper so his “frogginess” would be more prominent. I managed to use the “dodge & burn” tool in Aperture (V 2.1) which was quite lovely. I love tools that you can’t tell have been used!

Then comes my favourite shots of the day…the bird skull. I sat the skull on a blue/purple clipboard that I have. It is very shiny plastic. The luminosity of the plastic made for quite a beautiful floor for the skull. It’s slightly reflecting the skull and slightly water-like at the same time. It wasn’t my intention to make such a beautiful pic from a dead bird. I was merely seeing what it would look like. I was astounded by the results! Plus, just look at the intricate design of the bones and skull itself. All that complex work inside a bird skull. Amazing.

This is the full view.

This is the cropped view. I thought this view looked very much like an old mask design. I later found out from my friend Julia that a bird skull WAS one of the first mask designs made. Cool!

I could include more, but this is a nice summary of the shots of the day. I took these with my Fujifilm S1 Pro with my AF Nikon Micro Lens (60mm, 1:2.8 D) attached. No external flash was used. Just the light from the seedling bed. I shot them using an aperture ranging from 9.5 to 18. I like a smaller aperture. I always find it softens the light that enters the lens. But hey…that’s just me

I’m gonna head out now. So, in the meantime, if you feel you need to shoot something, use a camera!

Much Love,

cb

P.S. I’m still not at all happy with the layout of these pages. At some point it will represent my vision! Please be patient as I figure out how to make it look better.

Well, I just got a new toy! I am now the proud owner of an AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8 D lens. HOORAY! It works perfectly either on my film Nikon OR my Fujifilm S1 Pro. So, I can use it with film, or pixels

I have had the same 28-80mm lens for my camera(s) for many, many years (like more than 10!) and have always wanted a lens for close-up work and nature photography. I finally got my wish today, on Lucy’s dime! We’ll be using it for all sorts of new projects, some for the band, and some just for me.
With this shallow depth of field, I am going to have to learn how to shoot with it so I don’t have blurry pics all the time. It’s not an everyday shooter, but it’s great for getting up close and very personal with a subject! Minimum focus range is an amazing 8 3/4 inches! But, I must say, I got closer than that with good results. Now, I just need to get closer with a tripod to hold the steadiness! I tried focusing on the kitty boys, but they wouldn’t hold that still for me I chose this pic of the Sedum because it was colourful and soft. That’s what you get with a 2.8 lens, baby!! Sharp focus, soft background and amazing colour. YAY! Much work is in my path. Now I can get the right photos I need for my cookbook and finally get that off the ground! Funny what can hold you back. Now, I have absolutely no excuses to do my long awaited cookbook! Watch out, you mountainous plates of pasta. I’m a comin’ ta shoot ya!!

Large Lens Love,

cb

Well, that’s rude! What did I cut? That would be Saturation. By this I mean the saturation of colour in the following photographs. If you know me at all, you know I am a true Black & White Photography person. I love to look at it, shoot it, develop it and manipulate it. I would be very sad without B&W pictures in my life.

When I shoot with my Fujifilm (essentially Nikon) Finepix S1 Pro, I always shoot in the colour mode. Why, you may ask? Well, because there’s more to a black and white print than just black and white. Lots of tone hides in the colour and it’s a shame to just strip it out all the way from the get go. So, I play, tweak, lift and separate! I thought it might be interesting to take you through a couple of photos and show you what I did to manipulate them to be what I wanted them to be. I am by NO means a professional at anything I talk about, but I feel it’s informative to show others how to get a cool effect. Plus, this one is so simple I claim nothing great in this accomplishment! I just really like the outcome and thought you may as well. So, that said, here we go!

This is the original colour picture unadjusted. As you can see the yellows and greens really compete for attention. I also thought they added a certain “fluffiness” to the lovely grain of the stone, therefore making it not truly representative of what my eyes could see. So, I cut it! As is it’s not a bad picture, but it’s not what I was going for. That’s one reason why I never delete a photo from my camera until I take it home and see what’s it’s truly like on screen, full size. Viewfinders just give you an idea. So, don’t delete until you know for sure At least, that’s my advice. Anyway, about the cutting of colour…

This is the result. Quite different, huh? I absolutely adore this photo and plan to go back and do a series in a more complete way. But I digress…the details. This was shot with a Nikon 28-80mm zoom lens at 28mm. The aperture was set at 6.0, ISO of 320 and I honestly forgot what shutter speed. Oops! I used no flash. Then, I began the manipulation in Aperture. For overall saturation, I cut it down to 48% with the contrast up by 7%, brightness down by 3% and the shadows lifted by about 75%. I wanted to keep some shadows intact, to keep the air of mystery, but didn’t want to go overboard and expose everything under her lovely hood. Yes, beneath the deformed-esque figure, it is a woman. For individual hues, I upped the leftover saturation of the green channel and it’s luminance just so you could “feel” the greenness and it didn’t appear flat. I took the remaining channels of blue and yellow and turned them down all the way. I didn’t touch the red and magenta channels, as they seemed unaffected when I moved them. I had to play a lot with the brightness and shadows to get them to this point. I feel it still needs a bit more darkness in the tree area, so I may play with that in Photoshop with masks and the like. But, I love the stage it is at right now. It’s slightly disturbing, warm yet cool and evokes a sense of October completely. Also, the main focus was on the tree. She’s slightly out of focus, which adds a little bit of depth, and movement, in my opinion.

Then, we move on to the Lion. There are two Lions, but this one was my favourite. I loved how one of his eyes was white and the other black with stain and mold. The Lions are the guards to what I named “The Lady”. You can see the Lady in the background, but she deserves a more complete shoot before I feature her here.

This is the original shot of the Lion, unadjusted. Again, those yellows just ruin what I saw with my eyes. Yellow, I cut you! Also, it has a haziness of blue-green that I just didn’t care for at all. I felt it ruined the integrity of the Lion and what he stood for. I wish I had him for my back garden!

Then, the cutting and moving around of sliders began. These were shot with the same camera and settings as the first picture. That was easy! So, I did an overall saturation cut to 48%, brightness down by 20% and contrast up by 6%. In this one I completely lifted all highlights and lifted the shadow by 62%. I left the green again, but only added more luminance and left the saturation where it was. There is a bit of blue peeking through the sky and I upped the luminance of that. I left the red and magenta alone again and totally cut the yellow. After all, he is not a cowardly Lion! Sleepy, maybe. Cowardly, never

As you can see, this one got a little “pixely” when I saved it as a jpg. But, this is just the nature of the beast. It looks so much better as a big, fat, huge tiff. It’s a 20 Mega Biter, in fact! Oh matron!

So, you may be wondering where I shot these lovely photos. If you are wondering, I shot them in a cemetery! Hee hee. No, but seriously. This day was spent at Spring Grove Cemetery here in the Cincinnati, OH area. Located in Northside, near the Tavern, this cemetery draws people in to her magnificently beautiful surroundings all seasons of the year. I have spent many a day here taking photos, reading, writing and just “being”. I love it when I see others that are there for the beauty of it. They set out picnics with their children, have family photos taken, feed the ducks, swans, geese and other birds and just admire the nature that surrounds the souls in the air. I have never considered cemeteries a bad place. My Mother always took us as children to feed the ducks in the Lexington Cemetery. We’d go and visit the graves of our family, tend to the flowers we had planted on their graves and spend the day outdoors together. I have always associated it with good memories. You can learn so much walking through a cemetery! If you never have, go give it a try. You’ll start to notice so many details you never saw before. Plus, all the stone figures are waiting to meet you!

Here are a few other shots I took. I’ll just put them up and let you admire them as they are. I could tell so many stories for each one!! But, I’ll spare you the grief

All my love to you on whatever journey you choose!

With a Cup of Tea,

Christa Belle

I wrote this story from pictures I took, and an event that I saw. It’s definitely a fictional piece based on some true events. The photographs are the main focus of this piece, so the story is, what I’d call, VERY short!

A side note, “No animals were harmed by me. This was an act of animals in nature, so no one can be blamed. The blood is real, so please note before viewing. Some photos are quite graphic.”

On a cold February day, I went for a walk in the cemetery.

The lady of stone was dressed in a gleaming coat of ice. She, like myself, unaware of the harsh cold. No matter the day, her strength was always there in the stone. Nothing could rob her of her dignity, paid for with her human life. She gazed upon me, and me upon her. I was hypnotized by her hollow eyes. Empty, but full of a million stories. In those brief moments, we understood each other completely.

 Icicles beckoned me toward them. Stricken by their deadly beauty, I walk toward the woods.

I enjoy the sights of crystalline white on the blue Winter skies. It reminds me that nature is truly in control of life. No one tells the snow not to fall, or the skies not to weep. It’s a sign to slow down. Nature bows to no man.

Enjoy the moments of wonderment, even if they are your last.

I entered the place, known to all as “The Factory”, and proceeded with caution. Things happen here. All sorts of things. Dark things. Chances are, if you knew about it, you didn’t talk much about it. But still, with my goal of pictures in my mind, I moved on. The area around “The Factory” looked slightly abnormal. You couldn’t tell by looking, but you felt an uneasy stir deep within. As I crunched the harsh, frozen snow under my small, unstable feet, I grasped my opportunities with frozen hands.

It was beautiful. Like a faerie tale wonderland of ice. It looked rather strange to me… such beauty surrounding the grounds near “The Factory”. I took picture after picture with no thought of what I was about to see. As I shot rabbit tracks, deer tracks and my own footprints in the snow, I backed up and found a splatter of red near my foot.

I gasped as I turned around. It was blood, and a lot of it. Clumps here, splatters there. It was everywhere.

The bright red against the soft white startled my eyes. I stared at the strange prints surrounding the blood, puzzled by the markings. “A deer maybe?” I thought to myself. I stood there, frozen, trying to see where the blood trail led. It led there.

There, into the forest.

I followed and began to hear strange sounds coming from underneath a large pile of brush. I saw what appeared to be deer tracks leading to the same area. I dare not go in, but couldn’t help but be curious as to what lie beneath. And that sound. What was that sound? Was it grinding from “The Factory”? An animal crying out in pain? I couldn’t place it. I crouched down and waited. I thought if I went unheard, no harm would come to me. Little did I know, at the time, I was very much mistaken. I sat in the snow and waited to see if anything would surface.

After what seemed an eternity, I decided to give up and go back toward the cemetery. Just then I realized that whatever I was watching for had been watching me! As it lumbered out of the brush and stood there in the snow, I stared in amazement at this bizarre creature. It was not a deer like I had thought, but some sort of strange hybrid. It was like part man, part deer. The legs were long and skinny with hoofed feet. It’s entire body was matted with dried blood, ice and hair. It’s cold, black, cruel eyes met mine and I turned to run.

Through razor blades of ice I clawed my way to a large tree trunk. I tried to stand, but the ice gave way beneath my feet. I clutched for a branch, but the “Man-deer” snatched my waist, pulling me down into the ice! I was caught, but I still tried to hang on to the tree. On to something. The harder I fought, the harder it pulled at me. I felt the heavy weight of the cold pull me under and swallow my body.

I saw the sun shining brightly for the last time. And then, it was dark.

Now, through hollow eyes, I gaze upon you.