Hearts For Haiti - Etsy Shop Owners Donate Items For Haiti

Since the devastating earthquake in Haiti, people have been trying to find a way to help. A group of Etsy.com shop owners have come together to donate items, the proceeds of which will be sent directly to Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontiers), one of my favorite charities. Other than Etsy and paypal fees, 100% of the money will be donated. Shop owners will be donating the shipping costs.

I haven't decided which photograph I will donate yet, but I will make a decision over the weekend.

In the meantime, if you can't donate or help out in some other way, they can use all the prayers they can get.

Blessings,

Jess

Green Colored Pebbles 4x6 Print

Here's one of my latest. The greens are a little more subdued on my old laptop, and more true to the color that will be printed.

It's quite interesting how calibrating one's monitor is so important, and yet one has no control over what colors another person's monitor will see.

Will continue to work on my photos on the old laptop until I can calibrate this one. I need to buy a new calibrator, since the old one will not work on my new Windows 7 computer. I will be posting on that soon.

Happy New Year Fireworks!

Wishing everyone a very blessed and Happy New Year and start of a new decade!!

Winter Wonderland-Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Wishing everyone a wondrous, healthy and happy New Decade!

Wolverine F2D100 35mm to digital scanner- not worth it

I have hundreds upon hundreds of 35mm negatives that I want to scan into digital files from my travels abroad. The cost of having a lab scan them would be prohibitive, so I have wanted to buy a scanner to convert the negatives into digital files for a very long time; so when I saw the Wolverine F2D100 on sale at CompUSA, I bought it. At about $80.00 plus tax, I thought it should be good enough to make a decent enough copy that I could then tweak in editing. It is possible. One of my best selling photos was tweaked from a digital file on a cd that I purchased along with the original film processed photos. Unfortunately, I did not do that with other trips using my 35 mm.

Before opening the box I emailed Wolverine to make sure it would do what I wanted, get a good enough resolution to eventually make 8 x 10 prints. I was assured yes, decent enough. I also read reviews by consumers who had purchased the scanner, and they all seemed happy enough, other than a common complaint about the dust that collects on the machine.

So I set up the scanner, followed the instructions and was not happy with the results at all. First of all, the comments about the dust are spot on. Within seconds you could see dust clinging to the casing, and of the 10 or so photos I scanned most had major dust spots. They have a little cleaner that didn't do much to correct the problem. The color was also off, the scans had a washed out, bluish tint and looked overexposed, although the originals were not. During one scan, the scanner froze, and I had to shut it off. It's a flimsy, plastic contraption that might be fine if you could care less about the quality of your scans, but it's time consuming, since it's not easy loading the negatives into the negatives cartridge.

So I packed it up and returned it to Best Buy. Had it been under $20 I probably would not have bothered to return it, but $85.00 is a lot for something that doesn't work well.

I guess I will just have to be picky about which negatives I want transferred and take it to a lab.

Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep Foundation- Remembrance Photography

I came across this wonderful organization that people need to know about.

Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep (NILMDTS) is a national (and international) non-profit foundation that sends photographers to maternity wards, for free, to photograph babies who have died, or are not expected to survive longer than a few days.

It was co-founded by Cheryl Haggard whose son, Maddux Achilles, was born with a debilitating condition. After 6 days, the family finally chose to end his suffering and take Maddux off life support. But before the tubes and wires were removed, they decided to have local photographer, Sandy Puc', take photos of Maddux before he was removed from life support, and then with Cheryl cradling him after he had passed. This experience inspired Cheryl and Sandy to create Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep.

They have more than 5,000 volunteer photographers worldwide, but are always looking for professional photographers to add to their network.

They believe that capturing these moments can lead to healing,

And what a wonderful way for photographers to give back.

If I ever start working on portrait photography, I will definitely sign up.

The Getty Villa- A Photographer's Heaven

"Tea For Two" - Lilly Pads in one of the many reflecting ponds

While on a recent visit to L.A., I took a little jaunt to the newly re-opened Getty Villa museum down by the Ocean in Malibu/Pacific Palisades. The grounds are incredible- a photographer's paradise, with something for everyone: from Greek, Roman and Etruscan antiquities to lush roman herb and flower gardens, to reflecting ponds and roman-inspired architecture. Make sure you have plenty of memory and that your batteries are charged.

The grounds are huge and there is much to see, so try to make your reservation early. The earliest I could get was 3 p.m. on a Sunday, and with the grounds closing at 5 p.m. it didn't give me time to see much of anything. They have scheduled tours throughout the day, on a first-come, first-served basis. I took the ground's tour, which was well worth it, and you can't beat the price: free.

Admission is free, but parking is $10.00 per car, and you must make a reservation which can be arranged on-line. Print your tickets and take them with you, as you will be asked for them upon arrival.

The Getty Villa is located at 17985 Pacific Coast Highway, Pacific Palisades, California. It's a little tricky entering the property as access to the museum is only from the northbound right-hand lane of Pacific Coast Highway.

Directions:

Take the San Diego Freeway (405) to Sunset Blvd exit and go west. Take the long winding drive through Pacific Palisades until you dead end at Pacific Coast Highway and turn right (north). Then The Getty Villa will be on your right.