Dinosaurs and Unicorns.

There is a certain risk that is taken when Charlie comes along for when I do a 'toy' shoot for the grandkids or just for fun.

My youngest grand daughter, Elena...well she goes by Nonny, I guess... loves, and adores Unicorns and My Little Ponies.

Of course she does!

Buddy likes his dinosaurs.

So I decided to take some photos to create a story to mix them all up in some sort of quest.

Not sure how it will all go yet. Not even sure of the story line.

But it comes to me in bits and pieces.

Here is two more fun shots:

I'm getting an idea that is muddling about in my head.

I just need to get some more photos and then start to put things together.

I think I needed this distraction.

There it is...

It's going to be

Hot!

It has been an interesting few days. 

Things go on as normal around our little farm but the heat and humidity have changed how I do things.

Most of my outdoor work is done before 10am. That means picking beans, lettuce, onions, and pulling weeds in the garden.

[That includes CrossFit workouts too. Uffdah!]

I like to sit on the porch later in the morning and get the veggies washed and ready to blanch. That too needs to be timed for very early in the morning.

I don't want to steam up the house during the hottest part of the day.

When I am bored and can't hike or go 'do' something, I start to go rather stir crazy and take out the camera and just go at it. 

I experiment with Infrared, with long exposures, and even resort to taking the toys out for some fun.

Yesterday as I was sitting in the yard with some toy Unicorns and a rat skeleton [toy]. I realized I was just like a kid. 

I was creating. 

The camera was my paper and pen. Most of the photos were silly but fun and kept me occupied. I'd actually studied a tutorial regarding how to use a Long Lens for Macro work. 

So I decided to try it.

Not a true macro, but heck...it IS a unicorn!

And Unicorns like to play...so here they are playing! But yikes! What is lurking in the grass behind them?

I also wanted to be silly and tell a story...or make a visual. 

Nothing earth shattering, but just for fun.

This unicorn should be more careful!

Rich sleeps away the afternoons while the heat bears down on us.

Charlie and I sit on the porch and watch clouds, and listen to the birds. I read a book. But I can't sit still for too long.

I wander the yard and look for interesting things.

It's hot and muggy. 

Just dragging the hose across the yard to put fresh water in the mules' tank makes me gush sweat.

Uff.

I find something interesting to try so I sit in the grass. 

I'm always curious. How will I look back on this photo? Will I remember that I sat in the grass to wait for the tank to fill up?

I will look back and recall how nice it is to have Charlie with me.

He sits and surveys the world from a spot in the shade.

He turns to look at me every few minutes. 

.... and there it is.

Another quiet day in seclusion at the farm.

I don't mind it so much now.

Things I am learning about Still Life Photography

I really thought I disliked Still Life photography.
In fact I knew that I did not like it.
I would be terrible at it. I'd suck at it.
I wouldn't know what to do with it.
I didn't have the patience for it.
I didn't have the cameras for it.
I liked the outdoors, I was a nature person...

However. When the bleak November skies are dreary. Sometimes a bit of indoor photography is a good alternative.

I don't know what I'll do with some of these shots, but they were fun to 'make'.

I set white painted boards down, and tossed some scrap clothes along with beads, fake jewelry, and a doily that I picked up at the Flea Market. I used a page from my grandmother's daily diary and an old photo of my father in law and his family taken...well, when he was little.

Elliott's book keeps finding its way into my photos. I find the entries pretty interesting.

Then of course, I have to do a bit of silliness.

An old wooden crate, some toy soldiers my youngest son left years ago, and toy dinosaurs.

The real challenge would have been to get them all in focus with some focus stacking.

Then I went back to a favorite of mine that had been packed away for nearly a year. The salt and pepper shaker donkey.

I used a bit of High Key style editing and was pleased.

There is a strange side effect to doing Still Life. You find yourself looking at a scrape of ribbon or cloth and wondering if it would look good in a shot. So you save it.
You find a coffee cup at the flea market with chips and cracks and think, "Wow, this would look neat if I..." and you purchase it with other pieces of "junk".

Slowly your collection of stuff accumulates.
An old lace table cloth.
Ribbons.
Toys.
Cups not fit for drinking out of, and some that are.
Glass bits.
Fake jewelry.
White boards.
Crates. Wood chunks.

Your husband wanders by and watches you set up a tea party with stuffed animals and shakes his head as he walks by.
He is sure that you are certifiably nuts.

And perhaps you are.
Nuts over Still Life.

A bit of Fun with Toys

The world news and political news is so glum along with the flooding in our area, I've decided to go ahead and have some fun.

#TheDoeStory has been something of an evolving story that includes other kids who assist in making parts up.

The story doesn't really make much sense but is a small bit of fun with toys here and there. The stories are snippets of whims while hiking with a handful of small toys and a camera.

The last piece of this adventure was created with some kids who assisted in both the story and with the Dinosaurs, thank you Carson, Allie, and Logan. Doing the stories wouldn't be have the fun without you!

A week ago we found Dino who is one of Doe's Suitors, deciding to build a rock house in the Gully.

Fawn and Doe decide to go looking after him after a horrible heavy rain pours waters down the gullies in the form of flash floods!

They don't search long because the waters are running over all of the rocks in the Gully.

Fawn gets quite worried about Dino and decides later to go looking for him after the flood waters have receded.

He finds Dino who is just fine.

He explains that his rock house indeed was washed away and it was a "worrisome time when the waters swished his house away". However, he had some new friends that would help him build a new rock house.

Fawn meets Dino's new friends.

Dino explains that they were stuck in an ice cave all of these years and the last flood released them from ice! And now he had dinosaur friends also!

Dino assures Fawn that they won't eat him.

Fawn goes home to report to Doe.

Doe is not easily convinced so she decides to travel to the Gully to check on Dino.

Dino meets her at the Little Falls of Water. He says building in a Gully is very nice because he can just step into the falls to take a nice cold shower.

Fawn and Doe are taken to Dino's new house.

T Rex shows how strong the house is by standing on it. Dino is so proud that his once frozen pals have helped him build a house.

Fawn steps back and wonders if building in the Gully again was such a good idea.
What if it freezes into ice and traps Dino and friends?
What if it rains hard again and washes them away?

This sounds like something that Val-Barbie should come and see.

Val-Barbie looks things over and then sits on Dino's house and pets a yellow snake while she thinks things over.

It appears that she now has a bunch of Dinosaurs to look after too.
She sighs.

If she'd just stayed a regular Barbie she wouldn't have to worry like this.
She could have sat on a shelf and just worn pretty dresses.

However she smiles and pets the yellow snake. Things are nice in the Gully.

And so it begins...

Let me start by saying I love photography and quite a few years ago I started experimenting with Toy Stories.

First it was Morris and his toys that had adventures. It was a daunting task getting Morris at times to pose with his toys in the woods and convey a story. But it was fun.  And we'll more than likely do another story this fall. Morris is getting up there in years, but that doesn't mean that he has stopped being playful.

A couple of years ago my Grand daughter Ariel and I had some fun during a Christmas get together that involved My Little Ponies and photography. That morphed into #TheDoeStory. Adventures with a toy doe.

This past winter I was introduced to Val-Barbie by my neighbor and her children.
Well I couldn't let that just go, I worked Val-Barbie into the Doe Story and then it happened.

Things got well...

Complicated.

Perhaps complicated isn't the proper term. When Allie and Carson delivered this box I have to admit, what was going on now?

Oh be still my little ornery beating heart! 

A NEW goofy story line.

Perfect.

Amazing.
Before I go any further I must say that my neighbor, Lauren has an incredible knack for this. I believe she has a great imagination. She can take a doll and actually create an eerie resemblance a character. 
And this is how it all started....

So let the story begin:
One day Val-Barbie was riding her pony called Lil' Richard.
Lil' Richard got a bit feisty and bucked Val-Barbie off.

Well now.
Val-Barbie can face down coyotes and other creatures, but it isn't often that she gets bucked off from her favorite little pony.

Val-Barbie stomps through the fields to find her errant pony.

Meanwhile Rich-Ken is out for a walk when he finds a loose pony. 
He catches it and wonders who it belongs to.

The pony is to Rich-Ken's liking.

Soon Val-Barbie comes upon her horse and a stranger.

He has caught her Lil' Richard!

Val-Barbie is a bit hesitant with this bearded long haired scraggly looking dude, but her pony seems to like him.

So they stand a while in the long grass and talk.

Val-Barbie has decided that she has sort of taken a shining to ... Rich-Ken.

She mounts up and invites Rich-Ken to become a part of her story.

And so we have another fun and nonsensical story to work with.

That is thanks to my neighbor and her kids who have wonderful imaginations also.

Half the fun was taking toys out and posing them for the photos.
I know. It seems strange, but look back, I've had a long history with toys and photos.

What can I say?
Except that I am having some grande fun. And I will need a bigger backpack to include the Rich-Ken doll and Lil' Richard.

Sigh.
Let the fun begin!

Searching for Doe

I have no idea why I keep having fun with these toys.  Okay, let me say that I do have an idea!
It started with an idea between my Grand daughter Ariel and I.  We would take toys out and photograph them and then caption them with a little story.

Well that grew and I added Trolls that I found, and a Skunk, a Dinosaur, a Buck, and another Doe. 

I explained one day to my new neighbors about the ongoing Toy Saga of Doe.  Val Barbie ended up at my door one day delivered by Carson.  

Next I borrowed a Poison Dart Frog from the kids. This week another toy was 'donated' to the cause.  Carson explained that he felt this Koala bear would be nice because 'it was realistic' and he knew that I liked those kinds of toys.

Friends of mine from Kenosha have also participated in the fun.  So, this story goes on and on with no particular end or direction.  It just happens with no plot.
And so it goes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#SearchingforDoe

Val Barbie was getting concerned.  She called a secret meeting with her Secret Agents.
Kola the bear, Venom the frog, and Dear who has gotten close to Doe but hasn't convinced Doe to come back to her friends yet.

Dear, Kola, and Venom meet in the Dynamite Box with Val Barbie

Their mission should they accept it:  Seek out Doe, make friends with her and bring her back before the Maypoles come up!

Venom decides he won't use his Poison Darts on anyone.  He runs out to the creek to begin a search.

Checking the Creek, Venom sees no sign of Doe

Kola decides to do what he does best.  Climb something and watch.

Kola observes from a Gooseberry Plant

Doe spots and odd looking Bear in the woods.  She isn't afraid and walks right up to him.

Are you a bear? A real bear? asks Doe.

I am, says Kola.

Do you eat Does? asks Doe.

I only eat veggies. Says Kola.

Wow, I have a Dinosaur friend that only eats veggies too! says Doe.

Let's do lunch! suggests Kola.

Doe and Kola collect some maple tree buds and sit on a stump in the woods.

Doe and Kola meet up with Dear and Venom to eat maple buds.

Doe likes her new friends. Venom and Kola are nice. Venom doesn't spit poison darts and Kola doesn't eat deer.  

Even Dear likes them it seems.

Doe thinks about her other friends, Dino and Bo.  What should she do? She misses them.

Kola smiles so nice at her and says Maybe you can introduce us to your friends Bo and Dino sometime?

Doe does something she doesn't do very often.  She thinks about it.

Time for a Toy Story

Let me begin by saying that this is an on and off again thing I have fun doing with my Grand daughter Ariel.  The Toy Story that revolves around the little toy deer that I have called Doe. Doe always takes off in crazy directions and does insane things, like trying to live in an ice cave.  Or trying to live in a parking lot.  Or wandering off and getting lost.

I carry Doe in my camera bag. And sometimes I carry other toys too and I always look for someplace interesting to photograph them and then make a short photo story of it.

Well the other day, I added a toy to my collection.

Thus the story.

Doe wandered off down the creek.  Her friend Bo that she met during hunting season had gone with Stinky to find another home for her. They said she needed a nice place to stay come early this Spring.  
She didn't know why, she preferred wandering much better than just finding a home.

Bo and Stinky tell Doe they will look for a new home for her.

Well, she was going to show them!  She just wanted to take a walk by herself. She liked the creek in any season, it was always so interesting.

Wait!
What did she hear?  Was that growling?

Doe looked up the rock wall where an ice cave had been forming.
What on earth was that???

Doe ran up to it and introduced herself. 
[Oh what would Bo and Stinky think right now?]

The creature had huge teeth and tiny eyes and funny looking hooves.  He said he was a Dinosaur and a Velociraptor.
Doe certainly didn't know what that was but she was hungry so she asked the Dinosaur if he was hungry.

Dino said yes he was very VERY hungry.  

Doe said she knew of a nice place where they could 'do' lunch.

And off they went.

Doe noticed that Dino had some very big teeth, but he was very polite and ate the moss with her at the sunny ice cave. Doe liked her new friend and couldn't wait to introduce him to Bo and Stinky.
She wondered what her pony friends would think of him too?

We can only assume that Doe's complete lack of fear and total innocence can work in her favor.  How often does one meet a Velociraptor and 'do' lunch?

A little fun in the woods

Around Christmas last year, my Grandaughter Ariel and I thought it would be fun to each take some toys and photograph them.  We'd set them up and take the photo, then send it to each other with an explanation of what was happening in the picture.

See Making Up Stories from March of this year.  Of course I began to add little toys to the My Little Ponies we both had started to use.

The one character we've had the most fun with is Doe.  Doe is always trying to find a good place to live and she is always making terrible decisions.
Like the time that Stinky was 'horrified' to find out that Doe had decided she would live in a parking lot.

Well things happened this year and I sort of dropped the ball on hiking in the woods with a pocket full of toys.
I just didn't have time.

The other day I went to get groceries in town and I decided to check out the resale shop.  I wandered around their 'new' store front  and thought to myself, boy it stinks in here and everything is crammed in.
I was looking for jeans, I like finding them for $2.  For farm work, they are just fine.

Anyway I turned around and a display amongst the clutter caught my eye. Trolls.
I hadn't had trolls since I was in Jr. High.  I'd gotten my first troll in 1965 and it had coal black hair.  They provided endless hours of play.

Well that brings me back to this display.  Everything flashed through my mind and suddenly I found myself carefully looking at the trolls.  I wanted the old ones, not the newer soft mushy ones.  I ended up... with two.   At $1.00 per troll, I was pretty tickled.

And this afternoon I thought I'd take Morris for a short walk and look for Indian Pipes.  I grabbed my camera bag and the trolls off from the table.

I paused when I put the trolls into the bag, sitting in the extra space was Doe One and Doe Two.  Doe Two filled in when I temporarily misplace Doe One for a couple of months....

Picture me carefully crouching on the forest floor and trying to figure out if the canopy of leaves will make the scene too dark, or will the breeze blow the leaves and brighten things up?
I set everything up and then....
PHOTO BOMB!

Morris who is never interested in anything I am doing in the past 11 years, decides to smell the trolls and then push them over with his nose.

I take Doe One and Doe Two and set them back up with the trolls and chastise Morris.  He blinks at me and then marks a plant to tell me what he thinks of me.

We achieve success and the lighting cooperates just fine.

I'm finally happy to say that Doe has found a home with the Wood Troll and the Wild Troll.  I don't know...does the look on the rainbow haired troll just look a bit crazier to you? Wild Troll looks like he is trippin'.  Just saying.

Wood Troll seems more sane and subdued.

I put the Trolls and the Does in my camera bag and stood up, brushing my pants off.
I smiled and zipped them up safely and began to think of what sort of adventures they may all have together.

The sun was low in the sky and it was time to go home.  I smiled to myself, half expecting to hear my mom call me in for supper.

No, I was all grown up.  Well let's think about that, who is all grown up that plays with toys in the woods?

I whistled for Morris and we started down the trail that would lead us back to the farm.  Both of us were happy.

I'd also found what I'd originally came out to find.  Indian Pipes....

It was a good afternoon after all.

Making up Stories

Around Christmas time I was visiting with my daughter and their family, when Ariel and I started to 'play' with her 'My Little Ponies'.  We took photos of them in her house and outside.

Ariel had duplicates of ponies so she lent me some of them.  Now these ponies have little markings on their flanks which help you identify them.

For the life of me, I cannot ever recall their names without looking them up.

So the deal was, we'd take photos of these toys in odd places and make up a quick little story about what was happening.

One day I grabbed one of my small figures of a doe and went out with a few ponies in my pocket and took a hike to the ice cave.

I took the above photo.

Now I had to come up with a short blurb of what it was about.

Rarity and Trixie stopped to talk to a very small doe who lived on the upper part of the ice cave on their last hike to the back valley ravine.

It was a rocky ride in the backpack but they did get out and enjoy stretching their legs and enjoying the giant icicles.

And it seemed that things started to expand from there.  I started carrying Doe and acquired a small skunk that I incorporated into the 'story' that was forming.

Doe kept getting lost.  The ponies had to keep finding her.  One day Stinky the Skunk came along to help.

And the story continued.  Doe needed a home and kept finding some of the worst places to live.

No Doe should not live in a bale of oats...

Then Doe and Fluttershy get lost.

And Stinky comes to the rescue to find them with several other Ponies.

Stinky and the Ponies go on a mission to find a good home for Doe.

They look at all sorts of places and then Stinky thinks they have found the perfect spot.

A Bird's nest in the Creek bottom where Doe can stay safe and out of the weather.

But Doe has other ideas.

Stinky and Smiley Pony try to tell Doe that living in an ice cave is not a good place to stay.  It is very cold and it will melt in the Spring.
Doe is not convinced.  She thinks the bird nest is a good spot too!

Doe just never seems to learn.

And yesterday, Stinky is horrified to find Doe thinking she should live in a parking lot!  Yes I know I am a bit crazy, but a little project turned into a 'story' of sorts.

Stinky ran up to Doe.
"NO Doe, you cannot live here! A parking lot is no place for a doe like you."
Doe didn't understand, she thought it was a nice sunny place.
She thought about it, Stinky didn't like her making a home in the Ice Cave at the Ice Falls either.  Stinky was pretty particular.  She wondered if she'd ever find a home.

When we were at Wildcat Mountain at the Ice Cave, some people came by and we explained what we did with the toys.

They climbed the ice and took photos of Stinky and Doe.  How fun was that?

So the story of Stinky, Doe, and the ponies will continue.

And A. Waite will continue to come up with fun photos for me to see...

Find Stinky on Google+

#Doe   #Stinky   #ToysAdventures   #helpdoefindahome