Author: Bridgette

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Photography: Updates from my Backyard

Just popping in from the land of editing to share with you a few quick shots taken with my iPhone in the backyard yesterday. I also want to share exciting things happening:

  • My short story collection book has a name and an ISBN number.
  • I’ve hired an artist to create a book cover and it should be done in February.
  • Yesterday, a kindergartner told me I was pretty.
  • I’ve decided on a new photo project—portraits of strong women. I’ve got the first three models/friends booked and I’m excited to see how this grows.
  • Tonight, I’m going to an art event celebrating Rebels, which is the exact energy I want to bring into this year.
  • Bubbles and sunshine filled my yard again.
  • I recently got Lightroom. My photos might look a bit different as I figure out how to use this new software, but I’m excited for a new challenge.
  • My camellias and daffodils are blooming.
  • My 5-year-old nephew is obsessed with gnomes and it’s the best thing over.
  • Tomorrow I’m taking my daughter to see Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and I get to wear my old cowboy boots.

The world feels like such a mess, so I hope you forgive my need to celebrate all the things. Tell me something good happening in your backyard today and I hope you have a fantastic week.

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  • These photos were taken with my iPhone and edited using Lightrooom.

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Photography: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

“And now we welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been.”—Rainer Maria Rilke

It’s been a season of reading books, doing puzzles, snuggling under blankets, and savoring the warmth of my home. Big goals and plans are on the horizon, but right now I’m moving slowly and feeling fully into where I am at this moment.

Thank you to everyone who has read my blog this year despite my sporadic and inconsistent pattern. It’s been a year of tremendous highs and lows. I am mourning loss and also feeling incredibly blessed for new people who have come into my life.

May your New Year’s Eve and all next year swirl with beauty, love, peace, and hope.

I’m glad you are here.

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  • As always, photos were taken by me with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW.

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Photography: Cold Moon

Although it was our last session together, the full moon hid from me. It danced among the snow but wouldn’t sit still long enough to capture it. I looked for light and cold instead. Winter held within a single frame. Tell me, can you feel it?

Moon rises fair and fleece.
Dark crow upon the fence outside.
Night thought, like snow concealed.
—Neil Reid

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I had high hopes and big plans for this final photo shoot, but the weather did not cooperate. I went out three different times but clouds and rain made it quite difficult. All the same, I hope you enjoyed this last installment and all 12 months of full moon photos. I learned a lot this year! Stay tuned for some big announcements in the coming weeks. I’ve got ideas for a new project and I’m still working on publishing my short story collection.

As always, all photos were taken by me with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW. Let me know if you have a favorite and have a wonderful week.

One final note. For those who knew Neil Reid, I’m sad to say he passed away earlier this month. I wrote a tribute to him on his blog today, but I wanted to honor him here too. I will miss his comments, letters, and beautiful poetry. He taught me a poem is a poem if you say it is and to love B I G. I will miss him.

Neil’s kitties.
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Photography: Mountain Retreat

Last week I spent time recharging and writing in a beautiful house on Cobb Mountain. My creative, giving, and loving friends helped me figure out the title of the short story book I’ll be self-publishing in April. I wrote the introduction and edited several stories. They were invaluable in listening to me rattle on about my dreams and fears.

In this tumultuous time in America, it felt good to surround myself with strong women. We need each other more now than ever.

“They will want you seated, conformed, and quiet but don’t you dare fit in. Scream the house down if it’s what it will take to make your noise heard. The divine feminine has been shamed and shunned for self-expression for far too long, we aren’t here to silence ourselves anymore.”—Nikki Rowe

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As always, all photos were taken by me with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW. Let me know if you have a favorite and have a wonderful week.

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Photography: Beaver Moon

For a moment I lost hope. Fear stuck in my belly and made me sick. I didn’t recognize my country anymore so I chased the moon with my camera. I couldn’t go over the pain. I couldn’t go under it. Oh no! I would have to go through it.

I’m not through it, not even close, but I found a few things to help. Rice fields at sunrise. Cranes taking flight. Gold-tinged farmland. You. We’ve got a long way to go and we need each other. So this is me holding my hand out to you. We are in this together.

“We all—adults and children, writers and readers—have an obligation to daydream. We have an obligation to imagine. It is easy to pretend that nobody can change anything, that we are in a world in which society is huge and the individual is less than nothing: an atom in a wall, a grain of rice in a rice field. But the truth is, individuals change their world over and over, individuals make the future, and they do it by imagining that things can be different.”—Neil Gaiman

*In case you didn’t recognize the reference above, it’s from the delightful children’s book We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.

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As always, all photos were taken by me with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW. Let me know if you have a favorite and have a wonderful week. Only ONE full moon left! What?!!

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Rainy Day in America


wetwalking she crept
into darkened oldwoods
bumblebush wept
missing sweetgoods

teardropleaves watch
fairies hiddenbreath wish
forgivenot bitter scotch
weave hopeful freshstitch

sisterthorns together cry
tornfists stitched anew
silkhands won’t comply
our earthbodies stay true

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  • As always, all photos were taken by me with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW.

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Photography: Road Trip and Update

After years of regularly posting and commenting here, I think I’ve reached a place of burnout. I haven’t been fully present like I used to be. It’s not fun.

To get myself out of this slump, and at the advice of my wonderful writer’s group, I’ve decided to self-publish my 52 short stories into a collection available by Christmas. Having a physical book, my book, in my hands will be a dream come true. I need this to move forward.

In the meantime, thank you to those who continue to show up and cheer me on. Your comments are what keeps me going. I hope you’ll consider ordering a copy when it’s available. I can’t even tell you what that would mean. I’m giddy thinking of it.

While I do the hard work of making it happen, here are some photos from my recent road trip. Let me know if you have a favorite and have a fantastic week.

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#14, my friend’s dog Paris. Isn’t she the cutest!

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  • As always, all photos were taken by me with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW.
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Photography: Hunter’s Moon

Forget about everything else and be right here. Look at the way the full moon rises, timid and then quickly. Bold. Look at the way the Joshua Trees grow. Each branch jutting off the main tree is from an injury. They make broken look beautiful. You do too.

Let’s remember this moment and make more. Many, many more.

“What draws people to be friends is that they see the same truth. They share it.”
—C.S. Lewis

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It’s not like me to be spontaneous. I like planning, making lists, and being as prepared as possible. Last week I decided at the last minute to visit my childhood best friend in Las Vegas for her birthday and got ready in three hours. It was a perfect, beautiful, enjoyable, and fully unplanned whirlwind of a few days capped off by the appearance of the Hunter’s supermoon. My heart is so full.

Most of these photos were taken at the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. However, the last few photos were taken on the drive back in the morning. The last photo is the moon setting as the sun rose close to Newberry Springs, CA.

As always, all photos were taken by me with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW. Let me know if you have a favorite and have a wonderful week. Only two full moons left of the year. Wow.

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Photography: Harvest Moon

Today the heat subsided and the clouds arrived. I went in search of you. I found sunflowers, pumpkins, cornfields, and a bridge. You peeked out for a minute from the clouds but then ran from me. That’s okay. I don’t need to see you to love you.

Because I’m still in love with you
I wanna see you dance again
Because I’m still in love with you
On this harvest moon
—Neil Young

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I visited Bishop’s Pumpkin Farm with visions of taking a photo of the full moon over a cornfield, but the clouds didn’t cooperate. Instead, I had a lovely evening with my mom. I hope you enjoy these images and let me know if you have a favorite. As always, all photos were taken by me with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW.

My sunflower mom. I love you.