Happy New Year!

I have been thinking it over for the past couple of days – trying to come up with a good "start of the new year" kind of topic.  Well, the best I have thought of is, "how to edit yourself."  Really no one can tell you how to edit yourself – I think the big thing is sometimes we need a push to force us to edit.  The beginning of the year is a good time for that push – also home remodeling pushes us to clean up, out and streamline things.

 

As I sit here and look around my desk (and the rest of the house) – editing is needed!  (and, in fairness, editing is happening)  The remodel is still in progress – meaning that things are still a mess.  The kitchen is almost complete.  Painting is about halfway finished.  New furniture arrives on Friday, old furniture has been moved to the basement, and some will be picked up for a donation the same day.  By the end of the month the flooring on the first and second floor will all be replaced.  When we first began this a couple months ago, I knew it was going to be a task.  Task sounds smal l, doesn't it – this is a large task.  What I really did not completely think about is that in order to replace the flooring EVERYTHING must come out of a room.  Everything!  It is like moving and not really moving out of the house.  I had the same epiphany about the kitchen cabinets.  I remember sitting in the living room one night and having mild panic set in when I realized new kitchen cabinets meant all the old cabinets had to be emptied!  I have never lived (as an adult) in a house as long as I have lived here.  Normally we would move – and I mean move – across the country (or at least a few states).  When we would move – we were f orced to clean out things that have been stored and saved for some reason that had become lost on us.  When we would move – we would move to a home with new things, carpet, appliances, the works – all new!  We needed to edit.  We did edit – the move forced us to do it.  I still need to edit – I have three weeks before the flooring guys arrive expecting me to be ready for them.  I need to be.  The kitchen cabinets are fine – they look great and all the kitchen stuff has been edited, and what was kept has been rearranged in the new places.  Now if I could only keep everyone else from moving things when they use them!

 

Next week I have the art center class beginning.  On Wednesdays I teach a beginning digital photography class at the Fayette Art Center.  I have most of my material prepared for this class already – so I am very ready for this.  Recently I removed the Microsoft Digital Image program and Photoshop Elements 3 from my desktop and replaced them with Photoshop Elements 6.  I have learned most of this new program and I am still getting up to speed with it.  On the 18^th of Jan I will present a lecture/workshop at the National Archives in Morrow on restoring old photos using this program – I still need to work with it to learn more of the ins and outs of it.  Also, I plan to add a Photoshop class at the art center beginning in either February or March.  This morning I ordered a companion program for Elements – Essentials 2.  I am anxious to get this one and see how easily it works. 

 

But back to editing – my desk needs some editing – some cleaning – some filing away the papers and items from 2007 to make space for 2008.  I have a couple photo sessions on my memory card that I need to edit and look over, deciding on what to save, what to play with and what to delete.  Recently I went through all the photo files saved to my hard drive (sort of) – saving those to DVDs and clearing my hard drive space.  I even deleted some.  When I say "went through" that means the files of photos – not photo by photo – gosh I would still be doing it if I did each and every single photo.  I am really bad about downloading everything on the memory card and not culling enough to delete ALL of the photos that I know I will never want to look at a second time.  I am pretty good about deleting a stinker on the camera and sometimes one or two during download – but then there are many lurking, taking up space, that are really, really, really bad photos.  This is a good week (what is left of it) to get out the calendars, get set up, and plan the next few weeks (months?).  The photo club meetings are already set up – but I need to talk to a couple places about some field shoots coming up soon.  My filing system is not working – or at least it does not work if I don't file.  There are prints and copies of handouts I pass out at workshops in different places.  I need to get them in one spot.  My camera ge ar has gotten scattered around over the holidays and with the couple little trips I have been on.  I need to collect all the gear in one space so when I look for the monopod I can find it next time!  I would love to set aside specific office time and stick to it – give myself time to do all the little tasks I need to do plus spend some uninterrupted editing time on the computer.  Since this is "resolution time" and I don't usually make them – since I usually break them – maybe I will make just one – to set up a normal time a few days a week to spend "in the office."  When I say office time – well that needs control too – that does not mean time spent updating the iPod and creating playlists – although many of my podcasts have something to do with art or photography…so that is still "working" – right?

 

Oh and about the hawk spotting while traveling via the interstate – I was the passenger on the road trip from Atlanta to Charlotte – I spotted 24!  On the way home from the grocery store yesterday I spied one on the power lines on Redwine Road.