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Submitted by mimi 12/10/09 6:31 AM GMT
Our final artist to be spotlighted in 2009 comes near the end of the alphabet and loves the color blue. I give to you our own verenabloo known around these parts as "V" or Verena. Take a minute out of your day and visit her varied gallery and browse a bit!
I think I've become speechless at this moment. I so love being part of the caedes family and sharing my little life a bit with all of you feels very nice. Thank you so much for the priviledge not only of being part of caedes, but that I've never met a nicer group of people then are here. I never thought for one moment, when I came to America from Germany, that I'd be so in love with taking photos, but I think the seeds were planted with the little "Brownie" I got as a teenager! I'll try to share my life of photography with you. It actually began in a small way about 20 years ago. At the time we were working part time in janitorial and one evening I took out the good ol' paper trash, when I saw a camera next to the dumpster! I took it in, put a notice on the bulletin board, along with other places, hoping someone would claim it. After waiting about two month no one claimed it, so I tried working with that camera a bit. It must have been meant to be! Seems like I inherited it. It was the first "real camera" I ever owned. It was a Canon AE1 SLR and a real treat for me! And, yes, I still have it! Little did I know how "hooked" I'd be. I've always dearly loved flowers, nature and 'little things' of nature. My Dad even got me into taking photos of older cars, the classics, well first, he "forced" me to actually put together my first car. He told me I had to know what made it run before I could drive it.So he taught me all about "classic cars" so of course, that's one of my favorite things, going to car shows to take photos plus just loving being part of them with my beloved red Mercury Cougar. The first and only new car I ever owned. Now it's the vehicle that takes me on all my photo shoots, and due to my health issue(bad knees) I take many of my photos right out of my car window! Sometimes I've driving and shooting at the same time!! I go out to take photos in rain, snow or hot weather, my car is always comfy!
I took a short six week photography class to learn to take night photos, which I'm still learning much more about and have not been able to master as yet!! Macro is what I love and with my new camera, I haven't figure out all the bells and whistles either! I think when it comes to photography I seem to be a very slow learner, but I love every single minute of it. When we moved from Louisiana to Oregon I immediately fell in love with the Pacific Ocean, which was a huge inspiration to take sunset photos at the sea. A few years later I began doing canvas paintings, using my own photos as the inspiration to paint sunsets and the sea and clouds. I also began going to Poetry Chatroom in the late 1990's, began writing poetry about the things I saw and took photos of. That's where I met up with someone who was posting beautiful wallpaper as a background in the poetry chat room. I asked where he got those lovely pictures, and he told me about caedes. I began visiting here myself, and very quickly joined, as I fell in love not only with the site, but the people who are helpful and many have become cherished friends to me. My stay with caedes began in 2004. I bought my first digital Nikon camera a few years ago, and decided I just loved Canons much more, so I was thrilled to finally buy my Canon Rebel EOS. So I am elated to take photos, my gosh I never thought I could shoot up to 400 at a time!!And then go thru the thrill of loading on my computer and editing to my hearts delight!! I'velearned so much from all the people in caedes. And I keep right on. Once in a while I have the priviledge of helping the new ones who come here. That's a real special feeling. I love most of all taking photos of the sunsets here and the wonderful fog that lays over the mountains, and of course, the great snows we have now too. And living near Portland, the City of Roses, wow, so many beautiful flowers to photograph. It would be hard to choose a favorite photo of my own, but I love the 'sudden surprise' photos when I load them on the computer and they turn out!! The beach is my most favorite place, and living in the Pacific Northwest always fills me with new photos to find.Such a beautiful area. My best trip I took was to Bannack, the ghost town in Montana. Being part of the caedes family fills me with friends, wonderful photos to view, challenges and lots of fun as well. I have many awesome feelings and memories in every one of my photos. But the best part is when I know someone else really enjoys them too.
I truly love being in touch with all the people here in caedes! To be part of their lives, many of them living worlds away from me, it's very special. And really, I just want to hug each and every one of you, you've made me very happy, especially this year, it's been a tough one, but now we go into a new year..with bigtime hopes of greater things. Geri, the owner of this site fills it with great stuff, working with it and improving it, along with the hard work the mods put forth. So, there is a lot to enjoy and learn from here. Thank you all so so much for making it such a pleasure to be part of this family.
