Cliché Photography

I read someone’s post on Instagram which stated the biggest cliché  in photography are sunrise and sunset photos.

As a photographer I wondered about this statement.

I thought about all the photographs that have ever been taken. Photographs taken by masters of photography, like those of Ansel Adam’s photographs of the American wilderness or Clyde Butcher’s photographs capturing the beauty of the Florida Everglades.

I thought about all the photos snapped a millions of times by traveling tourists.

I thought about all the sunrise and sunset photos on Instagram.

Why do we continue to photograph when it’s all been done before?

Is it all cliché?

Cliché: something that is overly familiar or commonplace *Merriam-Webster Dictionary

No. I disagree.

But I believe this thought hinges purely on the perspective of the viewer.

I believe the sunrise and sunset, the flowers, the clouds, the oceans, and the mountains we continue to photograph are because of a deep response within us to the awe and beauty of God’s creation. Each time we see, we bear witness to these displays of beauty in nature. We are captivated.

“For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.”   ~Romans 1:20

If we believe a sunrise or sunset is commonplace than maybe we have lost our vision or sense of wonder.

Walt Whitman wrote about wonder and beauty in the everyday and commonplace in his poem called Miracles

“Why, who makes much of a miracle?

As to me, I know of nothing else but miracles,

Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan…

Or wade with naked feet along the beach just in the edge of the water…” ~Walt Whitman

 

Annie Leibovitz, with her masterful career, has photographed notable people from rock stars to the Queen of England. And yet she has gone on to photograph for herself the places that capture the wonder in all of us. It seems her desire for some of these places (in part) started with a visit to Niagara Falls with her daughters. A photograph of Niagara Falls (not the celebrities she’s famously photographed) is on the cover of her book Pilgrimage.

Imagine your own trip to Niagara Falls. Imagine the feel of the cool mist spraying your face,  the sound of  the water rushing loud as you take in the power and beauty of the waterfall. Then you take out your camera to try and preserve some part of this majesty to carry back home. Someone walks up and says, “No photos allowed. It’s already been done. These falls have been photographed too many times, by too many people. They’ve been seen and visited since 1678. Niagara Falls has been written about and photographed by famous authors and photographers. Please put your camera away.”

We know its been done. All you would have to do is look to your right or left and you’d see hundreds of cameras all taking it in, recording memory.

But we come and we see and we feel and we capture these moments in our own photographs.

I recently attended a seminar given by a National Geographic photographer. His career has spanned more than forty years. He’s traveled the world from America to Antarctica and there are still countries he would like to visit. The funny thing is, he qualified this with the fact that friends and colleagues in the field have been to these places he’d like to visit. Masters in their own specialty of photography, sometimes spending months photographing these places. He doesn’t want to go to these places to compete with their work, but to see and experience the place for himself. And when he goes he’ll still take his own photographs.

And wherever I might go, I’ll keep taking mine.

I’ve seen the sunrise and the sunset, but it makes me pause and I can’t help but take in the beauty of this world. It’s a gift. I stop and notice. My photographs are a response. A thank you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I Can Read

 

Little Chick’s Story

1978

by Mary DeBall Kwitz

illustrated by Cyndy Szekeres

Published by Harper & Row

I was drawn to Little Chick’s Story by the simple soft blue and brown color palette. I love the pencil lines of Cyndy Szekeres through the wash of pale colors and how in places she uses no color at all, only the pencil. It’s beautiful how well the simplicity of the two colors work in Little Chick’s Story.

My favorite part of the story itself is that this is An Early I CAN READ Book, but Mary DeBall Kwitz still lets children read and learn from the rich detail in her text.

“She laid one egg in the meadow for the ring-tailed raccoon.

And she hid one egg in the violets for the Easter rabbit.”

I love her word choice, especially violets. She could have called them flowers, but she chose to teach children about a specific flower. Maybe there’s meaning in that for the author.

This book made me think of all the I Can Read books my children have checked out and read from the library and the ones we’ve bought and read together at home. It really is incredible to see your child grow and learn to make sense of letters and the sounds they make and then learn to put it all together and read all by themselves.

I wondered about the series of books and when it possibly started. I found out the first I Can Read book published was Little Bear in 1957, by Else Holmelund and illustrated Maurice Sendak.

You can read the history of how the I Can Read series began HERE.

 

 

What’s your favorite I Can Read book?

 

 

 

 

 

What Do You Say?

I found a new favorite picture book on this Throwback Thursday. This might be something I say about all of our picture books. Maybe I’ll just say this is my new favorite picture book about manners.

What Do You Say, Dear?

 

1958

By Sesyle Joslin

Illustrated by Maurice Sendak

Published by Scholastic Book Services

3rd printing October 1965

“single copy price 35¢”

 

When I found the book, I admit, I picked it up right away because I saw Maurice Sendak’s name on the cover as the illustrator. This made me quite happy. But when I read the book I loved the words also. This really is what a great picture book is all about isn’t it? Great words with great pictures. I love how fun Sesyle Joslin made practicing manners. There is no room left for ordinary. Her words bring full imagination and lots of laughter.

It’s hard to pick out one favorite spread. I think I like them all, but I do want to share one with you so I’ll pick one for now…

 

“You are a dangerous pirate and you have captured a fine lady to take on your ship. Every morning when you untie her so she can eat breakfast, she says, “Good morning. How are you?”

“What do you say, dear?”

 

“This is the funniest book about manners you ever read!”

 

 

 

 

Personal Typing

This Throwback Thursday book is dedicated to my mom.

–Disclaimer: This one isn’t a picture book, but it does have fantastic illustrations and I couldn’t resist the fun of it when I found it at the thrift store.

Personal and Professional Typing

S. J. Wanous

1962

South-Western Publishing Company

I think I grew up in a strange time of transition, sort of an in an in-between state. Old technology VS. new technology. A bit of time spent in darkrooms developing my own film and making prints, learning to type on a typewriter, and also learning how to use a computer and getting photos burned onto Kodak CDs.

I had the privilege of taking one class learning to type on an electric typewriter. I say it’s a privilege because I learned how to type on a keyboard well and it’s been something I’ve used ever since.

Technology is still changing, and it always will be, but for now  my son still has to sit down to type reports for school on our Mac and he doesn’t know the keyboard. He types essays one little letter at a time, click… click… click… It’s painful to watch sometimes.

I know the time he could save by learning to type. My fingers find the keys on their own, no scanning for the letters, no thinking involved.  I wish he had this skill.

I wonder if my nostalgic find might be put to some good with my kiddos?

It might be fun to use this manual and see what happens.

Does anyone learn to type like this anymore?

 

 

 

 

Chicka Chicka abc

 

by Bill Martin Jr and John Archambault

Illustrated by Lois Ehlert

1989

Today’s Throwback Thursday Picture Book is one of my favorite little board books. This was the first book I received as a baby gift when my son was born. We read this little ABC rhyme book over and over and it seemed quite the perfect first book for my little Florida baby. We’ve never been in short supply of coconut trees down here in the sunshine state.

This is our book, faded and lovingly worn around the edges, first read with my son and then again with my little girl.

 

The best part about celebrating Chicka Chicka abc today is I have Lois Ehlert’s new book, The Scraps Book: Notes from a Colorful Life reserved and waiting for me to pick up at Barnes & Noble.

Julie Danielson of the impossibly wonderful blog, Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast, shares an interview with Lois Ehlert over at Book Page. You may just end up going to get a copy too after you read the interview.

 

What was your baby’s first book?

 

 

A Cure For Complaining

 

The Tale of Meshka the Kvetch

copyright 1980 by Carol Chapman

illustrations by Arnold Lobel

published by E.P. Dutton New York

This little tale makes me quite happy. I love the soft color palate and texture in the illustrations and I love the language in this tale -words and phrases like,

 Meshka, Yiddish, Kvetch, kosher pickles, oy vey, and Wall of Jericho

This is a picture book, but it’s a good read for anyone of any age. My daughter and I read it together, I read it aloud to my son, and then again to my husband. Just maybe, I needed this tale of Meshka when I found this little treasure at the thrift store.

“…Meshka, who was considered by all to be the village kvetch. Now kvetch is a Yiddish word for complainer, and that’s just what Meshka did. Complain.”

She complains to everyone she can. She complains about her tiny house, her life, and her children until all her complaints start to come true. The rabbi comes by and sees her in her troubles and quickly diagnoses her problem,

“I’m afraid you have the Kvetch’s Itch.

…it causes everything the kvetch complains about to come true.”

Meshka is a complete mess. How can she be cured? The rabbi helps her, but I love that he tells her she can’t be cured.

Isn’t that really the case for all of us? Can we ever be cured of complaining?

I’ve read so many negative things online that I’ve made a promise to myself never to post complaints on social media. I try to share what inspires me, stories I find fascinating, simple encouragement, or  the beauty I see in nature. Even with my best intentions I fail.

So what does the rabbi recommend?

“if you praise the good in your life, these problems you mention will cease.”

Since Meshka has never praised anything in her life, her first attempts at praising good things are hilarious. The rabbi gives her a few pointers and eventually she gets the hang of it.

“And from that day on, whenever Meshka would start to complain and say, “Oy vey”– she quickly said instead, “Things are good and I am happy.”

Meshka’s tale reminds me of one of my favorite books, One Thousand Gifts, by Ann Voskamp. Life is messy and hard at times, but Ann reminds the reader joy is found when we look for the blessings in our lives and give thanks. Ann, like the rabbi, offers up a remedy for life. She calls it a Joy Dare. It’s a dare to count and list three blessings a day for a year. 1,000 gifts.

“Joy is a function of gratitude — and gratitude is a function of perspective. So take these prompts to help you see and change perspective — give thanks — and live all His joy!” -Ann Voskamp’s Joy Dare

I’ll praise the good with you today, even in the midst of difficult circumstances. Our problems may not cease, but our perspective will.

 

 

To Think I Found It In Goodwill

My latest thrift store stop has to be one of my favorites. I spent the afternoon with a friend at Goodwill. We looked at pants and shirts and skirts and talked up and down the aisles. I found an amazing Christmas sweater vest with candy canes and sequins. I managed to leave it behind for a happy ugly-sweater-loving person.

I wandered to the back of the store to check out the children’s books. I found two little treasures amidst the stacks.

Can you spot one of them on my bookshelf?

I didn’t even realize it when I first purchased the book, but the spine has no title information. This leads me to other questions about book publishing and earrly cover design–

When did publishers start paying attention to designing book spines? How were books displayed in stores in 1937? Were children’s books designed or displayed differently than other genres? I think this will have to be anothe post for another time.

On to the book and… Dr. Seuss!

And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street

My favorite find for the day! I realized it was an early edition when I read the back cover jacket flap.

This author bio in the back is my favorite part of the whole book. Why? Because it tells the tale of the very beginning of the career of a man with a dream to draw and publish children’s books.

Dr. Seuss hadn’t become a household name yet. This is the space where Mr. Geisel and The Vanguard Press are selling us Dr. Seuss:

“Dr. Seuss, whose pictures of strange humans and stranger animals have startled and delighted the American public on billboards and car cards, in magazines and books, is not, as has often been rumored, an armless artist who draws with his toes. He is a healthy and sane young man whose real name is Theodor Seuss Geisel, who grew up in Springfield, Massachusetts, was graduated from Dartmouth College in 1925 and decided to become a professor of English Literature…”

He didn’t become a professor after all. It was drawing pictures that had his heart.

“…he had been warned by experts that he could never learn to be an artist. Mr Geisel still believes that these warnings may have been correct, not withstanding Dr. Seuss’s success in drawing pictures, a success so great that it caused him to abandon all thoughts of an academic career.”

It’s hard to pick out my favorite part from Dr. Seuss’s author bio. It all tells a tale. I especially love the last paragraph listing his author credits. Did Mr. Geisel imagine at the time the success in front of him?

“Although Mr. Geisel has written numerous magazine articles, AND TO THINK THAT I SAW IT ON MULBERRY STREET was his first book. His second, THE 500 HATS OF BARTHOLOMEW CUBBINS, has proved as popular as it’s predecessor.”

LISTEN

Here’s a fun audio clip (3 minutes or you can read the story) from NPR when they celebrated the 75th anniversary of And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street in 2012.

I’m so happy to have found this little piece of children’s book history.

What’s your favorite Dr. Seuss book?

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Nursery Rhymes

A Puppet Treasure Book

This is the last book in my collection from children’s book artists Tadasu Izawa and Shigemi Hijikata. This one is full of nursery rhymes including selections from Robert Louis Stevenson to Mother Goose, counting rhymes, and “Little Nursery Rhymes” –Little Tom Tucker, This Little Pig, Jumping Joan, Jack Horner, Little Boys and Little Girls, Little Bo-Peep, Little Robin Redbreast, We Willie Winkie, and Polly Flinders. It’s a fun collection from Tadasu Izawa and Shigemi Hijikata.

My favorite rhyme is Where Go the Boats from Robert Louis Stevenson. Today has been a little rough around the edges. I think tomorrow I just might find myself down by the water where the boats go.

“Dark brown is the river,

Golden is the sand.

It flows along forever,

With trees on either hand…”

–Where Go the Boats Robert Louis Stevenson

 

What’s your favorite nursery rhyme?

 

Tom Thumb

Today’s Throwback Thursday is the fourth in my puppet book collection from photo illustrators T. Izawa and S. Hijikata. This book features the strange fairytale world of Tom Thumb.

Published by Grosset & Dunlap.

There’s no copyright date printed in the book, but there is an inscription from the original owners of the on the inside cover,

” To Diane and Bobby

Merry Christmas 1973

Love, Mommy & Daddy”

“If only we had a son,” sighed the wife, 

“I would be content, even if he were no bigger than my thumb.”

 

ABC Book

 

A late night Throwback Thursday in Picture Books –My sweet girl was sick today. And even though I had more down time with her home than I usually do, I find it very hard to multitask when my sweethearts are sick. She’s feeling better and I’m a happy mom.

So, here’s my third book from the puppet photo illustrated series in my collection. I found this one with the lenticular card still on the cover! The ABC BOOK doesn’t give a copyright date or the names of the artists, only that the copyright is by Rose Art Studios. The book is so similar in style to the other books it seems as if the artists would have to be Tadasu Izawa and Shigemi Hijikata –the size of the book, photo illustrations, and the lenticular 3-D card on the cover all match the Puppet Storybooks.

My Tiny 3-D Book Series  A • B • C   Book

Playmore Inc., Publishers

Other books in My Tiny 3-D Book Series:

• 1. Goldilocks and the Three Bears
• 2. The Frog Prince
• 3. Three Little Kittens
• 4. Cinderella
• 5. Jack and the Beanstalk
• 6. Hansel and Gretel
• 7. Snow White
• 8. Thumbelina
• 9. ABC Book
• 10. Tell Me What Time It Is!
• 11. Counting Little Indians
• 12. Little Red Riding Hood
• 13. Mother Goose
• 14. The Three Little Pigs