She Loves Alaska!

My mother loves Alaska. Her name is Mattie and she is 92 years old (or will be in July) - and she is leaving next week for her 10th (I think - losing count here) trip to Alaska. She has relatives, nieces and nephews, there, which makes the trip affordable for someone living on Social Security and her savings earned from cleaning homes over the years. Alaska, with its wild and wonderful beauty, is her favorite place to visit, but when she was younger and my father was alive, she made it to all fifty states. With a small motor home, they managed to see the country "on the cheap" but with great joy. Coming from poverty and a tenant farmer's life, she has delighted in the chance to see and appreciate the beauty so many take for granted. She is not a photographer, but she has been an inspiration to my own photography as she painted wonderful mental pictures in her stories of this land, from Hawaii to Alaska and every state in between. I can't wait to hear her latest saga when she returns. Happy Travels! From Janice

Back again

After a long absence, we will try this again - life got really hectic for a long while there, but we did manage to take some neat photo trips in spite of all that.
Last year we were on the road for 5 weeks (7 weeks for Nolan) of photography travel including a trip to the Smoky Mountains (with a bird photo outing at Gary Carter's blinds in North Carolina) and a long trip to Canada, Montana, and parts west (in the USA).
This year we made it to Georgia with lots of gardens along the way, including the gorgeous azalea gardens at Callaway Gardens. We also just got back from an eastern Canada trip, a cruise on the St. Lawrence River from Montreal all the way to Boston. Bad weather on that one, with rain, flooding, freezing cold, and gale force winds - quite a trip that was - with lots of foggy weather photo opportunities.
Flying is more of a hassle than ever - so we are thinking road trips look even better, and there is a lot of this beautiful USA that we have not yet seen or photographed. It remains a beautiful world, one we appreciate even more as we struggle with the challenges of aging.

Musings from a Photo Trip

Our recent photo trip to South Texas was a great success photographically. We photographed from blinds where we ignored 100+ degree temps because we had marvelous birds sighted through our viewfinders. We brought home images of Harris's Hawks, Yellow-billed Cuckoos, Great Kiskadees, and dozens of other fascinating birds, wildlife, and reptiles. But, more importantly, it was a fun trip, a great experience of friendship and shared passion. We traveled, ate, sweated, and laughed with a group of people who share a love of nature and of photography. Whatever our philosophical, political, or religious differences, in sharing our passion for photography and for the natural world, we found common ground and friendship and lots of fun. Perhaps the world needs more photo trips - or bike trips, or garden clubs, or whatever brings people to find shared passion and common ground.

Photography is contagious!

Photography is truly contagious - especially in a world of digital cameras - with so much that is beautiful and interesting to photograph. Our children all share our interest in photography (to different degrees and as much as work and family commitments allow) - and several of our grandchildren have caught the bug as well. Our oldest grandson, Christopher, is in Rome, Italy, this summer on a college student exchange program. We can't wait to see his photos this time.
This past Christmas holiday period, he spent a month in Argentina, climbing mountains and glaciers and taking really impressive photos. His mom, our youngest daughter, Karla, also captured great photos of Argentina (with her Canon digital rebel) when she joined Christopher there for ten days. Christopher had earned a stipend for the Argentina trip by writing an essay about the role that his grandparents and their photography had played in his life.
How sweet it is!

South Texas - Bentsen Ranch trip

We are looking forward to June 25th when we will go with Kathy Adams Clark (professional photographer and tour leader) and other photographers to get down on eye level (literally) with the birds of South Texas. The Bentsen ranch (owned by rancher and nature photographer Steve Bentsen) is wonderful for birders and bird and wildlife photographers because the blinds are dug into the ground so we can photograph the birds at eye level.
We should get great shots of lots of colorful birds (like the Green Jay), some interesting raptors (like the Harris Hawk), juvenile birds being fed and/or weaned by their parents, and possible wildlife and reptiles (javelinas, rabbits, etc. - and very interesting snakes).

Getting Started

This is the first blog for "Janice and Nolan." For old, somewhat retired folks, this is a brave new venture. We retired from careers as computer programmers (old mainframe days - not these incredible PC's - there we depend on our kids when the technology gets ahead of us) - but now we are able to spend our time doing what we love - which is travel and photography. Blogging seems like a fun way to share with family and friends (and anyone else interested in photography and travel) the excitement and pleasure of our photo trips as well as the everyday fun of our photographic creations.