Sharing what you Know..

Well, I said I would be taking a class on Photoshop soon, and I was so excited about it that I went a week early! The class is this Wednesday so once I have the lesson, I will be sure to let you know how it went and some of the cool things I learned. I am having trouble learning how to load pictures onto the Photoshop, I think I get confused when I am uploading from my camera. Another program called JASC keeps opening and I just get confused. Jessica Sprague is offering some free Photoshop lessons on her site at and I plan to take those classes too! The more I learn, the more practice I get right?

Which leads me to this weekend. My husband and I headed out to a National Park in our area to see what we could take photos of this week. It had rained quite heavily and so we headed to the Falls. It was a beautiful day and although kind of a long ride, we went out and spotted red tail hawks, the falls, dragon flies, birds. All kinds of fun photographs! On our way out of the park there was a crowd of people with cameras taking pictures of something on the ground. I wasn't wearing my glasses so asked a photographer what everyone was looking at. He looked at me and said "Oh its just a really interesting tree" and he walked away. I believed him. So I kept looking and looking trying to see what was so special about it, and then it moved.

There up against the trunk was the most beautiful fawn. Its mother was on the other side of the tree eating grasses and she obediently sat there waiting for her mom to return. I sat there for about 30 minutes taking shots, waiting for her to raise her head. It was such a special site. Kids walked by and I shared my binoculars so everyone could enjoy that special moment.

That to me is the point of art, nature, life. To be able to share it with others. Shame on that man for not wanting to share it with me. Perhaps he thought we would endanger the young fawn, but I suspect he was just being selfish.

This site is about sharing what you learn. About anything. Photography just happens to be my art right now, but I am learning scrapbooking, card making, jewelry design and more. I learn from books that I read, people that I meet, and places that I go. I do hope you will come on in and share a little or alot. Don't be like the man who was simply looking at a "very interesting tree". Delight in your knowledge and share it with others. There is a little kid out there who may never see a fawn in the wild who is just happening by, and you could be his entrance into understanding that the world is much bigger than the space we take up. The photos above, are of the fawn and its mother. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Eagles Building a Nest

This morning I drove down the parkway in anticipation of what I would see next. I left for work early in the event that I could get out of the car, walk down toward the trees near the nesting area and snap away at pictures! And I did. They were actively flying and building their nest. It's amazing to watch them maneuver huge sticks into the building of a nest. Did you know that Eagles mate for life and return to the same nest each year sometimes building it as big as 10ft wide? As you can see, they were all over the place.



You can't tell from this photo, but this nest is across the street from the Potomac river. There is plenty of good fishing there for hungry eagles. I learned the other day that roughly 50% of an eagles offspring do not survive. I haven't found out why, but I think that is an interesting statistic. If anyone knows that answer please post a comment! Here are a few more photos of the eagle activity in Alexandria!

The Eagles have Landed

I wasn't lieing when I told you I am fasciniated with this pair of eagles. Each day I look over at the nest as if to say "hello, over there, what's going on?" This morning they were active! Searching for sticks and bringing them back to the nest. I caught this one in flight. Isn't it magnificent. Its one thing to see an eagle picture in a magazine, its a totally different thing to capture the moment yourself. If you want to see the series, log on to my Etsy site at www.sowingoats.etsy.com. It was a cloudy overcast day when I shot this photo but the effect makes it look almost as if the eagle was layered onto a background. I have been playhing with it trying to add a blue sky as a background. I will share my success later!