I just want to take a minute to thank my webmaster and husband Mike for all the time he takes doing my maintenance and making sure I can upload and change things on the site. He has infinite patience, trust me.

He is also available to build websites if any of you out there are in the market for one. You can see more of his work at Arrowhawk and Zaidee Estella's.

Mike can be contacted at Michael Schock Consulting

I have added a few color images in the galleries. I will add more as they become available. They are in the gallery called...

Nature (Color)

I just wanted to make sure that the changes to the site don't confuse anyone. Obviously, the color scheme has changed. I also have added several new galleries of new images. Soon I plan to add a color gallery, look for that in a few weeks. Basically, the site is laid out as it was before except for the following:

The Guest Artist link has been moved to the left menu under the sections header. The artist's photo isn't on the home page, but will show on each artist's profile page.

I have added a little slide show on the home page, and will try to put new images there occasionally for a fresh look.

I have finally photographed some of my artwork and included that under the My Artwork link in the left hand menu.

New images may not all have pricing yet. If there are questions, email me.

The following is an artist's statement of sorts. It was written in my last semester of college and meant to accompany the group of twenty images that I uploaded to the new gallery titled Still Life 2. I thought I would include it for anyone who is interested. A link to the page with these particular images is at the bottom of the composition.

Sanctuary!

It comes to me in the middle of the night as I lay in bed awake. The time of night when I am always thinking of projects I want to do, things I would love to depict visually with my camera or my sculpting. Or both. It comes to me this particular night probably because I am almost upon the deadline, my last deadline for my last photography course of my college career. I call it a career because that seems to be what I have made it into. It is the one thing that my husband and daughter are willing to step aside for, they never interfere when it involves my schoolwork. I sit here at the laptop, typing this because I knew that if I waited until the morning, it would have left my head to make room for some other thoughts or for a dream that I wouldn't even remember an hour after waking.

I think in spurts and often it seems random and crazy. I am printing the final photos for my portfolio this week and have been feeling like a flop because they are simple photos of things around my home. I was struggling with what to call the series and had almost settled for calling it “home” very simple and straight forward. However, the fiasco of thoughts assaulting my poor brain as I tried to drift off to sleep led me to thinking of how the images would perform as a book. And if made into a book, what would it really be about. I came to the conclusion that it would have to be about the side of me that the outside doesn't see. I want to be a photographer, and it would be great to be a really talented photographer one day. I am learning that it is a difficult dream to follow, but that's alright with me. I guess I struggle with the whole idea of marketing myself and my work because of the introverted person that I am. The hermit in me would be more than happy to stay home and be safe from the eyes of the world. I know that I can't do that, but I still have a need for sanctuary. A place where I don't have to worry about what anyone else sees, a place of comfort.

This series of images is representative of my own personal sanctuary, and the beauty that I recognize there is probably not the conventional idea that most associate with beauty. It is not the softness of a flower petal, or the majestic allure of a sunset. It is not a carefully orchestrated ,well lighted and precisely photographed studio grouping that has all the formal qualities that I love to see. The images here are of the light falling through my windows on my unmade bed, where I am able to rest and close out the world. These images are relaxation and calm. They are of food in my kitchen or the pencils on the desk that my father and his father built together. They are of my grandpa's fiddle and my great grandma's old trunk (filled with old photos). They are of my daughter's feet as she naps on the couch, not bothering to move the clean laundry. They are photographs that depict comfort and home, and the small beautiful things that meet my eye each day. Visual memories are powerful things and I think that my love of photographs is partly due to that power. The photos in this series are simple and not spectacular, but the thoughts that they conjure up can be quite immense. The only way I know to explain it is to use an example that is not a photograph, but an image in my own mind that has been there for years. We all have them and they mean different things for different reasons. This one is of my brother Jim walking into my mother's house on a clear evening in October of 1999. I can still see him walking away from my car wearing his dirty work clothes, dark hair rustling a bit as he moves through the air and his gate is the same as it was when he was a little boy. This image is strong for me because it was the last time I saw him. He died in a car accident a week and a half later. Now he's stuck in my mind, walking away. I won't say that these photos are strong for the same reason, but they are glimpses into my personal space and they remind me that the last stop on my path each day is home. A place where I can be myself and relax with just the simple things around me. I wonder sometimes if other people see the little things around them and really look at the visual feast that is out there in our world. I think that some of us do, but life is too fast for us to spend very long contemplating the light or shadows or the texture of a thing. Maybe that's part of why I love photographs and art. They stop time in a way and allow me to soak up a view, to keep trying to realize whatever it is I am supposed to be getting out of this life. Like a good piece of music will pull you in and hold you, I think a good image should do the same. Not because it is complicated or of a special thing, but because it is a view of something that is part of life. Life is so huge and amazing and I think that I see it better in black and white, because it makes me slow down and actually look.

So, the series of images I have done this time are simply my way of recognizing something that is important to me, my home and family and the love and sanctuary I enjoy there. I could have just summed it up with that I suppose, but those who know me understand my ramblings on and I am thankful that they do.

Life is really simple...

Here's the link..... Gallery

On the walkway at my Mom's in the heat of the day.

I lost my little brother in 1999. Today would have been his 38th year on earth. I just wanted to put his face out there so that everyone else who loves him like I do can see him somewhere besides in our hearts and minds.Wasn't he beautiful?

To remember him always..James Edward Nelson..August 17, 1969-October 29, 1999. I love you,Jimbo.

We enjoy hiking up near Caesar's Head when we can. I always make a ton of photos. The wild growing ferns up there are always beautiful and the ground is covered with them on many of the trails we hike. This one is up close, but at a distance they look almost like soft green fur on the forest floor.

An image of a headstone in one of the many cemetaries I have photographed over the last few years. Reminds me of cookies-n-cream ice cream.

This is one of my favorites from a portrait shoot I did, just to keep in practice.

A shot from my most recent visit with Mom. The key on the bedpost just seemed to catch my eye.

My daughter got her driver's license today. I thought a photo of her to commemorate the day was in order. This one is from a shoot I did for her not long ago. Miss independence!!