'Living Well' Television Show Appearance

I am very excited to announce that on February 14th I had the wonderful opportunity to film a short segment for the television show, Living Well, on Harford Cable Network.  I was very honored that my supervisor at Harford Community College recommended me for the job out of all the other continuing education instructors she could have recommended. After some discussion back and forth with the show's producer, Karen Frances, it was decided I would give a few short photography tips to viewers. Having never done anything like this before (besides my very brief stint on a reality game show a few years back) I was very nervous. But Karen and her cameraman were so patient, kind, and encouraging that although stressful, it ended up being a lot of fun and something I can check off the bucket list.

Receiving instruction from producer, Karen Frances. Image used with permission-Kim Slotnick

 The show will be airing in April on Harford Cable Network, which is on Comcast Channel 21, Verizon Channel 31, and Armstrong Channel 7. It can also be seen online at HarfordCable.org throughout the month of April.

Waiting for the camera and lighting to be adjusted before taping. Image used with permission-Kim Slotnick

Going into this, I didn't realize exactly how everything would work. In my mind we would be in a private room and do an interview-style question and answer session with the producer. However, the facts were that we were shooting in the lobby of Edgewood Hall at Harford Community College while students were walking in and out, staring and wondering what in the world was going on. The front registration desk was just a few feet away and so there was a lot of noise and action for me to block out and ignore during taping.

Laughing at something the cameraman said to try and loosen me up! Image used with permission- Kim Slotnick

Truth be told, I messed up a lot because I would go blank while staring into the camera. The producer and cameraman were so kind to let me do as many retakes as I needed. They encouraged me the whole time telling me I was doing a great job when in reality I felt like I was just stumbling all over myself and looking awkward and weird.

The amazing cameraman who kept me calm and was very patient! Image used with permission-Kim Slotnick

In all I think I was "on set" for about an hour and twenty minutes. I don't even think the segment will be 2 minutes long. I have a new respect for the people in this industry who are in front (or behind) the camera every single day. They make it look so darn easy when in reality is very nerve wracking.

Trying to gesture and smile during taping. Image used with permission-Kim Slotnick

One of the things that was most difficult for me is to smile and gesture while talking. Normally, in a classroom while teaching, this is so natural for me. But for some reason, in front of the camera, it was very, very difficult! I know that they are planning on using some overlays of photography examples during my segment and honestly, I hope the photography is on the screen a lot longer than my face!

I am not really anxious to see the final product. To be honest, I was mad at myself afterward because I felt like I could have done a better job for these wonderful people. My memory difficulties (a lasting effect from having Lyme Disesase) and my discomfort in front of the camera made me feel like I let everyone down. Hopefully the editors will be able to salvage something decent from clips they taped.

What I learned from this whole experience is that I am NOT cut out for television...at least scripted television anyway. I am a lot more comfortable behind the camera rather than in front of it. I also learned there are some really great people left in this world...two of which were kind enough to walk me through this experience.

Thank you to HCN, HCC, my supervisor, Lisha Sturgill; Marketing Support Specialist, Kim Slotnick (who took all these stills); HCN producer Karen Frances; and the HCN cameraman (I am so embarrassed I have forgotten his name!). You all made this a wonderful experience with so much grace and kindness.

I Stood Upon the Hills- Throwback Repost

Throwback to December 15, 2011 when I posted this Longfellow poem along with this image I took in Maine. Beautiful words, beautiful landscape, beautiful memories.

I stood upon the hills, when heaven's wide arch
Was glorious with the sun's returning march,
And woods were brightened, and soft gales
Went forth to kiss the sun-clad vales.
The clouds were far beneath me; bathed in light,
They gathered mid-way round the wooded height,
And, in their fading glory, shone
Like hosts in battle overthrown.
As many a pinnacle, with shifting glance.
Through the gray mist thrust up its shattered lance,
And rocking on the cliff was left
The dark pine blasted, bare, and cleft.
The veil of cloud was lifted, and below
Glowed the rich valley, and the river's flow
Was darkened by the forest's shade,
Or glistened in the white cascade;
Where upward, in the mellow blush of day,
The noisy bittern wheeled his spiral way.

I heard the distant waters dash,
I saw the current whirl and flash,
And richly, by the blue lake's silver beach,
The woods were bending with a silent reach.
Then o'er the vale, with gentle swell,
The music of the village bell
Came sweetly to the echo-giving hills;
And the wild horn, whose voice the woodland fills,
Was ringing to the merry shout,
That faint and far the glen sent out,
Where, answering to the sudden shot, thin smoke,
Through thick-leaved branches, from the dingle broke.

If thou art worn and hard beset
With sorrows, that thou wouldst forget,
If thou wouldst read a lesson, that will keep
Thy heart from fainting and thy soul from sleep,
Go to the woods and hills! No tears
Dim the sweet look that Nature wears.

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

50/365- Goodbye For Now...

Fairy Duster Plant

Sometimes we all need a change. I know for me this has been an entire season of change. My oldest children have struck out on their own and my youngest have returned to public school after 2 years. Nothing feels quite right in the house and I have been struggling to find my place. So, in the interest of my health, both mental and physical, I am taking a break from blogging to revamp my life, my business, and my website.

I am going to take some time to take long naps, read some good books, catch up on Masterpiece Theater, practice photography, and do some local traveling. I am in the process of applying to be a substitute teacher again. I am volunteering in the schools. I may take a few trips to visit family. I am going to go for long walks and a few bike rides. I will take time each day to enjoy my favorite season. I am not sure when I will be back to blogging, but I always return.

I will still be posting on Instagram, Facebook, and possibly Twitter, so if you'd like to stay in touch, please do. I am continuing with my project 365 over on these venues, so please connect if you enjoy that sort of thing.

In the meantime, I will say goodbye for now. Have a wonderful Autumn and I will see you all soon.

xo

22/365- Rest and Be Thankful

Mobile Photography by Tracey Grumbach

"Rest and be thankful." -William Wadsworth

----------

A long time ago I began a series called "Resting Places." I am fascinated with empty places of rest...benches, chairs, couches, etc.  Something calls me to them. I guess it's the open invitation to sit for a while...and be thankful.

I've decided to start this series again so I will be posting some more resting places over the next few weeks. This particular bench I found at Longwood Gardens on my recent trip there. I fell in love with the delicate green vines growing around the bench, the cut out in the wall, the colorful litter of fall leaves, the cool smooth stone...everything about it really. To me it is perfect.

Thank you for all the birthday wishes and messages. I had a fabulous day visiting a friend in the morning and then having lunch with a new friend/colleague. We rounded out the day at the twin's school for a back to school barbeque. I'm so thankful for all the blessings in my life. I am one lucky lady.

Have a great day!  I have a follow-up appointment at my Lyme doctor today and then an interview for a volunteer opportunity. See you here same time, same place tomorrow!

xo

Let It Rain- Photography by Tracey Grumbach

Let It Rain- Digital Photography by Tracey Grumbach

Canon 5DMarkIII
EF 100mm Macro 100mm f/2.8
1/640 sec; f/5.6 ISO 320
Aperture Priority
Edited with various iPhone6SPlus Apps

"For after all, the best thing one can do when it is raining is let it rain."
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

When the tears make tracks upon your cheeks,
Allow them.
When your heart aches like it will shatter at any moment,
Let it.
When sadness rises in your throat like hot bile,
Grant it permission.
When panic surges and steals your breath,
Surrender to it.
When waves of loss drown you,
Yield to it.
When grief grows in your belly, filling you up,
Own it.

For after all,
the best thing one can do when it is raining
Is let it rain.

Hoping your Monday is beautiful and safe. Sending love to you all in the world.

xo

Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation 2018 Individual Artist Award Grant

Sometimes we need to do things for no other reason than to push ourselves in a direction we never would have gone. Recently, I have been so blessed with career opportunities flowing my way for which I am totally humbled and grateful. Most of the time opportunities don't just present on one's doorstep; you've got to work hard, become vulnerable, and put your work out there for people to see. When you plant seeds sometimes they hit fertile soil and grow into wonderful things and sometimes they dry up and wither into nothing. Sometimes these opportunities spring up quickly and sometimes they need lots of time to grow and develop.

I am constantly on the look out for new opportunities to enter my work into shows, publications, and more recently, apply for grants. Last week I found out about the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation 2018 Individual Artist Award Grants which happened to be accepting applications for grants in the amount of $1,000, $3,000, and $6,000 in the category of photography. When I looked at the deadline for the application, it was this past Friday at 4:30 PM. Unfortunately, because of taking care of Brenna all week and then internet problems (rural life issues), I missed the deadline. I was disappointed because the grant only comes around about every 4 years in the photography category so I would have to wait a long time to try again.  However, as fate would have it, I received an email on Saturday morning saying that the deadline was extended to Sunday at 11:59 PM due to server errors on the grant application site. Now, I didn't have any more excuses. I had to submit. I decided to go with the theme of black and white photography showing rural/agricultural landscape in Maryland and Southern Pennsylvania. I had to submit 8 photographs that were taken after July 2014 to represent my body of work. These are the 8 photos I chose to enter.

Frozen Silo-Digital Photography-Black and White Photography by Tracey Grumbach

Farm At Rest-Digital Photography-Black and White Photography by Tracey Grumbach

Amish Farmer- Digital Photography-Black and White Photography by Tracey Grumbach

Flock Over Farm- Digital Photography-Black and White Photography by Tracey Grumbach

Wash Day- Digital Photography-Black and White Photography by Tracey Grumbach

Winter Mount- Digital Photography-Black and White Photography by Tracey Grumbach

January Silos-Digital Photography-Black and White Photography by Tracey Grumbach

Team of Four-Digital Photography-Black and White Photography by Tracey Grumbach

Competition for this grant is highly competitive. The winners are selected by a team of jurors from out of state. I will have to wait a really long time to see if I am awarded grant money because they will not notify the winners until April of 2018. I am so proud that I worked really hard to pull this together and submit. It was a long process on which I spent several days. I am so thankful to my family for their encouragement and patience as I was hooked to my studio and computer for many many hours. My chances of winning are slim to none as most people who win grants actually enter several times before being selected. This is the first time I've ever applied for a grant, so I am not expecting much. The good part, though, is it forced me to reach out of my comfort zone, go through several years worth of images (many of which I've never shown before), and try something new.

What goals do you have that you've been putting off? What box will you step out of today?

Have a beautiful Monday...stick around the rest of the week as I have some really cool digital art pieces, photography pieces, and announcements to make this week!

xo

THROWBACK REPOST- July 7, 2011

 Everyone seemed to enjoy the throwback post from yesterday, so I did another today...all the way back to 2011! The kids are so stinking cute and they were so little! I am so glad I have this older blog to look back on and share with you. Again, 2017 commentary is in italics.

July 7, 2011

This past weekend we decided to take the crew fishing.

I told them that if they wanted dinner they had to earn it by catching it.

That didn't go over too well, but what kind of mother would I be if not to motivate my brood?

So, early on Sunday morn we packed up the kiddos

and headed off of These Nine Acres to a neighbor's farm

where he has several ponds stocked with fish.

Hey, at least I was making it easy for them to catch dinner! (I was totally kidding as this facility was a catch and release area...but the kids didn't know that, lol!)

To our knowledge, this was the first time the twins have gone fishing.

They were very excited to catch a fish and T1 wanted to "pet them."

Typical for her...my animal loving gal. (Back then I used the term T1 and T2 because I didn't want to identify the twins by name since they had been in the foster care system. T1 is Natalie since she was born first and T2 is Zachary since he was born second.)

Brian setting up the little kids with their rods.

And they are off!  Who will catch the first fish?

Can I pet it?  Can I pet it?  Can I pet it?
Um, you have to catch one first!

I am happy that this year both Ty and Ladybug now bait and remove the fish from the hook themselves. Now we just have to help out the little ones. While Ty was the first to catch a fish, both T1 and T2 caught a fish too...their very first. Neither of them wanted to touch it...

Even T1 who talked incessantly the whole time about petting one! (Ty was what I called my oldest son, Tyler...and still do, and Ladybug is my oldest daughter, Brenna.)

Check out my very first fish!

No brother of mine can out do me!  I got one too!

Ladybug caught MANY but I only have a picture of this little one.

I caught one too! (that is a henna tattoo on my hand, btw)

Brian didn't catch one but in his defense, he was baiting hooks for the little ones
faster than they could let the fish eat the worm off!

No one caught dinner...

we only caught about 12 small bluegill all together. There were no whoppers to speak of...except the guy fishing across the pond from us caught a huge rockfish.

Show off.

But that is ok...

at least we had fun trying.

Have a great Thursday, everyone!


What fun looking back! Hope you enjoyed this old blog repost! Look for more in the future!

xo

Throwback Thursday Post- July 6, 2010

I've been blogging for a very long time. I was blogging even before blogging was a thing. I was blogging back when dial-up was the only option for internet. Unfortunately, several of my blogs have been lost to time, but some (after 2009) have survived but can only be seen by me. So, I thought it would be fun to take a time machine back every once in a while to see blog posts from the past. Fasten your seatbelts on the time machine...we are heading back to 2010 for this entry I posted. My kids and myself were MUCH younger then...

P.S.- I will add explanations and commentary in italics in the original post,

July 6, 2010

I am taking a day off

from posting Project 365 images

so I can catch up on the editing

since I have been out of town

for the past couple of days. (I attempted a photo-a-day project back in 2010 but only made until August or September if I remember correctly)

I thought I would take this time to

share some of the images I took

while on our mother-son weekend trip

to Deep Creek Lake, Maryland.

I shared pictures already from

our first day there,

but these are from the second day.

I tried to focus on patterns 

and abstracts this day,

so it is a bit unusual for me.

I hope you enjoy them anyway!

Panoramic view of Friendsville, Maryland from scenic overlook

Sideling Hill Rest Stop

I should be back to regular posting tomorrow!  

Until then, my friends...

xoxo


See?  Wasn't that fun?  I will reshare old posts as I find ones that aren't too embarrassing. I will tag them with "throwback" in the labels if you ever want to reminisce with me! LOL. Enjoy the rest of your day.

Sizzling Summer Art Show at Arts By the Bay Gallery

There are only a few days left to check out my Featured Artist Exhibit at Arts By the Bay Gallery in Havre de Grace! The current show will be taken down on Saturday night, so please, if you wanted to see the exhibit, head out there today, tomorrow, or Saturday morning. It has been such a wonderful experience to show my work as a cohesive collection and I will be forever thankful. I am also so humbled by how many pieces I sold, which was way over my expectation! I am happy to announce we raised over $1,600 for NatCapLyme Association! Thank you!

The new show opening will be Friday, May 30. Stop in that night to see the new show and to say hello since I will be working the Opening Reception shift. The reception is from 7PM-9PM and I'd love to see you there.  I will have the following 5 pieces hanging-

The Ritual

The Ritual
Digital Art
Limited Edition- Only one will ever be printed
Framed Size 13"x16"

Single Rose Bud

Single Rose Bud
Photography
Open Edition
Framed Size- 33" x 23"

Through the Looking Glass

Through The Looking Glass
Digital Art
Limited Edition- Only 1 will ever be printed
Framed size-15" x 15"

That Spring Walk We Took

That Spring Walk We Took
Digital Art
Limited Edition- Only 1 will ever be printed
Framed Size- 13" x 16"

I'll Leave the Window Open For You

I'll Leave the Window Open For You
Digital Art
Limited Edition- Only 1 will ever be printed
Framed Size- 19" x 24"


And I will be replenishing my unframed prints with fresh choices as well! So be sure to stop in starting Friday night, May 30th! Here are details of the opening reception:

Have a blessed day! xo

St. Louis Zoo- Photography by Tracey Grumbach

About these images: While traveling to visit family in St. Louis, my oldest daughter and I took a few hours one morning away from the hospital while the kids were in therapy. We decided to quickly tour the zoo, which was right across the street from the hospital. I decided to take along my camera and long lens to see what I could capture in the brief time I had there.

The St. Louis Zoo is really beautiful and totally worth going if you are ever in the area. The morning we went most of the animals were out, active, and visible. The enclosures were very natural looking and many of the animas had "pit-style" arenas in which they were kept so viewers didn't have to look through bars to see them. That was the case with the large cats as seen above.

This is one of the strangest creatures Brenna and I have ever come across. It looked kind of like a rodent in the face, a cow/buffallo in the body, a bear in its rear end, and a goat on its feet. According to the zoo's website, the Sichuan Takin is an "antelope-like goat" that is a relative of the musk ox and lives in Western China. Seriously, people, these creatures are so ugly they are cute, and they are HUGE (buffalo size). There were babies in the enclosure as well, and oh my goodness, just no words. Click the link above to see a video of the creatures on the zoo website.

One of my favorite animals to photograph are the zebras. I just love the abstract patterns that are unique to each individual animal, like a thumbprint. And their ears...dear heavens...wish I could rub them they are so cute and furry. I'm pretty sure the zebra wouldn't appreciate it my ear fetish, though.

The camels are always amusing to watch, especially when they are eating. Reminds me of some 9 year old twins I know, lol.

I'm not sure what the next creature's name is, but it sure is majestic with those long, twisting horns and beautiful eyes. Check out that neck beard!

Y'all know I love me some birds, and this one is no exception. It was HUGE! And the bright eye with the red stripe on its head just drew me in. It was quite beautiful.  I still have more bird images to edit and share at another time, but for now this one has the spotlight.

This banteng, a wild cow that is quite shy and lives in the jungle, was too adorable. I caught it taking its bath for the day as it licked itself all over in quite the lazy way. She seemed very flexible for a lady her size...perhaps she does yoga.

I have many more images to go through and edit, but I thought you might enjoy seeing some pure photographs for a change rather than digital art. I will continue to edit the other images and share another time. In the meantime, I hope you all stay safe from the impending snow fall (yes, I know it is predicted to be only a few inches) and have a beautiful day.

xo