SeaSide Sharon

Moving!

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Pickering ) — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 00:23:00 +0000

Oh...I'm moving Seaside Sharon to Sharondipity Photography...the blog. It's a rather happy/sad thing. I'm excited to do this, but this blog has been around for so long.

I'm doing it to simplify things a bit. Make it easier for my photography clients to get a glimpse into more than just photo sessions. So this is the last post here. I will be leaving it up, so we can still look at all the pictures.

Thanks for all my followers. And please, come on over to Sharondipity Photography...the blog for more wonderful pictures. And more stories to go with them.

It will be fun she said...

Seaside!

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Pickering ) — Wed, 27 Nov 2013 02:41:00 +0000

I just love it when I find photos that I forgot to upload! Here are some from our last trip to Seaside...

The Great Gulfcoast Arts Festival 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Pickering ) — Thu, 07 Nov 2013 03:51:00 +0000

We went to the art festival and walked around. Looking at all the wonderful art and, of course, taking pictures. One tent caught my attention. It was the Pensacola Quilter's Guild. A very patient lady took the time to tell me about all the beautiful quilts as I took photos of them.

...and she will recite Keats under her breath...

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Pickering ) — Sun, 26 May 2013 23:53:00 +0000

A stroll along the beach this beautiful Saturday morning. What a wonderful life...

"You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots."
.•*♥ Rosemarie Urquico

“Every man's life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another.”
.•*♥ Ernest Hemingway

Fiesta Sand Sculpture Contest 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Pickering ) — Tue, 21 May 2013 15:17:00 +0000

A ride to the beach to see the sculptures in the making. Talking to the artists. What a diverse group of people!

Seaside Community Yardsale Spring 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Pickering ) — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:57:00 +0000

You know my love for a yardsale. Well, multiply that by a gazillion, and you have my love for the Seaside Community Yardsale. They have one spring and fall. This is our first spring trip. So much fun, people, and bargains! We were unable to stay for very long this time. I'm having knee issues which severely limits my time walking. But I did get to see the event. And even managed to bargain for a waffle iron. That makes three for me. I'm a believer that if you are going to make waffles, fire up the irons so everyone can eat at once! I may hang a sign and go into the waffle business!!

The crowd shot...

at the dock

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Pickering ) — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 17:21:00 +0000

A morning at the fish shop. For shrimp. Drew shopped. I photographed. I love behind the fish market!

Another easy Saturday...

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Pickering ) — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 02:13:00 +0000

Woke up too late for yard sales this morning. So went for coffee and then off to the Palafox Market for a cool morning stroll. Mostly I just wanted to take some pictures.

Got home. Downloaded the pictures to my computer. Edited them in Lightroom. Then did some fancy folder moving in Lightroom. Lost the folder. Completely. So I started the process all over again. Download...edit...etc. This time I paid better attention and didn't lose one! I LOVE Lightroom, but sometimes it can be very confusing. The thing that I love most about it is also the thing I hate most when I mess up.

Live by the sword. Die by the sword.

The Farmers Market...and another pelican

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Pickering ) — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 02:36:00 +0000

Went to the Farmers Market this morning. Unusually warm I think...but nice. The market is growing and growing. Love it. Then ran a few errands and I remembered a "Pelican in Paradise" that I have been meaning to photograph. It was on my way, so I stopped there, also.

But, we'll start with our tree. I'm in love with it this year. We finally got a new one. Our last one was over 10 years old! This one is 9' tall, and a little more narrow than our old one. Fuller. This picture was actually the first shot with my new lens I bought. I was testing it last night.

Dr. Peli-Pain II

The true harvest of my life is intangible...

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Pickering ) — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 20:02:00 +0000

Autumn. We don't get much of it in Florida. But, none the less, you can still feel it in the air.

There are small signs. The proliferation of monarch butterflies making their journey to their promised land. My river birch beside our front porch...the leaves are starting to dry and become golden. The squirrel party every afternoon as they gather acorns dropping from our oak tree in the front yard.

All signs of autumn.

"The true harvest of my life is intangible - a little star dust caught, a portion of the rainbow I have clutched."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Henry David Thoreau

"I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Laura Ingalls Wilder

"Her fingers were gnarled and crooked like the roots of the oldest swamp trees..."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Amber Kizer, Meridian

"The first stab of love is like a sunset, a blaze of color -- oranges, pearly pinks, vibrant purples..."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Anna Godbersen, The Luxe

"Being Southern isn't talking with an accent...or rocking on a porch while drinking sweet tea, or knowing how to tell a good story."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Jan Norris

"Those who don't believe in magic will never find it."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Roald Dahl

"The mothers have to stay at home and wait for the children to fly in the window."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveler's Wife

"Fairy tales say that apples were golden only to refresh the forgotten moment when we found that they were green."
¸.•*´¨`♥ G.K. Chesterton

Market Morning

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Pickering ) — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 00:06:00 +0000

I wanted to talk with one of the vendors at the market about flowers. So I took my camera and did a short walk. It was wonderful. The market has grown so much this year. I'm so happy to see that.

"I am so perfect so divine so ethereal so surreal I cannot be comprehended except by my permission..."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Nikki Giovanni

As I walked, I took pictures...of this and that. Then I spotted this wonderful old, worn, soft quilt that was over a table and used to display an array of fresh baked breads. So I, of course, took a couple of pictures. Then I walked on a little more, decided I've walked enough, so I turned around. As I came upon the quilt, I got in closer and took a few more pictures. The lady at the stand finally had to ask why I'm taking pictures and of what? I told her I just take pictures of pretty things and that quilt was beautiful. As it turns out, she did not make that particular quilt, but is working on a difficult design...Wedding Rings. We talked about our quilting knowledge, which was not a long conversation. And I walked on.

"...But her quilts, now that was something she could pass on."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Sandra Dallas

Then I found Darlene. We discussed flowers. She is so helpful and sweet. I highly recommend her to anyone that is wanting to get their yard designed.

The next two flower pictures were taken at her booth...

"I remember her telling me once that rabbits were the gnomes in attendance to the Fairy Queen and that the stars were God's daisy chain. "
¸.•*´¨`♥ P.G. Wodehouse

"...and it comes like the stealthy perfume of wildflowers hidden in the grass."
¸.•*´¨`♥ John Steinbeck

"In every wood in every spring There is a different green..."
¸.•*´¨`♥ J.R.R. Tolkien

New Orleans 2012: 14

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Pickering ) — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 01:07:00 +0000

Well. This is the last batch of photos from this trip. From the end of the night to the view of the rooftops from our hotel window.

sigh

"Codeine...bourbon..." (Tallulah Bankhead's last coherent words)."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Denis Brian, Tallulah, Darling: A Biography Of Tallulah Bankhead

"Love is 3:33 am plus 360 degrees plus 365 days, minus 12:34 pm. I ought to know, because I weighed it myself."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Jarod Kintz, This Book Has No Title

"And there are cafes and bistros or whatever they call them on every street corner."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Stephanie Perkins, Anna and the French Kiss

"...that tranquilly beamed down on the rooftops of fast-asleep houses."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Haruki Murakami, 1Q84

"The most exciting rhythms seem unexpected and complex, the most beautiful melodies simple and inevitable."
¸.•*´¨`♥ W.H. Auden, The Complete Works of W.H. Auden: Prose, Volume III, 1949-1955

"Downtown. Lights on buildings and everything that makes you wonder. And in that moment, I swear we were infinite."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

"I've always liked the time before dawn because there's no one around to remind me who I'm supposed to be, so it's easier to remember who I am"
¸.•*´¨`♥ StoryPeople

"So while it seemed like you were seeing everything, you really weren't. Just bits and pieces that looked like a whole."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Sarah Dessen, Just Listen

"Crying is for plain women. Pretty women go shopping."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Oscar Wilde

New Orleans 2012: 13

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Pickering ) — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 19:51:00 +0000

This is the evening...as you will be able to tell. Nikki and I made off to Bourbon Street and had a Hurricane at Pat O'Brien's. The Hurricane will explain many of the photos :-)

"The world, although well-lighted with fluorescents and incandescent bulbs and neon, is still full of odd dark corners and unsettling nooks and crannies."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Stephen King, Firestarter

"Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass

"I find myself searching the crowds for your face - I know it's an impossibility, but I cannot help myself."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Nicholas Sparks, Message in a Bottle

"My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Dalai Lama XIV

"...a horse is a beautiful animal, but it is perhaps most remarkable because it moves as if it always hears music."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Mark Helprin, Winter's Tale

"...forked lightnings slashed the ebony night; the faceless were walking; all was right with the world"
¸.•*´¨`♥ Neil Gaiman, Fragile Things

"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Albert Einstein

New Orleans 2012: 12

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Pickering ) — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 16:30:00 +0000

"But I always liked side-paths, little dark back-alleys behind the main road- there one finds adventures and surprises..."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

"Art is not what you see, but what you make others see."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Edgar Degas

"Solace? That's why God made fermented beverages and the blues."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Tom Robbins, Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates

"One of the great problems of mankind is that we suffer from a poverty of the spirit which stands in glaring contrast to our scientific and technological abundance."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Martin Luther King Jr.

"Who said nights were for sleep?"
¸.•*´¨`♥ Marilyn Monroe

New Orleans 2012: 11

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Pickering ) — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 17:20:00 +0000

"Light is more important than the lantern, The poem more important than the notebook."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Nizar Qabbani

"A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading."
¸.•*´¨`♥ William Styron, Conversations with William Styron

"The house smelled musty and damp, and a little sweet, as if it were haunted by the ghosts of long-dead cookies."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Neil Gaiman, American Gods

New Orleans 2012: 10

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Pickering ) — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 10:37:00 +0000

"...folding her fingers around the delicate bowl of a porcelain teacup. Looking pale and exhausted, her blue eyes ringed with dark shadows, she swallowed a mouthful of heavily sweetened tea before continuing."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Lisa Kleypas, It Happened One Autumn

"Those who seek find. Those who knock it is opened."
¸.•*´¨`♥ C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce

"... and sometimes there is something terrible lurking around that you cannot see until it is too late and you can do nothing else but scream..."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Lemony Snicket

"When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Ansel Adams

"There is such a place as fairyland - but only children can find the way to it. And they do not know that it is fairyland until they have grown so old that they forget the way."
¸.•*´¨`♥ L.M. Montgomery, The Story Girl

"Taking pictures is savoring life intensely, every hundredth of a second."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Marc Riboud

"There are some secrets which do not permit themselves to be told."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Edgar Allan Poe

New Orleans 2012: 9

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Pickering ) — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 00:18:00 +0000

This next photo is of a man that noticed my camera, and secretly waved me over. So I went. We began a photography discussion, and at some point he pulled out this lens (I still don't exactly know what kind it was) and whipped in on my camera...over the existing lens. Then proceeded to place his eye inches from my camera and insisted I take a picture. We were so close. He did not know the meaning of personal space, and for that moment, I had to let any perception I had about personal space go. Therefore I took a picture of his eye...very close with all the wonderful bushy-ness of his eyebrow.

I only wish I had the wits about me to take a photo of him...but he had me rather at a disadvantage. He was older. Arabic. Short. Creamy brown skin with deep set wrinkles. Many smile lines. A full, gloriously white beard that went to his chest. And, you can see the twinkle in his eye.

"The seat of the soul is there where the inner and outer worlds meet."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth

Then he grabbed my hand, and placed my ring close to the lens. So the next photo is of my ring...while I'm holding the camera with one hand, focusing, metering, and trying not to bobble. Not an easy feat. Each heart beat made the world shake, so I snapped between beats.

Southern Candymakers REALLY are the best praline makers. I can testify to that.

New Orleans 2012: 8

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Pickering ) — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 10:29:00 +0000

"Masquerades disclose the reality of souls. As long as no one sees who we are, we can tell the most intimate details of our life."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Fernando Pessoa

"Time is simultaneous, an intricately structured jewel that humans insist on viewing one edge at a time, when the whole design is visible in every facet."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Alan Moore, Watchmen

"So keep your head high, keep your chin up, and most importantly, keep smiling, because life's a beautiful thing and there's so much to smile about."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Marilyn Monroe

"I'd learned a long time ago that one of the finest weapons in my arsenal was my ability to invade personal space."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Maggie Stiefvater, Forever

"Sometimes life is merely a matter of coffee and whatever intimacy a cup of coffee affords."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Richard Brautigan

New Orleans 2012: 7

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Pickering ) — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 14:23:00 +0000

"...if you stay in it for any length of time, like anyplace else, a cafe becomes a world."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Marisa de los Santos

"They should tell you when you’re born: have a suitcase heart, be ready to travel."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Gabrielle Zevin

"Every time I tried to concentrate, my mind glided off, like a skater, into a large empty space, and pirouetted there, absently."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

New Orleans 2012: 6

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Pickering ) — Sun, 02 Sep 2012 20:53:00 +0000

"Once I feel his hand on my cheek and try to trap it, but it dissolves like mist through my fingers."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay

"New Orleans. Exquisite, old-fashioned. A great place to live vicariously."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Bob Dylan, Chronicles, Vol. 1

"...but it also filled the world I lived in with colors and textures I would not have traded for a lifetime of restful nights."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Stephen King, Nightmares And Dreamscapes

"A mule will labor ten years willingly and patiently for you, for the privilege of kicking you once."
¸.•*´¨`♥ William Faulkner

New Orleans 2012: 5

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Pickering ) — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 20:59:00 +0000

"As their shoulders touched, the riverboat was no longer earthbound. With only the two of them aboard, it lifted into the sky..."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Pam Muñoz Ryan, The Dreamer

"A painter should begin every canvas with a wash of black, because all things in nature are dark except where exposed by the light."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Leonardo da Vinci

"Do not even listen, simply wait, be quiet, still and solitary."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Franz Kafka

"You may not remember the time you let me go first. Or the time you dropped back to tell me it wasn't that far to go. Or the time you waited at the crossroads for me to catch up."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Brian Andreas, Traveling Light: Stories & Drawings for a Quiet Mind

Back at the hotel, getting ready to call it a night, and this group of rabid football fans in the elevator couldn't seem to find their floor. And they wanted their pictures taken. So, here they are...

Josie is an artist. And she is only 14. I'm flabbergasted at her talent...

New Orleans 2012: 4

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Pickering ) — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 23:10:00 +0000

"Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Mary Schmich, Wear Sunscreen

"Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day."
¸.•*´¨`♥ A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

New Orleans 2012: 3

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Pickering ) — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 22:43:00 +0000

"...between voodoo and cybernetics, New Orleans listens eagerly to the seductive promises of the future but keeps at least one foot firmly planted in its history..."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Tom Robbins, Jitterbug Perfume

"Voodoo Girl Her skin is white cloth, and she's all sewn apart and she has many colored pins sticking out of her heart."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Tim Burton

Sometimes, I can't decide. Color. B&W? Choices...

New Orleans 2012: 2

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Pickering ) — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 23:04:00 +0000

The man outside this door said, "You know this isn't real...it's a reproduction." I just smiled and said, "I like it anyway."

"They turned a corner and headed toward the famous Bourbon Street."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Christine Feehan, Dark Magic

"The piano keys are black and white but they sound like a million colors in your mind..."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Maria Cristina Mena, Spiders Web

A request post from Nikki

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon Pickering ) — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 16:36:00 +0000

I will interrupt the regularly scheduled New Orleans posts to interject this special request from Nikki.

This next one has a bit of a story. I took a picture of Robert and Nikki, but had the background focused...not them. So I asked them to wait and let me take their picture here...after all, it was so pretty there.

Just as I get ready to snap the picture, Nikki spotted a rat the size of a hound dog, screamed and pointed, and Robert apparently was taking the old saying 'Every man for himself' seriously. I was able to capture this for eternity.