Prints Available for Purchase

If you've seen me feature a scenic or creative print that you would like to have for your home, it is likely available for purchase.


I have my images in a gallery at Zenfolio.com, you may browse it by following this link.















More images are added periodically. Please visit often!

Thanks,
Melissa

July 17

Clara Reitsma is my grandfather's sister and the last surviving member of her siblings. She was born in 1911 in Holland and travelled to America when she was 8.

I haven't had the opportunity to get to know Clara extremely well, but always enjoyed visiting with her at family reunions.

Clara is doing well after having experienced 100 years, she's incredible. She does live in a nursing home now, but is able to walk a bit when she chooses. I guess she still reads. Her family says that she received phone calls on her birthday from friends/distant relatives from Holland. She switched from English to Dutch in an instant and carried on her conversation.

When I greeted Clara, it took awhile for her to recognize me. She said that the last time she saw me I was a young/small gal. She was one of 12 children. That would take some effort to keep track of not only their children, but grandchildren as well. I said that it had been a few years, but I had seen her recently at the Tulip Festival in Orange City.

Not too long later, Clara scooted up to me and grabbed my hand. She said, "I remember at the family reunion you said that you were having trouble finding the right fish in the sea. Well, you must've caught a good one." She points to my husband. The summer before I met him I had been at the reunion with a different gentleman. That didn't work out and ended very quickly. I think perhaps though Nick and I were dating the next year, he may not have attended. There was discussion of possible wedding bells. I do remember that conversation, I remember saying that the guy from the previous year wasn't the right one, and that I thought that Nick probably was. :D I was right!!

I'm amazed that Clara remembered that after at least five years, even if neither of us can remember exactly how it went.

It was fun to catch up with distant family that I rarely see. I also got to visit with a few other relatives that I've met with and visited even less frequently. Still, it is amazing the characteristics that many along the Hamersma family line share. I looked at the photos on display and saw a photo of Clara that looked a lot like my aunt, her niece. If you visit with a Hamersma, you are likely to find yourself looking into a pair of baby blue eyes. My grandfather and his sister had the same eyes. So does my uncle, my dad, my brother and myself... plus many distant cousins.

Happy Birthday Clara, may you have many more joyful celebrations.

If you would like to read the article that her local paper wrote for the occasion, you can find it here.

365 Project Half Complete!

Well, July 3 marked 183 days into the 365 Project. I'm halfway through. Seriously, I think that it is making the day go faster.


We had an explosive gathering as a lead up to the 4th. The exploded obect drifted nearly out of the frame, which is too bad. Buddies of my hubby were recording the explosion on their cell phones.

Everyone still has limbs and fingers attached.

I'm quite pleased with most of my photos. I still suffer from procrastination some days. It isn't even that I plan to procrastinate, I just have big expectations for photos later in the day. Then they don't happen and I have to use a cell phone photo from earlier in the day.


Ruby had gone rolling in some mud to cool off.

OR, I go out and document the progress of the plants in our garden or flowers in the yard.



But, that's okay. I wanted to encourage myself to try some new ideas more frequently, but also keep a visual diary of sorts.

We are on the backside of 2011, that's kind of frightening. Have a Happy July 4th and may the rest of your year be a prosperous one!

Missouri River Flooding 2011: Pierre

In the spring of 2003, I went with the producer of South Dakota Focus (Stephanie Rissler) to Pierre. We got on a plane with the secretary of GF&P (Game, Fish & Parks) to get video of the Missouri River during a time of severe drought. The water was YARDS from boat ramps and docks. Intakes for community water systems were at dangerous levels. Nobody knew how long it would be before the river and lakes could return to a useable level.

Fortunately, it's been a couple years since we've been considered in a drought.



Now, the pendulum has swung the opposite direction. Boat docks have been removed and ramps will not be accessible due to too much water. Activity on the Missouri River, recreational or otherwise has been severely limited.

Montana had an epic rainfall, water down the Missouri River is already at substantial levels. Reservoirs are full, room needs to be made for the melting snow pack. Portions of South Dakota and regions downstream will flood. Pierre/Ft. Pierre, Yankton and the Dakota Dunes will be substantially most affected.

Tuesday SDPB had a staff meeting to discuss our coverage of this historical conflict. That night I and a co-worker were asked to head to Pierre the next morning to get video of preparations.



Residents of Pierre and Fort Pierre had been hard at work building levees and sandbag barriers around their homes and businesses.

Friday morning the US Army corps of Engineers began to open the gates to increase flow. Big Bend Dam at Fort Thompson typically only opens its gates for maintainance and checks. This is the first time that they've ever opened to release flood waters in its fifty year history.





Watch video that I recorded of the release for SDPB here.

I also visited with the operations manager, Keith Fink. Listen to a portion of his interview and see more Big Bend video here.

Oahe already was a spectacular sight, but continues to increase its power. Outflow will peak at 150,000 cubic feet per second on June 7.



People in Pierre are frustrated, but have gathered together wonderfully. They are hopeful that the levees will be sufficient, but have worked to prepare the worst. Everyone seems to have followed recommendations to evacuate to higher ground. Despite the grim nature of this situation, people maintain some humor.





Many houses have signs, "For Sale, Pool Included..." One home had boat oars outside with a sign, "Have oars, need boat."

Still, its hard to maintain enthusiasm when your house is surrounded by water. By Friday night and into Saturday morning, homes between Oahe and Fort Pierre were already inaccessible. That neighborhood had been without electricity for about a week. They were running generators and now were having trouble getting gasoline to their power units. When I stopped by at 9a.m., people had begun to use canoes, kayaks and amphibious vehicles. Plus, carp had already moved onto the block. Fish were flopping in the water while I was recording video.



Click here to view comments from a resident of the Frontier Road development.

For updates and coverage of the Missouri River flooding, follow SDPB online: www.sdpb.org/flood


Governor Dennis Daugaard

Thankfully, no lives have been lost. Officials say there have been a couple small injuries. Even if property is damaged, hopefully everyone can come out on the other side whole. Despite the hardship and frustration, Governor Daugaard and everyone that I visited with maintain a fighter's spirit. I hope that this sense of community endures after the river returns to its banks.

365 Project Update

I truly believe that the 365 project makes the year go by more quickly. I know that my day goes by faster. I still have days where I have to scramble to try to create a meaningful photo of some sort.

Today I documented the first asparagus spear:



Last weekend I was very proud to watch my only cousin on my dad's side of the family graduate from college.



And I'm still having fun using some of my created tools. This is a photograph that I made with the disposable camera lens housed in an altoid tin. Visit that project in the previous blog post or two.



Please browse through my Flickr stream. I reached photo number 132 today.

Homemade Lens

I read www.diyphotography.net fairly regularly. It contains all things homemade or hacked for your camera, including lenses. I've ripped the lens off of a toy camera and attached it to my Canon 40D with some success. Many other photographers modify their camera similarily.

I stumbled across someone who had used the lens from a disposable camera. Many people have done this, here is one example.

So this was my project for the day. I used one canon body cap, one altoid tin for fun and one lens from a kodak disposable camera.




The intial version today had the lens extended about an inch away from the tin bottom. I could focus the image if I moved the 'lens' about three finger widths away from the subject.





So, I decided to put it back as you see it above. That extends the distance to about four finger widths.





I tweaked the color and lighting a little bit on the above eye photo. I didn't sharpen it any further.

I'm pretty pleased with my homemade lens effort with built in lens cap. I had to reglue everything because intially the altoid tin was crooked to the camera, that bugged me. Also, the tin opened up if it was on right side up. I found that it worked better if the lens opened down. It wouldn't keep shutting on itself as I tried to make a photo. Though the other down side to this set up, you have to be so close to the subject that it is difficult to use a flash. If you keep the altoid tin right side up, the lid can be used to bounce the light.

It's your call!

All of this and I only shocked myself once when I picked up the ripped apart camera - battery still connected. If you use a flash camera, please disconnect the battery immediately when you rip into yours.

Checking in on 365

Today begins month three, so far so good!! My difficulty with this project is that I place big expectations on myself. In my mind, I should post stellar work everyday. Really my primary goal has been to try to get as many photos 'right' in the camera and do as little post processing as possible. So far I've done alright with that. I try to make a point to mention if I've done any editing on an image. I still forget occasionally.

I used this opportunity to try to work through skill sets, like lighting portraits on location.



I've enjoyed working on light stencils and light painting ideas.





And I've posted some scenic images that I'm fond of.



But other days I end up taking a photo of the food that I'm heating in the microwave for the day. I'm not going to post that pic here, but you can find it my flickr photo stream. Click on one of the posted pics and explore!

I am doing better at thinking ahead to possible photo options as the week goes on. I try to stage some of my more creative attempts for days that are lackluster. Photos that use light stencils take some time to prepare, so I try to pile up ideas with those.

A person wouldn't think that it's difficult to take a photograph every day. But, it kind of is tricky to try and find something compelling to take a picture of. Even if it is just different colors of dish soap on the shelf in a grocery store. Chilling out and not making the project a burden takes some practice. If you try this activity some day, don't be too hard on yourself, that's no fun.

For me, photography has been very therapeutic. My husband and I have been trying to start a family for two and a half years. We started 2010 recovering from a miscarriage. We ended 2010 healing as well, from a second miscarriage in August/September and preparing for a diagnostic surgery.

It has been a blessing to have photography to distract me and keep me occupied. Even if the project drives me crazy on occasion.

As the year goes on, I'm sure my stream may reflect a few ups and downs. I try to find positive things to photograph. I want my stream to show the things that make my life meaningful too. I expect a lot of photos of my cats and dog. And maybe a few with my husband. We have a lot of fun together and he's nice enough to go along with my photo ideas.



What a blessing to be able to document life through a lens. I feel that I look at things differently already and am more creative for more of my photos. Hopefully I can keep that attitude for the next ten months!

If you have ideas regarding themes, or techniques that I should consider for future photos, please comment below!! I've gone to www.m-w.com a few times to see if the word of the day inspires me. It has been the theme of a couple photos. I look forward to reading your suggestions!