Daily Prompt: Teach your Bloggers Well

We all know how to do something well — write a post that teaches readers how to do something you know and/or love to do.

What can I do well? Everything really to keep me alive. I can cook. At least I have not yet poisoned anyone, although this week I had a low with my cooking. One of those days when you don’t know what to buy and cook. Monday was successful. We had polenta with cipolata (you know those small sausages) and peas. The polenta was mixed with parmesan cheese and butter (of course) and it was a success. 

Tuesday was doomsday (at least for me). Mr. Swiss suggested cervelat, the Swiss sausage, only available in Switzerland although I believe the skins are imported from Brazil, because they have the best quality for the super cervelat. I don’t mind a cervelat and I quite like it with hashed browns (fried potato - have to speak American colonial here other no-one really knows what I am talking about) and cauliflower: two days if sausages, it can only get better. It was decided that as we had french fries on Sunday, it would be time again for pasta. I like pasta, with a tomato sauce called spaghetti, but I was not in the mood for pasta with my cervelat. So we all sat down to lunch and it was all eaten, but I did not enjoy it. I told everyone that it was the last time I would fry a cervelat and serve it with pasta.

At the moment I am in a photographic form of mind. Armed with my mobile telephone and camera nothing is safe from me. I don’t know if I can do it well, but it is fun. To illustrate my photographic abilities there is a photo of a photo. I took a photo with my mobile which is still on the phone and to illustrate my crafty methods, I took a photo of the photo on my mobile phone with my iPad and then beamed it over to my Flickr site, where all my photos originate on these blogs. I know I am clever, brilliant, ingenious - there are not enough adjectives to cover my abilities. 

There are of course a few rules to be followed when taking photos. I took the photo on my mobile phone in a small restaurant where they sell cakes and all sorts of creations. Unfortunately my mobile phone did not spring to photo immediately and I was standing in the tea room and I think the ladies serving in the tea room were a little annoyed, although I did not notice it. Actually the tea room had our Apple shop (computers) in the back room and I just wanted to look around. Mr. Swiss found perhaps I should not take photos in public places. We escaped and there was no damage done.

Oh, come on WordPress, I wrote it all last year and I am really getting bored with these warmed up prompts, just like my caveat with pasta. The cauliflower was also not so good.

Topic Generator: Fantastic Print

This morning Mr. Swiss and I decided to go on an excursion - how exciting. He treats me at least three times a week to a car ride to the local supermarket, so sweet. Of course I take my camera with me, I always take my camera, you never know. As we left the car Mr. Swiss moved to the machine where you pay for the parking space I noticed a poster, so out came the camera and I was taking a photo. The feline on the poster was dressed in sort of farming gear and the words translated say “Only my farmer’s fruit produce is sweeter than me”. I really found this a fantastic print, what imagination. 

Unfortunately to take the photo of the poster, I had to stand back to get it completely into the picture. I was using my mobile phone as I can upload the photos quicker when I arrive home; just a few manipulations into my Flickr app.

“Are you finished, you are blocking the path for everyone” said a distraught Mr. Swiss, whose only thought was to make life enjoyable for me with the shopping trip. Actually there was really no problem, because the other people were avoiding me and making a circle around me, not to disturb my photographic efforts. Me, in the the way? Never. 

We continued with the shopping, meeting a few people on the way and eventually had two bags full of produce, not exactly from the farm, but to cover two dinners and evening meals.

We were approaching the car, Mr. Swiss in advance, as always and then I realised that my photo of the poster was not really that what I wanted. A close up of the feline would be so sweet in my collection of 16,000 photos and so I stopped to take another photo.

I heard a voice on the far side of the car park where our car was waiting to be saddled for the return journey. It was Mr. Swiss.

“Where are you?”

“I am taking another photo.”

“But you took one when we arrived.”

“I know, but it wasn’t a good photo, so I am taking another one to be sure.” 

Why is it that people that do not take photos seem to have no understanding for those amongst us that are aspirants for a Pulitzer prize. I decided to continue until I was satisfied with my unique photo and here it is.

I think the feline looks much better in close-up, a wonderful artistic achievement. Some people really have no understanding.

Daily Prompt: Photography is the real reason for my external Hard disks

Click over to your favourite blog, and pick out the 4th and 14th words (that aren’t “the” or “an”). Drop them into this phrase:

“_____ is the new _____.”

I remember the first time we had this blog in the dark ages of 2013. I told the daily prompt people then that I definitely not have a favourite blog and the second time round I still do not have one. I think these prompts are going from bad to worse. Why do I do them? Because they are there and because I daily meet others writing their prompts. Most of us have been writing these prompts for some time, we have got to know each other, if only  by name, but together we are strong or something like that.

Anyhow, not wanting to disappoint, I still have something write about. Photography is the new reason for my external Hard disks. Let us begin with a photo.

Not exactly Pulitzer prize suspicious, but it was not easy for me to post this picture. First of all it did not exist, it was still a figment of my imagination. What you can see are three external hard drives. The one at the bottom I have had for many years with not a great capacity, but the top two are the super models. The one on the right has a capacity to hold 1 Terabyte and the one on the left 2 Tera byte. The 2 Terabyte is even labelled with 2 Terabyte to ensure I know which one it is, although it is somewhat thicker than the 1 Terabyte model. I had to take this photo especially for the prompt. This was not easy. First of all I had to organise the lighting effects, persuade my Nikon DSLR to do what I wanted and then upload it onto the computer. I then uploaded it into my photo hosted Flickr and then to be sure that nothing could happen, I inserted the photo into each one of my hard drives. This took me about half an hour because I had to re-organise the file named “Photography”as I had combined it with “Food” which was not a good idea.

Most of us take photos with a camera or our mobile phone and as we no longer go to the drug store to have the film developed we do it all ourself. Where do you put the photos? This could be a problem, especially if you have collected over 11,000 photos over the years like me.

First of all I have them on my computer. At the moment my windows Acer computer still has room, although I am not sure how much. Of course there are external platforms in the computer world to store your photos as a backup. I have mine in a place called Flickr. They all have names, Google, Instagram, Photobucket, SmugMug to name a few. Flickr allows me to post my photos, using their html codes, or perhaps just copy paste, to my blogging site. I prefer html as I know what I am doing. Unfortunately these hosting sites tend to “improve” their offers from time to time, but luckily I still have things under control, unimproving their new looks to how it used to be. This is not so important.

So we have photos on the computer and on a photo hosting site, what could possibly go wrong. A lot actually. Your computer breaks down and the photos are gone. Flickr is still there of course. To ensure that you have further backups you organise an external HD. However, many years ago my external HD decided to strike. I lost all the photos on it and unfortunately not all were on my computer. I returned to Flickr to upload the lost photos onto my computer. I discovered something. The hosting sites are there to host, but not to return the photos they host. This meant I had to reload each photo from Flickr separately back to my computer hard drive. There are programmes that organise this with bulk reloads, but only in the mini version of your photo. The things we learn on the way.

Where do I stand today? Yes, I have all my photos on my computer, plus on three hard drives. Now I can really say what could possibly happen. If my Windows computer breaks down, I still have my photos in Flickr and on the hard drives. The only place I do not have them is on my Apple computer. Oh, I almost forgot, Mr. Swiss has a drop box for his jazz music, No. 2 son also has a drop box, but I am not sure what he drops into it and now Mrs. Angloswiss also has a drop box for her photos. I could send my photos to hover in a cloud somewhere, but would probably have to pay, and I do try to keep expenses at a minimum.

Am I being extra fussy? I was wondering, fellow prompters and photographers, how do you solve the problem of storing your photos? Am I being over cautious with my more than 3 Terabyte space. I think the room for my photos is larger than my apartment.

WordPress Daily Prompt: Express Yourself

Do you love to dance, sing, write, sculpt, paint, or debate? What’s your favorite way to express yourself, creatively?

One of my brilliant sunsets taken in London.

Perhaps it is creativity, perhaps just keeping myself busy. Dancing is not my thing, I have too many arms and legs that are oversized and do not like to co-ordinate. Of course I can sing, we all sing somehow, the problem being that not all like to hear my voice and some even say it is off-key. Perhaps I am a born rapper, just talking to the music, I am a good talker, non-stop sometimes – you see the problem. Debating is not my thing, no-one understands my point of view, so I am left with sculpture, or  painting. I do not sculpture. I live in the wrong place. If I had grown up perhaps in the Abruzzi region of Italy and had connections to that Michelangelo bloke, I might have made it, but growing up in East London the only stones we had were those in the garden that were a nuisance and the only Italian name in the area was the owner of the local café, so that chance was non-existent. Painting? Yes I could paint, but my talent was not recognised, even my Picasso similar efforts did not make the grade.

I am left with writing. I have gone into details, often, about how my talents are still unrecognised, even yesterday when I convinced everyone that I am not jealous of those that have achieved success.

There is something not on this comprehensive list of expressiveness: photography. This just sort of happened. When I was younger, the only photos existing in the family were holiday photos. It seemed it was only worth taking a photo if you were dressed in your swimsuit with a background of sea waves. There were the family photos of me, mum and dad. One person was mostly missing on these photos, mum or dad as they were taking the photo. It was all done with a Brownie Box Camera which I still have. The films were taken to the chemist shop afterwards to be developed and there was an impatient week waiting for the results. The results were sometimes surprising: a blur caused by vibrations, perhaps a white blemish due to light entering the camera and even a head missing. These were my beginnings. Is it a wonder that I am still waiting for my Pulitzer prize for photography?

As the years progressed we even had coloured pictures and an instamatic camera, although the subjects of the photos were still people on holiday. One day I met Mr. Swiss and married. Mr. Swiss is always interested in new things, and he brought the first digital camera home, I think it was a Leica. I was still not interested until the new generation of digi cameras appeared. He progressed to his second and I inherited the old one. I discovered that you could take photos of everything everywhere and even upload them to the computer. That was the beginning of my fascination for photography. The camera had its own place in my handbag and it was my permanent  companion.

With time I progressed. I bought my own digi camera. It was no longer a hand-me-down, but my very own. Of course I was advised by Mr. Swiss, but I was now let loose on the population, on the countryside and on the towns. Nothing was safe from my lens. I was clicking all over the place. I had a few fall-down, trip-up accidents during the process. Whilst I was concentrating on the subject, I might have taken a step for a closer view and did not realise that I was not standing on flat ground. Luckily I did not break anything, just a few photo-scars to prove how my talent was developing.

Then came the day when I enrolled for a photography course. We were a mixed bunch, each one with a different camera and we learnt that the idea was not just to press the button saying automatic or scene, but to twiddle the settings yourself. To be quite honest, this was somewhat confusing, especially as it was all in German. I have a good command of the German language, but photography jargon was something completely different. Somehow I learned something and my next jump was my own DSLR camera (Digital Single Lens Reflex Camera). That is the camera that the experts use. It is not the camera, but the lens you apply. I have two lenses, one for long distance and one for shorter distance. Now I can take a photo of the crow perched on the tree in the distance without bothering him. The problem is they do not sit still waiting for me but often fly off. I have not yet take a photo of my bird in flight, so Mr. Pulitzer is still waiting.

My next lens on the list is a macro lens, the one where I can take a photo of an ant where he is smiling and waving and perhaps carrying a biscuit crumb in his hand. The ants in my garden are becoming impatient, they want to be in the picture, but I am still saving for that one. Photography can be an expensive hobby, but a rewarding one.

So my days of family photos on holiday, blurred at the edges and ruined by a white light creeping in on the edges are now disappearing. I now attain perfect sunsets. Sunrises are not so much my thing, I am usually sleeping when they happen. And now I must go, one of my felines is dancing to some music on the radio and he wants me to take a photo.

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WordPress Daily Prompt: Tables Turned

Are as comfortable in front of a camera as behind one? Being written about, as well as writing? 

Photographers, artists, poets: show us DISCOMFORT.

I am comfortable anywhere really. I told Hitch I would have no problem with doing a film with  some birds. I just love animals but then she turned up. You know that Tippi Hedren woman. Now what has she got that I have not. Ok, we could start a discussion, but Hitch decided she was the woman for the part. I moved on in the film world, but the only offer I got was for The Bride of Frankenstein. They found they could save time and money on the makeup. They said I was a natch for the role. Somehow I felt a little peeved, especially when they started laughing, so my movie career came to an abrupt end before it even started. I think a lot of female stars were jealous of my natural talent. George Clooney was so disappointed. He was hoping I would be his leading lady in the Nespresso advert he was doing, but that was not to be. I was also hoping and wishing that he would be my leading man. I would even have settled for Brad Pitt, but he got married to some film star, who was she??? Ah yes Angelina Jolie, now I ask you what has she got that I havn’t?

I moved on and applied for the job as a model. There again, through jealousy the other models tried all sorts of tricks. I was late for the shooting session because they locked me in the toilet. They spilt coffee on my lovely white Dior evening dress which would have made a perfect picture on the front page of Vogue. Of course I burst into tears and even had a fight with one of the models but she won unfortunately.

There was only one thing left, I decided to go behind the camera, I was sure I would become a second Ansel Adams. I was perfect in black and white photography. Of course  Annie Liebovitz did get a little worried when she heard that I had purchased a Nikon DSLR camera. A rival in the photographic world was not something she could use.

Eventually I decided to do my own thing. My felines are not really happy being the subject of about one thousand photos I have taken, from their kitten days until today. They say photos cannot be eaten. I take my camera wherever I go. As the Nikon D7000 is a little big to carry in my handbag or put in my pocket, I have a Canon G15 for normal day to day photos. I am always ready, my finger poised on the button to take my winning Pulitzer prize photo, but it seems that everyone else is there first.

Now and again I go on a photography safari and then I take the big camera carrying it in my specially designed shoulder camera carrying bag. I also have a tripod, but then I would have to use my specially designed rucksack, which can be in the way if you travel by train or bus. When I depart on my expedition Mr. Swiss always hopes that I return safely. I am somewhat accident prone and a devoted photographer like me has to concentrate on the subject of the prize winning photo, and might put a foot in the wrong place, especially in a mountainous area or in the neighbourhood of a river.

I love taking photos of people, but people do not always like me taking their photos, so I have to be careful. My favourite photo subjects are insects, all sorts and types. At the moment I have a Nursery Web Spider series under construction. She was carrying an egg sack for a week and now it has hatched. There must be at least two hundred babies all sitting in the leaf waiting for the OK to go. Every day I check how far it is and take a few photos, but am not yet happy with the result. Shall I do a family photo of mama with her babies, or just the babies. It is difficult to focus both in macro. I also love photos of strange objects, but sometimes they are so strange that no-one is interested in them.

There are times when cooking is not such a simple task. The actually cooking works well, but if you want to make a photographic study, the camera should be ready all the time and care has to be taken that your camera lens is not splashed with food or covered with steam. Oh the problems of a talented photographer.

I love being photographed, but there we have a problem. I am constantly taking photos of everything and everyone and no-one thinks about taking a photo of me. I must have a few words with Mr. Swiss.

Everything is so easy today - Photography

This photo was probably taken at a photographer's shop around the end of the 19th century and shows my great grandmother and great grandfather. He got married when he was 20 years old and soon the first of 16 children arrived, one surviving daughter my grandmother she had 11 surviving brothers. I can imagine them both very excited and dressing in their Sunday best for this photo. I treasure this photo very much as it is one of the few, if not the only, photo I have of them. So at this time, you did not take your camera with you, indeed you probably did not have one, and only special occasions were photographed. A wedding photo was something few and far between.

As the years went on photography became more popular and the camera became something that most people had, even if it only took black and white photos, such as this one.

Nothing special really, although I touched it up a bit. It must be almost 61 years old and shows me with my mum when I was a baby. If you went on holiday in those days you took the camera with you and made photos. When you got home you took the photos to the chemists and he got them developed for you and after a week's waiting you got your ready photos. Even then, however, if you wanted a special photo you went to the photographers and this was the result

You can even see the photographers name and address on this one. I still remember that day. With my mum and dad I was taken to the photographers for a photo. I don't know why, but I think it was something to do for a nice photo for gran and grandad, although we had a few copies and had one framed on top of the piano. I had never had a doll's house and that was the only thing that interested me. The photographer put my hands on the roof. Note the bow in my hair, my mum seemed to have a thing with bows and I think every photo of me until I was about 8 years old showed a bow in my hair.

So photographs were taken over the years, the film was developed and eventually the colourful days came. I remember coloured film being very expensive at the beginning, but it soon got cheaper. However, photos were still only taken at special occasions, weddings, family get togethers and holidays.

This one shows me and my boys on holiday about 30 years ago. So already we have made progress with the photos. We bought albums and put them in. As the boys got older we went on holidays to other countries and there was no problem. You took the camera and took photos. We had started off on the photos with a visit to the photographers and already we had our own cameras. At first you had a film to roll into the camera, afterwards something called the instamatic was invented. You just put a ready made cartridge in to the camera, and then suddenly that went out of fashion and we were all equipped with 35 mm films.

Then the computer was invented and along came the digital camera which most of us use today. Our children take it for granted today that photos are taken and afterwards loaded onto the computer. You can then improve them in light, colour, contrast and whatever. Some of us have quite elaborate and expensive programmes for this, but there are also quite reasonable programmes, some free, for fixing the photos. Why I am writing this blog is that it came to mind today after a discussion in a photography group, how much that we really take for granted, including myself.

When I see the few photos I have from the past, I would have loved to have had one where my grandmother was cooking, or washing. Where she was perhaps getting on a bus or train. A photo of my grandfather at work, or even my dad. You only took photos on special occasions. Probably one of the reasons why I always have my camera ready for a photo. I love taking photos of everyday life, of machines, of shops and now and again perhaps a tourist theme of a mountain or a sunset. But today I have the choice. I am almost ashamed to say I have almost four thousand photos on my Flickr photo stream and almost as many on the computer. I even have the choice to make them private that not everyone sees them. I can show them to people in other countries via computer. We are very lucky, but I feel even luckier to know how it was to get excited about getting the photos back from the chemists shop after waiting a week for them to get developed. And here a digital photo to just round up this little blog.

Nothing special, but I am sure my great grandfather and his wife would never have envisaged that one day their great grandaughter would sit in a car and take a photo of the motorway (showing the new bridge in the town of Grenchen - Swiss motorway Solothur-Biel).