Yesterday I decided enough was enough and I quit a group.  It was/is a wonderful group - but to be honest, I was just finding it depressing to be a part of it.  

You see, I realize that I am not a top honour photographer. I realize that I'm just a hack who will likely never get noticed or even sell a print of any sort.  I'm ok with that.  I do this for me.  It gives me joy.  I'm still learning and I appreciate all that I've learned from being here on DA.  The problem is that when you are a member of a group and you submit, and you submit and and keep getting rejected without any explanation it can really start to get you down.  I realize that the moderators aren't required to give critiques, or to even tell you why you have been rejected, but you know, once in a while would it be so hard to just tell someone WHY you are rejecting their work?  I mean - ok - if someone is submitting shots that obviously don't show any effort on their part then I can see not giving any explanation, but if someone is obviously spending time shooting, editing, presenting, etc - is it so hard to see that that person is TRYING to get better and at least throw them a bone?  

Every time I submit a piece and get rejected with no explanation, it depresses me a little bit.  Ok, not like enough to go jump off a bridge or anything, but it makes me feel like "why bother?"  It's making my hobby, which I do primarily for the joy of it - less enjoyable to me.  
So, even though I enjoy the art in this group, and I have looked to these people for inspiration in the past I find that I am no longer inspired by them.  Instead, the opposite is true - they make me feel UNinspired.  

I'm not angry and I'm not pouting and I'm not spewing sour grapes.  I just decided that if it's making me feel bad then it's not worth it.  I am considering doing the same with another group I'm in (which, incidentally, has a lot of the same people involved) but I'm going to think about it for a little while longer.  

I'm not really sure why I'm even bringing this up - except that it's been on my mind for quite a while now and I just wanted to get it out.   It's not that they are going to miss me or anything!  LOL!!  It actually felt kind of liberating!  Now I'll have that many less deviations to fill my dev box up with every day.

So, anyways, on to less depressing topics!  


We've had snow.  Lots and lots and lot and lots and lot and lots........... well you get the idea - we've got lots of snow.  The snow piles along side my driveway are officially now taller than my car.  Now, my car is not tall, by any means - but it's a little upset that it has to stand on it's tippy toes just to see down the street.  It's also a real bitch to try and shovel snow up higher than you are tall as well.  It all just tends to hit the side of the mountain and come tumbling back down at your feet.  It does not make Handy Sandra happy.....

As far as winters go - it's been relatively mild, but that's when you get the snow.  Mounds of it.  It's been great for my snow shoeing activities though.  I've been out quite a few times now, and it's such great exercise.  I'm just hoping that I don't disappear one day in a really deep snow bank.  The other night I was out and as I pressed down with my pole it disappeared in the snow.  There was only about 8 inches of it sticking out, and I thought "oh, my pole folded" (it folds into itself for storage) So I pulled it back up and lo and behold - it hadn't folded at all - the snow was actually that deep!  I measured it against my leg, and had I fallen into that spot, the snow would be up to my upper hip bones.  Yeah - good thing for snow shoes.  I was standing there imagining myself in that snow bank for the rest of the winter turning blue and in the spring floating down the stream to some little kid's distress.  Pretty picture, hey?

My oldest son had his wisdom teeth out last Friday.  He was not nearly as dopey afterwards as I'd hoped and I was unable to make him do any thing photo worthy in hopes of future blackmail exploits!  What a bummer!  Instead he was amazingly aware,hiccuping, and telling me to "get off him" as I was trying to take his arm and help him to the car.  It's probably a good thing though, because if he were to fall down, I'm pretty sure there would be nothing I could do to prevent him from hitting the ground, or even falling on top of me.  This week he takes his driver's road test, and will be getting his first car.  What an exciting time!  I remember getting my first car and the excitement of driving away in it all by myself.  The freedom!  The independance!  The ability to get away from my mother!!!  (pretty sure my son's not looking forward to THAT at all........ )

It's a month of rites of passage as I am watching my child grow into a young man and sometimes I am speechless at it all.  Not often.........  more often I have MUCH to say but now and again......  
In other news, I finally bit the bullet and ordered myself a new computer!  I've been wanting one for a while now and the time has finally come!  The one I have has been a reliable friend, but it's not quite powerful enough for all those big programs like PS and such.  It runs quite slowly and it can be frustrating.  Add that to the shortage of storage on it for the RAW files and the old gal is ready for pasture.  I should get my new one later this week, and there will be a learning curve and set up time I'm sure, but I'm hoping the transition goes smoothly.

One last tid bit before the features;  There is someone here on DA who has been a great friend and source of information to many DAers.  His name is John and he is going through a very tough time right now.   It would be hard to be a member of DA and not be familiar with John's work, his time as a GA of the APN category, or his general influence on DA.  Please visit John's page, and if you are able, donate to the chip in account that has been made to help him out.  

Thanks for reading thus far, and please, enjoy the features of these very fine artists: