What's New

The insect on this Hosta bloom is the perfect example of symbiosis between plants and insects, but it's not the only one.   Gardening became especially popular when Covid suddenly forced us to become more mindful, and we realized how unimportant shallow, useless things we'd been pointlessly chasing actually were.  Most of us were given more downtime than we ever wanted, and we were more less forced to look back at what made us happy, fulfilled, and stress free, not what we were told would make us happy.  That's when nurseries and gardening centers suddenly grew in popularity and they ran out of so many items because people were suddenly remembering how therapeutic "playing in the dirt" was again and began gardening in their own backyards. Some of us extended the gardens we'd established, while others spread their creative wings for the first time. And most found the benefits of this new physical activity was surprisingly rewarding.  The satisfaction we felt...

Plein Aire Art at its Finest The Impressionistic Ardea Herodias   It’s become a personal goal – to be perfectly candid, to get our natural world inside, and the staunch and the trapped insiders outside. Whether it be a national, state, or city park or your own little natural piece of the world outside your window, there's always something to discover and delight in our real world.  The Masters such as Picasso and Monet knew it centuries ago, and recent studies prove when we view just the mere suggestion of nature with things colored green, it improves our moods, dispositions, and our psyches. I'm currently considering other outlets, and this photo opportunity seems perfect to expand my horizons so I'm exploring textile art, which I've been admiring lately. Stay tuned.  Bringing nature indoors so it can be enjoyed all year round, and preserving what may b...

No one could have ever anticipated what would happen in the time following this photo. As we celebrate Womens History Month, I wanted to share the story of a young woman I had the pleasure of meeting many years ago, in hopes it will lift and inspire you as you deflect the curve balls life has a way of throwing us all.                                                 Meet Katie (Tracy) Kishore, college athlete bottom right It's been 24 years this month since I took this photo during my first  interview with these phenomenal UVA Soccer athletes for "Sports Journal," where an old friend Dan Smith was Editor.  The comradery , and love of sports and these girls' exciting lives at UVA is clear in their enthusiastic expressions.   Even after a tough game against UNC- a formidable opponent at best, I distinctly remember their boundless ...

© Pamela Hartle Little did I know at the time that this tree would never be the same.  The Lone Cypress in Pebble Beach, California has and always will be a symbol of grit and tenacity, firmly entrenched in its curious base which is surprisingly impenetrable granite. Not only is this Monterey Cypress native to only one other place in the world, but this one has maintained its rocky rooting for about 250 years. It's been dubbed the most photographed tree in the world" but there will never again be a shot of it in later years that looks like this.  I took this photo January 2, 2013 at sunset to capture it at its best. The best way to do that was to partner with Mother Nature to show the sun enhanced fluctuating wave pattern of Carmel Bay and this unique trees rugged base to portray why it’s earned its name and reputation. Especially after the pandemic that touched all our lives, many of us are still reeling and are feeling the same as this precarious, rudely exposed and alone ...

I was recently invited to work with an upandcomer non-profit interested in securing funding.  So many people were interested, I was prompted to post the notes from my talk here, on my blog. This is just an outline and a brief overview, but I hope it will help educate and inspire you to reach out as far as is needed for you to pursue your dreams – no matter how overwhelming they may seem at the beginning of your journey.  Basically, my experience encompassed two main scenarios in my quest to acquire funding through grants.   Sometimes, I would find money available, then match it to a relevant project I would design according to what one of my clients needed.   In most cases, they were heretofore unaware of even the availability or desirability of funding for a project.  Needless to say, a lot of projects fell by the wayside.  “Rails to Trails,” converting old, abandoned RR tracks to hiking and biking trails is a perfect example as 99% are happy to have them-...

 One of the surprising things they never taught me in college regarding my journalism and photojournalism career, is that the story you pursue is not always the story you will ultimately write. I learned to be open minded, never give up, and what surprises you, will end up surprising your readers. That actually happened several times to me, and it was a wake-up call. There's a couple that stick out as the ones that were a total surprise, and received a healthy number of hits, creating a win win for all.  Since it's mid November, it seems the perfect time to blog about my pursuing a Thanksgiving story about Native Americans. Those of you who know me a little better, know I am always interested in something unusual and out of the box, so putting the pilgrims and puritans aside for something different, sounded fun and intriguing for both my readers and myself.  For this particular story, I wanted to photograph Pueblo ruins and talk about Native Americans for a Thanksgiving p...

  Obviously, this isn't a ghost, an orb, or even paranormal.  It's simply a skeleton-albeit a rather large one that I discovered and was impressed by its creative posers who placed it in an especially precarious and intriguing way to get us all in the spirit of Halloween. Not to mention, my admiration for the people who bravely climbed up this mast, to get skel' up so high! This curious photo however, wasn't staged nor even edited or tweaked, and begs more investigation into the question if we can capture paranormal activity with our cameras.  It was taken in an old mine and had the same low lighting around it as in the rest of this mine.  Although I'd snapped many photos throughout my tour of this mine, none looked like this.  There were small round lights installed throughout, to help people see where they were walking but all showed up as simply small, round lights and certainly with no reflection all the way around the walls and on the ceiling.  Some in...