Gems 4.152

Posted on November 15, 2018 by Niki Flow

I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Here’s another light-filled ¤ Gem ¤

4.151

Photo “Ganet-puffin-guillemot-1-of-12” in Gallery/Birds. Copyright © Richard Keys, Photo Sociology: “Exploring Sociology through Photography” All rights reserved. Used with permission. Thank you, Richard! ♡

From Richard’s page:

Northern Gannet

The Northern Gannet (Morus bassanus) is one of my favorite sea birds. It has a beautiful blue eye which us set against a pastel yellow nape. They nest in large colonies and are very territorial. Gannets mate for life and return to the same nest year after year.

The snippet of poem shared on today’s Gem came from Julian Date, friend of writer and photographer Richard Carter, FDC. EDIT: Richard kindly gave me permission today to share the full poem. Also, I have corrected Julian’s last name from “Dale” to “Date” (“like the Julian calendar…” Richard kindly explained). Thank you so much Richard and Julian! ♡

THE GANNET

My favourite bird’s the gannet:
It’s the best bird on the planet.
It’s better than knots
And guillemots
And beats razorbills by lots and lots.

Yes, my favourite bird’s the gannet:
It just can’t be beaten, can it?
It hatches on ledges,
Where it stays till it fledges
And grows a physique
With a fabulous beak.
Then it takes to the air
And soars way up there,
Till it reaches a summit,
Whence it dives in a plummet
And down with a S W I S H !
It catches a fish.

Yes, my favourite bird’s the gannet
(Apart from my girlfriend, Janet!).

Richard Carter created a movement in the United Kingdom called Friends of Darwin. His original goal was to get the face of Charles Darwin on a bank note. This is from his Home page:

The Friends of Charles Darwin were founded in 1994 to campaign for the depiction of their hero, Charles Darwin, on a Bank of England bank note. The great man finally appeared on the new £10 note in November 2000.

Due to popular demand, we’re still taking on new members. We currently have 4,070 members in 98 countries. Our most recent new member is Chris Stephens of London, England.

So if you can truly say “Charlie is my Darwin”, and you’d like to be able to write the letters FCD after your name, why not join us? It’s totally free!

I’ve written to Mr. Carter to ask permission to share J. Dale’s entire poem here. Meanwhile, if you have some time, have a look around his site. It’s really fun and very informative.

♡. under1000skies
☼ A “Giftivism” Initiative ☼
We are photographers,
writers, artists & advocates
serving and connecting
homeless creatives.

Gems 4.149

Posted on November 13, 2018 by Niki Flow

I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Here’s another light-filled ¤ Gem ¤

Gems 4.149

This is a gorgeous flower photo, but I didn’t know what kind of flower it was until I did a little research. I found this wonderful poet just today searching for quotes about anemone, which I’m forever confusing with anemones — same word, but the flower is pluralized without the “s” and the marine creature with it. Did you know that? I learned that today too!

It’s a delight to learn new things, and to find new poets, too, and learn their stories:

Elaine Goodale Eastman (1863–1953) and Dora Read Goodale (1866–1953) were American poets and sisters from Massachusetts. They published their first poetry as children still living at home, and were included in Edmund Clarence Stedman’s classic An American Anthology (1900).

Elaine Goodale taught at the Indian Department of Hampton Institute, started a day school on a Dakota reservation in 1886, and was appointed as Superintendent of Indian Education for the Two Dakotas by 1890. She married Dr. Charles Eastman (also known as Ohiyesa), a Santee Sioux who was the first Native American to graduate from medical school and become a physician. They lived with their growing family in the West for several years. Goodale collaborated with him in writing about his childhood and Sioux culture; his nine books were popular and made him a featured speaker on a public lecture circuit. She also continued her own writing, publishing her last book of poetry in 1930, and a biography and last novel in 1935.

Source, Wikipedia, The Goodale Sisters

Elaine Goodale Eastman and her family sound really fascinating. Imagine publishing your first book of poetry as a child. I didn’t publish my first book of poetry until I was a grandmother!

under1000skies.org / under1000skies.com

Speaking of, you can find Elanthian Love Songs – A Bard’s Tale on Amazon. As always, 100 percent of the profits go to under1000skies website fund (coming soon). We purchased the names “under1000skies.org” and “under1000skies.com.” The dot-org will be for this site and the dot-com for our stationary store. You can read more here: About Us.

Faux Pas!

We’ve stopped sending out artist kits for now because we’re looking into ways to combine volunteers with homeless artists for the day to take for camera-phone shots — much cheaper than mailing film and developing photos. We only ever got one roll of film back (from our friend John O.) and I lost it! It was just after Ben disappeared. Not an excuse, but perhaps a reason. I still have hope it will turn up, but that was not a great start. Thankfully, John was very understanding and cool about it.

Cheap/Bulk Camera Phones?

I still love the idea of artist packs, so we’ll work on putting together a waterproof sketchbook with the notebook to include instead of a camera. Meanwhile, if you have any ideas about how to find cheap camera phones, please let me know.

Thank you again so much Richard, Photo Sociology, for allowing us to use another one of your gorgeous macro photos today.

♡. under1000skies
☼ A “Giftivism” Initiative ☼
We are photographers,
writers, artists & advocates
serving and connecting
homeless creatives.

Gems 4.148

Posted on November 12, 2018 by Niki Flow

I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Here’s another light-filled ¤ Gem ¤

4.148

I have loved snapping photos, as most of us do, all my life. When I was a little girl, I was given a Kodak Pocket Instamatic. It was tiny and came with little decorative stickers. I loved that little camera. I used it so much the trigger mechanism broke. I sent it to the company and said I would pay whatever it cost to fix it. I sent them all the money I had at the time (one dollar and some coins). I even wrote a contract and signed it promising to pay the rest over the course of my life. They sent me back a brand new camera. There was no note in the package, so I can only hope their accountants won’t discover the error 40 years later and decide it’s time I paid this bill.

In high school, I joined a photography club. I think it turned out to be me (a freshman) and three sophomore boys. To raise money for our club, I came up with the idea of “putting a hit” on a subject. Say you wanted a candid shot of the cute high school quarterback. You filled out a contract, and one of our “shooters” would do the rest. I was a big fan of spy novels and action movies, so it seemed like a great idea — at the time. It was successful, too, until the principal got wind of it.

When I began to follow Richard’s blog, I noticed he was posting assignments from photography school. When I hear the words “Photography School” I feel the way I imagine Harry felt when he heard “Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry.” I wrote Richard a note asking a lot of questions about how to improve my own photography. He wrote back generously and at length with some great advice. I was touched and very grateful.

Not so long ago, Richard did a series of photos of the homeless people he met in London. “Homeless People Are Only Invisible If We Choose to Ignore Them.” I felt intimately connected to every single soul because of the compassionate and respectful way Richard treated his subjects. He took the time to ask questions and get permission to take the photos. He learned a little about their lives.

I hope you will visit Richard’s wonderful blog, Photo Sociology. It is not just about photography, but about the life of a transparent, brave and beautiful soul whom I am happy and proud to know.

♡. under1000skies
☼ A “Giftivism” Initiative ☼
We are photographers,
writers, artists & advocates
serving and connecting
homeless creatives.

Gems 4.147

Posted on November 9, 2018 by Niki Flow

I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Here’s another light-filled ¤ Gem ¤

4.147b

Photo by Orlando, Heidelberg, Pixabay

Special thanks to John Olander, one of our favorite featured artists, for sharing this wonderful song. I love the guitar rift intro especially and Eric Bibb’s smooth jazz voice. Thank you dear Johnny O.

Special thanks also to Richard Keys Photo Sociology, for offering his beautiful photos to be used any time we like for our daily quotes. You’ll be seeing some of Richard’s photos next week. Thanks so much Richard!

In the meantime, if you know any homeless artists who would like their poems, photos or art featured on under1000skies as well as our accounts on Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, G+ and through our email list, please pass on our information. Thank you!

Have a great weekend.

♡. under1000skies
☼ A “Giftivism” Initiative ☼
We are photographers,
writers, artists & advocates
serving and connecting
homeless creatives.