One could interpret this week's challenge in several ways, but I chose to focus on the idea of "natural colour" to mean colour in nature. Since, except for cold blue winter skies, it takes a subtle eye to see colors in a northern state like Michigan during February, I turned my thoughts towards what I might find of the natural world inside my house. The abalone shell fish/bottle opener sitting on Ed's grandfather's desk caught my eye. I'd bought this art object from Pablo on a day trip to Mexico during last March's visit to my friends in San Diego, California. He'd told me how he would dive for the abalone, scrape its shell so the iridescence would come through, and then use it to create jewelry and other objects to sell to tourists. By the way, I was careful not to enhance the color of this photo using any of Photoshop's many tools. It is natural in every way...

To see other PBasers' responses to this Challenge, CLICK HERE.

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In today's "order-out-of-chaos" session Pat and I tackled Ed's mother's hope chest. No, it didn't have HER things stored there, but my own. We started with the drawer in which I'd put a lot of my childhood photos and art work, my mother's autograph book from when she was 14 in 1927, memorabilia from my six winters in San Francisco (1996-2002), and other assorted treasures. After we'd organized and placed these things in a plastic container for safekeeping, I asked Pat to remove the items I had on the top of the hope chest so we could open it up. I had not looked inside for at least 12 years, but remembered having used this chest to store the women's meditation sets I had created and sold back in 1993-95. Yes, they were there, still covered in shrink wrap and looking just as I'd remembered them. But it was what we found UNDER those meditation sets that took my breath away. When Pat had removed the last set, she saw laid out on the bottom of the hope chest a bolt of blackwatch plaid cloth. I remembered my father had brought it back to me from a business trip he'd taken to Europe in the mid-70s. Pat lifted up the cloth and said in an excited tone of voice, "Patricia, I think you'll want to come over and see what's here." I scooted up next to the chest, looked down into it, and saw what you see pictured here.

Have you ever had your life pass before your eyes? That was exactly how I felt. And the visual sensation was enhanced by the evocative smell of cedar wafting up from the walls of Ed's mother's hope chest, a smell identical to the one I used to smell as a little girl whenever my mother would open the cedar chest at home where she kept our extra blankets. But today, instead of blankets, there was a white lace table runner to which I'd sewn items from my life back in 1993. These items included such things as a black and white photo of me at age 8 with my arms around our dear dog Susan, a gold pin with my birthstone (the pearl) that my parents had given me when I was in college, the blue garter I'd worn under my wedding dress in 1966, a photo of me running across Detroit's Belle Isle Bridge at the finish of my second Marathon in 1980, a triangular-shaped painting I'd made back in the early '80s when I was deeply involved in modern dance, the "Praying the Rosary" pamphlet and white ivory cross that I'd found in my Dad's top bureau drawer following his death in 1987, a photo of a painting I'd made for a priest I'd known at an inner city Detroit church to which I'd belonged from 1985-91, one of the postcards I'd sent to the Archdiocese of Detroit on August 19, 1993 asking that they remove my name from their registry since I was no longer a Roman Catholic, and one of my Word Art Peace Postcards that I'd created and sold after the first Gulf War. These were just a few of the things I saw spread out before me. I get chill bumps just thinking about it. After I'd looked at and taken lots of photos of what appeared to be a retrospective of the first 51 years of my life, Pat carefully folded and made a protective cardboard envelope for what she called my "altar cloth," and put it away in my art closet.

Oh, my friends, don't ever let any one tell you you should throw out your memorabilia. Life is made up of memories that can be lost if we don't have tangible reminders of all that we have thought, felt and experienced in our lives. They don't need to take up much space, as evidenced by my "altar cloth," but they should be kept and valued. When you rediscover them later in life, it will be like opening up your very own time capsule.

CLICK HERE to see my "Winter Woman Storyteller" gallery, the latest in my series of Winter Nudes galleries. There are now nine galleries in that portfolio.

I generally invite my models to bring any scarves or objects with which they might want to be photographed. In response to my invitation, one of the women brought a Native American Pueblo Storytelling doll with her. When she showed it to me, she said, "I am a storyteller." That was all I needed to hear. The doll instantly became a featured part of her posing session.

This is a photo of one of the twelve "Me, When I'm Old" self portraits the teacher and I chose to submit to the "Aging With Attitude" Art Exhibit to be held at the University of Michigan in March. CLICK HERE to read about it. For the past month our Grade 5 students have been hard at work on this project, and as an elder and a weekly volunteer in the art classes, I have been their "in house" model for how an old person looks. Not only did I help introduce this project by talking with them about how it feels to be old--both the advantages and disadvantages--but I brought in large prints of my "Facing up To My Face At 65" self portraits which we posted on the bulletin board for the kids to use as reference when I wasn't there. It became quite common for me to hear the teacher say to a student, "You don't have enough wrinkles on your drawing yet. Go see Ms. Patricia and she'll show you where they belong." I'd then take off my glasses and carefully point out the lines running beside my nose down to my mouth, the dried creek bed of wrinkles on my cheeks and chin, the crows feet radiating out from my eyes, the worry lines across my forehead, the bags under my eyes, and the frown lines on the bridge of my nose. After awhile I lost any self consciousness I might have had about my very wrinkled face. It was yet another stage in my journey towards self-acceptance of aging that began last August with "Facing Up To My Face At 65" and is continuing today as I explore the subject of older women's bodies in my recent series of photographs called "Winter Nudes."

The hardest part of this entire "Me, When I'm Old" project with the kids was choosing only twelve of their drawings to submit to the "Aging With Attitude" exhibit. They did such a fine job we could easily have submitted twice that number. And even though I'd intended to submit my own self portraits to the adult juried portion of the exhibit, I got so caught up with the students' work that I missed my deadline. No problem. I want it to be their shining moment, not mine. I'm so proud of them I could burst!

This is the final gallery from last Wednesday's photo shoot with three models. There are now four galleries from that one shoot. But today (Tuesday) another wonderful Winter Woman came to pose for me, so I will be putting up her gallery within the next few days. CLICK HERE to see "Winter Woman does tai chi."

Last Wednesday three wonderful women came to my studio and posed for my Winter Nudes series. It's taken me this long to organize and put up the first of what will be several galleries from this photo shoot. To be honest, I felt a bit overwhelmed when I saw how many photos I'd taken. But now that I've started, I'm excited to see what comes. As always, I offer my deepest gratitude to these women who dared to bare themselves before my camera. Not only were they courageous, but they were lots of fun to be around!

To see my "Winter Women dance in the sun" gallery, CLICK HERE.

Well, I've already made my reservation for next Friday night's late show at The Dirty Dog Jazz Cafe. We were told that on Friday and Saturday nights, the musicians can jam until 2 a.m. and I am definitely up for that! I spent much of today (Friday) burning CDs of the photos I took at Wednesday night's performance. I then dropped off the CDs at the Cafe for Gretchen, the owner, and for each of the musicians. As there were 60 photos on Gretchen's master copy, I didn't bother to edit or resize them. If they want to use them online or for hard copy publicity, they can take care of that themselves.

I like to do this for musicians and club owners because I so appreciate what they give to the world. A good number of my photos already grace the web sites of jazz and experimental musicians in the U.S. and Canada. All I ask is that I am credited whenever my photos are used. It's my privilege to offer what I can to help keep jazz and experimental music alive. I know that, except for the superstars, there's not much money to be made in the music business. And to make it at all, most musicians have to spend a lot of time on the road. But I also know how it feels to be doing what you love. And the musicians I know love making music more than anything in the world. They deserve my support.

It's fitting that I should use this red scarf for this Valentine's Day Challenge since I bought it to wear at another very special Valentine's Day event six years ago. That was back when I used to spend my winters in San Francisco, and, of course, finding interesting things to do in that City by the Bay was never a problem. One of the most memorable was my seeing Eve Ensler, the originator of The Vagina Monologues, perform it live with her friends at San Francisco's Masonic Auditorium on February 14, 2002. Everyone who attended was encouraged to dress in red. I bought this scarf--the reddest piece of clothing I'd ever seen--at an Indian store in my neighborhood in the Mission. When I read that today's Challenge was "Simply Red," this scarf came to mind. I guess you can see why.

To see other PBasers' responses to this Challenge, CLICK HERE.

This is an example of yet another "order-out-of-chaos" day with my friend Pat. Our task today was my collection of CDs. I know your next question and the answer is "No, I have not gotten into the iPod, iPhone, i-anything world...except my iBook, that is." I'm counter-cultural I know, but I dislike wearing earphones that close me off from the world around me. Anyway, my CDs were so disorganized that I had no idea what was there. But not any more! Not only are they all in one place, but they're even shelved according to the following styles of music: jazz, experimental, women's music, world music, new age, spoken word, vocals (both individual & group), classical, pop/folk and soundtracks. Looking at these CDs was like looking at my life over the past 10-15 years. Each one carries memories, often of live performances I've seen and heard. Sorry, my friends, but ipods will never bring back memories like CDs. I doubt if you'll remember where you were and what was going on in your life when you downloaded a song off iTunes. It just isn't the same as buying a CD directly from the musician or at one of his/her/their concerts. So now I feel like I have a new world of sound to explore, the world I already knew but had forgotten. Such abundance!

By the way, I've added three new images to my Masked Winter Woman gallery. CLICK HERE to see them.

I am in a constant state of awe as I photograph these beautiful women for my Winter Nudes gallery. Their courage, trust and daring is enough to prompt one to bow at their feet. Today was an excellent example. My model on this cold grey February day was a woman who generally ducks out of sight whenever pictures are being taken. Yet when I told her about my Winter Nudes project and invited her to pose for me, her response was, "I don't want to do it, so that probably means I should!" And she did. Beautifully, I might add. The mask was her idea and I was delighted when I saw that she'd brought it. I'd already laid out a large selection of scarves on the table in my studio for anyone who might want to use one. Interestingly enough, my friend chose a scarf that had been given to me during my visit to Beirut, Lebanon in November 2005. It felt wonderful to have it used in this way.

Technically speaking I was very happy with how my new backdrop worked out. Thank you, dear Pat! And my search to find and buy daylight bulbs for my lamps paid off. The colors turned out to be true to life without any need for photoshop manipulations. I'd also turned up the heat which was much appreciated by today's model! And I had carefully chosen a CD--Margie Adam's piano solos on "Naked Keys"--that I felt would make my friend feel comfortable. And that's what it's all about--making your model feel at home. A body at ease is a body that shows its innate grace and beauty. When you see the gallery of photos from today, I think you'll agree that this masked Winter Woman is innately beautiful. But it will take awhile before this gallery is up and running. I have 85 photos to go through so I can select and prepare the best of the best. Today's image is just a preview of coming attractions...

When I asked my furry friends to pose for this Thursday's challenge, Valentine was fine with it but Brownie had some reservations. She said she'd had problems with vertigo and didn't know if she could manage to stay on her head without falling over. But Valentine assured her he would be there to give her support. Afterwards I asked them how it had gone. Brownie said she'd felt a little dizzy but she just leaned into Valentine and that made it OK. Valentine said he liked looking at the world from a different perspective, but then Val has always been the more adventuresome of the two. After all, he started life in San Francisco. Need I say more?

Other participants can be found here: http://forum.pbase.com/viewtopic.php?t=36112&highlight=thursday+challenge

Today (Tuesday) my friend Pat came over and brought her magic touch to my studio. I'd told her about the series I've been photographing in what used to be my art studio. This room has had many manifestations in our 36 years in this house, but this is its first time as a photography studio. Even though the set-up was far from ideal, I've been taking photos there since starting this Winter Nudes series on Saturday, January 26. What I needed was a neutral-colored backdrop to cover the wall against which I like to place the courageous women who agree to pose for me. And after sharing my need with Pat, she just took care of business. Today she brought over a hemmed (by her) muslin cloth to use as a backdrop. Not only was it the perfect size to cover that wall, but it also had strips of wooden molding at the top and bottom so it would hang properly. Like WOW!!! With that and a lamp we found that casts just the right amount of light, I am all set for the three photo shoots I have scheduled in the next two weeks. That's three shoots with a total of five women. I am SO EXCITED!!! And incredibly grateful to Pat for tackling this backdrop job. What a dear friend!

By the way, I received word today that both of my Winter Nudes photos were not accepted into the Body Eclectic show at a local gallery. To be honest, I was more surprised than disappointed. I know the work is good. So now I can hang those two beautifully matted and framed photos on the walls of my studio. That should let my models know how much I value their participation in this project. Everything works out for the best.

It's hard to imagine that I was complaining about being on "inspiration overload" just two days ago. Last night (Saturday) and this morning I was crazed with creativity! Pulled an all-nighter, in fact. Before I fell into bed at 6 a.m. on Sunday morning, I'd posted three new images in my Winter Nudes gallery (CLICK HERE) to see them). After only two and a half hours sleep, I was up and at it again. And the fact that I got out my tripod means I'm really getting serious about this project. Today I put up two more new images, one of which you see here.

Working with the nude body is bringing back memories of art school. I spent years in life drawing and life sculpture classes. As every artist knows, there's no better way to learn about form, contour, light, values, scale and composition than to draw and sculpt from nude models. I remember being put off at first, especially when the model was male, but those feelings quickly passed. They had to. There was no time for discomfort when you were trying to express in two or three dimensional forms what was standing, sitting or lying in front of you. The task needed every bit of your attention.

I'm finding the same is true with photography. Working with nudes sets up artistic and even ethical choices that other subjects don't. What makes one photo fine art and another pornography? I believe a lot has to do with intent. If you as photographer are wanting to titillate your viewers, you will make certain choices in the poses you ask your models to take, the vantage point from which you shoot, even what props you give your models to hold. In fine art photography, you are most interested in capturing the essence of your model's humanness. You might want to isolate certain parts of his or her body. Or the play of light and shadow might be what interests you most. Maybe you're intrigued by the way one shape or form contrasts with another. Whatever your intent as photographer, that is what the viewer will intuitively see and respond to. One knows instinctively whether an image is fine art or pornography by the physiological response it triggers in you. There's a big difference between awe and sexual stimulation.

Nude self portraiture, whatever the medium, can be challenging because of the inner and outer voices that try to tell you it is "bad" to show your body to anyone but your spouse or doctor. And yet there is a time-honored artistic tradition of painting, drawing and sculpting the nude body. Just think of all the medieval paintings of Adam and Eve in the Garden. Or Michelangelo's Creator with outstretched hand painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Don't you imagine some of these were based on self portraits? I'm sure it was as hard to get willing models then as it is now. If you stay focused on your purpose in taking these photos, the images themselves will reflect that purpose.

That's why I try to hold in my mind why I am taking these nude portraits and self portraits for my Winter Nudes gallery. I want my intent to be clear so the images will tell the story I want the viewers to hear. These are not nude bodies just to show nude bodies. No, I am committed to bringing about a change in attitudes about our culture's definitions of beauty. That's what this series is all about.

I'm on inspiration overload. If you're a regular visitor to my galleries, you'll understand why.

First it was "Facing Up To My Face at 65" in August. Then "Seeing the City Through Edward Hopper's Eyes" in September. That was followed in October and November by "Edward Hopper Visits My Home." Next came the all-consuming "Dualities" in December, a series that I suspect I'll be working on till I die. And finally the "Winter Nudes," which I just started last Saturday. In the middle of all this, I spent time and energy deciding which of my photos to enter in the 2007 Black and White Spider Awards competition. On Thursday I worked for hours preparing and printing two of my Winter Nudes photos for submission to a juried exhibit called the "Body Eclectic" that will be opening next week at a Detroit-area art gallery, and so far I've printed out 31 of my Dualities to submit to a national photography magazine. I still need to fine-tune my photo files and write a bio and introduction to the portfolio before that project is completed. And every day since January 1, 2007 I've been a faithful Photo-a-Day poster here on PBase.

When I see it all laid out like that, it makes perfect sense why I'm on inspiration overload! Maybe it's time to slow down a bit. I wonder if I can?