[text_output]Article written by Irene in fall 2014
I am really glad that I live in a part of the world (Scotland) where the seasons are distinct, or at least reasonably so – usually! These lines may not contain anything new but may, hopefully, provide a few illustrations of some of Tami’s Cropdog patterns which I have particularly enjoyed using. For many years, I have enjoyed taking seasonal photographs but since Cropdog arrived on the scene, I must admit to going overboard with 30 pages of the seasons either complete or ‘under construction’.[/text_output][line]
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[text_output]Top favourite pattern has to be 12 x 12, pattern 4 for 25 photos. Sometimes you may have a few odd photos, not enough to make a complete page, but too good or too memorable to ignore. This pattern also allows you to bring together a real mixture of old and recent, with a central square to provide a focal point.[/text_output]
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[text_output]The oldest photo on the attached Autumn page, Row 2, number 4, goes back to the 1950s. when ‘stooks’ in our fields had not been totally replaced by a rapid clean sweep of a field in a few hours by a combine harvester. An old slide was converted to a digital image or an old print from the slide was scanned- I’m showing my age by saying I can’t remember which! Maybe older members of your family have boxes of old slides that would be worth another look?[/text_output]
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[text_output]The same applies to the Winter page – row 2 number 4, also from the 1950s. Print quality at any larger size would be poor but at approximately 2 inches square it is quite acceptable. Also incorporated in the attached Winter page are three black and white images from 1962, scanned from old prints. I’m especially pleased to have been able to use these old photos because of the memories associated with them. In fact every square has its own special memories to go with it. All of these pages are jam-packed, e.g. the fun we had watching our fantastic, bramble-picking dogs, scenes from holidays and days out, magic wildlife moments, etc – so many varied memories on one page making, I feel, one colourful and cohesive picture with the only feature in common being the season they were taken.[/text_output]
[text_output]Migratory birds also feature in some of my pages. Our swallows have given me a huge amount of pleasure this year by insisting on nesting in our new extension while it was being built. Trade-off was that I was ‘allowed’ to take some photos of them as well as watch them. A month or so ago, I watched dozens of them congregating on telephone wires as in Autumn row 2 number 1, but they have now all gone from this area for this year. However, compensation comes with the arrival of the wild geese which come here in their thousands – but that may be another story.[/text_output]
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[text_output]Other useful patterns either for one season or for all four are 12 X 12 nos.354 and 257 and 8 X 8 no.94. If I had to pick a favourite season, I think it might be Spring. One of the attached pages shows a few of my favourite Spring flowers, but I’ve also used it for birds. These same patterns would also be excellent for showcasing the same scene photographed in each season – I don’t have any completed examples yet, only one with my favourite tree in Winter and in Spring.[/text_output]
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[text_output]Pattern 263, 12 x 12 for 18 photos, is another very useful multi-image pattern. Not a season as such, but very much a part of this time of the year, Halloween provides loads of colourful, fun images – these were gathered together from many different places during a visit to eastern USA several years ago.[/text_output][image type=”thumbnail” float=”none” info=”none” info_place=”top” info_trigger=”hover” src=”6034″]
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[text_output]Once again this is far from being a new idea, but I’m pulling in everything I can think of relating to the seasons! Many of us have a quotation which we particularly like. I’ve made a page illustrating mine which is a verse from the Song of Solomon:
‘For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.’
No turtle doves, so I’ve improvised. I was very pleased to come across the stained glass window.[/text_output]
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[text_output]Finally, why not use your favourite photos of various times of the year to personalise your Facebook cover – very easy but very effective and fun.
So the seasons keep changing, each with its own pleasures and drawbacks, and each certainly providing me (and I hope you too) with lots of photo fun and with Tami’s help, lots of pages of memories.[/text_output]
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