Framing the Sound

Author: TC Conner

  • Unforgettable Road Trip: A Concert and National Parks

    My wife has completed the bookings of where we’ll be staying as we make our way west to visit 4 national parks come September. I hope it will be an epic journey with epic scenery. The trip, delayed for five years, was for a reason I’m sure you already know.

    The first stop on our journey will be in Cleveland, OH, for a concert. We will hear and see one of my favorite bluegrass stars – Alison Krauss. We saw her there several years ago with Robert Plant. But for this show, she’ll be with her new/old band and we’re really looking forward to it.

    After Alison’s show our drive continues west to Madison, WI. Then we head to Wall, South Dakota. We’ll be visiting the first of four national parks – Badlands National Park. Then it’s on to Rapid City for an overnight stay before heading to Cody, Wyoming. Mt. Rushmore, Devil’s Den, and the Black Hills are planned short stops in Cody.

    We’ll rest up at the Moose Creek Lodge in Cody. After that, we’ll drive to one of the oldest national parks. It’s one I’m really excited about – Yellowstone National Park. First established in 1872, Yellowstone might be the most well-known. Maureen has scheduled 2 days for us to get as much sight-seeing and photography in as possible at Yellowstone. I’m sure that’s not nearly long enough to see everything. I plan to choose my photography locales very carefully. Hopefully, I’ll find at least one or two areas for epic photos during the 2 days.

    From Yellowstone, our next stop is Grand Tetons National Park in Moose, Wyoming. “Mountains of the Imagination” is a coined phrase you might’ve heard in reference to Grand Teton. Jackson Lake will probably be framed up in my camera while there, Jenny Lake too!

    Our final national park visit before heading back east to Pennsylvania will be Glacier National Park. It is located in West Glacier, Montana. Glacier National Park is known as “Crown of the Continent.” It very well could be the crown jewel of the journey for us. It’s no mistaking that this national park is one of the most photographed of them all. I’ve heard that Going-to-the-Sun Road is a must do drive so that will be something we’ll motor on.

    A 2 night stay at the grand Glacier Lodge in East Glacier, Montana will finish our epic, and probably historic journey to see, feel, experience the marvel, and photograph four of our Nation’s most beautiful natural wonders.

    It’s said that some things come along only once in a lifetime. I hope that in this instance, it’ll be at least one or maybe two more times in a lifetime.

    A happy photographer

  • Fighting the Fear: Why I Haven’t Recorded Myself Yet

    I never have made a decent video of myself playing guitar and singing. I have a very nice studio setup to do it but keep shying away from actually making it happen. Why?

    I’m sure everyone’s heard of “imposter syndrome.” It’s that nagging feeling of self-doubt, like I don’t truly deserve to be where I am or that I’ll somehow be “found out” as an undeserving rookie at playing guitar and/or making photos. I’ve even sold a few photos here and there and played in several local bands that are and were quite popular.

    But I still can’t shake the thought that maybe I just got lucky or don’t belong. It’s a common struggle, especially among high achievers, and it can creep in no matter how much experience or success you have.

    The Nike slogan says “just do it.” But if I just do it will I do it in such a way that makes me feel like I didn’t “just do it?” I suppose there’s only one way to find out. Maybe today’s the day that I just do it!

  • Have you heard what I saw?

    Since the name of my blog is “Framing The Sound” and the purpose is to write about my attempt to merge photography and music I think I should elaborate a little more about what that means.

    Music, specifically the acoustic guitar, has been a part of my life since childhood. One of my earliest memories of an acoustic guitar is seeing my father play. It’s probably one of only a handful of halfway pleasant memories I have from back then. He would sometimes have me or my brother hold a harmonica to his lips while he played. I guess the kind you buy in a music store weren’t widely available back then.

    Photography is something that came along years after I picked up my first guitar. After graduating in 2006 with a degree in English Writing I got a job writing a weekly gardening column for a local newspaper and needed photos of garden related things, mostly flowers. About this same time I met a garden writer from Mississippi, Felder Rushing. He took his own photos and I thought if he can do it so could I.

    My first guitar was a Sigma acoustic, Martin used to make them. That guitar went wherever I went, including on a submarine during my stint in the Navy. It now lives with my oldest son in Kentucky and he says it sounds and plays just as good if not better than any Martin guitar. I’m inclined to agree, but not entirely since I own and play a Martin D28 (which has always been the guitar I dreamt of owning).

    My first “real” camera was a Sony Cyber-shot DSC H1. It was quite an expensive camera at that time, around $400. (My Sigma guitar cost about the same in 1973.) The Sony camera was great and took really nice photos, I didn’t know anything about photography when I first got it. After using the photos in more than a few gardening articles, I felt like photography was something I’d like to explore a little further. And that led to my present day journey of “Framing The Sound.”

    It’s a journey I’m still learning to navigate. And I’m seeing sounds and hearing photographs that are urging me to combine and shape them into sounds and sights that you can see and hear too.

    My father is first one from the left.
    Sony Cyber-shot DSC H1
    Last summer’s forgotten pepper
    Sigma DR35, circa 1970s, if it could talk…! (Photo courtesy of Benjamin Conner)

    If it makes you scratch your head, leave a comment!

  • Being told you have high cholesterol…

    I’m certain there are worse things you could be told by your doctor and it’s not my intent to minimalize serious health conditions. My intent here then, is to cry in my beer!

    I love donut holes, I get mine, well, used to get mine at the local Walmart. They’re bite size and you can choose glazed, plain, blueberry, and on occasion I’ve seen them with powdered sugar. I’ve not counted but there’s probably around 20 or 30 of the delicious little holes per package.

    I trashed the last few that was left after I got home from seeing my doctor. I gave serious consideration to have just one more but decided against it.

    There are other things that can contribute to high cholesterol, take my blood pressure medication…yes, they can make it worse. But I’m not going to stop taking my bp medicine. I have a plan that I know will help lower my high cholesterol.

    Get off my ass and get out in nature! Exercise more! But unfortunately it’ll have to wait till warm weather returns. I can’t function outside during winter. So, I’m hoping the disappearance of donut holes will lower my cholesterol a little until I can tackle it with better armor this spring!

    Red Bellied Woodpecker looking like it has high cholesterol.

  • Valentine’s Day

    Valentine’s Day

    He was a saint it’s said. I guess if you were around back then you probably would’ve been very lucky to have him as a friend. After all, love is kind of related to St. Valentine and the day named after him. Christian folk are especially familiar with St. Valentine, but as is the case with a lot of traditional holidays, the meaning behind it often gets lost in candy and toys.

    I often overlook the meaning behind Christian holidays. I’m guilty of wanting this or that for Christmas instead of giving serious thought to what it’s really all about – the birth of Jesus Christ. I’m guilty of forgetting to give thanks at Thanksgiving, I instead load more mashed potatoes and turkey on top of what’s already on my plate.

    I forget the meaning of Easter shortly after sunrise, and before noon I’m grabbing a handfull of jelly beans in one hand and several candy marshmallow bunnies in the other. Washing it all down with my favorite hazy IPA. Halloween is another holiday that for me has lost all meaning except for how many candy orange slices I can eat before having to clean out the melted sugar that gets stuck to my gums and teeth.

    I should probably make a few changes and try to remember the “why” behind those holidays. But at my age that just doesn’t make much sense. Or if it does, I’ll probably forget what it was.

  • When Winter Ends

    And the warmth of spring begins that’s when my brain slowly but surely signals the rest of my body to start preparations for another new gardening season. It also tells me to start planning for a new photography season as well. Let me explain…

    I’m not a cold weather photographer, never have been and probably never will be. Me and cold don’t get along at all. I might brave the cold for a short walk with my camera to where my back yard meets the tangled woodlot after the first snow, and after Old Man Winter decides to slack off for a while.

    A day or two after that first snow melts, Nature reveals the tangled, cold, wet, soggy woodlot behind my house. Maybe I’m just a cynical old man when it comes to trying to be a winter photographer. But I always lose my cynical outlook when spring returns and I hear the first chirps of tree frogs, and robins with their confusing but pleasant song of “is…it…spring…or…still…win…ter?”

    If you’re wondering what helps get me through these forever lasting northeast winters, it has six strings and the wood it’s made from might just be related to those trees in that woodlot I mentioned.

  • Before I Leave

    As each year comes and goes I find myself wondering when it’ll be my turn to depart this Pale Blue Dot? Along with that open-ended question, I’m sure you’re familiar with this one too: “Why am I here?” And this one: “What should I do with my life?” There are no easy answers for such existentialist ponderings.

    68 years ago, Act 1, Scene 1

    Someone told me several years ago that “it’s all just part of the movie.” Are we all just actors in the same movie? Kind of an interesting way to look at life isn’t it? Instead of trying to figure out why I’m here and what should I do with my life (or what I should have done) it’s much easier and less stressful to play the part.

    You might ask what that part is. I think it’s just being a good human. Nothing more, nothing less.

  • Artistic Vision – A Creative, Critical Thinking Exploration

    I think I mentioned before that I’m a member of an online photography group. It’s one of, if not the best photography investments I’ve ever made. This is my second year and the journey this investment is taking me on has become something of a phenomenon.

    One of the first things I did as a member was take a course titled “Discovering Your Vision,” by Blake Rudis, the founder of the group. I was kind of overwhelmed by some of the course content as I’m not at all familiar with how my brain can help me take better photos. Which has led to the journey I’m on now – discovering my vision.

    A few other f/64 members and I decided to retake the “Discovering Your Vision” course together. We formed a discussion group to help us better understand what this journey entails. Of course this journey of discovery will be quite unique for each of us.

    We’re in our first week of “the journey” and one very important thing I’ve discovered so far is that I better start taming my somewhat cynical attitude towards Artistic Vision. If it is a part of who I am, and if it’s always been there, undiscovered, I want a more personal relationship with it.

  • Sounds Need Framed

    Determining what design to use for a website/blog that’s about photography and music isn’t as easy as I’d like it to be.

    Do you have any suggestions? I would certainly be most appreciative if you could share a few.

    Comment below and tell me what you know!

  • History Repeats Itself

    And I decided to return to WordPress for hosting tcconner.com. I will delete my Blogger blog, and I would appreciate your feedback on my new website here.

    Thanks!