In January I had the remarkable opportunity to repeat my artist residency.  My hosts Alline and Kurt of Milkweed Mercantile Inn at Dancing Rabbit Eco-Village asked me back for the winter, spring and summer seasons.  Wow!!  I was thrilled to be able to expand my fall portfolio, as well as get a chance to complete a full year of artistic perspective. 

Winter, is not my favorite time of year.  While I was glad that it wasn't awful weather for my drive, there unfortunately wasn't much snow during my visit.  Finding the winter love took a lot more than I expected, not because of the views around me, but more so from my not wanting to be out in subzero temperatures. Risk to my camera from the extremes wasn't such a good idea either. Thank goodness for several indoor projects that filled much of my time. One was to practice my food photography and work with a DIY lighting system.  It helps that Alline loves loves loves to cook and bake! That made for many occasions to capture images of food!! I have to say I learned a lot, drooled a lot - not on the subject matter of course, its just that having so much access to yummy pies, cakes, and cookies was probably not a great way to get my new years weight loss goals into gear!! I feel pretty good about my first attempts at food photography. 

I found myself even more warmly welcomed this second residency. As a matter of fact, I felt a level of belonging and ease that I am quite clear is reflected in my images.  

Post production requires a LOT of time and patience.  I learned from my last visit that processing images daily is a very helpful thing. It didn't feel like I had taken as many as before, but as it turns out I did!! Almost 2000 images! I did my best to share an abbreviated expression over on my FB Page as I went along - you can take a peek there if you like. I also found doing a daily favorite and commentary helps me remember the happenings of each day. 

For the sake of keeping a volume of images manageable, not only for others to view, but also for ease of finding later,  I created folders.  I found with my last residency that there was a need for images to be watermarked in some circumstances and not watermarked in others - so, in all my sorting and uploading this time I did all of that process at once.   Hopefully I have created a simple way for these images to be of use later and an easier way to view a large number of photographs. 

I continue to make this stuff up as I go.

Below are the folders I created: 

Winter Scapes - members of dancing rabbit formed a swirl pattern of snow on a frozen pond that is just gorgeous.

Winter Things Mercantile - see a collection of plates, bake and cookware that were celebrated as stills, these and much more were just a few of the nuances I captured of the Inn.

Winter Things Dancing Rabbit - winter is definitely stark, the village scape quite different from my fall visit - yet, I still found so much beauty!

Winter Critters Farm - I observed these community members get windows and doors on their home just in time for winter. Upon returning I felt curious to see the finished barn and more of the farm animals. 

Made With Love - I had an absolute blast capturing the making of sunday breakfast and soap making,  just a few of what is created at Dancing Rabbit with love.

Food - uh...pretty self explanatory and mouth watering too!

The Folks - I truly believe  Dancing Rabbit is what it is today (and what it continues to become), because of the people who live there and serve as an example of how to live sustainably. They are warm, committed, tenacious folk - a collective of individuals, strident, quirky and giving. It's not an easy life they live. I feel admiration and awe.

Lastly - I taught another collage workshop, and this time had a larger attendance - the collaging, sharing, vulnerability and compassionate community around that workshop table was palpable. I feel pretty darn happy to have been able to bring my photographic creative sensibilities into this community's fold.