The Virtual Blog Tour and NW Frame of Mind

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by Lisa

Virtual Blog Tour 1

Last week I received a lovely message from Sally at Lens and Pen by Sally extending an invitation to participate in this Virtual Blog Tour.   The purpose of the tour is to introduce bloggers to a wider audience by answering a series of four simple questions related to their current and future work.  New posts are added to the tour every Monday and to keep the series in motion we are asked to nominate a new blogger to take part the following week.

1. Why do I write/create what I do?

Really this is supposed to be question #3 but the photo above doesn’t make a lot of sense without the answer so I’m taking creative license and jumping ahead.  I’ve always felt lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the country and as you can see my exploring days started as soon as I could walk a trail with my own backpack.    I’ve made many return visits to Artist’s Point with Ryan and John but this is the view from my first trip up to the top of the Mt. Baker Highway.  Before publishing my first blog post I spent a lot of time thinking through my motivations to pin point if I really had anything unique to share and if so would anyone find it interesting?  After a few months of thought I decided to use NW Frame of Mind as a way to capture what I see during  my daily life here in the corner of the country.   Since these pages are full of my personal point of view they are by nature unique and I hope my enthusiasm for our surrounding beaches, mountains, forests and towns comes through in the images I choose to illustrate our adventures.

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?

Well, since I’ve kept the focus of this blog on my personal views of the Pacific Northwest that should serve to keep it at least slightly different from others of its genre.  I’ve been thrilled to discover so many great people sharing their experiences in this area through blogs but only I see through my eyes and when Ryan and I sit on the beach or the three of us escape weekend chores to take a walk I’m the one snapping pictures and thinking about how I can compose a new post to share the moment with you.  Happily I think this approach works when we travel outside of the area too since I’m by default looking at new surroundings through the point of view of someone who spends most of their time by the water and evergreen trees.  My photos from the southwest part of the country may be quite different from photos taken by someone more accustomed to the geography and climate.

3. How does your writing/creating process work?

I take most of my photos with my iPhone and occasionally pull out my little point and shoot camera for a change of pace.  Since these two cameras are small and portable but limited in their abilities to capture big landscape vistas I’ve adapted my workflow and photo choices to make the most of what I have.  Typically photos are edited before I post them, usually because I have fun with the process but also because sometimes what I see in the moment doesn’t become visible in the finished product until after I’ve tweaked things a little.  I have some favorite Lens/Film combinations in Hipstamatic that I use a lot and my first step for editing is always Snapseed.  After this I try a few new variations with at least one additional editing app just to see what I can do and finally, I chose my favorite to post.

4. What am I working on?

People who know me in real life never ask this question, my list is always too long!  If I narrow things down a little and stay focused on mostly blog related things I can share that I spend part of every day working on my newest venture, the 1 Day 1 World Project.   Participation grows every week and I’m so happy to see the idea catching on and traveling around the world.  Tonight I’m also working on my latest Black and White iPhone Monday post and I’ll admit I don’t have a clue what I’m going to post for Wordless Wednesday.   Slightly off blog topic but exciting none the less I hope to have an Etsy shop open by the end of the year featuring something completely new… more details to come when I’m ready to share. 🙂

The final part of my Virtual Blog Tour post is to introduce you to a blogger I enjoy tremendously.  Meghan’s blog at firebonnet.com is full of her fun, vibrant and creative spirit.  Meghan is an artist who loves color, design, motorcycle riding and living life to the fullest but really, her tagline says it better than I can:  All about Mirth, Art, The Art of Life… and Two Cats and a Cattle Dog.

Virtual Blog Tour 2

Since I opened with an old family photo, I’ll close this long post with another peek into my past.  Most of you probably don’t know I’m the oldest of four kids, some of you may know I learned to drive in a VW Bus and quite a few of you read my post wishing my Grandma Emma a Happy 96th Birthday.  All of these elements are here in this one image.  I’m the barefoot one in the front surrounded by my brothers, sister and our first dog, Sam.  Our grandparents are behind us by their camper and we are getting ready for a fun family get-away exploring my favorite part of the country.  Sharp eyes might notice the red VW Bus in the background and hidden in the corner is our VW Bug.  My childhood and my blogging inspirations together in a snapshot. 🙂

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Lisa

52 thoughts on “The Virtual Blog Tour and NW Frame of Mind”

  2. These Virtual Tours are such useful exercises. I learned more about you, and at the same time realized that you mostly use your iPhone to record your universe. I believe that as technology processes, these amazing devices will only get better and better. But it’s your passions for nature and the Northwest that keeps me returning to see a part of this country that I’ve only visited a few times.

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    1. Thanks for your kind words, Sally and you are quite right, this was a great exercise and a fun way to share a little more about what I am doing here. I would love to have a nice camera one day but the convenience of my pocket friendly iPhone really helps me record what I see in almost any situation. Technology is a wonderful thing. 🙂

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      1. Come to Vegas to visit and I’ll take you hiking!!

        ps Andra has asked me a bunch of times to plan a girls weekend of hiking and stuff. If I do, are you in??

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  8. This is the second I’ve seen of these this evening, Lisa (Amanda at Unique so Chic was the other) and they make interesting reading. Ooh, I’m curious about the Etsy product 🙂 Have a happy week!

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    1. I’m happy to hear you enjoyed the reading, Jo. 🙂 I’ve only seen a few posts myself but thought this would be a fun opportunity to share a few things about myself that wouldn’t typically show up in my blog. I’ll send out some hints soon regarding Etsy…

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      1. I’m really impressed. I often find my phone frustrating to use, and tend to lug the DSLR around with me these days. Think perhaps I should revisit the iPhone )before my shoulder gives out). Cheers, Su.

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  11. Good ol’ snapshot.

    I enjoy coming to your blog for sentimental reasons and to learn more about life in Washington State. So much of your blog reminds me of when I was growing up in Prince George, BC, and would often watch the TV stations coming out of Seattle. I became very curious about your coordinates of the atlas, and used to think that some day I’d visit your state.

    I still haven’t gone there. When I came of age, I moved eastward across Canada, back to Ontario where I came from before settling in BC. I’m still curious about your corner of America, though. I may get there yet.

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    1. It’s great to hear you enjoy my blog, Allan and I hope you get to make a Washington State trip one day. It’s funny how small the world can be once we start sharing stories. While you were watching Seattle TV stations from Prince George, BC I was listening to Vancouver radio stations in Bellingham, WA because they came through the clearest in our house. 🙂

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  12. I love the photo of you, your siblings and grandparents! Somewhere in my photo archives I have some that probably mirror yours a bit. I did a lot of wonderful travel with my grandparents, mostly in carpool situations with them in one car, my aunt, uncle and cousins in another and us trailing behind. The joy was in stopping along Route 66 and finding a diner we could all enjoy together. Your photo brought back some wonderful memories. I learned to drive on my aunt and uncles property in an old VW–not a bus. But I’ve always thought about how we could easily have been killed the way we drove up and down hills and without any seat belts. But I can handle a stick shift with the best of them! THis is a lovely post, Lisa. I really enjoyed knowing you better through this lovely bit of personal story. 🙂

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    1. It’s so nice to hear you enjoyed my post, Debra! I love discovering the connections we all share when we start talking about our interests and backgrounds. 🙂 I’ll bet we could fill a blog with fun, summer road trip stories and I agree after you learn to drive (shh… without seat-belts) in a VW you can drive anything!

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  15. Such a cute photo! I love your posts about your opposite corner from my world (FL)! The northwest is beautiful and I hope to be able to visit there one of these days. So, I love reading about it! Glad to know you’re an iPhone user, too! 🙂

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  17. What a wonderful post! I love the childhood photos. It is very nice to get to know you better, and see what an adventurous spirit you had from the start. And I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who mostly uses her iPhone and post processing apps! although I do pull out my fancy Lumix when I go out shooting on the ranch … iPhones don’t have very impressive zooms! thank you for inviting me to be next and your wonderful introduction! Is there a way to see other people’s posts? or do you just keep following the thread backwards?

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    1. Following the threads backwards is the main way I’ve found to see other posts and a reader search works too. Thanks for letting me know you liked my approach to the questions and your well deserved introduction!

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    1. You’re very welcome, thanks for your visit and comment. I didn’t have a clear idea how to organize this post until I started writing about beginnings, then it all came together. It’s nice to know you got it.

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  20. Lisa, so many fun and wonderful things you shared with all of us. The thought and care you put into your blog is just as evident in your answers. And now I’m even more impressed that you only shoot with your iphone! (Is it a 5, by the way? I have a 4S and the pictures just don’t seem all that clear as a 5.) Well done!

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  22. really enjoyed this post Lisa – so nice to get to know you a bit more –
    all good – but some highlights I really loved…
    “but only I see through my eyes…”
    oh, and the VWs and the old photos – and looks like longevity runs in your fam…
    lastly, when i was growing up, one of our dogs was named Sam, but that was her nickname, she was Samantha but that never stuck – and she was a similar color.
    glad I was able to come back to read this – 🙂 ❤ have a great weekend.

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    1. I’m happy to hear you enjoyed this post, Yvette. 🙂 I don’t usually talk about myself instead I show my surroundings but thought this would be a good opportunity to share a little more. Funny thing about our Sam, my mom changed his name after we found out a friend of the family objected to sharing his name with a dog. The new name, Fritz, never caught on though and I insisted on calling him Sam. 🙂 Enjoy your weekend too!

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      1. cute story about the name. Fritz is cool. but I can see how you would stick to the real (original) one – ha!

        and with our “sam” dog – well I think there was a mix up and they thought they were getting a male (mutt) and when it was a girl -they conveniently expanded it to samantha – but it was always sam we used…
        ❤

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