leaving new orleans

Spending ten days in New Orleans has been magical. I feel so grateful to be able to tap into the lives of my grandchildren, even if it only happens every few months or so. 

more from new orleans

These children.

morning exercise

I took a walk around the Garden District in New Orleans this morning, just humming and letting the sunshine fall on my face and taking some pictures with my trusty iPhone. It's hard to beat an hour like that.

Although, getting ready to go spend the rest of the day with my grandchildren is pretty great, too. Feeling lucky in the Big Easy.

survivors

I am working on my "Voices of Wisdom" project for the Midwest Jewish Artist Lab which will involve photographing some of my Holocaust survivor friends (who have indeed been voices of wisdom for me over the years).

This past weekend I photographed Ann and Isak.

part 2 of recently rescued estate sale images

magic?

I recently started reading The Life-Changing Magic Art of Tidying Up, a small, beautiful book by Marie Kondo. Many of my friends have told me that adopting Kondo's art of tidying has truly changed their lives for the better. Magic!

Reading this book dovetails perfectly with two things that are going on in my life right now. The first thing is kind of big. Pretty big. Well very big, I guess. Eddie and I have decided to move to Portland! For eight years now we've been toying with the idea and traveling back and forth between the City of Roses and the City of Fountains. We've lived in the latter for 35 years now. So, yeah, extraordinarily big. Much more on this to come. 

The other thing is that I've been revisiting my "Estate Sale" pictures for various reasons. I've discovered some that I initially edited out of the project that I really do like, and I've trimmed off the Hipstamatic-imposed raw edges, which I really don't like so much any more. (Click here to see the work featured on Lens, the New York Times photo blog.)

So, while I begin to prepare for the move, which will involve more downsizing, de-cluttering and simplifying (and the magic involved therein), looking back at the treasures with which I parted five years ago gives me some comfort. I survived it, and I'll survive more of it - maybe I'll even be better off with the dramatically changed-for-the-better life my friends tell me I'll have! 

young photographers at st. mary kevin children's home

It brings me great pleasure to share the work of the budding young photographers at SMK!

We've been so lucky over the years to have many people donate cameras, batteries and cards enabling these aspiring artists to do their thing. We've also had the great fortune of bringing over team members who are good photographers and good teachers. Because of their passion for sharing their knowledge and encouraging the children, we have some stellar work being made!

Huge thanks go to Scott and Jackie, members of Team 9, who devoted much of their time at SMK working with the kids who wanted to photograph. Here are some of the stunning results.

And then there's Nicky, who has taken everything we've ever offered to a whole new level - his.

team 9 post (and a wonderful video gift to us all) by lynne

In Uganda, there is an abundance of poverty, loss, and sorrow. But in the little village of Kajjansi, at SMK, there is also an abundance of love, of kindness, of gratitude, of whimsy, and of joy… especially of joy. It was joyful for me to be there in December, and I hope it brings you some joy to glimpse this short video of our beloved kids, and team 9 members, in action. - Lynne


JOY from Lynne  Melcher on Vimeo.

grandma with a camera

The grandkids were in town this past week. And I made some photos, of course.