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Author Archives: Lorelle VanFossen

Lorelle VanFossen is one of the top bloggers in the world, and host of the Lorelle on WordPress, providing WordPress and blogging tips for bloggers of all levels. A popular keynote speaker and trainer, she is also editor, producer, contributor, and official disruptive thinker for Bitwire Media which includes WordCast, Making My Life Network, Stories of Our Journeys, Life on the Road, WordCast Conversations, and the very popular WordCast Podcast. She is also author of one of the first books on blogging, "Blogging Tips: What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging" and the recently released ebook, Social Media for Crafters: Covering the Basics of the Social Web. Taking Your Camera on the Road, founded by Lorelle, is one of the oldest personal websites in continuous existence in the world.

Family Found – Heading Out of Wisconsin

I’m heading back to Seattle from Wisconsin tomorrow. My mother and I found a ton of family, both dead and alive, in Shawano, Brown, and other counties. I’m slowly starting to write about the trip on my new genealogy family history blog, so you can follow the adventures and our discoveries there. This has been […]

Jeff Master’s Review on Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth About Global Warming

I haven’t seen it, but Jeff Master’s review of “An Inconvenient Truth”, the Al Gore movie, seems a good and fair review of not just the movie, but the environmental impact and sciences behind the truth about global warming. The science presented is mostly good, and at times compelling, but there are a few errors […]

Wedding Photographers Need a Permit to Photograph in US National Parks

According to USAToday, Washington Post, among others, the US National Park Service will break a long running tradition and will be charging for wedding photographer in their national parks. Permits will be required as well. The new policy took effect on May 15 of this year and requires professional photographers to pay $50 to $250 […]

Heading to Wisconsin

I know I’ve been horribly absent here lately, but I’m still on the road. I left Alabama in March to return my father back to Seattle after a joyous interesting winter with us in the sunshine heat of the Gulf Coast. We traveled up through Ohio and across to Michigan and then to Washington State. […]

Using Window Design To Protect Birds from Collisions With Windows

Treehugger offers information on “Using Window Design To Protect Birds”, a new technology which will help to protect birds from flying into your windows. I was delighted to find this as I am currently staying with my mother and the bedroom has a view window out the backyard where she’s put a large bird feeder […]

No More Blurry, Out-of-Focus Photographs in Our Future?

Wired’s “Say Sayonara to Blurry Pics” says that out-of-focus and blurry photographs might be a thing of the past in the future: Ren Ng calls his creation the “light field camera” because of its ability to capture the quantity of light moving in all directions in an open space. It stems from early-20th-century work on […]

Saying Bye-Bye to Film?

News is out everywhere over the past few months. Nikon announced it will stop producing most of their film based cameras in order to devote more creative energy into digital cameras. Konica and Minolta, long an embattled pair, are also quitting production of analog cameras. Kodak has practically given up on making film and cameras, […]

Cancer Cell Photograph Wins Nikon Small World Competiton

BBC News announces a “Cancer cell image wins top award” in an international photography contest. Dr Paul Andrews, from the University of Dundee, won one of the prestigious awards from the Nikon Small World Competition The School of Life Sciences researcher took the photo using a digital deconvolution microscope. A university spokesman said understanding the […]

Knitting, Crocheting, and Tatting on Airplanes

I love crafts and have thoroughly enjoyed tatting, sewing, crocheting, quilt-making, and doll making while traveling. My favorite has been tatting, something that is very easy to do and mindless, as my hands can be busy tatting while reading a book, watching TV or a movie, or listening to a book on tape while driving […]

Judging Photographs – It’s Now About the Back Story

I’ve been working as a photography judge, reviewer, critic, editor, and even helped teach others how to judge and review photographs, since I was in high school. While there are a lot of points to consider when judging and evaluating a photograph, they basically boil down to: Composition Light Capturing a “moment” Focus Product Quality […]

Where is Lorelle? Seattle, Washington

I know I left you all hanging with the fridge ammonia coolant leak in Redmond, Oregon, but I returned home to find that after one quick check of my website comments and then collapsing into a bed without wheels, I awoke to find my website turned off. The only thing I can figure out, since […]

Where is Lorelle? Redmond, Oregon

When my mother grabbed the map and yelled over the sound of wind and traffic rushing into the motor home windows that the nearest “big” town was Redmond, I heard “Redman”. Well, just like the famous “Redmond” in Washington State, home of Bill Gates’ fortune and fame, Microsoft, there is also a Redmond, Oregon. After […]

Where is Lorelle? Portland, Oregon

After dropping my father off at his home, after months of warmth and fun, he’s back in the rain and cold of Seattle. I slept for a few days (after weeks of not sleeping – and I mean weeks that add up to months), then packed my mother up in the little motor home and […]

United Airlines Offers Amazing Discount (Cheap) Flights to Asia and Australia

I was starting to look for some cheap flights back to Alabama and stumbled upon an amazing air flight sale from United Airlines with incredibly cheap flights to Asian, Australia, and all over the globe. A big change from recent high price fares blamed on a slagging airline industry, high fuel costs, and pending strikes. […]

Buying WIFI: The Greed of Expensive Hotels

I’ve been planning to write a scathing article about the high price of WIFI Internet connections at hotels, motels, and the like for a while, but I can’t compete with the brilliance of Respectful Insolence’s article, Good WIFI, Bad WIFI: Most of the hotels that I end up staying at for these meetings are pretty […]