About FlappinMothra (kinda back) / Martha Decker  

NOTE 7/21/09: Still spending most of my time moving into the house that we just bought. Currently on flickr very infrequently! I'll be back, though. ;-)

Hello world! My name is Martha, I’m older than dirt < ;-) > and I live in Shakopee, Minnesota (in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area.) If you’re reading this, then let me thank you right now for looking!

Photography and Imaging
I am an amateur photographer, and have been dabbling with it for years. I have no formal training, other than a few pointers and lessons from my dad who was a J-School grad and was big into photography. I just see what I can see and try to record it on camera. It doesn’t always work out to be the best composition (because I really don’t know a whole lot about proper composition anyway!) but if I like it, it’s a keeper and it will probably end up on here. You will see both current digital photos and older scans from over the years in my photostream – mainly from around Minnesota because I am a hard core Minnesota girl (yah shure, you betcha), but there are a few from other places.

Cameras I’ve used/am using include:

• Kodak Instamatic 104 (my very first camera)
• Argus C3 (my dad’s old 35mm camera)
• Pentax H2 (my first 35mm SLR camera)
• Pentax Spotmatic SP-1000 (35mm SLR that I got through the employee purchase program when I worked for Honeywell)
• Pentax ME (my dad’s newer 35mm camera, handed down to me after he died)
• Fuji Finepix 1300 1 mp point & shoot (my first digital camera)
• Fuji Finepix A205 2 mp point & shoot (my second digital camera)
• Pentax K100D 6.1 mp Digital SLR
• Nikon Coolpix L18 8 mp point & shoot (mainly for its video and snapshots, though it takes great pictures)

My imaging software of choice is Corel Photo Paint because it really has a lot of bang for the buck, with most of Photoshop’s capabilities for a fraction of the cost. I have version 8 at home and version 9 at work – both cost under $100. I also use a little app called Opanda DigitalFilm for some fun color work, and I use Opanda Power EXIF to restore the camera’s EXIF data into images that I’ve edited in Corel and add copyright info etc. I am completely self taught in imaging, so I’m sure there is a lot that I don’t know!

Origins
I am caucasian, but Heinz 57 as far as nationality goes. We've got a heck of a lot of Western Europe covered... Ancestors on my mother's father's side came to America from Sweden in the mid-1800's. On my mother's mother's side, they came from England in the 1600's (and can be traced back to British royalty.) On my father's father's side, some came from Germany in the mid-1700's, some came from England, some came from Ireland and some from Holland. On my father's mother's side, some came from Scotland in the early 1800's, some from Germany in the 1700's, and some from Ireland. All were pioneers, starting in the Colonies and later Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Kansas, Dakota Territory, Nebraska and of course, Minnesota. We are distantly related to several authors, including Laura Ingalls Wilder, Oliver Wendall Holmes, D. H. Lawrence, Emily Dickinson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, T. S. Eliot, and John Steinbeck. Other famous relations include the Spencer Tracy, George Eastman, the Bushs and Cheneys (not too proud of those), and several first ladies. What does any of this mean? Not much! It's just interesting. I'm sure we have more ancestors who polished the silver than those who used it! ;-)

Other Stuff
Other than photography, I enjoy bowling, golf, camping, fishing, boating, road trips, genealogy, history and too many other things to mention. My political views are complex and have changed a great deal over the years, but some highlights are that I believe in peace on earth, I believe that athletes and corporate execs make WAY more money than they're worth, and I believe that the media needs to shut the heck up about this recession because they are making it much worse than it might otherwise have been! Give us news, don't rehash the same thing over and over, day in and day out. So much of a recession is psychological, and this whole thing has become one big self fulfilling prophecy. How does a person get out of a depression? Certainly not by surrounding themselves with their negative feelings and doomsday thoughts. OK - off the soapbox, Martha! ;-)

flickr
I love comments and faves, if you are so inclined to give them out. I will usually try to send a comment back your way as well, though don’t put me on a timer for it because I work 70 hours a week. The weekends are when I will do most of my flickr stuff. And, of course, I’m older than dirt (as stated above) so it’s not out of the question that I could miss something! ;-) I am flattered by invites, but I don't much care for multiple invites and big obnoxious graphics. Also, please keep your own profile stuff out of my photo comment streams. Please note that my images are all copyrighted/all rights reserved, which means they cannot be reproduced or used without my permission.

I hope you enjoy my photos if you decide to browse through my photostream! Thanks!












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flickr Groups that I Help Run:

Minnesota Historical Churches


Scenic Superior National Forest


Wayside Minnesota


Yellowstone Trail


US Route 61


US Route 52


US Route 169


Fuji FinePix "Point and Shoot" Pix


Pressure Lanterns & Campstoves


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