Flash Friday: The Ghost Farmer

Micro-Learning Photography Lesson:

The Ghost Farmer.

As your photography teacher, I encourage you to chase the unexpected. Those mysterious flashes of light, hazy orbs, lens flares, and sunspots—often dismissed as flaws—can become the very soul of an image. They bring mood, mystery, and magic. These “imperfections” can suggest something otherworldly or nostalgic, pulling the viewer deeper into your photo.

Rather than editing them out, lean in. Shoot toward the sun. Let light leak through trees, windows, or mist. Play with reflections and angles. Use old lenses or vintage filters. Observe how light bounces, flares, and behaves when it’s uninvited.

These spontaneous elements give your work character. They say: this moment wasn’t controlled—it was captured. It was alive. Embrace that shimmer, that ghostly glow. It's not a mistake. It’s a story.

Flash Friday is a photography micro-learning course delivered in a series of email newsletters and blog posts

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COPYRIGHT 2007-2025 Patti Friday b.1959.

Children's Book: Donkey Decorating

Available globally on Amazon here.

To decorate or not to decorate might be the question people ask themselves, but not donkeys. They love to decorate and they make sure their stalls are designed with style! Complete with chandeliers! Take a tour of the barn with these twelve donkeys! See the big reveals!

COPYRIGHT 2007-2024 Patti Friday b.1959.

Trending: Chandeliers in Barns

I got the memo today and then

I saw it with my own eyes.

Chandeliers in barn stalls.

I say. Yes indeed!

COPYRIGHT 2007-2024 Patti Friday b.1959.

'Intérêt du Jour' Interest of the Day

This cow was an unexpected interest of the day.

"Interest of the day" refers to a concept or topic that garners significant attention and curiosity from the public or a specific group on a given day. This can vary widely and may include:

1. Current Events: Major news stories or developments, such as political events, natural disasters, or celebrity news.

2. Trending Topics: Subjects that are currently popular on social media platforms, often identified by hashtags or viral content.

3. Daily Highlights: Features or segments in media outlets (newspapers, websites, TV shows) that focus on noteworthy events or topics of the day.

4. Market Interests: Trends or movements in financial markets, such as stock market gains or losses, new product launches, or economic reports.

5. Cultural Moments: Popular cultural phenomena, such as new movie releases, music hits, or fashion trends.

Essentially, the "interest of the day" is a focal point of public or community attention that can shift daily based on new developments, cultural shifts, or media coverage.

COPYRIGHT 2007-2024 Patti Friday b.1959.

Dispatches from The County: Vicki's Veggies Family Farm

Vicki's Veggies is a small farm working towards 

a sustainable future in agriculture in Prince Edward Country, Ontario.

I've written about this charming farm here.

The Roadside Stand will open in May for the season! Drop by Vicki's roadside stand/store at 81 Morrison Point road to pick up seasonal vegetables, leafy greens, and all kinds of goodness fresh from the farm.  You can even pick up local bottled lemonade from Lemonade Dave. Make it part of your adventure as you tour around PEC!

Vicki Emlaw is an eight generation family farmer from Milford, Ontario. She originally started Vicki's Veggie's back in 2001 and continues the family tradition to this day.

COPYRIGHT 2007-2023 Patti Friday b.1959.

Pastoral Cow Paintings Make an Interior Design Comeback

The beautiful, massive cow.  Revered in some parts of the world, Cows are seemingly gentle and domesticated cloven-hooved herbivores. The idealized paintings of these gorgeous animals are making a comeback in modern farmhouse interiors, traditional homes, pubs and old world kitchen design. The Gilded Age, biophilic design (nature, green, houseplants), environmental concerns, vintage accessories and ironically the plant-based eating movement - are all propelling cow paintings into the forefront of wall art. Plunk an ornately gold framed cow painting on your marble countertop;  leaning, not hanging and you get the idea here.  These paintings are comforting and nostalgic and make us feel relaxed as we escape into the safe, fresh-aired countryside.  Pastoral paintings of cows are, quite frankly, very calming to me. And the world needs 'calm'.  There is a definite love of cows happening!

"Cattle, taurine cattle, Eurasian cattle, or European cattle (Bos taurus or Bos primigenius taurus) are large domesticated cloven-hooved herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus Bos. In taxonomy, adult females are referred to as cows and adult males are referred to as bulls. In colloquial speech however, cow is sometimes used as a common name for the species as a whole.

Cattle are commonly raised as livestock for meat (beef or veal, see beef cattle), for milk (see dairy cattle), and for hides, which are used to make leather. They are used as riding animals and draft animals (oxen or bullocks, which pull carts, plows and other implements). Another product of cattle is their dung, which can be used to create manure or fuel.

Around 10,500 years ago, taurine cattle were domesticated from as few as 80 progenitors in central Anatolia, the Levant and Western Iran. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), there are approximately 1.5 billion cattle in the world as of 2018. Cattle are the main source of greenhouse gas emissions from livestock, and are responsible for around 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. In 2009, cattle became one of the first livestock animals to have a fully mapped genome."

Next time you go on the hunt at second hand shops, keep your eye open for vintage oil paintings of lovely pastoral landscapes that feature cows.  You will be on trend. Patti xo 

All cow images in this post are sourced from Bing.

COPYRIGHT 2007-2022 Patti Friday b.1959. All photographs, works of art and words are original content, unless specified otherwise. All rights reserved. Patti Friday: Reporting from inside 'The Art Dept.' at the international 'Embassy of Ideas' I am an Artist who carries a paintbrush, camera and notebook. Instagram: @pattifriday