Mark & Mabel Taught 85 Students; 1894

The Pierce County Historical Society went through the trouble of going the extra mile to teach  my curiosity about the recent find of the two story school in Beldenville Wisconsin. There is no reason for me to re-write the pages that were scanned/emailed to Peter F. and then forwarded to me.  But there were some highlights that stand out.  Seems this school could have had a dandy name after all if it had only been build a few months earlier.  No doubt about it:  Thurston Hill.

I will treasure this...and post it here for future reading:

So after reading this I wondering even more.  I guess the book would be worth $20
Question:  what ever happened to the term wiener roast?

A Beautiful Find Near Helmer Printing, Beldenville Wisconsin!

Sunday, January 17 we took a drive over to Ellsworth, WI to buy some good cheddar cheese.  The country roads were clear and the hills and valleys were covered with a small blanket of snow.  On a split decision we decided to drive past one of my favorite one room schools, "Forestville".. so I could take a picture of it in the snow.  I like the Forestville school house a lot and I even have a 1/87 scale custom built model of it on my piano!  Now Forestville school is a little harder to find than we expected.  We headed off of highway 10 onto county road J thinking it was just a up the road a mile or two.  As we were following the county road past a business and then a neighborhood I happened to look to my right when I saw a belfry!  "STOP and turn around please I blurted".  This is an image from my phone.  

I've exhausted my search on the internet looking for a name of this school.  Not even Google or Mrs. Blahoskidog can find it!  I'm hoping to hear back from Helmer Printing across the road.  Stay tuned...
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Friday - January 22
The name of the school is Beldenville School! Thank you Barb Blahoski and Peter Fitzpatrick with help in the search! I heard back from Pierce County Historical Association, Pierce County Wisconsin AND 2 wonderful employees from nearby Helmer Printing; Ted and Jenny. The Historical Association has an entire book highlighting the school with pictures. I may have to buy that one since "Baird" was in the table of contents 5 times.

Just for the record here is Forestville:

And here is my amazing custom built model of Forestville.  

Ms. B's Got Class: Fair Maiden's Rainbow Bright Shimmer Collection

Ms. B's Got Class: Fair Maiden's Rainbow Bright Shimmer Collection: Though I am not new to the nail polish scene or the blogging world,  I am new to nail polish blogging. Since the joy of being a teacher ...

Lisa's Photo Adventure

I just got home from a photo shoot that I will never forget. Todays session was at the Historic Sibley house in Mendota.  It's a little niche setting I realized only recently when Tim and I took the pup for a walk along the Mississippi River.  Why had I not thought of this place before?  The old Sibley 1836 historic brick home made of limestone next door to the Fairbault house, a fine example of Colonial architecture and was also built of yellow sandstone quarried locally.

There is also a railroad track that runs parallel.  If you follow Pinterest you know that photographers love to copy each other and take portraits using railroad tracks.  It is private property and technically illegal BUT nevertheless every budding photographer breaks the law and places their subject on the privately owned tracks.  The rail creates a nice leading line if you use the rail correctly...and I know the first photographer who shot a subject on the tracks used the rail as a leading line.  BUTsomewhere since that shot and today..... photographers starting going crazy using the tracks as a "prop setting".  It's common to see a baby on the track.

Not sure why the photographer used railroad tracks here....

Cute picture....what do the tracks add? Makes me want to pick
him and that Coca cola box up (and the Bi-plane) and find a beautiful
bush to place them in front of : )

I see this and I think:  Why?
Would someone really lay on the track like that?
Answer:  Yes if you want your head chopped off.  

This photographer didn't know when to stop
adding props.  The tracks add nothing...all I can
think is geez....hope a train doesn't come!

OMG!  Seriously!  If I saw that picture hanging on someone's
livingroom wall I'd laugh out loud.

This one is the only one that makes sense...pretty cute.

Back to my story....anyway I was busy taking a family portrait when I heard the train whistle in the background.  I commented that I had never seen the train while using this location.  As the rumble of the engine got closer our attention was drawn to someone on the tracks.  AND they were not moving off the tracks!  The train was getting louder and the whistle started blaring.  It looked to be a family of at least 6  getting set into a pose by a photographer.  They were all wearing a cranberry red color.  There was an old man with his walker feet away.  The train was now visible.  The scene was surreal. We were about to watch 7 people get killed on the railroad tracks.

We were where the red dot is.  The family was the blue and the train is yellow.

We just stood there and I looked over at Jen and she turned her head away from...so not to see.  I looked back at the tracks and what seemed like forever...seven bodies dove off the tracks...pushing the old man and his walker to safety. Braking and screeching the heavy train came to a stop 500 yards or so away.  The engineer walked back down the track to investigate....I finally took a picture.

 The engineer is in yellow.  This family is lucky to be alive.

* "Railroad tracks are private property.  It is illegal to shoot on railroad tracks. 

Unused tracks are not abandoned. They are still owned by the railroad company and you are still trespassing.

Ignorance of the law will only get you so far when you are confronted by a police officer or a tragedy because you didn’t follow the law. It is virtually impossible for the railroad companies to cover every inch of track with signs that warn them that they are trespassing."

* "When you bring clients onto railroad tracks you are putting them at risk and you are putting yourself at risk. You or your client could get hurt or killed. You are also putting the people who are operating that train at risk. The potential pile-up when they have to abruptly stop means you are putting more people at risk. A train derailment can mean chemical spills and property damage to any nearby homes. A photographer causing accidents on the tracks would be responsible for the any injuries or deaths, derailments, chemical spills, property damage, delays in shipping, etc.

Photographers will imitate other photographers. Client education is a key component when it comes to railroad tracks and safety. If your client asks for a session on railroad tracks, explain to them about the laws and the fines for being on the tracks.. As the photographer, you are the one ultimately responsible for the photo shoot. If anything happens it is your business, your finances, and your name on the line. Photographers need to educate other photographers that shooting on tracks is NOT acceptable and then they need to work on educating their clients that shooting on tracks is dangerous on too many levels to get that clichéd image" 

*http://digital-photography-school.com/railroad-safety-photographers/ 

And I'd like to finish my story with a picture I took while visiting a Railroad Museum in 2013

  

   

Octoblurrrr

October came and went. I took thousands of pictures this past October between family, work and portrait sessions.  My camera and I have been very busy.  Today I will post my favorite October pictures.

Tamron 70-300 Lens

I love this shot because Lily was being Lily...NOT dressed for a photoshoot, NOT standing like a Disney princess. She's barefoot. AND her little toes are pink from the chill in the air.  She's barefoot because she told me to wait while she took her tennis shoes and socks off  "bare feet make better pictures gramsey".  She's heard that many times from me!

iphone and Camera Awesome

I took this shot on one of my walks around Christian Park with Henry. The maples were amazing this year.  The shape of this maple tree caught my eye and when I spotted the birch tree right in front of it I thought "cool shot".  So I got my phone out and shot....except this is not what I had intended.  I was a little too fast for the Camera Awesome shutter and the shot included the construction horse!  I think it adds an element of interest so I kept it even though completely unplanned.

Natural daylight

I take a lot of pictures at my job.  Every once in a while I get a shot where the children are learning and you can see the learning in the photograph.  The expression on these two kindergarteners says it all.  

Background find!

My favorite family.  They've supported my photography from the beginning and watched me grow as a photographer.  This year we had a traveling photoshoot.  From the bluffs of Eden Prairie to this perfect red barn and pumpkin patch.

And last this shot I took with my phone.  Autumn flights are the best!  We flew to Eau Claire to look at this little trailer that's for sale.

I was surprised at how small it is on the inside.

Cute as a button, but a little too girly for a girl who wants to travel with her husband.