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Inspiring and Daring Women in Contemporary Photography (Part II)

The inspiration is not over. More of our contemporary photographers share us what it’s like to be a ‘woman’ in the craft.

We welcome you to the photography of Klara Johanna Michel, Katherine April Caddy, Sharon Heit, Eugenia Loli and Winona Barton-Ballentine, women who have been greatly influenced by women before them.

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T-Rex for dinner

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In honor of International Women’s Day, I want to make sure you all are familiar with the name and story of Eula Hall. 

Eula is a self-described “hillbilly activist” from Greasy Creek, Kentucky. After finishing her 8th grade education, Eula moved to New York briefly, but was sent home for 'inciting a labor riot’ over poor working conditions. 

Eula then moved to Floyd County, Kentucky, where she once again became concerned with workers’ rights, especially for coal miners. Eula was part of the East Kentucky Worker’s Rights Organization, created the Mud Creek Water District and served as president of the Kentucky Black Lung Association. During President Johnson’s War on Poverty she joined the VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) program and later became one of two local Appalachian Volunteers working in the area. In response to the failed War on Poverty health program in Floyd County, in 1973, she established the Mud Creek Clinic in Grethel, Kentucky. 

The Mud Creek Clinic was opened in 1973 to serve the uninsured and the underinsured in Appalachia. She believes that healthcare is a right – not a privilege.

Eula began with a $1,400 donation and the commitment of two local doctors who volunteered from Our Lady of the Way hospital in Martin, Kentucky. The clinic began in a rented trailer, but it soon outgrew the facility and Eula decided to use her own house as the new location for the clinic. She converted the three bedrooms into six exam rooms and the rest of the house into waiting rooms and offices. At the time, medications had to be delivered from the local hospital after the clinic had closed, so Eula would spend half the night delivering medication to patients who had been at the clinic that day.

The clinic underwent a great deal of changes, following an arson and a merger with Big Sandy Health Care, but still operates today under Eula’s charge at 88 years old. As social director, she counsels patients on disability claims and Social Security benefits, arranges financial aid for food and drugs, answers questions about food stamps and housing opportunities, and attends civic board meetings and hearings. When patients can’t afford lawyers, she often represents them in court.

There have been a few books published on or including Eula Hall and the Mud Creek Clinic, as well as a documentary involving Eula from Appalshop. Her biography, Mud Creek Medicine, was published in 2013 and is widely available. 

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 10 Mysterious Architectural Wonders Built By Tiny Insects

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Inspiration Knows no Limits: An Interview with Julia Borissova

Russian-based artist Julia Borissova combines analogue photography with a variety of materials and techniques such as drawings and collages to express her ideas. Her work often revolves around the role of the past in the present and the concept of home. In this interview, Julia tells us more about her inspirations, the common thread that runs though all of her projects and her experience of self-publishing a book.

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Breeding birds use alligators to protect nests from raccoons, opossums

Breeding birds that nest above alligators for protection from mammalian predators may also provide a source of food for the alligators living in the Everglades, Florida, according to a study published March 2, 2016 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Lucas Nell from the University of Florida and colleagues.

For many bird species, nest predation is the greatest threat to raising chicks. Long-legged wading birds, like herons, egrets, ibises, storks, and spoonbills may choose nesting sites above resident American alligators, likely to take advantage of protection from nest predators such as raccoons and opossums. While the benefits to the bird species of having alligators nearby are well-documented, few studies have explored the effect on the protector, the alligator. Specifically, some previous research has shown that wading bird nesting colonies could provide substantial food for alligators in the form of dropped chicks, which are chicks ejected from the nest when a bird lays more eggs than they can raise.

Lucas A. Nell, Peter C. Frederick, Frank J. Mazzotti, Kent A. Vliet, Laura A. Brandt. Presence of Breeding Birds Improves Body Condition for a Crocodilian Nest Protector. PLOS ONE, 2016; 11 (3): e0149572 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0149572

This is an alligator attempting to eat a raccoon on a bait station in southwest Florida.Credit: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission: CCAL

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It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.

Charles Dickens, Great Expectations (via currentsinbiology)

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Maybe Tomorrow

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via EeiasB7.png (PNG Image)

From a biological perspective that top 1% can be most dangerous.

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This is very cool and a pretty big deal. Find out why.

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Yaaaaaassssss

Moon Garden

A moon garden is a garden specifically designed to be enjoyed by the light of the moon at night. It is typically planted with flowers and plants that are at their best after the sun has set. Some have blooms that only open at night, some release their fragrance into the cool night air and others simply have lovely silver foliage and white flowers that glow softly in the moonlight. Plants that resonate with the energy of the moon are also welcome in a moon garden, although they usually meet the other criteria as well.

A moon garden is a wonderful idea for night owls, for people who work long hours during the day and only get to enjoy their gardens at night, and, of course, for moon-worshipers!

Design Elements

To fully enjoy your moon garden, you will want a comfortable bench or perhaps a wooden swing to rest on in the cool of the evening.

The sound of a waterfall trickling through your plantings will provide a soothing backdrop to your evening meditation.

Consider adding a few (but not too many) glow-in-the dark garden decor pieces to help you navigate your way through the garden in the darkness and also to add a bit of magical flare. Consider creating stepping stones with glow in the dark pebbles or solar mason jars along your path to light your way.

Suggested Plants

Please note that many of these plants are poisonous and some are invasive. It is up to you to decide whether and where to plant them and to manage them responsibly. Please read the individual plant’s page carefully and do further research from other sources before purchasing and planting any of these.

Flowers that Open at Night:

evening primrose, night blooming cereus, night phlox "Midnight Candy", moonflower, night blooming daylily "Moon Frolic" or “Toltec Sundail”, night blooming water lily, night gladiolus, Casablanca lily, Nottingham catchfly, Four O'Clock, Dragon Fruit, Dutchman’s pipe cactus, night-blooming jasmine, angel’s trumpet, Evening Stock, Nicotiana/flowering tobacco

Flowers that Smell Their Best at Night:

Night Phlox, Night Blooming Jasmine, Evening Stock, Four O'Clock, August Lily, Moonflower, Tuberose, Garden Heliotrope, Mock Orange, Honeysuckle

Plants that Look Great in the Moonlight:

yucca, lily of the valley, magnolia, dogwood, lamb’s ear, sage

Plants that resonate with lunar energy:

Alder, Evening Primrose, Lemon, Maple, marsh mallow, Monarda, Mugwort, Poppy, Rosemary, Water Lily,

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“Deforestation” by Eugenia Loli

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I haven’t posted much recently because I had much school stuff to do. As an apology, I offer you this gif of a tardigrade (water bear) snoodling up its food:

(5 Reasons Why the Tardigrade is Nature’s Toughest Animal)

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“A weed is a plant whose virtue is not yet known.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

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(image credit to Dan Hoare on twitter)

I ONLY JUST LEARNED ABOUT THE EXISTENCE OF THIS MUSHROOM????? WHICH ERUPTS FROM AN EGG BEFORE UNCURLING HELLISH ARMS, EXPOSING ITS STICKY MASS OF SPORES TO BE SPREAD BY FLIES ATTRACTED BY THE SCENT OF ROTTING FLESH???

Admittedly, I am easily won over by all organisms that attract flies with the scent of rotting flesh. But the octopus stinkhorn (Clathrus archeri) also has tentacles, a freaky egg stage, and blackish goop, so it’s my favorite now.

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A grizzly rests on a tree in the rain, British Columbia, Canada. Michelle Valberg, National Geographic Your Shot