Lingering Summer
Woodland Sunflowers
Summer Haiku (Linger)
Lingering flowers
Stretch toward the summer sky
Knowing fall is near
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Are you ready for seasonal transition where you live?
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Downy Woodpecker in My Rhododendron
Downy Woodpecker in My Rhododendron
Look at this sweet little Downy Woodpecker I spotted in my rhododendron. I love the little speck of red on his head. Glad he stopped by to make this bird nerd smile!
Bluebird in a Redbud
Bluebird in a Redbud
Spring Haiku (Savor)
Perching in the sun
Bluebird in a Redbud tree
Savors spring like me
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I’m so glad it’s springtime now for me! My favorite time of year is finally in full bloom. It’s a perfect day for birdwatching or just taking a stroll in the beautiful outdoors! I hope you all are enjoying your day too!
Daylight Savings Time Bird
Lady Cardinal
I love daylight savings time! I didn’t miss the hour of sleep. I just got up later the next day. More time to sit on my back porch and watch backyard birds, like this pretty lady cardinal! Extra daylight in the evening makes me happy! I wish we stayed on DST all year round. What do you think?
Happy 2019!
Chirpy
Happy New Year! Wishing you all a bright and wonderful 2019! Watching my backyard birds was a perfect way for me to start the year. Peaceful joyful, and amazing!
How did you celebrate the first day of the year?
Basset in a Blanket
Basset in a Blanket
Basset Haiku (Blanket)
With chill in the air
My basset in a blanket
Looks warmly at me
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Are you all ready for Christmas? When my dog, Pal, saw this blanket, he immediately knew it was his. So, it became his early Christmas present. His eyes lit up brightly, and he pranced around with his prized possession. His simple joy warmed my heart!
Wishing you all warm, simple joy this Christmas!
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Old-Timey Joy
I made this holiday greeting card after practicing with the concept of macro shots for Julie’s Sunday Stills challenge. The topic of Julie’s Week 3 Sunday Stills challenge was macro. So, using my iphone camera and the macro setting in Camera+, I took 3 little blocks and photographed them at different distances from the camera.
I need to go back and review Julie’s lesson. I changed my distances even though my phone app had a macro setting. Is that right? I tried to use the touch zoom feature but it seemed easier just to move closer. I also have a macro feature on my point and shoot camera with a zoom lens. But I was having trouble focusing; I do think the low lighting was a factor. My camera has a manual setting option, but I have yet to come close to figuring it out. For now, I’m hoping to learn concepts that can be applied to my simple photography.
As assigned, I selected one of the images as seen below.
Joy Distance 1
Then I fashioned it into a holiday card by adding text and a old-timey frame!
JOY
And, as you saw in the first blog photo, I added a little teddy bear into a shot to see how it would look. It may break the rule of having an odd number of items for a still life shot, but I think it’s cute!
Happy Holidays from me to you!
Above It All
Tabletop View – 2
This is my take on a side light, top-down, flat lay photograph for Julie Powell’s Sunday Stills online class. I gathered some leaves and acorns from my backyard and placed them on my tabletop. There were reading glasses already on the table so I just added them to the collection. I think the glasses provide an element of interest to the photo; although I’m not sure if there is enough of an association between the items. I also liked the shadows cast by the light.
Here is a variation where I moved the glasses to a different corner spot.
Tabletop View – 3
And, this was one of the first shots with only the natural outdoor elements.
Tabletop View – 1
I tried not to over analyze the set up, but I did try to consider the rule of thirds when placing items and cropping photos. I think flat lay worked to make these simple items seem more interesting! Which photograph do you think is best?
Tomato Stills
Tomato Still Life
I have decided to take part in Julie Powell’s Sunday Stills photography class. The Week 1 focus was on light. I have to admit, I didn’t exactly follow the rules to set up the scene and photograph it across the day to observe the light changes. I discovered that finding a natural light area for photos in my house was quite a challenge due to window pane shadows! Plus, I only had an hour when I was inspired to set up the scene with light through the window of my back door into my kitchen. Even then, I was challenged with shadows as the afternoon sunlight was shining through tree branches, and I had to avoid blocking the light when taking pictures.
I did immerse myself in setting up the scene, watching the way the objects cast odd shadows, and noting how the changing light affected the color of the tomatoes across just an hour of time. It was almost meditational, just as Julie has suggested it could be!
Tomato Medley
The photo with only the salt shaker was taken at the start of the hour, the top right around the midway point (after adding the pepper shaker for interest), and the lower right was taken at the end. The light and color changes are subtle given my time constraint. I also cropped the photos to avoid evidence of kitchen clutter!
My house has it’s limits as a photo studio! But, I am looking forward to following the instructions for the next class! You can join in too; the online classes are free!
Cedar Waxwing Wonder!
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- Cedar Waxwing 1
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- cedar Waxwing 2
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- Cedar Waxwing 3
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- birds and berries
I finally saw Cedar Waxwings last weekend during a walk in the park! I have been hoping to spot this kind of bird for a long time so the sighting was a celebration. Some passers by even stopped to see what I was so excited about. They congratulated me on my find as they went on their way! Another pretty bird to add to my list!
It’s been tough to devote time to my blog lately, but hopefully I can start to give it more attention. Hope you all are well!
