Personal Photo Challenge - Trees

 It's time again for the monthly Personal Photo Challenge. It's been a few months since I've participated so I'm happy to get back to it! It seems I've had little time this fall for photography, other things have kept me occupied, but all fall I had this month's theme of trees on my mind. Both of these shots were taken on the same day, late in the afternoon within minutes of each other. I was tired after a day of teaching a workshop, and just wanted to get on the highway for my 2.5 hour drive home. As I drove out of town towards the highway I spied this tree in a cemetery and knew that I had to pull over to take a few photos.  I do not know what type of tree it is, but if one was trying to make a cemetery look creepy, this would be a good choice of species, don't you think? I boosted the colour saturation just slightly and gave it the dark edges to increase it's "spooky" look. What a great tree and setting this would be on Hallowe'en night if one was setting up a Spooky Walk for children.... This photo was taken in Amherst Nova Scotia.

A very short time later, I pulled off the highway to grab a quick bite for supper, and then treated myself to a cone of icecream. As I drove out of Sackville NB, I passed through the campus of Mount Allison University and this beautiful pond where swans and ducks were feeding. This beautiful maple caught my eye. Again, I quickly pulled over, slung my purse over one shoulder and camera over the other, dripping icecream cone still in hand. You would have laughed to see me trying to get this photo "one-handed" as I tried to find a "clean" spot (free of duck poo) to kneel in the grass...  The student who was taking a brief break from her studies and catching the last rays of late afternoon sun under that glorious maple took me right back to my student days...  I wish the sky had been bluer, the sun hadn't disappeared behind cloud just as I got out of the car, and that blasted pole was not front and centre - these would have improved the photo - but I did the best I could. And I left with only two spots of duck poo on my knee, and melted icecream all over my camera strap... lol

Be sure to visit Donna's Personal Photo Challenge here to see the wonderful creative efforts of other participants.




Peace,
Linda

"Not everybody trusts paintings, but people believe photographs." ~ Ansel Adams

August Personal Photo Challenge

It's that time again - Donna has challenged us with the theme of Animals this month for her Personal Photo Challenge. I was sorry to miss participating last month as we were offline for days, thanks to Arthur...  So I'm happy to be back!
Donna mentions that being a photographer of animals gives one the chance to practice the virtue of patience. She is so right... Animals are unpredictable and aren't always so keen on posing.. or following directions... My original plans (pets) were foiled. Oliver, my feline companion, didn't feel like posing for me; my sister-in-law's new puppy is so full of energy that many of my photos of him were not perfectly sharp - he had no intention of holding still for more than half a nano-second! Plans to photograph another dog didn't work out... so I have turned to my archives for something a little different - farm animals.

Taken at Kings Landing Historical Settlement, this photo of a lamb was taken in early September.  (Perhaps I should say "young sheep" - at what point does one go from being a lamb to a sheep??)  Regardless, she was photogenic, even with her dirty wool. She looked like she could use a good bath! She stuck close to what I assumed was her mother, so it was hard to catch her with a preferable background of grass or field, but I think there is enough contrast with her lighter head against her mother's
darker wool. I used a shutter speed of 1/250 to be sure to "freeze" her.

Charlie the rooster belongs to the brother of a friend. He was happy to pose and show off his spectacular plumage, but he wasn't about to strike a pose for long. "Be quick about it", he seemed to be thinking! Once again I was aiming for an uncluttered background  but I could not avoid the barn boards in the background. (I should have used a shallower depth of field so the background was in softer focus.) But I do think his surroundings make it clear we are in a barnyard! When I was a child, we had a small flock of hens and one downright mean rooster who loved to chase and peck children's legs, so I've always given roosters a wide berth... This was taken on a very bright sunny day with a shutter speed of 1/500.

The backlighting on this horse caught my eye as I drove by him in a field. He too looked like he needed a bath, but I guess he was a working farm horse, not a "fairytale shining white steed". He paid me no mind as I tried to entice him to come a little closer. It was a warm day and all he was interested in was the grass he was nibbling. Taken with a shutter speed of 1/350.

I hope you'll drop by Donna's Challenge here and see what other participants have done this month.

Peace,
Linda

"Animals are such agreeable friends - they ask no questions; they pass no criticisms." ~ George Eliot

May Personal Photo Challenge - Colourful!

The weeks fly by quickly and it's time again for
Donna's Personal Photo Challenge. Donna asks us to share up to three photos on a theme and this month's topic is Colourful! Well we're not seeing a great deal of colour yet here. Spring has been very slow to arrive and things are just starting to green up. Not much is blooming yet.. And you know me - the gardener in me is just dying to get out and play in the dirt. At this time of year when I hear the word "colourful", I'm thinking of garden shots...

So here is my first, taken a few years ago at Corn Hill Nursery near Sussex. I always try to visit Corn Hill in June when the roses and peonies are in bloom. This photo is "as is" out of the camera, no boosting of color, and just a touch of sharpening. Mother Nature's colouring at its finest!










This photo was taken at Bathtub Beach on Hutchinson Island, FL in January. I have cropped,  boosted the colour saturation just a bit and warmed up the temperature slightly, as well as adjusting the exposure a bit. I think it improved a ho-hum photo somewhat.

 My last choice I have chosen for its simplicity, and I love the soft colour! Taken on my kitchen counter in natural light from the window, I have altered it very little, just a slight sharpening and a slight increase in shadows and contrast.

I hope you'll drop by Donna's blog here to see other colourful images today!  Thanks Donna for another great Photo Challenge!

Peace,
Linda

"Color in a picture is like enthusiasm in life." ~ Vincent Van Gogh

April Photo Challenge - Closeup/Macro

Well it seems once again I am late to the party. I did publish this post (or rather, one just like it ) last night just after midnight. I know it actually published because I got a comment shortly after. When I opened my computer this morning, the post was not there. So I'm not sure what happened... I'll blame it on the fairies.... I've been out of town all day so just getting back to re-post now. My apologies to those who might have tried the link earlier and found no post. Thanks to Donna for removing it quickly this morning.

 It's time again for Donna's Personal Photo Challenge. The theme this month is Closeup and/or Macro. I love doing closeup and macro shots but usually I'm doing them in my garden. Since my garden beds are still under several feet of snow, I turned to my archives for several shots.

I love closing in on any flower but I especially love gerbera daisies, in particular their centres. This photo was taken at a local nursery last May. I love its intense pink color - just the punch of color we need after a long white winter....

1/350sec.  f/6.7   ISO 100

The next choice was this field daisy, because I love daisies, not because I love bugs. But he adds a little interest, don'cha think? He seemed like a friendly little fella...

1/180 sec.  f/5.6  ISO 100

And for something different, and because I'm longing for spring and something green, I headed for the refrigerator (truthfully it was equally because I was hungry!)  I chose this kiwi for some luscious green (and then I ate it!)

1/15sec. f/22  ISO 200

All photos were taken with my Pentax K20D, hand held, with natural light. The only editing was a little sharpening.

I hope you'll visit Donna's Personal Photo Challenge blog here to see what other participants have done this month.

Peace,
Linda

"Photography helps people to see." ~ Berenice Abbott

March Personal Photo Challenge

Today is the day for the March Personal Photo Challenge, and this month's theme is words and letters. Once again, I'm late to the party! I didn't think I was going to be able to participate this month as I haven't been taking many photos lately, nor did I feel like braving the wicked cold temps we've been having lately (ha- all winter) to go out and search for inspiration. So, I thought, I'll have to look back through my "archives" and see what I can find, even though words and letters are not something I photograph very often. Then ... my laptop crashed. Don't know what happened, but it seems I need a new hard drive.  So guess who has lost all her photographs from the last number of months (unless they can possibly be retrieved from the old hard drive. Fingers crossed...). All I have for the past 8 months are those that are on my current memory card.. Anyway, enough of my tale of woe...



Here is one photo still on my memory card, taken in Florida in January at a craft market in Jensen Beach. I could not resist the colorful signs. I didn't buy any but the booth owner gave me permission to photograph all I wanted. Are they not the cheeriest most colorful signs you have seen in a while? Lots of words, and interesting letters here...






I decided it might be quicker to try and find a few more photo possibilities around the house this afternoon than spend hours searching through archived photos. But what to photograph?  And then it came to me.. my mother's handwriting. One's handwriting is very personal and I've always thought that both my mother's writing and printing were beautiful. When I look at her penmanship I can actually see her hands in my mind. Hands that worked hard all her life, both as a nurse and a mother, and later a business owner. Hands that played piano, knit countless socks, mitts and sweaters, hands that made bread every week, hands that gardened and did needlework, rubbed backs and wiped away tears. Hands of love. This is an old recipe book of hers in which she wrote all her favourite recipes. You can see this was a popular cake as the page looks "well spattered". I saw her use this book almost daily as a child, in fact when she taught me to cook, this was always the book I looked through for a recipe to try.


After she died, I found this book of hand-printed poetry - I had never seen it before. She wrote poems she liked in it, as a young woman, and later on, she added poems clipped from the newspaper or a magazine. I think her printing is lovely- as a nurse in the 40's and 50's, good penmanship was important in charting and keeping records. Too bad young people today are not made to practice penmanship. Keyboarding skills seem to be more important. Another skill/art that is being lost....

All photos are "as is" straight from the camera. No edits, no tweaking... I use a Pentax K20D.

I am linking to Donna's Personal Photo Challenge. Why not stop by and see what others have done with this month's challenge?


Peace,
Linda

"Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace." ~ Buddha

December Photo Challenge - Let There Be Light

This month's theme for Donna's Personal Photo Challenge is Light - "Let There Be Light". I have been so busy with Christmas preparations I didn't think I'd find time to participate. You know what it's like in December - too may things to get done and never enough time... I always feel "behind"...
But I couldn't bear not taking part in the fun, so I decided even if I didn't have new photos to share, surely I could dive into the archives and find a few photos which would be worthy of sharing... Here's what I came up with.

This first one is a favourite winter shot (you can see I've used it in my December header.) It was taken on Christmas Eve morning two years ago in Odell Park, a park here in our city popular with walkers and cross-country skiers. It was a crisp cold morning after a fresh snowfall, a beautiful sunny blue sky day. The sun was not yet too high in the sky, making for nice long blue shadows. Although I have some lens flare in the upper part of the photo, I rather like it. What do you think? Would it be a better photo without the flare? I love the sidelighting on the snow on the little bridge. I think the sidelighting from the winter sun really "makes" this photo.... The scene would not have looked the same at all on a cloudy day.

Exposure: 1/250 sec.

Aperture f/8.0

Focal length 26.3mm

ISO 100

This next photo was taken in my backyard last January. We have a fence behind a long angled perennial bed and I love the shadows we get through that fence during the winter. I have taken a number of photos over several winters of the shadows being cast across the snow. Depending on how the wind has drifted the snow between the house and the fence, sometimes I get some pretty "wonky" lines. This is far from a prefect photo - I probably should have angled the camera up a bit to get more of the fence boards - but I do like "the shadow lines". Again the sun was low enough in the sky to pick up a little sparkle in the snow which makes it a bit more interesting too... 

Exposure 1/350 sec.

Aperture f/8.0

Focal length 93mm.

ISO 100

My last photo is an indoor shot of my faithful companion Oliver. He is a sun worshipper in the winter, following the sun around the house and basking in its warmth. His favourite spot is in the family room in the afternoon as the windows face south and there is often sunshine for most of the afternoon. Here I caught him with just a portion of his face lit by the afternoon sun. I love how it shows up the detail of his fur and his beautiful light green eyes. It is perhaps more interesting than if his whole face was "fully exposed". 

Exposure 1/60 sec.

Aperture f/5.6

Focal length 50mm.

ISO 100

All photos were taken with my Pentax K20D.

Please visit Donna's Challenge here to see what other participants have done this month with the challenge.

Peace,

Linda

"The light in winter is most varied; there are days when it's clear and bright, carving the earth into light and shadow like a razor. Yet, at times, the light can be soft and quiet as a whisper...."

~ Peter Fiore 

November Personal Photo Challenge: Layering Texture

It's time again for Donna's Personal Photo Challenge. I missed it the last two months so decided I should make the effort this month to get on it! This month's topic is Layering Textures. This is definitely a challenge for me as I have never done this! Nope. I don't play much with my photos - pretty much what you see is what came out of the camera, except for perhaps just a little lightening or darkening and the occasional slight sharpening. I don't own Photo Shop or any other editing programs. I use Picmonkey, a free online service. So this is all new to me, but I decided to give it a shot. Why not? It's fun to play! And play I did. Any suggestions or constructive criticism is welcomed!
First of all, to choose photos to work with... How does one choose just one or two when you have thousands???  With Remembrance Day (Veterans Day in the US) just 2 days away, my thoughts turned to poppies so I found a simple photo of a single blossom, taken in July in Deb's garden.

  This is the original - poppy against blue sky. Pretty simple. Not a stunning photo.

First I looked at the exposure and decreased the brightness just a bit to darken the background slightly. Then I added a Picmonkey Paint background. I increased the saturation somewhat, then faded it slightly. Then I added a Bokeh effect and softened it a little on the blossom itself. And here's what I ended up with...

I liked it at this point, but it still was a little light for my liking so I went back to "Exposure" and decreased the brightness then brought up the contrast, shadows and highlights just a smidgen. 

 I like it better now. What do you think?

That really was fun (thanks Donna!) I guess it's good to give yourself "permission" to just play and see what happens. So I thought... why not do another? So for my second attempt I chose a simple sunset shot taken this summer at a friend's cottage at Maquapit Lake. Below is the original.

Again, nothing fabulous. It's not even in sharp focus. So I went to work. (I think I could really get into this.. it's fun. Donna, have you created a monster?) First I sharpened a bit. Then on to Exposure. I decreased the brightness and increased the shadows and contrast somewhat. Then I added Picmonkey's Water texture. Wow. All of a sudden, I had a more interesting sky- where did those "clouds" come from? Even though it's a "water effect" I think it worked in the sky as well - don't you think it looks very natural? The texture added more color to the water too, and perhaps at sunset you would not see as much blue and green there, but I don't think it's unrealistic, do you? In this case, I don't think the average viewer would even know I have added any "effects".. I've just used the texture to enhance the photo...

Be sure and drop by Donna's Personal Photo Challenge here and see what others have done this month. Thanks again Donna. I think I'll be playing with Textures more often!!

Peace,
Linda

"Texture is the most enduring and ubiquitous underpinning of form... certainly a calming, meditative and appealing world for both the eye and mind. " ~ Lynda Lehmann

Personal Photo Challenge - Water

It's time again for Donna's Personal Photo Challenge. This is a monthly challenge with topics chosen ahead of time - this month's topic is Water and next month's is Doors and Windows. The main purpose of Donna's Challenge is to expand and practice your digital photography skills. I have had a very busy month and haven't had made a lot of time for photography other than when I was
travelling. It was on my mind as I was in Prague, and so my photos this month are from that beautiful city. I actually treated myself to a Photography Tour while there, not only to spend some time with a Pro who lives there and could take me to interesting spots I might not find on my own, but also to get some help with just that - digital skills. Although I have been doing photography for years, I am relatively new to the digital camera and still have lots to learn about all the settings, controls and editing possibilities. Night photography was another area I wanted to explore a bit further. And water itself is a fascinating subject. It's like a fire- I can stare at it for hours...
Prague is bisected by the beautiful Vltava River, and there is always interesting "river traffic" to watch- from cruise boats, paddleboats, gondolas, rowboats, and the occasional speedboat to swans, ducks and gulls. There are numerous bridges from which to watch all this activity. And then of course there is the beautiful architecture of this historic city...

I enjoy capturing reflections and this first shot was taken looking towards Prague's castle area. I have not done a great deal of night photography but Prague was the perfect "subject" with the river, castle and your choice of bridges for whichever view you wanted. This shot was taken at around 10:30p.m., one of many as the sky darkened through the evening. I experimented with settings and the time for exposures, and surprisingly got a decent number of good shots. A tripod was a necessity and I used the timer on my camera to trip the shutter. Of course the river was never completely still for a perfect reflection, but I am pleased with the "soft" reflection of lights and the illuminated castle.




Another river shot- this time taken in bright sunlight in mid-afternoon, hand held. I wanted to capture the graceful swans with the famous Charles Bridge in the background. Of course, they don't pose, or hold still, but I am pleased with the composition.








This final shot was taken in the Wallenstein Palace Gardens. I saw the reflection of the nearby green building with red tile roof and the blue sky, complete with white fluffy cloud... the breeze was rippling the water just enough for an interesting effect. I just couldn't resist!!

So there you have it - my three images of water, from Prague. I hope you'll visit Donna here and see what other participants have done with this challenge. And why not consider joining in the fun yourself?

Peace,
Linda

"It is life, I think, to watch the water. A man can learn so many things."  
~ Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook