Self portrait

Self portrait -
Looking into my soon-to-be studio from the outside

Beech nut

Empty Beech nut hull

deck

I don't know what it is about weathered wood the just gets to me, but it does. The color and the texture... all that it has endured just because we put it there, in this case, to walk on.


To be continued...

Impressions of a Daisy

All images were taken blurry intentionally, and various other treatments were applied using Picasa to give the images an impressionistic feel.

Daisy looking down

strawberries

I "stylized" these photos in 2 very different ways using Picasa... manipulating the saturation, shadows and highlights, tinting, etc. The first has a kind of "dirty around the edges" quality to me. The second one reminds me of something you would see in a magazine from the 70's or something with the tan/yellowish cast that I added to it.

Please let me know what you think makes these work... or not work!  Do you find the images appealing?

Face in a tree

Do you see it?

Vine

Virginia Creeper vine on abandoned shed

bike

I don't really do "urban" photography, mostly because we don't live in a very urban area, and rural photography is my preference anyway. I spied this bike sitting in front of the local Long John Silver's restaurant weeks ago, but was too shy trying to take a picture of it. The sign on the restaurant caught my eye, and that bike added something special to the whole thing. I pass this spot every Friday night when I go grocery shopping, and every time since I first noticed it weeks ago, the bike was either not there when I drove by, or there was a car parked in front of it, obstructing the shot.  Tonight it just happened to be there, so I thought I better take advantage of the situation. Several things could be better about this image, like the placement of the bike and the lighting, but sometimes you just have to work with what you have. It was a big deal for me just to stand there with my little point-and-shoot and take the picture, since I'm more of a "private" shooter, not really liking others to see me while I shoot (I imagine much the same as someone might feel self conscious being watched while they are painting).

Overall, the shot is not as awesome as I had hoped it would be, but I'm still glad I took it anyway.

dandelion collage

I've taken so many dandelion photos recently that I thought it might be nice to make a collage of them. I put this one together with the aid of Picasa (i.e. choose pictures and click a button), but it's not quite what I had imagined. I might have to try a different one that I put together myself.

look up

Itty-bitty baby oak leaves
Southeast Ohio, April 25, 2010

dandelion sunset

Transformation

Remember this?


Now... it looks like this

Taking chances

Sometimes I let my camera do the seeing for me, especially when my subject is close to the ground and turning my head upside down doesn't seem like the best idea. I never know what's going to happen when I take pictures in this way, but there are always some pleasant surprises, like the sunlight streaming through these Wild Phlox flowers. Taking chances is one of the best things you can do with your camera. Get out there and play!

bottle

collage

"What are those?!" you might be wondering. They are catkins. A catkin is "a dense, elongated, and drooping cluster of flowers without petals. Most commonly, the flowers found on a catkin are of one sex. In some trees, such as the poplar, both male and female flowers are present. Catkins are typically found on trees which are wind pollinated, such as oak, birch, willow, and hickory." [source]  I believe these catkins came from one of our Aspen trees (aspens are a member of the willow family).  I left them inside the house for a few days after I took these pictures, and when I picked them up, they dumped yellow pollen all over my hands and the table.  I didn't realize the important role these fuzzy little clusters played until the evidence was in-hand (get it?).

Awakening

Today's Picture Spring prompt is "Awakening," where Tracey encourages us to "Capture something that is just waking up with the welcoming warmth of the season and honor it, I see you little one."
This is some Lily of the Valley that is coming up in my garden. I really doctored this one in Picasa, boosting the saturation multiple times, plus a few other modifications. I like the glowing effect that I ended up with.

Look inside

Flower power

Solitary

No "Picture Spring" prompt today. The prompts from the last few days have just done nothing for me - brought me no inspiration. So I decided to strike out on my own for today's photo. I couldn't choose just one to share, though...

There's a freeze warning in effect for tonight, so it's very possible that I'll lose all the lovely daffodils that have been blooming in our front yard.  Such a shame!