Patterns all around

August Break- Day 2- Patterns

The challenge was kind of made for me and my blog, if the intent was to look around, find and photograph the world around us, that is exactly my blogs purpose, to see the beauty in the everyday.  I came across this challenge by viewing a fellow bloggers post on her anticipation for this event so I have been thinking and planning for this for several days.  Even though this just started yesterday because I was also anticipating this, it has already helped me improve my blog.  It has given me the impetus to start carrying my camera with me wherever I go once again, to post more often and to get back to experimenting with my camera.  I've also enjoying visiting new blogs of those who are also participating.

This days theme is patterns and this was easy as there are patterns everywhere both subtle and dramatic.  The first photo is of a house down the street with it's rhythmic pattern of stair steps and stone work softened by the Ivy growing on and around it.

 I did not think, with second photo, that I had anything that I would particularly like, but the more I looked at it the more I liked it.  It is more subtle than a lot of my photos and the more I looked at it the more I liked the interplay of the two distinct organic shapes against the subtle gray strips in the clapboard.  Since I liked it so much I decided to play with it some.  I brought out the colors of the leaves in the foreground and took some of the color out of the background plants to enhance the distinctly different growth patterns.  I took this even farther by placing a dark vignette around the frame, thus adding to the subtleness of the background and making the green leaves pop out.  I may tweak it a little more but so  far I really like this.

 

Due to the overcast skies these first two photos lacked stark contrast which I love capturing.  Bright sunshine and it's dark shadows provide that high contrast that I love and adds an additional dimension to my photos.  These last two photos while not taken today highlights just that kind of drama and some real design surprises if you look hard enough for them you will find yourself surrounded by them.

Enjoy

Johnina

Insomnia strikes again

“See how nature - trees, flowers, grass - grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence...we need silence to be able to touch souls.”

Mother Teresa of Calcutta A couple of nights ago, I woke in the middle of the night; nothing real unusual  about that. Occasionally when this happens I get photo ops that I would normally never get; and this time was one of those times.  This particular photo is also thanks to Rascal, who normally sleeps quietly through the night, but this night he had to go, bad, and was whining to go out.  There was this wonderful moon outside, just a sliver but the night was so crisp and clear even the dark side was visible.  I just had to try to capture that image, through adjusting the aperture and exposure, putting the camera on a tripod and using the delayed timer I was able to capture this photo.  Not perfect but pretty good considering I only have a bridge camera. I wish I had the words to convey the wonderfulness of that night.   Crisp, clean, clear Air surrounding me- Profound silence Blanketing me- Only an owl Occasionally Quietly hooting- Peace enveloping me. Wonderful awakening Enjoy ☺☺☺Johnina☺☺☺



Just too cool

I couldn't believe it when I saw this.  What an amazing idea!!!  There is a flickr group dedicated to pictures taken by throwing your camera up in the air and hopefully catching it and seeing what kind of photo turns out.  Of course this is done with an old camera your don't care about but it is kind of funky an fun to see.  Wouldn't they just love this camera ball?  This goes on my 'Oh what fun if I could afford it' list.

 Enjoy

☺☺☺Johnina☺☺☺
PS Remember today is the last day to enter my sticker giveaway.  See http://young-eclectic-encounters.blogspot.com/2011/09/give-away-3-photo-stickers.html for details.

First frost

I love to go out first thing on cold frosty mornings when there is frost on the ground.  There are so many different patterns of frost depending on how cold it is and what plant it is on.  This is one of the advantages of walking the dogs first thing in the morning; you get to see the pristine frost with the morning light shining on it making it sparkle.  When the kids where still at home and it was their turn to walk the dogs in the morning all they did was complain of the cold.  I never could teach them to look down and enjoy the beauty of nature beneath their feet.  One of my regrets.

As you can see the frost on these blades of grass are very different from the frost patterns on the dandelion leaves above.  Before I got my camera and was out walking the dogs I could look and appreciate the beauty there, but now with my camera I can get much closer, save the images and play with them.  The original photo of this was pretty with it's pastel coloring in the middle but I didn't like the darker green surrounding it, so it took the pastel part and duplicated it over the whole picture and made an abstract piece of art, which I liked much better.

I really liked this picture of the sparkle that the frost creates in the early morning light.  I did punch up the sparkle a tad as an experiment and am pretty pleased with the way it came out.  It was actually more like I saw it than the camera could capture.

This is the same photo as the top one.  I just had fun making it in a little more impressionist style, although I think next time I would go a little farther with the impressionistic style and frame it.  I don't remember where I got the suggestion to look down and enjoy the beauty there but I sure am glad that I did.  Now that I have a camera I can extend that pleasure and share it with others. Have a pleasant day and try looking down to see what beauty may lay there.                                                                                                ENJOY   Johnina  :^A

Funny

After the last post I realized that I don't take a lot of pictures just because they are funny. I may take them because they are interesting or even because I think others will like them, but to take a picture just because it's funny or purely something that I would enjoy I don't do. Shame on me. I went through my pics looking for funny pictures and did not find many. I did find this one and this one was not taken by me but by the camera. I dropped the camera and when it hit the ground it took this photo of our concern. Now that I have made this realization; I've another promise to myself....TAKE PICTURES TO PLEASE MYSELF AND THINK ABOUT PLEASING OTHERS LATER.

Cameras, computers, and the internet

To me cameras, computers and the Internet; living in this technological world is as great a blessing as the medical wonders that also come in this era. The medicines have kept me alive and in some ways have improved my quality of life, but they come with a price. If you listen to the commercials for these new "wonder drugs" they sound so wonderful until... they get to the side effects. Then they don't sound so wonderful; my personal favorite is "with some fatal occurrences". It really makes you want to take the medicine now doesn't it. I've gone thru the all natural route only to find that if you are taking anything in medicinal doses you have the same problem as with taking medicine. But still in spite of my complaining about my meds I would be much worse off without them. Actually I'd be dead in a matter of days without one of them so I am grateful for modern medicine and the technology that makes it possible.

But with all the meds I'm still disabled and sometimes house bound or hospitalized. I've had to learn to cope with that situation too. In times past I would have been very lonely and bored. Thanks to technology there are many options for those who are disabled to be active in many areas even if they are house bound. I'll talk about some I've used in the past later but for now I am really into photography.

Thanks to technology cameras are now lightweight easy to use and much cheaper to use. I could never afford all the film and developing that used to be a part of photo taking and I certainly could not use or afford a dark room. I can take literally thousands of pictures to learn on and just delete the ones I don't like. It really speeds up your learning rate when you can take a hundred pics at a time instead of 24 on a roll. Taking photos has also given me a great appreciation of this wonderful world we live in. I notice things around me more and how wonderful they are and by being able to see other peoples photo from all over the world I see how beautiful the rest of this world is. I've included some of my photos I hope you enjoy them.

Then comes the computer and the Internet where you can get free editing software. When someone else develops your film did the picture not come out because you goofed or the processor goofed. It's extremely hard to learn that way. Besides editing your own pics is a great deal of fun.

The computer and the Internet also serves another important service. I have met many people over the Internet with my same interests. My two favorite are Facebook and MyShutterSpace. On facebook I keep in contact with my family and friends of various interests and MyShutterSpace has my photo friends and is the best photo site I've found I've learned lots and met lots of friends there and gotten lots of encouragement as I've been learning.

In fact since joining these sites I've been able to get rid of some of my medicines, especially after joining MSS. Which is a real tribute to the quality of people on that site.

Right now I am trying to save up for a good Laptop that can go with me to the hospital. I still go into the hospital occasionally and the fall and early winter are the worst times for me to end up in the hospital. Doesn't look like this year maybe next year.

The Internet provides many different opportunities to go out into the world and get involved without having to leave your house and for me that is a major blessing. Try it out, find something that you enjoy, enrich your life.