Just because

August Break

The August Break challenge has helped me a great deal with getting back to carrying my camera everywhere and experimenting with my camera.  I may not be posting everyday but I've taken photos almost everyday in a variety of places and with a variety of subjects so today I picked out some just because I like them.

 I took these two photos while waiting in line for the boys to get out of school,  It was a very long line.

 One of my all time favorite photos of Wyatt.

Watching the skies as a storm approached.

This photo was captured as I was walking around the neighborhood.
Hope you

☺☺☺Enjoy☺☺☺
Johnina 

Looking down

Thematic Photographic 305

August break

Both Carmi from written inc and August break  have a theme this week of looking down.  I normally don't do much in the way of photographing with looking straight down.  One of my health issues is balance problems which I have had to deal with since I was a kid.  If given a choice I went up stairs on all fours and down stairs on my bum until I was in third grade.  Given that extent of a problem I became terrified of heights.  I don't look down unless I have to. 

However after looking at the other posts for these challenges, I decided that I didn't have to climb to any height, I simply had to look down.  Fortunately last night the kittens that have caused me to look down and  watch every step; attacked my feet and shoes while I was taking them off and it came to me to photograph them.  They were being awfully cute.  

This morning Wyatt came in to play; I watched from above and it gave me a new perspective.  Even though some of the photo is kind of fuzzy; I really liked the effect and I think I will try to use this perspective more often.

Finally the kittens in a quiet moment.  Even if they were in the middle of the floor at least they were still and I didn't have to dodge them as they ran under my feet.  Peace at last.

☺☺☺Enjoy☺☺☺
Johnina

Summer moon

August Break

Since I'm a little behind on the August Break challenge and since the idea behind it is to get people to look and photograph the world around them, and since I am having a hard time going with the themes, I decided to just look around me and photography what peeks my interest.

We've had a lot of rain here lately which has makes for wonderful and at times dramatic skies.   These photos are of the moon on a cloudy night.  I love the sense of mystery that the clouds impart.

I tried different settings and used my zoom on my camera a Canon Powershot SX30 IS which produced a great variety of  looks and moods.

The clouds finally moved out of the way for a few minutes and I was able to get this clear shot of the moon.

☺☺☺Enjoy☺☺☺
Johnina

Surprised at what you see

August Break- Windows

I am finding that the biggest challenge for the August Break is that instead of taking photos of whatever strikes my fancy and having it speak to me about what I should blog about; I am now doing just the opposite I have the subject matter given, then hunt for a subject to photograph.  I'm finding this to be a whole other mind-set.  I have entered contests where the subject was given then you had a week to find just the right setting to photograph; I've even won some.  Doing this with a one day time constraint is many times more difficult.  With a week or more of time, I can indeed find my subject, take my photo, edit, and tweak to my hearts content so I feel confident in having done what I could to put out a photo I can be proud of.  With this time constraint I no longer have the ability to reflect make changes then reflect again so I'm not so sure.  This challenge is really making me s-t-r-e-t-c-h and make occasional leaps of faith, both of which are good things for me to learn how to do.
My photo for today is of my daughters living-room.  In spite of having little money, she is creative in her decorating.  She also has the courage to try something non-traditional.  I love the plants which is pretty traditional, but then she hangs them over her window like a living valance.  I'm sure that as her plants grow in and up the hardware it's beauty will continue to increase.  Good job Sweetie.
I was also experimenting with my shutter speed for this one and the backlighting was giving me problems so a triple challenge here.
The next photos are ones that were done earlier.

I have often been challenged by photographing windows due to unwanted reflections, but in this case the reflections turn out to be the focal point of the capture.

This was taken as I was walking around some abandoned warehouses that I noticed while I was shopping at one of the busiest stores in town.  I started out photographing from the parking lot and realized that in framing my picture I was trying to avoid the barbed wire fence that surrounds the store.  I figured it really ought to be pretty safe with all the shoppers in the area so I walked across the street to get a better look.  I'm glad I did.

This was taken in an elevator at the art center in downtown Atlanta.  The art center houses the High Museum of Art and the Atlanta Symphony Hall so it makes sense that they would build an elevator with a skylight so you can see the elevator workings.  I thought it was very cool.  I was amazed however at the looks and questions I got as I rode up and down taking the photos as apparently most people never noticed it.  That's what this challenge and my blog is about; seeing the beauty or just plain cool things that surround us.  Look around including looking up, you just might be surprised at what you see.
☺☺☺Enjoy☺☺☺
Johnina

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

Who wouldn't want to eat like this?

Whenever I tell anyone about my following the Paleo Diet, I can almost guarantee the question "Well if you eliminate grains, dairy, legumes; what do you eat?".  Followed by"That can't be healthy!" and/or "I could never eat like that!"  Actually I eat very well, thank you. When I concentrated on eating meat, veggies, fruits and roots I actually increased the nutrient content of my food.  I now prefer to refer to the way I eat as a nutrient dense diet.  This shows the general composition of my meals- 1/2 of my plate is veggies, either raw or cooked or a combination of the two- 1/4 of my plate is meat- and 1/4 of my plate is fruits or roots.  Although this is a rather simplified example and does not explain the principles of the Paleo Diet or nutrient dense diet; it does give you a good idea of how to start. 

This meal consisted of

1 small chicken breast coated with almond flour,salt, pepper, mexican oregano, garlic powder and parsley

   1 1/2 cups frozen broccoli, cauliflower mix sauted  with butter, salt, pepper, garlic powder

1/2 nectarine sliced

Easy, peasy- simple but nutrient dense.  It didn't take long and the plate looked great. 

This post is part of my participation in the August Break event.  It is hosted by Susannah Conway and the rules are basically take a photo every day in August to post on your blog or on the flickr page or a couple of other places that she lists on the August break link above.  She also gives suggestions for the daily photos and an e-mail with an example of that days suggestion for those of us who get stuck.  Her rules are simple and you can break any of them and still participate, my kind of event it allows for all kinds of creativity.  If I understand this right the idea behind this is for bloggers to share there creativity and photos with others, to notice the everyday photo opportunities, and to take advantage of those opportunities.  I don't know if I will be able to do

this everyday but I'm sure going to try.  My posts might be shorter than normal maybe even just my photo for the day, but try I will.  Today's photo was actually of my dinner and I had a hard time with with the lighting, so my dinner actually looked better in person, but I'm learning. Also I'm getting this in at the last minute, but improve I will.

Come and join me

Enjoy

Johnina 

See the beauty

 I named my blog young-eclectic-encounters because I have many different interests and experiences to share.  Although I do tend to be easily bored and have a little ADHD you will find that there will be common threads throughout my posts.  As I mentioned in my last post I have been working on improving my health and have found this to be a fascinating subject, so there will be lots of these.  I am also a lover of good books, as I have learned much from them, both lessons from life and information to improve my life.  Most of what you will see is my artistic strivings.  I draw, paint, art journal, quilt, design my own clothes, but my first love is photography so you will be seeing lots of photos.

My description for my blog is "See the beauty- a survivors art journal" more than anything else learning photography has made me really look around to find the beauty that surrounds me.  It has kept my spirits high, fought off depression and generally kept my life hopeful and moving forward.  The photo above is a good example of seeing the beauty around me.  I saw these beautiful roses on trip just out running errands.  I enjoyed them then and am enjoying them now having captured their beauty with my camera.  But, guess where I found them?  They were part of the drive-thru at Burger King. 

How much do we miss of this beautiful world when we go about our daily lives?  Did this person in the car even notice the roses? Think about this over the next week, notice, share you observations in the comments or write a blog post about the beauty that surrounds us and share it in the comments, too.  One other thing I have found is that when we share the beauty of this world with others we help to make this world a more welcoming place and we humans much more cheerful.  So join me and encounter this world it's many beauties and pass the word.

Enjoy

Johnina

Passion perspective

Everybody has a passion for something; passions in your life bring excitement, joy and in all ways enhance your life.  These Passionflowers represent two of my passions, photography and gardening.  With the advent of digital photography I have been able to grow and develop my skills simply because now I can take many pictures of the same object and experiment to my hearts content

. 

Just recently my Passionflowers have started to bloom and yesterday there was a particularly pretty one in bloom so I decided to take many photos of it and see how changing the angle of my camera would change the look of my photographic art.

I edited them in Picasa keeping the crop dimensions and color editing the same for each photo.  The only differences come from the camera angle.

 I was surprised when the camera angle did on occasion make a difference in the colors that showed up.

My garden and flowers brighten my day.  After I have left my home I always come back to the beauty that my family and I have created.  My garden; my other passion.

“Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion”

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel quotes (German Philosopher and Inventor, 1770-1831) Enjoy ☺☺☺Johnina☺☺☺

Morning fun



Fun Sunrise

We've had lots of nice to spectacular sunrises lately so this morning with it's nice sunrise I decided to play with my camera features.  This is the fisheye feature.  Since I have a bridge camera not a DSLR and am unable to change lens this is only an effect that is built into the camera.  It's kind of fun.

View from the other side



One of the things I have noticed more this winter is the wonderful shadows and light patterns that are present with the sun low on the horizon.  This was taken this morning facing west as the sky in the east was losing color.  I think this is just as pretty a skyscape as the sunrises.

Enjoy

☺☺☺Johnina☺☺☺ 

Life as I see it

"but maddest of all is to see life as it is and not as it should be."

Don Quixote from Man of LaMancha

Even though I really like the movie and story of 

Don Quixote, the Man of LaMancha, and his madness that refuses to let him see anything but the good and how he managed to change lives because of it; there are times when it helps to see life as is it.  This is how I'm going to see life for the next month or so, with my feet up and in a walking boot.  I broke my foot yesterday.  It was a stress fracture.  It seems that in spite of the fact that I have been feeling better and doing more than I have been able to do for quite awhile; I need to keep in mind that my body is still fragile.  Sometimes it helps to keep in mind the realities of your life so you can take care of yourself and not get hurt.  However in spite of my setback I still believe that you should concentrate on how life should be, can be or is going to be.  Because of this belief I'm going to show you photos I took Wednesday when I was feeling good.  I arrived early for a doctor's visit and so I went to the walking park at the hospital. Where I went for a walk and to take pictures

It is a pretty little park, that is a delight to visit.  I like going there when I have a doctors appointment at the hospital.  It always lifts my spirits to see this kind of beauty next to a place of healing. This is the park where I took the photo that I edited and turned into my avatar.

Enjoy

♥♥♥Johnina♥♥♥

BTW: The DVD of the movie Man of LaMancha is available through Amazon; just go to the Amazon search button on the top right of this blog and type in Man of LaMancha.  It always amazes me at all the things you can find there.

Growth of a photographer

Ready,set .....

Photography has given me many benefits.  I now see the beauty and wonder of the world through my camera lens.  This helps lift my spirits and has gotten me through some pretty tough times.  But it has also helped in my personal growth.

 Today between Physical therapy and two doctors appointments, I had some time to spend so I went to the local city park.  I intended to just take photos of the grounds, which I did, but while I was there I happened to see these two young men out on the Skateboard Park.

  When I first started taking photos, I took pictures around my house due to my shyness.  I learned to overcome that shyness and started to take photos in the nieghborhood.  I graduated from that to taking pictures from my car.  Then on to taking photos in the city and in stangers yards.  I started meeting and talking to total strangers and I found this delightful.  However I had not introduced myself as a photographer until today.

  Today when I saw these young men, I saw an oppurtunity to practice some action shots.  So I introduced myself (something I had not done before) and asked if they minded if I practiced my Photography skills on them.  They were delighted.

  After I was finished I gave them one of my info cards and told them about my blog.  They were excited about being included on my blog and having thier skateboarding on the web.  I hope they do indeed check out my blog and maybe leave a comment.

Photography has changed my life: enriching it in so many ways.   I have grown in many ways not just in skills, but on a very personal level.  I  am expanding my world and enjoying life on an entirely different level. And just like I have learned to see the beauty in the world I photograph, I now see myself in new ways .  

ENJOY

☺☺☺Johnina☺☺☺

Abstract Photography Contest



My Abstract Art Contest entry on MyShutterSpace

I belong to MyShutterSpace a great photo sharing site- my favorite.  Last sunday I decided to enter the contest in the Abstract photography group (they have a wide variety of groups to join).   The contest was to photograph a common household object but to focus in on the color and texture, so I searched for something interesting to photograph.  I found my knife set in its butcher block holder; took lots of pics from different angles and different lighting.  Got one I really liked and then inverted the colors to come up with the above photo.  Some of the other photos are below.

Abstract Knives

It always amazes me what a difference the lighting makes in shadows and even in the coloring; which shows up in these photos.

BTW: I got second place; there was not many entries but; hey, second place is still second place.

Enjoy

☺☺☺Johnina☺☺☺

Christmas lights- Just having fun

Just having fun with Christmas lights

Yesterday I had to pick up Tom from work (we are still down to one car for the two of us) and after running errands and starting physical therapy, I was exhausted.  I was also sitting in the car bored and waiting; but I had my camera soooo.. I tried to take pictures of the Christmas lights around the houses across the street.  Unfortunately due to the fact that it was dark outside in order to take photos the shutter speed has to be slow which makes it hard to focus and hold the camera still enough, long enough to get a crisp photo. See photo to the left.  Since I was so tired I did not bring a tripod (I was simply to tired to mess with it) I decided to just have some fun with the lights by purposely moving my camera.  The collage at the top of this post is a collection of the abstract photos I got.  All the editing I did was to crop the pictures and then make a collage.  They are kind of strange, but I think they are kind of cool and best of all they were fun to do at a time when I need a little fun in my life.

Enjoy

☺☺☺Johnina☺☺☺

Fire in the Sky

This is the first picture I took after getting home from the hospital.  Tom pointed out to me the way the morning light lit up the trees.

So very different from light at any other time of the day.  Add to that the trees still in shadow and you get really dramatic skylines.

I took these propped up against my house.  This trip to the hospital combined  with all my medical problems have made made for a more dramatic recovery.  I am really struggling to gain back my life this time and have decided that I need to take a break and just rest and recover, so I'm taking a few days off and will be back in week or so.

Enjoy

☺☺☺Johnina☺☺☺