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

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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☺☺☺

No place like home- Front door greeting

Welcome home rose

Having spent most of my summer in Kingsport Tn with my daughter and two grandsons, I have come to appreciate the comforts and routines of home.  While I enjoyed my visit I am glad to be home.  My husband did a great job of making my front flower garden flourish.  My roses and flowers were there to greet me.  My front garden always makes me sigh with pleasure as I pull into the driveway.

I got out my camera early one morning in order to catch the early morning dew.  Using my macro setting I was able to capture that shimmery quality that comes from the morning dew.

Early morning dew

I switched to my landscape mode to better show my roses as I approach my walkway and my front door giving an entirely different perspective on my roses and my garden.

Hope You

Enjoy

♥♥♥Johnina♥♥♥

Once in a blue moon

Blue Moon Aug 2012

Since I have not posted in a while I thought having a blue moon was a perfect time to get back in the groove of blogging again.  The saying 'Once in a blue moon' came about because of the rarity of blue moons and my blogging had indeed become a rarity.  However my life is getting a little more settled and predictable so back to blogging I come.
I researched what a blue moon is; which is two full moons in a month and they are indeed rare. The next one is July 2015.  I also found a really cool website on all things moon, where whatever you want to know can probably be found. Click here here where a photo  moon phases calendar for Sept can be found.
I experimented with my camera settings (shutter speed and aperture) and my preset settings and my zoom feature and came up with some very distinctly different photos.

Blue moon Aug 2012

Although The first photo is not the best technically, I like it best.  I was actually kind of impressed with my second photo, it was the clearest moon photo that I've been able to accomplish in a long time.  My last photo is even clearer but not as artistically rendered. Sigh.

Blue Moon Aug 2012

 Hope you enjoy
☺☺☺Johnina ☺☺☺

Back to Kingsport Tenn

Rest area on I-75
All in Bloom

Took a break from visiting my daughter to continue working on my health, but I traveled back last week during the heat wave.  I made it back to Kingsport in record time.  Last time even though I thought I left at the right time to miss Atlanta traffic it still took me 2 1/2 hours to get from Locust Grove through Atlanta to Marietta.  This time it took 45 minutes.  It always amazes me at the time difference that can occur while driving in the city. Sometimes for no apparent reason your time can double or triple.  How do those who commute everyday figure this out?

Blessed shade on a hot day

The other thing that continues to surprise me is the different personalities of the rest areas.  Each has it's own beauty.  The difference between rest areas between states is even more remarkable.  Georgia's tend to have lots of wide open spaces with minimal landscaping mostly around the main building and they are not staffed except at the main You have entered Georgia Rest Area.

Georgia rest area picnic site

Tennessee has smaller rest areas with more landscaping spread across the entire area.  They also have the bonus of being having an attendant on site.

Beauty at the rest stop
Art edit

At one of the Georgia rest areas I saw some evergreens that where in some places dead, dying, and other places growing and thriving.  I loved the textures and color combinations so I snapped a shot.

Life goes on

I have been looking at a lot of abstract photos and art lately so since I really liked the colors and textures I decided to try my hand at turning this photo into an abstract art piece.

  I edited it in Photoscape (available for free on CNET) using the swirl filter then I added a lens flare.  I added three lens flares in three different colors and turned down the opacity on the flares.

I then transferred it to Gimp and layered the edited version with the original. (Gimp is alsoavailable for free on CNET). This was my first attempt at using layers. I then cropped it to emphasize the center flare and came up with this:

What do you think?
Enjoy
☺☺☺Johnina☺☺☺

Greetings from Kingsport TN

View of the mountains from my daughters apt complex

I have recently been to see my daughter in Tennessee.  As my health increases my life expands and I am able to do more and more.  A couple of months ago a trip to Atlanta required someone else to drive me there.  About 3 weeks ago I drove  by myself from Griffin GA to Kingsport Tenn a little over 6 hours of straight driving.  I did take breaks and it took me about 8 hours but I did it.  HOORAY, HOORAY for me.

Pretty park and landscaping at Apt complex

While Laura and the boys were busy elsewhere I was able to take a walk and photograph some of the beauty of the area in which she lives.

As the subtitle to my blog says; See the Beauty; A Survivors Photo-Art Journal I still find much beauty in my everyday surroundings and continue to enjoy sharing it with you.

Another Mountain view

The only downfall to my returning health is as I am more and more active my time spent on the computer is less and less.  Hopefully I can someday soon manage both as I truly miss my online friends.

Hopefully that day will be soon.

Enjoy

☺☺☺Johnina☺☺☺

Rose Garden

A work of art is the unique result of a unique temperament.
Oscar Wilde

In my last post I gave you one of the reasons why I have been missing from the Internet and in this post I will give you another one.  This is more personal.  Those who have followed me know that I have multiple health problems and they got to the point where between the instability of the Internet and my health deteriorating combined to make the Internet experience more frustrating than I could handle.  I did however miss the friendships and the relationships that I had formed here which is why I am back.  Thank you all for your support.

While I was away I did continue to take photos and edit them.  I did not do as many as I had done in the past as my health would not permit it.  The roses pictured in this post are a few of my photos that I had fun editing.  Hope you enjoy them.

Serendipity stepped into my life once again when the Internet went down as it gave me the impetus to improve my health.  I did much research and have been able to make some lifestyle changes that have done much to get my on an upward spiral of improving health.  More on this in a later post.

In the meantime I hope you enjoy the beauty of the roses that bloom in my front yard.

  

Enjoy

☺♥☺Johnina☺♥☺

Happy Mother's Day

Every year my family works on my front flower garden, rearranging plants, planting annuals and generally setting up my garden for a new year of beauty.  This tradition has brought me years of joy as every time I go out and come back home; I am greeted by beauty that my family has created for me.

I have been missing from the web for several months now due at first from problems with our Internet provider, which took several months to even get them to realize that we really did have a problem.  They kept telling us every thing was fine.  We kept after them and finally got a tech who found a problem, fixed it, sort of, but we continued to have various problems.  After being a squeaky wheel for weeks on end and several different techs later we now have a temporary fix.  The Internet is now fairly stable, but it is still on a temporary basis. (Roll of eyes)

  

Anyway I decided to come back to the web today despite the temporary nature of our fix to share with you the beauty that greets me as I return home.

Hopefully this will be a good welcome back to the web as I greet you with the beauty that greets me daily and continue to share with you the beauty which part of my life.

Enjoy

☺☺☺Johnina☺☺☺



Groundhog's Day

Although this is Groundhog's Day, we here in Griffin don't need a groundhog to tell us that spring will be early this year.  These photos were taken today and it would appear that spring has already arrived.

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☺☺☺ 

Morning in the country



This mornings sunrise

Living out in the country has it's advantages and it's drawbacks; while I get to view wonderful wonderful scenery and sunrises like these, it also means having a persnickety Internet.  My cell service is a little on the erratic side, too.  If we are lucky we get one bar.  It's not unusual to go outside and see a neighbor outside on their porch trying to get better reception.  Personally I think the view is worth it although it sometimes keeps me from posting and just plain being on the Internet.

Rise and shine

My second problem with posting recently is the little understood or acknowledged problem with Fibromyalsia.  One of the theories of what Fibromyalsia is; is that it is a problem with the bodies electrical system.  In one of the books I've read on Fibromyalsia talks about how one lady complained to her doctor about how she seemed to affect the lighting around her.  Her doctor dismissed it as her imagination till her left the office right after her and saw the street light dim as she walked under it.  Apparently people who have this disease also have problems with electronic watches and computers.  Personally I have gone through 4 watches in 7 weeks, had the lights lights dim in the bathroom, and had and still have freaky, flaky computer problems.  The last has been a really big problem in this last week- sometimes I can get the Internet, sometimes not and this is over and above the Internet problems from living in the boonies- sometimes I can't open any of my programs.  Grrrr....



I hope you

Enjoy

this country morning as much as I did.

☺☺☺Johnina☺☺☺

Movement- Thematic Photography #180



Homing in

This weeks theme for Carmi's writteninc is Movement.  Even though the skateboarders I posted a couple of days ago where my first concentrated effort on capturing action shots; in going through my photos I saw that I had indeed captured some movement in my photos.  These shots were mostly accidental in their capture.  This bird is a good example; I was shooting birds at the feeder on my front porch and just happened to click the shutter at the right time.

Jogging ponytail

 This photo was another case of being in the right place.  We used to have joggers who would use our sub-division and it's cul-de-sacs as a track to run on.  I was outside taking photos when this jogger ran by with her ponytail swinging as she jogged.  I liked watching the ponytail and snapped this shot.

Blowing in the wind

This photo was on purpose.  I had been out walking the dog on this blustery day and decided to try to capture the movement of the wind in the leaves.  I set my camera on the my tripod so the branches would be clear and steady; I then slowed down my shutter speed.  I really liked the results.  Instead of a crisp capture of a moment in time; I think I was able to capture the essence of the wind.

For more interpretations on this theme go to writteninc.

Enjoy

☺☺☺Johnina☺☺☺



Serendipity-Looking back

Sunset in July

Every cloud has a silver lining or in this case a colorful one.  Just because I am down and out with a broken foot does not mean that I can't find something to enjoy.  In this case I am going back through some of my older photographs and editing them.  This is turning out to be a delightful activity for me.  I am finding new favorites and am enjoying seeing some of the progress I have made as a photographer.  Even with this broken foot there is Serendipity if I but choose to find and follow it.

Early Morning Light

I am using the theme of Glow from Carmi's WrittenInc to show off some of my photos that I am editing.

Explosion of fall colors

Hope you

Enjoy

this as much as I have

☺☺☺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.