Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Vintage...

"Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations.  I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead." -Louisa May Alcott

I love old vintage things, but I am horribly inept at arranging them in a fashion that is considered stylish.  Now my friend, Suzanne, has a talent for creating masterpieces out of bits of things, and they look fabulous.  In the class I am taking online called Be Still 52, Kim Klassen, gave us the assignment of gathering items in our house that might be used for backgrounds, props, and subjects.  At first, I thought I had nothing, but over time, I have found a lot of treasures from my grandmother, mother, friends, and neighbors.  I decided to take one day to photograph some of my gatherings.  And when I say one day...it pretty much took me all day, mostly because I am not sure of what I am doing. Still Life is totally out of my comfort zone.  I must add that still life photography is NOT the central purpose of the class (Be Still 52).  The important take away from the class is for us to learn to be still...in our spirit, soul, and mind...in this chaotic time.   Our time of composing is to allow us to wrap ourselves in some calm. I find this to be true when I submerse myself in the art or creating.  We are made in the image of God...He created...therefore, I create.  This "Be Still" class is my second quiet time.


These are all items my neighbor lent to me so I could put together something of interest.  The buttons were mine.  

Pearls were Jane's (my lady that I took care of for several years).  The cup my neighbor's, and I made the cookie just for this photo shoot.  Warren was happy about the cookie...and it was Ketogenic.  No grain.

This sewing machine belonged to Jane...She gave it to me since I like sewing so much, and she knew I liked old things.  The bobbins, and thread were in the drawer, the rulers, and thimble are my neighbors.  I have such wonderful neighbors.
I am learning to be still.  Well, on some days at least.

Thursday, September 25, 2014

A road trip...

"There are no uninteresting things, only uninterested people."- G.K. Chesterton

Yesterday, a fellow photographer friend and I decided to take a scenic drive around the smaller towns in our area.  I think we hit pay dirt.  Come along to see what we did.

After weeks of rain, we had a nice sunny day with pretty fluffy, white clouds in the sky.  We found this amazing house that must have been very nice in the past.  It has a lot of character.


 I thought it would make a great haunted looking house, and here's what I came up with...
Picture taken and edited with my iPhone using the apps: snap seed, hipstamatic, and distressedFX.
It also had a lot of interesting things in the side yard...like this old washing machine.  I do not have a good picture of it, but the fence along the side was made of old mattress springs.
 There was a lot of huge cacti along the fence line.  I think it was added to keep out the trespassers.


Maybe the person who lived in this house was some sort of washing repairman...Maytag maybe?  There was another washing machine on the other side of the house.

And a very nice rain barrel.
We would have liked to have taken this rain barrel home, but we thought better of it since there was a no trespassing sign on the fence posts.  Besides, it probably has lots of bugs, and maybe snakes in it. 

Across the street was another interesting house.  I liked the door most of all...love the bird and the brick at the lower, right of the door.
I think the colors are lovely, and I have never seen a brick like this one. (lower right by the door).
 The window was pretty interesting as well.  The blue in the plaster, and around the window is nice.
Lots of stuff in this old house, and a very nice pot in the right wind.
 The next small town, we found this old house.  

And at yet another small town, this interesting building.  We visited 4 small towns...Aren't the skies gorgeous.  They are that way because my friend let me borrow a polarizer.  I had never used one before.  They sure make the skies pop.

We found many old homes.  Unfortunately, if I had to find them again, I wouldn't be able to...my friend did the navigating...I did the driving.  We make a good pair.

At one of the farms, we found a pasture with some very nice horses, who quickly came to the fence to check us out.  They were probably hoping for some apples, I think.  They were sorely disappointed because we had none.  



Next time bring a treat...

 Our last stop was the small town of Dexter.  Storm clouds were rapidly forming, and we decided we had better high tale it home.


We did not make it before a very bad thunderstorm hit.  They can come up very fast in New Mexico.   I dropped her off at her house, and headed for mine.  There was horrible lightning, and the streets were flooded way over the curbs.  I was beginning to wonder if I was going to make it home.  Warren called to tell me all the electricity was off at the house, so I could not get into the garage.   I got pretty soaked just from running from our driveway to the front door.  We had a good day of photos though.
The rain.  

This morning as I was doing my dishes, I looked out the window, and loved the way the raindrops were lit by the morning light on individual blades of grass.  So, I got a towel, laid it on the ground so I would not get wet, and took pictures of the grass.

Fall is here...see the fallen leaf.  
Great road trip...Drenching rain...Scary storm...Lovely aftermath.  Be blessed.

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Welcome Fall...

"In Autumn, don't go to the jewelers to see gold; go to the parks."-Mehmet Murat ilda


Welcome to fall...sunflowers, pumpkins, cooler days, longer nights, and oh! the colors are glorious.


 I am linking up to Texture Tuesday at Kim Klassen's website.  Head on over there...she has a free tutorial, and two textures.
Kim Klassen {dot com}

Enjoy the fall pictures...
Textures: kk_pumpkin grunge, softlight 39%; 2 lil' owls: Happy song square, multiply 67% masked off parts of the flower




One of our challenges for our Photo club was to use artificial lighting in a photo.  I love the glow and ambiance of candle light, so I thought I would try something fall-ish with it.  What could be more fall-ish than a pumpkin.  Here's my first attempt.

I have the candles and the pumpkins sitting on a mirror.

As usual, here came Maggie to check out what I was doing, and she plopped down right in the middle of my props, so she became a prop herself.  The candles did not seem to bother her in the least.  I thought the heat given off by them would drive her away.  

Love this!  She was pretty content right where she was...and stayed until I shooed her away for another idea.

Next I added a sunflower, and crab apples to the top of a mirror.  I thought the reflections would look nice.  They did.  I like this a lot too.

and this...

I just kept rearranging things, and liking everything...when to stop...I do get carried away sometimes.
 I decided I would try small string lights for the next kind of artificial light...in a fall arrangement of course but...Look who shows up again...Maggie.

She really liked the string of lights.  Too much in fact.  
 My photo taking just got a lot harder, because my intruder here wanted to play with, and snack on the lights.  I finally had to banish her to the bedroom.  Sorry, Maggie...

My favorite capture of the shoot.  I love the bokeh of the lights in the background. 

Then I went outside...no artificial light here!
Even the butterflies have fall-ish colors...
Two lovely butterflies in my flower garden.
Enjoy the cooler, and longer nights...Maybe I will get caught up on my sleep.  Just maybe...I hope.

Friday, September 19, 2014

It's raining, it's pouring...

"Clouds come floating into my life, no longer carry rain or usher a storm, but to add color to my sunset sky." -Rabindranath Tagore

Today has been about 10 days of constant rain.  I cannot recall it ever raining for so many days in a row here.  In North Carolina...at Luke and Jordan's... yes, but not here.  I actually love the rain, the puddles, the dark skies, rain boots, and all the other things that go with rain.  I spent this morning taking photos of the rain.

Puddles...and rain drops making wonderful ripples...

A tree seen through a window...

This is a car in the intersection...see the stop light in the top right hand corner...the light is yellow.

Another intersection with a red car...and a red light.  

One more intersection...

Flowers in my yard...rain drenched...


Maximillion Daisy


My cat checking out what I am doing...

Rain and all it's glory is my Friday Find that I will be linking up to Kim Klassen's Friday finds.  
Kim Klassen {dot com}
 
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