Hayride

If I did not have little kids (again) I would have completely missed the opportunity to go for the Hayride they had at the Elementary School last week. It was so dark I could not even get a good picture of the tractor or the driver or the kids (and big kid adults like me) in the wagon. I was able to get a picture of the crescent moon, and I experimented with 3 color filters. The picture above is the original.

I liked the purple one, but the girls liked the 3rd blue one, just above. The first blue one is warmer, that must have been the yellow lens.

If I ever get that Nikkon digital I'm longing for, I'm not sure I'll have near as much fun with it as I do with this little camera I have!

Georgia Inspiration

Changes in my personal life have made it difficult to maintain this blog; yet I'm reluctant to give it up. Someday things will settle down enough for me to continue to document the creativity that drives me.

Right now I'm real lucky if I can just get my house clean, but I have had time to photograph a little. Most of these are recent, but some I have done over the last 18 months. These are the images that inspire me. Whether it's texture, color, light, or just plain natural beauty these images play in my mind and hopefully will someday translate into concrete ideas.

Some of the photos are the same but with different filters, which I find interesting in terms of contrast. I have also struggled to capture the summer steaminess that is pervasive in the early mornings.

At any rate, a natural photo journal....

Click on image for full-screen review.

10 Random Things About Living in a Cottage

*You may find a pair of shoes in the bread drawer.

*Feather dusters are only useful as an accessory with a French maid's costume. Otherwise they are just displacing dust.

*You learn to live with less.

*The outdoors and indoors are one and the same.

*There are certain times of the day when the sun casts its rays on every corner—a perfect time to sweep.

*Friends and neighbors will stop by and stay awhile.

*The kitchen stove is always being put to use.

*Castaways will find a home somewhere.

*Neighborhood pets sometimes consider your home their own.

*There are no rules for how to grow the perfect garden

-Jacqueline deMontravel of Romantic Homes-

I Heart Faces---Sepia

Self Portrait

Favorite Portrait

This week's contest is "Sepia Tones" which is one of my favorite things in photography, so I decided to enter.

A different contest every week, with some cool givaways, so if you like photography feel free to jump in! Just go to the website I ♥ Faces and all the information you'll need is right there.

Wildflower

I love Queen Anne's Lace. It's simple and complicated, all at the same time. It also makes a GREAT filler in arrangements. It's hard to find in domestic versions, although it used to be a common garden flower. It does grow along the side of the road en masse around here though.

The Official Start of Summer

Some people will argue that it's the Memorial Day Week-end, but Southerners know it's when the thistle blooms...this year we can all agree since it's all happening at once!

I Heart Faces

One of the many things I have discovered about myself over the last year or two is that I love photography. It has only been recently that I have committed to getting better at it. For some reason I felt it was beyond my scope of capability. But I have taken some pretty good pictures by accident, and so I felt I should try to improve on this. It is a passion I share with my older son. And of course blogging has given me a huge opportunity to play, practice, improve. In a way it's like beading for me: it is an art form that can yield some pretty satisfying results almost immediately, unlike alot of other creative arts which require patience, perseverance, and TIME. A big frustration I've had in the past is feeling the creative urge and trying to nurture it everyday, but running short on that time commodity. It has been important and freeing to find other art forms that allow expression and sometimes quickly. I'm not implying skill is not required. It is, and often I fail miserably there, but once in awhile I get it right. And yes, I am dying for a new camera. I've got my eye on a digital Nikkon, but can't exactly spare the $600.00 right now. Ah well. In time.

I have also become interested in other people's photography. Here is a really fun site, and they have a cool give-away going on right now from allpopart.com

Click on the icon to check it out, and scroll down to their give-away entry. They also run a photography contest every week.