52 Weeks of Nature

In an attempt to make sure I get out and about more this year, I am challenging myself to take and share fifty-two nature photos; one each week. I have a very loose collection of prompts that will start me thinking and looking each week. I can follow the prompt or do something entirely different depending on my situation.

I realized this past year that classes and rigid prompts seem to be stifling my creativity. Don't get me wrong, I always learn a lot from classes, but what little time I had for photography seemed to be looking for photos that fulfilled the class or prompts. I need to get back to wandering; to letting the photos find me. So this year (unless I change my mind when a really good sounding class comes up) it's all about going out and capturing nature.

If you scroll back up to the top of this post you can see the tab for the new page I've created for this challenge. Each month's photos will be in collage form, so I won't have so many pictures on the page.

I'm really enthused about this year. I have missed my wanderings!

“I don’t plan to photograph certain things,

I come across them.

I enjoy catching certain moments.

I tend to react to what I find.”

~ Saul Leiter

Contrast - Exploring With A Camera

I follow several blogs about photography that I really enjoy!! One of those is Kat Eye View, she's a wonderful photographer. I found her blog through the Big Picture Inspiration classes I participate in. About every two weeks she has a post entitled "Exploring With a Camera." Here's how she describes it "The Exploring with a Camera series is intended to inspire you to see the world around you in a different way, using the camera as a tool to deepen your experience of life."

This exploration is a study in contrast and how it impacts a photo. You can link your images to her blog through a blog or flickr. I decided to link one of my photos.

I took this shot because of the sundial, which I love!! You can even see about what time I was there! It was almost 11 a.m.  I began thinking about all the contrast in this picture.

soft grass - hard brick

grass that is alive - leaf that is dead

curves - straight lines - circles - rectangles - triangles

smooth metal - rough concrete

light - dark

sun - shadows

All these contrasts make the image more appealing.

This is another shot that made me think of contrasts.

The strong wind had ripped a piece of bark off this three. Look what was hiding underneath! Trails of insects!

contrasts include

rough bark - smooth inner wood

straight lines (cracks) - curved lines (trails)

hard wood - soft moss

This tree fascinated me. It kind of makes me think about people. We may be a little rough on the outside, but we can have a heart of beauty!

Down On The Ground - Photo Challenge #2

Down on the Ground is another photo challenge I tried. I read about this one on Becky Higgin's Blog. She encourages trying something different with our cameras. I love to take pictures and like to try something new. The more I learn the more I enjoy this little hobby of picture taking. Although it doesn't always work as good as I think it should, probably because I use a point and shoot camera. Some of the photos posted on her blog are fabulous!!  My pictures look really grainy. I don't think my camera wanted to be on the ground especially inside where the lighting is not always good. Oh well, I tried it and I'll try it again. It was fun.

I thought this was cute. A forgotten train while Drew watches TV.

He's probably watching a train video!!

Josh and his trains.

Drew playing trains again.

Drew asked me to take a picture of Thomas.

Aaron playing on the floor.

Hand-laid bricks on a street in Jefferson, TX.

Just so you know, there was very little traffic in this small town.

Fall leaf. I like the way this one turned out.

The kids gave me really funny looks when I was on the floor with my camera. So, if you see me on the ground or on the floor, don't laugh. I'll be trying this challenge again. I think maybe Christmas time would be a good time to try. All those gifts, bows and paper on the floor!

Why don't you grab your camera and try it?

Photo Challenge - Robber's Cave Trip

I enjoy life, almost every minute of life. There are few things that I don't really like such as crowds, summer, crowds, Wal-mart, crowds. You get the picture. Other than that, for the majority of time, I'm really happy and very content with my life. And, saying that, I tend to get a little silly sometimes. I sure don't always act my age.  My husband says I'm "half-crazy" and my daughter says "I'm still a child at heart." I like my daughter's description the best. I try to enjoy myself in whatever situation I'm in. For instance, coming home from the car show in Robber's Cave State Park in Oklahoma, I got a little bored.  Even with the beautiful scenery I was getting a little antsy. I have to have something to do. So, I thought about a photo challenge, I believe I read on Becky Higgin's blog. She challenged those who were traveling to take photos of what was happening in the vehicle. Like kids in the back seat playing video games or babies sleeping. So here I was in the cab of a 1940 Ford Pickup, which is very small, our shoulders almost touch and there is no room for anything but us and my purse. But I gave it an honest try. Excuse all the reflections and glares from the windows.

This is my husband, Jerry.  He's a serious guy most of the time.  Definitely doesn't like to have his picture taken. So you can imagine his comment, "What are you doing that for??"

The speedometer and gauges. You can see how many miles we driven in our truck, 8,675.  And see, we don't speed. We were cruising along at 55 mph when the speed limit was  65 mph. We are in no hurry to get anywhere and we enjoy the ride.

Ford emblem on the center dash. You can see our reflections in the shiny red paint.

Cute little windshield wiper. By the way, it has only one wiper, there's not one on my side. I guess wives in the 40's either didn't ride in the truck or need to see out when it rained. Do you see the mist coming off the small pond?

And this one is one of my silly moments. The rising sun was blinding me and there are no visors in the truck. So, being the creative person that I am, I made my own.  I folded the long edge of a piece of notebook paper and slipped it between the window and the molding. It actually worked! When we changed directions, I just slid the "visor" along the window.  Clever huh??

Me taking pictures of the fall scenery.

And last, a picture out the rear window. That's Charlie, Robert and Cleva,
Mike and Erma, our traveling buddies.

It was kind of fun and kept me busy for a few miles.

SOMEWHERE, SOMEHOW

HAVE FUN TODAY!

Photo Challenge

I love to follow blogs that contain beautiful photography.  Sometimes the blog owner may offer suggestions on using the camera or offer a challenge.  I like my camera and really like to take pictures.  I'm always looking for new ideas.  The first suggestion I read was how to use the macro button.  This wasn't new to me, I like taking pictures with the macro button. I've taken close-ups of flowers and such, but she mentioned that the camera will focus on what's in the foreground and blur the background. I hadn't tried that so I grabbed my camera and took a couple of shots. See how the flags become the focus and the background blurs.

These are some of my many patriotic Boyd's bear figurines.

 I love all things seasonal and really enjoy the 4th of July collection.

This one I just took yesterday.  It is not the prettiest fall leaf I have ever seen,

but I like the effect of the sun coming through the leaf and the blurred background.

The pictures below, use the macro button to take close-up pictures.

And then I took another shot, close-up of a wonderful dessert my

daughter-in-law made for the 4th of July.

and another, my first tomato.  My only tomato!!  A vegetable gardener I am not!!

And another, an African Violet that my daughter had given me.

Here's my last one.

Like I said, I really like to use my macro button.  And, I think for a point and click camera, mine does a pretty good job!

Hope you enjoyed my pictures!