Hanging Amaranthus

‘It is of the small joys and little pleasures that the greatest of our days are built.’ 

- Mary Anne Radmacher

‘See beauty in the familiar.’ - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

There was only one bunch.  I asked the owner if she had any more of this droopy greenish flower.  Like an adult correcting a child who just called a giraffe a horse, she slowly told me, hanging amaranthus.  I repeated just as slowly, hanging amaranthus.  I went home giddy with excitement.

I thought one of my big bottles would work great, it is 22 inches tall.  As I was gathering the rest of the props and thinking how pretty the hanging amaranthus is, I realized how easy it is to appreciate beauty of the exotic or different.  While the beauty of the hanging amaranthus is undeniable, there is also beauty around me everyday just waiting to be noticed.  That's when I grabbed my iphone to look at some of the pictures I took this week.

The sunrise.

Blue sky!!  A sight not always seen during Ohio winters

Light shining in my window.  The light was coming through the window just right to get the perfect glare on my iphone.  I bent down to moved my husband's shoes (bottom right) so I could get a 'better' picture.  When I stood back up, the sun moved.  The glare wasn't there anymore, showing me I need take time to appreciate beauty right when I see it.

These images were taken for the Be Still 52 assignment to create a scene and change the backdrop.  I ended up using a set up that is very similar to the one Kim has in the class video.  On the left image, I used a white board with white fabric hanging over it.  The right image has the tan painted wall as a backdrop.  I tried a black backdrop and it looked terrible.  I used Kim's preset dreamlike on both images, no texture on the set.  I found it interesting how the images have a slightly different color cast to them with just the background being changed.  I am not sure which I like better...

Today I am joining Kim Klassen's Friday Finds and the Be Still 52 class.  I used Kim's Lightroom preset dreamlike  as a starting point and textured the top image with Kim's texture flow.  My sunrise, blue sky and umbrella images were taken with my iphone and processed in Camera+.  My Finds this week are beautiful flowers and seeing the beauty all around me.

 

Thank you for stopping by!!

Have a great weekend!!

Michelle