Little Pumpkins

I thought it was time to bring some autumn inside my house, of course it was also a perfect photo opportunity.  Along with the pumpkins, I added a few of my oak leaf hydrangea leaves to my image.  It looks like our leaves in Ohio will be in full color in a week or so, always a beautiful time of year.

Today I am joining Kim Klassen’s Texture Tuesday.  My images were textured with Kim’s texture waterfront 7 magic 2 and cecile.

Thank you for stopping by!!

Have a great week!!

Michelle

 

One More Dandelion

 

‘The world is only as lovely as I believe it to be.’  -  Byron Katie

I was walking with my daughter to her bus stop yesterday morning and saw a dandelion who’s fluff wasn’t very fluffy yet.  I came back home and grabbed my camera...

Today I am joining Kim Klasssen’s Friday Finds.  My images are textured with Kim’s texture cecile.   

Thank you for stopping by!!  I so appreciate all the lovely comments on my Pear images, thank you.  I find such inspiration from the community Kim Klassen has created, you guys are great. 

Have a great weekend!!

Michelle

 

Pears

In my Be Still 52 class the assignment was ‘organic’, to interpret as we would like.  When I think of organic I automatically think of organic fruits and vegetables, so I bought some pears at the local fruit stand.  I also think of nature, making wood my choice of background. 

I tried and tried to get the color the same in both images for this diptych, I couldn’t do it.  Then I realized with a different point of view and the light hitting the subject differently, it was impossible to get the color exactly the same.  I settled for close.

Today I am joining Kim Klassen’s Texture Tuesday and the class Be Still 52.  I used Kim’s Lightroom preset darklight, brought some saturation back into the images and other little changes here and there. (Is an image every really finished?)  I textured the images with Kim’s textures colton and dessert.

Thank you for stopping by!!

Have a great week!!

Michelle

 

An Old Polaroid Camera

I picked up the book Instant Love: How to Make Magic and Memories with Polaroids by Susannah Conway, Jen Altman and Amanda Gilligan.  As I was looking through the book I realized I may have a Polaroid camera in the collection of old cameras my Mom had given me several years ago.  I looked through the boxes and sure enough, I had an old Polaroid camera. 

Now to find out if the camera worked…  I searched online for the type of battery it needed and ordered one through a local store.  This week I bought some Fuji film and tried out the camera.  

My first images were a little dark, I needed to move somewhere sunnier.  I went to see if the sunflower field still had sunflowers blooming, and they did.  My first picture of a sunflower turned out great, then the film got hung up a little and the next images really didn’t work well.   

Taking pictures with an old Polaroid camera can be tricky.  With the viewfinder on top of the camera and the developing time dependent on me, I am never sure what the image is going to look like.  Although I really did have fun trekking through a field with an old bellows camera – that actually works! 

Today I am joining Kim Klassen’s Friday Finds.  My camera and flower images were textured with Kim Klassen’s texture 100.  My Finds this week are some beautiful hydrangeas, rediscovering an old Polaroid camera and learning that letting go of the outcome can be fun.

Thank you so much for stopping by!!

Have a great weekend!!

Michelle

 

Confucius Quotes and a Still Life Portrait

 ‘Respect yourself and others will respect you.’ - Confucius

‘The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.’ - Confucius

‘What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others.’ - Confucius

I was searching for quotes and came across a few from Confucius.  He was a smart guy.  It is amazing that quotes from over two thousand years ago still hold significance today.  

In my Be Still 52 class the assignment was to take a Still Life Portrait, no person in the image but items that give you a 'portrait' of the person.   This is a Still Life Portrait of my daughter, Megan.  I took the photo on her worktable, under the strong light.  This is where she loses all track of time.  She makes jewelry at this table, stamping letters into metal shapes or making pendants with wire and beads.  Megan loves chocolate milk and Trader Joe’s macaroons.  Blue is her favorite color.  She collects keys and went through a phase writing faces on rocks, I still find them everywhere in the yard.  She loves the ocean and collecting seashells and sea glass.  Megan’s love for the ocean prompted her to get certified in SCUBA, just in an indoor pool for now; someday she would love to SCUBA in the ocean and be a marine biologist.  Her bird Rosie is one of her favorite companions, Rosie follows her everywhere.  Thirteen years flies by so fast…

There is a slight chill in the air, fall is on its way in my part of Ohio.  It is time to find jeans and sweaters that have been hidden for a while now, making soup and soon taking lots of pictures of colorful leaves.  I hope you are enjoying your fall weather too.

Today I am joining Kim Klassen’s Texture Tuesday.  My top image was textured with Kim’s texture 0603 and my Still Life Portrait was textured with total grunge.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Have a great week!!

Michelle

 

Lensbaby Practice

‘All life is an experiment.’  -  Ralph Waldo Emerson.

‘Don’t worry about failure.  My suggestion to each of you: Worry about the chances you miss when you don’t even try.  -  Sherman Finesilver

‘To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow.  So do it.’  -  Kurt Vonnegut

I have been having a hard time getting to know my Lensbaby Composer Pro Lens.  I have tried and tried, but my images don’t resemble the wonderful photographs I have seen created by other people with a Lensbaby lens.  I was ready to give up completely.

But… I decided to try again, this time with the wide angle attachment.  I didn’t bring any other lenses, just the Lensbaby and me. 

I have a hard time with the manual focus.  Sometimes it seems there is nothing in focus, but other times it is crystal clear.  I cropped in on both bee images, although cropping cuts out the ‘Lensbaby effect’ it did make for a better composition and I love seeing the details of the bees.  (I sure have photographed a lot of bees lately.)  

I am glad I tried again and will continue trying.  I will master the Lensbaby someday…

Today I am joining Kim Klassen’s Friday Finds, my images were textured with Kim’s texture quiet.  I have three finds this week: late summer blooms, practice is just that, practice, it doesn’t have to be perfect, and I can’t learn if I don’t even try.

Thank you for stopping by!!

Have a great weekend!!

Michelle

 

Bubble Bee

 ‘Aerodynamically, the bumble bee shouldn’t be able to fly, but the bumble bee doesn’t know it so it goes on flying anyway.’  -  Mary Kay Ash

This bee’s round little body doesn’t look like he was created for flying, but he does look cute with his skinny legs dangling as he maneuvers from flower to flower.  I am glad no one has ever told the bumble bees they aren’t suppose to fly, think of all the flowers that wouldn’t be pollinated if they did. 

Bumble bees are so intent on gathering pollen they end up doing the impossible.  Sheer determination and will power get the bee off and flying.   Desire, drive, determination, I need to take some lessons from the bumble bee.

Today I am joining Kim Klassen’s Friday Finds.  My images are textured with Kim’s texture 99.  My Finds this week are a sunflower field full of bees (and many other insects) and the thought that maybe I shouldn’t worry how impossible something may seem.   If my desire and determination are as great as a bumble bee’s nothing can stop me…

Thank you for stopping by!

Have a great weekend!

Michelle