Peacock Feather

'Be who you were created to be, and you will set the world on fire.'  

 -  St., Catherine of Sienna

I hope you enjoyed your weekend, ours here in the  US was a long weekend.  We did some work around the house and some shopping, IKEA and antique shopping. 

IKEA is huge.  We went in for picture frames and came out with a lot more.  We saw good deals and things we needed and put them all in the cart, backtracking is not an option in IKEA.  Megan, my daughter, suggested we 'go through' the cart before we get to the cashier to make sure we really wanted everything we threw in.  (She is getting smart.)  We ended up ditching a few things we thought we couldn't live without only an hour before.  Did I mention we were in IKEA 3 hours?

Our antique shopping was much shorter than the IKEA marathon.  Megan found an old key.   I found a white cabinet door, crackling, peeling and chipping... perfect.  I hope to take pictures with the door as the background this week.

I took these peacock feather photos a few weeks ago.  I just got around to post processing them yesterday.  I played with the images a little in Lightroom and added 2 of Kim Klassen's textures, waterfront7 magic, in screen mode, and painterly.  I do love the 'canvas' effect the waterfront7 magic in screen mode gives a black background, a little faint here but still visible.  The painterly texture, in soft light mode, lightened up the feather just a touch.   

The quote above was one I have never come across before, I liked it.  I thought it fit for a picture of a peacock feather because the male peacock seems to enjoy showing who he was created to be.

Today I am linking up with KIm Klassen's Tuesday Texture. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Have a great week!

Michelle

Little Moments

‘Enjoy the little things in life… for one day you’ll look back and realize they were the big things.'

-  Kurt Vonnegut

‘Remember… life is short.  Each moment you have is precious.  Treasure every second...’

-  Meg Cabot

‘Be happy in the moment, that’s enough.  Each moment is all we need, not more.'

 -  Mother Teresa

 ‘There is no such thing as an ordinary day… each moment is extraordinary.’

-  Kris Carr

I have had a busy week or so.  My daughter, Megan, and I took a road trip to meet the newest member of our family, my brother and sister in law's new baby, Ryan.  It truly is a time to cherish.  I forgot how tiny newborns are.  Everything is precious, little toes, coos and actually anything he does is precious.  We held him, kissed him, and of course took pictures.

After that little adventure, my husband, daughter and I took a road trip to Tennessee to visit some of my husband’s relatives.  His mom made an early Thanksgiving feast, it was delicious.  We spent a lot of time outside.  There is nothing better than a bonfire in the fall, the crackling, popping, and conversation around the fire.  Why is it so much fun to throw rocks in a lake?

I found some interesting little flowers at Trader Joe, they were in a mixed bouquet.  The flower guy had no idea what kind of flower it was, he even looked it up in his book.  I call them cute. 

We managed to escape the snow in our part of Ohio, we just have cold temperatures.  I can do without snow for a few more weeks.  My heart goes out to everyone having to dig out of deep snow this week.  The stuff is pretty, but can be inconvenient.

Today I am joining Kim Klassen’s Friday Finds.  My images were textured with simple and touch of 1.  My Find is remembering to cherish the seemingly small things, because those small things add up to create my big wonderful life.

Thank you for stopping by!!

Have a great weekend!!

Michelle

 

A Blanket Of Fog

The day didn’t go as we had hoped.  We were expecting clear skies and endless views while driving down the Pacific Coast Highway in California.  Needless to say the weather didn’t cooperate and instead of clear skies we saw a blanket of fog.  

The surfers didn't seem to mind the fog and the chill in the air.  I loved the old fence and a VW van always deserves a photo.  It turned out to be a very nice adventure. 

Today I am joining Kim Klassen’s Texture Tuesday and the Be Still 52 class.  My images were textured with Kim’s texture 1612.

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

 

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