Learning curve...........

With each picture taking adventure I go out on I learn something new. More often than not, I learn how much I have to learn to get to the place where my photographs are of a quality that I find satisfactory.

I do some painting and also some sculpting. In all of these arts I am my worse critic and find that I am rarely satisfied with the results. I wonder if others find that to be true too.

I think the goal should be to just enjoy the doing of these arts. Get something down on canvas or in a picture that brings at least some quality that the artist finds pleasing to his or her eye. Overlooking the things not quite right about a piece, enjoy the beauty that is there, learn from the things that you don't like and move forward. Create, enjoy your craft, enjoy the journey.

Trees

I took all but one of these pictures at sunset. The reddish hue that is cast on the bark is so pretty.

The tree that looks a bit like a hand was taken while we were walking around our neighborhood.

I love trees of all kinds and would have a forest in our yard if I could. =)
I see God in nature. The same gravity that holds us all firmly attached to our earth is not strong enough to keep the most delicate of flowers from bursting forth and growing up towards the heavens towards God. Love that!!

"Camera Tossing" or Kinetic Photography

I couldn't sleep last night. It was 3 in the morning and I was exploring sites on photography when I came across a technique called "camera tossing" or "kinetic photography". It has to do with achieving some interesting results by purposely moving your camera as much as you can while snapping a photograph.

As I said, it was in the middle of the night, the house was quiet, I couldn't sleep so I was game for anything to pass the time! So, I gave it a try and you see here two of my favorites from my experiment.

Normally I am a purist. I like to do things the way they should be done. However, tossing my one and only Nikon into the air while taking a photo was a bit beyond my limits in the area of adventure even at 3 in the morning. But I certainly did shake it around and swing my arms all of the while clicking away. When I put my camera card into the reader and brought up the pictures I was very surprised and excited with the results. One usually uses light in a dark space to achieve some really interesting effects, but I hope that I will be sleeping tonight rather than giving that technique a try. If not, you'll be blessed with some new and unusual photos tomorrow here in my blog.
Here is a link to see some really amazing shots of Kinetic photography. You could also do a search on "flickr" and see some others. That is, if you're interested.
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/09/25/beautiful-examples-of-kinetic-photography/

Photos of water

In the photo on top I was attempting to capture something fun with water from the faucet onto a spoon. Interesting effect.

The photo on the bottom, is from a week or so ago and a freaky rain storm that dropped 3 inches an hour of rain in two hours here. We were all flooded
Water is an awesome photographic source. Reflections in water, the effect of something causing it to move and ripple. I could go on and on.

Nature provides subjects for the most awesome photographs. The trick is mastering the medium, the camera. Then to train one's eye to really see what is around us. I'm learning something new everyday with this hobby of mine. I guess one could call it an obsession of a sort. Whatever we call it, I certainly am enjoying the journey.

Birdhouse

I snapped this picture while my husband and I were out walking our little Yorkshire terrier Little Bit the other day. I love bird houses and thought this one was so pretty with it's bright red roof. I'm thinking of using this as my picture for the day tomorrow in the 365 project. There is just something about it that appeals to me. I like the wind chimes in the foreground. Maybe it's all just peaceful and that's what I like about it. Anyway, we shall see if I use it or not. It will remain one of my current favorites, nevertheless.

It reminds me that I must pick up some wind chimes for my back yard. I love those big ones like those in the picture. They have a deep resonant sound that is so relaxing and have a calming effect on me.

I'll be back with more pictures. I need to go on a photo shoot again one day soon. Am in need of some fresh subjects to photograph.

Until then...

Still Life

This is one of my favorite photos. The lady in the picture is my aunt. She and her sister raised my dad after his mother died when he was about 2 years old.

The sewing machine is very old. I don't have any idea what year it was made, but my sweet sister Pat gave it to me so it is precious and priceless to me. The wooden bobbin is something I picked up at an antique store years ago. I really enjoy doing still life photographs and find it to be a creative outlet more than any other photographs I take.

Sunflowers

This is one of my latest photos. I really love the fresh look of the flowers and the way the colors turned out.

I am really enjoying my journey with photography these days. Each day is a new opportunity to take a picture that surprises me. After a walk around the neighborhood taking pictures, I come home, put the card from my digital camera into the reader and view my latest photos.

This process can be good and bad. I can spend an hour or two taking photos and have that time yield not one picture that I feel is worthwhile. How disappointing!!!

Then again, I can go out and shoot a few shots, come back and find that all of them are exceptional and then I have to chose which one is my favorite and which one I will submit here or on other sites for others to see and judge. It seems that one is at the mercy of lighting, camera settings, which I am not that good with yet, and other things.

This one, "Sunflowers" proved to be well received. That made me very happy. It makes me want to go out and take a ton of new pictures.

I hope you like this photo. More to come so stay tuned.

PS: This photo was chosen as a popular photo of the day when I submitted it. My first "popular photo" and my last so far. I aim for more but am working hard and not letting that become my goal but to take pictures that make me happy to look at them.

Puppy kisses

This picture is one of my favorites so is the one that I chose to use as my first photos for my new website. Pictured are my grandson Alex and our Yorkshire terrior, Little Bit. I also have this photo as my desktop background. It just makes me smile.

Please come back and visit again tomorrow. I will have taken more photos to display. Comments are appreciated and suggestions are as well.