A SORE THUMB

Time for some humor. Well, at least an example of the sort of thing that can tickle me when I'm photo hunting. This flower made me laugh when I spotted it about two years ago, and it gave me a giggle just now when I stumbled across the picture. I also love the delicious color.

NOTE: In most browsers you can click on a photo to view a larger version. And here’s the link if you wish to read an Introduction, Background, & Technical Aspects post about this blog.

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‘til next take, may you enjoy life in the ever changing light,

[aka: Patricia Kelly] **** If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or photos, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”) ****

HIDE AND SEEK, A SUMMER INTUITION, & PREPARATIONS

All three photos today are brand spanking new; the "paint's hardly dry" yet. So I know I should let them "dry" before posting. However, I have found posting a photo here and commenting on it often shows me what needs doing than can be, and what I will have to do differently in future shots. How's that for rationalization? :-)

"Hide and Seek" above was one of those throw-away shots. I liked how the sky looked with the sun hidden, but really thought the light would be way too bright for a decent shot. Well, the light was fine but I probably could have spent a bit more time composing the shot, so that the buildings would be a bit more toward the vertical. Or rather (this is difficult to describe) having the building lines all aim more toward a central point in the picture. As it is, all the lines lean a bit too much to the right (unlike like me :-D). I tried tilting the photo (I have a program that does that ) but even the smallest tilt offered was too much. And I realized I would have had to stand more to the left when I took the picture, in order to have gotten the line-up I now want.

"A Summer Intuition" below is of that same tower, taken from behind and a flight off the ground. I've done some experimenting with black and white, and other single color photos, but think I've only tried one other sepia picture. This morning I used sepia in a photo I've posted to my other blog (see link to Roswila's Dreams & Poetry Realm on right side of this blog) and liked it enough to give it another go here. And sepia really changes the mood of this photo, making it more interesting (IMHO).

This last is more like my usual wont. I just love new rose bush branches and their reds. I worked to make this one look more like a painting as when I spot those tender new branches I always have the impression they'd just been painted into the garden and would still be wet to the touch.

NOTE: In most browsers you can click on a photo to view a larger version. And here’s the link if you wish to read an Introduction, Background, & Technical Aspects post about this blog.

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‘til next take, may you enjoy life in the ever changing light,

[aka: Patricia Kelly] **** If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or photos, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”) ****

"the view from here" (a greeting card)

Just a quick post for today to share my first attempt at designing a greeting card, using my photos. I use snapfish.com for any large amount of printing I need to do to save my old printer. It's also cheaper as ink cartridges cost so much. Well, snapfish had one of their sales in which one could design and have printed a dozen greeting cards for just about only the cost of tax and shipping. I'd never seriously considered doing my own greeting cards, but thought if nothing else I'd have a few then for personal use. Well, when I saw the result I was amazed. I'd not expected it to turn out so decently; 10 have even already been sold. So now I'm going to make up a sample book of a variety of cards I'm designing, (hopefully) for folk to order from at my up-coming July photo exhibit.

These cards are 5" X 7", folded at top, blank inside, with envelopes. And please know that my scanner is not all that good so the photos aren't as crisp here as they are on the actual cards.

NOTE: In most browsers you can click on a photo to view a larger version. And here’s the link if you wish to read an Introduction, Background, & Technical Aspects post about this blog.

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‘til next take, may you enjoy life in the ever changing light,

[aka: Patricia Kelly] **** If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or photos, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”) ****

ROCK ROSE & LAST BLUSH

"Rock Rose" is brand new. One of the few I took yesterday that I like the results for at all, at least at this point.

Maybe I'm just making excuses, but I'm really beginning to "lose it" with my camera and other factors affecting (my perception of?) my photos. I do think my camera's focus is getting worse, or is it simply my developing cataracts, or both? I'd bite the bullet and order a better camera today, but I have to have a much better computer before I do that (which at best won't be for 3 months). My old, patched up Dell could not handle storing photos with an even higher pixel count. Then there's my new (well, second hand but new to me) LCD computer monitor and how different colors appear on it at various times of the day. Not to mention how my occasional "painting" over of a tiny distracting section of a photo actually shows up in some lights on this screen. Ack! I could go on, but won't ...

Yeah, it's a cranky day. I suppose my choice of "Rock Rose" to post today is not an accident. I do feel sort of like I'm stuck in rock, though not necessarily that I'm a rose. :-)

OK, not to end on that note here's another from yesterday, "Last Blush." This one is only slightly color saturated to bring out the hints of color already there. In this photo I'm particularly drawn to the vague heart-shape of that petal in the top left. These particular roses are difficult for me to get decent photos of. Not only are they in an inaccessible spot for me so that I have to crop rather distant shots, but their white reflects too much light even at later times of the day. So I am pleased to have gotten this shot below --

NOTE: In most browsers you can click on a photo to view a larger version. And here’s the link if you wish to read an Introduction, Background, & Technical Aspects post about this blog.

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‘til next take, may you enjoy life in the ever changing light,

[aka: Patricia Kelly] **** If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or photos, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”) ****

THE VISIT & RECALLING QUOITS

Two unrelated photos, taken years apart. The one above, "The Visit," was taken in my living room two years ago. That's Kuan Yin in the background. It's a modern colorful version of an ancient chinese statue. Her posture is said to reflect her readiness to get up from where She's sitting and help. Those blossoms were handed to me by a resident as I passed by. And that Royal Dalton teacup and saucer are very special to me; they were given to me by my last New York city roommate when she moved in. We wound up being roommates for 7 years. She's now married with two little children; we're still in touch cross-country.

This second photo below, "Recalling Quoits," is brand new. Not sure what I like about it, but I do like it. Maybe it's all the texture. I color-saturated it somewhat to bring out the colors and also had to sharpen the focus a bit as it's cropped from a much larger picture. I remember the childhood game called ring-toss, also called quoits. I so much more liked those sets that had braided rings, than the smooth plastic ones most ring toss games came with.

It seems these photos aren't entirely unrelated. They both bring up happy memories.

NOTE: In most browsers you can click on a photo to view a larger version. And here’s the link if you wish to read an Introduction, Background, & Technical Aspects post about this blog.

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‘til next take, may you enjoy life in the ever changing light,

[aka: Patricia Kelly] **** If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or photos, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”) ****