Contest

I am going to enter a juried show on Monday and am trying to decide which photo to use. It is such a long process and I know I am my harshest critic. I have these two plus two more that I am printing out tonight so I can see what I like better.


The real contest is always between what you've done and what you're capable of doing. You measure yourself against yourself and nobody else.
~ Geoffrey Gaberino

I'm Still Here!

I know it's been a long time. I have been going to school a lot this last week and haven't had a lot of chances to shoot any photos. I know, photography school should give me the time to actually take pictures. I have been learning a lot though. I promise to be back, hopefully tomorrow with some new ones. In the meantime, check out Charles Miller Photography. He is a definite inspiration to me since he first picked up a camera only 5 years ago.

Blue in Rain - Self Portrait Challenge

I have been wanting to participate in the Self Portrait Challenge all year and finally got around to doing one. This month's theme is blue. Click HERE to see more.

If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you, if the simple things in nature have a message you understand, Rejoice, for your soul is alive.
~ Eleanora Duse

Twirls

A fairy seed I planted,
so dry and white and old,
there sprang a vine enchanted,
with magic flowers of gold.
~ Marjorie Barrows

Drink the Air

Instead of spending time taking photos I have been working on these. You can look at more photos on Etsy. I want to get outside tomorrow if the weather will cooperate.


Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Wildlife Photography

I don't have any new photos today but thought I'd post a link to a photographer I found online. His pictures are absolutely amazing. His name is John Hyde and he lives in Alaska which I've decided has to be one of the most beautiful places around. Check out his photos here.

Creeks

I tried to get more shots of the creek again. You wouldn't believe the landscape that surrounds this place. I had to get creative with the cropping because of all the graffiti. People make me so mad. Which one is better - color or black and white?


If you dam a river, it stagnates. Running water is beautiful water.
~ English Proverb

Tulips

I bought myself my favorite flowers for Valentine's Day for the express purpose of taking pictures. There is nothing more beautiful than tulips.



Who, being loved, is poor?
~ Oscar Wilde

Leaving Footprints

Before you love, learn to run through snow without leaving footprints.
~ Turkish Proverb

Solitude

I was driving down the road the other day and came across an empty lot with this field of flowers. I had to turn around to grab a few shots. I'm sure the traffic passing by me thought I was nuts.


Being solitary is being alone well: being alone luxuriously immersed in doings of your own choice, aware of the fullness of your won presence rather than of the absence of others. Because solitude is an achievement.
~ Alice Koller

The Lake

These are a couple more from my trip to the lake yesterday.


Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.
~ John Lubbock

Eagles!

I went to a Bald Eagle count today up in the mountains. It was a last minute decision and I wasn't even sure I would see anything. I ended up seeing three. Of course, my camera was not ready when one of the eagles perched in the tree decided to take off and dive after a duck in the water. These are the best that I got. It was much better live, that's for sure. I'll post more photos of my morning tomorrow. And I don't agree with Ben Franklin.


I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country; he is a bird of bad immoral character: like those among men who live by sharping and robbing, he is generally poor, and often very lousy. The turkey is a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America.
~ Benjamin Franklin

Purses

These awesome new purses will soon be for sale. I am able to print any of my photos onto them. I love the two I got for myself.

Our purses shall be proud, our garments poor: For 'tis the mind that makes the body rich; and as the sun breaks through the darkest clouds, so honor peereth in the meanest habit.
~ William Shakespeare

Vote

Did you vote today?

This is on just about everyone's blog so I thought I would add mine to the list. If you haven't seen it, please watch. Whether you like Obama or not, it's amazing.

People often say that, in a democracy, decisions are made by a majority of the people. Of course, that is not true. Decisions are made by a majority of those who make themselves heard and who vote - a very different thing.
~ Walter H. Judd quotes

A Walk in the Mountains

These are from yesterday morning. I have been meaning to drive up to the snow for awhile now and I finally made it... sort of. I got part way up and came to a flashing yellow sign saying "chains required past this point". There were several cars pulled over putting on chains and then I saw a truck slipping and sliding around. I decided that was a good hint for me to turn around and park somewhere without any ice. I hiked around a bit and found a wonderful creek and a few things covered with snow. I was trying to get a shot of mountains for an assignment for school but I think I did better with the water shots.



My father considered a walk among the mountains as the equivalent of churchgoing.
~ Aldous Huxley

BIG NEWS!!

Everyone has to go check out...

THIS.... just click... :-)

On the Edge

I went shooting in the rain for the first time today. I was worried about my camera getting wet but had my handy dandy water protection case (i.e. ziploc baggie) that I put on it. It was freezing. I got home and spent some time working in photoshop figuring out borders. It was so much fun.


I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all the kinds of things you can't see from the center.
~ Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Dreams

I posted my new piece to Etsy tonight. I know I've posted a shot of it here before but it was pretty much the only photos I took today so you get to see it again.


Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.
~ Henry David Thoreau