Rediscovering an Old Friend

Playing along with Barb Brookbank's App Happy Wednesday over on her blog Keeping with the Times. It is always so much fun and so inspirational to see what apps everyone is using and how they are using them.

This past month I've pretty much been focusing on using the Waterlogue app for an Instagram challenge of doing a photo a day using that app.  However, when we rolled  over to May, I was ready to play with some other apps. I haven't been using Tooncamera for quite awhile and then my friend Barb Hurst used it on one of her cactus bloom images and I am now in love with Tooncamera again! It is so easy and there are so many options to play with.

You can see how different this one looks from the one at the top -- almost like a completely different app! And finally, there's this one, which I think is my favorite:

Loving the great definition and texture this app brings to this shot. So if you haven't tried Tooncamera, or haven't used it in awhile, give it a whirl!

Magnolia Discovery

I love magnolias! They are so stately and beautiful. The first time I photographed them was when I was in Virginia for my son's graduation from the University of Virginia Law School. We were driving through campus and I yelled, "Stop!" There was tree after tree covered in huge magnolia blossoms! And I do mean HUGE!  They were the size of dinner plates!  I spent a good hour capturing them in all their glory.

The next time I was able capture some with my camera was in Dallas last May. I had been looking forward to going to Dallas again this year and definitely planned to visit the magnolias again. However, my husband's schedule isn't going to allow us to go and I was disappointed about missing the magnolias.

Today I stopped at a new nursery, mainly looking for cactus in bloom, and right outside the front door was a magnolia in bloom!  The flowers were only about the size of saucers (only!) so not as huge as the southern ones, but I was so glad I had my camera with me so I could snap a few shots.  And then this happened:

While I was focusing, in the corner of the lens I saw a bee approaching. I just kept shooting and was able to catch this shot of him wallowing in the pollen:

I think he may have been even  happier than I was to discover this magnolia in bloom! I thought about bringing it home but it was almost $100.  But at least now I know where I can go to find some magnolia blooms to photograph!

Pretty in Pink

Two things I want to get back to doing: 1. Posting regularly to my blog. I don't know how it happens but I let posting here fall to the bottom of my "to do" list and it just never happens. I say, "I'm back!" and then one or two posts later, I'm gone again.  I want to change that.  2. I have fallen so far behind in Kim Klassen's Beyond Beyond class and I want to go back and try to catch up on the lessons there. I also want to get back to participating in her Texture Tuesday.  I have signed up for her new class Be Still 52 and all of the rest of the contributors to my collaborative blog Focusing on Life have signed up too so maybe we can keep each other accountable and not fall behind.

The photo above is of a bunch of pink ranunculus I picked up from Trader Joe's yesterday in a new Ball jar that I got on a trip to Prescott. Next to peonies, I think these might just be my favorite flower. I used Kim's free textures this week, KK Simple Set, and I like the softness they give this shot. The word art is from Sue Cummings.

Well, I'm not making any promises but I'm hoping that you will be seeing a lot more of me from here on out! 

30 Days of Gratitude

Well, I've been away from here for a long time, since last February to be exact, and keep thinking about starting up again but it doesn't happen. I finally decided that doing a gratitude post every day for the 30 days of November will be a good way to get back in the blogging habit. I hope you might consider doing something similar with your month, whether it be posting a photo a day to a blog, Flickr, Instagram or somewhere else, it gets you thinking about all there is to be grateful for in your life. I would love to have your company on this month-long journey.

Today I am grateful that I live in a place where there are roses blooming in November. We may not  have all those gorgeous fall reds and oranges but we have roses and I love the color of this one! Taken with my iPhone and processed with my favorite app, Glaze.

So are you with me?  If so, please leave the link to your blog or Flickr photostream so I can stop in for a visit and see what you are grateful for.

Behind the Scenes Mouseover

I have been enjoying all the amazing techniques I've been learning in the Behind the Scenes class with Kim Klassen and Xanthe Berkeley. One technique that Kim uses a lot is called a "mouseover" where you can move your mouse over the photo and see the before and afters. To create the image above, I used two of Kim's textures, "Epiphany" and "Sunday", both at soft light. I liked this so much that I ended up printing it at 12x18 and framing it for my studio!  If you want to see the "before", just move your mouse over the  photo. Enjoy!

Abstract Images

I've been playing around the house today (it's too hot to go outside!) and shooting some abstract images for Leigh Love's theme over at Focusing on Life, Attraction to Abstraction. Did a little research first to try to figure out exactly what abstract images were.  I was so happy to find out that macro shots of flowers qualify!  I've been shooting lots of peony shots but decided to switch it up and took this one of some gerbera daisies I have sitting on the kitchen table.  Gotta love that color!

Peony Season!

It's finally peony season! They have always been a favorite flower of mine but I only discovered that I could buy them at Trader Joe's last year. They are available from the end of May until the end of June and I bought a bunch (sometimes two!) every week last year and plan to do the same this year.  When they are fully opened, they measure six inches across! This color just makes me so happy!

Tulip in Black & White

In Tracey Clark's Picture Black and White class at Big Picture Classes our prompt for the day was "contrast".  This photo was my submission for the prompt. It is a white tulip that I shot while visiting Barbara Carroll's beautiful garden down  in Tucson. Not much editing was needed as almost everything in this shot was either close to black or pure white. I was happy with the way the texture in the petals is emphasized in black and white too.

The frosting on the cake was that this shot was chosen by Tracey to be featured at Shutter Sisters.  It is always such a thrill to get a little "Tracey love"!

Magnolias!

Just returned from four days in Virginia attending our son's law school graduation at the University of Virginia.  Had a wonderful time and got to see some blooms that we don't see here.  I was particularly enamored with the amazing magnolias!  They were everywhere and some of the blooms were the size of dinner plates!  So nice to get to shoot flowers again -- ours are pretty much gone for the spring and the heat is here to stay!

Trip to the Nursery

A trip to the nursery yesterday yielded some great opportunities for shooting flowers, my current favorite photographic subject.  This bird of paradise was the perfect "model" and the light around it, creating such wonderful bokeh, was better than I could have hoped for.  I love shooting at the nursery in the spring when all the flowers are blooming.  I even bought a cactus that was in bloom.  It's a small price to pay for the ability to shoot all I want in such a beautiful place.  Thought I'd create a video of my trip which you can see here.  It is full-screen enabled, so you can click on that and view it in full-screen mode.  Enjoy!

Welcome!

First of all, I want to welcome you to my new blog.  My old Typepad blog has been so sadly neglected and since becoming a contributor to the collaborative blog Focusing on Life I have become more familiar with how Blogger works, so I decided rather than revamping my old blog, I would start a whole new one here. 

This new blog will be more of a photography blog and less of a recounting of my daily life.  This first photo is my current obsession -- an Iceland poppy.  They are so much fun to shoot!  Love their crepe papery petals and all the little yellow stamens.  I have a pot with two open flowers (one white, one yellow) and nine more buds yet to bloom, so you will probably be seeing a lot more of these! 

Thank you for stopping by and please post a comment so I know you were here.  Welcome!