photography

Weekly Photo Challenge: A Grave Silence

Nothing is more silent than unfinished melodies….unexpressed thoughts…..broken dreams, dead or alive.  We all think we are going to live forever, especially when we are young.  We have all the time in the world.  Some adults tell young people this.  It is not true.  No one is guaranteed anything.  Not even tomorrow.

Make the most of today and what you have.  Don’t wait for things to change, get better or even “perfect,” whatever that is.  Don’t allow time and circumstances to make you complacent or worse to simply give up.  There is no “do-overs” in our lives.  I don’t subscribe to the “live for today” in a selfish manner of partying til you puke and having sex with anything that moves philosophy of the current mainstream media portrayal of our culture, which is really not at all accurate.  I do say that if there is something you have always wanted to do and it’s realistic, then you need to make it happen.  This does not mean you will succeed in your dream or plan but as long as it’s realistic and real effort is applied, there is hope that you will succeed.

I no longer condemn myself for my failures or shortcomings in my life.  There were times when I did “bite off more than I could chew” and was simply not ready for the extreme work and expertise required for what I wanted to achieve.  There were other times that I waited too long and my aspirations were no longer relevant to the time or even to me personally anymore.  You outgrow things, it happens.  Nothing in life is perfect but if you listen to all the experts paid to tell us our lives by the mainstream, as long as you do what they tell you to do “Nothing Can Go Wrong….”  One of the echoing sentiments from the movie “Westworld” if any of you are familiar with it.  They were wrong.

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: 2017 Favorites Birds

I love birds.  I used to have finches for years in a super huge cage.  I can’t believe I used to take care of them the way I did.  I learned how to trim their claws but left their beaks to the Cuttlebones they always had, no problems with trimming.

Later with children we had parakeets.  Some were so loving and easily trained, just like a member of the family and other times, they were skittish and wanted to bite you if you tried to sit them on your finger.  So much for cheap department store birds.  Always try for the finger tamed well taken care of birds from breeders, they are a lot more expensive but worth it.  Healthier as well.

Birds of Prey, Turkey Vultures to be exact, are very prevalent in my area.  Sometimes you see swarms of them, maybe 30 or more at a time sweeping the skies in formation and then they are gone for a while.

 

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I purchased a small Christmas tree this year and placed a few small bulbs and black birds as decorations along with a string of battery operated micro LED lights.

Very cool picture appeared when I tried to take a picture of some snow out the window. The lighted trellis behind me reflected in the glass making it appear like a fairy land out in the snow!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Temporary Summer

Shed no tear!  O shed no tear!

The flower will bloom another year.

Weep no more!  O weep no more!

Young buds sleep in the root's white core.

John Keats

Even more temporary than the flowers that bloom are the hues of Autumn.

Weekly Photo Challenge & Daily Prompt: Ghoulish & Rounded

Both will pertain to the autumn and Halloween that some celebrate.

I love to decorate for fall adding a few old time Halloween touches throughout, as cheaply as possible of course.  I wait to get my pieces in sales, sometimes from clearance the year before.

We will start out with emphasis on curves such as the altered glass plate from Ikea I hang in front of the lighted trellis.  The roundness of pumpkins, gourds & squash prevalent this time of year and various decorative items.

Now we come to the “good stuff.” The ghoulish or macabre. Not my cup of tea but many like this stuff, especially around Halloween.

 

One of my sons LOVES Halloween and really goes all out each year.  This is him as the crow and that is his own hair, no wig.  The other videos are some of the special effects that he uses.  Enjoy this very “ghoulish” display if you dare!

Enjoy my PhotoDraw animated slide show for Halloween fun!

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Autumn Glow

My favorite time of the year.  I once saw a tree actually appear to glow from a distance but I had a witness with me as we drove towards it he turned to me and said “did you just see what I did?”

Sort of like this:

The following are some fall colors with enhanced contrast, lighting and other effects.

Enjoy the following autumn colors.  Beauty is so fleeting on earth.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Layered Effects

Examples of some of the layered effects and collages I create with my photographs.

Layered flowers, border and text.
A couple of erased lilies from other shots in varied transparencies and sizes layered.

 

created a black background, layered part of butterfly bush and butterfly with designer effect on wings with text.
Cross layered onto a photo of a painted canvas, layered with other photos and text to reference when Jesus felt abandoned for a previous photo challenge.
Altered background with various paint spatters in PhotoDraw then began layering varied flower types & size in similar colors. Depending, I will vary the borders and transparencies as well til I get the desired effect.

 

This one I used a couple of graphics included with PhotoDraw and added text for my quote.
Cropped & erased to only show the leaves & bird on tree, positive & negative images, layered together.
Just layered bits & pieces from various fall photographs, cropped, parts erased & bordered.