Weekly Photo Challenge

the subject is
 “Fences”
suggested by OK123Letsgo 

Fence rows, fence lines and barriers are one of my favorite things to photograph.  As that is the case, I had a terrible time deciding what I wanted to use in this challenge as I have quite a few photos, evergrowing as I see something I want to add to my collection.  I finally decided on instances combined with plant growth.

This is my very first fencing image I ever photographed.  This beautiful spot is in Virginia Beach, Va.  We were across the street in a little house we had rented to stay in during my daughter’s June, on the beach, wedding.  Everything was beautiful while we were there.  The month, weather, flowers and timing were perfect.

This is a display in my sister Bunny’s yard.  What you see is handpainted on the wall latticework fence, NO FENCE, JUST PAINT.  She is so talented and creative and she has made a little heaven on earth at her home with her artistic abilities and her love of plants and ornaments.

This is one of my favorite photos taken in my sister Jeanne’s yard.  She is also artistic and has a green thumb and I know this may be the messy side of fencing, doing what some fences do, hide things, but I really loved the view of the lilies and ferns growing here.

This fenced boardwalk leads across some of the dunes in Virginia.  There are tons of things that scratch and bite in the grasses but the views from the walkway always take my breath away.  I love seeing all the wild growth on the dunes and in the shallow waters.

This photo was taken locally in a cemetary. When you see things of this nature you can understand why people choose them for final resting places.  The beautifully fenced bridge with the grasses and water lilies and ornamental trees made this spot perfect for photo taking.

This fencing is in much need of repair but to me it is very picturesque combined with the Mail Pouch barn and what looks like deliberately planted little Oak trees.  There was a time, not long past, most barns were painted with advertising.  Mail Pouch was a very familiar sign when you drove the highways.  Not so anymore so I grab shots whenever I see them.  This one was taken on our trip to Ashland, Kentucky a few years ago to visit with Wordwarrior39. 

This chainlink fence was covered with wild grape growth and the little grapes were so fresh and cute I had to take photos.  I didn’t get anything I felt was super clear but I liked them well enough to keep, trashing only the worst.

I would share more but I have to keep something for the future.

Keep on taking those photos,

 

Weekly Photo Challenge

the subject is
 “Tranquility”
suggested by Brilliantlypure

Keep on taking those photos,

 

Weekly Photo Challenge

the subject is
 ”Texture”
suggested by featherland

I like texture, possibly too much.  I like vivid color with light and shadow and use it on my pages knowing it may be disconcerting to some people.  But I enjoy it and as I am on my pages more than the visitor I decorate to suit myself.  Don’t we all do the same? Our surroundings influence how we feel and how we feel is important to wellbeing.  Texture, pattern and color influence emotions.

Texture is normally something we can feel with our fingers.  On a flat surfaced graphic, texture created by detail, color, light and shadow is what makes the image come alive giving it depth for your vision to travel around.  The artistic creator can add or take away to his own satisfaction to improve interest.   Many of my photos don’t have what it takes to make it special.  If the photo has a quality I want to keep but no excitement I play graphically trying for changes I think can improve it’s interest.  Interest, in my opinion, is what the end result is all about.  A boring photo or graphic is a waste of good space.

Photos I played with for the “Texture” challenge:

At the top left a house we saw as we drove labor day weekend.  When I viewed the photo all I could think was BORING.  I decided to add clouds and the cows to the image top right.  I still couldn’t stand it.  Next step, gradient color for interest.  The final two tries, bottom right and the one below I like well enough for a greeting card.  The texture of tree branches framing the image and the colors made it fun enough to like.

Wild and crazy it may be but this wildly colored graphic is my favorite but another edit, having studied the final entry of the house and the cows over and over, I still can’t stand the thing.  As it is in this entry it will remain here but it doesn’t do it for me, at all.  It’s a wasted bit of work having no real interest like the photos below do. 

This was a beautiful view on the side of the road.  I like this image with all the natural texture.  I decided to play for the fun of it and created the image below which is a favorite, for me, in this challenge entry.

Editing this thought into this entry:  It occurs to me “imagination” adds a huge amount of texture to an image.  If you look at this image and think of the deer, the fox or the pheasant that may be hiding in the brush or the man who has exited his car and gone over the rail in need of a few seconds hiding behind one of the shrubs, there is a tremendous lot of added interest. 

I really like this one also.  Sometimes photos, texture and color call to me just to play.

 

Keep on taking those photos,

 

 

PictureHeaven challenge #16:
 ”Gifts”

I love gifts in all sizes, shapes and aromatic smells but the gift I have enjoyed ongoing for years are my computer, my camera for digital photos and my graphics editor Paint Shop Pro.  The creativity these three things have encouraged have also allowed me to make gifts of my creativity, tangible and otherwise.  I have spent a lot of time playing and learning and having fun with the unit of three so it wasn’t hard to decide to write about them as a gift I myself have enjoyed that in turn has created gifts.  Having said this I’ll enter a group of photos/graphics as a display from the use of my camera, computer and Paint Shop Pro.

This is my photo I began with.  It was taken with my, quite outdated now, Kodak digital camera.  Taking photos always produces gifts.  I get outside and fill time with the pleasurable gift of taking the photos and then enjoy viewing them when I come home and load them into my computer.

   

After selecting this particular photo to work with, I removed everything but the detail then added graphic playing with Paint Shop Pro.  There are many graphics editors on the Computer software market.  You can spend bundles or not so much.  Paint Shop Pro gives you a lot for not a lot of money and for me it has been very much “problem free”. 

I gave the image a new base color of green.

I began adding images I cut out from other photos I took plus Hettie who came as a share for tubing from my friend Tim Beddard from the U.K. and I add touches of color, some sunshine, blue sky and some clouds

for the finished product.  My image can be printed out as the upper half of a fold down greeting card which I would add some text on the inside and my name and a copyright on the back of the card.  I might choose to add it to an album of my work or even print for framing.  The fun of the creating is a “constant gift” for me and I feel my original cards are gifts to whomever might receive them.  I couldn’t enjoy the fun of the creating without the tangible gifts of my  computer and  camera and my very much prized software  Paint Shop Pro.

 

Keep on taking those photos,

Art Rage Challenge
The topic for the month of September is:

“Lights”

This challenge allowed me to use photos I might not normally use.  They aren’t the best photos but some are very exciting because of the bursts of “lightning like” lighting created by different light sources.  I have played with some graphic fixing to remove pixelation.

This is an older photo taken in Ohio from the opposite entrance of a covered bridge.  For this challenge, I pulled in what I felt important, the rear tail lighting of the auto and the barely noticeable welcoming window lighting in the home in the background and the very subtle light left in the oncoming night sky still peeking through the cut outs in the top of the bridge and in the distance. 

Here, screaming colors of headlights and business off the side of the road created by the movement of our car and what the camera can see, the lights and their jostled colors.

Neon lighting was everywhere when I was young in the fifties.  It decorated the windows of the bars, ice cream parlors and the little steel diners that were popular.  Neon has made a comeback and I really enjoy seeing it.  It’s eye catching and festive; the forth of July every night.  This neon is not far from us in a small center of food shops.

Another “jostling of light and color” as we travel through the Hampton Roads underwater tunnel in Norfolk, Virginia heading home from a visit.  It’s exciting to drop into the tunnel with the only light from car headlights and some wall lighting with you zooming past walls that appear to close in on you.  Sign’s warn “Do not change lanes as you drive the tunnel” which is 7,479 feet in length and 108 feet below sea level at its lowest point.  The burst of daylight at the end is very welcoming and the camera sees it the same way.

Auto shopping at night allows you get photos like this one.  This photo was taken through the windshield of our car while my other half is inside dickering prices with the salesman. 

A familiar spot to many of us who get the hungries at night.  Our hungries on this outing were during a trip made to visit Wordwarrior39 in Ashland, Kentucky.  This Burger King was near our motel and we were very glad it was.  The nice thing about late night hungries is there are no long auto lines but there is strange lighting for you and your camera to play with.  Notice the carry out being handed through the window to the driver of the car.  Whatever it is in that bag, I could eat one right now.

A quieter setting to end my entry, taken on our way home from Virginia.  You can see the mountains and hills in the background.  My intent was to try to catch some of the contrails that were everywhere that evening.  You can see, faintly a couple of them, one in the blue of the sky and one just above the darkness of the trees silhouettes.  I managed to get very few contrails in all the shots I took but the sun was in its magnificent display lighting mode.

Please remember the lights that went out today at the World Trade Center USA.  Remember the lives lost.  Never forget 9/11 and the wake up call it brought to the United States and the historical change the destruction made.  God Bless America with the will to stay strong in the face of adversities and the courage to discover the correct way to continue on in a changing world.  My prayer is for the discovery of better ways of dealing with nations, people, education, economies and above all, the environment. 

Keep on taking those photos,

 

 

Weekly Photo Challenge

the subject is
 ”Feet”
suggested by Reed44

I like Happy Feet and my feet have requirements for happiness.  They like wiggle room and fun.  Their favorite fun is paddling around in cool water in a creek.

Painted pigs are top priority for grandma feet and grandchild feet.

Foot Massage, my feet like a good rub.  Petting with your feet works both ways.

Tired Feets gotsta rest.  Give your feet some down time.

Foot bath, body bath, whatever.  Happy feet jump with joy at the pampering of a bubble bath.

We were endowed with feet and legs for a reason.  We are supposed to walk.  Walking is the best exercise for feet and legs and the body (don’t forget the body).  The walking costs nothing but the doing.  Treat your feet and your curiosities with some walking.  Don’t forget to take your camera. 

A story about feet:  I wear a size 9 shoe.  It used to be a six then an 8 and then an 8 and a half and finally a nine.  I grew up when fashion was coming into the school systems.  Shoes and nice clothes and make up were of interest to all the girls.  I myself loved shoes but the smaller sizes which looked so nice in the shops didn’t look quite as nice in the larger sizes.  I had a tiny Italian aunt who as an adult wore a size 4.  She purchased children’s size shoes for everyday but her closets were filled with designer heels from the special display racks.  I could never find the sweet little heels like she wore and many of the girls in my school, though they didn’t wear a size 4 always had great looking clothes and the most popular shoes showing off their smaller feet.  I didn’t like myself, I understand young people and lack of self esteem.  I was thin, flat chested and had big feet.  That is what I saw and a later dating situation that included the brother of my date and his date, Helen, did little for my ego as Helen managed to notice and pick on the size of my feet regularly.  Her foot size was a 5/6.

I was in my twenties when I met my husband who wears a size 11D in a mans shoe.  Somehow we clicked and married within six weeks of meeting, 40 years by the end of this year.  John and I are touchy, feely people.  We enjoy foot cuddles or legs resting closely to each other or neck and back rubs while just talking, anything for the electricity fed to us by a touch.  On this occasion, I can’t recall the exactness as it was emotional, we were doing nothing out of the ordinary but he was rubbing my feet and he said “do you know one of the things I love about you is your pretty, little feet.”  It brought me to tears and in fact, changed my life as it allowed me, immediately, a new and more accepting view of myself.  Thank you my dear and very special husband.

 

Many a famous foot has been at the site of great discovery.
Use your feet and keep on taking those photos,

 

 

Xanga,

Have a safe Labor Day Weekend.

Find a pleasant picnic spot and enjoy.

CLICK HERE for 1024 x 768

Enjoy your weekend,

Becca

 

 

 

Weekly Photo Challenge

the subject is
 ”Mountains and Hills”
suggested by Rainy! dame

I was raised understanding diversity within ethnic groups, religion and topographical geography.  Ethnic groups, I am.  Religion of all kinds was as close as the neighbor on my little street and topographical understanding came from navigating messy girls bed spaces, climbing over piles of dirty laundry and books and toys and what all else girls collect through the years so paved the way of understanding for some of what mountain climbers encounter.   

The geographics of Ohio shows off some lovely hills.  Some elevations reach mountain height, unobtrusively, in Bellefontain, Ohio.  My favorite Ohio hills reach up along the Appalachian trail that feeds through Hillsboro, and on toward Chillicothe.  It is my favorite Ohio drive.  Some of Ohio’s extremes are shown off most beautifully as the road winds its way among the rolling hills.  Most of Ohio is hill territory, not mountainous but rolling and filled with diversifying attributes.   Cincinnati where I have lived near all of my life is known as “the city of seven hills“.  You can even buy a book, Cincinnati, City of Seven Hills and Five Inclines.

It’s a shame all the shots I don’t have.  Most of my life has been lived before the age of the digital camera.  I do, however, have some that let you know my eyes were wide open to claiming, photographically, hills and mountains along the roads I have been most fortunate to travel, carrying my small, trusty, well used little Kodak camera.  

Photos © RSBlain 
 Mountains and Hills 

This is an upheaval made eons ago.  It is a small example of how mountains are made and it is a very small portion of this state park.  For the life of me I can’t remember the name of the park.  Anyway, this solid mound of rock sits as a reminder of greater things.  My friend sitting on top of this rock is WordWarrior39.  I emailed him for the name of the park and it is Carter Caves State Park in Kentucky.  Thank you so much Jim.  I am so glad your memory is better than mine.

This is the same park and the hill / mountain to the left is quite large, high and rocky.  It is filled with caves and you can see the mouth of a cave to the left and behind the trunks of the trees.

In the distance you see Debuke, Iowa.  This incline takes visitors to the level of the city and to the top of the hill where photographers can take some wonderful photos.

This is a view you can see from the US Grant home in Galena.  I loved this hilly view and treasure the photos I took.  I have no idea what the sculpture is supposed to represent.

This is a scene typical of areas in Virginia.  The ground is rocky and there are a lot of Mountains and the sheep are very much at home in the environment.

This cut in the mountain provided the way for the highway traveling through West Virginia, USA.  This scene was taken through the windshield of our car.  I titled it “Negotiating the Curves” and had to really steady myself to get this shot I feel very good about.

Negotiating the curves seems to be exactly what this driver didn’t do.  This (previously posted) photo was taken very close to my home.  The hill the upturned car is resting against is another cut out providing for the road.  The hill isn’t quite the magnitude or interest of the previous photo.  It did however manage to stop this driver and it may have saved someone else’s life.

Mountains and hills provide homes for wildlife, minerals we wear and heat for our homes plus recreational facilities and beauty found no where else on Earth as the conditions are only right in the mountains environment.  Hidden underneath this blanket of flowers is a mountain.

This photo has been edited into this challenge entry after John and I decided to take the drive up the Appalachian highway to the Hillsboro area during the labor day weekend.  This was taken not far from the Thunder in the Hills festival / lake area.

A marvelous movie about mountains,
“The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain“.  I recommend it highly as quietly fine and the data base gives it a 6.4 rating.

Some wonderful mountain information I found while doing Internet surf studies for mountains. 

• a mountain is a land mass that projects well above its surroundings; higher than a hill wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn 


• A mountain is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain in a limited area. A mountain is generally much higher and steeper than a hill, but there is considerable overlap, and usage often depends on local custom. Some authorities define a mountain as a peak with a topographic prominence over an arbitrary value: for example, the Encyclopædia Britannica requires a prominence of 2,000 feet (610 m).
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain 

• A mountain is a raised part of the earth’s surface. It is bigger than a hill. A mountain has to be at least 1,000 feet above the earth’s surface. Some mountains look pointed and sharp at the top. Other mountains look more round. When a mountain has a crater in its top, it is a volcano.
  www.howardcc.edu/kids/geovoc.html 

Ohio elevations:  Ohio  lowest land = 850 ft  highest = Campbell Hill  1,549  the Ohio River  455 .  Campbell Hill (Wikipedia) from the reading I have done slopes upwards in a relatively boring manner thus losing it’s mountainous appeal. 

This is where you will find, the BEST HIKING in OHIO. 

I found An ASSORTMENT OF PAGES filled with the MAN’S MAN mountains of the WORLD including the United States, for rugged climbing and there are some really fine photos on the site. 

Keep on taking those photos,