Weekly Photo Challenge

the subject from Eneventure is:

  “Hidden”  

There is a world of photographic opportunity for photographers “Hidden” in the darkness of night.  Playing with images, in hiding, since the purchase of my first digital camera, I find it to be fun and interesting to work towards capturing good, “hidden”, night time images. 

Some of my “hidden” night photo attempts from recent late evening drives.  

I like night lights.

 

These lights are pulled from the image below.

 

As I take so many night photos from a moving car, it takes deep concentration on my part to adjust settings and hold still enough to get images with lighting and lights I’m happy with.  Flash is useless for distance you focus on in a moving car so I have had to work at learning camera settings and ways to steady myself.  If it’s really dark out, it’s likely I’ll get nothing of identifiable interest, only wildly wavy colors and shapes.

 

Neatly laid out rows of street lamps always catch my eye.

 

 

All of my images are not taken on the move but at pulloffs when we are able.  This is the case in this and the following images as flashing police lights and pulled over cars on I71 between Columbus, and Cincinnati are plentiful and this one was in a business lot.

 

A clandestine close up of a pull over.  It reminds me of televisions most wanted or CSI, me being the covert.

 

There is a lot of searching of the vehicle while a young passenger stands beside the car.  (*To display this image, I had to edit in a good amount of light.) 

 

The driver, sitting in the back of the second cruiser, is being questioned.

 

This isn’t much of an image.  It’s cropped out of the above image with lighting adjusted then displayed nearly full photo size.  What I hope to show is the bit of an image the camera caught of the boy in the back seat which I couldn’t see with my eyes at the time of the taking.  I only knew he was there from movement and more light a little earlier.  The image does show you the camera sees everything “hidden” from human view if you allow the camera the settings it needs to gather enough light.

There is tremendous potential for great night photos in all areas of the world.  What I wouldn’t give to have had digital cams 20 or more years ago while active enough to turn myself into a super sleuth of the “hidden”.  And wouldn’t we all love infra-red. 

I have a lot to learn.  My camera has a lot of settings I hope not only to master but understand.  I am in hopes my captures, of images “hidden” in the night and otherwise, will improve.  I have hopes for a really fine night capture worthy of a frame.  I want to prove to myself, the purchase of my camera wasn’t a foolish expenditure. 

Tripods:  I have several and their use is mandatory for the best night images but from a moving car, tripod use is a near impossible trick.  I have to rely on mastering settings, steadiness of hand and no bumps in the road.  I’m working on my end of it.

 

Thanks for your comments, have a super week and have fun taking your photos.

 

Weekly Photo Challenge

the subject from Assipassi is:

“Candids”

My opinion has always been, the best photos, of living, breathing subjects, come from candids.  Some of my shots are older and some from this week.  All were taken in a mode of hiding either from a distance, an angle or a look of no concern.  In some cases, the subject knew I had a camera but did not see the camera at the ready nor realize I had a shot planned for the taking.

My Photos

This image was taken through the windshield of our moving car.  The location is near the bicycle trail in Loveland.

 

An outdoor image:  Bicyclers resting while taking in the view of the river from the overlook in Eden Park.

 

This image taken from the side window of our slightly moving toward the parking lot, car:  I have opportunity to take a lot of fishermen at Lake Isabella in Remington, Ohio. 

 

An outdoor image:  Fishermen are relaxed and take some nice photos.

 

An outdoor image:  Some fishermen are so relaxed they verge on a little bit crazy.  I have never seen a fisherman walk around in a boat as much as this man did, on the lake, no life vest.

 

This image was taken through the windshield of our parked car:  I love pumpkins and when they make such good seating, you can take some really nice photos. 

 

This image taken through the side window of our parked car:  I took this at the computer store. 

 

This image taken through the windshield of our car:  I never know what I will see when we are driving not quite a mile from our house, .

 

An outdoor, night photo:  The dance at Friendship is a wonderful spot to take some lovely shots and I hope this couple made it to the photo pages to see some of my photos of them.

 

This image taken through the windshield of our parked car:  My daughter who is visiting for a few days.  She likes the coffee shop so we made a stop and I took this beautiful shot of her coming out the door.

 

I like all of the images I have displayed but I continue to learn and connive ways to take “Candid” photos.  The best shots really are “Candid”. 

Have a super week and thanks always to those of you who take time to stop by to see the images burning holes in my Xanga.

Keep on taking those photos,

 

Weekly Photo Challenge

the subject from StormInHeavn is:

“Natural Beauty”

My photos aren’t of recognized scenes or buildings.  They are images, similar to any you might see in your everyday world.  They aren’t a photographer’s dream.  I selected each of them because I think if you use your imaginations you can picture the image without the growth in the photo.  Most everyday landscapes would be very boring if it weren’t for trees, overgrown fields, flowers, clouds, rain, snow or whatever else nature throws our way.  Man does do some creative and at times, ingenious works but it is all more interesting, more beautiful, more photographic,  with greenery, flowers, beautiful skies or clouds, rain, sleet or snow.

My Photos

IMAGINE THIS IMAGE WITHOUT THE TREE and RED BERRIES:  A little wood siding home, not far from where I live.  It’s a cute little house but what caught my eye was the wonderful old Oak Tree sprouting it’s Spring colors with the house the backdrop, not the tree.  This tree has been entertaining the locals with it’s “natural beauty” for a very long time as it is about 7 or 8 feet around.

 

IMAGINE THIS IMAGE WITHOUT THE EVERGREENS:  Another older home, now a business in the bike trail area of Loveland.  As cute as the building is with red painted door and shutter and a patio with a canoe decorating the side, without the trees, I probably would not have snapped this photo.  The trees “natural beauty” offered personality that called to me, sit and relax.

 

IMAGINE THIS IMAGE WITHOUT THE GROWTH and LOOK AT THOSE CLOUDS:  These little homes are typical of the homes sitting on my street.  Obviously small, little boxes with very little eye appeal.  The flowering Crab Tree behind this one sets it off with vibrant color creating a picture that might sell the house if it were for sale.  “Natural beauty” has value.

 

IMAGINE THIS IMAGE WITHOUT THE GROWTH and BLUE SKY:  This photo was taken from our moving car and it’s an on the side of the road scene.  The yellow school bus caught my eye so I snapped the photo.  Looking at the image trying to imagine it without the “natural beauty” of the trees and green grass, I decided it would be a very naked, unappealing photograph.

 

IMAGINE THIS IMAGE WITHOUT THE GROWTH:  Another photo taken from the car, a rural scene of little red barns which would be very boring little red buildings without the green AND “natural beauty” surrounding them. 

 

IMAGINE THIS IMAGE WITHOUT THE STORMY SKY and WET PAVEMENT:  Without the wonderful “natural beauty” of the sky AND reflective puddles” I wouldn’t have thought to take this photo.  The shopping center offers very little to stand alone for photography.  

I realize beauty is in the eye of the beholder but I can’t imagine taking or wasting film on any of these landscapes, if I took film shots, if they were not backdropped with the ”natural beauty” of growth or other gifts of nature.  The draw, in each image, was the tree or the flower or the cloudy sky, the “Natural Beauty”.

Have a great week and thanks always for your comments,

 

Weekly Photo Challenge

the subject from Gitarezan is:

“String”

 

Some of my graphics

 

The image on the left is sporting a stringy or torn look cape.  I like capes so suppose that is why she ended up with one.  On the right, a skater in her fancy skating outfit and I had to have pompoms and they are suspended with “String”. 

I’m not all that artistic but once in a while I try drawing with Paint Shop Pro and that is how these images were created.  It’s fun and something different to do.  All of these images are totally mine.

 

My version of Mr. Bill, another of my PSP drawings using selections tools.  His scruffy look and “string”y beard came in handy for this challenge.

 

 

These ladies were created for Valentines one year.  Notice their “Strings” of Pearls.

 

On the more serious side, I really do use string for a lot of things, from trussing up chickens and turkeys to tying up garbage bags to holding up ornamentals, which I have a lot of.  The grape cluster is quite old, a molded glass shape and probably from Germany.  The very large and some of the others seen here are made of Mt. St. Helens ash and all were blown by glass blowers.  The lighter blue round, hanging at the top is Wedgewood and hanging on the right is a fired clay wind chime.  I have a really large collection of the Christmas ornaments and a smaller collection of windchimes including one of copper pipe which hangs to the side of my bed where it is disturbed everyonce in a while so I can enjoy the sound.  I love hearing the musical sounds they make.

 

Nearly everyone has heard of “String Quartets”.  My image is a “stringed quartet portrait”.    I would like to tell you my family is very talented, and able to play these instruments.  There have always been good intentions but nothing serious ever really happened in the way of our musical talents, EXCEPT for a love of the beauty of instruments and the music they make.  There actually is one real exception in our family, John’s brother David, who loved bluegrass music.  Dave was self taught and played more than one stringed instrument.  He could also carry a tune singing Bill Monroe in circles, with his down south, bluegrass nasal.  Dave taught his wife to play string instruments and his son picked up playing the guitar by watching his dad.  They enjoyed playing in neighborhood groups as well as at bluegrass festivals, having great fun.  The banjo on the left, is one, of ?? number of banjo’s, handmade by Dave, from cast iron skillets.  The sound is incredible and when Dave sang and played, you were entertained. 

 

This image tells the tale of the banjo quite well.  I layered in a small image, top left and it is from the neck of the banjo.  The dots are live primers he used on his banjo’s.  He was adventuresome (a little wacky maybe) as well as talented.

Stringy hair, string bikini, string bean, shoe-string potatoes, string of pearls, no strings attached, string you along, shoe-string budget are a few thoughtful but “STRING”Y images I’ll leave you with.  I am pretty sure there are a few more.

Keep on taking those photos,

 

Weekly Photo Challenge

the subject from stixandstonz is:

“What’s On Your Head”

I wear hats but nothing fancy anymore, only billed types to keep the sun out of my eyes while I’m out with my camera.  My favorite, beautiful hats are saved in boxes in hopes I might wear them again, some day.  

Hats don’t seem to be worn a lot anymore, unless you go where the hat wearers are.  Some of the most beautiful hats can still be seen worn by ladies in church and at the race track where beautiful hats are a tradition.  The movies “My Fair Lady” and “Pretty Woman” show off some great examples of really beautiful hats.  Western dress loves hats, see a lot of them at the rodeo or similar.  Another spot for hats is wherever the good old boys frequent as hats are a necessity for working in the hot sun. 

 

My Images
Three of the same graphic collage,
with three different treatments

 

Some of my favorite people are in this image wearing hats they are comfortable wearing from do-rag and cammy hat to western to billed.  All of them are colorful characters I am acquainted with or just took photos of because of working with and for Friendship Flea Market.

 

The same image, greyscaled, defined with a colored edge.

 

And in living color, the same group of faces familiar to me as I saw them regularly at the market and because I look through my photos, often, recalling lots of fun experience and hard work.

 

I seldom post images of myself as I don’t take a picture I am impressed with but, this is an image of me (color curved to the extreme) taken at Ms Annabelle’s Tea Parlour.  The tea party was a fun time and may become a family tradition.  The hat was a gift from my sister.

 

A super week to everyone and thanks always for your comments.

 

Weekly Photo Challenge

the subject from Gitarezan is:

“Round and Round”

 

© Round and round is the shape of the path we travel. 

 

 

Firmly, resolutely round, like ripened seasons, effecting us with heat and cold, sunshine and rain; we effect each other by mapping our positions as daily routine. 

 

 

Each one of us, a small functioning planet,

 

 

living our seasons, with circular clockwise ticking in early mornings

 

 

to counter clockwise at night until the body dependably, dutifully finds rest. 

 

 

Following paths we set for ourselves, with our own two feet we meet ourselves coming and going.  Young and old, we travel round and round with tickets purchased eons ago from genetically claimed ancestors who traveled similarly, round and round. 

 

 

And the seasons cycle from Winter to Spring, from Spring to Summer and the Summer, to the Autumn of our lives.

 

 

Be well and thank you always for your comments,

 

Weekly Photo Challenge

the subject from PhotoGraphics is:

“At the Shopping Mall”

I am not an avid shopper.  There was a time I enjoyed the thrill of the chase, of the elusive, perfect buy.  Shopping gets old when the walking wears you out before you empty your wallet and recreational shopping has never been a pleasure.  I have a shopping strategy/preference.  Instead of spending money, I spend time making observations of the people, who are out and about, doing their shopping.  

I am surrounded by shopping malls.  From strip malls to glassed in blocks of weather proof stores, shopping is never far away.  I can spend, if I choose to, any amount of money for product but my fun is viewing the money spenders through the observant eye of my camera.

Most of my photos were taken quickly and some in poor weather so excuse a bit of poor quality.

My “At the Shopping Mall”
Photo Discoveries

I have discovered some people, no matter what their age, will shop in the rain.

 

And for some, shopping involves a lot of hard work.

 

Shopping

is often

a family oriented affair

 

 for food, clothing or otherwise.

 

I have discovered, when you treat them right, husbands will do anything for you, including your shopping.

 

I discovered a long time ago, I like to shop for kitchen and bath items 

but I enjoy shopping the most for a good meal.  I have discovered ten times the shopping fun, enjoying a nice meal.   

 

My best discovery for a day “at the shopping mall”, a face with a smile like this!  I have discovered, a good meal served by a fetching young waiter, who relates to you so pleasantly you forget the chores of the shopping, is the very best part of shopping.  It can, in fact, turn a tiresome day into a golden experience. 

 

Have a super week and thank you always for your comments.

 

 

Weekly Photo Challenge

the subject from Ruth from Ohio is:

“Your Guilty Pleasures”

Having thought about this topic for a while, my conclusion is “my guilty pleasures” modify with age.  As a teenager I loved makeup,clothing and roller skating.  As a young woman I traded the roller skating for young men.  As a married woman with children my interests gravitated toward home and family.  As a senior, my interests are purely for the love of being entertained. 

My guilty pleasures include, the pleasure of eating out, movies, my computer and digital photography.  I’ll concentrate my photos on Eating Out as my guilty pleasure.  I never grow tired of good food.

My Photos/Graphics

My collage indicates our food tastes are varied.  Some of the food spots pictured, discovered on trips, called to us with cute exteriors.  I do have prerequisites and have made some mistakes with some stops we have made i.e lousy food or poor service.  My preference is clean tables and rest areas, tasty food, affordable and nice atmosphere if we have time.  For a change of pace we carry out, for picnic lunches at the lake, or take it home unless we are on the road and can’t do otherwise. 

(A list of the restaurants in the above image left to right top to bottom:  El Picante Mexican, The Hen House Country style, Charlie Baz’l's for Karaoke plus more professional entertainment, lots of sports television (probably 50 plus big screens), and food, Bob Evans great home cooking with nice people waiting on you and if you go after rush hour, a nice place to sit a while, Applebee’s, McDonalds and hiding as a background to all of it the Village Ice Cream Parlor, a spot we enjoy going to for ice cream sodas, in Lebanon, Ohio.)

 

Everyone recognizes McDonalds.  We don’t eat here often but they do come in handy on trips as I find them to be clean and consistent.  I love McDonald’s Sausage McMuffin for breakfast, ordering it with two slices of sausage , a slice of FRESH Onion, a slice of FRESH Tomato and sometimes an egg and don’t forget the glass of orange juice.  It’s tasty.

 

Bob Evans restaurants originate from Ohio where they have a wonderful farm.  The restaurants are laid back spots with a good cup of coffee.  Their sausage rolls are in the markets  and the company’s Internet map shows the restaurants in 20 states.  They have a very good menu and a pleasant arrangement so we enjoy sitting inside to eat.  The rooms and seating are clean, the help congenial, the food very good, the price affordable and they decorate for whatever is current.  We enjoy it.

 

The Antique Peddlers is a lovely little eating place and our favorite type of spot to eat and relax.  We have discovered a few others I don’t have photos of, yet.  The Antique store sits in the rear and the restaurant is up front, the building sitting right on a corner.  They have a garden where all the vegetables they use are grown and the food is prepared, on site, in their own little kitchen.  It’s very clean, extremely quaint, small, which I like, and the food is very good leaning toward vegetarian.  Another plus, it’s a fun place to bring company.

 

This is the inside and we usually sit looking across this glass topped table and sometimes in another small room with booths.  The bay window at the left in the previous image is the window behind the hanging plant.  This is our type of place, cozy, lovely to look at, good food, laid back atmosphere, nice people serving you and we can afford to eat. 

There you have it, I’m guilty pleasured as sin when it comes to enjoying good food out and the little getaway it provides.  We enjoy a picnic too, so we grab carry out on some of our nice days from McDonalds or ??? and go to the lake and sit watching the fishermen and the ducks. 

Now I have confessed, 
have a super week and thanks always for your comments.

 

 

Weekly Photo Challenge

the subject from Gitarezan is:

“Magazine Covers”

I had fun with this one. 

My magazine covers

One of my favorite books is James Michener’s “Chesapeake”.  I love the geese and the book made me love them even more so a magazine for them and their other webbed relatives, “Duck Duck Goose”.

 

This is my sister’s cat and it’s a real ham so deserves to be on a magazine cover.  I could fill the magazines pages with photos I have taken of it.

 

This is Skipper, also my sister’s and her husbands pet.  He was a much loved dog who was laid to rest only a week or so ago.  He is greatly missed as he was the best dog they ever had.  There was a lot of upset at his demise.

 

There is a lot of strange and violent weather going around the globe.  I think the temps may be about normal here but we are getting a good amount of rain.  We had flooding in April and the lake hasn’t gone back into its banks.  I think it will be back up after this rain.  If you aren’t aware of the cyclone in the country of Myanmar they look to having lost over 100,000 people because of it and many homeless, without food, electric or bare necessities.  Please dig into your pockets a little to donate and be sure to donate to organizations you can trust.  We use the Red Cross.  Click Here for the American Red Cross and Myanmar information.   

As usual I could play more with my photos but you have to stop somewhere. 

 

Have a great week, count your blessings and thanks always for your comments,

 

Weekly Photo Challenge

the subject from LadyLioness1973 is:

“How Was Your Holiday”

Holidays, for us, are always good.  We combine the location, good Food, Family and Fun to create the holiday we want .  We love eating out or eating in, playing board games while visiting or watching movies quietly with a fire in the fireplace.  Whether the whole family or just the two of us we find ways to enjoy holidays or vacation time.  Our vacation time always falls on the Christmas holiday.  We usually have two weeks of time to spend celebrating the Christmas season through to and including the New Year.  Our vacation time takes us away from the normal at home weeks.  We have spent many vacation holidays in Virginia or Florida on the beaches and quite a few in our Western states of California but I’m posting photos which cover a little of all of what we call “Holidays”.

My Photos

Never without my camera I carry it into shops if allowed to take photos.  This image was taken in this beautiful year round Christmas shop in West Virginia, USA.  It is only a few miles off the beaten path on our trip to or from Virginia.  The shop carries some of the finest Christmas decor.  I always add to my ornament collection when we stop here.

 

Waiting for Santa is what is going on in this image.  I love taking photos of my daughter’s pets when we are visiting.  They can be the best of models and I think I may have taken hundreds of shots of them. 

 

This particular Easter found John and I alone but not without things to do or places to go.  The day was beautiful and there were many photo opportunities.  This image taken at the Spring Grove Cemetery, a magnificent spot for any occasion.

 

Birthday cake and coffee at Starbucks.  John enjoys their coffee so for us its a good place to celebrate and we don’t end up with left over cake needing to be eaten.

 

It’s the 4th of July and we are taking photos locally at the parks and memorials.  This memorial site is in Montgomery, Ohio.

 

Our holiday/vacation time fell in the latter part of September into October in the year this photo was taken.  This Florist stand is in Virginia and we are visiting my daughter and have planned some Halloween pumpkin carving as it is nearly Halloween (Halloween is not a holiday, only a day of fun but we were on holiday/vacation on this particular trip.  This particular holiday/vacation happened to fall at the time of the year).  The Florist shop had outdoors the nicest mum plants I have ever seen, fresh, perfect, beautiful with not a single bud broken from stems so I had to take a lot of photos of their beautiful display which is of a type you see here for Halloween and Thanksgiving.

 

A different photo of the same nursery with my granddaughter Eden layered to the image carving a pumpkin I carried to Virginia from Ohio for the carving occassion.  The carved pumpkin hanging on the back wall is a layer of her finished pumpkin.  Both layers are lifted from other photos I took during the same vacation week.

 

Thanksgiving at a state park in Illinois.  We had a large group and it was so nice not to have to cook or wash dishes.  The dining area was lovely, the food tasty and the company entertaining.  What more could you ask for on a holiday.

These images are of course only a sampling of the many I take.  Many are good, a lot are terrible but I snap away and I play with a lot of them in Paint Shop Pro. 

Have a great week and always great holidays.

Keep on taking those photos and
thanks always for your comments.