A Little Sunshine

Beautiful and graceful, varied and enchanting, small but approachable, butterflies lead you to the sunny side of life. And everyone deserves a little sunshine. ~Jeffrey Glassberg

And on that note, I'm taking a two week hiatus from my blog as I head down south to enjoy some Florida sunshine. Back soon! :)

Swoop and Soar

Happier of happy though I be, like them
I cannot take possession of the sky,
Mount with a thoughtless impulse and wheel there
One of a mighty multitude, whose way
And motion is a harmony and dance
Magnificent.... ~William Wordsworth

Wouldn't it be wonderful to fly? How lucky birds are...they swoop, and soar, and see things from a perspective much different than ours on the ground. William Wordsworth expressed that perfectly.

I'm sharing another image I created using a bird filter in Distressed FX...they added so much to my photo! I also used Mextures to create a subtle grunge, and then put the image into Luminance (Classic filter) to give it that wonderful glow. Oh, I also added a sun with Lenslight! I love color, so I'm very happy with the sky results.

App Happy Wednesday: DistressedFX

Overhead the birds are calling, their cries seeming to fill the air. As I watch, they rise, flinging their bodies against the sky, intent upon the moment, spinning and turning like embers or smoke upon the air. I envy them, this life of theirs, the way they live so free of themselves, they are without past, without future, an exaltation of life beating in so many parts, rising up into the infinity of space. Watching them I find I want to weep, and yet I have no tear. ~James Bradley

One of my favorite apps, DistressedFX, has recently offered an in-app purchase of additional bird filters...I love them. They often make a so-so landscape image look perfect. Here are two images I've taken recently using the bird filters from DistressedFX. I highly recommend this app! In addition to birds, there are many textures offered that add a distressed or more grungy effect to your photos. Click HERE to visit the DistressedFX website and find links to purchase.

For the first photo, in addition to adding the DistressedFX bird filter, I also put the image into Mextures to give it that beautiful mood. In the second image, I used only DistressedFX - I added the birds and also brought in a custom texture I already had in my camera roll.

Please click below to visit App Happy Wednesday, and join in!

Little Bits of Life

Oh, mirror in the sky, what is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
And can I sail through the changing ocean tides
Can I handle the seasons of my life? ~Landslide (Fleetwood Mac)

This week's Song-ography prompt is Landslide by Fleetwood Mac. In my opinion, this is one of the most beautiful songs ever written. It moves me to tears when I hear it...especially as I get a bit older. The lyrics are profound...and of course, after seeing them up above, the song is officially stuck in my head and I'm singing it out loud as I compose this blog post. :)

I'm so incredibly grateful to photography. It has comforted me and given me such joy these last four years as I adjust to the different seasons of my life. It's one of the few hobbies I have stuck with. I have so much love and passion for it...it takes me outside myself and reminds me there's a whole world of miracles out there for those who will notice. It gives me something to look forward to every day, even through the landslides. Whether I'm having an up day or a down day, I can go outside with my camera and feel peace while I seek out something alive in nature. It's there waiting every moment of every day - little bits of beauty and life. We just have to look.

Please click HERE and visit Kathy's blog for this week's Song-ography prompt - she has such a gift for writing, and her post this week is very moving.

Floral Notes

And the days that I keep my gratitude higher than my expectations, I have really good days. ~Ray Wylie Hubbard

A beautiful quote and a pretty flower photo...two things I love. Going in search of photos with my camera is one of the things I'm most grateful for. And collecting quotes is also something that brings me so much pleasure...I have thousands of them saved on my computer. I can't help myself! :)

For my flower image I used Kim's "Touch-of-1" texture which is probably my favorite...I use it a lot because it's so subtle and creamy. I also put my photo into Radlab to tweak it a little further.

Notes of An August Poet

NOTES OF AN AUGUST POET

I take note of the wild daisies that shrink from
the blaze of the day, how they're clumped heavenly sweet
like little white stars from my childhood; I ache

for the petalled lungs of coneflowers, labored
and drooping, how they're dumbed down by heat,
half-masted in anticipation of their short lives.

I hunt for comfort beneath the giant oak as it shades me
with its gigantic ideas, noticing the space between
the branches more than the branches themselves, watching

as a flock of wrens scatter, still keeping the shape
of the tree they fled from, shaking the last of July
off their wings.

I wander and pause, eyeing the gluttonous bee
as it double dips its belly in golden sugar,
seeking solace in a snapdragon's throat. I sweat,

and daydream, and wave hello to August, inhaling
its humid breath while my heart swells,
while the spider weaves, while the peach grows.

© Sherri Brannon 2014

If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade a 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

I'm sharing my poem today at Poets United - click HERE to go visit! Thank you for stopping by. I took the photo with my iPhone and used the Mextures app to give it a little more character.

Summer Color

It's App Happy Wednesday, and as I look at my Instagram feed I see such vibrant color. I love the colors of summer!

I didn't use any fancy app stacking for these images - for all of them, I either used Snapseed exclusively or else I moved them into Pictapgo for a little additional filter tweaking. These are my two go-to apps and I use them constantly.

I collaged the four photos together using the Moldiv app. I love this app because you can adjust the frame size and color - for this collage, I made the frame very fine and left it white. I'm "sherribrannon" on Instagram - thank you for stopping by!

More Magical Mushrooms

Well, I have a new hobby...my neighbors must think I'm crazy. Everyday now I wander my yard with my camera looking for pretty mushrooms. Someone observing from a distance must think it very strange to see some lady wandering around her yard staring at the grass! I hope I don't become known as the Mushroom Whisperer.

I'm sharing part two of my mushroom photos - it's been fascinating to see how quickly they appear from one night to the next, and also how quickly they disappear! There haven't been as many this past week, but we also haven't had as much rain and humidity. I will continue my mushroom treasure hunt and hopefully share more photos as I find them.

Also, in my last post I shared an image of two reddish mushrooms (click HERE to see that post). As they decomposed, they turned jet black - I'm sharing that image up above.

And the spiked mushroom I found looks like a real rebel in the fungi world - if it were a person, it would be pierced, tatted, and listening to heavy metal!

For my blurred mushroom photo, I used Kim Klassen's "Cora" texture at Multiply/38%, which helped darken the photo just right. I actually kind of liked how the mushroom blurred and the sharp blades of grass came into focus. I completely planned that... :)