Let the Light In

Begin challenging your own assumptions. Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in awhile, or the light won't come in. ~Alan Alda

For Texture Tuesday this week, our image had to center around light. I love this shot I captured of some of my pink azalea blooms in a white bowl - the subtle shadows and light add so much interest, I think. I used Kim's "Vintage" texture at Soft Light/51%, and finished it up in Radlab.

Hydrangea Study

We are only beginning to learn what to say in a photograph. The world we live in is a succession of fleeting moments, any one of which might say something significant. ~Alfred Eisenstaedt

It amazes me that we've lived in our current house for 16 years, and this is the first year that I've truly paid attention to the growing things in my yard on a regular basis. It makes me kind of sad that all those years I had blinders on when it came to noticing the beautiful things growing right outside my front door. My camera has opened my eyes and now I'm always searching for any little growing thing. I've become especially focused on my hydrangea bush...I took lots of pictures of it last summer and into the fall as it faded away. And now here I am this spring, watching it bud and grow more beautiful with each passing day. I've been taking daily pictures...these are all shots taken in the last 10 days. In the last three days, the beautiful tinge of periwinkle is starting to show on some of the petals. On a side note, I always smile when I hear the word "periwinkle"...it's my favorite color, and when my daughter was three she used to call it "purple twinkle".

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

It's that time again...this week's prompts for Scavenger Hunt Sunday were rainbow, metal, fluffy, letters, and tree(s). I've been so busy this past week and found myself scrambling yesterday to finish up. Click on the button at the bottom of this post to see more photos, and to see next week's prompts. This is such a fun weekly challenge and it really encourages you to get creative!

1. Rainbow - I really took liberties with this one. I haven't seen a rainbow in years, and the last time I did see one, I was in a car without a camera. This photo is from my archives - a shot I took of some beautiful flowers at the Botanical Gardens in Washington, D.C. It's the closest thing I could find that had a "rainbow of colors"...


2. Metal - I love rusty things. When a piece of rusty metal catches my eye on the street, you can bet I'm going to pick it up and add it to my collection. The filigree leaf was my latest find just a few days ago. I was with my daughter when I found it and, as always, I got the side eye when I got so excited about my rust...lol. These are a few of my favorite pieces. One man's trash is another man's treasure...


3. Fluffy - This is a tiny flower (weed) in my yard. It's very fluffy, and so pretty! It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes by Wayne Dyer: "The only difference between a weed and a flower is a judgment."


4. Letters - Last night at 10:15 p.m. I still hadn't figured out a photo for this prompt. It was getting late so I finally just added some text to this blueberry photo I took a few days ago...it now has letters (you do what you can with what you've got). The blueberries were delicious, by the way!


5. Tree(s) - This is a wild dogwood tree in our yard...the branches were over my head as I was looking up with my camera.


I wish you a wonderful week - thanks for stopping by.

Photo Art Friday

The assignment for this week's Photo Art Friday was to create an image with lines, angles, and/or graphic elements. I chose a photo I took of the Occoquan bridge in Virginia. I added several elements, including some handwriting and some flying birds. I added a little texture (the flyleaf of an old book), lots of blend modes, and a couple of passes through Radlab. To join in, just click on Bonnie's button below...Happy Friday!

Flower Art Friday

I captured this beautiful, pink flower on one of my neighborhood walks...I wish it was in my yard! For Flower Art Friday, I added a couple of textures at Multiply, including a crackled one to give it a more aged appearance. Click on the button below if you'd like to participate in Flower Art Friday at Leanne's blog.

A Walk in the Woods

I had to share a couple more of my mirror photos...the reflection of the trees in the mirror is so magical. My daughter said it reminded her of Narnia, and it does look like you could step through the mirror into another place. That's what walking in the woods does for me...it leads me inward, it gives me peace, it helps me calm my mind.

WORDS

A walk in the woods
Stirs up my words
Ripening them to apricot
In the half-light of my memories
Some words are heavy like the fog
Draped pale across the trees
While others seem sweet
Like golden, wild honey
Yet warn of a sting if
I press my ear to their hive
And then there are those words
Flapping behind my eyes
Like foolish, feathered birds
Disbursing in a swarm
Then settling once again
On weighted limbs within

Some words echo distantly
Like a dog barking
On a far, rain-colored hill
While others bloom there
Like swollen magnolias
And letting them out
Scatters their beauty
Like raw seeds in the wind
And then there are words
Too fragile to express
So they hang inside
Releasing one by one
Like pine cones falling
Deep in the night
Gathering soundlessly
On the floor of my mind.

© Sherri Brannon

What's Your Pointe?

I've discovered some things after participating in Texture Tuesday for almost a year now. The main thing I've discovered is that Kim's textures look the best (in my opinion) on photos with a light or white background. Outdoor photos with trees, etc., don't look as good with texture over them. For me, this has meant learning to do more indoor photography, which I have absolutely loved! Over the winter, my house was filled with natural light because of all the bare trees...and therein lies my current problem. Now that spring is here, the trees are full of leaves...and my shady house is so dark! All of my natural light is sparse, so now I'm going to have to come up with new ways to achieve a light/white background outside. Time to invest in some white fabric, I think, so I can set up a photo shoot on my deck. Meanwhile, for today's Texture Tuesday, I worked on another of my daughter's pointe shoe/tutu shots from several months back. It was one of the few photos I could find with a light background. I used Kim's "Cool Grunge" texture at Color Burn/18%. I also adjusted the Brightness/Contrast, did a High Pass of the pointe shoes and tulle, and used b&W Gradient Map to tone down the image. I finished it up in Radlab.