Monday's Assignment

Today's theme is the color pink.  Find something that's pink and make a creative photo.

One of my later blooming plants- in fact it comes so late that I can never remember the name of it.  But now I do and along with the word Hibiscus comes that evil little bugger called the Japanese beetle.  Before the morning I know that this very perfect flower will have tons of holes in it and probably many fat beetles hanging with sated appetites.  I hope I can keep ahead of them with my mega bottles of deet or whatever the bug killer is called.  I've pretty much let my garden go to the pits with the slugs and white flies and aphids.  But I draw the line at Japanese Beetles.  This war begins today.

Shot with manual setting today.

Friday's Assignment

Double your art today.  Take a photo of something you've created or crafted.

So as not to offend anyone.....  It is from my ceramic collection back in the 70's.  I made two for my dad- I suppose I have both somewhere as I'm sure I inherited them once he died.  He thought it was pretty funny.  You'd have to know my dad- he had such an odd sense of humor.   But the pair made it across the country...from Chicago to Phoenix to Seattle and then back home again.  Obviously they were handled with care.  (Decided not to post the picture as I do have my job to think about...)

Shot with automatic setting today- a storm is a coming!

And then yesterday's assignment....

Rotate your camera today a bit and make a slightly off angle photograph.  Use the photograph to emphasize the subject.

As usual I didn't quite follow the assignment.  But I did find something that was off angled and that's the huge limb that's protruding from the maple in our backyard.  It hangs precariously over our house and I fear that everytime a storm rolls through the limb (or tree) will find it's way on to the top of our house.  I asked dh if he thought the limb might just land on the roof or actually poke a hole through it.  He figures the tree weighs tons and tons so maybe we'll be inline for a new second story.  Always wanted to add a fourth bedroom (and master bath with soaker tub)!

Shot with automatic setting today...that storm is still a coming!

Saturday's Assignment

Find something that's out of context today, natural or staged, and make a photograph.

Don't know how this pillow pet ended up here.  If it had any idea it would have thought otherwise.  Maybe you can tell that this used to be the trunk of a rather nice looking car- a '95 Impala.  But then we upgraded to a mini van and I oh so wished someone would have bought this car off of us or that we would have traded it in.  But for some reason my dh thought that it would be a great idea to remake this car- from the head lights to the tail lights.  It does keep him occupied, although I wished he would take more of an interest in some necessary home repair.  I guess he could be spending his days sitting in front of the television so I should be grateful.  So for now the house is not high on his priority list.  Darn!

Shot with manual settings today.

Wednesday's Assignment

Make a photo from a low point of view.  Go for a dramatic effect by changing the appearance of the size of your subject.

It's hot, hot, hot, outside today.  After hours of staining I finally got around to taking a few photographs.  There aren't a lot of flowers in my garden right now- or if there were I couldn't get low enough to take their picture.  I have a row of coneflowers that have been slowly filling in.  Not quite sure why this picture looks so dark.  I used automatic and when I looked in the LCD panel it looked a lot lighter.  Maybe because I was kind of shooting toward the sun.  I was hoping that a butterfly might land on the flower but of course, that didn't happen.  This has really been the year for butterflies- mostly monarchs and occasionally a swallowtail.   I wish I had flowers that attracted hummingbirds but for now I'll settle for the butterflies.

Shot with automatic setting today.

Tuesday's Assignment

Corners are everywhere.  Make a photo of an interesting corner today, capturing its light and angles.

Now that I've taken this picture I'm not quite sure what I was focusing on.  I see the corner of the slats but they aren't in focus.  I can see that the brace below the slats is the only thing that's really in focus and obviously that was not my intention.  But here's a snapshot of what I was doing today- and that was staining a 6 ft arbor with bench seat.  By the time I finished the 5 and a half hours of staining I could hardly uncurl the fingers of my right hand.  Never thought it would take me this long.  But with any staining project I have another full day ahead of me to put the second coat on it.  And if my husband has his way I'll have to put a coat of polyurethane on top of that.  I'd opt for one more coat and then I'll want to call it quits.

Shot with automatic settings today- couldn't get my fingers positioned to fool with manual settings so its the best I could do.

Here are the two photos that I didn't get posted for Sunday and Monday.

Sunday's assignment had to do with taking a picture that was all the same color showing highlights and low lights.  Sure wish I remembered what the name of these plants are.
Shot with manual settings today.

Monday's assignment had to do with taking a portion of a picture.  I don't think I actually did that.  The portion is really taken from the top looking down.  It's of an angel that my very best friends gave to me when my mom died years ago.  It always means so much to me and I look forward to adding it to my garden every summer.  She was certainly the angel of my life and I hope she is still looking down on me trying to guide me through my days.

Shot with automatic setting today.

Saturday's Assignment

Who are you?  Make a self portrait today and show the rest of us what you look like.

Well, meet my grungy shoes.  This is really what I look like all summer- gym shoes and socks.  Never one to wear sandals- I guess I like the support that tied shoes give me.  Even when it's blazing hot outside I'm still wearing socks and gym shoes.  I guess you could call these my gardening/mowing/go to the store shoes.  It's usually when I'm in a hurry and don't want to put on my semi white gym shoes.  You probably can't tell that I'm resting them on my very new arbor with seat.  Got it this week and dh helped put it together today.  Only took us about 6 hours.  Didn't realize that I would have to stain and water proof the dang thing before I can put it out in the yard.  (Reminds me of the Pella windows that I have yet to paint and we've had those a few years now.  But out of sight out of mind!!)  Also says we should sink the legs in concrete to prevent it from flying around the yard.  I suppose we should but it's pretty heavy and neither one of us feels like digging a hole.  Maybe I could put a chain around one of the legs and wind the chain around one of our trees.  That way if the tree crashes on the house then it won't matter if the arbor follows the same path.

Shot with automatic setting today- too tired to think.

Thursday's Assignment

Make a photo with the number 4 in it one way or another.  Maybe 4 items.  Maybe a written number.  Maybe more abstract.

Tried to experiment with the manual settings on the camera.  The beads in this picture seem to be more green than yellow.  When I looked through my LCD lens they looked pretty yellow.  Now I don't know.  It looked like I was doing okay with catching the color but now I am not so sure.  I don't spend a lot of time evaluating my shots nor do I spend a lot of time with preliminary set up.  I seem to be in such a rush when I want to take a picture.  I think it's because I have so much to do and trying to fit everything into a 24 hour day- and not being too successful doing it all.

Shot with manual settings today.

Tuesday's Assignment

Today's theme is the color blue. Blue sky. Blue plate. Blue m&ms.  Make a photo of something blue and post it today.

In between storms I rushed out to get a picture of my blue fountain.  I love this fountain so very much but it seems to drain much faster so I am filling it up just about every day.  I have several favorite fountains,not to mention this one.  It has much meaning in my yard and is a pleasure to put out every year.

Shot with automatic setting today.

Sunday's Assignment

It's Independence Day in the US (fireworks!).  Make a photo with celebration as the theme, wherever you are.

Watching fireworks is never on the top of my favorite things to do list.  They're pretty and all but my feeling is if you seen one you've seen them all.  All I can think about are crowds, bugs, and crying kids.  My oldest hated listening to the loud noises until he was around 5 and the youngest always slept through the big occasion.  These days I've chosen to look at the community fireworks from the comfort of my front porch- mostly because my dog would go nuts and I would be close to lend a hand if necessary.  Unfortunately, over the years the trees have grown enormously and our once unobstructed viewpoint is no more.  But every once-in-awhile there's a partial view of a cascading firework.  Sometimes it makes the wait worthwhile.

Shot with automatic settings today.