Photo 101: Mystery

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nature, photo 101, Photo Challenge, PHOTO101, photography

To the one reader who asked me if I’ve quit writing, the answer is “no”. I’ll be regaling everyone with tales of tripping over my own feet, fighting off spiders, ranting at bad drivers,  and generally embarassing myself in all kinds of situations soon enough. Right now I’m wrapping up week 2 of the WordPress Photo 101 course! And today’s challenge was to manipulate the light to create an image with a sense of mystery and drama.

“No object is mysterious. The mystery is your eye.” – Elizabeth Bowen

I experimented last night with peacock feathers, using the sunlight coming in my bedroom window as a backlight. Some of the photos were complete disasters, and some were…not terrible…I picked 3 to share. How did I do?

Happy weekend!

Photo 101: Warmth

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blogging U, flowers, garden, nature, photo 101, Photo Challenge, PHOTO101, photography

I love roses.  All week, I have been watching with anticipation as 3 beautiful pink roses begin to unfurl in my flower bed. I have snapped photos in the rain, of the dark pink buds beginning to unfold. I have snapped photos with their creamy centres and pink-tinged petals. Last night, I snapped photos as the sun was setting, of a mature rose in bloom. Each layer reminds me of ruffles, like the full skirt of a ball gown on a princess. Corny, I know. But sometimes we need a little corny in our lives.

“I’d rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck.” – Emma Goldman

Photo 101: The Natural World

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blogging U, nature, photo 101, Photo Challenge, PHOTO101, photography, Wilderness Wednesday

“Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever… it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.” Aaron Siskind

Photo 101: Big

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home, photo 101, Photo Challenge, PHOTO101, photography

I ventured into the rain and waited patiently across the road for the lights to hold the traffic back so I could photograph this little house. I think it retains its warmth and charm, despite the big building going up beside it!

“…love grows best in little houses / With fewer walls to separate
and if we had more room between us, think of all we’d miss
Love grows best, in houses just like this.”

“Little Houses” Songwriters: CATES, MICKEY / EWING II, DONALD
Published by: Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, SUSSMAN & ASSOCIATES

Photo 101: Connections

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blogging U, family, home, parent, photo 101, Photo Challenge, PHOTO101, photography

“While Hubby is away, this mouse will…tackle some small home reno projects with her parents”. We spent the whole weekend connecting over good food and silly jokes. We browsed the aisles of Home Depot by day, and watched Game of Thrones by night. No one connected any paintbrushes with the floor or their thumbs with any hammers! I finally have my kitchen ceiling painted (2 years after I started this painting project). Best of all, Little Guy will have memories of working with his grandparents to transform his space into his space!

I experimented with camera settings, angles, and lighting some time between working hard and hardly working!

“In our life there is a single color, as on an artist’s palette, which provides the meaning of life and art. It is the color of love.” – Marc Chagall

Photo 101: Solitude

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blogging U, photo 101, Photo Challenge, PHOTO101, photography

Solitude –  the state of being alone, or a lonely and uninhabited place.

““So, if this were indeed my Final Hour, these would be my words to you. I would not claim to pass on any secret of life, for there is none, or any wisdom except the passionate plea of caring … Try to feel, in your heart’s core, the reality of others. This is the most painful thing in the world, probably, and the most necessary. In times of personal adversity, know that you are not alone. Know that although in the eternal scheme of things you are small, you are also unique and irreplaceable, as are all of your fellow humans everywhere in the world. Know that your commitment is above all to life itself.”

– Margaret Laurence

Photo 101: Bliss

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bloggin U, photo 101, Photo Challenge, PHOTO101, photography, tea

Bliss: complete happiness, great joy, paradise, or heaven.

It could have been so many things…cheese, chocolate…chocolate cheesecake. Fresh strawberries just picked and still warm from the sun. A bag a chips and an hour to kick back and play Halo. Or a cup of tea. Yes, it has to be tea. Tea with friends, even imaginary ones. Tea when it is hot and when it is cold. Tea to comfort the grieving, to soothe the discouraged, or to refresh the weary.

“A cup of tea would restore my normality.” – Douglas Adams [Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Screenplay]

“A cup of tea would restore my normality.” – Douglas Adams [Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Screenplay]

Photo 101: Street View

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blogging U, photo 101, Photo Challenge, PHOTO101, photography, travel

“A dead end can never be a one way street; you can always turn around and take another road.” – Bo Bennett

Photo 101: Water

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blogging U, photo 101, Photo Challenge, PHOTO101, photography, River scenes

Tell a story with water…

“I have lived pain, and my life can tell: I only deepen the wound of the world when I neglect to give thanks the heavy perfume of wild roses in early July and the song of crickets on summer humid nights and the rivers that run and the stars that rise and the rain that falls and all the good things that a good God gives.” – Ann Voskamp

Photo 101: Home

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birds, home, nature, photo 101, Photo Challenge, PHOTO101, photography

I signed up for the Blogging U photography course but I really did think it through. Particularly the timing…

1) Hubby is away so I’m single-parenting it this week. That’s not a problem…except when I want to go somewhere to take photos. Little Guy gives me lots of groans and eye-rolls, even when I offer to let him take some photos too. Guess it’s not his “cup of tea”!

2) Hubby is away and took my little blue camera – the one I keep in my purse in case I want to snap a shot while I’m on the go. I have a lovely larger camera but I sometimes feel too conspicuous in public to use it.

3) “On the go” generally consists of: to the school, to the church, to the school, to home. And I’m still trying to restore “home” to some semblance of order.

4) Plus Hubby is away which means this mouse is trying to get a few small home reno. jobs done when there’s one less person to work around. Of course, my parents will be visiting so that means adding two people…

5) Finally, it’s supposed to storm all week. The only thing I hate more than being wet, is being cold & wet!

I could come up with more excuses but I won’t! I could also pull out older shots, but it feels like “cheating”. So I will do my best and would love some feedback.

***

The first challenge is home. I took this photo inside the concession stand at an abandoned drive-in theatre.

“The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship.” – William Blake