Distractions

My son sent me a quote which I felt was very thoughtful and needed to be shared here.

Once I read it and after we discussed it, I decided that this indeed was very appropriate. It also explains the 'why' I have toys and why I experiment in photography and graphic art.

"The opposite of play is not work - the opposite of play is depression." ~Dr. Stuart Brown, founder of the National Institute for Play.

Okay, so I knew this in the back of my mind. Play and exercise in some sort or another is what helps the mind get out of a rut. Well, it does for me.

With the Pandemic this year, the isolation, and ... well hell, the politics, 2020 through 2021 so far has been awfully trying. Endless days of fog and overcast weather can make things even more depressing.

So what does that mean? Not much. But I decided not to let all of that bother me. I took out my newly arrived Dragons and had a go with them. 

I spent most of my time while on the hike looking for spots along the creek that I could get good reflections. So I had to look for rocks to add to the creek bottom so the toys wouldn't be too submerged and they would stand up instead of falling over.

Yep. I crouched in a creek and arranged figurines. The whole time I was doing that my mind was clear of all intrusive thoughts. It was like going on a Mind Vacation.

Seeing as that I have Dragons in my creek, I wasn't surprised to see the Unicorns in the forest.

I amused myself by trying different methods of processing the photos. I use DxO's Photo Lab 4 for most of my processing. I dipped into Analog Efex Pro 2 for these shots.

It is interesting to try out different film effects.

The photo below is what I call a failed experiment. A fun one just the same. In camera double exposure. I did this indoors. The first shot is of this dragon, the double was of some 'fake' leaves. It sort of turned out with an interesting Bokeh effect but it took me down another path.

So I looked up 'how to create' a double exposure effect. And thought I'd give it a whirl.

There I am with my funky hat [bad hair day as usual]. A shot against a blank white wall. This took a long time to get the look I wanted. Don't look too close. You will see my wrinkles. I have decided that I am okay with that look too. 

I'm going to work on a few other things.
Yesterday I took Charlie for a long walk on the cropland on the ridge. I took my point and shoot Infrared Camera. Winter and IR usually don't produce great results, but I think the Creative Challenge will be a good thing.

Now to finish my errands. A trip to the butcher and we will be set again until some time late February except for milk.

Tomatoes or Toomah...toes?

 

First off, I needed to have some fun with the tomatoes. The toys were already in basket on the porch and I just decided to spend some time after picking the 'maters  to have some fun.

I know, childish, but there you go. It also let me practice using the auto stack and auto focus selection on the camera. There is an option for in camera focus stacking on the red pocket camera and the Oly OMD M5iii. Basically it takes a photo shot in macro and takes several shots to pull more items into focus when using a short focal length of 1.8 to 2. I know, gibberish to some, but practicing makes it easier to use when I get out to the woods and want to have some Fungi shots.

The 25mm lens is incredibly clear and will quickly become my favorite to use in the woods along with the macro lens which will actually do IN camera focus stacking. Love the computer chips inside these newer updated cameras.

Ok. I got off track again.

Tomatoes, yippee for canning! Here is yesterday's loot along with the sauce we had for supper which I froze all the extra with mushrooms and sausage for quick meals later this year.

Marigolds...a bowl of them!

Zinnias...I love Zinnias.

Each week I pick a plastic bottle or a can and fill it with Zinnias and drop it at my neighbor's bench. She claims to have a brown thumb and flowers are still a mystery to her. Though she is doing very well with her little green house.

Tomatoes on the porch....

They are the next ones to get ripe and canned. 

However I am setting aside Thursday or Friday to get out with my pal Bill and go hiking. 

I do put my foot down on getting OUT to go somewhere with another human and spend time hiking or biking. This is part of my self care. Bill is willing to hike in all seasons which means we can continue through the winter months. It is something I look forward to a LOT each week.

I started the Veteran's Administration CareGiving class yesterday. More on that later.

My sunflowers are just about done and I toss the stems to the mules. The flower heads I leave out for the birds.

And last but not least. August 31st had an amazing sunrise.

I leave you with that today.

Until tomorrow.

Be well, stay safe and healthy.

Busy as a Bee...Blood Roots!

I didn't expect to find anything coming up in the woods at all.  But it was warm on Saturday and I was taking a break from working on cleaning up the veggie garden so I took a walk and found these on one of the rock outcroppings.

These Maiden Hair Ferns were just barely above the moss!

I cut across to the place where I figured that the Blood Roots would come up and Lo and Behold!

The Blood Root was up and looking very good!  I'm sure after this rain we'll have more popping up on this hillside.

We have Barberry growing like crazy in the woods.  Personally I dislike it.  It is sharp and an invasive species.  I clip and dig up all that I find on our own land.
But this is the first year that I've seen Barberry keep its little fruits while leafing out.

It is pretty but it sure is sharp!  I hate trying to wade through these when they are intermixed with berry briers...unless there is fruit on the berry briers!

My short interlude into the forest brought me some much needed 'peaceful' time to collect my thoughts and attitude before returning to the vegetable garden and transplanting perennials so the would be out of the way for when the house is re-sided.

However, I do love Nature's Gardens even if they are not always so easy to locate.

Today we have much needed rain so it looks like a good day to pack up things for Good Will and finish cleaning out the extra bedroom.

Hubby will be in Madison for a procedure and will be back some time on Tuesday.

Our elder Subaru is taking a quiet and slow road to engine death and our Jeep has a lot of miles on it.
This summer looks to be a real crazy one as far as travelling.

Hubby suggested that I get something new or near new because of the miles we will be putting on this summer.  Plus he felt I needed a 'better' vehicle for getting back and forth to work.

Hmmmm.  I haven't had a car that was less than 10 yrs old in I don't know how long.

Looks like the rain will jump start our tulips and daffys into blossoming.

Well off to chores and some whirlwind cleaning inside the little house!

Lines Lines, Everywhere a Line

So our assignment this week was on leading lines in 256SOG.

I watched as many folks posted beautiful shots of perfect lines.  Many photos involved sidewalks, bricks, buildings, alleys, people, benches, and parks.

I was pretty sure that my lines were not straight nor correct.  But the nature of our area geographically makes for an interesting study of 'lines'.

For our terrain really doesn't have a straight line.  It is all about gentle and steep curves.

I can think of one stretch of road in the 30 miles I travel to work that has an actual straight line.

So there was my dilemma.  How to find a photo that represented leading lines.
I was walking with Dixie in a snowfall when I thought to take this.

The cornrows were curving lines.  The ridge road was curving lines.  The fence was futile attempt at making a straight line.


Then Sunday as I was walking up the driveway to meet my neighbor I glanced over into the woods and was startled to find the following lines in the trees and their shadows.

Now here are lines!

I had to take the shot. 
To me it was just curious and interesting that I had happened upon such perfect lines in our crazy hills.

Rarely do the shadows line up properly like this.
And generally only once during the winter do I get a 'find' like this.

Enjoy my 'lines'.

I am having riding withdrawals!

Seems I haven't ridden in days.  
But that could be do to my demanding schedule.
12 hour overnight shifts, day shift, night shift...all make for a weird sleep schedule.

I however did get out early the other morning with my cameras, one Nikon and one point and shoot for an awesome foggy morning sunrise.

I didn't realize how chilled I was while awaiting just the right light to get the 'right' shot.
Of course there is no such thing.
It is pure luck, either the sunrise combined with humidity and temperature make the right conditions ... or not.

In this case it seemed to have done perfectly for my purposes.

After the sun peaked over the ridge, I moved to another area to watch it rise again.
Seriously, in hill country you can do that!

Imagine my surprise when I discovered frost on the soybeans!

This last photo was taken with my point and shoot FujiFinePix camera.  I posted it to Flickr and imagine my surprise when this morning I looked at my Flickr Account and realized that I'd had 49 thousand hits on this photo.

I think this just proves that you absolutely do not need the most expensive camera in the world to take a fine photo.

It helps to have good equipment.  But this was not what I considered my best camera.  It is my haul around the woods, climbing rocks camera.