This old washboard has been with us at every house we’ve owned- always sitting in the garage. I think we bought it at a garage sale or maybe an antique store and intended to hang it in a laundry room. I have it by the fireplace in this house, but think we might actually hang it this time.
Edited in Perfect Effects 8
One of the things I love about our new house is our living room/mancave. We no longer have a formal living room, but instead have an open floor plan with a “great room” (we never call it that)- where we sit by the fire in the evening and watch TV. It’s designed for comfort and warmth, with recliner couches, a fireplace with a gas log, and a TV. I have added flowers and some decorative touches to dilute its mancave-ness; it suits me as well as the male members of the family.
This photo shows my gerberas in front of a lantern (with a battery operated candle in case of power outages). You can see fireplace bokeh in the background.
Textured with ecru by Kim Klassen.
We spent some time Saturday walking at two of the local lakes. My soul had been crying out for water! When we lived in Benicia, which is on the Carquinez Strait, I had become so accustomed to being able to walk down by the waterfront regularly- I miss it. We actually have (small) lakes here that are just as close to us as was the waterfront in Benicia, so we decided to visit one we had not seen (Goldwater Lake) and one we had visited before (Lynx Lake).
Here are a few photos from our walk at Lynx Lake.
Reflection
Boats stacked for the winter which has not yet arrived
The path
The quest for good light continues, and when you can’t find it INSIDE- you go OUTSIDE!
I purchased some gerbera daisies at Trader Joe’s with the intention of photographing them in my living room. However, I started too late to get the good morning light through the window, so I took them out to my front porch. Brilliant idea! I will definitely be using my front porch more often for photography.
This image was textured with two layers of Kim Klassen’s anna.
I took this photo as I walked back up our little hill after my walk yesterday. Several of the birds (finches?) flew off as I approached, but these guys hung around while I took the photos. I’m using it for the Flickr challenge, plenty.
Texture is sybil by Kim Klassen.
This little bird stayed at our sliding glass door for the longest time; I’m not sure if he could see in or was studying his reflection. Eventually, another came around, and they both flew off.
Waiting to see which of my friends will tell me what kind of bird it is. . .
Textured with several textures from Kim Klassen’s waterfront collection.
I’m having one of those uninspired days today, so I went to Flickr again for inspiration. One of the challenges was lumpy, so I photographed one of the sea shells my father brought back from the South Pacific during World War II. I obsessed for awhile over whether this shell was bumpy and not lumpy– but ultimately am just calling it lumpy for the challenge. Say those two words long enough and they don’t sound like real words anyway!
I think this just might be the last post with my dried up flowers. . . On the third day of my quest to find good light, I noticed the shadows cast on the wall by the bottle and dried flowers in my living room. As I focused on the shadows, the camera also focused on the texture of the wall- which I didn’t want it to do. I never completely solved this problem, but did add some texture to the image of the single bottle- which diminished the problem somewhat.
I spent three days with my tripod set up in my living room (actually, it’s still there) and pointed at my tiny arrangement of dried flowers. Warning- there will probably be one more post with these flowers.
Here is a macro, converted to black and white with a bit of split toning for warmth.
The old-timey charm of Prescott continues to draw us in when we walk around downtown. Here are two detail shots of older buildings right across the street from each other. I was standing by the stairs on the left as I shot the facade of the Hotel St. Michael across the street. Want to know what’s down the stairs? A smartphone repair shop!
Both of these were edited in Perfect Effect 8- I love that program!
My little arrangement was carried all around the living room today until a patch of early morning light was found. I added my coffee cup to the scene, and here is my photo of the day, lightly textured with bamboo, by Kim Klassen.
Linking up with Texture Tuesday
The formerly pink flowers on one of our shrubs outside have dried in an attractive way, so I’ve been making little arrangements of them. I converted this shot to black and white to eliminate the green wall behind- and added a texture at very low opacity. Last night I dreamed that I was photographing carbonated water in front of newly painted white walls in our living room, but that people kept drinking the water. Psychoanalyze THAT!
My daughter and I both discovered knitting a few years ago, and I have been fortunate to receive some beautiful gifts knit by her over the years. Both of us have drifted away from knitting in the last few years- me, because of hand issues and my other obsession (photography) and her, because she is an incredibly busy mom of two little boys (as well as being a preschool director). I was searching for photo inspiration on Flickr and found that KNOT was a topic this week. I immediately thought of knotted fringe and this beautiful scarf, made by my daughter. I think the pattern is lattice lace, and it is made with a beautiful, soft mohair.
I searched for a quote, and found this Japanese proverb. I’m not sure how true it is right now with the polar vortex (receding, I hope?), but like the sentiment.
I am linking up with Friday Finds today, not because I found the scarf (it wasn’t lost- I wear this scarf!), but because I discovered a new processing technique! I had already posted this image to Flickr, but this morning I added a frame, with an easy technique I learned from Kim Klassen’s Test Kitchen. I love how you can still see the image through the frame!
Textures are from Kim’s waterfront collection.
Looking for inspiration, I coerced my husband into taking a walk around the downtown area late the other afternoon. I had a Flickr challenge in mind- PURPLE, and gave my husband the task of looking for purple items for me to photograph.
How about this one?
And here is a bonus shot of Granite Creek, which I used for the topic- SOUND OF SILENCE (although it certainly was not silent when I took this photo along Prescott’s main street).
