Happy Macro Monday!
This shell lei is one of several souvenirs brought back from Hawaii by my father after World War II.
f/7.2, 1/20, ISO 2500, 85mm
I had to close down my aperture quite a bit to get all the foreground shells in focus. I used a tripod and manual focus- and for the first time used Live View to zoom in to make sure things really were in focus. I don’t know why I never thought of this before; my friend Rudy mentioned this trick. Duh! Thanks, Rudy!
When I was a little girl, my mother cooked very plain meals- meat, potatoes, canned vegetable, sometimes jello. My mother learned to cook a new exotic dish when I was about ten. There was some event going on, maybe at church or in one of her women’s groups, and her task was to make taglierini in her huge electric roaster. We got the leftovers- WOW! It was so different and so delicious!
You have to realize that at this point I had never even had spaghetti- even Kraft mac and cheese came later in my life. I had my first slice of pizza and my first taco when I was away at college. So you have to realize what a big deal this was- taglierini!
It was basically hamburger and onion and tomato soup (not sauce)- with the addition of canned corn and canned mushrooms- and hunks of cheddar cheese melted into it. It was supposed to be served with noodles- but we never had it that way. The crowning touch was baking powder biscuits placed on top! Oh my!
My mother explained to me that it was just goop- and that’s what we called it from then on. I served it to my own children without mushrooms but WITH pasta- and eventually changed from tomato soup to tomato sauce. I made it for Miles when I was in Wyoming last year waiting for the new baby to be born. He loved it- and wanted it for breakfast the next day.
My grandbabies will be arriving any moment- so the goop is cooking!
It’s a ” OMG, it’s 4:00 and I need to take a photo” kind of day.
I actually photographed the details on this mirror a couple times earlier in this project- and didn’t use any of the photos (at least I hope I didn’t. . .). Seven months in, I realize that I know a little more than I did back then- AND I have a macro lens. SO I am glad I waited.
f/10, 1/100, ISO 400, 85mm
I didn’t use my Texture Tuesday image in my blog this week (ran out of time), but you can see it on Flickr. It’s the textured roses.
As I scooped fruit into the VitaMix this morning, I noticed the ice crystals on the frozen peaches and thought- Macro Monday!
f/5.6, 1/125, ISO 2500, 85mm
When we were first married, we regularly perused garage sales and secondhand stores for furniture, vintage items, and children’s books (which I collected before we even had children). One of my early purchases was a Mother’s Encyclopedia from the 1940s; I liked how it looked in my kitchen with my recipe box, and I thought it funny that there would be an encyclopedia just for mothers. Unfortunately, the last volume was missing, so there was no chance I would ever learn everything a mother needed to know!
Today, my daughter and I had a long phone discussion about discipline techniques for her three year old son. It seems like yesterday that I was working on improving HER behavior! Well, she turned out great and is a fantastic parent, but parenting is as challenging as ever.
When my children were small, I read books by Dr. Brazelton and Rudolph Dreikurs instead of the Mother’s Encyclopedia, but the little set of books has remained in my kitchen all these years. Today, I photographed them and used some of the techniques I have been learning in Kim Klassen’s Photoshop Essentials class to edit the photo (including the textures canvasback magic, not too shabby, and frame it). I experimented with using curves on just part of the image, decreasing saturation on a selection, and, of course, textures and layer masks.
After blithely stating yesterday that, if you have a macro lens, you never run out of subjects to photograph- I ran out of subjects to photograph. I went so far as photographing my laundry (we decided it is finally time to take off the flannel sheets!)- but, noooooo. . .
So here is something that used to be involved in laundry- ironing laundry that is!
f/1.8, 1/100, ISO 1250, 35 mm, textured
Fortunately, I never had to use this- I think it came from an antique store years ago. I don’t even like ironing with a steam iron.
Every time I walk by this tree, I always see a dog in the bark (there’s a joke there somewhere. . .)- but my husband doesn’t see it. How about you?
f/5.6, 1/100, ISO 800, 85mm
The sweetest birthday present I received this year was from my three year old grandson, Miles- a beautiful macaroni necklace made with his own little hands. I wore it all day yesterday and am wearing it again right now!
f/6.3, 1/160, ISO 3200, 85mm
My good friend, Georgia, became a grandma a little less than 3 weeks ago- and today she brought her new grand-baby (and his mama) to my house for a Rapunzel get-together. Georgia was the last in our group to become a grandma, and her biological grandma clock has been ticking loudly for quite awhile! She is beyond happy, and Baby Trent is obviously quite content in her arms!
They say it’s my birthday…happy birthday to me… (misquoting the Beatles).
It’s my first birthday since retiring last year. I woke up to presents and many Facebook birthday wishes- a great start to the day! We went out to Java Point (no, not Starbucks!) for breakfast. This afternoon we will be seeing a movie, any movie- none look great to me today- and then to the Cheesecake Factory, so I can have my favorite “low carb” (yeah, right…) cheesecake.
So here is a quick macro detail shot of the beautiful necklace Lonnie gave me this morning!
f/7.1, 1/80, ISO 3200, 85mm
No, it’s not about birds this time!
It’s about multi-tasking- making hard-boiled eggs AND taking my photo of the day!
f/7.1, 1/320, ISO 250, 85mm
I turned it into a high contrast black and white- just because I can!
It’s not a camera.
It really isn’t.
It just looks like a camera.
It’s really a . . .
Pencil sharpener!
Cool, huh? We have been friends with Joan and Rudy for over forty years (yikes!), and we always celebrate Joan and my birthdays together- we are five days apart. We met in Napa today for our birthday lunch and gift exchange, and Joan gave me this fun pencil sharpener in honor of my new retirement obsession hobby! Usually our birthdays take place in gorgeous, sunny California weather- but today we were wearing raincoats and carrying umbrellas. Oh well- it was still a lot of fun!
When I was a very little girl, my father made me a small, wooden gold star with a special opening in the back that was just the right size for a quarter, my allowance. Each Saturday, if I had been good, I would go on a hunt for my special star, which would be hidden somewhere around the house. When my children were small, they took turns hunting for their allowance using the same gold star.
f/5, 1/160, ISO 800, 85mm
Between computer problems, changing ink cartridges, some photo editing, laundry, cleaning out the fridge, phone calls etc. etc.- I didn’t take time to think of what my photo of the day might be.
Then it was time for lunch.
I was about to grab an apple when I decided that a still life of the apples might not be a bad photo for today. So I quickly took a few shots and then…
I ate one of the apples!
Mission accomplished.
f/3.2, 1/60, ISO 1600, 35mm
The rain we’ve had the last few days seems to have gone, and, as I wandered out to the yard this morning, I noticed how different everything looks with the trees trimmed. “Our” squirrel was bounding about as usual, but is having to learn new paths among the branches. Our pin oak’s limbs used to droop and were entangled with the magnolia and laurel nearby. Now I can stand UNDER the pin oak and look UP!
f/3.8, 1/200, ISO 300, 24mm
melinda anderson photography 