2012.06.21 Do not release the shutter

Heuchera "Palace Purple" (common name, Coral Bells) . . .

My theory of composition?

Simple: do not release the shutter until everything in the viewfinder feels just right.

~ Ernst Haas

That's easy . . . right?

~ Me

2012.06.05 The beauty of life, captured

[ Kim Klassen's Trust texture VividLight PSE vignette ]

Photography is the beauty of life, captured.

~ Tara Chisholm

Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.

~ Psalm 37: 3-4

Linked to:

Texture Tuesday at Kim Klassen

Shutter Sisters

2012.06.02 Enjoying the process

[ Nancy Claelys - A Rural Journal Jennifer texture LinearBurn ]

You can also see sometimes that the best pictures

are the ones where you didn’t try so hard, where you were just enjoying the process –

and you didn’t even know why you were making the picture.

It felt right.

If someone asked, "Why are you making this picture?" 

you probably couldn’t describe it very well –

and that’s why it needs to be a photograph.

~ John Sexton

To enjoy the process is the goal

in the taking of the photograph

and

in the use of textures, cropping, and blending modes.

~ Me


Now linked to:  Weekly Top Shop at The View from Right Here
Your Sunday Best at A Rural Journal

2012.05.18 Hydrangea

"Light glorifies everything.
It transforms and ennobles the most commonplace and ordinary subjects.
The object is nothing; light is everything"
~ Leonard Misonne

Linked to:

Photo Art Friday at Pixel Dust

Flower Art Friday at Photos by LeAnne

2012.05.16 And still more decay . . .

I should find a more positive word for the metamorphosis of things . . . other than "decay".

I'll work on that.

Peonies . . .

"What you have caught on film is captured forever ...

it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything."

~ Aaron Siskind

2012.05.10 In my garden . . .

. . . peonies are in full bloom.

Here is one photo of just part of a flower, but processed with two very different treatments.

The first photo uses Pixel Dust's Everything is Illuminated texture . . .

This second one is the same photo with a Dark Charcoal Sketch effect . . .

Very different results.

Linked to:

Photo Art Friday at Pixel Dust Photo Art

Flower Art Friday at Photos by LeAnne

2012.05.10 Looking deeper . . .

. . . and, surprise!  (see second photo)

This shock of seeing what was hidden to my eyes

(while looking at the camera screen)

never ceases to amaze and delight me . . .

. . . looking deep into an English iris . . .

Linked to:

Share the Joy at Meri's Musings

This or That Thursday at Deb Duty Photography

2012.05.08 Fungi, flower, ferns, and a frog

Relaxing in the small front garden last Sunday with . . .

I love how the water outlines the lily pads . . .

2012.04.26 What is yet to be . . .

Baptisia . . .

Trandescantia . . .

Autumn olive . . .

Peony . . .

2012.04.26 What would have been . . .

Hydrangea . . .

Wisteria . . .

. . . without the hard frost we had a couple of weeks ago.

2012.03.22 Magnolia blossoms

More like a sea anemone . . .

Linked to:

This or That Thursday at Deb Duty

2011.06.27 Gladiolus . . . one of my mom's favorites

2011.06.19 Purple coneflower (alba) . . . watercolor

2011.06.17 Pennisetum Grass in natural light

Today's prompt at Shutter Sisters is natural light.

This photo of pennisetum grass was taken in late evening on a breezy day

with a long exposure to capture the remaining light  . . .

2011.06.15 Garden plants - peony

Bread feeds the body, indeed, but flowers feed also the soul.  ~ The Koran

One of the most beautiful of the perennials, 
peonies bloom in late spring in the Midwest. 
The total flowering period is only week or two
for most varieties.  The peony plant is
generally 2-3 feet high, bushy, non-invasive, with glossy green leaves during the entire growing season.  It’s pretty even when not in bloom. 

The peonies in the photos are herbaceous peonies, meaning they die back to ground level in winter.  A tree peony has different growing requirements and habit and is not herbaceous.

They are only a bit fussy about planting conditions:

·         they need sun for at least half-a-day and more is better

·         the root system can’t be planted deeper than 2 inches or the plant will likely not bloom

·         plant in good soil which is neither too dry nor too wet and is well-draining

·         they need several feet of space between root systems

Peonies are long-lived; 50 years is not an uncommon age for a herbaceous peony.

Peonies are often depicted in Japanese and Chinese art and the herbaceous peony has been the state flower of Indiana since 1957.

These flowers create beautiful flower arrangements.  Since the bloom period is fleeting, I always cut them freely so I can enjoy them inside as well as outside.

I’ve only found two drawbacks or disappointments with peonies:

·         since there is nectar on the outside of the flower buds, you need to check for ants and other tag-alongs when bringing the cut flowers inside

·         if your area has a particularly rainy time, the peony flowers may appear and disappear without time to fully appreciate their beauty.  This happened in my garden this year; very disappointing to miss these gorgeous blooms

Peonies are best transplanted in the fall.  The root systems are easily divided, so if you’ve seen a peony you would like to have, the most difficult part is remembering exactly which peony had the blooms you liked.

Get 3-5 “eyes” on the roots if you can.

Most gardeners are pleased to share; just ask.

 

2011.05.29 Garden plants - hosta

Gardeners living in the Midwest need plants which will survive unpredictable weather in all seasons.

A staple garden workhorse is the entire family of hostas.

They thrive in shade and semi-shade and even do well in part-day sun.

But, no full (all day) sun.

They provide beauty and stability and gorgeous foliage

and also a wonderful backdrop for blooming plants.

There are hostas in many varieties, variegated or not,

small and large and everything in-between.

They are almost maintenance-free.

All the gardeners I know willingly offer starts from any hosta they have.

Just ask.

 

 

 

[  Happy birthday, Sarah ]

2011.05.14 Spring Garden Maintenance

Every morning this week,
I spent 30 to 90 minutes in the garden for spring clean-up.

I've found that when I wait for the "right day"
(reasonable temperature, minimal rain/hail/wind, a day off of work)
the gardening will wait . . . and wait . . . and wait . . .

So every morning this week,
I put on gardening clothes and stepped outside.
My work day started after that morning's bit of gardening was done.

I simplified the garden areas when I knew my kids would be leaving and my "free" help would be gone.
(Little did I know, none would go very far :)

For the last decade, the garden has only shrubs, grasses, and perennial flowers.

Some have grown to overlap others; many have open space around them.

Planning ahead for a simplified landscape,

we removed the fenced area which had previously been raised beds for vegetables and annuals.

The fenced area in early spring 2002 . . .

 Other perennial beds were reduced in size or eliminated.  

This triangle bed in the center of the front garden, again in early spring 2002 . . .

was eliminated in 2009 . . .

Although we still have several perennial beds,

minimal maintenance keeps gardening enjoyable.

More soon on which plants I think are the best value = beautiful + easy maintenance.

2011.04.29 Doublefile viburnum . . .

. . . so named because the flowers are in pairs

and seem to be marching down each branch . . .

[  Happy birthday, jan :)  ]

2011.04.28 Ferns . . .

2011.04.24 Easter! and some rainy day photos

A slow, steady rain in the early afternoon

left raindrops which looked like diamonds when seen from the side on this bleeding heart . . .

The hostas . . .

Under the redbud tree . . .

Under the open sky . . .

Next to the [very] small pond . . .