A Picture is Worth...

a thousand words degrees.  I shot this around 9:30 this morning.  It's morning light and it already has a shimmering, hazy quality.

Last night was a mini-celebration of my mother's birthday, just she and I, take out with berries over angel food cake.  Tonight is dinner with friends and tomorrow the larger family celebration.  We've decided on painting pottery together and walking across the street later for gelato.

Today  I plan to use the afternoon to catch up on my craft class.  The shades are drawn to keep out the heat of the sun...I love that burrowed-in feeling.  As long as there's air conditioning.

I must be pretty suggestible.  I watched a PBS show on the food of Lebanon this week and suggested we visit a persian restaurant for supper this evening. But who could turn down fresh hummus, falafel or lamb kebobs? 

I signed up for a snail mail pen pal on the Shutter Sisters site...and I got two!  However, my post card order (using my photography) hadn't arrived when I needed to send my first mail.  So I used a couple of cards I made.  I love snail mail, but never really get any.  I am resolved to mail more to people.

Hope your weekend includes a summer breeze.

Tilt-a-Whirl

Today's prompt was to try a spin with your camera.  After work, I went to the top of our deck and looked for the horizon line - the best one was toward Stone Mountain. 

And here you have it.

And the whole time I was doing it, I was either grinning or laughing to myself.  Thankfully no one was up there to see or hear me.  I think.

It was fun to try something so seemingly wacky in order to create something.

And it reminded me of childhood when I'd twirl around and around, trying to get dizzy and then collapse in a fit of giggles.

There should definitely be more twirling in the world.

WW Photowalk 2010

Well, I did it again...the Scott Kelby world wide photo walk was today.  We started out from Centennial Olympic Park at 9ish and at 9:01 I was full wilted!  For a lifelong Southerner, I do not accept the heat gracefully or graciously. 

But, there were 3 of us from my office in the group, and it was fun walking around a park of downtown that I rarely see.

And for once, I made good choices about not carrying much: camera, extra memory card and that was it.

So, here are my highlights.  Did you participate?

Peeling a Pinecone

As I watched him, I could only ask myself:  "could I peel a pinecone with only my lips and two paws?"

Truly something to ponder.

Wedding Photography

This weekend the daughter of a dear friend gathered her bridesmaids for a fitting and to share her wedding dress choice with them.  I got to play photographer (yay!). As is tradition, no photos of the dress are shown lest they spoil the surprise for the groom.  From what I saw this weekend, it will be a lovely wedding party in January, and the groom will have a beautiful bride.

I offer you a glass of champagne to join in a toast to romance and the happy couple. And to the stamina of the mother of the bride.

Below is a reaction shot - Julia is coming out of the dressing room...this is a series of 4-5 photos that I think turned out very well, and if you only could see those few photos, you'd know the complete story of the day.

It was fun to put a toe in the shallows of wedding photography.  I've often thought that might be one of the most pressure filled assignments, and this weekend confirmed it.  The stakes are so high - it's a high point in any couple's life and to miss a moment or fumble a photo would be so disappointing. It also proved that I'm going to have to break down and learn flash photography if I want to do much event photography.  I'll have to mull that one over.

Photojournalism

It was a dark and stormy night. 

The rain had not started, but the wind whipped the trees, lightning flashed overhead and thunder rolled.

And I walked under the trees calling my wayward golden retriever.

20 minutes later, she came shooting out of the inky shadows behind house next door, covered in burrs and panting happily.

I was not amused.

Crimescene (you will note the new escape next to the blocked off previous escape)

Don't they say criminals return to the scene of the crime?

Watching with dismay as the hole is filled with gravel (uncomfortable for little paws to dig in), bricks and stones.

Escape route blocked. 

Until next time.

Juicy Fruit

Just sharing the

beauty of favorite breakfast (greek plain nonfat yogurt, strawberries & raw cashews).

Treat Yourself

Nothin' says self-lovin' like somethin' from the oven.

Remember the Pillsbury Dough Boy saying that? 

Well, sort of that. 

This was strictly in pursuit of today's photo assignment.  No other cookies were baked other than the 5 in the shot.

Otherwise I would have been perfectly content with the luscious canteloupe I got at the farmer's market Saturday.

Really.

Everyday

I love the everyday.  Those things are special to me and easily slip by unremarked.  This is my first attempt at the 'shape of summer' prompt yesterday because of the shape of the mirror.

So this morning when I got up and saw the Making Memories prompt, I knew this was my shot.

On this everyday shot, I'm dressed and ready for work, which prompts this dog to get ready to nap.  She's also guilty of just having tunneled under the fence and was recovered when Gus sounded the alarm (sharp, shrill yips and he did it the last time she got out). I love the way sun comes through this window in the morning, and I love the colors and that though I tried to straighten before leaving, I missed moving my gown to it's place.

Everyday is really special.

So Subtle

One of the photo assignments was to find the subtlety of summer...in color.  As work has interfered in my free time, I wrestled with that assignment and sat on my front step late in the evening to figure out what to do.

This is a blossom stem of plants by the front walk and of course I've forgotten their names.  The blooms are spent.  And for some reason my neighbors side porch light was already on. 

It perfectly highlights the strand of golden retreiver hair...

Art & Golden Retrievers, who could ask for more?

Up on a Roof

from the roof of my office tower in downtown Atlanta looking north...

this view is looking west through the balcony, and you can see I 20 in the distance if you look...

Through a Glass

These are two of my most recent class efforts.  It's interesting to see what gets comments and what doesn't.  The second is the one I uploaded, and it got no comments (when I last checked), and that's okay, because I learn from what doesn't get feedback as well as what does. 

What I'm thinking about today is how I read a photo prompt and sometimes go in a direction that is definitely not the direction intended. 

It's funny how everyone's minds work differently.  Have a great day!

The Lookout

July 4, 2010
The Peachtree Roadrace

God Bless America

Sprinklers & Sparklers

When I think of summertime play, I think of running through sprinklers or water fights with the hose. Water figured prominently in summertime, whether we had a pool or not. 

And we always had those Black Cat firecrackers that we used to...well, I'm not sure the statute of limitations has run on that.  And sparklers - they were magical.  We lit them and held them, wondering at the magic of light, and as we got older, wrote words or made shapes in the dark with them.

That was when the prospect of summer stretched out before us, limitless like the Gulf of Mexico when we went  to Panama City Beach for the day.

My birthday each summer was bittersweet: a day just for me but the knowledge that shopping for school clothes and school itself was only 3 weeks away (that was when we started after Labor Day).

Now summer means better traffic. 

And fresh vegetables at the weekly neighborhood market or stands on the side of the road:  corn and beans and, most importantly, tomatoes. And fruit:  apples, peaches, berries and melons. 

Vacation is a week, or two if I'm lucky,  and I have that same sense of limitless time as I did in childhood, even if it's just for a while.

And sprinklers and sparklers are still magic.

Whirr of a Fan

What do you see in your mind's eye when you think of summer? 

Picture Summer began yesterday, and this is my Day 1 shot.  It also happens to be the only part of my mildew infested porch that I can show you.  Just keeping it real. 

Today's prompt is something involving water, and after days of hoping for rain, it is raining.

Coincidence?

Coincidence is the word we use when we can't see the levers and pulleys.



Emma Bull

Have you read any Emma Bull books?  I read one called Territory, I think.  It's science fiction about the west.  Can't wait for the second of the series.
 
And in other news, my hummingbird feeder has been assiduously dissed by hummingbirds.  Woodpeckers, on the other hand, have bellied up to the bar.
 

 
I didn't catch any action shots because I was standing there flat footed and slack jawed, but it went something like dip beak, tilt back head, dip beak, tilt back head.  It went on long enough that tiny bubbles rose in the bottle.
 
Oh, and the face I saw in the car window yesterday was the face from the 1970s version of Wooly Willie or Hairy Gary.  You know the one with the face behind a sealed plastic cover with metal shavings - and you used your magnetic wand to deposit shavings whereever you wanted hair to be.  It also looks like a Marvel comics thug. 

Face in the Window

Imagine my surprise when I sat down at my computer one morning and saw a face in the window of my car. 

Who do you see?