Weekly Header Challenge - Anything Goes

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Craver VII 

Fishing Guy 

Katney 

Imac 

Lew 

I'm joining in the group above for this weekly challenge.

Click on the other participants' blogs to see

what they've come up with!

Group Theme ~ Anything Goes!

Anything Goes = I Get to Choose My Theme. Which is:

The Color of Winter

Since we've been entrenched (literally and figuratively) in winter, in this seemingly interminable January, I figured I'd make the most of it.  So, here is my header, full-shot mode:

Since there's no way I'd go out in minus-11-degree weather to snag some winter weather images, I'm sharing images from a winter walk that Fernando and I went on earlier in January.  The above header image is actually the last shot I took on our walk.  As we crossed the footbridge on our way to the parking lot, I looked to my left and saw the rocks wearing their hats of snow as the brook emptied its not-quite-frozen contents into the river beyond.  I took the shot kneeling way down to get between the floor of the bridge and the lowest rail.  The perspective was beautiful.

I love those white-capped stones, and the starkness of the trees.  I almost converted the image to black and white, but there was something about those two splashes of gold from the dormant grass that adds an extra warmth and beauty to this scene.  It was a perfect image to end our walk on.

Here are my favorite images from our visit.

At the start of our path.

I edited most of these in black and white mode, which I felt lent itself to the starkness of the season.  Both black (all colors) and white (the absence of color) work together to create beauty of their own, and help me to see that winter is also about shapes and mood.

I love the shape and contrast of winter trees.

Winter prairie scene.

The next image below lent itself to sepia tones.  Although I love the same image in black and white, the sepia adds a little more warmth to the scene.

On the bridge at the river.

In case you wondered, below is the same shot taken a few Octobers ago, with the same tree branch framing the shot (I knew I liked that frame!!).

I vaguely recall that we're supposed to include an image featured in a past header, so here's my header image from January 2:

Toldja we've been entrenched in winter all month!!

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge - Wild Animals

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Craver VII 

Fishing Guy 

Katney 

Imac 

Lew 

I'm joining in the group above for this weekly challenge.

Click on the other participants' blogs to see

what they've come up with!

Theme ~ Wild Animals

I got to choose the theme for this week.  I asked my guys to just start naming categories, because for the life of me I couldn't come up with something interesting, unique, or unusual.  Wild Animals stuck out from all their hollered themes, and so we're stuck with it!  I actually don't have images of truly wild animals, but the qualification I put on the theme was that the animals be something other than domestic in-the-home animals or farm animals.

The best image I have of a non-domestic animal is a young buck (you'll see it below); however, it's a vertical orientation so I didn't choose it for my header.  Here's the full image of my header, which just gives you more blue sky:

I was on my way home from shooting a September sunrise down the street when I spotted this red tailed hawk on a light pole at my street corner.  So I pulled in the driveway, ran inside the house, changed lenses to my 70-300mm, and walked back to the corner and across the street--I even had to wait for the light to change!  He was still there, and sat and posed for me various ways.  In the shot above, he's looking toward the early morning just-risen sun.

This cardinal is one of the first bird images I've captured, taken in Georgia while on a golf cart ride with my "sister."  She stopped at my insistence and backed up the cart so I could zoom in and capture this beauty.  (There's a reason I call her my sister!)

On that same golf cart ride, we passed a golf course (the whole town is built around the course, and the golf cart paths are in every subdivision, behind almost every house, even tunneled under the roads where necessary!).  This heron was next to one of the ponds, and let me get pretty close.

Okay, here's my buck shot (pardon the pun there).  I took an autumn stroll in the woods near my house, and at one point I had turned and looked back along my path and took a picture.  I turned forward again and took one step, and this guy was 20-30 feet in front of me off to my left, just looking at me.  I froze.

He kept looking, so I slowly stooped down and changed from my 17-85mm lens to my 100mm macro, the only other lens I was carrying with me.  I figured I could get just a tad closer with the 100mm.  Then I snapped a few images, and a few more.  His girlfriend was off to the left, and he eventually left with her.  But he seemed unperturbed by my presence, even pausing to munch something on the ground.

Here are the rest of my somewhat random "wild" animal shots!

Canada geese on the pond down my street.

A fly on my astilbe in my front yard garden.

A bumblebee on the variegated beard tongue in my front yard.

Another image from Georgia--a mud-smeared shell on its owner's back.

Omigosh--it's a wild frog!  *horrific screams*

Praying mantis -- truly a wild-at-heart insect with its hunting instincts!

Thanks for viewing all my "wild" animals!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge - People Reflections

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Craver VII 

Fishing Guy 

Katney 

Imac 

Lew 

I'm joining in the group above for this weekly challenge.

Feel free to click on the other participants' blogs

to see what they've come up with!

Theme ~ Reflections of People

I hope I understood this week's theme correctly.  :)

At first, I didn't think I had but one or two reflections of people.  I actually wish my portfolio included some with water as a reflection, since I've seen some really neat images using that technique.  That is a photography wish for this spring, though.  :)  Here's what I do have.  First, the full image from my header:

This young lady, Laura, accompanied her mother to a speaking engagement in Georgia for which I was the photographer.  I snapped a few pics of her playing the piano in between workshops, then I noticed her reflection in the piano.  Shutter speed is slow; I probably used a tripod (1/6 second, I think), and I focused on her reflection.  This shot was taken early in my digital years, so I was thrilled when the image turned out.

I didn't notice the reflection in Thomas' shades, below, but once I did, I had my dad pose just right for me.  These were taken at our beloved Lake Bonaparte.

Mirrors are another great place to capture reflections, and one really cool "mirror," if you will, exists in the form of a bean.  The Bean, downtown Chicago, whose real name is the Cloud Gate.  Pardon my old banner watermark--and possibly my first attempts at photo editing.  I do like the sepia still, though!

Then there's the obligatory "selfie couple" shot in the Bean.

I remember sitting a distance off, just people-watching with Fernando, when I spotted this little boy who was fascinated with his reflection in the Bean.  I stuck my 70-300mm lens on, and captured him playing with his reflection.

Speaking of mirrors, we found a broken one in our garage.  Danny held it up for one of my selfies.  Hello, Picasso!

My favorite selfie reflection, though, was taken at the Eiffel Tower.  Fernando and I had already waited in line over an hour, but at this point we were inside the building awaiting the elevator to take us up to the top of the Tower.  I spotted our reflection in a window, and snapped the below.

Hope you enjoyed my reflections--both images and memories!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge - Ideal Weather

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Craver VII 

Fishing Guy 

Katney 

Imac 

Lew 

I'm joining in the group above for this weekly challenge.

Feel free to click on the other participants' blogs

to see what they've come up with!

Theme ~ Ideal Weather

This theme presented some problems for me!  I mean, I know what my perfect day is, weather-wise:  in the 70s, warm enough to wear a simple skirt and top, being able to have the house windows open.  But if I think of my favorite _____, I always answer, "It depends."  For instance, if you ask me right now what my favorite food is, I'll answer with something I really like but haven't had in a while (meaning I'm thinking about making it soon).  My favorite book?  Whichever happens to pop into my head.  My favorite Bible verse?  One I've read recently that impacted my life.

So--my favorite weather?  Well, it depends!  It depends on where I am, what I'm doing...  In conclusion (!), I chose this week's photos based on one of my favorite locations in the world:  Lake Bonaparte, nestled in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York.  Here's my header, taken while I was up there one autumn (my only autumn on the Lake!) a few years back:

Rich (a family friend, above), had the right idea on this perfectly beautiful, 75-degree autumn day for our last boat ride (a group of boats) around the Lake before everyone removed their boats from the water for winter storage.  Relaxing, enjoying the warmth of the sun, just being.  That's what you're supposed to do at the Lake.

What would be the ideal weather for this special place?  Let me tell you...

• Cool enough in the morning that I may have to wear a light jacket when I walk down to the dock to greet the Lake.

• The breeze would be faint--if anything at all--while I took in the blue of the water and the sky.

• Later on, it would be warm enough to go for a swim at Winter Bay, or a boat ride in my dad's Cadillac (old boat of his dad's, which he restored).

• It would be warm enough to go to the back side of Round Island where the rope swing is, for an afternoon of fun and splashes.

• It would be beautiful enough on a Friday morning to go into town (Carthage) for the weekly farmers market to browse and buy.

• It would be loon weather--whatever that is!--so I can finally get a good shot of one of these elusive birds.

• It wouldn't be too hot, though, so we could boat over to Huckleberry Rock, clamber out to find a foothold, and perch precariously on the side of the rock to pick as many huckleberries as we could!

• If I go in autumn, it would be warm enough for me to enjoy the view of the Oswegatchie River in town (Harrisville, pop. <250).

• And of course, in summer, it would be warm enough to warrant a trip to Treats n 'Tiques, the local ice cream shop 15 minutes away in Natural Bridge.

But, any day on the Lake needs to end in a beautiful evening, because even if I have to wear a light jacket for the evening's cool down, and even if I have to coat myself in mosquito repellant (I usually do), a mix of clouds in the sky means an incredible sunset is on the way.

Here is one sunset, with the photos taken several minutes apart throughout its course.

It's almost too much to take in, in just one night.  Almost.


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge - All Things New

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Craver VII 

Fishing Guy 

Katney 

Imac 

Lew 

I'm joining in the group above for this weekly challenge.

Feel free to click on the other participants' blogs

to see what they've come up with!

Theme ~ All Things New

Since it's New Year's Day (meaning wintertime), and since it snowed all day yesterday, and since I'm cold, I'm thinking about snow.  Tie that in with this week's header theme, and you get The First New Snowfall.  You just have to go out and walk in it, catch some snowflakes on your tongue, and marvel at how a blanket of snow can seem to make everything look new--or at least you're looking at things in a new way!

A sunrise is definitely new every morning (just like the mercies of the Lord, according to Psalms)!

And, just like a snowfall makes things look "new," spring flowers bring the promise of warmth and green and all things new!

With all things new, here are some of the new things I'm personally looking forward to this year:

Fernando learning new things (here he is fixing the car after learning

via YouTube videos).  He passed the CDL (commercial driver's license)

test and got his permit yesterday and will soon be in a new job, learning the

ropes as a satellite truck operator!  (Goodbye, unemployment!!)

For Joseph, our autistic son, I hope this new year is filled

with opportunities for him to grow, learn, and develop

into a fruitful participant in life.  (In this image, he got up

with me on our 2011 Florida vacation to catch the last

sunrise of our trip.)

For Thomas and Jacob:  Thomas will graduate our homeschool high school,

and move on to bigger and better things!  Jacob will graduate from WIU and

begin his career in law enforcement with an eye toward the FBI or U.S.

Marshals (watch out, world!).

New beginnings!  There are already three weddings on the horizon this year,

with the promise of a few more for us to attend.

Lastly, for my business, I hope to capture more moments like the above

(holding baby sister for the very first time).  I hope to hone my skills and

shoot better and better!

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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