Fall is in the Air

The Fall colors really peaked in Atlanta last weekend. They were spectacular! All the reds, yellows and oranges were all aglow. With it also being the perfect Fall weather (albeit a little overcast), I decided to go on a little photography excursion and get a good walk in at the same time. So, I laced up my walking shoes, grabbed my camera bag and headed over to the Chattahoochee National Park.

I’ve shared photos of previous Fall walks at this park before, so I tried to capture a few different perspectives along with doing a little magic in Photoshop to add some pop to a couple of images.

The Canadian Geese have arrived and settled in on the river. Well, to be honest they never really left, it just seems like a few more have joined the pack this year.

The path in the park is very wide and is approximately 3.2 miles all the way around. On the weekends runners, walkers and bikers come from near and far to enjoy the scenery. But when I was there it wasn’t very crowded and at times it was like having the entire park to myself.

As I rounded the back side of the path, I was surprised to see this little guy still gathering nectar off these tiny daisies.

There are several trails that branch off the main path. Some connect to other parks; others just make a big circle back to the main path. I’m not sure how long this particular trail (below) is and what it connects to, but I just loved how it draws your eye through the canopy of trees. I also had a little fun in photoshop with this one applying an “Orton Effect.” If you’re unfamiliar with this effect, it’s designed to give your photos a little “dreamy” feel. What do you think?

Here is another image that I added the “Orton Effect.” This tree really caught my eye!

Back home this Maple made its debut, but it was short lived after an evening rain/wind managed to blow most of the leaves off.

But, hey I can’t complain about the colorful “carpet” of leaves it left behind.

“Autumn embraces change, even as she is falling to pieces.”

~Angie Weiland-Crosby

“Energies are Contagious…..”

Surround yourself with people who reflect who you want to be and how you want to feel. Energies are contagious.  

Photo by Donna Robinson Photography of yard art of 3 birds in a birdbath.

“Surround yourself with people who reflect who you want to be and how you want to feel. Energies are contagious.”

Who are you surrounding yourself with? Do they inspire you? Do they support you? Do they bring you positive energy?

~donna

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“When You Have a Dream…….”

“When you have a dream, you’ve got to grab it and never let it go.” ~Carol Burnette

What dream are you reaching for? Go ahead and grab it……what do you have to lose?

~Donna

~Looking for unique note cards, prints or digital prints? Then hop on over to my Etsy Shop by clicking or copying and pasting this link in your browser :https://www.etsy.com/shop/donnarobinsonphoto

Peddling Through the Fall – Backyard Fun

Fall peaked in Atlanta this past weekend and it was truly spectacular! Everywhere we drove the trees were in full color! Reds, yellows and greens bursting in all their glory. It has been a few years since I have seen such abundance of colors. Perhaps it was the extra rainy summer we had, or maybe Mother Nature just decided to give us a show. For whatever reason, I couldn’t resist stepping out into our backyard and snapping a few photos of the bicycle and birdbaths before the leaves were blown away.

Mid-morning, shooting slightly into the sun! I don’t usually like lens flares, but these just seemed to give the bicycle a little extra personality. What do you think?
One of these is not like the other, can you guess which one? A snapshot looking downward into the birdbath with the leaves floating in the water.
A different perspective of the bicycle. Don’t you just love the baskets full of leaves?
3 birds chatting over some fallen leaves in the birdbath.
That’s a LOT of leaves! I hate to tell him that the wind blew more leaves all over the yard just after he left!

As you can probably tell by the last photo, we have a couple more weeks of leaves falling so I’m hoping to snap a few more photos before they all disappear. How are the Fall colors in your part of the world? I’d love to see your colors!

Until next time, Happy Fall!

~Donna

~Looking for unique note cards, prints or digital prints? Then hop on over to my Etsy Shop by clicking or copying and pasting this link in your browser :https://www.etsy.com/shop/donnarobinsonphoto

A Fall Walk in the Park

Fall is absolutely my favorite time of year. There is something so wonderful and special about the cooler weather and changing colors of the leaves. In the Fall, Mother Nature has a way of nudging us to slow down and pause.

And so, with Mother Nature nudging me to pause last week, I couldn’t help but combine a little bit of exercise with a photography outing. Even though we live in the city we are surrounded by several county and federal parks with the Chattahoochee River meandering through and alongside most of them.

For my exercise/photography outing I was hoping to capture some of the wild birds camping out on the river. But, it was high that day and the rocks where they normally rest were completely submerged. So I had to settle for some landscape opportunities instead.

This particular park is loaded with several little creeks which the deer and other wildlife feed from. This stream is about a mile into the park.

A small creek just off the main path.

I was just making the final turn of the path and had to go back because the path was flooded. It wasn’t deep and I’ve used the stepping stones before (with Michael’s help, of course), but since I had my camera with me I didn’t want to risk being thrown off balance.

I’m actually glad I had to turn around, because I was able to get this great shot of the inside path loop. Don’t you just love how the trees frame the path?

It may not have been a good “bird siting” day, but I did manage to get a little bit of wildlife into my photos. This little, fuzzy caterpillar was just hanging out on the ragweed (at least I think it’s ragweed).

As I mentioned earlier, there are several creeks running through this particular park.

As for the exercise portion of my outing, the path is a 3.52 miles around and my Fitbit tracked me with 4.5 miles. I’ll take it!

Here’s to the Fall!

~Donna

Fall Fun With Macro Photography

The Fall colors finally popped this week in Atlanta, but I’m afraid they will be short lived with more wind and rain on the way, tonight.  The bird baths are full of both leaves and rain water and the garden (still needing some  TLC) is totally covered as well.  But, as the leaves have turned and dropped, Mother Nature has given me plenty of photo ops!

I haven’t used my Macro lens in a while so I thought today would be a good day to get outside and take some practice shots.  So, I slid my feet into my warm, fuzzy slippers and headed outdoors.

IMG_7629 111118 Fall Macro Fun copyright

Ugh, this bird bath is a total mess.  But, don’t the leaves, water and the color of the birdbath compliment each other?

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This little bird bath sits on the ground atop a few bricks…….we like to make sure the “critters” have water, too! And, because it’s on the ground I had to get a little creative to take these pictures…..thank goodness for the display view button!

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The Fall colors also gave me a good backdrop for my (still) blooming knock-out roses.

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Here’s a snapshot of my garden floor……like I said, it is totally covered with leaves!IMG_7627 111118 Fall Macro Fun copyright

Fingers crossed we’ll have a few more days of the Fall colors……..I don’t think I’m quite ready for the snow!

Have a great week!

Donna

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mosaic Landscape

A quick day trip this weekend took us up to Lake Keowee just outside of Seneca, SC.  The color of the leaves were so much more beautiful than we have had here in Atlanta.  I couldn’t resist taking a quick photo (which doesn’t quite do justice to how beautiful the colors were).

IMG_9038 110318 Lake Keowee SC

 

“Winter is an etching,

Spring is a watercolor,

Summer an oil painting,

and Autumn a mosaic of them all.”

-Stanley Horowitz