The area of Atlanta, GA we live in is surrounded by several county, state and federal parks and it’s not unusual to see a Blue Heron or two (2) circling above the river or fishing in a feeder stream. Last week on our Sunday walk, this fella flew over us and landed on the stream below the bridge we were standing on. He was so still but looked as though he was getting ready to take flight. Fortunately, I was able to snap a quick photo with my cell phone.
What I like about this image is how the water, rocks, leaves and branches all seem to perfectly frame him. Since I used my Android phone, I did have to make a few adjustments in Photoshop Elements to bring out the colors and details of the Fall leaves. Still, it turned out to be a decent image (just don’t zoom in too closely 😉).
Well, it’s been quite a while since I’ve joined a Lens Artist Challenge. It’s not because of a lack of trying as I have three (3) posts still sitting in draft form. Call it a creative drought or, whatever. Maybe they’ll eventually come out of draft form. So, if you’re reading today’s post, then yay me….the drought may be over! 😊
Back to this week’s challenge where Ritva invites us to share whatever is inspirational about our kitchen. You can read up on her challenge here.
Fortunately, I’ve dabbled a little (for fun) with food photography and even wrote a few posts, too. So, this was a good challenge to hit the re-start button with.
First up, if you’re familiar with Southern Cooking, you’ll recognize the cast iron pan with its golden, sizzling fried chicken. Cooking fried chicken is my husband’s specialty. It’s a skill that doesn’t come easy (that’s why he makes it and not me) but somehow through osmosis, he learned how to make the best fried chicken from watching his mother. You can read all about his fried chicken in my post, Peggy’s Fried Chicken.
Next up, our good friends are Foodies through and through. There isn’t anything they won’t try and fortunate for us, we’re usually the guinea pigs for new dishes. I featured the dish below “Cuban Chicken” in a blog a few years back.
Oh, and then there was that time they made “Paella in a pan.”
The place setting below holds a special childhood memory. “Desert Rose” was the everyday pattern my parents used when we were children. No one seems to remember what happened to the original dishes, but one year my sister found a set on-line and ordered them. We decided to use the set for our Thanksgiving dinner that year. It was a very special day because it marked the 40th anniversary of our mother’s passing. You can read more about the dishes and the special memories in “Giving Thanks over Desert Rose”.
One summer a few years back our hydrangeas were in full bloom. I mean, we had A LOT of blooms! So, I decided to repurpose a kitchen pitcher into a flower vase. I took it a little further and decided to stage a few other elements into the photo.
In this week’s challenge Ritva also asks us to share our favorite cup. I don’t really have a “favorite” cup, so I thought I would take a photo of the cup/saucer setting from my parent’s china pattern. It doesn’t get used very often anymore (well, never), so I thought I would give it a chance to be seen. 😉
Thank you, Ritva for inviting us to find inspiration in the kitchen. What a fun opportunity for me to take a trip down memory lane and revisit some fun posts and photos.
Be sure to join us next week when Philo of Philosophy Through Photography invites us to post our thoughts and images of simplicity photography.
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.”
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
~Elenor Roosevelt
I’ve been a little busy, lately with a couple of portrait sessions and I haven’t had the chance to join in on any of the recent Lens Artist Challenges. But this week, Patti challenges us to explore what professional photographers call “working the shot” (you can read more about her challenge, here). And since you’re always “working the shot” with portrait photography, I thought I would share with you some images from a recent High School Senior Session.
Just outside of Atlanta there is a beautiful family farm called Prospect Farms. It’s truly a photographer’s paradise with several locations to shoot photos. We were scheduled to shoot in their Zenia fields, but because they had several openings that morning, we were able to wander around to some other locations on the property.
We started at 10a.m. and had one hour to shoot. Given what I thought was a short time frame I was a little nervous we wouldn’t be able get all the photos she wanted. But 600 images (yes, 600) later we ended up with more than we could have ever hoped for. Throw in a mix of sunshine and passing clouds it truly was the perfect day for a photo shoot!
“Be bold enough to use your voice, brave enough to listen to your heart and strong enough to live the life you’ve always imagined.”
~unknown
First up, the Zenia field. Cali was so prepared for this photo shoot, making my job easy! She really let her personality shine through that day.
“Take pride in how far you’ve come and have faith in how far you can go.”
~unknown
Next, the hayfield and fencepost. These were fun to shoot! There was so much texture, lighting and color to work with in both shooting and in final edits.
“Believe in yourself and you will be unstoppable.”
~unknown
And my favorite location was this old, blue truck. What photographer can’t resist taking photos of an old, rusted out truck, right?!?!
There were a few other locations we shot, but since the challenge was “one subject three ways” my twist “was one subject in three locations.” You can view some of my other favorites from that day over on my gallery page
Thank you, Patti for this week’s challenge. I enjoyed sharing a glimpse into my other side of photography.
Next week Ann-Christine will host, so be sure to visit her site, Leya, to see what she has in store (weekly challenges post every Saturday at 12 noon EST).
“Life is a journey, not a destination….You are the artist, paint what you will.”
For our challenge this week, John fromJourneys with Johnbo encourages us to share images that focus on our journeys, possibly the modes of transportation which took us there. Or to even share images of places we discovered while on our journey.
I think my love for travel started when I was a child. I couldn’t tell you when exactly it started. But if I had to guess it was the trip, we took out west when I was about six (6) years old. It was so exciting because this was my first plane ride. And from what I remember we saw a LOT of the country – everything from The Hoover Dam to The Grand Canyon; San Diego to Disney Land, and lastly to San Franciso. I remember it being so much fun I cried (literally) when we had to come home.
“A photograph is a return ticket to moments already gone.”
Trip out west – Stop at the Grand Canyon Dad’s missing because he was the one taking all the photos (I’m the one in red pants).
Yes, I’ve been very fortunate throughout my life to travel to many places here in the U.S. and to other parts of the world. And I’ve pretty much been on all forms of transportation, too: planes, trains, automobiles, sailboats, cruise ships, helicopters and yes, even The Goodyear Blimp!
But one of my most memorable adventures was another trip out west which Michael and I took Christmas of 2011. We couldn’t decide where we wanted to go, so we narrowed it down to three (3) places. We wrote the names on pieces of paper, folded them up and dropped them into a bowl. I don’t remember which one of us drew the winner, but we landed on a road trip up the Pacific Coast Highway.
Our motto for the trip was “No map, no plans, no place to be.” It’s a line from Toby Keith’s song “South of You.” The only parts of the trip planned were our airline and rental car reservations. And so, on Christmas Day we headed to the airport and boarded a plane to San Diego, CA
Once we landed and picked up our sporty Mustang convertible for the trip, we headed to our first stop just outside of San Diego (Carlsbad, CA) for a quick visit with our nephew and his family.
Our activities for the day included lunch, a walk on the pier, and a visit to Mission San Louis Rey de Francia – Oceanside, CA. You can tell the boys were quite warn out from our day’s outing and scooting around in the convertible!
Mission San Louis Rey de Francia – Oceanside, CA
The real adventure of “no map, no plans, no place to be” started when we left San Diego. Our first stop that day was lunch in Laguna Beach. It’s definitely the artist colony it’s known for.
We didn’t stop much that day because we were too busy enjoying the coastline scenery. But, by the time we reached Los Angeles and navigated our way through the traffic, we decided to call it quits for the day.
We pulled into Malibu, just in time to grab a place for the night. And, since we didn’t have any reservations, we had no idea what we were in for when it came to hotels. We were lucky enough though, to find a wonderful little inn on the ocean and were greeted the next morning by a cute seagull at our balcony door (which was at the foot of our bed).
Good Morning!Malibu Beach
Day 3 – More driving, but we didn’t care, the scenery was amazing. We stopped for the night at Moonstone Beach in Cambria. THIS was the downfall of “no reservations.” We ended up in a dive of a motel. It was one of those places where you wouldn’t dare take your shoes off, let alone get under the covers! But it was a small price to pay for a beautiful sunset.
After that fateful night when we were ready to stop for the day, we would go to the nearest restaurant/bar and ask the locals for their recommendations……they never failed us.
Sunset at Moonstone Beach in Cambria
“Due to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel across country from coast to coast without seeing anything.”
~Charles Kuralt
This is one of Michael’s favorite quotes and it’s so true. We may not have been driving coast to coast, but the quote is still appropriate for our south to north journey on the PCH. Afterall, if we had chosen to take the interstate look at all we would have missed.
Sea Lions bathing in the sunBig SurBirds taking flightPigeons Point LighthouseRoad trip views drivingRoad trip views drivingCool Roadside Art GalleryCool Roadside Art GalleryCool Roadside Art GalleryLucky Motorcycle
Our last stop just in time for New Year’s Eve was San Francisco. We decided to return the rental car and walk or take BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) instead. We wrapped up our trip with a nice dinner catching up with some longtime friends.
Fisherman’s WharfChina TownAlcatrazRosie the Riveter Built ThisFamous Cable Car
Thanks, John for this wonderful challenge. It was fun re-living this road-trip and all the wonderful memories Michael and I enjoyed together.
Next week it’s Sofia’s turn. Be sure to follow her at Photographias so you don’t miss out on her theme.
Donna Robinson Photography 