Photo-Heart Connection, journal love, and Weekly Photo Challenge

This is a catch-all post for three different fun projects: the Photo-Heart Connection, some journal photos that a group of friends and I are all posting and sharing, and the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge.  I hope it doesn’t get too long!

My choice for the Photo-Heart Connection for July was tough… on the return flight home from Chicago last week, I took many photos of clouds from my little window seat.  There were so many different types and colors all layered together and I thought it looked magical.  The one below looked sort of like a little tunnel from a stormy situation into brightness.  Then I got to my car and was exiting the parking lot and saw the one immediately below, with a lovely rim light giving special contrast to the separation of the grey clouds and the bright blue sky.  And I drove through those storm clouds and rain toward sunshine where I got to reunite with my sweet girl.

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“Journal writing is a voyage to the interior.” ~ Christina Baldwin

Some friends are doing a party this week of pictures of our journals… we were chatting in our Facebook group about being obsessed with them.  I learned I’m not alone in admiring them, buying them, and then not wanting to sully them with my scribblings.  This could probably be a post in and of itself, but I already have next week’s posts scheduled so we’ll just include it here.  

There’s just a sense of promise, of beginning, of possibility with a brand new and beautifully covered book, don’t you think?

All these pretty covers and yet I began by using boring spiral notebooks…

 I have several travel journals where I pasted ticket stubs, brochures, cards, etc. and wrote about all the inspiration I was seeing around me.  I even found an old Lira note.

I’m sure you all have a journal or two, right? If you like, share how you use them (or not) and what they mean to you.

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The WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge is PURPLE.  Well, by the time you read this, I’ll probably be behind again, but here ya go…

My favorite color!

 

Whew! Have a lovely weekend, friends.  Come back on Monday for a post I’m excited to share with you about how a tiny shift in persecutive can change absolutely everything!

Picture Black and White: Storytelling

Let’s finish this black and white exhibition, shall we? The power of black and white is perhaps most evident in documentary photography.  The important part of this type of work is telling an entire story in a single shot. Theme six for Picture Black & White was storytelling.  I have again included some of the lovely compliments my classmates left for me on my photos.

Shoot a Documentary: Documenting a moment in a single shot is one thing, telling the whole story is another. The trademark of the most widely recognized documentary shots is using a wide angle lens and including a lot of what’s going on around your subject.

I come back to this image from Italy last summer again and again. I don’t know them, but I feel as if I do!

• So cute!
• This looks like it should be in a travel brochure! Wonderful!
• What a great capture! Love your processing!
• Great capture of a great moment!
• I just love their expression.  So happy it’s contagious.
• I like the soft B&W! They look so happy and you captured that.
• Great slice of life moment!
• So fun! I love the reflections in their sunglasses.
• This shows the great time this couple is having – and you were right there enjoying it too.

 

A Detailed Study: Storytelling truly lives in the details.  Find a way to capture a shot that might communicate something you may have never thought of.

My daughter giving her doll “a bath.”

In Context: Including the big picture in your image can help you tell a larger story than you could tell by zooming in on your subject. Be sure to include the context that you feel makes your shot today so that we know exactly how you want us to feel today when we “see” your story.

When in doubt, pull out the Italy photos. We came upon this street performance in Rome, and I have many photos of the musicians and singers but only this one of the entire scene.

Expression: Today, your job is to capture someone or something as they express themselves.

“I am so not amused.”

• classic.  great perspective.
• Great expression! Nice light and angle.
• Fun!
• Oh yeah, the expressions a cat can give… 🙂
• oh this kitty is not happy  🙂
• Priceless!
• This is the best! Love how huge his feet look in this shot! No, he doesn’t look pleased, that’s for sure!
• love this – cats certainly do give us some great expressions!

See previous Picture Black & White posts: graphic elements and light, texture, messages, and nature.

Picture Black and White: Nature

It’s time to catch up with Picture Black & White and theme five (of six): nature. It did seem counter-intuitive to be focusing on nature when there is so much vibrant color to be found, but we found the beauty, the detail, and the texture of what is in nature to be so beautiful in black and white.  I have particularly loved the community-building in the class and want to remember some of the lovely compliments people have given me about some of my images, so I’ve included a few here.

The Sky is the Limit: We often wait for sunset to shoot the skies above for the glorious colors, but when you’ve got a monochromatic mind all you have to look for is depth, texture and light.

Storm clouds about to cover up the blue sky and sunlight.

• That is just stunning.
• Very dramatic!
• Beautiful! I love when the light hits the clouds like that. Great image!
• Love the contrast in the clouds!
• i LOVE this in b&w!!
• Fabulous storm clouds!!
• Spectacular! Love all the tones in this!
• So many layers! Great contrasts.
• wow. what depth!
• sensational!! love all the layers and how the sun lights that one puff of cloud ~ awesome : )
• wow that is one fierce sky!

• Love the branches in the foreground.  Pretty!
• Love the feel of this!!  magnificent ~ love how you framed this! : )
• Wonderful contrast! Love the little berries!
• Very cool shot
• I really like how the light sky divides the frame… just beautiful!

Grounded: Perhaps it’s the unexpected angle, the curious perspective or the feeling that it evokes. Use the ground as your muse. Explore, discover, connect with the earth under your feet today and see what happens!

Enjoying this lovely little droplet in post-processing.

• poetry!
• oooh! Stunning!!! That focus is amazing!!!
• wow, fantastic light and focus!
• oh wow soooo beautiful!! :-))
• the droplet is perfect!
• Gorgeous…just love that little drop!!
• That water droplet is like a hidden gem. Great capture.
• Absolutely amazing. Love what looks like an entanglement between grass and the clover.
• Beautiful b&w, love your focus and of course the water drop
• beautiful! love the angle here with the droplet of water….
• This is gorgeous! Frameworthy for sure!

Clover in my backyard

• I love seeing the little hairs on the clover. Nice!
• Love the focus and light!
• Beautiful light and detail!
• love the light :-)) and how it brings out all the charming details :-))
• this is so pretty!
• love your photo! the light is amazing.
• Such fabulous focus, lovely tones!!
• I never knew clover had the fine little hairs on the leaves. Great detail!

Lens on Landscape:  Take a look at the landscape around you and look for magnificence, splendor, glory. Consider shape and texture balance and of course lights and darks. Get lost in your landscape today.

It was fun converting this to B&W since my reason for taking it originally was the fall foliage. I used an HDR-like filter to bring out the contrast.

• I like the way you’ve captured the dense foliage… I’ve tried this and it’s harder than it looks… great job.
• lovely details and composition. great bw capture :-))
• looks like a path to somewhere lovely
• i love how the road keeps it all in control. just wonderful.

Getting Intimate: When the tiniest and seemingly insignificant things appear larger than life in our images, we are drawn in and even enchanted.  There is a magic and mystery that lies beneath what is usually obvious to the eye.  Revealing something poetic of the inner workings of nature can be so creatively satisfying.

• Great macro! I love the wispiness.
• Such beautfiul wisps!! Great capture!
• so delicate and lovely!
• like fireworks! beautiful … : )
• Ahhh – delightful!
• Love all the wispy parts!!

The Growth Process: How can you frame the growth process in nature in a way that somehow distills what can seem intangible? Black and white shots that we find in nature today can help us to focus more on the gesture than anything else so watch for a twist, a turn, a bend, a bow or anything that shows that process.

Gerber daisy before it unfolds its petals

• oh such great stuff.  love all the interesting details in here :-))
• Awesome! I love this. The light and lines are great.
• stunning macro!!
• amazing … such wonderment all about us! great photo! : )
• This is wonderful! Love the little droplets of water on it and all the beautiful tones.

• Gorgeous, love the light
• OMG – the detail on this is fantastic!!!
• amazing light and texture – love it!
• great and awesome light shining on these buds :-)) pretty cool all the details
• So delicate
• Love the hairy little things.! Beautiful light.
• this pretty much took my breath away … amazing. : )

See previous Picture Black & White posts: graphic elements and light, texture, and messages.

An announcement and a photo-heart connection: beauty is God’s handwriting

I am celebrating a private accomplishment today.  As Tracey Clark said on her blog recently, “it’s time we celebrate who we are, where we’ve been and where we are going and all the awesomely brave things we do along the way.” I can hardly believe that my little blog started a year and a half ago hit 100 followers last week. Talk about taking a risk to put myself out there! That people would like to see my photography and read my thoughts baffles me still.  But I am giddily jumping for joy and mentally doing cartwheels in celebration of this accomplishment. I am proud that I began, even though I wasn’t sure where it was going.  I am proud of sharing my photography, dreams, and motherhood struggles.  I am proud that I thought enough of myself to put myself out there… and I am rewarded with so many new friends… YOU!

Making your mark on the world is hard. If it were easy, everybody would do it. But it’s not. It takes patience, it takes commitment, and it comes with plenty of failure along the way. The real test is not whether you avoid this failure, because you won’t, it’s whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere.  ~Barack Obama

It’s time for the June Photo-Heart Connection! When I looked through the photos I took in June, this one stood out for me.  I snapped it for a Picture Black and White class prompt, but desaturating this of color sort of ruined it for me. 

“Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God’s handwriting.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

The heart and soul connection here for me is that I did not ever notice that this “weed” was so colorful until I visited it with my iPhone macro lens.  In looking at the photo on my computer, I was taken aback at it’s texture, rich color, and delicacy.  Quite a revelation… photography does that for me.  I didn’t see the beauty right before me until I had my lens there to translate it for me.  This happens so often that you’d think I’d be used to it by now, but I still pause in wonder every time.

I am currently participating in Liz Lamoreux’s Inner Excavate-along, and part of one of our prompts recently was to capture the world around us with our cameras, seeking patterns and nuances in how we see things every day.  I was immediately drawn to the words “you already know” in her prompt.  There is so much intuition within me when I’m holding my camera. 

Haven’t done it before? You can learn more about how to find your Photo-Heart Connection here.

See my May photo-heart connection post here.

Picture Black and White: Messages

The theme for the next five prompts was Messages.  Once you start looking for messages you see them everywhere…on your cereal box, on your mug, in a favorite book, signs on the street.  If you can be open and receptive, you never know what messages might come forward. * * * * * Note to Self: The dialogue that we have with ourselves might be the most important and persuasive conversation we have. Lyrics from our wedding song (Van Morrison’s “Someone Like You”) that spoke to us and keeps inspiring us 11 years later. I placed it next to our framed wedding invitation. Paint cans What fun!  Love this! Oh wow, this is great!! Cute shot. Super cute. too cool !!! :-))) love the ‘bordered’ messages :-)) great shapes and light and fun messages! : ) Love it! What great names for paint. I like the messages on both cans. Great light and shadows. Well I just had to buy these little charms… I have them hanging on a pin above my closet light switch and I admire them every day. Love these little charms!! What a great place for them to be! I thought they were earrings. Love the work on these and they look so good in black and white. I thought they were earrings – I can easily imagine them dangling from my lobes 😉 Nice purchase & shot! i can see why. there are so lovely. beautiful in black and white too :-)) i like that they aren’t perfectly up and down … live is tilted but jaunty ~ kinda like life! cool. : ) Great shot.  I like how you captured the shine. Darling! Great words to live by. * * * * * Good Fortune: Horoscopes, daily affirmations, and/or anything else that might send messages that feel like they’ve been sent just at the exact moment we need them. Framed for me by my dad many years ago… I treasure this. One card from my Bliss pack * * * * * Well Said: Words can have a great impact when written (and captured) in black and white.  Find something that speaks to you. This little plaque was given to me by my dad during a difficult time for me. Seen in a coffee shop and too good not to capture * * * * * No Words Necessary: Words aren’t the only things that speak volumes. There are pictures, symbols and signs that can communicate perfectly even without things all spelled out. I’m drawn to hearts and this collection was a must-photograph. * * * * * Handwritten: Writing by hand is somewhat of a lost art. Maybe that’s why when someone hand writes something especially for you, it feels so special.  Whenever I see the handwriting from my best friend, I instantly relax and smile. Her notes cheer my soul.

Lessons learned from shooting my first wedding… as a guest

Notice I said “first?” Despite the duality of being the sister of the bride (so exciting!) and also shooting the wedding (so nervous!), I HAD FUN! Many people approached me and said they think I’ve found my calling.  It is such a compliment that my sister asked me to be her photographer and now I feel it even more so.

• No matter what anyone says, you MUST scope out the venue beforehand.  Then you’ll know where to place yourself, what lighting needs you’ll have, etc.  Sure, nothing goes as planned, but when you’re running late to the venue (because you were helping the bride get ready) and all of a sudden the bride and groom are seeing each other for the first time and your camera isn’t set correctly and you overexpose what would otherwise be great shots, you’ll have a hard time getting over it.
• Allow plenty of extra time to shoot the details like centerpieces, favors, decor, etc.  See “running late” above!
• Have an assistant.  Plugging in a drained camera battery to charge really only works if you have an assistant to retrieve the charged one from that outlet in the back room, under the chair, bring it to you, take the other one back to be charged, etc.
• Wear something with pockets.  Pockets are a must for holding extra batteries, memory cards, remote shutter, and the shot list.
• Invest in an external flash.  Those two or three seconds it takes for the camera to get off “busy” seem like an eternity.  I like to shoot continuously, a near-impossibility in a low-light situation.  Would anyone out there like to buy me a new pro camera??? Thought not.  Sigh.
• Have a list of portrait poses.  We got great photos, but it would be great to know where to place feet, hands, etc.  Do more research… look at photography books and magazines.
• Get in shape.  I did squats, walked on my knees, and hopped up on chairs, all night.  At one point my legs were shaking and I hoped nobody noticed.  Working in such a physical manner for 6-7 hours straight is not to be taken lightly!
• The shot list is definitely needed.  I had one and it was immensely helpful.  Meeting/talking with the bride beforehand to get the rundown of what will happen when is critical.
• Definitely not least… DO NOT BRING ALONG YOUR CLINGY CHILD.  Trying to steady the camera with someone pulling on your dress is not ideal.  Neither is being still and looking through the viewfinder only to have a little person surprise attack you from behind… super scary!

I LOVED capturing all those special moments for my sister and her wonderful husband.  I can honestly say that I was PRESENT the entire afternoon and evening.  I felt so in tune with my sister’s thoughts and emotions since I was with her non-stop and looking at her so intently.  It was a marvel to watch her face as anticipation turned into excitement; frustration into surrender; amusement into intense adoration, love, and happiness… in a two-hour time frame!

I did a lot right so I feel good about my first attempt.  It was daunting but we ended up with wonderful family photos.  I am so grateful for the experience.

Picture Black and White: Texture

After the first two themes (Graphic Elements and Light), we moved on to Texture, and it’s no accident that texture follows light because to capture texture in your images you need to use the light for almost everything you are doing.  If you play with angle and perspective, you can bring something unique and maybe even surprising to your images.

* * * * *

Smooth Things Over: Let’s take a good look at all of the objects with a smooth surface today. Observe how the light plays on (or reflects off of) your subject. Explore ways to accentuate the smooth, whatever it means to you.

• Wow. Gorgeous light and textures!!
• Makes me just want to pick one of them off and eat it!
• Beautiful, Naomi! Such wonderful focus.  Love the contrast!
• So much detail.  All the little hairs the smooth skin of the tomatoes.  This is a wonderful image.
• I LOVE this! Great contrast and textures!

* * * * *

Rough and Tumble: For this prompt, consider the many synonyms for the word rough; uneven, bumpy, irregular, and course.  In black and white photography, intense texture can be the key to creating an interesting image. Seek out all of the magic and mystery that uber-textures can provide.

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The Texture of Textiles: From fleece to knit, denim to fur, textiles offer all kinds of visual interest.  Today, seek out the tangible textures of textiles!

* * * * *

Cracked Open: Cracks in any surface can offer so much visual interest to your photography.  Once you find what you want to shoot, pay careful attention to how well—in black and white images—the variation in darks and lights that the crack produces.

“There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.” ~ Leonard Cohen

* * * * *

Watered Down: When it comes to interesting and often unexpected textures, nothing beats rain slicked streets and reflective puddles.Today, study liquid—rain, water, tea, anything—and see what kinds of textures you can capture. Like with so much of photography, observation is key.

My favorite kind of shot – macro raindrops on flowers and leaves

• Absolutely stunning.  The reflections in the water drops and the way it brings out the texture of the leaf is just wonderful.
• Fabulous!
• Beautiful!
• Very dynamic!
• Gorgeous!
• Fabulous!

Photo Friday: textured flower images

“I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine.” 

~ William Shakespeare, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream“

“People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us.” 
― Iris Murdoch

“Let us dance in the sun, wearing wild flowers in our hair…” 
― Susan Polis Schutz

“In joy or sadness flowers are our constant friends.” 
― Kakuzō Okakura, The Book Of Tea

“I will be the gladdest thing
Under the sun!
I will touch a hundred flowers
And not pick one.” 
― Edna St. Vincent Millay “Afternoon on a Hill”

Photo Friday: Picture Black and White

I am already halfway through the two-month Picture Black & White class and am really enjoying it.  In looking beyond the color when taking a picture, I’m learning what graphic elements make up a strong image and how to arrange them, as well as how light brings things to life.  I have particularly loved the community-building in the class and want to remember some of the lovely compliments people have given me about some of my images, so I’ve included a few here.

Lining Up

• Lots of lines and the shadows just add to it. Love that little bit of curve too.

• oh those shadows. wonderful detail :-))

• My eye was drawn to the curved line amongst all the straight ones. Then I saw the shadows. Very nice.

• the shadows caught my eye right away too–it made me think of a sailboat!

• I agree — the shadows show up so well in b&w! Love all the straight as well as the curved lines!

• love your photo! the shadows and light are amazing and show up so well in b/w!

• oh, i love your perspective! and the cute little tootsies poking out!
• This is fabulous I really really love it.

Lining Up: My hand

• Wow! This is amazing. I thought it was a leaf from the thumbnail and it would have taken me a long time to figure it out.

• So creative. looks like a topographic map. Which, I guess, it is… 🙂

• what a cool interpretation, love it!

 

• oh wow, never thought of it before to capture this so close 🙂 magical

 

Lining Up

• Fab! This wouldn’t have the impact in color. 
• I like the juxtaposition of the curves against the straight lines of the sidewalk and bricks.
• it looked like a big potato masher on my phone! Love it!
• I like the way the shadow gives it an abstract feel.

Seeing a Pattern: I thought this flower stem was pattern-ish.

• Great pattern. Love the little dotted lines.

• such an interesting capture. Love the light.

• what a brilliant ‘eye’ you have to see the pattern in it. Very cool capture!

• How delicate, love the white dotty lines.

Building Blocks: A Street in Italy

• Very cool shot…love the perspective.

• love these cobble stone street… this is wonderful in black and white.

• Wow, you’d have to be careful walking down that street! Love your focus!

• Gorgeous! I absolutely want to go in and explore! 

• Pic draws you in and up the steps.

• A beautiful picture, love the way the staircase draws the eye into the frame.

• Breath taking! So glad you converted this. Absolutely beautiful.

• I remember walking that stairway and thinking how millions had done so before, you captured all that with just one photo.

White Out: Capturing your subject void of the darker tones of shadows and featuring mostly the light ethereal “keys” of white is often referred to as “high key” imagery.

• This looks so feathery and soft! Beautiful.

• very nice…i love all the wispy detail!

• You did a great job! Definitely looks ethereal. Lovely!

• Ooooh, this is just wonderful!

• I love the softness of this shot! It is so pretty!

High End

• Soo pretty! Love the flowers in the foreground and the darker bushes in the background. Nice.
• I love this. It feels like it is super sunny outside. The dark tunnel draws the eye into the photo too.
• I like the texture in this. I think this would look great in a more traditional black and white processing too.
• Even in b&w it feels like a sunny, warm day. So neat.

Rim Light: As soon as I read the prompt, I thought of this snapdragon macro I took in February.

• Very nice! Love all those little details! 🙂

• perfect perfect perfect!!

• This is amazing! Had no idea what it was, glad you told us! Great abstract, but oh the light and texture!

• Naomi, this is so wonderful! That light! My snapdragons are just about gone. I am going to go out to look at them again. I haven’t seen this viewpoint.

• Oh my word! This is surreal! I love the texture and the light. Beautiful!

• Love all those points of light!

In Contrast: Found this from my archives and it practically screamed “pick me for this prompt!”

In Contrast

• This is really beautiful. I wouldn’t have thought to use the water reflections as the light portion of a contrast picture. It’s brilliant!
• Such a great capture of beautiful droplets!

Photo Friday: May flower challenge

Linking up today to my friend Lori at Lori Moon Studio and her photo a day challenge.