The First Day … 1-1-22
Looking ahead … uncharted … untracked … the possibilities are what we make of them.
Potpourri of Possibilities … Photo 3 Ways
Just a gathering of Christmas … cones and nuts and dried flower buds … in a crystal bowl setting on a polished wooden chest. Above is the original image.
I tried black and white, but it didn’t seem to have good lines and contrast. Instead, de-saturating colors other than green and then shifting the hue toward blue did offer pleasing lines and contrast. The next phase was increasing the mid-tone contrast to enhance the highlights of the cut crystal. The last edit was cropping tight to the bowl’s rim.
For the third version, I headed to the “Fun Edits” option to play. To the original, I applied the Pop Art/Poster tool until the image’s colors danced. I cropped to eliminate the wood trim along the right edge and recenter the bowl.
Which do you like?
Last view of November
On the trail or on the rails? Which way? Last photo on the DSLR.
The first sign of Christmas shall be the last photo on my cell. As my daughter lives 3,000 miles away, we decorate together by sending cell pics to each other. My mother bought this Nativity set in 1963. Remembering setting it up and turning the key to play its music brings her back to me. This year, looking at the old box’s splitting seams, I noticed the sticker for the first time: Einneitspappkasten? Hachstgawidt? “Made in Germany.”
Sky Painting
Whatsoever is lovely … (as XingfuMama suggests) is worth savoring. This morning’s dawn over the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Architecture … Basically
Wrapped in scaffolding, before the final facade, framing the architectural interest for Sacramento.
Was the architect playing tic-tac-toe while designing this Seattle skyscraper?
San Francisco arches create a portal to the sky.
Lens-Artists #173 — Interesting Architecture
Heavy, chiseled columns dress up an outdoor shopping mall (originally posted in December 2012).
Falling Water Water Everywhere
Big falls … “Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls” Burney Falls
Resting falls … “‘Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters’”
Little falls … “He waters the mountains from his upper chambers; the land is satisfied by the fruit of his work.” Fordyce Falls Creek
Looking down on myself … last chance
Before Heading Out — Last DSLR
Looking down on our barbecue … hoping
The owl who came to dinner — Last cell
Squared Trees in California — #3
Southeastern inland: Mammoth Mountain Dead Forest … where the CO2 gas seeped up from below to kill the trees. Posted warnings tell parents and pet owners to keep little ones away. (See https://pubs.usgs.gov/dds/dds-81/Intro/facts-sheet/GasKillingTrees.html)
“And the remaining trees of his forests will be so few that a child could write them down”
Squared Trees in California — #2
Inland Northern trail near Mt. Shasta, laboring up the dusty trail, hot and sweaty. But look up, where “… over everything the glory will be a canopy.”
Squared Trees in California
Coastal mossy madrona along the Dipsea Trail. ” … how is the wood of a vine different from that of a branch from any of the trees in the forest?” Or a blanket of moss from leaves?
Top down, a mighty big place
Looking south from the trail …
Or looking north from the top of The Nipple, “I see skies of blue” above the Pacific Crest Trail.
Texture in the Way of Life
Texture on the hiking trail
Texture of light and brick in Sacramento
And what about the elastic texture of time? It flies smoothly when having fun, yet drags roughly when dutifully dogging work.
I’ve not had time to capture or create an image to express this taffy-pull challenge of returning to work, that necessary reality tugging time from photography. And, therein lies the rub of my existential Which Way Photo Challenge: take time to make a living or make time to take a photo.
All hail the end of the COVID-battical!
Two Shades of Bright — Squared
Looking into the window of a lighting shop in Sacramento.
Early sun landing on the airport hangar rooftops in Truckee, as seen through the window.
Carol’s Cheerful Selfie Challenge
The Last Photos of March 2021
Last full moon waning — last on the DSLR
Last trail trekked — last on the cell camera
Bushboy’s Last Photo Challenge — March
Just One Person From Around the World — ThatTravelLadyInHerShoes
Colors of Rust and Decay
All out of gas
not that it matters when you break down on the trail
Oh, scrap!
Bark and Bark Again
For every bark, there is a season.
“a season for every activity under the heavens: … a time to uproot …
… a time to tear down …
… a time to scatter …
… a time to embrace … and a time for peace.”
Shutter’s on the World 