Study in Magnolia

Sun in the Meadow

::little::

[lions make you brave/ giants give you faith]

[you don't have to feel safe to feel unafraid.]

::smile::

because sometimes when i take a photo... it reminds me of someone or i randomly feel like i need to give it to someone. this one is for Em. :)

purple

i had a craving for flowers today... so i went outside... and found several. :D

muscrat island

the boys went exploring a few days ago and found this island in the marsh behind our house. i decided to check it out this evening- and i can't believe i never knew how gorgeous it is back there! i felt like i was a long way from home... but it was only a 5 minute walk.

i don't take a lot of landscape pictures cuz i don't feel as comfortable with them as i do with closeups. but here is the scenery on muscrat island. :D

this reminds me of Australia for some reason...

i found the weirdest dead flower out there... the sunshine makes it look a little happier. ;)

the best part was how open it is out there. it's a big marshy field surrounded by water.
(island... duh me.)

i've tried taking pictures of sunsets from my back porch but there's a line of trees between my house and this hill. now i finally found somewhere to take good shots of sunsets...

i love reflections.
"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies declare the work of his hands." [Ps 19:1]
true true true.

wall-E

"All through the long winter, I dream of my garden. On the first day of spring, I dig my fingers deep into the soft earth. I can feel its energy, and my spirits soar." ~Helen Hayes

i miss spring...

macro

i LOVE using the macro setting [macro: an image is depicted in the same scale as the subject, focused sharply on that subject. The subject matter is usually very diminutive object and is meant to make that object appear larger than life. www.theuntappedsource.com].

i really like how it brings the forefront of the picture into focus while making the background appear only in vague colors and shapes. i've been wondering where i'm going to get new pictures since it's so gray and uncolorful outside... but i decided to just go wander the woods behind my house. it's amazing how gorgeous it actually is outside, even in winter. the macro setting really helps to bring that out. because all of the leaves are gone, the detail of these tiny flowers comes out really well when contrasted with the stark brown and white background. anyway... if you made it through all of that... here are my pictures from this afternoon- in macro. :)

these flowers are maybe 1/4 inch across in real life. i love the little puffs next to the flowers.

the red thing is my glove hanging on a branch. i liked the color it added to the picture... but my hand got reaaally cold.

these are all of the same flower but i loved the detail.

"The color of springtime is in the flowers,
the color of winter is in the imagination."
~Ward Elliot Hour

seasons

happy 2010! since it's the start of a new year, here are four pictures representing the four seasons. [actually i just wanted to post some pictures and this was the only theme i could think of.] ;)

spring

summer

fall

winter

adirondacks

we went on a hike in the adirondacks in november-- and i took 200+ pictures. the adirondack mountains are GORGEOUS. these are a few of my favorites pictures from that trip.

these first three are of moss. lol. i know moss pictures are scintillating. but seriously, i never realized how pretty/intricate/other-worldly moss is until i looked at it up close.

and there are a bazillion species of moss too.

and they have the weirdest little shoots! i like this picture because of the water droplet suspended on the edge of each little shoot-off.

the adirondacks are full of birch trees. reaaaaally tall birch trees.

i love this picture cuz of how the trees form a natural pattern.

ice

i discovered a new photography technique: shooting through a sheet of ice. i found a piece of relatively smooth ice on a pond and randomly decided to take a few pictures through it. sometimes the ice was in focus and sometimes the object was... both types of pictures were so cool. because the ice had little defects in it, the pictures were usually a little skewed, but it added to the effect. anyway- next time it freezes- i'm trying this again! :D

in this one the branch and needles were in focus...

while in this one the ice was in focus.

it also created this awesome fish-eye effect.

i love all of the colors and whorls in this one ;)

i think this makes an interesting self-portrait. lol.

b&w photos w/ color

i love the black and white plus a little color effect. i try not to use it too often, but i like how it brings out certain colors and focuses the viewer away from distracting colors/objects within the picture.

macro setting. i love this one, especially the little cobweb in the corner. :)

this was my first attempt at making parts of the photo have color so it's a little messy, but the vivid green moss on the rock and the tree complemented each other well.

my favorite. this little inchworm reminds me of hope for some reason... he's so tiny (and trying to balance a water droplet on its back!) but he's still persevering and crawling up the branch.

There was a little ballerina on the sand dunes!

my brother at his favorite pastime. :) i liked how this looked just b&w but i wanted to put emphasis on the colored pencils.

my "girls in a tree" photo shoot... haha. i got this weird idea for a picture and got the girls to cooperate. :)

christmas eve

the house felt super cozy after coming home from the Christmas eve church service tonight and so i wanted to capture the coziness/warmth/Christmas cheer/whatever on camera. :)

the girls and mom baking last minute christmas cookies.

this was taken through one of the Christmas tree lightbulbs... i unscrewed it and then held the camera very close to it- sort of making a extra make-shift lense? idk. anyway. i like how it turned out.

haha... someone's excited for Christmas. i set the setting on fireworks and then moved the camera in frenetic circles while i took pictures of the lights on the tree. :D

my sweet puppy is all tuckered out... i can't believe we'll have had her for a year tomorrow.

this reminds me of a cave. plus this candle smells AWESOME. :D


two of the gorgeous roses that dad got for mom. :))

well, it's 10 minutes until midnight. and i need to go to bed. merry christmas eve and goodnight. :)

a few favorites

"Brown paper packages tied up with strings/ These are a few of my favorite things"
*hums*

these are several of my favorite pictures that i've taken this year.

"I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Phillipians 3:14

"Where flowers bloom, so does hope." -Ladybird Johnson

:)
did you know that...
"Butterflies are self propelled flowers"?
-R.H. Heinlein

“God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars." -Martin Luther

-a dying sunflower in December-
“What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from." -T.S. Eliot