One bloom.

Spring is coming.  Here in South Dakota it is making a S-L-O-W entrance, but it will arrive.  The greenhouses are stocked with flowers, and those few days that get above 50 degrees get me excited.

It is, however, too soon to plant gardens and pots.  Evenings can get down to freezing, and it's only been a little over a week since our last snowstorm.  (But poor northern Minnesota had a snowstorm just yesterday - we just got rain - so I do know it could be worse.)

But the coming of flower season has me longing for colorful blooms, so I bought myself a calla lily after work on Friday. They are so pretty and soft.  I had a black and white photo challenge coming up, and I thought that this lily, with its delicate stripes of color with lovely waves in the petals, might make a pretty black and white image.

I was ever so delighted in my results.  We had just enough sun that I was able to photograph in natural light, and I played with an 85mm and 105 mm lens.  Both gave me just beautiful results.

I am ever so excited for summer!

See on,
Julee

Finding wildlife. Also playing with a rubber duck.

So I have been loving the DPChallenge challenges lately - but as a result I have been neglecting my blog.  Sorry.  My efforts did earn me my first top 10 finish - so wahoo!  (Although there were only 27 entries in the challenge, so while it was still a higher score than usual for me, it is not really all that impressive of a finish).

So to catch you up with my photo activities...

A few days ago I was tromping around a bird sanctuary looking for wildlife and I had some unexpected luck. (This bird sanctuary typically has surprisingly few birds, but a few trees fell down last fall - so it was much more difficult to get back into the area - I thought perhaps I would find something somewhat unusual.)

And jackpot.

This little guy popped up just 15 feet in front of me and kept heading right towards me.  I furiously shot photos, but was a tad concerned about him getting too close, so I never dropped to his level to get a truly good shot.  But still pretty unique.

I suspect this is another mink, but that black bit on the tail has me unsure.

Here is my 'winning' shot from a rubber duck/toothbrush/rubber band/wrist watch/potato challenge.

Thank you DPChallenge.  Where else can an adult justify hauling plastic toys out to the high school track and then laying on the track for an hour moving everything around trying for just the right photo?  (I had fun!  That is pretty much the whole point of a hobby right?  If so, I am succeeding.)

See on,
Julee

Photoshop Flip and Blend.

I was reading a DPChallenge community forum a few days ago.  In that forum discussion thread a technique of 'flipping and blending' in Photoshop was explained.  I am not very strong in Photoshop, but am interested in learning and improving.  Unfortunately I tend to be fairly impatient when sitting at the computer - so learning new things, especially complicated new things, often does not end in complete success.

(I try to pretend that I am not very interested in those 'expert' Photoshop skills like putting things and people in and out of different photos.  I probably would enjoy it, if only I had the patience to sit and practice.)

But baby steps.

This flip and blend technique was only about four or five steps.  Surely that was manageable.  (I use Photoshop Elements so I usually have to google to figure out how to match the 'real' Photoshop steps to the Elements program - but usually I can find what I need.)

So here were my first attempts:

This first shot was a colored bead.  Pretty neat effect.

Next up a tree.

And a few more trees.

The same trees - but different.  I am not yet clear on how the color effects work when working with these layers.  But I did like the "lightening" between the trees. 

Finally, here is a wild combination of one of my windmill pictures.

So kind of a successful evening.  I am not sure when this effect might be useful - but maybe flipping and blending today, inserting Godzilla into the South Dakota landscape tomorrow eventually.

See on,
Julee

The failure with fences.

I have been feeling creative lately, and for the recent photo challenge on 'fences', I thought I had a great idea.  At the zoo near our house are some buffalo that you can see from the bike trail behind the zoo.  I thought perhaps I would be able to capture something interesting from there.

But I also had a back-up plan if that didn't work.

I would go into the zoo and surely I could capture something creative with fences from there.  (Our zoo is a small zoo, but for some of the displays that works in favor of getting closer to the animals.) 

A few minutes outside of the zoo and I knew I was not capturing what I wanted, so into the zoo I went.  I had a great time wandering around, and even got a few shots I liked.  But it became clear after the first day of voting that I had not chosen the right image for the challenge.  (I felt the photo I entered was my most creative shot, but in retrospect it probably really was not executed all that well and probably had at least one fatal flaw.)

Here is some of what I captured:

 

Which would you have submitted?  Are any of them any good?  (I submitted the last tiger photo, but I suspect I would have done better had I submitted the second buffalo shot.  The fence in my tiger shot is just too black, not visually pleasant at all - although I'm not sure it should be.  And that darn twig, bad.)

Live and learn.
See on,
Julee

The great train saga.

So I spent an afternoon photographing to the topic of 'trains and railroads'.   It was quite fun, my husband even chauffeured me around.  What a treat that was.

I captured one beauty of a train shot.

But then I captured what I thought was a more unique and interesting shot at the end of a line.

The red thing was nice and sharp, the cars were nicely blurred.  I thought it was great.  Not everyone agreed.  I got my usual place in the bottom third of the photo challenge.   I probably would have done better had I entered my first shot, but you know, I tend to go for the unusual and/or abstract and my brain just prefers those. 

But I still have fun.  Taking photos keeps my brain creative and happy.  (And with the blizzard-every-three-days weather we're having, I need all the help I can get to keep my brain happy.)

See on,
Julee

The mink and the fish.

So this started out as the story of me looking for a landscape photo that contained no sky.  I figured I would try one of my favorite spots on the Big Sioux River, there are three trees I just love.   Well I was photographing away then glanced down and saw a great sight.

This fabulous little guy (a mink is my best guess) was walking on the ice on the river carrying a large fish.   He was maybe 15 feet from me and did not seem the least bit disturbed by my presence.  Eventually he found an opening in the water and dove under, taking his fish to the far side of the river and off into the trees.

So I came home with no sky-free landscape picture, but I was enormously happy.  Here's to being at the right place at the right time!

See on,
Julee

A day playing in the trees.

Despite a beautifully bright sun, the day was still cold.  But the snow has nearly melted which means I could once again walk into the grassy areas of the wilderness around Watertown.

Hip, hip, hooray!

For my efforts I found a treat in these two dancing trees.  I rarely title my photos, but this one easily became "The Dip".  Do you see it?

During my walk I also found a few more wild looking, crazy with bare branches, trees that I have become a bit obsessed with this winter.

Then I captured a nice image of a peaceful prairie view.

Spring feels so near, and yet we likely have another two to four weeks of winter.   One thing I have realized about myself this winter is that although I do not love the cold, I do love the all the golds that we see in the fields all winter.

See on,
Julee