You don't have to go far . . .

to find . . . 

Inspiration

something to quiet the mind

things that are ordinary

and beautiful

things right outside your front door

bubbles and reflections in a water fountain

flowers and petals that have dropped to the ground

a fern growing in between timbers used at a table at my nursery without dirt

water drops hanging on to the dried pine that dropped from the trees

beautiful, simple things

that remind you that there is so much to see

when we really look

things that make you slow down

take notice

and give thanks for right here, and now

[p.s. can I ask a favor? my boy has some blood work next week at his infusion. his

red blood cell count has been elevated and it needs to come down or he may have

to have some more extensive tests. Will you pray with us that it goes down to normal? xo]

Have a wonderful weekend, and stay warm!

Love, Kim

sharing with Friday Finds, Little Things Thursday

Recorded moments . . .

"To us, the difference between the photographer as an individual eye

and the photographer as an objective recorder seems fundamental,

the difference often regarded, mistakenly, as separating photography

as art from photography as document. But both are logical extensions

of what photography means; note-taking on, potentially, everything in

the world, from every possible angle."   - Susan Sontag

I think that just about sums it up for me . . . I'm definitely a note-taker with my camera,

on everything I see, AND from every angle possible! (angles that make the people around me go, hmmmm) Just ask my camera . . . over 80,000 clicks in the last year, yikes!! And it contains the only card I know of that one can max out, costing nothing but time.

And speaking of time, I took my father-in-law who has been visiting on a little tour of some of my favorite spots, the butterfly garden and along the birding trail...it was a good day, but it's a good thing to remember that when in nature, sometimes curiosity can kill the cat.

We may not get the typical fall colors here, but when the temps cool off into the 80's nature gets happy again! Honestly, I have no idea what kind of plant/bush this is, but it's PINK and it was gorgeous.

{Flower Art Friday}

Of course there was a visit from another one of my green friends, who was trying to figure out

just HOW to jump that far back to the plant he was on.

And the dragonflies were out in full force . . . this one reminds me of a giraffe with his markings. 

But in between the dragonflies we saw, I spied this butterfly resting . . .

But then I saw some movement, thought I saw a dark colored lizard tail . . . I moved in further to investigate to find this staring back at me. He just stared and I tried to get closer, but couldn't, then I lost him.....

 . . . and more dragonflies

And ones that had wings that shimmered like gold!

One with dots, and what looks to me like a shade of red lipstick!

And oh yes, one made specially for me, in pink, holy cow!!

{foto friday}

We eventually made our way to the bay and started the trail back to the car when something caught my eye on the side of the trail . . . I looked down and said to my father-in law, it's dead right?! haha  Well, as I looked through my camera, to get a picture, I realized not only was it NOT dead, but he was in a threatening stance, and I was standing about two feet from it . . . but unlike the one I saw earlier, I knew this one was a cotton mouth, aka a water moccasin . . . poisonous!! One dead (sorry) giveaway that it is a cotton mouth rather than just a water snake is the stripe along the side of this head, well that and his wide body and boxy head.  They are known to stand their ground, but we didn't panic,  moved slowly and he turned and went the other way. 

And not to leave you with a snake embedded in your memory for the rest of the day, this is my submission to Photo Art Friday. The theme this week is figures. I thought about a statue from the archives but I took this one on our walk, a shadow of the two of us enjoying an afternoon watching the dragonflies, and the birds, and avoiding snakes!  I thought it was interesting that in our shadows is the reflection of the leaves on the trees above us.  I used Bonnie's Irish moss, and gold dust textures.

"We do not remember days; we remember moments."

- Cesare Pavese

Have a great weekend, recording as you go!

Love, Kim

XO

Sharing with, Photo Art Friday, Flower art Friday, Finding Serendipity, Foto Friday,

Fabulous Friday, This and That Thursday

It is after all . . .

. . .  a small, small world.

A world full of treasures, a world full of awe.

Did you ever notice that the bigger the circles we run in life,  that the harder it is to see

the details, the smaller world around us. And I don't just mean in nature, but the people around us too.

The bigger the circle, the faster we seem to be able to run, and the less we really see.

Making the circle smaller means we will go a little slower and well it sure is easier on my knees, and my eyes!

"Life is a great big canvas,

you should throw all the paint on it you can."

- Danny Kaye

And well, when we slow down . . . we have a better chance of getting some paint on it at all.

I was out this past week gathering some ideas for the garden,

. . . and came across other gatherers.

. . . beautiful roses,

[ photograph life-two subjects ] 

 . . . and even more gatherers. 

. . . and an itsy bitsy teeny weeny sweat bee.

And yes, I had to share this one! You know spiders have 4 pairs of eyes but have you ever seen them.

Gosh, I could as I'm getting older use an extra pair. We were weeding last weekend when it seems I disturbed this momma to be - uh huh, she is holding her egg sac filled with hundreds of baby spiderlings

who will for the first few weeks of their life hitch a ride on mom's back. That's why you never step on a spider in your house if you're in Texas, or you could have babies scattered everywhere. 

And last but not least one of my favorites of the week . . .  

[shoot.edit.submit, P52-favorites, Flower Art Friday, Photo Art Friday ]

Have a wonderful, long, and safe Memorial Day weekend!!

Love, Kim

XO

 Linking up with Kent Weakley for Project 52

And...

  

  

Foto Friday - My Mantis Adventure

It's very, very good to have a friend willing to capture creatures for you to photograph.

Not once but twice all in the same week. I'm a lucky girl!

My friend Renee called to tell me that she captured a praying mantis for me.
Warning: If you feel the earth shake it's just me as I'm still jumping up and down from the excitement. I went to retrieve it from her and waited until evening to take it outside and get some shots 'cause you know, it's all about the light.

Now, you just never know with these wild things just what they'll do or if you will even get the
chance to photograph them. I opened the container and it immediately ran up my left arm. It took several tries before it would stay on my hand but it never lasted long as it was determined to be king of the mountain my shoulder.  We battled it out and I eventually won. But, I waited a bit too long as the sun was going down quickly and I was losing my light so I tried to place it on a flower. It. Just. Didn't. Want. To. Go. Finally,  I was able to coax it onto a flower and started clicking when I could see it waiving its arms in the air. The next thing I know, I've lost sight of it in the view finder only to find that it was on my camera lens! We went back and forth like this for several rounds and each time I put it a little further away it would just make it back onto my lens? I gave it one last try and put it on a flower basket that was about 3 feet off the ground. It followed my every move and when I stopped it took a leap off the basket, towards me of course! I quickly tried to get a few pics of it on the lantana, but no such luck as it just kept walking towards me.  At this point I was kneeling in the grass and was about a foot from the edge of the stone border in the garden, and yep . . . he leaped straight across to me. It was quite comical.

 

For an insect, they sure have personalities - It's got the same expression that my dog gets when

he hears the initials 'DQ'!!

(f5.0 / 250s)

So to say the least I was a bit disappointed that not many of the shots turned out as sharp as I would have liked and the depth of field was off, but if at first you don't succeed your friend will find you another one. This one was bigger, quite feisty while in the container and to complicate things it was a mature mantis complete with two sets of wings! Yes, this would prove to be a bit tricky and since I got it from her at night I would have to wait until morning for the outcome. The next morning I set out with my camera in hand and container of precious cargo to the garden. I decided on an area of lantana because I was able to get really close with my camera since the lens I was using was my 40mm macro. And when I say close, I mean within inches of my subject.

                                                                         ( f7.1 / 640s)

These guys are fascinating to watch especially when they're cleaning themselves and

they seem to have the curiosity of a cat. (f7.1 / 640s)

Somehow I missed a close-up of their raptor like legs. They have razor sharp spikes

that they use to impale their prey and I read that they are able to strike twice as fast

as the blink of an eye - that's pretty fast!

(f16 / 125s)

Oh my, check out these eyes!! I knew that they had compound eyes like most insects, but

until I had seen one through this lens I had no idea that they also have 3 simple eyes on top of their head.

He (or she) looks bejeweled!

(f16 / 125s)

{Linking this with Fabulous Friday at McDougall Photography 

and Macro Friday}

I 'm guessing that it was about 3 to 3 1/2 inches long.

(f20 /160s)

(f11 / 400s)

{Linking this with favorite photo of the week contest at Through a Photographers Eyes}

I guess they get thirsty too . . . .

(f11 / 400s)

Love the delicacy of the wings and their detail.

(f8.0 / 800s)

The watching . . . it was mutual.

(8.0 / 620s)

(f8.0 / 320s)


At one point I startled it and it flew away . . . but not to worry, I got the ladder and my net and was able
to safely capture it again for more photos and I'm quite certain that I entertained my neighbors, as usual! I think I would be in trouble should I ever fall and not be able to get up, since that is usually where they find me anyway - laying on the ground.

One thing I learned using my macro lens is that with the increase in magnification there is a loss of DOF (depth of field) and to maximize it I need to set the aperture as far down as possible (higher f-stop) so that
more of my subject is in focus and not just it's head (like in the third photo, f5.0). I'm also learning that all
the things that can make normal photography difficult are just magnified when trying to shoot macro. Simple things like just breathing can affect your focus and sharpness and a slight breeze seems like a hurricane.
So more practice for me, but in the meantime I'm really enjoying the details I see through my lens!!

Until next time, take a closer look at something you just might like what you see!!
Have a wonderful weekend,
Love, Kim
XO

Everything as beauty, but not everyone sees it.
-Confucius

photo friday with the hollie rogue

Foto Friday - It's all about sepia

Hello Friday!!

I didn't get out with my camera this week as much as I would have liked. However off and on rain makes that a little tricky, not to mention soggy. After my metals class on Wednesday I decided to go to one of my favorite mom and pop nurseries and was pleasantly surprised to find poppies!

The poppy has a unique stem that makes for a great back lite photo showing the details of the hairs. This was actually an orange one, but I just wasn't diggin' it so I turned it into sepia. I like it, in fact I liked it so much I changed all my pictures this week into sepia.

From a hanging basket was this double fuschia, beautiful stop you in your tracks hanging heaven. And I love color, but I wanted to showcase the form of the flower and sometimes color gets in the way.

This is the all popular knock-out rose that was a soft pink. And although pink is my favorite color,  I couldn't help but also make this into a sepia finish since it also helps disquise that the focus was too soft. Add a little more blur to the edges and it's quite dreamy and well, romantic!

Before I went to the nursery I stopped off at a spot where I know the birds frequent - I just sat in my car and listened to the music of the water and the birds as they searched for food and chased each other. Two seagulls were fighting over a fish that one of them caught and in their argument they weren't paying attention to this beautiful Great Blue Heron that came in and swooped up their lunch!
















I wish you all a fabulous weekend!  I hope you're inspired to take your camera with you or at least to take notice of all the wonderful things that surround you.

Love,
Kim XO