Photo-heart connection, March

"Yes, I did, I mean I painted er, in a kind of abstract

expressionist way, because of course that was exciting."

-David Hockney

Several weeks ago I decided to try my luck after a lot of overcast and rainy days, to go to the sunrise. It was still just dark enough not to have a good take on it, and besides, eight miles can change everything on the other end. But, when I got to that other end of those eight miles it was pretty clear that the sun would be missing from my morning.

So, I took a slight detour, not just in direction, but in thought. I switched from one of frustration to one of thinking and seeing in a different way. A way of seeing that has become more familiar and one where the absence of good light doesn't matter as much.

One, that captures the feeling you get when your eyes go into a blurry blank stare, where you see intangible shapes and colors, yet simplicity in composition. You know the kind, where you don't want to break the connection because it teeters on the edge of exciting, and that dreamlike state of reality.

I have been completely fascinated by and love the way that it transforms ordinary into extraordinary and not just in subject matter but in mood. It has subjective expression which is intended to encompass and engage through parts of a subjects reality without always being realistic. And I think what attracts me the most is the ambiguity and openness in the process. One that speaks to me in a world that wants to be closed minded and very specific in its rules, and where it offers complete freedom in a space where contemplation and meditation is my intention.

Yep, it's a lesson to just go anyway even though you can't see the other side, because there is always a fall back plan, or a fall forward. It all depends on how you look at it.

You'll also find me today over at Focusing on Life, (it will post at 3 AM Central) where I have the pleasure of announcing our new theme for the month. We would love for you to join our Flickr group and add your themed photos - each week for the month of April I will be choosing a photo for our Focus on You page. 

Love, Kim

sharing with Texture Tuesday, Sweet Shot Tuesday, Photo-heart Connection

The good, the random . . . and a side of scary

Its been a busy week so far, what about you?

After the boy and I spent the day at the hospital for his infusion we got back

with just enough time for me to make a run to the nursery. I find on those days it's

always a good idea if I can go clear my head afterwards with the aid of my camera.

But, I got to talking to a teacher buying milkweed for herself and nearly 10 other

teachers. And then I ended up finding some black swallowtail caterpillar eggs on some fennel,

which I talked her into taking with her as well. Yeah!

So, I took my camera and decided to walk the birding trail real quick as the sun was going

to set soon. Note to self, don't go at dusk!

1. It was just going to be a short walk, down one side, over "the bridge" and back up the other side.

Of course I had to stop and take pictures of the bridge, and of course every person who went by

turned in the direction of the bridge to see what exactly I was photographing, even glancing several

times in case they missed something. Always makes me chuckle to myself.

 And while on the "other" side, I had to stop and get some pictures of the reflections in the water.

And on the other side of the tree I heard some splish splashing and at the same time I can hear rustling in the bushes on the path next to me. Squirrel, birds, maybe even the deer . . . 

2. And as I preceded to walk again I hear a very loud snorty grunt kind of sound coming from the rustling in the bushes . . . not the kind that comes from a squirrel or a deer, but the kind that comes from a very large 

wild hog. The ones that will chase you with razor sharp tusks and lightening speed. I'm not afraid of much, but friends, you have never seen me walk so fast. Yes, note to self, no more walks on the birding trail at dusk!

Of course I would have missed this had I not had to turn and go back the other way.

3. This is very random, but it's a pet peeve of mine when I see people throw their cigarette butts out of the car window. I've seen a lot of that this week....THEY ARE NOT BIODEGRADABLE. They wash down the sewers, make their way into streams and rivers and even into bird nests....they contain toxins.

4. It has officially been a week, there are now over 100 monarch eggs, and because the weather has been cooler they are taking a little longer to hatch, but it should be really soon! 

5. I had a Facebook friend post the best thing to my timeline yesterday, something related to #4. Since it's a cartoon and copyrighted I didn't feel right posting the actual picture here, so I'm sending you HERE to the picture on Facebook. I'm still laughing.... :)

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend,

Love, Kim

sharing with Little Things Thursday, Thursday Favorite Things, Random Five Friday

Progression of a morning on the bay . . .

"The sunrise never failed us yet"

- Celia Thaxter -

{KK 511 - overlay)

No, the cat doesn't have my tongue, haha! I just figured that sometimes, especially when it comes to sunrise photos, a picture IS worth a thousand words. AND, I'm musing today over at Focusing on Life about our monthly theme "Beginnings." Meet ya there (click here) . . . there is also some information about a Focus on a Photo a day - 365 day project if you are interested. Doesn't matter what you take the photo with, just take one each day and share. Plus, I'm going to need all the help I can get to do this for 365 days. You in?

Have a fabulous day!

Love, Kim

Sharing with Texture Tuesday, Sweet Shot Tuesday

A textured Friday . . .

"Everywhere water is a thing of beauty

gleaming in the dewdrop,

singing in the rain."

- John Ballantine Gough

Oh wow, I haven't even been out with my camera this week - I haven't felt well, which is why it's been a little quiet on my side of the pond. So, I finally went to the doctor and have a sinus infection, fluid filled ears and seasonal asthma! UGH!!  It's amazing what a couple of days of medication can do though . . . which is a good thing . . . because I'm not very good at doing nothing.

This week at Bonnie's photo art Friday the theme is liquid. So I went to my archives for a few photos with some kind of liquid and decided to have some texture fun.


This first one, dew drops on a weed stem . . . 

If you haven't noticed, I do seem to have a fetish with water drops. In fact I carry a small spray bottle in my camera bag along with an eyedropper . . . yep,  my big tip for the day!!

{Photo Art Friday and Foto Friday}

This one I textured with her new freebie, Blue Depths in overlay - just love how it complimented the stone wall but in a subtle way.

These are the same rose, different textures . . . the bottom photo has her soft sunset texture in 2 layers, both in overlay. Such a great painterly effect . . .

{Flower Art Friday}

Short and sweet this week, I'm going to go take a nap now! ; )

Have a great weekend!

Love, Kim

XO

Sharing with Photo Art Friday, Flower Art Friday, Fabulous Friday, This and That Thursday,

Finding Serendipity, Foto Friday

No rain dance needed . . .

"Everywhere water is a thing of beauty

gleaming in the dewdrop, singing in the rain."

- John Ballantine Gough

{ KKlassen texture peony and dream }

Natural, that's our theme for texture Tuesday and although dewdrops and raindrops absolutely occur naturally, sometimes you just need a little help from your friends. I've been a little fixated on drops lately, dewdrops, raindrops, just water drops in general. But they just don't always occur in the right place at the right time and frankly I get tired of laying in strange places gleaming strange looks from my neighbors in search of the perfect water drops after a rain (or the sprinklers)! ; )

So now I hide behind my bushes on my front porch with my little bag of arsenal consisting of

a spraybottle and an eyedropper, whiling away the hours. Losing all track of time. And voila, instant dewdrops and rain on command.

These were all taken with my 40mm macro lens on my covered front porch. These lilly shots were taken on an overcast day with my camera on a tripod and a slower shutter speed to give the rain water from the spray bottle some movement.

 

This one was quite a bit trickier and still on my covered front porch, but this time there was a little sunshine. Dewdrops don't work on coneflowers, they just suck up the water until they drip off. The tricky part about this one was spraying just enough water to get drips off the tip of the petals while getting the effect of rain and then anticipating the timing of the drip. I'm still working on getting the drop with more focus, but for now I'm tickled pink I'm even getting the drip in the frame. Practice, practice, and more practice.

{ Texture by RHWest }

So, that's what I've been musing on lately - what about you?

And speaking of musing, I was invited to join a collaborative blog with nine other women.

Women of all ages, who share a passion for photography and life and write about it. I would love for you to join me over there at Focusing On Life today where I am sharing a little story about none other, water! And while you are there, perhaps take a look around and considering following us. There is also a link to our Flickr group where you can add photos relating to our monthly theme and you may even be chosen for our weekly InFocus selection. Thank you, and don't forget to let us know you were there!!

Love, Kim

XO 

Linking with Communal Global and:

 

Foto Friday

Happy Friday everyone! The sun is out and they are calling for a high of 75 today and tomorrow with a high of 79 on Sunday! Time to get out the garden gloves . . .

This week has gone by pretty quickly and I'm really looking forward to the weekend and the chance for some excitement with my camera. I went to lunch with my husband this week to find I wish I had brought my camera along. I almost always do, but who would have thought that I would have seen the Texas Trail Riders going through the restaurant parking lot on their way to the Houston Livestock and Rodeo Show? Unfortunately unlike a parade there were no clowns with shovels following them, which made for quite the mess they left behind. Did I mention there were a lot of horses? (insert smiley face)

This first picture is that of the doors that lead into the Grace Episcopal Church in Galveston, Texas. It's a beautiful Gothic style church that was designed by the famous architect Nicholas Clayton and was consecrated in 1895.

It's a survivor of the 1900 storm as well as the more recent hurricane Ike from 2008. After the 1900 storm, they spent years raising the grade of the entire island and building the Galveston Seawall. By way of a completely brilliant system of hand turned jacks the church was raised four and a half feet and not one of the stones was cracked in the process. They pumped in a slurry of sand and water to fill in where the buildings were raised and of course had to wait for the water to drain off. Over 2,100 buildings were raised in this manner and it took them over 7 years!  The more I learn about the island the more fascinated I am by Galveston and it's people. They really are survivors . . .

After breakfast last weekend we walked across the street and I took this outside in a garden area of the Hotel Galvez, again on Galveston Island. A hotel of the elegant Victorian era that had guests such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Howard Hughes, and Frank Sinatra. We met and talked with a security officer who is also a historian for the island who enjoyed sharing as much as we did receiving all of his interesting historical information. This is a place that I will be re-visiting, looking for that historian with my journal in hand next time. He was like a walking history book only with animation.

They were just setting up brunch when we took a peek inside . . . yep we'll be back for that too!










Okay, next to the Pelican I think the Roseate Spoonbill would be my other favorite bird. They reach about 32" high with a wingspan of 50", and they have the most extraordinary red eyes and their feathers are PINK.   Because they eat foods rich in carotenoids, the more they eat the pinker they become. I was thrilled to get these photos since it's hard to get close enough (unless you own multi-million dollar lenses,ha) without spooking them. I was lucky as we had pulled off to the shoulder for some egret shots and in he flew!

And just yesterday I visited a chain garden center to find a plethora of plants to make any gardener

drool with the anticipation of spring planting! The first two pictures are Osteomums and the last one

is a Hydrangea. I also spotted my first two Monarch butterflies but couldn't talk either one of them into a photo. (insert sad face)

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

Love,
Kim XO

Foto Friday....on makeup Monday

This, is my sentiments exactly!

Last week was not my best week....lost my crown on a tooth that had already had 2 root canals and they couldn't put it back on. The tooth was cracked well below the gum surface, so they extracted it and did a bone graft to prepare it for a future implant. Two dentists, two hours, four numbing shots, and five stitches to get the sucker out.

I was informed when he finished that I made it to his top five list of difficult teeth to remove in all his 30 years of practice. Somehow, that wasn't the kind of 'special' person status I was hoping for!

So I had very good intentions of posting foto Friday on Friday, but I could not keep my eyes open following a night of pain meds and then a very busy weekend ensued.




My son's 7 on 7 touch football started this weekend and we spent many hours in the car driving the daughter around so that she could fulfill a choir commitment and not miss her girls retreat through church. It meant that we picked her up from the retreat, drove her to where she needed to be for choir, waited and then drove her back. The retreat was on Galveston Island and you couldn't see 20 feet in front of you because of the fog. But when we dropped her back off, the sun had peered through the fog with just enough light for an interesting picture with reflections in the water. Eerie, yet beautiful. Haunting, but peaceful.

So this is the only picture I will leave you with today.

A picture of reflection, the return of light after striking a surface.

It's also where I will be today . . . in a state of reflection as I consider carefully some of my thoughts.

Have a wonderful day!

Love, Kim

Progression of a Sunrise

What can I say, I lOVE watching the sunrise. Now I understand why people throw all caution to the wind and live on the water. Yes, I did just say that. It was really quite spectacular and I wouldn't have believed the pictures had I not been there. No color correction or saturation in any of these pictures. Actually, the only thing I did to these pictures was a slight sharpening. Wish you had been there......

These are all from yesterday within a 45 minute window. The sunrise was at 7:13 and I put the time stamp with each picture so you can see the progression of time and how vastly different the first picture is from the last. It was probably the most varied sunrise I have ever seen. Enjoy!

7:0l

7:02

 7:09

7:14

7:19

7:20

7:26

7:36

7:44



Foto Friday

The weather is getting warmer and people are starting to mingle about a bit more. This means that the chess players at the Starbucks I frequent are taking it outside. I'm not much of a people photographer and not exactly a shy person, but it can feel a little awkward to ask strangers if they mind I share their personal space. I'm getting over it! But don't let the pictures fool you because although they look deep in thought there was quite a bit of laughing going on. I do find people to be quite interesting and maybe I'll start bringing a journal with me....everyone has a story.

Concentrating.....

I love how the game board is reflected in his glasses.

A friend watching. . .

. . . his friend make a move.

They invited me to come back with or without my camera - maybe I'll even learn how to play chess?

Then it was off to you know where to get some pictures of flowers and such.

Spring has to be one of my favorite seasons, everything renews.

I didn't bring my tripod with me this time and it was just breezy enough to make

it tricky to get a really good focus. But I do love the old fashioned feeling of this one.

 

And I never tire of taking a picture of this gate!!

  And then a little game of hide and seek. As soon as he saw me he ran between two concrete benches with an opening of maybe an inch. This lizard and I had a love hate relationship. I loved that he posed long enough for my camera and he hated that I wouldn't leave!

After I left there it was off to a favorite path that leads to the gulf and one that has a sign that says 'snake and gator habitat' but I have yet to see either one!

Yep that's me and my shadow.

That path led me to this. And you can't see from here but there is a party happening at the end of this pier. Probably about a dozen people fishing, and having fun, and some of which I suspect were playing hookie from work. As a group of them were leaving they asked me to take their picture as long as their wives didn't see it.

 

This was the only catch of the day between about twenty poles hanging over the edge of the pier.  Ask a guy if he caught anything and they are more than happy to take it out of the cooler and pose with it. He wanted to know if it would be on the news. Umm, no. He was wanting me to help him get a sponsor for bass fishing, really?

The next two were actually shot earlier in the week and are one of my favorites to do - silhouettes!

There is this grove of trees that are scattered along a creek and they're covered with Spanish moss. As I was crossing the bridge over the creek as the sun was setting it looked like an enchanted forest. But when I actually got down into the trees the perspective just wasn't the same as it was on the bridge. 

And last but not least I do like the contrast in this one between the soft focus of the trees

and the hard lines of the iron fence.

Wishing you all a great week, and don't forget to take your camera with you. You never know what or who you might run into.

Kim