Foto Friday - Changing Perspective

Frustration, after having a minor temper tantrum can go from the potential prevention of a satisfying
activity to the realization of a beautiful thing.
My frustration came from not being able to capture the detail in the close-ups I desired in the low light
of the setting sun without creating a blurry photo.
So, I diverted to my 50 mm lens which allows me to create images in low light because of its large aperture (lens opening), which also gives a narrow depth of field creating a lot of bokeh love or intentional background blur. The more wide open the lens, the more
bokeh there will be creating a dreamy and somewhat dramatic abstract photo and in some cases almost completely dissolving your subject and replacing it with colors and shapes.

My goal, especially for the first set of images is to share with you a recognizable subject in a way that you may not have viewed it before.
Something we may think of as ordinary can suddenly be seen as extraordinary just by changing our perspective.

So, you know you weren't going to get away without some interesting facts, right?

Spiders can create a variety of different silks that have different purposes and functions.

(Which is why they don't stick to their own webs)

They release their silk from spinnerets in their abdomen, and oddly enough it is actually liquid in form until it's released and it immediately takes a solid form as soon as it is exposed to air!

This happens to be an orchard spider, which is an orb weaver.

An example of how just slightly changing my position can change the affect of the image.

This one reminds me of Christmas lights. . .

With the increase of rain, I have started to see a slight increase in dragonflies but I'm sure as the mosquito

population increases so will they.

When using the 50 mm lens wide open there will usually be a sweet spot of focus as everything else blurs.

This photo made the top five for fabulous friday!

In the one below, you can see that the focus was on the dragonflies head . . .

And then in the same position, the focus was moved to its tail . . .

So what I discovered was that my frustration became an instrument in the creating of something entirely different than I had originally envisioned.

I love that I can use my camera as a tool for my

personal expression of the way I view the world - as if by chance a painting were to meet a photograph

in the middle.

And so it goes, I now have a renewed fondness for my 50 mm/f1.8 lens.

My hope is that you felt at least a little bit of the essence of what I was trying to capture

(even though insects may not be your thing)!

 I would love to hear what you see, if you change your perspective . . .

Have a great weekend everyone!

Love, Kim

XO

P.S. for more Photo Friday fun check out the hollie rogue

and here:

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

They're back . . .

Yep, you just might think I have flipped my lid!

We have been in a drought, a terrible one - the worst one Texas has seen in a hundred years!

But in the last two weeks we have actually had ourselves a little bit of rain! Whoo Hoo! 

And if by magic the rain seems to have brought everything to life like those little instant mini 

 towels that you just add water to and watch them grow.

And if you have never done that before, you should run right out and get one,

it may just be the most fun you've ever had. Okay, well maybe the second but it really is fun!

Anyway, it may be really hard to understand my excitement over a spider, yep a little green spider

but I kid you not, when I came in from walking the garden I was singing hallelujah!!

You see late last summer I discovered I had these two Green Lynx Spiders hanging out in my garden.

They were pregnant and they hung around for months and I'm sure my neighbors thought I

must be crazy for always being out with my camera taking pictures.

But I found them fascinating . . .

. . . and I'm almost sure that by the end of summer you will too!

Oh yes, you know what that means - you'll be seeing more of my little friends and learning some really fun things. That is if they don't get eaten by a gecko or something, in which case I will be very sad.

Now don't go looking it up or anything, you'll ruin all my fun!!

Have a great night!

Love, Kim

XO



Foto Friday - Flora and Fauna

I'm back! Yes my family and I took a 3,000 mile journey from the Texas gulf coast to the
suburbs of Chicago and back again and we just returned last weekend. I really thought that I could get a
Foto Friday finished and posted, but who was I kidding.
It. Just. Didn't. Happen....
Five of our eleven days were spent in the car, but I really do prefer driving to flying. It allows us the freedom of our own schedule since we're always late, and the spontaneity of stopping somewhere for a little adventure. And I do love adventures!

This week it's a little flora and fauna from our trip. Latin in origin, the word flora means the
goddess of plants and flowers and fertility, and fauna in Roman mythology is the sister
of Faunes, a good spirit of the forest and plains.


I'm not usually an early riser by nature, at least not without an alarm, but most of the days
I was up early so I took advantage of the beautiful morning light and off I went
with my camera:

This one was actually taken in the evening, and I love the veil of light!

Not sure what this one is, but it reminds me of the fireworks on the 4th of July.

 

This is lavender and was taken in my mom's garden in the evening.

No clue what this is, anyone?

I really enjoyed walking through the neighborhood as nearly everyone had something planted

in their yards. I think gardening can be contagious. . . .

On our way home we went through Oklahoma and stopped at Arbuckle Wilderness,  a 400 plus acre park

set in the oak thickets in the beautiful Arbuckle mountains. It took us about 2 hours to drive through the park. We have been through the park several times before, but probably not in the dead heat of the summer, which might not be the ideal time to go. And although we did see many different animals, they just didn't seem to be in abundance on this particular day. There are ususally many giraffes that will

come to the side of the fence and eat from the food cups, we only saw one and this animal whisperer

couldn't convince him that my food was better than his. It was disappointing...

This was one of our first beggars visitors.

Have you ever seen a white deer before?

They were so very sweet, coming right to the car for a snack...

And then there were some that, well, know how to work the system! lol

I was standing through the sunroof when this guy came over . . . which can sometimes
be a problem.....especially when they are taller than you! They can be a little well,
pesky, but they do have a nice set of eyelashes.

This is a beautiful 12 point buck - and unfortunately I didn't get a good photo of his rack!

Some kind of gazelle . . . I was so engrossed in the animals that I paid no attention to the signs.

For most of the 2 hour trip through the park I stood on the two front seats and out through the sunroof, imagining that I was on safari on the Serengeti plains in Tanzania, with the wind whipping through my hair and on an adrenaline rush as we were chased by elephants . . .  hey a girl can dream, right?   

And then . . . it came to an end, but not before we would use the last of our food to feed the Canada goose. We stopped the car and there was an immediate stampede of turtles from the water. Yes, even turtles can be trained . . .

Most people when they think of flora and fauna probably just think simply flowers and animals. But

how many of us think synonymously of flora and fauna; we can't live without them? The truth is, we can't.

Back to basic earth science when we were kids we learned that the flora produces oxygen that is
breathed by the fauna, which exhales carbon dioxide that the flora needs to live.
It seems simple enough, but it's not. They are dependent on each other for their very survival and we can't live without either one of them. Period.
The worlds ecology is fragile and when one disturbance or catastrophe of our flora and fauna
 happens in just one place of our world it can and does affect our entire planet. Half of our planets oxygen comes from land and the other half comes from our oceans in the process of photosynthesis from phytoplankton , a one-celled plant that lives on the surface. 

Conservation of our biologically diverse flora and fauna both on land and in our oceans is vital and leads to the continuation of our food chains and to the survival of humanity. I'm wondering if perhaps mankind has forgotten this seemingly simple but complex existence with nature and that when we destroy the environment we are ultimately destroying ourselves.

I feel privileged to own a device called a camera, that allows me breathtaking moments while capturing nature in time, and even more blessed that you are here to share it with.

 . . . and now I feel the need to go plant something!

Have a wonderful weekend - take some time to enjoy the goddess and good spirit.

Love, Kim
XO


Linked up here with Andi at the hollie rogue for photo friday.



Foto Friday - Who's There?

They're used as portals

to allow us to pass through from one place to another 

and can be opened and closed 

some are locked and some are not 

and many are slammed 

they mark an entrance and and exit 

and some a beginning and an end 

sometimes we leave them open 

for the possibility of change 

and sometimes we shut them out of fear
some are used for privacy
and some are secret and can't be found
we have all tried at times to put our foot in one
and some that just seem to do nothing but revolve 

we can beat a path to one
and some we have left unanswered
but if we're lucky enough we may hold the key
that leads to the one of another's heart
  and although there are times we may feel we journey 

through them on our own
He is always with us, we are far from alone. 

Luke 11:9 So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you;
seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

 Doors are tricky things . . . sometimes I spend so much time trying to open
(okay, shake) doors not meant to open and perhaps because it's not yet time, that I miss
entirely the open ones before me. I try to remind myself that God is my doorkeeper, the one who
opens and closes them and that I won't know if a door is closed until I try to enter it.
Its taken me my lifetime to realize that many doors have to close in order for an open
door to become evident and that I need to practice leaving the door of my heart always open to God
so that I won't have to worry about hearing His knock.
I am blessed to know and thankful that because of God's grace he is always granting me open
doors of opportunity and I just pray for the faith to enter them and the wisdom to choose the right ones.

Have a wonderful weekend my friends,
and thank you for being here at my door!

Love, Kim
XO

 

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli