Ring Shots

Yesterday I was visiting the friends with which I'd had the unsuccessful engagement photo session.  The groom is still uncooperative on setting up a second shoot.  But, since the weather was nice and they had a rose bush with some pretty new blooms on it, I took the chance to get some closeups of her ring.  We got rained on before I had the chance previously.

The look of the ring fits her personality perfectly.  Her entire wedding theme is very vintagy and she has picked out a gorgeous lace mermaid style gown.  I can't wait until things she's ordered start coming in preparation.  I get to be part of the party as well as help with decor.  I'm thrilled at the chance to flex my craft muscles and get glammed up for the big day.

Azaleas on Canvas

I played around a bit with fabric texture over some of the photos I took of my friend's azaleas.  These are a little more feminine than something I would normally do, pretty none the less.  After distressing the edges a bit, I think they really look like paintings on canvas.

Color Challenge

I finally got started on my MLK online photography course. I did the assignment for week 1 and now that I'm into week 2, its rained every day. The first assignment for week 2 is to fill the frame with color. I haven't had a large enough window of non raining time to go out and find a lot of subjects or get very far from the house so most of what I have are more photos of the azaleas in front of my Father in Law and a friend's house. There was a large dandelion in the yard today, so I went with it.

To not have a macro lens, I think I did a pretty decent job.

I'm also liking the new watermark.  The one I'd been using before with the terrible terrier was cute, but I hadn't figured out how to simplify the process of opening a png file, copying onto a new layer, then adjusting opacity and size.  It was a bit much for every photo, so I was rarely using it.  This is just a brush, so its so much faster and easier.

In case you didn't notice, I've made a few other changes as well.  Babe Jr is out of town this week, I'm done with school for now and being stuck indoors during the rain I got pretty bored .  I started out by taking time to sit down and finally type out a bio so for a "My Story" page, which I had been putting off, but I got a bit carried away.  I'm happy with the look though, and now all my blog decorations are officially my creations rather than free downloads.

Wild Flowers

Some more pics of wild flowers growing near my house.  

Ragwort

Wild Violets

Fire Pink

This is one of my favorites.  I remember my Dad picking some while he was logging in the mountains and bringing them home to me when I was was a very little girl.

Cinquefoil

These are very small, I was nearly laying on the hillside to get this photo.

The next 2 I actually stopped the car on the side of the road about a mile or so from the house to get.

Wild Geranium

These are all over growing on the road sides in bunches, so pretty.

White Trillium

This had the largest blooms of any I photographed, and this was the only specimen of it I found.  I actually spotted it while driving and startled Babe Jr by stopping so unexpectedly to get a shot.  Very pretty.  I found out that they also grow in pink, I hope I find some and have my camera handy.

Photo Challenge: Pets

The Terrible Terrier makes the cut again.

 

http://www.iheartfaces.com/

Thanks for looking.

Princess Tree

I'd never noticed these flowering trees before this Spring and had no idea what they were.

I posted some of the shots I took yesterday to facebook last night and a lovely friend of mine from high school that now manages a nature conservatory enlightened me.

Its Paulownia, or princess tree.  I looked it up on Wikipedia, and found out that its originally from Asia but named after a princess from the Netherlands.  Traditionally, one was planted after the birth of a daughter, then the wood was harvested and made into a dresser as a gift for her wedding.  They are very fast growing.  Here's a closeup of one of the blooms that fell off.

The tree was very tall.  The fallen blooms were then only ones I could get close to.  This is a branch after the blooms are spent and the seed pods opened and dried.

They are often used to reclaim areas of deforestation and are great for places with poor soil.  This would make them beneficial where mountains have been strip mined.  After reading up on them, I think this tree is probably very helpful to our area and I can see how they made their way here.

A few Spring flowers

I finally got out today and shot some of the pretty flowers popping up everywhere. I've already missed the bloom time on a some of the flowering trees in our area, so I'm making an effort to capture more than I let slip by. This is a bush in my Father-in-Law's front yard.

I'm not sure what type it is, but this little bugger seems to like it.

I took very many pics of native wildflowers, but still have lots of editing to do to them.  Promise I'll post them ASAP.