Landing Pad

Landing Pad
Originally uploaded by Kausthub

Just stop whatever else you're doing and look at this gorgeous photo.

The colors... the clarity... the composition... it's just perfect.

photo fun #2 - post and wire

What difference just a few changes make. This old post and barbed wire was shot out in the country  when S and I were driving around yesterday. I pulled over to the side of the road, he rolled down the window and snapped the pic. No effort expended and a so-so shot.








But... I played with it a little in PhotoScape, sharpened it, intensified the color, brightened the front of the post, stuck a rustic frame around it, and now... now it's something I'd stop and look at twice in a photo exhibit, something I'd maybe put on my wall.

I'm going to play with it some more, try to get the grass more golden without looking garish, but for 15 minutes worth of fiddling, I'm quite happy with it.

branching out

I love photography, always have. A really good photo can bring me to a halt for quite a while as my eyes roam over all the details. I dabbled in it years ago when you had to actually print the pictures out on paper to see what the heck you had. After going broke taking a lot of crappy pictures, I gave up.

But that was then, this is now and digital photography means it's practically free to hone your picture taking skills, hitting 'delete' on all the lousy ones until your portfolio contains nothing but wondrous images of the world as you see it. I've been longing for a DSLR, looking at them on eBay and Amazon, haunting photo blogs and flickr. But. Several buts. They're pricey, they don't fit in my purse, and I'm lazy about learning all the stuff that makes them cool to begin with. It would be like me to buy a fancy camera, set it to 'auto' and then moan about why my photos don't look like the ones on the blogs.

So I got out my point-n-shoot, an Olympus SD1400, and actually read the manual. Turns out it does all sorts of things I had no idea about, so for now I'm going to play with it and keep hoping I win a DSLR from Pioneer Woman. I also downloaded PhotoScape, free image editing software that has a lot of cool features.

This is the photo SOOC (straight out of camera). Kinda interesting but nothing special.

And just in case you're wondering, the shadow of the chain is what's in focus, not the chain itself.

This is the photo after I cropped it and did some tinkering in PhotoScape. I quite like it in an urban grunge sort of way. And despite looking like it's from the inner city, it's just around the block from my house in upper middle class suburbia. 

So I guess I'm back on a photography kick.

I love these things...

Photo caption contests are one of my favorite things. They involve a bit of imagination, a dash of mad writing skilz, and a cool picture. What more could you ask for?

Gale over at She Shoots Sheep Shots is having a photo caption contest for a sheep in a hand knit hat. The photo was taken during one of Gale's photo workshops at Juniper Moon Farm and it's adorable.

The two prizes are a copy of Gale's book Shear Spirit: Ten Fiber Farms, Twenty Patterns and Miles of Yarn and 3 skeins of Lamb's Pride.

book review: As Sure As The Sun

As Sure As the Sun by Anna McPartlin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I really liked this. Picked it up on a whim but I'll look for more by her after reading this one.

A story of a woman who has a twin brother, and parents who have quite the secret they've been keeping for 30 years. Two of the woman's friends and their families also fit into the story. Alongside the current narrative are the diary entries of a 17 year old girl, written about 30 years ago.

It's very well done. Suspenseful and satisfying. She writes well, her dialog rings true, the plot was original. I totally recommend it as an enjoyable read.



View all my reviews