Well we've been having some really beautiful sunny days here for the past couple of weeks, so the weather is great! Although just a little rain would be nice occasionally. Such a difference to all the other photos that seem to be going up on the CY365 website, seeing that most of them live in the northern hemisphere. So here is our poinciana tree in full bloom - just in time for Christmas.
How's The Weather: The Temperature | The Conditions | The Layers Well we've been having some really beautiful sunny days here for the past couple of weeks, so the weather is great! Although just a little rain would be nice occasionally. Such a difference to all the other photos that seem to be going up on the CY365 website, seeing that most of them live in the northern hemisphere. So here is our poinciana tree in full bloom - just in time for Christmas. And now we're off to take our grandson to see the Christmas lights. He's already been last night and apparently just loved them so when I told my son we were off to see the street that they'd visited he asked if we wanted to take Hunter. Of course we said yes!
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Quiet: Peaceful | Not A Creature Stirring | Silent
I just went through the days left on my December list and I have a funny feeling that somewhere along the way I have lost a day. I think today really should be Day 351 … I wonder where that happened! When I have a little more time to spend in front of the computer and on the blog, I will go back, find it and correct the entries. Some days it's a struggle to come up with a photo, and I think I've mentioned before how similar I find a lot of the prompts. This prompt falls into that category. No early morning fog, and soft quiet snow drifts, didn't want to do sleeping animals, so I've gone with the setting sun. It is a quiet time of the afternoon when I'm winding down (especially at this time of year), the animals have been exercised and fed, and I'm getting ready to have dinner and then relax. I do think next year will be a challenge trying to come up with new ideas for photos to fit the prompts. I guess that's good for enhancing my creativity ... Unspoken Words: Connection | Emotion | A Look
There are some prompts that seem to require taking a photo of someone. Today was one such prompt. The inspiration email talked about capturing the emotion of whoever you are taking a photo, of making a connection and getting them to relax in front of the camera so that the end result is a natural looking photo. These are the ones that are a bit tricky to do at home by myself. I have lots of photos that I have taken recently that are candid shots of people and I think I've managed to capture the emotion but they're not particularly helpful today. Bouquets of flowers are another way to express oneself without words; different types of flowers are often endowed with a particular meaning. Red roses for love, springs to mind. These are stargazer lilies and have been giving meanings in many cultures. They can symbolise romance, wealth and prosperity. The white lilies often symbolise purity. Their scent is exquisite and quite strong. Quiet Moments: Stopping | Reflecting | Reading It's probably pretty obvious by now that I enjoy taking photos of the flowers around our yard. I was walking back to the house when I noticed these grasses being lit by the setting sun. The light was just too beautiful to miss. Taking the time to stop and notice the beauty that is around provides me with an opportunity to slow down, to soak it in, to take a deep, cleansing breath and appreciate where I am in my life. I love how the light makes a perfectly ordinary flower look just so stunning. Thought I'd also share this photo - again lit by the afternoon sun.
Little Things: Details | Smiles | Cereal I think the best way to write about today's prompt is to take it straight from the inspiration email, and it really sums up the way I feel about doing this 365 project. "It is about the small things. One of the beautiful things about taking a daily photo is the pause. The pause we take to notice the small things in our life that truly matter. Maybe it’s the key you open your door with everyday. Or the cup you sip your morning coffee from. I was out taking photos of neighbour's gorgeous little ducklings for this prompt. They are just so cute. It was difficult to get very close to photograph them, even with the zoom lens, as mother and father duck moved them away as soon as they heard me coming. Going back to the house I saw this bird getting some nectar from the agapantha and with the afternoon sun behind, I couldn't resist. The birds, flowers, wildlife, nature are the little things that I enjoy ever so much and am grateful to be in a place where I can do just that, enjoy it all, every day.
Spectacular: Colour | Leaves | Nature
When I saw today's prompt of spectacular, I knew that I wanted to use the photo I took the other afternoon of that amazing, coloured sky during sunset (24.10.13). It just seems to be so appropriate. This did not mean that I wouldn't take any photos today. I thought it would be a nice opportunity to take some macro shots and then have a little play in Lightroom. Here are some of my favourites from today. Some are just waiting for an inspirational quote! Mysterious: A Headstone | Obscure | Hidden
Wow! This post is going up on the right day! It seems I've spent so much time working with photos lately that the blog has been pushed to the side a bit. Sometimes I just can't get to upload on the right day, but I'll run with the better late than never philosophy. And yet again this was another late-in-the-day attempt to get my daily photo. Really, there aren't too many mysterious things around here. I've already taken a photo of the headstone and grave - although as I'm writing this, I'm thinking I could have gone down to the grave with some candles and photographed it with soft lighting to give it a mysterious feel. And taken Bella and Zimi along for protection. However, thinking that now doesn't really help as I've already taken my photos. What I decided to do quickly was to take some photos of the plants in really low light and play around with different effects in Lightroom as part of the editing. I didn't realise until I was doing this that the middle photo actually has a spider in it. I think it's kind of interesting. I really like some of the effects you can get in post production, but such a steep learning curve and I probably don't spend enough time just playing (although I do seem to spend an awful lot of time doing exactly that!). I will probably go with the middle photo for the CY365 gallery. What do you think? A Unique Angle: Look Up | Corners | Architecture
I've continued working on the reunion photos and am gradually getting them to how I want them to look, but it means that I actually had to push myself to go and take photos for the prompt. I figure I've been looking at photos pretty much all day, well, except when Mel and Hunter came to visit, and to go and take more photos was a bit of a chore, well, no, not really. I just enjoy photography. Most of my photos of the day have been taken in and around our house and yard, featuring Bella, Zimi, Oliver and the girls, flowers, memorabilia, things we have and so on. This has largely been deliberate, as it was (and is) important to me to document my daily life, and really, most of my daily life is spent at home. Keeping my focus on what is around me has oftentimes pushed me to work out how on earth I was going to actually manage to do the prompt. And it has helped me focus on what my reality was at that particular point in time. Many of the photos I've taken will not be/look the same way in a few years time - the plants, the changing gardens, dogs, cat and chickens, changes to the house, furnishings - and those photos will provide me with a reference point of what my life looked like in 2013. And I'm sure each one will spark a wealth of memories. I guess in some ways just the visual documenting of 365 days has provided a unique perspective on looking at my life and the life around me. This afternoon while playing with the dogs, I took some photos of the cubby house from different angles, but you know, they turned out looking like I had just rotated the image. So I turned to the Agapanthus and got down on my back in the garden bed and snapped happily away. Not the usual view of this plant and one I think that emphasises the strength of the stems against the soft delicateness of the petals. I've never grown an Agapanthus before and this lovely blossom is my very first. Definitely worthy of a place in the 365. Around The Corner: A Turn | Looking Ahead | A Bend This photo is not very original and definitely not creative, but it did fulfil the criteria of Around the corner. I have been spending quite a lot of time sorting through the photos of the reunion, and not so much time behind the camera. Hopefully I will be able to get all the photos sorted, edited and burned onto DVDs and then get back to photography. The year is almost over and I have so much I still want to do with my photos. This path and the steps lead from the area outside our patio down to the pool. However, the path comes to an abrupt halt as there is a fence in the way. No gate, just the fence. The gate is further down (with no path). We figure that once upon a time the path led to a gate, and somewhere along the way one of the previous owners changed the original pool fence design, without changing the direction of the path. After being here for two years, we think that we might actually put a gate in and give the path a reason to exist. (And yes Ann, I'm sorry, but this is in the backyard ... again. ) While I was wandering around looking for things that were around the corner I stopped to take some photos of the agapanthus that I had put up earlier. Each little bud is gradually opening. I did like this one. It looks just right for a lovely inspirational quote.
Two Become One: Blending | Layering | Enhancing You may have noticed I have missed a day ... Today's prompt was about looking at the editing that is done after the photos have been uploaded from the camera and into the computer. I use Lightroom 4 to do most of my editing. Some photos need only a small adjustment, whereas others lend themselves to a more creative approach. This is the same photo that I used for Day 274; Seasonal Colour my Angapanthus. However in this photo I have done the following edits:
I wanted to get this post up but I haven't managed to figure out yet how to export this properly - without the grey around it. This is one I will come back to tomorrow as I haven't yet uploaded to the CY365 gallery. Once I know what to do I will change it here as well. Had a lovely morning visiting with our grandson and watching him at soccer training. His dad is the coach. It was such fun to watch these 2 and 3 year olds playing and learning some basic soccer skills.
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ARCHIVE CY365 -2014
This blog started out to be about my first 365 day photography project - one photo each day - through Katrina Kennedy's Capture Your 365 challenge Blogs I followThe more I start looking at blogs the more I find that are interesting. This is not good. I can never remember where I found them. Not to mention how time consuming they can be ...
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