Life’s Sweet Ordinary — through my lens

awesome: extremely impressive; in the senses – filled with awe

Doesn’t Nature sometimes fill you with awe?

(photos of pussy willows taken yesterday May 5, 2009 — spring has arrived north of 55 here in northern Alberta)

“She kept asking if the stories were true. I kept asking her if it mattered. We finally gave up. She was looking for a place to stand, and I wanted a place to fly.” ~ Brian Andreas, Story People.

I’ve begun to take flight. There is an excitement in the air, plenty to anticipate, my spirits are high. Next week there will be news to share.

Today Shutter Sister Karen Walrond has a post titled “Up Close and Personal”. She talks about how she (like me) is not so fond of roses yet loves the beauty of other flowers. Her husband asked her to plant roses in their garden and now that one of them is in bloom, she photographed it up close. She talks of how she’s shocked at its beauty when looked at up close.

I love lilies. Copyright © Diane M. Schuller. All Rights Reserved.

beauty found within a single cell of a chain link fence. Copyright © Diane M. Schuller. All Rights Reserved.

 
My Friday offerings are a response to her question, “…show me some everyday things that stun you with their beauty up close.” May you look at everything up close today and this weekend and may you find beauty in the most unexpected places.

Huh? You’re probably thinking I have that old cliche turned around. You’re right, I do.

For those using film and not digital, the darkroom is where the final processing occurs for photographic prints. Ansel Adams is known to have worked magic in the darkroom ‘finishing’ his masterpieces. Now that so many of us are using digital, a darkroom still exists — it’s the digital darkroom. I’m no master in the digital darkroom though I’ve been spending time in that digital darkroom practicing, experimenting, and even stretching the limits now and again. Today’s image is a result of some of that practice.

The image above, as it came straight out of the camera (SOOC), was nice enough but I thought it had potential for altering it somewhat to give it a more vintage feel. Using my Lightroom 2 software, I created a negative applying specific levels of processing. I’ve found it so much fun to experiment and play around in this way. Recently I also created my very first high-key image which can be done either in the camera or in the processing. I took an already somewhat overexposed image of a horse, increasing the exposure in the digital darkroom, made a few other minor adjustments, and ended up with a more artistic version that you can view at my photoblog. I was really pleased with the results.

This image of a bloom on my Easter cactus has been through the digital darkroom. Using Lightroom I was able to make it appear like it was created with Velvia film. Velvia film is known for having brighter colours and deeper saturation, among its other attributes. While in that darkroom I could have just as easily made this black and white, sepia, or many other options for final processing. Remember the beautiful close up of that clematis and the pink peony I offered for desktop wallpaper? The colours were more brilliant and crisp but I reduced that brilliance, purposely desaturating both images to give them more of a faded old-time feel. All done in my digital darkroom.

Then again, I could run a photo through that digital darkroom, leaving it as it came straight out of the camera, but add one small touch: a bit of vignetting (that darkening of the edges) like with this box of cupcakes. The only difference between the film version of processing and the digital version is that one is done with chemicals and one is done with the computer. I hope you’ve enjoyed walking through my digital darkroom.

In what ways do you like to experiment or play around with any of your creative pursuits (gardening, photography, painting, crafting, sewing, woodworking, or …)?

“Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way.” ~ Edward De Bono

The weekend was great, mostly because spring truly is showing its face around here. The snow is melting (though it snowed all day Sunday) faster than you can say “zippity-doo-dah” flawlessly fifteen times; the Canada Geese have returned and some of the Trumpeter Swans flew overhead as well; Easter Sunday was a day filled with great conversation with family; the chickadees are seeking out safe nesting spots; saw a Snowy Owl perched on one of our spruce trees this weekend; the air is filled with the smell of snow melt; hubby drove all the way to the city & back Easter Monday so we could have a sushi treat (took lots of photos of it too); and I no longer have to wear 3 or 4 layers of clothes when I go outside!

As you can see, I couldn’t help but put out two posts today.

I hope you enjoy this sunshine-y store-bought chrysanthemum. What makes your star shine today?

I see the beauty there within you. Do you see it in yourself? It’s right there.

I’m a tad late posting a photo for you to use as wallpaper. This month I’ve waffled about what two to offer you and hope you find the two soft ones I chose to your liking; they’re yours to use and to freshen your days. You are welcome to send others here as well to share in the soft backdrop as most of you are already well into spring (even if we aren’t there yet ). Right click to save it and then add it as your wallpaper.

A gentle reminder: these wallpaper images each month are being made available for personal use only. They are not to be used for commercial purposes.

May you have a weekend filled with joy, laughter, and don’t forget to take some photographs!

PS: Two upcoming blog posts next week will cover tips on photographing dogs (applies to kids too) plus a post on what book helped me make the most improvement in my photography skills.