My First Month is Done! September in Pictures...

Though I did start a little late in the month (the 6th I think?), the first month of my new project is finished - voila!!  I have been so excited to be able to put a month's worth of pictures all together so I can look at them as a group, and of course now the picture has to go here... YAY September!!

Click here if you would like to see the mosaic a bit bigger and you can go check it out on Flickr

Now if I can only figure out how to make the program let ME decide the size and location of pictures in the mosaic... maybe next month!!

3:52 - This Week in Pictures (Sept 19 - 25)

This week has been wonderful and fun with my little project. As of yet I'm still no better at taking the pictures earlier in the day (to avoid the midnight photo posting!), but I'm enjoying the whole process a lot more. I'm finding myself really drawn to photographing nature, but I'm also trying to think outside the proverbial box so I don't get bored with my own pictures. This is what I got this week...

15:365 - NotSoMellow Yellow

I was painting today, trying to use watercolours for the first time. I heard it was difficult but thought back to finger painting with the kindergarten kids and thought I could take a go at it. I wasn’t painting for the heck of it I guess, I was actually making wrapping paper for a birthday gift! By the time I had finished the paper looked like it had been painted by a 7-year old, but hey - I was happy! *Note to self... must add “learn to paint with watercolours” to the list of things to do...

16:365 - Holy Holy

Today there was a Harvest Festival at the Ukrainian Folk Village, and we decided to drive up for the day and see what we could find (me, I was thinking about the perogies and borscht, yum!). Out for a walk of the main part of the town we came across this beautiful church. You can see the whole thing in my other photos, but I really wanted to focus on the sun shining down from above... something about the play of light really drew me to the church.

Runner up for the day: Church2Sky

I had a hard time choosing a picture for this day, so I put this one here too. The clouds in the background, the colours of the church contrasted against the beautiful blues in the sky, the lines between the fence and the church, it was just really pretty (so you get a bonus shot here!).

17:365 - CraftyFun

Ok, so it's not the most artistic of photos, I know. However, this little photo-project of mine is meant to be a bit like a journal too, time to catch a second of something wonderful going on in my life! Tonight I spent the latter part of my evening making halloween cards. I love card making, it really makes my heart happy. This, kindergarteny-tho-it-may-be, is a small piece of wonderful in my life!

18:365 - Reluctantly Beautiful

I am not a fan of Autumn. I like the word, “autumn, autumn, autumn,” the way it rolls off the tongue... the unlikely cosiness of the ‘m’ next to the ‘n.’I do not like the way the season serves as the signal fire that marks the end of summer and the oncoming cold and slowdown of winter. I like winter least of all things in life, and anything that tolls the bell for it just makes me sad. Despite my dislike of the season, I couldn't pass up this beautiful field with the sun high on the sky, sunspots blinking on the camera lens... I admit reluctantly that Autumn is indeed beautiful.

19:365 – Faith

On a night where I feel like all of my energy has been sucked dry, when I would really rather be doing anything but taking a picture, anything but keeping my promise to myself, anything but try to find something beautiful around me, I was drawn in by this ugly little fairy and her star of Faith. Faith. In me. Faith. In Life. Faith. Just faith.

20:365 – Fly Away Toes

Lovey really likes to have her toes painted, and she almost always likes me to put little stickers on them too (which I think look totally cute). Autumn may be taking over, but there’s a little bit of summer is always welcome to stick around for awhile longer. And in everything they are, I think butterflies really are beautiful.

21:365 – Ouch!

I love these cute little pigs. They travelled a long way to be here, sent over to Mom from Korea. I was playin’ around with them and then noticed the contrast of the giggles vs. this one angry little pig, and thought it was adorable. The one in back left looks like he just threw something at little angry pig, naughty naughty (and cute)!

Hope you enjoyed my week this week, I'm looking forward to seeing you back again next week!!  S.

Opinion Please?

I have an opinion question - and really, how often to people ask for our opinions anymore, right? Well this is me, asking for your opinion.

I like to put some kind of signature on my photos, something that makes them mine. I was just using a watermarked monogram (that you can see in the picture on the left), and then I started using a new stamp that I made (that is on the picture on the right).

The bright side of the monogram is that I can make it somewhat transparent, and I can colour it to match colours in the photo so it's not too obtrusive when you look at the photo (despite the fact that it's a bit boring). The bright side of the stamp is that it looks great, and I really like it (despite the fact that it's a pain in the butt to add on the photo and I can't really make it blend, other than making it smaller on the photo; I can't seem to make the background transparent).

The thing is, I can't decide which one to use as a standard!! 

I guess I could just interchange them, and use whatever strikes my fancy, but I guess I'd like to pick one. Doesn't that make more sense?

Which one do you (yes, you!) think looks better? I would love to hear your opinion!

2:52 This Week in Pictures (Sept 13-19)

Well here it is another week has gone by, and it's time to put my pictures up again. I have to say that I feel conflicted about this project so far (mostly on the positive side of it though). On the one hand, it's been kinda fun going through the exercise every day, forcing myself to take some time out to capture a piece of life for no other reason than because I said I would; for the challenge of seeing if I can come up with a photo that I like. On the other hand, it's been a bit tortuous making myself sit down and do it some nights, and at times I'm up 'til my self-imposed midnight-cutoff finishing up my "work"! Here's what I got this week...

8:365 8SEPT09 - Cuddles

Nimma is the softest white dog you've ever met. As such, she needs to have the softest bed you've ever felt to lay on, and the softest stuffy you've ever met to cuddle with at naptime. Put them together - a whole happy, warm mess o'softy!

9:365 8SEPT09 - Early Morning Light

Most mornings I get up early to let the dogs out (saves me having to clean up the floor later!). This morning I woke up groaning when the biggest dog nosed me, annoyed to have to get up 'early' on Sunday morning, but she was ready to go. When I took them outside this was the view that greeted me. I saw beautiful morning sunlight streaming through the trees along our street, and remembered why some mornings it was better to be up with the birds. What a nice way to start the day!

10:365 - Old Red

I never used to drink red wine. To be honest, I used to detest it. After wrinkling my nose and screwing up my face after every sip offered over the years my friends always said, "you'll like it when you grow up" (ha, ha, ha)... I hate when they're right

11:365 - Faded Love

I love having flowers in the house, despite the fact that their beauty is so tangibly fleeting. One moment you have this luscious, rich, velvety petalled perfumed beauty, and soon a browning, wilted bloom that once was beautiful. The chance to seek out beauty when something is not "what it was" is a true gift of nature.

12:365 - Sunny Lotus

At just the right time in the morning, Lotus has about a half hour of bright sunlight sitting on her favorite armchair... she always tucks herself up so small. Then when I try to take her picture she usually squints or makes faces, but today was a good day!

13:365 - Oops a Daisy!

Today was a special day, a cause for flowers. A few of us were of that opinion, so there were flowers all over the place at home!! With the plethora of beautiful flowers surrounding me I *had* to make my picture of the day one of them (and believe me, there were a hundred photos to pick from!!).

14:365 - Heaven Awaits

The sky, the trees, the lines of the road and the spots from the sun, I loved all the lines and shapes in this early morning view. If you look closely you can see a heart on the road and heaven in the skies.

Well, that was my week. Plenty of time and plenty of opportunity for spotting beautiful moments in my life. Thank you for coming here to share it with me, I hope you enjoy looking at the photos even half as much as I enjoy taking them! Wishing you a beautiful week... S.

New Photo Signature

I just bought the new version of MS Office this year (it was cheap since i was a student), and I was actually pretty happy with the fonts package it came with. But today, home sick from work, I have been surfing the internet and found Kevin and Amanda's fantastic site where I download about 400 new free fonts! Lots of them are handwriting styles, some of them are little doodles, I love it!! You can download individual fonts, or they have a button to 'download all,' which was super easy!! And now, the best part, is that after I installed them I can access them from all of the programs in my computer that use fonts - woohoo!! The worst part, is that now it's going to take me an extra long time to pick a font when I'm trying to do something new!!!


For instance, it just took me an hour of font changing and copying and cutting and pasting to create my new photo signature, and after all that this is what it will be, in all its' simplicity...

I love it!Love it!Love it!!

Ha... only one small problem now since this itself is a graphic... how to get it onto my pictures!!  :)  Lol... it may just have to be the font (which I still like) without the rose or the coloring as a signature... more to follow, I need to go clean the house and chase the cat with my camera!

1:52 - This Week in Pictures (Sep 5-12, 2009)

It has been an interesting first week in this new little adventure in photography I've undertaken. I've managed a whole seven days in a row without skipping out (look at me, huh?!), haha... Oddly, as simple as this little project sounds it has been quite a bit of work to make sure that I take some time each day with my camera. Time to think about what I might like to shoot, time to plan what I'd like it to look like, and time to put 2 and 2 together so it looks like I want it. Everything certainly hasn't turned out exactly like I might have pictured it, but afterall it is only the first week. I have much to learn, and lots of time to learn it in! So without further ado, here is my first week...

1:365 SAT05SEP - "Riding High"

I live in a town that love love loves the rodeo. They like it so much that there are even STATUES for it. Every year in the summer there's a big rodeo here, lots of events, lots of money, even trucks and the like for the big winners. In one of the events (bronc riding), some crazy cowboy gets on the back of some poor horse whose sole aim in life is to unseat said cowboy as quickly and unharmoniously as possible (which you can see happening here). This is not something I understand, the whole rodeo thing (keep your gasps to a dull roar here, I'm a city girl all the way!), but I have heard that the "bucking broncos" have a wild look in their eyes. If you look at this statue you'll see those saaaaame crazy eyes... doesn't make me anxious to sit through a rodeo anytime soon tho!

2:365 SUN06SEP - "Up the Track"

Have you ever wanted to try ridin' the rails? Just jumping on a train (unbeknownst to the "responsible people" of the train) and seeing where you end up? On this wet rainy day I thought it might be just the ticket... without a ticket, that is!


3:365 MON07SEP - "Prairie View"

In my constant desire to escape the bland and boring life of the prairies I often forget that I am surrounded by a beauty that many people can't imagine. Huge skies, and a magnificent blend of colour through all of the seasons. The summer is my favorite with the yellows of the wheat fields, the spring green of the alphalpha, the dark green of the trees, the blue in the lakes and marshes. It really is pretty. I focused the shot on the wheat to remind myself that there is beauty all around me.

 

4:365 TUE08SEP - "Forbidden Knowledge"

In the corner of the living room there is a big pile of books. I think they are waiting to be taken to the secondhand store, but I don't really know since they have been there so long. They're not mine, the lonely stacks that gather dust and dog hair in the corner, forgotten. Opened, they might teach me any number of things about life. As they are they keep their secrets to themselves, their knowledge forbidden to those who only look on.

5:365 WED09SEP - "Flower Lodge"

For many people a lodge is a place of peace. It is a place of warmth and safety. A place where you can go within, and hear the quiet voice that always knows the right answer. This lodge is made of flowers, brad flowers actually, and this shot made me feel as if it were lit from within. The most beautiful part for me is that this is a picture of what it feels like for me when I find myself within a lodge, seeking, and listening for the answers I know are within.

6:365 THU10SEP - "Fading Colours"

In the late spring I bought a stack of seeds that I wanted to plant in the newly turned flower beds in the yard. My favorite ones are the packages of brightly coloured wildflowers, mostly because it is a total surprise to see what comes up when they bloom! I like to plant sunflowers, daisies, bachelor buttons and pansies, but it is such a delight as each delicious surprise from the wildflower packet opens up after the magic combination of sunshine and rain. This bloom is my favorite with its gorgeous red and yellow, as it has popped in and saved the paling colours in the garden as summer fades into autumn around me.

7:365 FRI11SEP - "Reflections"

I love this vase that sits atop the bookshelf. It is filled partway with rose petals that have dried in shades of yellow, pink and red. It is meant to be a candle holder I think, but since I have known it is has been a holder of memories, filled with the petals of days gone by. Every surface is reflective, some of them rounded, some flat, others angled, all showing their own perspective - calling it like they see it.


There ends the first week of my project. Big things can come from humble beginnings, right? I hope you can find some time to enjoy the beauty that's just lyin' around in your life, thanks for stopping and checkin' in on me. See you in a week, if not sooner.... S.

The Start - A Year in Pictures

Inspired by Danigirl's blog I have been thinking for almost a year about how much I would like to do a photoblog project. I write this post with a bit of trepidation because I don't know if I can keep anything together and headed in one direction for a whole year, that feels like a lot to ask of myself! However, I think it would be pretty incredible if I could manage it, and I would love to be able to look back, even at the end of a month, and see the progress!  So, here begins my life in pictures.


I will take the time every day to take some photos and things around me in life that would be fun to look back on, small snapshots and notes in time. I would like to explore my camera functions and learn a bit more about photography as I go, so I'll endeavour to read more about photographic techniques too so I can keep myself interested in the project. And, I'll post them here with quotes on my looking glass page, once a week for the week.


And now, Mags and I are off on a hunting expedition to see what we might drudge up in our dusty little town... wish us luck!!  :)

Prairie Sunset

Across the field from the place I work a farmer keeps his cows. Sometime when I come in to work they are near the fence, chewin' away and ignoring us all, other times they are off somewhere over the hill and I have no idea what they're doing. On this particular day I rushed home to get my camera and back to work as the sun was sinking over the hill to see what kind of prairie goodness I might capture...

The End

Roadside beauty

On the way to work this morning I saw this mamma deer and her twins. When I first drove by they didn't even lift their heads and they were facing the road, but of course once I idled near them mamma thought it would be best to grab breakfast a little farther away (which is why I have only the bum-view here).

I hear that it isn't very often that a deer will have 2 babies in a spring, but this lovely lady did. She and her babes actually live on the hospital grounds where I work, and I have gotten to watch them grow up since they were just over knee high... they're finally getting their spots now!

 Such a lovely way to start the day at work before even pulling into the parking lot!

More from the garden

Having a flower garden makes my heart glad

Beautiful blooms in the sun and the rain

Funky with frizzy petals, pinks askew

and flowers within flowers when you change your view

Perfect petals that flourish despite the wind and the heat

A big mess of gladness that grows

and I'm grateful