An Autumn Walk

I went for a walk this morning. In a nearby city it's snowing already, ugh, barf, snow. Here it's only rainy and foggy (thank you god!), so I thought I would go for a walk and soak up some more of Autumn's soggy cool beauty before it's buried for another year...

Week 4:52 - This Week in Pictures (Sep 26 - Oct 02)

So the FOURTH week of my project is here, and I can now say I've been doing something that's just for me daily for a month! Wow, I always mean to start things, but it's kinda nice to see the progress right on my page when I actually do it!!! It's really a reward in itself at the end of the week to be able to put the photos together and look back on things, quadrupally-so at the end of the month, that was worth all the brain freezes for sure!

 This week was nice. Last weekend there was a visit at mom's place out at the lake, followed by quite a bit of time spent doing nothing at home trying to kick out a tension headache. The full moon was up last night, and I had fun trying to get a good shot of it, and then a visit with the godbaby today... all in all a nice week by the end of it...

Saturday 26SEP09 – Cattails

One of the nicest things about the summer village where Mom lives year round is the lake. In early autumn the blaring noise of 'fun' on the water has subsided for another year, and on this cooler weekend far fewer 'city folks' have made the trek out to their summer cabins. The late afternoon was peaceful and quiet, nothing to be heard except the geese that were congregating over on one side. Early in the evening I must have taken about 50 shots of cattails against the sky, it was just too pretty to pass up.

Sunday 27SEP09 – Puffballs

Mom and I took her dogs for a walk, and we came across these really neat mushrooms. Turns out when you step on them they send a yucky powder (spores maybe?) flying everywhere, but they looked really cool. Now that the end of the week has come and I’m looking back on the month, I think this is my unintentional favourite.

Monday 28SEP09 – Mags

I had the night to myself tonight, and before I knew it had spent most of it in the bathtub! This is what peeked over the edge at me almost the full time I was in there (complete with a squeaking begging and pleading for me to bring her INTO *my bath*!!!!). It was too cute to pass up, because those little sparkles you can see on the end of her nose are actually bubbles... the only dog I know who is happiest when drawn into a bubble bath!

Tuesday 29SEP09 - Simple Beginnings

It starts simply with just one. Anytime you lay on a flat surface in this house, an animal thinks “Wow, best bed ever!” and hops up to lay down on top of you. Nimma is often the leader of that venture, so she's the biggest in the picture. Not too long after, Mags decides that it's not fair that another dog is getting more attention than her (despite the fact that I'm ignoring them), so she hops up right along side, and there are 2 dogs laying on top of me thinking “wow, best bed ever!” And of course, what dogpile would be complete without a cat!! That's right, as soon as the 2 little dogs are settled, the cat starts to think it looks like a great idea too, and up she climbs... “Wow, best bed ever!” Thank god Neera isn’t allowed up on the furniture!

Wednesday 30 SEP09 – Keys

I want to learn how to play. I've been meaning to get around to it. I can pick songs up by ear, but I'm not so good at reading the notes yet. That, and I only try to play about once a month (if I'm lucky). I got the organ for Christmas last year, and I really really really wanted it, I love that I have it... I just have to actually GET to it!!

Thursday 01OCT09 – Travels

Every place I've ever travelled I've always wanted to buy little keepsake boxes. These ones came from Korea, and though they look just like many other little boxes you can buy, they're more. The bronzes and browns with the globe turned to some of my favorite places on earth with the candles to light the way... travels...

Friday 02OCT09 – Full Moon

I don't have a big fancy camera with a telephoto zoom lens or some neat-o accessory for shooting at night. So I traipsed out tonight with my 2 'little' cameras, and I was astounded when I found the actual moon on it when I got home! I enhanced the shading in the picture to make the night sky less city-affected, and this is what was there... love a full moon - a heck of a way to end the week, really.

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!