Color Me Happy

One of my favorite things about spring is that each passing day sees more and more color. While there are many reasons to love winter, the overwhelming amounts of gray, brown, black and white for many months at a time, can become quite depressing!

As the days get longer, the first noticeable change I see is the sky....less gray, more blue. Then comes some green, that beautiful spring green color of the buds on the trees and the new blades of grass. Then flowers begin popping out and after a few rain showers and some warm days, it seems the world is blazing with color. Oh, be still my beating heart!

Here in Texas, the wildflowers have started to bloom and the sides of the highways are exploding with yellow, orange, purple and pink. Just driving down the road gives me a little color pick-me-up and makes me smile. So those of you that are still knee deep in winter, I wanted to share some color happiness with you. For those of you already seeing spring, join in the color party and share your happiest photos in the flickr gallery!

Red

Pink

Orange

Yellow

Green

Blue

Purple

Have a colorific day!

P.S. Come visit us on SUNDAY. We will be having a SPECIAL post to announce something new on Focusing on Life.... we'd love for you to stop by and take a peek!

Still Linking for Spring

Don't forget about our Spring Linking Party in yesterday's post. We've got some beautiful entries and we're keeping the linking party open so you can add your lovely spring images to our site. Be sure to join the fun!

AND -- to brighten your day check this out!

Not only a perfect example of "Do not judge a book by it's cover" ... BUT the testament of the friendship is breath taking. (I could not stop the tears)

And

 

Spring Linking Party

Some flowers, like people, stand out from the crowd.  Destined to be the divas, prima dona's, and leaders in their society.  Tulips are often the stars of our neighborhood gardens due to their resilience, poise, beauty and colors.

 5 Fun Facts about Tulips -- Did you know?

1.     Tulip is the world's third most popular flower after rose and chrysanthemum.
2.     Tulips grow wild over a great territory from Asia Minor through Siberia to China.
3.     The majority of the tulips are grown and exported from Holland.
4.     Tulip flowers are a symbol of Spring
5.     There are about 3,000 known varieties of cultivated tulips. 

A light exists in Spring

A light exists in spring
Not present on the year
At any other period.
When March is scarcely here

A color stands abroad
On solitary hills
That science cannot overtake,
But human naturefeels.

Emily Dickinson

This week, we at FOL are celebrating SPRING -- with a Link party.

Insert your URL to your SPRING flower and other's will be able to follow you.  It's really fun to check out all the participants, and much more fun if we all comment on the ones you enjoy!

Thanks, as always for visiting us!

Displaying your Art

I have been thinking back to my first post here at Focusing on Life about sharing your images with others (you can read that here).  That and Susan's post last week about creating artwork from your images got me thinking about finding ways to display my images around my home for my family and me to enjoy.  Wow!  I never would have believed there was so much inspiration out there!  Just Google "photography displays" and you will find so many wonderful ideas.  I want to share some ideas and inspirations with you because often people love their photographs and have a lot of them but have no idea how to display them in their home. 

First thing!!!  Never underestimate the power of one large single image displayed in your home.  The most common problem people have with single images is that they don't get them printed big enough to add drama to the room.  I suggest getting images printed on canvases.  It's a great investment and ready to hang art (no frame required).  For a room that's large, I wouldn't print anything smaller than 20x30.  That's a perfect size for displaying images over fireplaces, above a bed, and behind a couch.  Here's a canvas wrap of our family Christmas card photo printed at 20x30 that is hanging in our entry hall:

It never ceases to elicit comments from all who enter our home and, even more than that, we get to enjoy it every time we pass by.

I know many of you know Barbara Carroll and have been inspired by her work.  She is someone who really knows how to display her images.  I loved this old window that she used as a frame for a photo of her children that she has hanging in her entry hall of her home.  She told me that she printed out her photo in six different pieces, one for each section of the window.  That way she was able to print this out on her home printer.  I think finding a wonderful window like this would be the hard part!

This is a canvas that she has above her mantel.  She converted her image to black and white, added a texture and word art and uploaded it to have it printed on a 20x30 canvas.  It is simply stunning!

I found another canvas idea on Erin Cobb's website.  She created a 36x36 document on her computer, filled it with nine 12x12 images and  then  uploaded it to be printed on canvas.  There are two canvases hanging side by side.  You can imagine the impact of something this big hanging on your wall.

A couple of years ago, I was inspired by this photo grouping by Tara Whitney that she posted on her blog:

She printed out individual 12x12 images and framed them with frames from Ikea.  You can read her post about them here.

And I just LOVE this idea shared the wonderful Ali Edwards on her blog for using a type drawer to display small photos in a big way:

Of course, there are other ways to display your photos besides hanging them on your walls.  I loved this idea  from Marie Claire magazine:

 

I plan on copying this idea, using plain cardboard magazine holders from the office supply store, printing out one large photo and dividing it into fourths and then attaching it to the ends of the magazine holders.  Such a fun idea for your home office!

So there's no excuse for keeping your wonderful images hidden away on your computer.  Print them, frame them, display them any way you want to but get them out of hiding so they can be enjoyed by not only your friends and family but by you as well.  Please share some of your display ideas in our Flickr pool.


And don't forget to keep shooting your images of spring to share in Claudia's Linky party tomorrow.  You just might want to frame some of them for your walls!

In Focus

When I began my digital photography adventure in 2004, little did I know where it would lead me. After starting out with a "performance" digital camera, I soon upgraded to another with "more performance" capabilities, but alas, a shutter that was too slow. So in 2010, I decided it was time to move up to a dSLR.

Soon after I got my new camera, I realized there was a lot to learn in order to produce something more than snapshots so I began surfing the internet. One of the first places I landed was at Shutter Sisters. After a few months of lurking on that site and others, I decided I'd like to link one of my photos.

Linking My First Photo

Oh, my! What an adventure that was! I located flickr.com, set up an account, and attempted to load an image. To say this was intimidating is to understate how totally overwhelmed I felt. However, being a stubborn sort, I stuck with it and finally succeeded in loading, saving and putting a title on my photo. Next problem - how to link my photo to the site. You'd think it would get easier form here on, wouldn't you? Well, you would be wrong! Finally after much trial and error and a few (mild) curse words, I got the darn thing linked. Then ... nothing. Yeah, my photo was so bad, nobody noticed it and if they did, they didn't comment.

Photography Classes

But I stuck with it, found some photography classes at various websites and even became friends with Flickr. Then things began to happen. As my knowledge expanded, my photography improved and I began to be noticed. Actually, validated would be more like it. And here I am today, one of the bloggers on Focusing on Life.


Your Turn


We're going to give you the opportunity to experience the same artistic growth and the same wonderful photography community that I, and my sister photographers, have found on the internet.

First on the agenda is Claudia's linky party which takes place this Wednesday, March 28. I can't tell you how pleased the FOL team will be if you'll join us for Claudia's party. More importantly, it could be the beginning of your very own adventure in digital photography.

But, wait! There's MORE!! (Does that ever sound like one of those over-the-top TV commercials?) There IS more -- On Monday, April 2 we'll introduce our new feature, "In Focus". In addition to our daily posts, we'll be suggesting a month-long theme to inspire you. This is not limited to photography. If photography's not your main squeeze, take a digital photo (cell phone will do) of your art and post that. There will be a linky tool each week and on Saturdays, we'll focus on a "Photo of the Week"; at the end of each month the focus will be on the "Photo of the Month."

Watch for more information coming to an inbox near you and then join us in the fun!

Magnify The Details

One of the most important things that photography has taught me is to slow down and take notice of the little things.  In the small details we begin to notice the textures and colors that may have been impossible to see otherwise.  During the spring I love to focus on all of the new beginnings such as these new leaves on a Boston Ivy vine sprouting to life and the subtle nuance of a water droplet on a Carolina Jessamine bloom.  These small bits add up to a showcase of new life that is springtime.  As Mies van der Rohe said, "God is in the details."  The details of a piece make it whole.

Macro photography allows us to get close....real close!  We can zoom in and showcase these magical little details.  I'm constantly looking for little miniature vignettes that in their smallness also show the bigger picture.  We would love to see your macro shots.  Post a link in the comments section or add them to our Flickr group!  Check out Claudia's Spring Assignment

Incidentally, on purpose

There's a golf course in my neighborhood and my daily walks take me past 3 of the lovely ponds located on it.  Lovely ponds to me, golfers would use other words to describe them, words I cannot put here (it's a PG blog) so I'll use words like "confounded water hazards".

One, in particular, catches my attention.  There's a fountain in the center and it is home to about a gazillion turtles.  A blue heron likes to prowl the banks and some neighbors have been seen casting fishing lines into the water.  One day I saw a fisherman pulling a nice sized large-mouth bass out of the water.

This past winter, a bevy of ducks has taken up residence on one of the ponds. I see them everyday and in my efforts to be "deliberate"  I think about photographing them, before they take flight and head back to where ever they came from.

One late afternoon, I grabbed the camera and headed over to the pond, thinking about the pictures I might get of the ducks, thinking about where to position myself to take advantage of the evening light, what lens and settings I would use.

I found a spot where I had full view of the pond and it's inhabitants and of course as soon as I got situated every duck swam as far away as possible and every turtle descended to the bottom of the pond because I had overlooked one crucial detail-bread.  I had no bread to lure my subjects close to me.  Every now and then a turtle would pop it's head up to give me the stink-eye check on me (to see if I had any bread) then quickly descend again.

grr!

There were some dandelions on the banks and I'm a sucker for dandelions so I spent some time shooting those.  I spent some time trying to get some lens flare.  I thought about quacking but didn't want to have the ducks fly far, far away.

Then a little girl and her daddy came to the pond with some bread to feed the ducks. She was adorable as she looked at the ducks so far away and almost tossed a whole hamburger bun in the pond! Her dad stopped her in the nick of time and showed her how to tear off little scraps and toss those in the water.

She giggled as the fish roiled the water where she was tossing the bread pieces. A fish would jump out of the water and she would squeal with delight!  The turtles were popping their heads out of the water right below where she was tossing the bread.

I watched this simply sweet sight and noticed the reflection of the girl and her dad in the rippled water. click.

I noticed the turtle heads sticking out of the water. click.

I did get some shots of the ducks but they do not make me smile like this one does.

Have you ever gone out with a specific plan of what you wanted to shoot, then once you got there you were smitten with something entirely different and had to have that shot?

Share your incidentally, on purpose shots with us!

Incidentally, I hope you're getting some mah-velous spring shots for Claudia's Linky party coming up!  It's going to be so much fun!  Read all about it here!




"The moment one gives close attention to any thing, even a blade of grass it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself."  ~Henry Miller


xo,

p.s. always take bread with you when you go to a pond to photograph ducks, I'm just sayin'

Enjoying Every Step

I began to get serious about photography two years ago when I purchased my first DSLR camera. I immediately took a class on how to use this big girl camera (which I highly recommend for those who are just beginning).  I was determined not to keep everything in auto mode with my brand spankin' new journey into photography.  If I was not willing to learn all about ISO, Shutter Speeds, and Aperture why did I spend all that money to shoot in AUTO?  Admittedly I was the family photographer, but to say that I took more than family, my garden, and a few vacation trips would be an exaggeration.

Since that time 2 years ago I have taken thousands, yes thousands of pictures.  Some good, some great, and some really lousy.  But after thousands of pictures I do not think I necessarily have a style.  You know how sometimes you can just look at a photograph and immediately recognize whose it is by their unique style...think Ansel Adams.  Do you have a style? Are you drawn to certain images more than others?  Do you prefer people to places?  I seem to be in love with everything I see through my lens.  Some photographers identify themselves as "wedding photographers" or "children & family photographers" or "landscape photographers".  I have not found my style my niche, but that's ok because I am an individual and I have my own individual rate of growth.  I want my style to develop naturally.  It's not important when I get there, what matters is that I get there enjoying the steps along the way.  If you have found your niche, I applaud you....if you are still on your journey, enjoy your every step.

My journey has found me

From Places......

To People.....

To Landscapes.... 

To Birds

To Nature

To Animals

To Barns.....

To Black & White

And everything in between.

"Slow but sure wins the race."

'collage podge'

              
A couple months ago I made this canvas at home, using one of my photographs, and posted it on my personal blog.  It got such positive feedback, ended up on Pinterest and will still occasionally get a few questions about the process.  If you're looking for a fun way to display that favorite photograph of yours, I highly recommend you set aside some time, crank up the tunes and go for it.  You will have a new piece of artwork for your wall...designed by you!

 Being someone who always 'links with love'...credit for this fabulous idea goes to 'a beautiful mess' blog.  Please stop by and check it out as she always has great ideas to share.

If you could, please take some photos of your finished piece and share it on our flickr page. We would love to see your work!  ~ xo's

{To enlarge the first image just click on it...and then click on it again at my blog.  So easy!} 

Peaceful Assembly

People need to gather.

Since the time of the cave dwellers, man has needed cooperation to survive. Societies formed to enhance the chances of survival. But man also seems to have always had the need to reach deeper - to find commonality and meaning - to wonder, to share, to define itself. The places a culture chooses to gather reflect as much about the culture as its writings and actions do. They reflect a society's image of itself.

The rituals of our lives - birth, marriage and death - are celebrated the world over in such an interesting variety of ways. From the wooded prayer circle of the Indians, through the natural rock amphitheaters of the west; from the simple benches of the Mennonites to the greatest cathedrals of Europe, the architectural expression of our innermost beliefs is fascinating.

While our specific beliefs within our little FOL community probably differ widely, I am willing to bet that the artist in all of you appreciates the beauty and variety of your local "gathering places." Right here, within ten miles of my home, there are synagogues, churches, a mosque, a Quaker meeting house.  One of our local apple farms holds an annual sunrise service on a ridge among the apple orchards, while a local camp has a campfire circle of reflection. Spirituality is expressed in so many ways. Will you share some spiritual sanctuaries with us in our Flickr pool?

      "A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates
                             it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral."

                                                                                    Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Practicing Creativity

A couple of years ago I decided I wanted to improve my photography. I had a good starter camera, but I was frustrated at the snap-shot look of my photos, the lack of sharp focus, and my inability to know and understand all the buttons and settings on my camera. So I worked at learning the technical aspect of photography: I read the manual to my camera, I learned about aperture, ISO, shutter speed, exposure - pulling it all together to be able to shoot in manual mode. As I improved technically, I still wasn't satisfied with what I saw in my images. Enter Tracey Clark and her "Picture" series of courses on Big Picture Classes. Through those courses with their simple daily email prompts, my ability to "see" the world around me changed drastically.

My original intent when I set out those few years ago, was to learn and improve the technical aspects of my photography. And yes, through daily practice those aspects did improve, but an unexpected, delightful change also occurred....my ability to think and act creatively improved. The ideas, thoughts and ways of seeing a  photo now come easier. How to shoot to convey an emotion or connection is becoming second nature. But if you would have told me that I could practice my creativity when I started this journey, I would have thought you were crazy. Creativity to me, at that time, was a spontaneous action, not something to be "practiced." But I am a living testament that yes, you can practice being creative and you can get better at it! Of course, I still have days where the thoughts and ideas don't flow very easily, but I keep shooting, I keep interacting with my fellow photographers and I keep practicing to make it perfect!

So how do you practice your creativity? Do you spend time each day fueling your creative fire by doing the things you love? I would encourage you to pick up your camera each day, even when you feel less than inspired. And if you haven't ever checked out Tracey Clark's Picture Series courses, do it today. She's starting a new one in April called "Picture Black & White." It's sure to be a wonderful, 60-day journey filled with community, encouragement and creative inspiration!

Textures, Brushes, Freebees and Books

Let's go shopping...

Have you met Ruth from R H West Photography?  She has the most wonderful photography, blog and Free Textures.  I love her basic tutorial on how to use a texture. She is coming out with a new collection of textures this month.

French Kiss Textures is another favorite of mine, and she has some wonderful tutorials.    Leslie from French Kiss Textures is hosting a Share Your Art to win The Glorious Grunge Texture Collection.  You simply use one of her glorious textures.  Then enter your photograph.  She will pick a random winner on Monday, March 19th. I just shared my photo entry on Our Flickr Group.

I recently met Sarah Gardner on Facebook, she lives in the UK and creates the most divine paper and frame collection sets.  Oh, and her web site is gorgeous, and she has written a new book called Art Beyond the Lens.

I am in love with Georgianna Lane's phtotography.  I love her blog  which was just featured in the latest Artful Blogging magazine.  Not to mention that she lives in Paris, sigh. I signed up for her newsletter, which is filled with inspiration.

So, please go "click shopping" and please make sure you leave a link to your favorite photography inspiration.

A Spring Assignment

Officially the first day of Spring will be March 20th.

Even though we certainly didn't have a rough winter; (we only had to shovel about 3 times) I am so anxious for the coming of Spring and those lovely flowers that always beckon us to photograph them. (Did you know that the most photographed objects, aside from faces, are flowers?) Yep it's true, or so Wikipedia tells us. :)

Our local grocery has great flower offerings and so I couldn't resist my favorite flowers, tulips. And I tossed on one of Kim Klassen's textures.

We are going to try something new here... It's an assignment... here we go.

For the next two weeks be on the look out for any inkling of Spring. Baby buds on trees, brave crocus breaking through the hard cold ground or maybe in your area you have full blooms on flowers. Try shooting them from a new vantage point. Then... on March 28th (my next post) I will put up Mr. Linky and have you link your grand photo  for all to see.

Of course you can link it back to your personal blog OR simply to your post on our Flickr Pool. (the Link is on our right side bar, you can't miss it :)  But please title it "Spring assignment". I am looking forward to your Spring offerings.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tulips
By A.E. Stallings

The tulips make me want to paint,
Something about the way they drop
Their petals on the tabletop
And do not wilt so much as faint,

Something about their burnt-out hearts,
Something about their pallid stems
Wearing decay like diadems,
Parading finishes like starts,

Something about the way they twist
As if to catch the last applause,
And drink the moment through long straws,
And how, tomorrow, they’ll be missed.

The way they’re somehow getting clearer,
The tulips make me want to see—
The tulips make the other me
(The backwards one who’s in the mirror,

The one who can’t tell left from right),
Glance now over the wrong shoulder
To watch them get a little older
And give themselves up to the light.

Hugs!