She can’t seriously still be milking those crab apple blossom photos she took last week?
Oh yes she can!
Don’t worry, I’m about done with the crab apple blossoms. But the irises are almost open and I just planted snapdragons and LUPINES!!!!
Category: Photography
Photo of the day: The days are long, but the years are short.
I have always liked this quote, and when I heard that it was coined by Happiness Project author Gretchen Rubin, I liked it even more. It seems to fit the dandelion well: the fragility, but the ubiquity. (And, truth be told, I feared maybe you were getting sick of dandelions, so I thought I’d kick it up a notch.)
The Happiness Project has been on my “to read” list forever. I love the concept – you make your own happy, something I truly believe. Have you read it? What did you think?
And don’t you find with every passing year that those years seem shorter and shorter?
Photo of the day: Crab apple blossom pistils
Can you tell I had fun with the crab apple tree in the front yard? I’m sad that I never got to take advantage of it as a backdrop for portraits, but delighted that I got to take advantage of it as a subject for portraits!
Now I’m knowledgeable about apple blossom parts – those bits sticking up are the pistils, and the yellow bit on top is the anther. I love how the various parts of the blossom and leaf swim into and out of focus, depending on where the very thin field of focus falls, to give you hints of what exactly you’re looking at but not the whole picture.
I may have one or two other crab apple blossoms yet to share. The photos seem to have a longer lifespan than the blossoms themselves!
Photo of (a few days ago): Crab apple blossoms
I took this photo on the weekend, and didn’t get a chance to upload it before my computer turned into the dreaded blue screen of death. It blue-screened on me once and restarted fine, but the next day it crashed utterly and completely and I couldn’t even re-boot it in recovery mode. It took a call to Apple support and a trip to the Genius Bar, and my MacBook was diagnosed with a failed graphics card – 64 days before the three-year Apple Care warranty was about to expire. Long story short, I was saved a $750 repair bill and had to deal only with four and a half long days without my computer. I missed it so! much! While it was at times liberating to not have my computer calling my name rather constantly, my life is just too big to comfortably share on the four inch screen of my iPhone!
And so, here is the photo I took Saturday and didn’t get a chance to share with you.
Ironically, just five days later and there is nary a petal left on the tree. The blossoms are so lovely, but so ethereal. I didn’t do much processing to this – the neon colours are more or less as nature presented them under my macro lens. The sharp edges come partly from the sharpness of the lens itself, and partly from a bit of a torque to the sharpness in post-processing.
I really love the contrasting colours though! What do you think?
Photo of the day: Dandelion portrait
Oh look, MOAR DANDELIONS!
This may be my favourite dandelion portrait ever, and I love how the grass was rendered creamy smooth in the background. Weeds? Maybe, but pretty ones.
Photo of the day: Picking dandelions in black and white
Why yes, in fact we ARE still playing with the dandelions.
Just wait until you see the fun we have when they go to seed!
Are you still diligent with your spring weed control or have you too ceded to the dandelion invasion?
Photo of the day: Mini mushroom
I almost overlooked this eensy-beensy mushroom growing on a stump, but when I saw it, I was completely charmed by it.
Doesn’t it look like the kind of place fairies might hang out to play?
Photo of the day: Lucas in the dandelions
Companion piece to yesterday’s photo of the day:
Uh oh, I don’t have a third one in the series and I cut the grass. We’ll have to go find someone else’s dandelions so I can make my triptych!
It’s portrait season and the porch is open for business. I’ve got new gear, new props and new ideas – if you’re interested in fun, candid family photography, get in touch and we’ll book your family’s custom photography session today!
Photo of the day: In the garden
He’s as tall as me, all lanky legs and limbs, and his hair might be a little longer than I’d keep it if I were in charge of the scissors, but he’s still willing to humour me and my relentless camera.
I love that you can see vestiges of the toddler he was and hints of the man yet to come.
Photo of the day: Amateur tulips
So I’m kneeling at the edge of the tulip bed in a skirt with my iPhone, trying to frame this shot without exposing my netherbits to the spring sunshine and I’m aware of the dude who has come up behind me with a tripod and ginormous lens but I’m almost done and I’ll soon be out of his way.
A second guy comes up and asks him if he’s done yet and the first guy says quietly but clearly enough for me to hear, ‘Just waiting for amateur-hour to get out of the way.’ I shoot them an evaluative look over my shoulders and decide I’m feeling cheeky.
“You know,” I say, with a bit of a smile, “I made over three grand last year selling photos that I took with my iPhone.” Dude #1 looks somewhere between chastened and mortified but dude #2 is fascinated and we chat amiably for 10 minutes about selling stock while dude #1 sends death-glare eye daggers at his buddy.
Also? Because tulips!
(Sorry if we’re friends on Facebook and you’re seeing this story for the second time, but it was too fun not to share on the blog.)