Shoot Out at The Ok Corral - not really

My son is doing a research paper on kevlar. Of course this created the perfect excuse for Dad (and Dad's buddies) to take my son to the range and test out different fire arms on a kevlar vest. I'm not sure who had the most fun: the adults or my son.  At any rate it was a great snap shot moment.

Wine and Pears

 A friend asked me to photograph a kitchen makeover she had recently completed. You know me. Once I take the "big" picture I'm always looking for something a little different that I can play.  I'm especially fond of still lifes.  Below is the original photo.

First I cropped it.

And then I went to town with some editing . . .

Would you put this on your wall?

Saturday Snapshot - January 15th

This is a cross posting from my book blog "Booklady's Booknotes."

To participate in Saturday Snapshot meme (hosted by Alyce over At Home With Books)  post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken. Photos can be old or new, and can be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. All Alyce asks is that you don't post random photos that you find online.

This is a photo of my grandmother. I believe she is in her early twenties.  People have often said I favor her - that's one of the best ways to get on my good side.  For years I've wanted to recreate this photo with me as the subject. But over the years, when my hair was long enough I could never find anyone willing to try the hairstyle.  Finally, now when I'm way older than she is in the picture, I found someone to help me out.

In the interest of full disclosure, here is the original picture. My hair stylist did a wonderful job, but I've been recovering from a lumpectomy (and perhaps was too stubborn about going back to work when I should have waited a little longer) and you can see how tired (ok, old, I look in this photo.) So, I decided it needed a little help.

Now, if I could just edit my face for real, life would be good.

A Portrait in Blue

 

Earlier this week, my oldest son (who is now venturing into digital photography himself) asked me to take a picture of him in his hat because he thought it would be an interesting picture with the blues of the hat and the shirt. Well, the original picture didn't seem very interesting to me. And apparently he didn't think think so either.  So I played around with some editing techniques.  I turned it into a "light" pencil drawing, blurred the edges and tinted it blue.  He didn't like either picture. Go figure.

Buddies

This was a spur of the moment snapshot. Sometimes those make the best pictures. My youngest son was giving his dad a hug and I just happened to have the camera handy (big surprise, huh?).  I decided to tint it green (as well as a few other editing processes) because my husband is in the Army and green just seemed the right color.

Gabe's Gifts

I have friend (and fellow educator) who has a wonderful blog Jenbug's Story. Grabbing a cup of coffee and reading her posts is part of my morning ritual (even on Saturdays when I could be sleeping late).  Today her blog talked about Gabe's Gifts which is sponsored by Amanda at Today's Top 20. You should check out Amanda's amazing story - it takes a strong and beautiful person to take a personal tragedy and turn it into gifts for others.  Amanda is sponsoring a blanket drive.  I'm going to try to make six this year (hopefully, more but I am in the process of coming up with my own charity project. That might take away some of my crafting time. I'll have more on that later.)  I hope you will join me.  It's a wonderful way to explore your creative outlet and help others at the same time.

Thanks Jen for letting me know about this wonderful project.

More Snowy Fox Run Photos

These are more of the pictures I took on New Year's Day. Colorado Springs had another snow storm (D20 had it's first snow day of the year) yesterday, but since I was recovering from surgery I was not able to go out and get any more photos.

My oldest son has just signed up for his first digital photography class. I may be more excited than he is. I never took a class in digital photography. Back in the dinosaur days when I was taking photography, it was all print film.  I rather miss working in the dark room, but digital sure makes it a lot easier to edit.

Snowy Fox Run January 2011

This windmill and wagon are one of my favorite shots. It's not in Fox Run Park, but I always pass it on the way to the park.  The above picture is the original photo and the ones below are the results of my playing around with some editing. I'm thinking I might enlarge some of these and hang them on my wall.

I think this one would make a good greeting card.

Do you have a favorite spot to take photos? Is there something that always catches your eye?