My camera sits in the corner, casually waiting for me to pick it up.
But when I do the pictures I take feel generic and uninspired.
(Although that’s no surprise to me because lately I feel generic and uninspired.)
Things that normally roll off my back, leave me in a tizzy.
Little things annoy me and I snap at the children for being children.
I find myself just sitting and staring. At nothing.
This is not me.
I am not this.
“It’s too early for this”, I tell myself.
I don’t usually bump into The Blah until winter.
Fall is supposed to be my season.
I’m supposed to hit my stride in fall.
As the oppressive heat fades, I begin to perk up.
As the summer slump slips away, I come to life.
This is what I do.
What I always do.
So what’s wrong with me?
The weather is gorgeous.
The smells are perfect.
The sights are glorious.
And yet…
I only seem to stumble along,
Making do and trying not to slip.
But today? Today I’m fighting back.
Today I’m claiming that Fall is Mine.
And I will celebrate it.
And I will take it all in.
And I will pick up my camera and find my footing again.
Fall is here.
This is my time.
Not only the leaves are changing.
Heather of the EO invited us to Just Write with her.
Don’t you want to join us?
First person to guess correctly gets a million (Monopoly) dollars!
ETA: No one even got close.
It’s a used dryer sheet held up towards the light.
But it’s pretty cool, right?
Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark,
in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-alls.
Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach.
Check your road and the nature of your battle.
The world you desire can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it’s yours.
-Ayn Rand
I’m a day late and a dollar short, but I wanted to share these anyway.
Find more Weekly Winners over at the lovely Lotus’ blog.
That was HILARIOUS!
Round and round and round we go. Where we’ll stop, nobody knows.
Sweet, Sweet Baby
Let them eat cake.
Friday Night Lights
Little Cousins
I saw that the i{heart}faces challenge this week was eyes.
I have several pictures of eyes that I really love, but the idea is for you to use a current picture.
I didn’t have one, but I was doing Alden’s 6 month pictures (I’m only a little late) and ended up with this one.
Oh, sweet girl. I love her to pieces.
And I hope to have the rest of her pictures done sometime soon!
I should probably have called this Daily Winners, because I’m only including pictures I took yesterday. I attended the Becoming Conference (which was wonderful) and after sessions were done, I wanted to walk around and take pictures of flowers. Little did I know that the flowers would be the side dish in these pictures. I couldn’t believe how close I was able to get to these bees.
Find more Weekly Winners (or add your own) at iamlot.us
It’s been a while since I linked up to Lotus‘ Weekly Winners.
Even when I don’t post, I love looking at all the pretty pictures.
Seriously, go click here and be impressed with the beautiful art.
Her Favorite Birthday Gift: Giggles and Ice Cream
Mini Me
Sister Love
Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up. -Picasso
Serious Artist
This one is (admittedly) not the best picture, but it’s special to me.
This is the day before Lydia’s birthday, the last day I could say that my kids were 0-2-4-and-6 years old.
Throw wide your arms
Stretch your heart, your mind
Push yourself beyond where you’ve gone before
And o pen up
Throw wide your arms
Pushing away your doubts, your fears
And simply be you
Seeking simplicity
Throw wide your arms
And look toward heaven
You will shine
And be shined upon
I know that there are some people who prefer not to use photo-editing software.
If it’s not “right” in camera, then you’re just out of luck.
But I see this software as an easier-to-use-and-less-chemical-ly dark room.
I don’t do a lot of editing out spots or fixing blemishes (but you can do so fairly easily).
But I certainly crop and I do play with color, exposure and saturation .
For example, this is a picture of Carter SOOC (straight ouf of camera):
It’s just fine but it’s not what I actually saw when I was looking at him.
What I actually saw was this:
I bumped up the exposure a little, gave it a little more yellow glow, and brought out the black a little.
All minor adjustments, but I think they made a big impact.
But I’m not always going for the exact look that I saw in real life.
Sometimes I want it in black and white or to give the picture a certain feel or tone, like this:
I use Lightroom for almost all of my editing, because it is so user friendly,
but if you are just wanting to do a few adjustments on your own photos?
I would suggest using picnik.com.
I edit photos just like I edit my writing.
What you see here in this space isn’t the rough draft or the original shot,
I edit because I want to share the best I can.
But, with writing or with photography, sometimes you get everything right and there’s nothing to edit.
That always feels good.
(But it doesn’t happen often!)
Do you edit your photos?
Why or why not?
*This is not a paid review post nor are those affiliate links.
I just really love Lightroom and I think that Picnik is a great option for everyday kinds of pictures.*
Happy. Innocent.
Vibrant. Vivid.
Infectiously beautiful, wonderful.
Always making people smile.
If you were a flower, which would you be and why?
