Autumn at the Arboretum

Petals

Greetings my friends!

I made a trip by the arboretum, and snapped some lovely floral photos.

Creativity has been at a standstill these last few weeks. I have been sick one way and another, and I have gotten NO creativity done. So, just to get out and take a few photos makes you feel better.

Sending you all peace and love and good wishes. 🙂

Photos: More springtime flowers

 

From my own yard.

We had a hard freeze two nights ago, but lucky these were sheltered and didn’t get bit.

I am enjoying this new camera. It’s a fuji point and shoot, and it takes awhile to learn the settings. But my old camera was so battle scarred, that I am glad to have something reliable.

Photo: The first sign of spring

These are the first flowers to bloom this spring. This is just outside my back door. Give the daffodils a week or so, and they will bloom, too!

I sooo wanted to go out and shoot video today. I have a call into my movie partner about a project. So, maybe we can complete a short film (after the long winter time, when I didn’t want to go out in the cold.)

Have a lovely week and…happy (almost) springtime! (Or Happy Almost Autumn for my friends in Australia!)

Morning Glories

Park photos

I finally took a photography jaunt. This is a nearby park, which I always enjoy, with the geese and ducks.

I feel like I’m depleted–creatively and energy-wise. I put everything into the last project, and when I submitted it Wednesday, I told myself to take some time “off”. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it feels wrong…ya know? I have done a slight bit of writing and planning, but I need to recharge. So, the commune with nature at the park, yesterday–helped. Seeing kids and dads with their fishing poles. And families having a birthday party at the park. It feeds the soul.

I went to see Hamlet. Whoa! I haven’t read Hamlet in 30 years. Have never seen a live action Shakespeare play before. They normally do a Shakespeare in the park, but with the rain and mud, they moved it to an indoor venue for one night. So, at least I was out of the humidity and mosquitoes. They did a wonderful job. I am always keeping my eye open for local acting talent. Maybe we could cast someone in a video project someday. I saw three actors who really caught my eye.

But, that being said, Hamlet, as a play, is not my cup of tea.

What’s my favorite play (that I’ve seen) of all time? 42nd Street!

As the advertisement said: “It’s tap dance heaven!”

Me: “Give me 42nd Street or give me death!”

Well…in the contest between plays…Hamlet is death. Why must tragedy be the ultimate theme? Why is Hamlet considered the ultimate play? In a way, death is easy. It’s living that’s hard. Someone needs to write a play about that!

(Oh wait! I already did!)

Peace.

Honeysuckle

The pictures are pretty, but not as sweet as the smell of fresh, springtime honeysuckle!

I haven’t done much blogging as of late, but I did manage to snap these photos on the way to my day job one day.

Our big creative project will take some time, and I’m being intentionally cryptic. I have refered to it as “Project D”, and we filmed on it this morning.

This particular version of the project has been in works for 2 months, and as with anything, it begins as one thing, and morphs into another. But, I’m liking the “after” version, better than the “before”. LOL I guess that’s a good thing. As you think and plan, it’s like pieces of a big, giant puzzle fitting together, and when it’s done (we’re a long way from there), then it fits together pretty seamlessly.

But, this video project is rather ambitious. For starters, I have a finite length for the video, so we have to work within those parameters. So, when you have unlimited time, that’s one thing. To say what you need to say, and get your point across; to reach out and touch an audience; to find that “hook”; to entertain…those are some pretty big goals, for a short duration, finite length video.

In addition…as if I’m not taking on enough with this project, I will have three different video feeds…and by that…three different video encodings (from three different cameras, hand held .avi (SD); tripod 8 mm (SD); and our good cameras, the Canon HV20s working in HD) to incorporate. Each will look different. I’ve never done one like that before, and it’s always so obvious when someone else a mixed media project.. So, I’ve got to figure out how to “utilize” the different-ness and make it work for us.

I’ve been up working since 5:30 am, trying to get ready for today’s shoot. I did have some big setups planned. We did none of them. This week, I thought up some small setups, so we did those. In fact, the one that came off the cutest, I only thought of last night. And it ended up being the easiest thing we did today. You just never know.

There are always so many factors you can’t control. Today was traffic noise and airplanes. There is an Air Force training base nearby, and I love the planes. I love seeing them. But…when you’re trying to film, and planes are droning over head? Oh well…you adapt and move forward and do whatever it takes to get the shot. Guerilla filmmaking at its finest!

When I’m done with the video (and hopefully can post the link here), you all can look at it, and hear the drone of the planes and think “Yep! There’s plane noise in that shot!” (and barking dogs, and rattling Dodges, and a souped up white Mustang…and a…)

Macro shots: Christmas Cactus

Macro shots: Autumn colors

 

 

 

 

Photography – macro shots with raindrops

I’m working on learning macro photography a little better. With a point and shoot camera (Oh…how I long for a DSLR), the settings are challenging. But as they say…practice makes perfect.

Anyway, these types of shots are getting better, no?

I have 8 baby tomatoes in my garden. I loved the way this macro shot came out…with the different levels of focus and perspective. Various leaves that are close and up front are blurred, but the focus of the area is exactly where I hoped it would be. Miracles do happen! LOL Actually…how many times have I tried to do a macro shot–with a point and shoot–and the focus area is anywhere but where I want it to be! So…when it happens, it’s still a revelation.

But still…you can see the spiny parts of the stem; you can see the raindrops on the tomatoes; the shiny reflection on the leaf on the right, yet the top leaves are a soft blur. The ground is a soft out-of-focus. What fun to be able to finally make this kind of shot work!

Apologies..I know I’ve posted a lot of rose pictures this spring…but I love them. And we waited through a long dark winter, and now…now we have flowers to photograph! So, I photograph them.