Pristine

I missed the deadline for entering these into the weekly Photo Friday challenge, but I wanted to go ahead and post them anyway.

My first thought for "pristine" was a fresh blanket of snow, but that doesn't look like it'll be happening around here anytime soon. (Thankfully!) It had recently rained so I thought maybe I could get a picture of a few raindrops clinging to the bare tree branches, but I was too late for that. Instead, I decided to clean the boys' bathroom. When I finished, it was indeed pristine!

All nice and white and sparkly!

And since I was on a cleaning kick, I decided to go ahead and scrub out the kitchen sinks. Pristine!

Nice and shiny and stain-free!

There were no raindrops to be found, but our garden lights were all clean...

...and the cloudless sky was a beautiful shade of blue.

For more examples of "pristine", visit Photo Friday.

Cloudy

When I first saw this assignment, I wasn't sure I'd be able to complete it with anything shot currently - but we had one cloudy day. It looked like rain almost all day, but we never got the first drop.



And again, with a little editing...




Again, with editing...



My sons wanted to take cloud pictures with their cameras, too.

First, from my 11-year-old:


And from my 8-year-old:


_______________________

Here are a few photos from that evening, after some afternoon clearing.

Looking north.

Westward.

See more interpretations of "Cloudy" at Photo Friday.

Day's End

Most evenings, I wind down with a little television and knitting. If I don't do something to keep my hands busy, I'll fall asleep in my chair... This is the sweater vest I hope to finish and be able to wear soon.



Be sure to check out other "Day's End" images at Photo Friday.

Travels

In all the busyness of the last week, I didn't complete last Friday's Photo Friday assignment: Travels. And since I didn't do any traveling to allow me to take a current picture for my Project 52, I can't allow myself to post this on that blog. (Project 52 is supposed to be a picture from the week, and the previous Photo Friday challenge - Trees - didn't belong there, either. Oops!)

The Butcher, the Baker, the Candlestick Maker; Rock City, Chattanooga, TN

Rub a dub dub,
Three men in a tub,
And who do you think they be?
The butcher, the baker,
The candlestick maker.
Turn them out, knaves all three.

Trees

December trees, Dallas Arboretum

This challenge made me look at trees in winter in a completely different way. I started noticing the way the early morning and late afternoon light casts the trunks and branches in varying degrees of shadow, which would make a great black & white image. I noticed the range of green shades in the cedar trees. I saw the actual challenge in the challenge.

My ideal picture for this is barren trees against a brilliant sunset, but in the time alloted for this challenge, the conditions haven't been right. I wasn't able to get out with my camera on the few sunny evenings we've had, and the evenings I was free, the weather didn't cooperate. I will eventually get the shot I want, but not right now.

Instead I chose a photo from a beautiful afternoon at the Dallas Arboretum a few days before Christmas.

Human Form

swimming lessons, July 2010

And here it is in B/W...

Photo Friday: Suburbia

my neighorhood, February 2010

I'm almost late on last week's Photo Friday challenge. Last year I got a late start, posted several on one day to play catch-up, then balked at the self-portrait challenge and gave up. Then I got busy and never got around to doing any more. Never mind that I never cataloged several months worth of pictures...until recently. And I haven't quite finished with that. That's next week's project: to finish.

Anyway, this is my representation of "suburbia". This week's snowfall reminded me of some pics I took back in February when we got about a foot of snow, so I went that route instead.

Warm wishes...

Previous Assignments

This catches me up with all of this year's Photo Friday assignments. While I can't post them on the site anymore, I will at least have completed them all. I hope to stay current with them now.

January 1: Square

Texas Discovery Gardens, Dallas Arboretum

January 8: Bed Time

Sweet Dreams

January 15: Slowly

at the lagoon behind the Science Museum at Fair Park in Dallas

January 22: Damaged

shrunken head, Ripley's Believe It or Not! Museum, Branson, MO

January 29: Distant

Table Rock Lake, Branson, MO

February 5: Surfaces

Record snowfall, February 11, 2010, Dallas

February 12: Lightness

albino alligator, Dallas Zoo

Nature

Several posts back, I mentioned that I wanted to do more with my photography. One of my goals was to participate more regularly in Photo Friday, but I just didn't make the time to sort through my pictures or go take any that fit each week's theme. Now I'm ready! I would like to catch up with the older assignments from this year, so I'll work on that soon.


This is one of my favorite flower photos from the Dallas Arboretum, taken last summer when I had a chance to go by myself and take my own sweet time doing whatever I felt like doing.

The bright, warm colors match my bedroom, so soon I'm going to have this printed poster size so I can frame it and hang it above my bed.

Plants

Ornamental peppers, Dallas Arboretum

For more interpretations of "Plants", visit Photo Friday.

Noisy

NHRA Drag Racing at the Texas Motorplex in Ennis, September 2008.

For more interpretations of noisy, check out Photo Friday.

Metal

seat of an old plow, Dallas Arboretum
This is one of the shots from my Circles photo assignment.

See more "Metal" at Photo Friday.

Extreme Closeup

This is definitely an extreme closeup because I never get close to these things if I can help it!

It's been a long time since I've participated in Photo Friday assignment, and it's something I want to get back to doing each week. (Life must be slowing down a bit...) Check out their site for more extreme closeups. People have posted some amazing pictures!

Old Fashioned

When I think "old fashioned", the first thing that comes to mind is the museum at Spring Creek Farm in Richardson, TX - the home of Owens Sausage.






For more interpretations of "Old Fashioned", check out Photo Friday.

Self-Portrait 2008

I just had to tease my sister about my new iPhone...

For more self-portraits, visit Photo Friday.

Minimalism

Wikipedia defines minimalism as "movements in various forms of art... where the work is stripped down to its most fundamental features."

To see more interpretations of "minimalism", check out Photo Friday.

Difficult Shot

Jacob, Spring Creek Farm, Richardson, TX
It's always hard to get shots of the boys in action with my digital camera. I'm learning, though, to take the shot before the action so I can catch them in action. Make sense?

For other interpretations of "Difficult Shot", check out Photo Friday.

Fire

another picture from our outing to Iron Chefs

For more interpretations of "Fire", check out Photo Friday.

Professional

We went to Iron Chefs in Mesquite tonight to celebrate Billy's graduation from Dallas Theological Seminary. Everything was great, and the boys loved their first experience at a hibachi restaurant. Last week, Caleb decided that Posado's would be his new birthday restaurant, but after tonight, he changed his mind...

For more interpretations of "Professional", check out Photo Friday.

My Little Secret

Jacob and Abby, July 7, 2007
To see more interpretations of "My Little Secret", check out Photo Friday.