Both Sides Now

There’s just something about reflections on water that totally intrigues me.  This was taken last Friday when the blue sky and big, white clouds were floating overhead…

The Mask

Once again, I’m caught up in the fun of taking an image of water running through a creek and totally blowing it into something else entirely.  This time I took this photo:

 

And ran it through Harry’s Filters (free download…you have this, right?) to get this:

 

And then took just the upper left hand corner and cut the rest away. 

 

Can you see why I call the final image “The Mask?”

(There you go, Ankush…this time I showed the “before” images, too!)

Dropped

I was arranging some of the spring’s first daffodils in a vase today when I noticed a few drops of water had escaped. 

I loved the abstractness of the shot and knew it had black and white conversion written all over it.  If you look closely in the big drop that’s my kitchen window being reflected in it’s lines and curves.

Bowing Down

And You See???

I love creating abstracts with my photos.  Now that I have these new lenses, I doubt I ever look at the surface of a lake the same way again.  I’m always flabberghasted at what I see floating around on the surface…and I let my mind just wander through the image as I try to see things in a new and different way. 

Here’s my new favorite…I caught it last night right before the sun started to set.  I did a little “channel mixing” in Photoshop (just to see what it would do) and ended up falling in love with the teal color I created with the CMYK sliders.  

Not Long Now

This weekend, I got some really cool shots of the ice that formed along the rocks and tree roots inside a waterfall.  For a couple of moments I remembered how beautiful winter can be when it’s not being judged for how long it takes me to scrape it off my car.  Instead, I saw the softness and beauty of all that white stuff I’ve been  cursing these past couple of weeks. 

Shame on me for forgetting that winter can be truly beautiful.  Don’t believe me?  Zip up those high top boots and go for a walk in a forest.  Oh, sure, I am still chomping at the bit for spring to make an appearance - but that walk in the woods reminded me of the quiet beauty of winter and got me over that desperation for warmer temperatures that I’d been feeling. 

Every Which Way But Loose

This rock was at the foot of a very small waterfall beneath a bridge at a nearby lake.  Water was blasting away at it from all directions and I couldn’t help but think, “Yeah, I’ve had days like that.” 

 Still, for all the non-stop punishment, the rock seemed to be holding its own.  I’m glad to say the same goes for me, as well. 

Icy Hot

True, this ‘icy hot’ won’t loosen any tense muscles but, if you stare long enough, it does help unwind the mind. 

Witch’s Fingers

Some trees invite you to come sit in their branches.  Others become home for the nests of birds and squirrels.  Some provide shade when the summer sun is beating down.  Others color the landscape with their beautiful autumn leaves.

But some…

Some seem almost scary with their branches long and gnarled like a witch’s fingers, stretching down to scratch against your bedroom window and sending you shivering in fright beneath the covers… 

Mesmerized

There’s something about the reflection of items off a body of water that just mesmerizes me.  I managed to add several new images to my collection this past weekend - some with deep blue tints, some with a steel liquid grey cast, some with the sun setting across them, some with trees reflected downward…all of them lovely to sit and gaze upon. 

One of my favorites was this one.  There’s just something about the pattern of the brown tree limbs swirled onto the surface of the blue lake water that draws my eyes in and leaves my mind skimming across the silkiness of the water’s surface.