Lens Artist Challenge

January 27, 2024 norasphotos4u17 Comments

I’m getting this week’s challenge in at the last minute. It’s been a crazy week!! Our challenge is to illustrate a favorite poem or quote using no more than 4 pictures. Ann-Christine has the perfect example on her site to lead us on this. The first thing that came to mind on this challenge is a favorite childhood poem of mine that my mother used to read to me, and the tradition has continued with our daughters and grandchildren.

The Swing by Robert Louis Stevenson – From a Child’s Garden of Verses (1885)

How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
Rivers and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside

Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown—
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!

Photography

Lens Artists Challenge

January 15, 2024 norasphotos4u10 Comments

This week Patti is hosting the challenge with the topic of “dramatic”. There are many ways to show this in photos.

I’ll open with drama that creates real tears! In the first photo my daughter (Helen’s aunt) was trying to get her dressed for her 1 year birthday party when something set her off – probably putting the hat on her :) The second photo shows that when one cousin cries the other cries too. True drama!

At the beach, the water and waves are naturally dramatic especially after a storm.

I’ll close with 2 photos of beautiful sunsets with silhouettes. The silhouette of the blinds in the second photo add a little extra drama to the photo.

Please visit Patti’s site to see her beautiful examples for this week’s topic.

Photography

Lens Artists Challenge #281 Favorite Images of 2023

January 12, 2024 norasphotos4u25 Comments

Happy New Year everyone!! This week we are sharing our favorite photos of 2023. Tina is hosting and you will want to visit her site to see the beautiful photos there. The goal is to do this in 12 photos or less. I had a difficult time getting down to 12 mainly because I had way too many photos from last year due to the 365 project I just completed.

Birds are first. This was our first full summer in our new home and these 3 birds were seen with more frequency than our previous home.

Eastern Phoebe

Bluebird

Hummingbird

Next are some insects that were seen more often than my previous experience

Pennant dragonfly

Hummingbird moth

Eastern swallowtail on cone flowers

Most of you that know me will expect some beach photos too!

We live in a rural area with many farms. About 5 minutes from our neighborhood is an animal sanctuary with miniature horses, standard horses, dogs, goats and more. This mini horse posed for me as I took his photo from my car.

Since we are close to the ocean and the sound, we have seen some beautiful sunsets. On this day we drove to a good viewing spot since 5 planets were supposed to align. They were hard to see and impossible to photograph.

This photo was taken during my granddaughter’s dress rehearsal dance recital. It’s one of her friends and I was side stage when I captured this.

I’ll leave you with a photo of a happy dog!

Photography

Cee’s Mid-Week Macro Challenge

January 7, 2024 norasphotos4u2 Comments

This week’s topic on CMMC is close up or macro. I title this photo Resolutions. I find that as I get older exercise becomes more and more important.

Photography

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge

January 3, 2024 norasphotos4u15 Comments

This week’s topic on CFFC is “red”. I took this photo 2 years ago and it sat around in my files, so I decided to edit it and give it new life.

Photography

2023 Project 365 – That’s a Wrap Everyone

January 1, 2024 norasphotos4u18 Comments

Done!! Finished!! Thank you all for your views, likes and comments. It kept me going with this project. I originally started it for 2 reasons:

1 – We moved to a new area and I thought it might be a way to push me to explore our surrounding area. I feel like this was accomplished.

2 – I was in the market for a new mirrorless camera and figured that if I bought one, this would force me to use it frequently – also accomplished. ( I bought the Canon R7 in the spring)

So, here are the photos for December 24 – 31, 2023. Happy New Year to all my WordPress friends!

December 24 – I wonder if Santa believed this

December 25 – “This one is mine!!!”

December 26 – Winter visitor – yellow-bellied sapsucker

December 27 – Our favorite Christmas cookies – they don’t last long in our house!

December 28 – Beautiful sunset

December 29 – Putting everything away until next year

December 30 – One last photo of the tree before it comes down – this is reflected off of a window

December 31 – Comics and coffee

And a bonus one for December 31 – our neighbor’s house as taken across the golf course. People come from all over our area to see their display. Previously, I posted photos from sections of this display (Santa in the boat and the dolphins)

My best wishes to everyone in the new year – Nora