Creative Photo 13/Week-2 & Sky Watch

I really hope it's OK to double post LOL

I get very worried about arbitrary rules at times.

I couldn't decide which I wanted to post and they're both connected through nature so here they are.

A storm was rolling over my house on its way to the Bay.


I was hobbling around the yard shooting stuff out of boredom and frustration. I cropped this one and sharpened it a bit. I wish I had realized what I had, I would have taken the leaves out of the stump. They take away from this looking (to me) like another planet.

UPDATE: I tried recreating the shot this morning, same time as when I originally took it, same weather, same light. It didn't happen. The blue is not there. The ridges don't look as pronounced. It just didn't happen. Which has made this shot more special to me. I have decided another world does indeed exist in my yard. My sweet girls Knight & Jo will know what this means. Jo - the portal is clearly open. Knight - just take the railroad, you're closer. I'll pick you up at the station!



HAPPY SKY WATCH All
and
Hey! BE CREATIVE .

Creative Photography: Creature Feature

Many of you know about my Web Worm incident, which has been dealt with thank goodness. A few nights ago I couldn't sleep and as I flicked through the 800 channels of nothing on I came upon this old creature movie. I was just about to move on when little glowing orbs started falling from the sky, coming to rest in trees throughout the backyards of some sleepy town. Everything about the scene reminded me of my web worms so I went back and edited one of the shots.

All I've done is crop the shot so the house and fence are even more angled looking. I cropped out most of the pretty blue sky since it doesn't lend itself to ominous and finally I blurred everything around the web worm web. The glow from the web is exactly how it looked the day I discovered it.


Please visit CREATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY to see some really wonderful photography and consider joining in.

Speaking of creative I'd like to invite you all to check out two more creative outlets.


WORDZZLE is a weekly word game where we make up stories using a list of pre-determined words.


PORTRAIT OF WORDS is a new writing challenge so check it out and get in on the ground floor.

Pictures and words. What could possibly be better?

Creative Photography: Statue at Sunset

This statue sits in the center of the entrance to a little park that faces Raritan Bay. It was late, late afternoon and the sun and the clouds and the sky were all magnificent.

Please visit CREATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY to see all the wonderful photos entered this week.

Creative Photography: Is There Another Exit?

This is my photographic depiction of what the staircase at my doctor's office feels like.

It is always 100 degrees in there, the glare from double doors and double windows AND a skylight is blinding - and still they have lights on as well!

The stairs are carpeted slats so you feel as though you're going to fall through as you walk down. Walking up makes you dizzy.

The handrail is wobbly.

Please check out all the CREATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY entries and consider joining in. It's fun and all the other participants are friendly and supportive.

Creative Photography: Hanging On

I've always noticed how the gate leading to my back yard will be soaking wet for hours after a storm but I never really looked. This is what I love about photography - it encourages looking.

We had a huge storm here Sunday. Thunder and lightening - and wind and power outages. Oh My!

When it calmed down I went outside to check on things and took my camera. I was just about to grab the gate by its upper beam when I looked at the row of raindrops and saw them for the first time.

I gingerly pushed the gate to the side of the house so it would be against a plain background and then took a million shots. This is the only one I liked. I blurred it around Mama Raindrop and then I softened the stark white of the house.

I love how she's hanging on.

Please visit CREATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY - every week new people enter and the art just gets more and more wonderful. And consider grabbing a camera and looking at things differently yourself. It's like two therapy sessions and it's free.

Creative Photography: Mural Walk

I took this shot last Wednesday while wandering around Red Bank, NJ. I couldn't believe I found a place to park and took it as a sign to stop and take some photos.

Red Bank is a beautiful town. This shot was taken at a park that overlooks the river. You can gaze upon the same views that Bruce and Bon Jovi are gazing at, from the other side of course.

The top level of the park's plaza has this incredible mural running along one entire side - half a city block long. I loved the colors of this patch of mural and the way the paving stones and lamp posts just lead up to and then blend with the mural.

Hope you like Red Bank - I'm happy with a few shots I took there so you'll probably being seeing more.

Please go by Creative Photography and check out all the other photographers.

Creative Photography: If I Painted

If I could paint abstract watercolors would be my thing. All soft colors and melting lines.

Mia was very interested in the camera and kept coming closer and closer while I shot away. I didn't like the results especially her eyes. While trying to salvage one good close-up I started to play around with what a painting (If I Painted) of Mia might look like.

Please visit CREATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY and check out all the other entries. Beautiful photographs are good for your heart and soul.

Creative Photography: Resting at Harvard

Hope ya'all will stop by the CREATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY site and check out all the entries. I know I say it every week - cause it's true - there are some amazing, creative folks roaming round these internet tubes.

This photo is of a small private cemetery. I wish I knew the name of the place. It looked to be a very old church. It was gated and all the entrances were locked. I didn't see a plaque or a name anywhere. The building and the grounds were quite large, wrapped around a city block. This is the entire cemetery. It sat at the corner, directly across from one of Harvard's main entrances.

It was October and the ground was covered in leaves but it was still early enough for the trees to be full. I found it so endearing that the branches hang so low, as if to shade and protect all those resting there.

Creative Photography: Siren

I like this photo because it offers a view into Siren’s world. It was taken at the onset of yet another one of the hellacious storms that passes by on its way to the shore. The distant rumbling of thunder makes Siren anxious and sets off bits of his old behavior.

I will spare you Siren’s entire life story (I can hear the sighs of relief) – and just mention the pertinent stuff. Siren was rescued by a NYPD officer. He was wandering about under the George Washington Bridge. Marks and wounds and his general condition led the vet to believe he had been abused by “human touch” and had been in a few fights – with other cats or squirrels.

I took him because the shelter couldn’t. He needed too much attention and the feeling was that he’d never “recover”, he’d never “be socialized”, and he’d always exhibit “fearful aggression” and would be “too dangerous and unpredictable to be around people”.

I do understand the shelter’s reluctance, there are just too many animals to save but I am thrilled to say …

They were wrong.

This photo shows a bit of how I see Siren’s mind working. I learned from him how off center and narrow his world can feel. I grew to sense his anxiety when he tries to blend into the wall. I recognize the look on his sweet beautiful face that tells me he feels exposed, all light and shadow is playing on him and there’s nowhere to escape but the darkness.

I rarely brag about meself but I am very pleased with my ability to “hurt whisper”.

It would be so simple if creatures (people too) would just tell us – I’m scared, I’m angry, I’m hurting. It doesn’t happen that way. If you pay attention the body language and the eyes and the words/meows/barks/chirps/etc. will clue you in.

The rewards for paying attention are glorious.

Please take the time to visit CREATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY. There are so many wonderful photos to appreciate.

Creative Photography: Ice Ice Baby

I don’t know how creative my photography is in this shot. I will say that I had to lie down on the ground to get the best effect and getting back up sure felt creative.

This was taken this past winter. It had been freezing cold for days and then overnight the temperature rose into the 50s and it rained and rained. That spout thing was dripping like crazy all day.

Then – just as suddenly – the sun came out and the temps dipped. Dipped into - oh my god my skin is coming off - cold. The constant drip turned to a hesitant splat. And with each little splat that icicle got taller and taller, reaching back up toward the spout as if it wanted to climb back in there and warm up.

I’ve seen icicles hanging down but this guy was hanging up. And I thought he was the coolest thing. There’s a second little one which I think came from a drip off the pool cover, and the little guy is checking out his reflection in the pool base.

Please take a moment to check out all the Creative Photography entries. You won’t be disappointed.

Creative Photography: Dance The Night Away

Roger is hosting a weekly Creative Photography contest and against all my inner demons and child like apprehensions I decided to join in.

What is it about the word contest that can set a person to thinking nothing they ever did was any good?

Note to self: Start thinking of every meal as a contest – lose 30 pounds by being too intimidated to eat.

Anyway …

I never take a good photo if I set out to. I love what I see in my mind’s eye I just don’t always capture it. That’s why I take photos all the time – everywhere, everything. I love discovering them later.

After traveling through my archives muttering like Forest Gump – “Creative is as creative does” I found this shot.

I took it last year at my niece’s Sweet 16 party. Her “theme” was Disco 70s and the dance floor was packed all night. I settled in by the DJ (he was adorable!) and shot and shot and shot the night away. The lighting was terrible – dark purple and strobe lights and disco balls – OH MY! Virtually nothing came out but I played around with enhancement and balance and cropped my little heart out.

When my niece and her friends saw this one the reactions were:

“trippy”
“awesome”
“hot”
“looks like something MTV used to show” – ahhh yes – remember when MTV actually had something to do with music and dance?
“wow, retro – just like the old days” – hilarious kid! Hope I’m around when he’s bald.

So. Well. Whoop There It Is.

Hope you check out all the other entries.