Visiting Macro Friday again

I've wandered away from Macro Friday over the past few months, but today seemed like a good day to visit again.  My coneflowers are in their last stages, but the honeybees are still working them.

Raindrops on green

It's been "forever" since I've posted on Macro Friday, but I had this luscious green lupine leaf with raindrops nestled in it like diamonds.

The bees are working!

It's been a long, long winter and spring seems terribly reluctant, so I was excited to see bright crocuses in a little garden next to a parking lot.   It was even more exciting to see bees working in the chilly weather. For the first time in a long time, I'm linking up with Laura's Macro Friday on Blogging from Bolivia. 

I keep trying that macro

Somehow, my macro photography is regressing, degenerating, failing....  it's just not working very well.   I haven't been participating in Macro Friday on Laura's Blogging from Bolivia very regularly because I just can't seem to get good macro shots.   This particular snow-covered teasel was shot with a long lens this morning; I had to make an early 55-mile trip on business, and it had snowed overnight.  Then it froze, so trees and weed and bushes alongside the roads were beautiful.  I took a back road on the way home.

Macro Friday.. A Glass Egg

Laura has another macro shot of a Bolivian bug on Blogging from Bolivia.  It's amazing how she gets that camera to work for her!   I got the same camera for Christmas, and I cannot get a really macro-macro shot for anything.  Today is Macro Friday on Laura's blog, and there are more wonderful macro photos.   I chose one of my glass eggs for a close-up.  It contains colors in fascinating shapes, highlighted by a wintry scene outside.

I'm also linking up the Live Every Moment's blue challenge.

Trying that macro again

It's Macro Friday on Laura's Blogging from Bolivia, and I'm struggling again with something I love:  macro photography.  Maybe it's the season...the lack of light...the lack of subjects....whatever it is, I'm struggling.   I did decide to put some color into what seems to be a gray existence right now:  the 'eye' of a peacock feather. 

A colorful macro shot on a dreary day

It's been awhile since I've linked up with Macro Friday on Blogging from Bolivia.  I bought the same camera Laura uses for her fabulous macro shots...but I can't get it to work the same way!    Although we've had sunny days, the temperatures have hovered around freezing during daylight hours and much lower at night.  I bought yellow tulips to brighten up things....and to have something pretty to photograph.

Macro Frost

I've had difficulty keeping up with my crafting and photo challenges this week. And I haven't done a Macro Friday for awhile, in spite of the fact that I added Laura's camera model to my own collection.   This morning, my husband went out to start his car and came back to get a camera!   The frost patterns on the roof of his black car were amazing!  There were feather and leaf shapes in the ice.   I picked up my newest camera and went out to take my own shots.

Macro...macro..macro

     Santa brought me another camera....the Canon PowerShot sx200 that Laura uses on Blogging from Bolivia.   Macro Friday always showcases such beautiful close-ups, beginning with Laura's.  My goal is to take similar macro shots, but I'm struggling a bit.  It's under 20 degrees F outside, and I'm not a fan of cold weather.  Indoors, my house is rather dark for macro.
     My subject is a Christmas gift.  My 90-year-old mother went through her vintage jewelry pieces---some inherited, some purchased---and put 5 of them in plain green envelopes.  Then she numbered the envelopes and had her 3 daughters and 2 daughters-in-law each choose an envelope.   My gift is a long double chain with the most fascinating hand closure.  The piece that moves on the chain is a 'puffy' leaf of some kind.

Macro Friday makes me work!

I love trying to figure out macro shots for Macro Friday, but I can spend half a day getting just one. (It's so good that I'm retired, and having time to play with a camera isn't the only reason!)   Today I chose a  Christmas ornament---one of several 'sugared' or 'dewy' pears and apples that adorn my tree.  This apple is one of my favorites.

Macro Friday shots are amazing!

Macro photography has always interested me, but now I can see what fabulous shots people out in blogland are taking!  Laura's Macro Friday on Blogging from Bolivia presents a fascinating array of those amazing close-ups each week.   Originally, I had a macro shot of a tiny Christmas light, but then I saw Laura's.  Mine will wait.  Instead, I'm sharing my shot of an agate pendant attached to  purple leather cords.

Macro Friday --- dealing with low light

I would love to have some natural light in my house!  Indoor macro shots for  Macro Friday are very difficult for me when the light isn't adequate.  My subject is a porcelain ornament by Oregon artist, Margaret Furlong, and I photographed it under a tungsten lamp.

(For Christmas, I am really wishing for a camera like Laura's! I reminded "Santa" again today. )

Ancient Fruit for Macro Friday

 I've been saving these photos a few days....just for  Macro Friday. There are certainly other macro subjects I could use, but the pomegranate seemed so right.  As a youngster, I was fascinated by this strange fruit, and I could never figure out the best way to get to the seeds.  When I bought this particular one, a little how-to leaflet was stacked beside the display.   (This is the fruit responsible for the 'barren' months of the year, according to Greek mythology: Persephone ate 1-6  pomegranate seeds{depends on version of story} while a prisoner of Hades in the underworld, so was forced to return to the underworld part of every year.  When that happened, Demeter, her mother,  Goddess of Growing Things, went into mourning and didn't allow anything to grow.   Simple explanation of the seasons....in a four-season locale, at least!)

With or Without Color?

I don't use black and white in my photography nearly enough, in my opinion. When I started planning my shot for "Macro Friday" on Blogging from Bolivia, I considered one without color.    I had visited a blog the other day and the photographer wrote about how she is always asking herself, "How would this look in black and white?"  Without a doubt, she has some beautiful B&W shots.   Today, I asked myself the same question, and then I couldn't decide which one I preferred.   It's a simple, inexpensive, little cloisonne' dragonfly pin that I turned into a pendant for a gold chain.

Loving Fridays in Macro

Once again in love with macro, I delight in seeing the entries linked to Laura's Blogging from Bolivia and that great Macro Friday.  Today, I'm sharing some red berries that grow along mountain highways in this part of the country.  I look forward to seeing them in the fall, and when there's snow, they are even more striking.  Some grow on branches more than 6 feet tall.  (I'm sure the truck drivers were just a bit curious as to why that woman was knee-deep in roadside weeds with a camera buried in the dewy foliage!)

Macro Friday's daunting task again

When I see the macro shots shared on Laura's "Blogging from Bolivia" Macro Friday challenge, I gulp several times and wonder if I should even be sharing my own photography.  This week, there's color and texture and some delightful macro looks---starting with an amazing ugly bug Laura shares!   I wandered around my house, looking for an appropriate macro subject, tried several and settled on this antique wedding basket.  It was a gift to my great-grandparents in 1881, a silver(plate, I think) Reed and Barton piece that is now heavily tarnished.  (An antiques dealer once told me to be very careful about polishing it, so I didn't try.)   Two peacocks anchor each base of the handle.  A note written in pencil by my great-aunt identifies the item, the recipients, and the date.

Two choices in macro

It's "Macro Friday" on Blogging from Bolivia again.  Fall is here:   cold nights and sunny days. Flowers are long-gone, except for my potted floribunda rose.  It's blooming again!  I've pulled the pot against the wall on the porch to protect the buds from frost, and I'm being rewarded with blossoms in late October.

I've played with the macro shot in Picnik, so one is soft and fuzzy and the other is sharpened in detail.  The color has been altered,  as well.  I just can't decide if I prefer the dreamy version or the detailed one.

Beautiful macro photography

I tend to flit all over the place when deciding anything 'favorite.'   But within the past two months, I have definitely settled on macro as my favorite type of photography---this after about 50 years with a camera!

Long Live Glass Door Knobs!

I'm old enough to remember when glass was the material of choice for door knobs, items that are now considered vintage and collectible.  One of those seemingly indestructible items is on the exterior door of a little shed behind our house----a shed that was there long before we bought our house 32 years ago.  Exposed to the four seasons, often including winters with wind and snowdrifts, not to mention summer sprinklers, this door knob shines on.  Today, I'm linking a photo of this glass knob to Macro Friday on  Blogging from Bolivia, one of my new 'must-do' activities with a camera.   The photos there are wonderful!    

Macro Friday again!

It's time for Laura's Macro Friday!  (See button in the right column)     Today's photo walk was in the local cemetery, as suggested by my 10-year-old great-niece when I gave her a camera and told her we were going to go out and take photos.   I found this small Madonna and Child statue near the headstone of a woman I knew quite well.  Her family has placed the statue in a vertical box as protection against the weather.  The face is so beautiful!

(As for editing:  'sun faded photo' layer and retouching a crack in the surface of her cheek.)

Macro of Madonna