Goodbye to The Creative Exchange

When I read Lisa's post and her announcement that this is the last Creative Exchange, I was sad...but I almost expected it.  These photography memes are big things!  The ones I participate in have grown so large that I find it difficult, if not impossible, to visit most posts.   I always think of the one who hosts the weekly event, knowing that there is only so much time in a week, and there is life to live, after all.    I'm happy to have been a part of Creative Exchange from the very beginning---and now the very end.   Thank you, Lisa, for all these weeks of enjoyment. I, for one, will be following your beautiful photography and wishing you the very best.

For my final Creative Exchange post, I'm sharing what has been a dream for me:  a decent photo of a Bald Eagle.  My 91-year-old mother was with me when I took this photo, and I think she was almost as thrilled as I was that the eagle was so cooperative after flying from one tree to another next to the road we were driving.  (The tree was right above the lake now gracing my blog header.)

Creative Exchange

It's March, and spring shouldn't be that far off!  However, I'm still doing the grocery-store-flowers thing.  The roses are brighter pink in real-life, but I've been playing with de-saturation, as well as some other edits.
Linking with the fabulous Creative Exchange.

Topaz Adjust , kkGrunged Up Set 

Miss Kennedy aka "Roo" or "Ruby"

A year ago, I was taking many photos of my great-niece Kennedy, because I was the fill-in babysitter.  However, the childcare situation has stabilized so I don't see this precious little girl as often as I would like.   She is now 3 years old.  (For The Creative Exchange and Sweet Shot Tuesday)

Kennedy and her "shades" 

Flowers Counteract the Winter Blahs

Lisa has posted the latest Creative Exchange link and I'm adding my post right before midnight....and before I fall into bed.

Late Winter Looks Much Like Fall

The Creative Exchange 

Topaz Adjust HDR 

Thinking of a Story?

Lisa's "essay" on finding the story behind a photographic image made me think....do I have a story for my photographs?   Do I have a story for ANY of my photographs?   I'll be considering that question.

Meanwhile, I have chosen a brightly colored image for this week's Creative Exchange.  Although I drafted my husband to take me on a relatively short drive in the country (muddy roads and all) after church and before the Super Bowl, none of my photographs pleased me enough for Lisa's meme.   It's still the "blah" period here....almost monochromatic outdoors... and the images I recorded today made me feel "blah."     Not so with the "Bliss Bouquet" of red-orange flowers from the grocery store that I photographed two weeks ago.    For awhile today, my monitor featured wonderful color that erased the "blahs."

Summer flowers in winter

I'm buying myself flowers at the grocery store again.....then I spend considerable time photographing them.  I never spend much because I really don't feel I can justify parting with too much "moolah" each week just to use the flowers as photographic subjects.  My husband and I were in "town" to do some bed shopping with a stop at a brew pub for lunch afterwards.  I then asked him to take a walk around two of the city blocks (in the cold)  so I could photograph "something."   Later, I unintentionally deleted every one of the 38 photos when I didn't understand what I was doing in Picasa! (I use Picasa rarely, and I wanted to delete the photos files there.  I didn't know they would be deleted from Windows Photos as well.  duh!)     So, back to the rose photos of the day before.  This is my choice for The Creative Exchange this week.

Finding a subject

It's more than halfway through January....the big snowstorm last week was followed by rain, so we're back to the "blahs" again.  I don't even have colorful classroom chairs to photograph, as Lisa did for her Creative Exchange photo this week. She marks 13 years in a classroom that will become the victim of "re-construction" next June.  (I taught the last 26 years of my 34-year career in one classroom just 7 blocks from my house.)

My photo this week is the result of some experimentation.   I've often complained about the lack of natural light in our house; only one room has two walls of windows, facing north and west.  Sometimes, I can use that light effectively.   This past weekend, after buying two bunches of tulips, I decided to try a 55-250 zoom lens indoors.  I thought I could probably eliminate background distractions that way.   It worked!    (The vase was on the dark wood coffee table with afternoon (winter) light behind and to the left.  This image is SOOC.)

Joy in the Snow

We haven't had typical winter weather this year:  snow in early November and then nothing.  This weekend, however, the Pacific Northwest got a minor winter blast and the snow made it to our corner of Oregon today.  For Lisa's Creative Exchange (beautifully guest-posted by Anna of Alchemy of Art, who displays some wonderful wintry scenes), I've chosen a different kind of photo for my post this week.  It's my great-niece, Lauren, a 17-year-old whose "senior pictures" I've been taking each season since last summer.  We drove just 20 miles to the summit of the Blue Mountains where the temperature was only 20 degrees.  A brief snow shower moved through, so we took advantage of the event.   (Facial snowflakes just can't be erased very easily!)  

Almost Black and White

Lisa writes of her "seasonal"  interest in black and white photography and her most recent forays into it in this week's Creative Exchange post.   I, too, am fascinated with black and white, but I rarely create such a photograph.   I love color!   Currently, however, I am surrounded by a drab, colorless world in January.  The colors of summer and fall are long gone, but there is no snow, either.  It's bare and blah.     So I converted a bright yellow (birthday)  Gerbera daisy to an almost-black-and-white image.

My Favorite Photo of 2011---- Maybe??

I'm happy to get back into the "regular" things I like to do with this blog:  try to meet challenges and invitations of various kinds.  Lisa's The Creative Exchange is truly one of my favorites, probably because I appreciate Lisa's beautiful photographs and her thoughtful, caring comments.  Also, those of us who participate don't get lost in huge numbers of respondents.   "Favorite photo of 2011" is the suggested theme this week, but I don't do well in making choices.    This particular photo is one I'm proud of because it's the first time I used textures effectively to create a poster-like image.  They were just shriveled, snow-frosted berries on a tree outside a lawyer's office where I had met my brothers for some family business.  I used a telephoto lens to capture the image and then applied two of Kim Klassen's textures.  

As for the sugar-induced coma of the past holiday season, I'm trying to come out of it too.   It will be a real challenge!

An experiment for Creative Exchange

I've often bemoaned the fact that my house has almost no natural light.  It is such a frustration for any kind of indoor photography --- and for growing plants!    Yesterday, I set up a strange little studio setting for a still life, knowing full well that I would be applying actions and textures to the image.  I've chosen the result for Creative Exchange this week.   (I tacked up sheer curtains on a wall and covered a tray table with more sheers. I used an Ott Lite, which wasn't adequate lighting, so I added my on-camera flash. The greenery is left from a Thanksgiving floral arrangement I received.)  The "before" photo is below the edited image.

RadLab "Lights On" and "Super Fun Happy" actions;  Flypaper "Ovid Banished" texture; Picnik vignette

Frost, but it isn't snow!

Somewhat like Lisa of The Creative Exchange, I want snow this time of year....and I'll be tired of it if it hangs around too long!   Last year, we had real snow in mid-November that hung around until late spring.   This year, we had a snow storm in early November, but when rain and wind took it away, the dry cold moved in.   The only snow is in the mountains (where my husband prefers it to stay), but we're having below-freezing temperatures daily.   Just over the mountains in the Walla Walla Valley, there has been a temperature inversion.  Heavy wet fog, a common occurrence in that area, rolled in  one day and temperatures dropped into the 20's, where it stayed.   The result was amazing.   Hoarfrost covered every stationary surface with a thick layer of white crystals.  My husband humored me with what I called a Christmas shopping trip, although almost all my shopping is complete.  I really wanted to use my new camera and I wasn't disappointed.

Birch Tree

Teasel

December Birthdays

It's just odd....a birthday party with a Christmas tree and lights in the background.  But that's life for kids with December birthdays!  (My own birthday is right after Christmas, but my mother didn't decorate much in our cramped farmhouse with 5 kids!)  My brothers (twins) were born on the 7th, our youngest son was born on the 15th, and now we have two great-nieces with birthdays on the 1st and 5th, respectively.   My choice for Lisa's Creative Exchange this week is a series of images of 3-year-old Kennedy, in a house full of adults, waiting to open her gifts.  Instead, everyone was eating!

Winter at 5000' feet of elevation

I stressed about my regular Monday photos (Creative Exchange and P52) over Thanksgiving because I went out  of the house just once.  That was to take "snow"  photos of our son and his fiancee'  just 15 miles from here into the Blue Mountains.  Today, I just couldn't decide on a single image, so chose these three for Lisa's Creative Exchange.  We don't have snow in the valley, which suits my husband just fine.  The mountains surrounding us are white, though.

Snow poles to guide snow plows
in deeper snow on Hwy 204

Frosty trees against blue sky

Bright yellow of Western Larch among the pines and
firs.  "Tamarack" is a conifer that turns color and drops
its needles; it blazes yellow among all the green in the fall. 

Jordan and Allie

The Door to Winter

Lisa of The Creative Exchange shares starkly contrasting images of doors in her community....doors that are an  indication of the "soul" of the house.  I, too, love doors, but I haven't seen beautiful purple ones as Lisa has.  Instead, I'm looking at the beginning of winter again: snow, freezing temperatures, gray skies....and did I say "cold"?   It wasn't the first snow of November, but unlike the first snowfall, this one is still here.   My three potted rose bushes are on the back porch, and the dried leaves of one bush now hold snow.

Finding that creative image

My weekend was somewhat similar to Lisa's (The Creative Exchange), in that our youngest son (with his fiancee') made a short visit home from the other side of the state.  They came to attend the wedding of our son's childhood friend. Time was too short.  There was no time for my weekend photography, either, so I was happy to revisit some photos I had taken earlier in the week and find this image of beautiful leaves.   The quote is interesting, but I'm not sure I buy into it.   I like spring and summer too much.

Frost on more than the pumpkins

Lisa (Creative Exchange) writes of spending that extra hour this weekend being thankful for the possibilities.  I admit that I spent it sleeping!  However, I did make mental plans last night for this week....our youngest son and his fiancee' will be here Friday for a friend's wedding, and I need to whip my house into shape!    I have done the absolute minimum since my surgery 7 weeks ago.  No more excuses.  But I did wander outside in the 20-degree morning to capture some frosty leaves.   This image is of one of our baby redwood dogwood shrubs.  (According to the nursery tag, these shrubs are supposed to have flowers in November; I'll believe it when I see it!)   Do stop by Lisa's beautiful meme and see the fabulous photos.

A Rainbow for the New Location

Lisa has moved The Creative Exchange to a new location, and she marks the move with a wonderful rainbow-on-a-highway photograph.  (I don't believe men take photos while driving the way women do!)   The image reminded me of my first Creative Exchange post:  a series of rainbow photos that I shot while driving a short country loop.   This week, I've chosen a photo of a simple leaf caught in a chain link fence....but edited with an usual texture from Pixel Dust Photo Art, ""Magic Dust 1."
(Leaf in a Fence is also my choice for Week 44 of the P52 Challenge) 

This meme is moving!

Lisa is moving The Creative Exchange to a new home next week!  I'm always excited to see what will happen.  Her photography meme has grown into a fabulous locale for photos of a wide variety of subjects, and all are wonderful.   Today, her own photo is a dreamy outbuilding.


 Our young crimson maple has changed colors again.