This is from when I was working on A) waiting for great light and B) simplifying my background.

I had better just make it clear that I am taking a photograph a day but not necessarily posting here, every day. I just don't want anyone to think that I've fallen off the band wagon and that I've given up on my goals so quickly. =]

Illuminate

It feels kind of, a lot, like cheating to have such a pretty model. sigh. I love Delphiniums!

I am going to experiment with flowers indoors with my tripod to see if I can't get a clearer photo.

I've started grumbling against the breeze who is, actually, a dear friend of mine.

Coincidentally, I just started this journal and Maegan at Madeline Bea's Photography just started a 365 project. A photo a day keeps the blues away??? {hi mom:) Wait, what???? Lliam, get off my post! ahem, where was I? OH....}

Yes, this is a lovely challenge since I've noticed that there is much that needs practice with this instrument and I lose the train of thought of what I was learning if I go a couple of days without taking a picture.

Soooooo,

For Whom it May Concern,

(that is you, dear reader,)

I have no idea where this is all going. I have no idea if I will be journalling every day. Please, don't grow weary of coming. You don't need to come every day, etc. Whatever is practical for you. This is a very inward - for me - kind of project - journey.

I'm just loving my little space/diary, here!

Love, Katy Noelle

Oh, the lesson learned with this photo: if at first, you don't succeed, try, try again. I'm sure there's a difference between being persistent and banging my head against a wall but, I was so disappointed with the photos I took of this anemone, the day before. I almost didn't try again. These photos were much better. Perhaps I will keep trying - think about it a little, first, though.

I want to journal about what a good friend of mine, who is a professional photographer, wrote in the comments section of my "faded roses" post. I don't want anyone to miss it and I have been thinking and thinking about it.

Cynthia Cable said... What makes a good photo? What makes a compelling picture? Seeing something the way it hasn't been seen before, capturing a moment, or two, that is fleeting, The ability to shock someone into a second glance. A pretty picture is easy, it's an illustration, it's a story. But to make a lasting impression is a rare skill, and something that you go out and shoot, and shoot, and get back and throw out all but one or two images and maybe you sequence them into something poetic.

Of course, I knew this but, somehow, had lost focus a little. This is what's in the back of my mind every time I post a photo. This is why it's easier to find photos that illustrate my posts "In the Sunny Spot". I love illustrations, too! It's just that, when I see something freshly and I think that it's so beautiful, I struggle to do it justice. To do more than just point my camera in it's general direction. I really, really want to, somehow, capture an image that makes people react with wonder and love, to make them feel the way I am feeling.

Well, "those are pretty grand thoughts, there, little britches"!

I keep thinking of that Christmas Carol, "Do you see what I see?"

Weeds

What makes a good photograph?

Oftentimes, it's hard for me to tell when it's my own. Is it in being tack sharp (something I am really struggling with), form, lighting, subject - definitely emotional impact - clarity of the story? Is it subjective? Is it "beauty is in the eye of the beholder"?

This year, I still had no garden at our "new" home. I had 5 acres of wild grass, though. I always thought that the meadow was beautiful - so peaceful. I had just never realized how spectacular the small parts that made up the whole were. The camera has made me slow waaaaaaaaay down. It has caused me to stop and take a very close look at what the meadow is actually made of.

It's been really quite a thrilling experience - to look more closely.

I just never realized.....

These are three photos of weeds. (I really don't have a garden.) The top two are the same "weed" as the dark (and crisped) stalks in the bouquet.

I wonder about photos in the same way that I wonder about weeds - what, actually, belongs in the garden?

 I would love to know if you have any thoughts on what makes a really good photo!

I Know that I'm not the only one who has been addicted to photographing Queen Anne's lace, this summer! ; )

"It is no man's business whether he has genius or not: work he must, whatever he is; but quietly and steadily; and the natural and unforced results of such work will be always the things that God meant him to do, and will be his best. No agonies or heart-rendings will enable him to do any better."

Agonizing reduces results, declares John Ruskin. Whether it is a job, work at home or a serious hobby like gardening, we do best working with, not against, our own grain.

~ from Celia Haddon's The Yearbook of Comfort and Joy.

Faded Roses

These roses are perfect for this rainy muted day!

Lesson learned: special effects can help convey what I saw and felt when I "snapped" a photo. I've heard that one should be careful not to fall into the trap of being more enamored of special effects than the story.

I have a dream. A dream of downloading photoshop onto my computer..... I want to be tempted!!! =]