Wednesday Scrap Book

It’s Wednesday and time to dig out the scrapbook! I’ve been trying to decide on what to share today and my eye keeps coming back to this image.

This was a beautiful horse I passed while driving through the country side in Illinois one day. There’s something about his expression that intrigues me… very intelligent eyes, I think.

I dressed this photo up a bit. It’s amazing what you can do with digital tools, I think. I fully enjoyed shooting pictures of the countryside and old buildings while in IL. I found that I really like to shoot rotted out, broken down old barns – I don’t know why. There is just something about them; so much history to learn from them – just to be there and soak it in. You can hope that in the quietness, the spirits that pass by on the wind will osmose their knowledge in to you.

I know I put a smaller version of this in yesterday’s post, but I felt like it needed its own space here in the scrap book. This was sunrise on a small dirt road that ran between two fields. You can just see the hint of frost still on the grass. The trees themselves really interest me. I see a few things, but the one thing that makes me giggle is that they look like they are pulling back in surprise at the one lone tree standing tall.

I shot this pretty thing while at the St. Louis Zoo with my family. Anyone with children (who have watched Sesame Street) will know that Bert LOVES pigeons. Most call them rats with wings, but I see the beauty that Bert sees. Look at the lovely colors around the neck and the striking markings on the wings. The orange of the eye contrasts so nicely – maybe it’s because purple, green and orange are my favorite colors that this bird is so glamorous to me…

That sky. THAT is what I absolutely love about Illinois. The sky goes on forever and ever and ever and ever and ever… you get my point. Having grown up in the beauty of Pennsylvania, surrounded with architecture (old and new), trees, and mountains, the beauty of Pure Sky is something that I immediately fell in love with. (Which, this picture FAR from does the Sky justice)

Thanks for coming out today and sharing my memories, and my attempts at “good photography”. Maybe next week I’ll post some of those broken old barns full of memory and intrigue!

Photo Op!

It’s scrap-book day!! =) Inspired by Debra’s amazing photos, I’ve decided to make today my scrap-book day. I may make every Wednesday scrap book day – I haven’t yet decided. You guys can let me know with your feedback, whether or not it’s a good idea. ❤

Something that I adore doing to destress and find myself among the sometimes chaotic debris of life is to take my camera and shoot things. (Which, I think is a better solution than shooting things with a gun?) I’m striving to take more and more interesting pictures as I grow my inner artist. These are a few of the pictures I took just after Michael got me my first Nikon.

…Except the first one… since Debra asked, and because I don’t have my faire pictures yet, here is a shot taken with a cell phone of me out at Rend Lake while I was in Illinois this past year.

Early morning at Lake Rend - Loving the icy breeze

My go-to place that I found some years ago, is a small, secluded lake near(ish) where I hail from. Here is a shot of where I usually stand to shoot photos over the lake.

I usually set my case and such on the picnic table and carry my tripod as close to the lake as I can get.

These cattails are actually in the photo above as well… they are just mixed in with all of the other brush.

These are some lovely, frozen cattails I shot while experimenting with focus.

Earlier in the year when I was staying in Illinois, I would get up very early to watch the sunrise over Rend Lake and watch the wildlife begin to stir. (Whatever wildlife was willing to come out in the icy weather) One of my favorite mornings was when I was early enough to watch the sun slide lazily up over the horizon as if struggling to wake. Here is just one shot that I took as it was finally almost completely over the horizon.

There's nothing more peaceful than listening to the tiny waves of a lake wash gently over the rocks of the shore while silently watching the sun rise.

Here is a photo I shot in early January while visiting my friends in Colorado Springs. I am very very excited to be moving to a place where I have such great friends and that it is so full of amazing beauty is a major bonus.

Breath taking view of the Rocky Mountains from a small road... somewhere... near(ish) Pike's Peak

Speaking of great friends… Here is Mark feeding his poor poor Jeep my Fiji water…

Please note that the car ran VERY WELL after consuming my Water of OSM

I do have more photos to share, but I think I’ll leave them for another day. Let me know if you enjoyed this feature, and I’ll see about posting 4-5 photos each Wednesday from the digital scrap-book.

Thanks for visiting today!