REAL MAGIC

Let your imagination take flight - by Lisa

Nikon D5000

Evidence

Evidence by Karen

Canon Rebel 2
 

Peace

Peace by Patty

Sept. Topic:  Peace
Taken with:  Sony NEX F3

Not taken by Lisa

OK, I was lazy this month.  I didn't take this picture & I'm not even in it but I do love it.  

Quin took it in Nepal but she did use one of my cameras so that almost makes it my creation.

No egrets!

No egrets! by Karen

Rebel Cannon 2

While running at dawn, I saw flocks of egrets flapping through this valley, the ceiling of fog making them look spectacular and showy.  They were off to work in search of the day's food.  By the time I made it to my back porch with my water and feet up, they were gone.

Those egrets do not know how hard it is for me to run.  They were not aware of my existence.  Now, I am left to find PEACE in their memory, my satisfaction and sweat, and the view.

Surrounded by Life

Surrounded by Life -- by Patty

August Topic:  Tree(s)
Taken with:  Sony NEX F3

Pillars

Pillars by Karen

Canon Rebel 2

Just like the large-trunked oaks in this yard, these sturdy pillars offer a base that supports its inhabitants with shade, shelter and a home for many... not as gorgeous as trees but still beautiful. 

Deep South - Lisa Hackman

I can hear harmonica music & the buzzing of bugs when I look at this picture

Taken on 7/29/2013 near Citra, FL with a Nikon Coolpix P510

Cathedral

"Cathedral trees are a group of redwoods which grow in a circle around a host stump or tree, from which they sprouted. Redwood stumps have "suckers" which emerge from all sides, creating a circle of trees sometimes known as a "fairy ring" or "sprouting ring." 

Taken on July 20, 2013 in the Humboldt Redwoods State Park, California, with a Canon 5d Mark II at 24mm. It's always been a dream of mine to sleep in the Redwoods, so we called a couple of our best friends and asked them to join us. It was an incredible trip.  
 

Best Eaten Outdoors

Best eaten outdoors by Karen

taken in a back yard in Arkansas
wide angle lens on Canon Rebel 2

American (Central) maize cultured for maximum enjoyment!  Best rolled.

American

"American" by Patty

America:  Or "American" as this case may be.  When I read the reminder message for this month's photo, I happened to be in a parking lot near...you guessed it.  I chuckled and decided this had to be my photo for this month.   

Taken with an iPhone

Lisa Hackman

I took this picture in front of the Cleburne County Courthouse in 2009.

I recently started playing with Photoshop again & have forgotten most that I've

learned.  This is my first lesson in relearning all I've forgotten.

Abundance

Abundance by Karen
 

Supersize Mine

I have decided I am not a photographer my any stretch of my imagination. 
But we had fun with this illusion. 

May theme, quantity

Photos will be posted May 31st!

Nature's Waking

Nature's Waking by Jackie
 

Memories & Cell Phones

Memories & Cell Phones by Lisa

 

Birth, X-rays, ball gloves, jump ropes, army men, post cards, proms, graduation, weddings...the memories of motherhood are never ending.  The memories continue to gather with cell phones and the internet but they're all wonderful memories.  I thought about doing this picture in black & white but my memories are a riot of colors so I stayed with color. 

Motherhood

From the beginning, 

We are preparing

to let them go.

But we never do.

The first photo is of my friend with her sweet baby girl who was very premature but was strong and is now a healthy and happy two year old.

The second photo is one that I take at every wedding. There is something so beautiful to me about the Mother's hands and the delicate buttons on the back of her daughter's wedding dress.Certainly not the first time she will help her daughter dress, but perhaps the last.

The third photo is of a mother watching her son's wedding ceremony. The groom's mother always cries the most and this was surprising to me the first few weddings that I photographed. I believe that we, mothers of boys, really struggle with giving our boys away to another woman. Perhaps it is because our boys don't grow up fantasizing and planning their wedding day like little girls do and so we just don't prepare ourselves. I'm not here yet, but someday I will be...

The fourth is a mother and daughter in the final moments before her daughter's wedding. 

The fifth is of a mother, a beautiful and graceful woman, comforting her 21 month old baby boy three weeks before he passed away, after a year of fighting the cancer that finally took him.

Motherhood, in all it's moments, is beautiful.

These were all taken with a Canon EOS 5D MarkII, with various lenses. I made up for my previous months of iPhone photos and not posting at all last month with more pictures than I was supposed to share. I hope you don't mind my not being able to narrow the moments. I love the Mom's that I get to work with. 

Tenderness

Tenderness by Patty

Motherhood:  Seeing tenderness of siblings; of best friends
Taken with an iPhone

An unexpected moment between big brother and little sister.  (My apologies for the other unexpected...)

Nature, The Original Mother

Nature, The Original Mother  by Karen


Canon PowerShot (easy to grab and go)
morning light
This slightly out-of-focus photo is like my own decades-old eyes.  As I am peaking through the layers of flowers in my garden to see the bumble bee that is so busy with gathering food for her next generation I cannot even see her wings clearly.  Nor can you as you gaze at the scene with me!

This fuzzy focus now looks to me like some of those Impressionists' paintings Ann and I saw at the Crystal Bridges art museum yesterday where you get the mood or 'impression' of what you are seeing without the clarity.  It was a beautiful place... the art, the architecture and the landscape.

I practiced this shot 2 days and was able to capture the bee's wings clearly but I prefer this one!

Vivian Maier, street photographer

http://www.vivianmaier.com/

This woman was a nanny in the second half of the last century.  Apparently, she took her children and camera out on daily excursions and took quick photos of everything.  She went through the activity of getting the 100,000 negatives processed and then never shared the photos, not even with the kids or their parents!  She hoarded her photos along with many other things and ended up putting it into storage units when she moved to Chicago.

It wasn't until 2007 when she stopped paying the rent on her staorage unit that they auctioned off her hoard of newspapers, etc., The man who bought the contents found her stash of negatives.  He dscovered a treasure.  Take a look... she makes city life look interesting.

Small But Mighty by Lisa

The moment I had my first child I was motivated to set an example so that they would grow up to be assertive people that would take their world by the horns.  Even if they were apprehensive about putting themselves out there I wanted them to know that they would learn more from trying and failing than from never trying at all.  My kids still motivate me and now my grandchildren have added to their motivational army.

Erin's web site

http://www.erinmoulden.com/blog/

Just a reminder that Erin is a professional photographer and even thought she uses her IPhone for our photos here, with her professional equipment, she and Justin get to record great moments in peoples' lives.  I included the blog address for you to view.

Procrastinators' Motivator

 And Yes... Late as usual

The Road that Leads to...

 

The Road That Leads To...  by Patty



Motivation:  The Road That Leads To...
Taken with my iPhone.

Everything

everything by Karen

 

Canon rebel
The freshness of my preschool niece's and nephew's feet reminded me that children are the reason we do everything... well told in the book, 'The Children of the Men'.

Motivation

The following are the new photos for March.  Thanks for the theme, Elizabeth.  Looks like Erin will be choosing April's theme but first, we want to see those photos!

The Family Bible

In my beginning... (scribbles by a very young me) :)

Again, this is an iPhone photo. The iPhone is my personal camera of choice, since my "real" camera is work.

The Villager in Iowa

The Villager in Iowa by Elizabeth

IPhone

How Long Til We Get There?



By Jackie
Samsung Android
I've forever been in Awe of the men and women who blazed the trail west for us... how they got the wagons thru all this!  Puts a whole new meaning to the annoying word "Recalculating"

Anjar, Lebanon

Anjar, Lebanon by Teresa Krug

Rebel camera
(Replacing tourist photo of me on the camel -- miscommunication somewhere in numerous emails)

Built in the 8th century, resettled in 1939

The Rose

The Rose by Karen

Canon Powershot
Taken in Dec 2006

This photo has always been a favorite of mine.  I imagined that this is what our house would have looked like a hundred years ago... no visible vehicles and no phone or power lines.  Built it in 1993, we named it "The Rose" after the song. 

Adams Country Store Near Suwannee, FL - by Lisa

Adams Country Store by Elisa

We like to get off the major highways & take the back roads when we travel.  We were checking out the Suwannee River when we came upon this old store.

Kodak Z650

Pitcher of Roses

Pitcher of Roses by Patty

Our childhood Schuller family "Kool-Aid" pitcher was used as the vase for this photo.

Sony NEX 3F

February's theme chosen by Lisa: yesteryear

Keep in mind that your next photo is "yesteryear", due on the 28th.  Thank you, Lisa (aka Elisa)!

Is there a story behind your photo?

Sometimes, there IS a story that goes along with the photo even though a purist/photographer might say that the photo should stand alone.  I, on the other hand, have always enjoyed the story.  If you have an emotion, background or physical detail about your picture that makes it even better, please add it to your photo as a comment.  I will look for those, too.

I heard a lot of personal "shame" for our first month's postings and that is the last month we will express that.  Every month will not be our favorite but now we have a baseline.  I know there are technical things about blogging and sending photos that we are already noticing so this first month was also a test. 

Let the creativity and skill building continue!

Lisa chose 'yesteryear' as our them for February.  Our next photo posting will be Feb 28th, a Thursday.  Feel free to post comments on your own photos and others to encourage one another.

Thank you for participating. 

Habitat

Habitat by Elizabeth

Rebel camera
Berlin Zoo, Germany

All Things Big and Small

All Things Big and Small by Jackie

Samsung phone Galaxy 2
backyard
Jan 2013

Sunset on the Bay by Elisa

Fuji FinePix S602Z Camera

by Teresa

Rebel camera

Qatar
sister, dhow, Doha skyline
Jan 2013

Email your photo and notes to me if you cannot upload it.  I will post them for you today if needed till we figure this out.  Looking forward to seeing your 'expression' of water!

pink water

pink water by Karen

pink water
Rebel, evening, natural light
AR sunset over our pasture

Rise

Rise by Erin

"Rise"
Taken with my iPhone 4 on 1/30.
Cropped/Edited with Instagram app.

Faraya, Lebanon

Faraya Lebanon by Mary

I-Phone
taken from the back seat of a taxi
Jan 2013

Splash in Time

Splash in Time by Patty

Stream at Estrella "Welcome" Sign, AZ

Sony NEX 3F

A poem came to mind for this month's water theme that I would like to share: 

Last Night As I Was Sleeping by Antonio Machado

Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt—marvelous error!—
that a spring was breaking
out in my heart.
I said: Along which secret aqueduct,
Oh water, are you coming to me,
water of a new life
that I have never drunk?

Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt—marvelous error!—
that I had a beehive
here inside my heart.
And the golden bees
were making white combs
and sweet honey
from my old failures.

Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt—marvelous error!—
that a fiery sun was giving
light inside my heart.
It was fiery because I felt
warmth as from a hearth,
and sun because it gave light
and brought tears to my eyes.

Last night as I slept,
I dreamt—marvelous error!—
that it was God I had
here inside my heart.

Welcome to our photo challenge!
We 9 picture takers are linking our cameras, talents and luck together this year to create themes of photos, unique and creative.

The first day of each month one of our members will post a word or theme for the upcoming month and on the last day of that month all 10 of us will post 1 photo according to that theme.
As our first word, I chose "water" for January.

Remember that your photos can be modified by fancy software or left as is, color, black and white... no limits to your creation since this is not a contest but a challenge where we each are working to improve our own targeted skills, i.e. camera use, lighting, new software... you decide.

On Thursday, January 31st, we will be posting those photos so be ready to include some info:

All photos:
a title
camera used/specifics

Optional:
software used/techniques
date
place
anything you think we might like to know