I Heart Faces Photo Challenge - "Bust a Gut"

Mommy's Tickling Me!  

My 9 month old grandson loves being tickled by his Mommy...

This photo was entered in

SCAVENGER HUNT SUNDAY.....11-27-2011

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!! We enjoyed time with family and will have more family time during the upcoming weeks. This week's Scavenger Hunt Sunday items: Waiting, Foliage, Candid, Knife Fork or Spoon, and Rule of Thirds.

1.  Waiting - The ultimate example of "waiting" is the patient fisherman. I captured this one on Black Friday morning, escaping the hustle and bustle of shopping. In the shot, I also happened to catch the relaxing mermaid on the shoreline. The two of them seemed to go together.

2.  Foliage - This is a tough time of year to find beautiful photos of foliage in Indiana. Most of the color is gone, so I found a shot of some rose leaves that were still on the stems, mixed in with the beautiful plumes from dried grasses that make such wonderful winter texture.

3.  Candid - I caught a non-posed shot of two of my grandsons playing on the floor with some scraps of newspaper left over from an attempted Christmas photo session. What a challenge it was with a 9 month old... I have an ultimate respect for you professional photographers who regularly have little ones as your subjects.

4.  Knife Fork or Spoon - This is an antique tarnished sterling silver tea infuser spoon that was handed down from my mother and probably from her mother. I'm sure it's very old. I added a few textures for interest.

5.  Rule of Thirds - (Here is a good explanation) 

SCAVENGER HUNT SUNDAY.....11-20-2011

This week's Scavenger Hunt Sunday items: Mainly One Color, Around the Home, Reflection, Writing and Water

1.  Mainly One Color - This time of the year, the leaves of this hydrangea all turn mainly one color...this beautiful shade of red.

2.  Around the Home - Around the holidays, there's no place like home...especially when I'm getting the table decorated for a Thanksgiving celebration next week. I used one of Kim Klassen's textures on this photo.

 

3.  Reflection - the tree reflecting in the rain on the sidewalk.

4.  Writing - this is one of the many rooms in a quaint shop that is fun to visit. It is called "The Town Dump".

 5.  Water - the sunrises over the lake aren't as pretty this time of year, so I pulled this one out of my archives from this past summer. It's always fun to look forward to next summer...only about 7 months away.

SCAVENGER HUNT SUNDAY.....11-13-2011

It's hard to believe it's Sunday already...time for the Scavenger Hunt with Ashley Sisk. The prompts this week are Before and After (processed image),Opposing Lines, Custom Bokeh, Which pair of shoes should I wear?, and Little Features.

1. Before and After (processed image) - We went to the last day of the "Wild West Days" in Cave Creek, Arizona, where folks were dressed up in period costumes. They finished up the weekend with a "Gundown at Sundown" at Harold's Saloon.

 Before (above)

After some processing

2. Opposing Lines -  I took both of these shots at the Cave Creek Park Nature Center, where we went hiking. The first photo is the side of the building, with the shadows from the overhang. The second one is the concrete stairway leading up to the center and the shadow from the railing.

3. Custom Bokeh (High Calling Focus prompt - Kent Weakley tutorial) This was a tough one, I'm not totally pleased with the outcome. I had trouble finding the correct lighting to achieve the bokeh, but it was fun to experiment with the process. This is what I came up with... 

4. Which pair of shoes should I wear? This pair gets a lot of use... my cycling shoes.

5. Little Features - I came across this turtle in the pond at El Pedregal in Carefree, Arizona. I thought his little legs fit the prompt.

I Heart Faces Photo Challenge - Black

Today's challenge at I Heart Faces is featuring the color black! I took this photo yesterday at the Cave Creek "Wild West Days" Shootout at Harold's Saloon. I also used some wonderful texture from Kim Klassen Cafe'.

SCAVENGER HUNT SUNDAY.....11-6-2011

It's time for Scavenger Hunt Sunday. This week the prompts are Food, Purple, In Disguise, Shapes and Photographer's Choice. I'm hoping that some day I will find the time to enter some of the other photo challenges. It seems the opportunities are endless...

1. Food - I took this photo a few weeks ago. I couldn't resist snapping the shot of a toddler apparently dining at a sidewalk cafe', sitting all by himself, with a half eaten pizza and a full beer in front of him.

2. Purple - I just realized that I have 2 photos that weren't taken this week (I had plenty of new photos...but these two were just perfect for the prompts). This photo is of my grandson who plays 4th grade football for a team that wears purple.

3. In Disquise - Yes, it was Trick or Treat in the neighborhood...here's a cutie. (Some friends brought their son over for a treat).

4. Shapes - Cacti can rarely develop very strange, abnormal growth patterns, either monstrose (random, deformed growth) or cristate (crested tip) growth patterns. The photograph below shows a Crested Saguaro that I came across in downtown Carefree, Arizona.  I thought the shape was very unusual.

5. Photographer's Choice - I had taken several great photos for this theme, but after I shot this one of a bobcat in the neighborhood this morning, my choice was made for me. You don't see them very often and it's not easy being at the right spot at the right time to get a photo. I decided to play around with some editing to add some interest and so he would stand out from the natural background.

This is the original SOOC shot.