photography

Multi-colored Markers

It’s fun to photograph magic markers. There is even a red one in there, so I can use this for Ruby Tuesday.

For more photos with a little or a lot of red:

Railroad Tracks – SOOC

I took several shots of these Teaneck railroad tracks while waiting for my middle son, who had spent the morning visiting the high school he will attend next year. My older son just told me trains really do travel on those tracks. Oh.

Snowy Sepia Rudbeckia

I love photographing rudbeckia (black-eyed susans); they are like sculptures in the winter snow. To achieve the see-through border, I added a 9px stroke to the Photoshop layer that had the sepia effect. Since the layer had an opacity lower than 100%, the border is also transparent. The default stroke effect is a bright red color; using the eye-dropper tool, I selected a color from within the photograph for the border.

Review with 2010 Favorites from Various Blogs

On This Blog, Recently

  

• JPiX – Post Chanukah + Babies Edition
• Calf, Swallow and Winds – about the song Donna, Donna, with Joan Baez singing
• Creative Dramatics

Elsewhere in the Blogosphere, Recently

• Batya: A mini-verision of the recent JPiX (guess the photo bloggers)
• Ilana-Davita: Hush – a book review on a novel with sexual abuse
• Carver: Birds in the Snow
• Cooking Manager: Challenge of Eating More Whole Grains

Some 2010 Favorites from Elsewhere in the Blogosphere

• EG Wow: Canada Day 2010
• Ilana-Davita: Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran
• Sparrow Chatter: Photographic memory – “Grandmother I never knew with two of her 7 children”
• Mrs. S.: Fake Holiday – do your kids lobby for more school holidays?
• Jewwishes: Stronger than Iron: The Destruction of Vilna Jewry 1941-1945
• G6: Purim in the 1930’s
• Baila: In honor of Coffee and Chemo (in memory of RivkA, z”l)
• Shimshonit: No Hate Zone
• Robin: Almond Blossoms
• Felisol: Postwar Housewife Poetry
• Rambling Woods: Difference Between Viceroy and Monarch Butterflies
• A Mother in Israel: Butterflies, Bees, Horses and Caterpillars at the Kula Forest (technically, the post was published in December 2009, but shh…. I love all the nature)

Nature Notes: Snowstorm 2010

This is a lovely blue jay I photographed about one week before the storm. And this is the post I wrote last week about a calf, a swallow and the winds, but I never hit publish until Monday morning, right before going out to shovel.

Here are rose hips during the early hours of the storm on Sunday afternoon.

Our street during the snowstorm

Our street the next morning – lots to shovel

My neighbor’s tree

Piles of snow one day later

I’m so grateful I live in a tiny little borough that plows its streets. Yay to everyone in Borough Hall or the Department of Public Works who ensures that this happens!

For more Nature Notes:

Thursday Challenge: Stuffed Animals

Snuck into my daughter’s room and took some shots.

The theme for Thursday Challenge is TOYS (Dolls, Games, Stuffed Animals, Athletic Equipment, Construction Toys, Art Supplies,…).

Chanukah is Long Over

Chanukah is over, but I still have photos to share. My husband’s chanukiah has a spot for the shamash, the candle helper that lights the oil wicks underneath. It was nice that the chanukiah was built with a place for a candle, but did the designer have to put the candle directly above the oil cups so every year it bends over like this? It would have made more sense to put the candle holder on the side, although it would take away from the chanukiah’s “classic” look.

Thursday Challenge: Farmer’s Market

The Highland Park Farmer’s Market is over for the season, but the memories remain.

This one of pumpkins is a bit more abstract than the apples photo. It’s also more washed out, but I like the painterly quality. Some of us have a hard time picking one, whether it’s an apple or a photo.

This week’s Thursday Challenge is FOOD (Farmers Market, Vegetables, Meat, Cooking, Restaurant,…).

Shamash, Nibbles and On the Blog

Chanuka is over, until next year, but I still have photos to share! This one is of the shamash; my husband and my three children are all holding their own as they say the bracha (blessing) before lighting the candles. The shamash is the helper and does not count as one of the 8 lights of Chanuka.

Yesterday I went to a lovely party. Some child had taken a whole plate of fancy chocolate candies and had nibbled exactly one bite out of each one. My friend the hostess was not amused. She considered putting up a sign: for adults only. I said maybe the parent should eat the candy if the child wants to try. Of course, then my daughter took one bite of a chocolate covered marshmallow candy without realizing it was marshmallow, and I had no interest in eating it. What do you think?

I loved this: do you hear in your house – “Are you going to put that on the blog?“

Portulaca Late October – SOOC

I planted portulaca (also called moss rose) from seed late this year (late means June), so I only got a few blossoms. Here is one that was still alive in October. These flowers are delicate, open only in late morning and die when it starts to get cold. Sometimes they reseed – hopes for next summer.

For more photos Straight Out of the Camera: