Stuff I like. And stuff I don't like, too.

Fall begins today, I am so excited! Appropriately enough, my hubby had a giant tree limb "FALL" on his head and had to get rushed to the hospital. Once we got him all stitched together and he had a CT scan to make sure he didn't crack his head open, I dropped him off at home and took some "FALL" ish pics.  My beautiful Pups, posing pretty: It's beginning! I'm hoping to go to this same spot every few days, to photograph it to see the changing foliage. I've said it before, Maine is a beautiful place. Especially in the Autumn. It still feels like summer here today, about 80 degrees, which is pretty good for us!  Unfortunately I did not get a chance to enter any contests yet today, I'm only here for a few minutes, gotta head out to pick up my teen from work, then catch another sunset, hopefully. But hey, my hubby got hit by a widowmaker, so I'm excused for today, right? Have a great night!!! Have a minut...

I was hoping to find evidence of Autumn today. As I drive around I notice dead leaves on the ground, some orange colors, some red. It's coming! I went to a local lake tonight to catch the sunset and the water was so low I was able to walk out to the little island to get a different view for my shots: The sunset itself was OK, but 30 since I was being eaten alive by mosquitoes I left right away, only to pull over on the way home for some spectacular shots, the sky turned beautiful colors. I'll share those tomorrow. Hope you had a great day!  Take a second and check out my small but evergrowing istock portfolio HERE !  Or my Adobe portfolio HERE   Or my Shutterstock portfolio HERE  

So I've been messing with overlays, adding stormy clouds to some of my pictures, I don't have the patience for the fine detailing that involves though, so they look really messed up. Some day I will take the time to slow down and try for real, because I adore the fantasy photos people share on Photocrowd and Viewbug, I want to play around with that one of these days. But for now, atleast I understand the process a bit, that's progress enough. I also learned how to do an action thingy on Photoshop, which saves me sooo much time! If only I could figure out the batch editor process, apply my actions to an entire folder, be still my heart!  I'll get it, I only have so many hours in a day, after all. Today my hubby flipped over his skidder, so, you know, I am just grateful for the basic things! And my son officially proposed to his girlfriend, so YAYYYY, I get to take engagement photos next week! And I'm getting a daughter! Win-win! Anyway, today's challenge was wi...

Since I've been trying to peddle my photos I haven't had time to enter the weekly challenges at ViewBug or Photocrowd,  but I'm still challenging myself every day. I have been told that presets on Lightroom or Photoshop will save me hours of editing time, so I'm going to try to figure it all out. I'm old, what can I say? Here is the original: The first overlay is called Woodland Fairy: This is Storybook 4 The third is Vintage Lace 6: All 3 overlays I bought from Lemon and Lace Studios, as part of the "Complete Store Bundle" Check them out here . So, some of the tones just don't work with this particular photo, I just wanted to try them out and figure out what I was doing. This whole thing is an ongoing learning experience for me! I've only had Photoshop/Lightroom for ten days or so, I am learning the very basics still. But I'm impatient and want to jump right in! Did you know you could buy Photo...

It figures that once I commit myself to a daily blog challenge I lose my wifi! Like I said, we live in the sticks, but luckily Time Warner got their heads out of their butts and got us back online. So, YAY.  Yesterday I revisited my favorite sunset site, a local lake with a fantastic view. Sunsets was the name of my challenge, and even though I couldn't get online to admit the photo into the contest, I will still share here. Not that anyone cares, but I do. I do this for me, after all.  As usual, I took about 100, maybe more, and they all look similar, but you never know that until you get home, so I don't like to take chances! I'd rather delete 500 photos every day than miss the perfect shot. Anyway, here are a couple of my favorites: A few tweaks of my camera settings and we have a whole different look at the same thing. Taken minutes apart. I watched the kayakers and waited for them to get in my line of view. So pretty.   Today, I went to visit the Dese...

So, today's challenge is a little different.  I had applied some of my photos for istock/Getty to buy, you have to send 15 examples of your work with your application, and I got an email saying I've been approved. So today I went through about 4000 of my photos, narrowed it down to 100, roughly, renamed them all to be in similar categories, ran them through photoshop real quickly to make sure they were high resolution and the right size, and finally, FINALLY, submitted them today, after choosing 50 mostly water themed photos. Phew! Once they were uploaded to Getty I had to add a title, description,  and at least 5 tag words. Took me forever. Once I figured out what to do it was just repetitive and time consuming, not very difficult.  How many ways can you describe a rocky coastline, or a lighthouse at sunrise? That was the hardest part. So. Fingers crossed that my very first submission was processed correctly, I do live in the sticks and my WiFi comes and goes. Toes cross...

I prefer taking photos of landscapes, sunsets, my dog, pretty things....but having four young men in my family (and one old one, haha), I rarely have willing subjects to practice my portraits on. Other than the one sons senior photos. But thankfully, that same son now has a beautiful girlfriend who has recently told me she loves getting her photo taken. Voila! I am so excited, I actually got to take a few hundred photos of a young couple. I really need the practice,  still trying to get the right settings for the right light. Some of them turned out fantastic, some go straight in the trash. Here are a few of my favorites: Any comments, feedback, good or bad is welcome! Have an awesome day! Update: Click HERE  to check out my new istock portfolio! Or click HERE to check out my Adobe portfolio! If you prefer shutterstock, check out my profile HERE !

So I've mentioned my love of photo sharing/contests websites, like Photocrowd, ViewBug, and 500px. Last night I came upon a new one, Gurushots,  which is now my new favorite! They are all fun, immediate feedback is given, good or bad, and I highly recommend you check them out.  I picked the first community challenge I came upon for today, cause I've been up since 4 am, went shopping, to the laundry mat, (washer leaks and dryer gave up the ghost, sigh), doing laundry for 6 people is not quick, took my kid to the bank, ran a few more boring errands, and I'm pressed for time. The challenge is "Books", which is probably a pretty easy one to do, but I want to be  kinda  different from the masses. Without my caffeine to fuel me my mind is drawing a blank! This photo is alI I could come up with for now:   A cliché,  I know, but I didn't have time to run to my library before the deadline, so I made do. I love the macro setting on my new camera!...

So. My first blog based on my love of photography.  I've had blogs before, venting while going through a divorce, my love of video games, raising a special needs child...but this one is special. I have loved taking photos for my whole life, took selfies way back in the day on Polaroid cameras, and was a bit of a perfectionist who annoyed my "models" ie, my little sister and her friends. But now, now I am trying to learn how to do things right, and not annoy too many people in the process, although I've already accomplished that just today. So...My NEW first blog. Has that new book smell, I think.  Here I will share my newest pictures,  brief descriptions, and my weekly challenges that I'm hoping will teach me a thing or two. That's the plan. I expect to learn patience if nothing else. So.  Sigh. I'm a happily married mom with four sons, two dogs and a strange cat. Kids are growing up and moving out, my autistic son Chris is my handy sidekick, same for ...