Crazy nieces and 4-leaf clovers

Yesterday my nieces were driving me CRAZY.  I don't know why, because they weren't doing anything that they don't normally do...

They were driving each other crazy too... This one wasn't as real as it looks.  No nieces were harmed during the making of these photos...

Figuring it would keep them busy, I suggested that they look for some 4-leaf clovers, since our backyard is FILLED with clovers... and about 30 seconds later I hear Jamie: "I found one!"

It's been a little hacked up from the lawn mower, but sure enough, it was a 4-leaf clover!

They looked for a little while longer, but I think the challenge of it was gone when Jamie found one 30 seconds in...

AUNTIE! TAKE A PICTURE OF THIS!!!

I played outside with my nieces the other day- when they weren't driving me nuts, unlike today...
And I snapped lots of silly photos of them. 
Mostly just to put an end to all the:
"AUNTIE! TAKE A PICTURE OF THIS!!!"
"AUNTIE! LOOK AT THIS TRICK I CAN DO! TAKE A PICTURE!!!"


I ended up with a few I really like... and the ones with Jamie on the slide crack me up for some reason...

I need to shoot some film!!!

I'm not really a digital photographer.  A few months ago, when I starting doing my Holga TTV stuff with my little Coolpix, it was the first time I created digital images that I really liked... I also really liked shooting with my Holga and seeing the pictures so quickly... But I'm really starting to miss shooting film.  In any camera.  I really gotta get my Bronica fixed, AND get a roll of film into the Holga! 

For now, here's one of Trina from a couple years ago.  It's one of my favorites of her.  AND it was shot with film!!! :)

flamingo

some Holga ttv photos I took at my sister's house the other day:

More window light

The light on my walls in the afternoon is soooo nice.  So the other day I took a few pictures of it.
I was experimenting a bit with the second one in Photoshop- it's purposely warmer, just to be different...

A couple new Holga TTV images

I don't really have anything to say about these two...
:)

piiiiinnnnnk!

I love pink and I love stars.  I have a little collection of them actually.  My dear friend Karly even brought one back from Africa for me once! (By the way, Karly is an amazing designer!!!  Check out her website and blog)

So, here's some pictures that are pink and have stars.  Pretty straightforward...

insomnia?

It's 7am, and I haven't been to sleep yet, which is awesome...

So I thought I'd find something to post here.  I came up with this image, which I had completely forgotten about til the other day.  I had scanned it a couple months ago during my scanning binge...  It's from Color Projects class, when I was shooting at sunset and cross-processing.  But I never used it for my portfolio- it didn't quite fit with the other images- and I only ever made a quick test print of it.  Anyways, I kinda like it...

garden update #10

Not a ton going on garden-wise since my last garden update... some of the seedlings have died, and more are dying... not having very good luck.  But then I had grand ideas of having too many plants to know what to do with because I was convinced that every single one of the seeds I planted was going to sprout! Ha! Not exactly...

Not much going on, but I sure have a lot of pictures here! Enjoy! :)

May 15th:
In one corner of my backyard, there's a bunch of Lillies of the Valley growing under a big ugly blue spruce.  They don't like it under there.  The sap gets all over the leaves and you can never see the flowers, (it's like the leaves are protecting them from the sap) so I picked a bunch of them.  Most of them actually.  There's also wild raspberries growing in the middle of the flowers, so I was on my hands and knees and sometimes my belly, getting attacked by the raspberry vines, and this is what I got:

You wouldn't believe how STINKY a small bouquet of these stinkers are!  Didn't realize it until after I brought them in the house... they spent the next afternoon outside...

This image available on fineartamerica.com

May 16th:
I took on my "Strawberry patch" today.... I weeded and expanded it, hopefully it helps them out a bit... There are already a few that are starting to look like strawberries!

May 17th:
This was the one busy day... and on no sleep!

First, a trip to Lowe's with my sister.  I wanted to get some protective netting for the strawberries.  I ended up with pink dahlias for my mom, and some more perennials.  I've decided that since I've kinda been having bad luck with some of the seeds, that I need to plant perennials, because it's cheaper in the long run!

These are pretty cool.  I had never seen or heard of them before.  They're both ground covers...
I liked the bright blue flowers on this one, and the kinda fuzzy leaves.  This is a pretty close up shot of the flowers, but they're really small- about the size of a dime, if that.
It's called Grace Ward Lithodora:

THIS one, is crazy.  The flowers are okay.  But the coolest part of this one is the "leaves".  They're squishy and rubbery, and according to my sister, feels like a lizard tongue... haha.
It's called Starburst Ice Plant.  If you see one, you gotta feel it! haha

We left Lowe's and stopped at the cemetery to plant the dahlias, and took home the pansies that were still doing okay... I planted those by the shed after digging up at least 100 of those crazy rogue morning glories.  (I'm going to give some to my neighbor, and I still have tons more if anyone's interested!)

Then, I started digging up the front yard. Got one side of the steps done:

Even though some of the seedlings aren't doing so hot, the rest are doing pretty well!
The Columbine finally sprouted the other day:

And the Chinese Lanterns sprouted a few days before that:

The Black-eyed Susan vines are doing pretty well:

And here's the pink Cypress vine sprout from a couple weeks ago.  I'm glad they're finally doing something because I really want to see what they turn out like.

A couple weeks ago I planted the California Poppies since they were getting kinda straggly looking- I didn't know what else to do for them to give them more space.  However, a couple of them were casualties of the cat attack, and I'm sure just plain old not surviving.  Some are okay:

I planted a few pots with some morning glories- one with some marigolds, one with some dianthus, one with some fuzzy blueish/purple puffball flowers that I don't know the name of... all complete with trellis-type contraptions:

The wild roses have some buds!  I can't take credit for these though- I had nothing to do with planting them, and they do what they want!  But, I'm glad that the yard is starting to get some more color, especially since it was so gray and yucky today!

And finally, I leave you with a cheesy daisy photo!  Complete with water drops! :)

This image available on fineartamerica.com

Click here for all the other garden updates!

I heart daisies!

I almost hate taking pictures of flowers.  There are some CHEESY pictures of flowers out there... But I try to make mine different from other flower pictures I've seen.  Less about the flower, and more about the colors, light and composition...

But I do LOVE daisies!  And now that I have my very own daisies, I'll probably take lots of pictures of them.  LAME!  But oh well, I have decided to embrace the LAME! :)

The spot where I planted my daisies gets hit with the late afternoon sun, and from a distance, it looks like just the white petals are lit up, with everything else in shadow...

Here are a couple I took today.  They're okay...

Cassie

I used to babysit 2 little girls named Brittany and Cassie... The photography bug bit just before I started sitting for them and they quickly became my favorite little models.

A couple months ago when I went on a scanning binge, I scanned a bunch of old images of Cassie when she was just a munchkin... she's almost 21 now! Yikes! 

I think this first one might be one of the first black and white images I ever made.  I went all out with the sheets as a back drop too!  Haha... And the dress she's wearing, that was my dress.  I called it the "Twirly Dress".  It's peach and lacey and twirly and I LOVED it.  (I still have it!)  I remember wanting to wear it all the time, but funnily enough, I think there's only one picture of me in it.  Anyway, here's Cassie in it:

Here's another one of Cassie- I think this one is from my first college photo class.  I'm pretty sure the assignment was portraits.  And I think she has on my spaghetti strapped prom dress, obviously too big for her!  That baseball hat and sunglasses, also mine... I must have let her and Brittany go through my closet and go nuts...

garden update #9

I've decided to post garden updates just once a week.  (unless something INCREDIBLE happens! haha)

May 4th:
A bunch of seeds have sprouted! woohoo!

hollyhocks:


















dahlias:

peonies:

May 5th:
For the second time, I discovered that a neighborhood cat has been using one of my flower beds as a litter box.  ECH.  So, I googled how to keep a cat out of your garden, and I discovered that they actually make Cat Repellent!  I was very close to buying some, but didn't, because I remembered that I'm pretty broke.

One of the "home made" or "natural" remedies to the problem is black pepper, which doesn't harm anyone, the cats just don't like the smell.  And, bonus, it won't hurt the plants.
In addition to the pepper, I found these trellis type things that my dad used to use for his tomato plants.  So I stuck all seven of them in the flower bed.  No room for the kitty now!  :)  But hopefully I won't have to keep them here all summer...

May 6th:
I bought some daisies the other day, since I've had such trouble growing them from seed in the past.
I adore daisies.  They're one of my favorites.  Here's a cheesy little picture of one.  Cheesy as it is, I kinda like it...

May 7th:
Here are some of the daisies actually planted... If the wildflower seeds I planted actually sprout, they'll be in that empty space behind these daisies...

May 10th:
Didn't do much garden stuff today, but I took a bunch of pictures...

These crazy morning glories are sprouting up EVERYWHERE!  Does any one want some?  I'm serious!  You can dig these up and move them.  Seriously, they don't mind...

Here are my strawberry plants.  They've kinda been doing okay on their own the past few years, but I think I'm gonna help them out this year.  Maybe build some sort of contraption to keep the critters from eating them...

Okay, here's something strange that I discovered yesterday.  One of the Cypress Vine sprouts is pink! Well, 2 of them actually.  The only other one sprouting so far is green.  So I don't know why there are 2 pink ones.  I googled the heck out of it, but I couldn't find any explanation.  Or any mention of anything like it.   If anyone knows what's up with these little guys, I'd love to know!!!

I also bought these dianthus flowers the other day.  I've never really liked them before, but something about them is intriguing to me now for some reason.  So I got a little snap-happy....

Click here for all the other garden updates!