Full Circle

My first post on this site had a photo of tulip buds bursting through the ground and demanding that Spring arrive...it's the last photo.  As the weather gets more and more Spring-like, I'm more inclined to take similar shots.  So, as an ode to both the wonderful weather that will soon hit us full force as well as that photo from so long ago, I give you...

LIFE

Messing Around With Cyanotype

...not the actual printing process.  More so, I was trying to create a style that would look good with the photos I took today...what I ended up with is reminiscent of a cyanotype.  A cyanotype or an underwater world.  One, or both, of the two.

Both of these are from the greenhouse in the Botanic Gardens

 I guess they were just doing some standard pruning, but when I opened the door and saw men with chainsaws and hardhats peering through the bushes and trees, it was as if I was witnessing some mass deforestation.  I felt like they felt that I was judging them for what they were doing.

Through The Viewfinder And Into The Greenhouse

Yesterday's greenhouse made it into today's photography as well.  This time with the addition of a Kodak Duaflex, allowing me to get a nice TTV shot.  The greenhouse can be found in Belfast's Botanic Garden.

I appear to not only be on a black and white kick, but also a greenhouse kick.  Worry not, I'm sure I'll beat at least one of those habits tomorrow.

A Few Days Of Working With Textures

These past few days consisted of me playing with different textures and layers.  Not all of the shots include texture work...but some do.  You will be able to tell which include it.


This cat is free of texture work.  It requires little to no improvement...rather cute all on its own.

The following day (the 27th) was when I first decided to get into really working with textures and layers.  I ended up starting a postcard series due to the results I got from these two pictures...

These shots are from inside the greenhouse in the Botanic Gardens.

Much like the cat, no textures are needed here.  This guy is more than good enough all on his own.  He sits outside of our house for about an hour or two every day.

On Thursday I meandered into one of my wife's future lecture halls.  When she found out where I had been she got jealous...she was yet to go into it due to how awesome and old the building was..also because she didn't know if she was allowed to enter it yet.  

Yesterday, back in the Botanic Gardens, I saw my chance to get a good shot of the greenhouse from outside.  Normally people are in front of it...ruining potential shots.  With the postcard series in mind, I pressed the shutter release...

Going With The Train Theme

In that yesterday's photo was a caboose, I thought I could keep the theme alive and do another train related photo.  So have some oil tankers.  They have been sitting in the woods by some old train tracks near my house...my brother found them fairly recently and showed them to me.  Now I shall show them to you.

Tankers in the Trees

I don't know when these were last used, but I doubt it was very recent, whenever it was.  The weeds and bushes have grown around them, making it seem like it has been years, many years, since they've been touched.

Watering a Garden

My sister and her husband went somewhere for a week.  This means I was contacted with the hopes that I could feed their cats and water their garden.  I told them I could and when I went over today, I brought my camera.  I decided to try an "action shot" with my wife watering the garden.  The action was just the drops of water being sprayed over some tomatoes.

Watering the Green Tomatoes

Though it might not appear green at all in the final image, the tomato was a very light green in real life, leaning towards the white that you see here.  I like how the blurred lines created by the poured water act as leading lines that draw the attention back to the tomato.

In Celebration

I sold three canvas prints this weekend.  All three were to the same person and all three were from one day that I went outside to take my daily picture.  I did not intend to sell the photos when I took them, nor did I think, when I put a print of one of them out at my last craft fair, that someone would like it so much that she would want all three.  Pretty big prints of all three, might I add.
So to celebrate this successful weekend, I went outside today and took a picture of some raindrops that were collected by some leaves.  Maybe something will come of this photo as well.

Layered Leaves

The shadows that the different layers and folds create remind me of a conch shell.  The water droplets may have been a part of the reason why I first thought of something ocean related.

Vegetation by Bicycle

Warm weather and a free afternoon had me hopping on my bicycle and riding all over town.  I rode down a bike trail and then made my way through the park.  Today, some odd plants and some fungus caught my eye...now it can catch yours too.

 Mini Weeping Willows

I don't know what kind of plant this is.  I've never seen anything like it before.  It reminds me of fireworks or a mini weeping willow.  Someone help me! What is it?  I did learn something though, in searching for the type of plant that this is, I found out that there are dwarf weeping willows.  I will purchase one.

Soft Buds

Again, not sure what it is, but the background colors and the softness of the buds themselves compliment each other wonderfully.  A plant's ability to defy gravity has always fascinated me.  Some plants and flowers look so dainty and weak, yet they are able to take on such an intense force of nature.  Most impressive.

  The Fungus Among Us

Growing out of the side of a massive tree, this fungus resembled a spiral staircase.  My desire to attempt to ascend it was great.