Moving at a Snail's Pace

Today I ventured down to our dock to get an up close and personal view of our swamp hibiscus or marsh mallows in full bloom.  They are really outdoing themselves this year.  And I also noticed that we had a few visitors on the marsh grasses...these little snails.

I have decided to name them Gary (in honor of Spongebob's pet snail), and Escar Go (it seems less morbid if I break it in to 2 names and misspell it!), who is visiting from France.

I love their bright green ribbed shells, but I didn't want to keep them in the hot sun for too long or they might become a little dry and crispy!

So after snapping a few shots with my uber cool new macro lens (a treat to myself bought with photo shoot and writing money), they were free to return to the cool shade and slightly cool waters of the creek.

I have to say that I love this new macro lens, but learning to use it has been harder than I thought.  If you move just a teeny, tiny bit, you loose your focus because the depth of field is so shallow.  I'm learning, but it's hard teaching an old dog new tricks!  But when you can get up close and personal with your subjects, it makes it all worth it!  Thanks Kate for encouraging me to buy a macro lens, now maybe I can take pictures as lovely as YOURS! :-)

And thank you for your sweet comments about my new venture into portrait photography.  After I posted yesterday I realized that I had used the low res versions of each picture, but I was just too darned lazy to replace them with the higher quality ones...so they will forever remain a little fuzzy looking on my post!

And one more thing before I go, thanks for your comments on my post about what this time of year means to you, I so enjoyed reading all of your comments!!

A Moment in Time

It's hard to believe that just a few months ago the idea of taking pictures of people terrified me.

I thought to myself, how can I ever capture the essence of someone's personality the way I can something static, like a flower, that I can move around and snap as many photos of as I want?

I thought that the pressures of capturing the "moment" would be too great, out of reach.

And that maybe, I would fall flat on my face and in the process, disappoint those I was shooting, the ones who really want themselves, or a loved one, captured forever and in a way that takes them right back to that moment in time.


 

But I decided to give it a go anyway, throw caution to the wind, because if you never try, you'll never know, right?

And there are worse things in life then failing or falling short of perfection.

And sometimes when you play it safe you miss out on great things, on opportunities to grow, and on chances to test your limits.

Sometimes we have to step outside of our comfort zone and find a new, and much larger comfort zone.

And sometimes the rewards are worth all the angst in the world...like capturing a moment in time to be cherished by someone forever!

Thanks to my friends who let me use them as models (and talk about perfect models!) as I tried to see if portrait photography is my thing.  I already have other people lined up who want me to capture their special little one or their child heading off to college in a year, and someone even asked if I would shoot a wedding!  *gulp*  The wedding shoot will not be in my future, at least not until I feel like I won't goof it up!

I feel so privileged to be asked to take someone's picture, and I'm so happy I took a chance.  I can't wait to see what's next on this roller coaster ride of life I'm on!  I hope you are each taking your own chances and discovering something new about yourself each and every day!

That Time of Year

It's that time of year again.

When branches are weighed down with barely ripe berries.

When the hazy days of summer are in full force and nature tends to show off.

When Queen Anne's Lace fills fields and ditches, and suddenly a weed becomes a thing of beauty.

When patient puppies sit in an air conditioned truck while humans suffer 102 degree heat...

Hoping for a few of these...or maybe a lot of these!

And when even the ants are happy to be hanging out in their newly decorated abode.

Yup, it's that time of year, when a whole bowl of these seems like the perfect summertime dinner!

What does this time of year mean to you?

Black and White

Remember as a child, everything seemed so cut and dry, black and white so to speak?  You knew the general rhythm of things, adults took care of the scary or difficult stuff so that all you had to do was play or maybe do a little homework and some chores.  For those of us with happy childhoods, that was how life went day to day.

Right now I have two friends, both of their names start with the letter "J," and for them life is not so black and white.  Life has become infinite shades of gray as both of them are fighting, and thankfully winning their war against cancer.  One is newly diagnosed, while the other friend has been undergoing treatment for quite some time now.

I hate cancer and all that it requires both mentally and physically!  Yet as the bystander, all I can do is let them know how much I care and to give them some support.  It's not much, and I wish there was more I could do, like wave a magic wand.  But some things just aren't that easy once you are all grown up.

Wishing you all a very calm weekend, and if you haven't told someone in your life how much you love them lately, please do...it will mean the world to both of you!

Baby It's Cold Outside

Remember just a few months ago when we were all saying how cold it was and how we couldn't wait for summer?! *raises hand*

Well, unlike my post title, it's anything but cold outside in most of the US right now.  In fact, it's downright steamy.

My mom used to call this kind of weather hot and sticky.  And I would have to say that that's a pretty fair assessment of the way it is outside right now.

Even the dogs don't want to be outside...well unless the sprinkler is going that is!  Misty Belle loves the way the water gives her that awesome 80s crimped hair look!

I love this out of focus picture of Mr. Quinn chasing the water droplets as they zoom around the yard.  It's kind of how I picture Monet capturing his true essence! ;-)

We over seeded part of our yard so they are loving that we have the sprinkler set up for a little while each day.  And it is a great way to beat the heat, but I sure do spend a lot of time cleaning up wet paw prints when they come inside.  It's a small price to pay for happy, cool doggies though.

Last night we had some crazy weather.  There were storm clouds all around us, but the sun was like a ball of melon colored fire (ok I know it actually IS a ball of fire, but you get my drift) sinking below the horizon.

Then when I gazed up above me there was this...another wonderful heart shaped cloud, drifting amidst the dark storm clouds.  I'm sure it was a gift from a dear friend.

Later we ended up having quite a light show as the storms eventually reached us.  There was also lots of thunder and wind, and thankfully plenty of much needed rain!  Today it's back to the steam bath, but hey at least it's not the 1700s and I'm not wearing "summer weight" wool, and lots of undergarments, without the benefit of AC...so it's a good day I think! 

I hope you are managing to stay cool where you are...or warm, whichever you're in need of at the moment!

Humming Along

Has it really been almost a week since I last posted?!

I guess I've not had much to share this past week, and I've been extremely busy with work stuff.

I've been humming along with picture taking, writing, and cleaning...all the usual stuff.

It's all been a bit of a blur, much like these hummingbird pictures...why won't they stay still just long enough for me to capture their beauty?!  Work, work, work...they have to do that to live, kind of like the rest of us I guess!

I captured these lovelies at dusk tonight as they flipped in and out of my neighbor's yard...you know, the sweet neighbor who doesn't think I'm crazy when I show up looking not so lovely but with my camera in hand!  You gotta love a neighbor like that!

She loves these delicate little birds...the only birds who can fly backwards.

As they buzzed past my head as I tried to snap their picture I realized that it had been awhile since I had really slowed down to enjoy life and snap some fun pictures.  We all need to do that from time to time, stop and smell the roses and also capture them!

I hope everyone's week is off to a good start...and here's a bit of nostalgia for those of you who grew up in the 70s!  Until next time friends! :-)

Never Say Never

(location where I did my latest senior portrait shoot)

When I started taking pictures I swore I would never take "people" pictures.  I had lots of good reasons why I wouldn't.  First of all, people have expectations when you take their picture, and I just didn't need that kind of pressure, right?!

Then I did one shoot, the one I posted here, and I thought, "hey this isn't so bad," but I still wasn't convinced.  There is this little thing called Facebook...maybe you've heard of it?!  Well one thing has led to another and I've done 3 more shoots now!  Two more of girls and their horses (one a senior portrait session) and one shoot was for a woman who is a finalist in an AARP contest.  Both of the girls found me because they saw the pictures from the first shoot I did on Facebook, you gotta love social media!

So, I've set up a Kat Warren Photography Facebook page, the link will be at the bottom of my post in case you want to see pictures from the other 2 shoots.

In other news, it's been hot, hot, hot here.  But even on the hottest days, there seems to be a lovely patch of shade I can find somewhere in my yard to sit and escape the heat.

Today it was down by the water, and there was an amazing breeze which made the actual temp of 90+ feel much less hot in this part of the yard.  And I wasn't the only one crowing about the breeze, Mr. or Mrs. Bluebird was quite happy too!

While I was enjoying the sunshine and cool breezes, I saw an egret (they always fly away when I go inside to get the camera) and a juvenile eagle who was dining on some fish on the other side of the creek, so too far away to capture.

I have disabled comments for this particular post because frankly I haven't had time to respond to the last 3 or 4 posts worth of comments and emails, and I'm hoping to do that this week.  I still have one story due, and I'm busy with helping line up trades people to finish up a few repairs noted by the inspector on my parent's house, so we'll see how it all pans out in the end!

Here is the link to my Kat Warren Photography Facebook Page if you'd like to take a look at my last few shoots.  If you don't have a Facebook account you can also see the pictures on my website by clicking HERE, the main gallery will scroll through all of the people shots I have up so far.

And as always, thanks for stopping by!

Lisianthus Love

Happiness is a weekend complete with a $5 bunch of purple Lisianthus!  Happy Weekend Everyone!

Girl Talk

I finished up a story today, signed sealed and delivered as the saying goes, so now it's time for a little "me" time!

Tomorrow I will be heading off to spend a few days with my daughter Angelfish.  We will be taking in a KD Lang concert tomorrow night and then spending some time together, just us girls!  It will be like when she was little and we used to hang out together all day everyday...I can't wait!

*the pictures above were both processed using one of Kim Klassen's free new textures from her canvas collection*