All posts tagged: Taken with the Canon

Through The Lens Thursday 32. Love.

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I was wondering what to photo for this week’s prompt, ‘Love’ is a pretty open one don’t you think?  I really had no idea when I got up this morning with the rain pouring down outside,  what I would photo. I peeked out the back door to see how the garden was looking and to check on the tomatoes, making sure that the local wildlife hasn’t had more than it’s fair share.  Groundhogs and squirrels I am looking at you. As I was looking into the lovely watering rain, I noticed this little puddle at the bottom of the steps.  The ground has been de-grassed from a summer of slip n sliding and this area always forms a mini pond in the rain.  Today the water had soaked into the ground just enough to leave me a heart shaped puddle.  How totally cool is this!  I grabbed my camera and here we are – Love in the rain. ‘Through the Lens Thursday’ is a photo improvement project which runs all year, hosted by Writing Wishing …

Through the Lens Thursday 30. Stairs.

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This week’s prompt has got me thinking.  What is the difference kind friends between stairs and steps?  All I can find in my direct vicinity are steps, up to porches, down to basements, into shops, even rock steps in the woods, but no stairs.  I class stairs as the steps (confused yet?) which are inside a house, apartment block, department store or theatre.  They are often carpeted, but still stairs if not.  Why?  Why do I  go up the stairs in my Mum’s house to the next floor, but I go down the steps to my basement and up the steps to the porch.  In stately homes there is always a sweeping staircase, never sweeping steps.  They are essentially the same thing, why the different name? You take ‘steps’ as you walk but you never take big ‘stairs’ to get somewhere faster, but bigger ‘steps’ will get you there quickly. So alas, I have no stairs, only steps for my photo!  Pretty darn cool steps though, check out the ivy climbing up step by step. …

Weekly Photos 28/52 and Purple.

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Last week was spent mostly swimming and watching the sunflowers start to bloom.  The giant sunflowers have no blooms yet and are over 6 feet tall, the flowers are on the slightly shorter plants.  It is lovely to see how they change every day. We have had hot dogs and s’mores over the fire pit and even some marshmallow roasting over the hob when my youngest told my teen that he is a ‘professional cooker’ as he toasted the marshmallows!  I love it when the kids say daft things to each other and always make a note in the diary! Did you see the full moon on Saturday night?  So cool.  As it rose behind a huge tree the silhouetted leaves made the moon appear to shimmer and sparkle behind them as they gently rustled in the breeze with the moonlight seeping through.  We stood and watched it, mesmerised, the moon was so pretty and we caught it at just the right moment.  I wish I had video to share, but none of my visual …

Through The Lens Thursday #28 Eyes

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This week I chose these game pieces as my ‘eyes’ photo (s).  They are from a game called ‘Go to the Head of the Class’ and I only have the players, no board or instructions.   I like that the eyes are very simply drawn but they are all so different and convey each character so well.   I am not sure how politically correct these schoolyard stereotypes are now, but I really like them and their funny little faces, ready to go to the head of the class! Through the Lens Thursday is hosted by Writing Wishing and Gfunkified blogs and I am learning so much. I took the pictures on my Canon Rebel and collated them in Canva.

Weekly Photos 27/52 and Green.

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What a lovely week, the weather was so lovely, cool (less than 80 degrees counts) and sunny.  I went to Warped Tour with my 13 year old and we had a great time, the garden is awash with green and tomatoes and flowers and we had a trip out to Shaw Nature Reserve on another delicious cool day. Of course I know we are to expect many days reaching a million degrees, but these pockets of bearable are so worth it.  It means we can get out and about and see what St Louis has to say for itself. This is what is said this week, in photos. 1.  The inflatable schedule at Warped Tour, St Louis 2.  Harvest of garlic and lavender. 3.  The ever growing sunflowers are now 6 feet tall (I measured the tallest). 4.  The Hibiscus flowers are unfurling. 5. Thistles at Shaw Nature Reserve. 6.  The Sod House at Shaw, who doesn’t want grass on the roof!? 7.  Pretty Black Eyed Susie flowers. 8.  A very dry creek, these stepping …

Six Word Saturday

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  We went to Shaw Nature Reserve today and the weather was cool, the sun was shady and the flowers were out. I snapped lots of photos and this one became this week’s Six Word Saturday. If you want to make a Six Word Saturday, snap a photo and write over it using an app like Rhonna Designs (the one I used here), A Beautiful Mess, Over, Phonto or Little Moments to name a few.  This font in Rhonna Designs is one of my current favourites. Once you have your pic and words (six please), share on your blog or on Instagram using #SixWordSaturday.  I will come and see them and smile a great big smile! Yay. Happy Weekend.

Through the Lens Thursday 26. Imperfect.

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  We are half way through the ‘Through the Lens Thursday’ project which means we are halfway through the year (yikes).  I am so pleased I have been keeping up and taking a photo with my DSLR on manual every week for 26 weeks.  In fact I haven’t switched back to auto all year, so I am a proud photo taker.  Thanks to Alison at Writing Wishing and Greta at GFunkified for keeping us all going. This week’s prompt was ‘Imperfect’ and I was racking my brains trying to think of something….my hair (going grey nicely, thanks for asking!), doughnuts for breakfast, video games, the burst slip ‘n’ slide in all of it’s duct tape glory….when we passed this wonky ‘stop’ sign and the decision was made. We dropped the shopping at home and I grabbed my camera and walked back (not far thankfully) and snapped the leaning sign.  I like the way the sign underneath it warns of angry cars, good to know. Are you doing any year long projects?  Is is worthwhile for …

Through the Lens Thursday 25. Smooth.

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For this week’s Through the Lens Thursday the prompt was Smooth.  Water balloons are a top feature in our summer, so today we stocked up and got wet.  We have had the ‘Slip n Slide’ out on the back grass the past two days so we were a wet muddy mess by the time we were done with today.  The grass is now a swamp and needs a couple of days to recuperate and dry out. We managed to fill a little pile of balloons and not explode them, so I took a picture before we got wet and muddy! Next week is ‘Imperfect’ and week 26 which is halfway through the year!  I hope you are having a good year and that the second half of 2014 turns out most excellently for us all.  

Weekly photos 24/52 and Color/Colour Lovers Red

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Second week of the summer and all is well.  The weather is getting hot and humid which means that the water balloons will most likely be deployed this week. The lovely ladies of Hula Seventy and Xanthe Berkeley photography are hosting ‘Color/Colour Lovers’ the summer edition.  I joined in the winter project and it was amazing what you spot when you are looking for a specific colour!  Last week was red and here is what I found.  Of course you can’t have a red challenge and not visit the local fire house!  In fact all of these photos were taken locally. Be sure to pop over the Xanthe and Andrea’s blogs to see their amazing photos.   In other photo news, I snapped a few weekly photos too, which ironically all seem to be beige and green!  Apologies for the mushroom overload, but mama nature has been generous in the cool mushroom department this week. Next week there may be none (and I will be sad), so catch em while you can, that’s what I …

Through the Lens Thursday 24. Deep.

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For this week’s Through the Lens Thursday the first thing which sprang to mind was a swimming pool – the deep end of course. I wasn’t sure I wanted to stand at the edge of the YMCA pool taking photos of the deep end looking like a fool (I know, I shouldn’t care, but I do, it’s a problem).  So I wracked my brains and squeezed the creative juices, but I kept coming back to the pool idea. Well, I did it, I asked the aquatics director if it would be ok and she laughed at me (kindly) and said of course I could stand at the end of the pool like a crazy person and take photos.  So I did and here they are, I give you – Deep.   I love how the water distorts the lines and the pool tiles, water is very cool, especially deep water!  Thanks Mid County YMCA for letting me shoot the pool!  Thanks also to Greta of Gfunkified and Alison of Writing Wishing for coming up with …