The New Times 14th Annual Photo Contest

Everyday I feel so thankful I have good eyesight. Now that I'm aging a bit, I can tell my eyes are changing too, but so far, no real need for glasses. Throughout my day, I see things, things I want to record for others to see. I love to take pictures of the everyday as well as the special events and things in my life. So when my good friend, Janine told me I should enter some of my pictures in the New Times 14th Annual Photo Contest, I figured, WHY NOT?? For me, you don't have to win a contest to prove you have talent. Hey, I'm a hit and miss kind of gal... PROBABLY ALOT LIKE YOU!! That makes me an ordinary person trying my best to make the extraordinary. Lucky for me, I have the opportunity to share my pictures with this blog and my strictly photography blog, Capturing Light & Life. I also share on Flickr and have actually had requests for some of my photos to be put in their groups.

So my good friends, here are the pictures I chose to put into the contest along with the titles I had to make up for them.

Escargot With Rosemary

While we were out at the Kaleidascope Inn for Kristen and Wes' wedding rehearsal, I saw this cute little guy. I was trying for Bokeh. For those of you not really knowing what that means, I was really trying to focus on the foreground and blur the background. I like the picture for the most part although my depth of field wasn't quite as shallow as I wanted it to be, although you can see the little bubbles of light in the background.

Calla Lily
Unfurl your cloak of silken white
Reveal your secret wand upraised at length
And not unlike a star you shine serene
To exalt the autumn-tide with silver cups.
Shall we drink sweet nectar as we praise
The simple beauty revealed now in truth?
Or shall we simply sit and idly gaze
Into the eyes of love I have for you?
Calla lily soft and silken white
With open heart I pledge my love this night.

W. Storm Doyle

I don't know that i can say anything better than that about this lily. It grew in my backyard and was one of the loveliest things I've EVER seen. Lucky for me, I was able to get its picture one evening before it changed much. I love it!

Timeless

My husband and I like to do "Sunday Drives". Do you remember them? With gas prices the way they are, we probably should have been staying closer to home but we love to make a destination, take pictures and have lunch along the way. This old mill (??) was alongside Hwy. 41 East near Creston. I don't think its in use today although it may be. So I used my pinhole setting on my camera to make the focus in the middle. If you look really closely, you can see the circular border type darkening. Then I used the sepia feature to intensify the aged look.

The next 3 Photographs were in "my best" pictures but for reasons I'll try to explain, they were not included in the contest. First and foremost, I didn't have enough of the matte board to do all 6 pictures. This is something I'm going to have to plan for next year. The contest must be big enough that the local sources of board, and in particular, white board, were all sold out. So I went into my stash from home and found only 3 pieces I could use.

Nature's Harmony

I wish I could say I had a really great lens for close-ups but I don't.... yet. So I try to take my photos up close enough that when I crop them, they are still a good size. In this case, it wasn't as large of a file as I thought it was so it really didn't qualify. Maybe my hubby will get me a really nice close-up lens??My kids like this one and say the individual parts near the center look like a Prius commercial they've seen where people get dressed up as parts of the landscape and move around.

The Scent of Love

This is my grand-dog, Wilhelm and he's a NUT!! On this particular day, I had been punching out a bunch of hearts for a card project I was making. He was doing what dogs do, walk along with their noses to the ground sniffing at everything. Then he sits down directly in front of me with that heart stuck to the wetness of his nose. Thankfully, I had my camera in hand and snapped a quick picture. Don't you love the look of, "What? Why is everything laughing at me?" I love you Wilhelm!

Grandma's Pride & Joy

And this handsome little guy? Well, its my grandson, Scott, picture taken about a year ago. He has really grown since this picture. This one was also part of another picture that included my husband leaning against a post. We were Christmas shopping this day. I took the big picture and when I was looking at it, I saw little Scotty looking so sweet and innocent and, well, GQ material. He is my little pride & joy! This one was also put on my chopping block because of size.

There you have it. I don't know if I'll win or not but it has been fun looking over the past year of photographs seeing these and many, MANY more. Getting them printed out, put on thick white board and taking them in was definitely a highlight to this "granny's" day. If you like what you see in the way of pictures, bookmark my site 'cause I try to blog several times a week and I would only choose the best pictures for you, my readers!!

And the thought I would leave you with today...

Just do it!

Really...if you are waiting around to write because you can't... try it... you just might surprise yourself. Sing, paint, craft, journal, play an instrument, throw a pot....make a mark on the world. And you just may just find out the journey was the best part.

I Have!!