Grand Teton

Just a couple for now - this place is breathtaking!

This is Mt. Moran, at Oxbow bend, the location of one of Ansel Adams' iconic photographs. We we there before five am, overcast and raining. Got some nice cloud drama, and then the sun came out, to highlight Mt. Moran.

Top of Jackson Lake, from a little turnout on Rt. 89. More snow on the mountains this year than is normal. Just beautiful!

Both shots are with the iPhone and Snapseed, might have gone a little overboard on Mt. Moran.

Love this place!

 

West Side Market/Tony Sweet Workshop

Good grief, I love the West Side Market early in the day. Not too crowded, everything smells good and the piles of foodstuffs are just gorgeous! These are from Saturday, August 4. Lovely in the morning, but man did it heat up as the day went on. I was quite the wilted petunia by the time we broke for lunch at the Market Garden Brewery. Great place for lunch - we were in the back room with a view of the kettles, too.

Heirlooms carrots, very different colors.

 

Love the bright colors in this umbrella - it belongs to the watermelon guy just outside the side door on the parking lot side.

 

Abundance...We're lucky to live in this time and place.

 



Dinner with Friends

A friend of ours put together a small surprise party last Friday to celebrate her husband's milestone birthday.They have a beautiful home overlooking one of the Portage lakes. The lot is very narrow, and slopes steeply to the water. They've created a paradise of pocket gardens, charming spots to relax and a pretty waterfall, complete with stream, arched footbridge and koi.

A flotilla of swans headed across the lake:

 Blue Adirondack chairs - could they be more perfect against the white decking?

An excellent spot for brunch:

Coming from the waterfall garden - a little too late to photograph it with out a tripod.

Looking over the second floor deck to the dock:

Sunset from the dock:

Thanks for a great time, and Happy Birthday!

Canton Hot Air Balloon Classic Evening Ascension

Traffic around the Classic was a mess, so we parked near Rockne's at The Strip to watch the evening ascension. Not close enough for great photos, but we had a good time anyway. And because traffic was a mess when we left, we stopped at the bookstore, had a frozen mocha and browsed. Nothing went as planned, but we had a wonderful time anyway.

Camp Chuck, complete with video. Isn't technology great?

I think they were launching around 30 balloons. We didn't see them all, but what the heck, this is more balloons than I've ever seen in the air at one time.

The flamingo balloon was one of my favorites.

Love the colors on this one - it's for a winery.

Next year, we're getting to the field much earlier - hope we have as much fun!!

Brecksville Prairie, Part 2

The photos I submitted for the Photo Society critique:

Milkweed - love that the color of the leaf mid-rib echoes the color of the buds.

The place was buzzing with bees - this one is just waking up.

No idea what this bug is. Jim suggested arranging the bug so he followed the curve of the flower. Yup, touch the bug. Mmmm hmmm. I'll be doing that, with a twig or a piece of grass. Silly phobia, isn't it?

This swamp mallow and its companion bug did not make the cut for my critique submissions. The flower is a little battered and there was too much depth of field. Used Lightroom's masking brush to unsharpen the background, so the depth of field looks shallower.

Zoar Village Vignettes

A short slide show on Zoar Village - it'd be great to go back when it's cooler and in better light. Zoar is loaded with rustic vignettes and really old, beautiful buildings. Even with the temperature in the low 90's there were a few sturdy souls out taking the tour.

This is the second slide show I've made in Lightroom. The title and end slides were done in Photoshop Elements. I'm not quite sure what resolution to work with yet. Tried 300x 400-ish, and 1080P. The first pixilated and the second was too big to load. Blogger doesn't seem to having any guidelines for file size or format, at least that I could find after a cursory look.

The resolution on this looks pretty awful, even though it was saved at 720P. Any thoughts you might have on making it looking better would be appreciated. In the meantime, view small!

Burton Antique Market

The Market is held at the Geauga County Fairgrounds, and yesterday, it was hot and dusty, and thankfully a bit breezy. Tons of fabulous finds - I found a nice desk that would have come home with me if the Honda was just a bit bigger. Just a couple of photos...

Cute dress form, with a Kim Klassen texture.

Hmm, do you think Chuck will believe it's a gun show next time?

Pretty crowded. I think the economy is picking up - The runner-trucks were coming though every couple of minutes, loaded with purchases for pick up. I came home empty handed from the show, but it was nice wandering the show with my brother and his girlfriend. 6/9/12

Ashley's Island House

Ashley's is the cute B&B we stayed at in Put-in-Bay. Nice hosts, great breakfasts, walking distance to downtown without being too close. Very pleasant place to stay.

September 9, 2011

Butterfly House, South Bass Island

It rained off and on through our vacation, especially on Wednesday when we were "stuck" doing inside things. I tried taking photos inside Perry's Cave with no luck even at the D60's highest ISO setting. Much better in the butterfly house - and, because of the crummy weather - it was just Chuck, me and the butterfly keeper. Chuck will have to tell about the complicated ritual they use for stocking up on butterflies, as I've completely forgotten the details.
Without further ado, butterflies:

September 7, 2011

Texture Tuesday

Kim Klassen has lots of pretty textures at her blog http://www.kimklassencafe.com/thecafe/. Worth checking out if you like to play with your photos.

This is a 1940 Ford Deluxe Coupe from the Glenmoor Gathering in September. I blended a bunch of layers of the photo and Kim's Scripted Autumn texture, plus a little bit of a blended vignette.

9/18/11

South Bass Island, 9/6/11

The ferry ride to South Bass was rough. With the ferry lurching through the waves, rain, and spray, it was almost impossible to take pictures on the way over. In fact, after getting a face- and camera-full of Lake Erie, I huddle in the car for about half the trip, mopping up the mess. Chuck managed to get some shots with getting soaking wet.

There's a little park on the east end of the island, which we'll call Evolve. Why would someone spend time spray-painting these rocks, who knows?

The clouds did break a few times, enough to get get a shot of Perry's monument. It's closed for repairs - you can see the white safety fence around the base.

The next few photos are from South Bass Island State Park. It's on the southwestern side of the island, not too far from Miller Ferry's Lime Kiln dock.

Water snakes. There are signs all over the place, noting that they're not dangerous, and that the Island is protecting them. They are very shy.

Lots of curvy island views.

Baby water snake, maybe as big around as your pinkie - but look at how long she is. 

More South Bass photos soon.