Year in Review-Photography

Moon over the Grand Canyon

Photography is one of my favorite things to do.  It's always looking for that right angle or interesting feature.

Christmas lights create an abstract blur that I call, "Holiday Rush"

And it is challenging in many different ways....night shots, moon shots, lightning shots, fire shots, abstract shots, blurred water shots, shooting into the sun(careful) and oh so much more.

Lighting is some of the most challenging.  500 shots later and I finally get the one I  want. There are tricks to this and I don't like being outside while it's all going on.  

Some bloggers love to write and others love photography.  I am the latter of the two.  

Fire.  I love the various shades of this fire cloud  as it is blown into the air at the Arizona Renaissance Festival. 

I love being out in the field.  Sometimes I get stuck doing things I don't always enjoy.  But I always bring my camera and it keeps me occupied. It forces me to find the interesting:)

This particular image captured a scary feeling I had as a child at my Grandparent's house while reading about dinosaurs

The zoo, for example, was one of those places I didn't really want to visit.  So I took how I felt(haunted/sad) and transferred that feeling into the photography.  Then I manipulated the above image to create that look.

I love the colors of the orange and blues.  Taken at the Pima Country Faire

One of my favorite things to shoot are fire dances.  It has a  magical quality to it all.

These fire dancers look to be spirits as they whirl fire in different directions. 

And no matter how hard I try to resist, the moon is always fascinating to me.  While on a bird outing, I spied this plane passing by this large spacial object.

Then there was the sun and moon eclipsing.  Dragonflies, in a wonderful spiritual moment, perched on the branches perfectly as the moon blocked some of the sun and reflected off of their wings.

Night shots can frustrate people but when they turn out, it's really quite something special.....like the fireworks below.

I love this shot below. It was taken at the House on the Rock.  It was drenched in red.  With some selective toning, we were able to distinguish the various shades of red.

Capturing flowers on camera isn't as easy as it looks.  But sometimes.......they turn out magical.  Rosemary really captures the images wonderfully.  Somehow you've got to imprint the human feeling onto the flower to make the pic POP!  Sometimes a flower will inspire me to do those things.  Other times, I just look at the flower and say to myself, "Ooo, that's pretty!".  And take the pic without thinking.  That's where I have my challenges:)

And another feature I worked with on photography was the process of aging a shot to capture that feeling of childhood.  These were some of my favorites this year.  Hope you enjoyed.

House On The Rock

One of Wisconsin's premiere tourist attractions, House on the Rocks is a random and unique adventure outside of Dodgeville.  I've been here several times during my lifetime and each time I come back with more haunting images than before!  What scares me?  I'll show you.  My photography challenge during our visit was tricky.  I was filming mostly in the dark which has its own challenges.  But the biggest challenge?  Looking at something that made me sad or angry and forcing myself to examine why it scared me or why I felt sad. Most of us do this as we walk away from images that disturb. These shots today are some of the most interesting reflection pieces I've taken for this blog.  I'll keep the writing down a bit so that you can look at the gallery of pics.  There is haunting music played in all 3 parts of this museum of authentic and replicated pieces.  But it doesn't matter what's real or not....it's how its all put together that delights crowds from around the world.  Join me on this very twisted tour....

There is something wrong about capturing butterflies or birds and putting them on a display like this.  When I see these pics, I think Silence of the Lambs with all the moths.  But mostly, butterflies are meant to fly and this image/display terrifies me.

Created by Alex Jordan, his vision and dream began back in the '40's.  Here is a little personal info.  The first time I came to visit this place was with my Grandparents.  I remember having nightmares for years about this museum. But as a kid, it was a cool experience. Around 1998, I went back again to visit and reclaim those random images as an adult.   My Grandfather had helped this man with his place at some point very early on with the construction.  As a kid, I remember several things.  Being happy with my Grandparents here,  having vanilla ice cream by a giant whale, and meeting this man.   My Grandfather had wanted to meet him again after all the years had passed but Mr. Jordan didn't remember Grandpa at all and that made Grandma very upset.  I remember the car ride home and Grandma sharing her disappointment.  The cool part?  I met the creator before he died.  The sad part.  The realization that people are used and forgotten.  The very sad part?  All 3 of them are no longer here anymore

Creepy!

Dark streets of our past....

Masks....

The Infinity Room

Clowns scare the crap out of me.....

.....as do dolls!  Did you know that they used real hair back then to make dolls?  Even creepier.

On your death bed.

Here I'm having some fun artistically with the camera.  Still creepy.

My favorite part to this entire exhibit?  The Carousel!!!!  It's huge and magical and a must see.

The exhibit is broken up into 3 parts and is quite fascinating.  There is a lot of walking so bring great shoes.  Tickets were around 30 dollars for all 3 parts.  It will take you a good portion of your day so if you have other things planned, get there early:)  The gardens around the place do not resemble the home at all.   I'm not sure if I'll ever go back here again but we had a fun visit and it was more about vacation.  We had a lot of good laughs and scares. Hope you enjoyed the tour. More tomorrow....