Photo Challenge – Lens-Artists: My Photography Journey

One Saturday back in 2015, two of my daughters and my mother asked me for my spaghetti recipe. I’m an OK cook if there’s a recipe to follow and with my family’s requests for my recipe, I decided to do a food blog so I could share all my recipes. It wasn’t long before I realized that good photos were a necessity for a food blog and photos taken with my cell phone weren’t up to the job.

So I went back to school taking several photography classes at the local tech school with my new Nikon 3300. And it was never on Auto thanks to a wonderful teacher. And my food pictures started looking like food you would want to eat.

For more than 40 years, I did cross stitch, crochet and knit but had to quit when I could no longer see to thread a needle. So finding a new hobby – no, make that a new passion – has meant the world to me and I now take my camera everywhere I go. My Nikon D3300 has graduated to a D7100 and now a D750.

I’m very lucky to have so many wonderful places and subjects to photograph – from Brookgreen Gardens to Huntington Beach State Park, Boneyard Beach to Charleston and all the beaches along the way.

You can see responses from other bloggers here: https://shareandconnect.wordpress.com/2021/01/30/76724/

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Photo Challenge – Lens:Artists – Emotions

This week Patti has given us the prompt of “emotions” for our challenge.

I don’t take a lot of photos of people – except my grandson who has the most expressive face but I’ve featured him a little too much lately – so I went through my files and actually found a few photos that apply.

Brookgreen Gardens hosts a summer musical series – cancelled this year due to Covid – where local bands come and play for a couple of hours. It’s a nice relaxing way to end the day – sitting under the oaks, sipping a beverage and tapping your toes. The photo above is father and son.

The son and the singer really got into the music but you might not realize it if you didn’t know better. They do look a little like they are in pain. Check out the man on the drums grinning away.

Music stirs our hearts and engages our souls in ways we can’t describe. Hildegard of Bingen.

So whether it’s tapping your toes to country music, head banging to heavy metal, shagging to beach music or conducting along with classical music, music has the ability to draw emotion from us.

You can find responses from other bloggers here: https://pilotfishblog.com/2021/01/16/lens-artists-photo-challenge-131-emotions/

You can see more of my photography here: http://photographyinpearls.photoshelter.com

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Cee’s Black and White Challenge – In or On the Water

This photo is the 5th Street Bridge that connects North Augusta, South Carolina to Augusta, Georgia. The bridge closed last year and I was told it would soon be a pedestrian bridge. I’ve taken some beautiful sunset photos from it so I can’t wait until it’s reopened.

You can see more of my photography here: http://photographyinpearls.photoshelter.com

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Photo Challenge – Lens-Artists: It’s a Small World

This week, guest host Anne has invited us to take out our macro lens and get busy. I have to admit though that I’ve not taken out my macro in a long time – much too long so I’ve pulled out some photos from my files.

Most of my macro shots are flowers in bloom so it was hard to pick just a few.

Can you smell them? I can.

And here is a begonia closeup edited to be a Valentine Day’s card.

You can see responses from other bloggers here: https://annegeephoto.com/2021/01/09/lens-artists-its-a-small-world/

You can see more of my photography here: http://photographyinpearls.photoshelter.com

You can find more of my Valentines here: etsy.com/shop/collectionsbypearl

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Cee’s Black and White Challenge – Hot and Cold Things

You can see more of my photography here: http://photographyinpearls.photoshelter.com

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Photo Challenge – Lens-Artists: Favorite Images of 2020

This week our challenge is to share our favorite images of 2020. Unfortunately, I didn’t have as many to pick from as in previous years. I only had 4,700 images this year compared to over 20,000 in 2019. And from reading posts from other bloggers, we all had the same issue. Covid 19 and the lockdown prevented vacations and other activities that would have resulted in many more photos.

These first photos were taken in our yard. We have several bird nests around the property but this was the first time I’d gotten a photo of the mockingbirds feeding. The osprey managed to catch a squirrel for dinner in our yard and didn’t seem too happy that I was taking photos.

It should come as no surprise that the majority of my 4,768 photos was of this little guy. He spent some time with us and we managed a trip to the beach once the beach lockdown was over. This is the top of my list for most favorite picture for 2020. I even had a personalized cover made for my cell phone so I get to carry him around all day.

So to keep from going completely bonkers with nothing to do, I’ve taken a couple of online classes through Skillshare and Udemy to learn how to draw on my laptop using Adobe Illustrator. The first picture below was inspired by a trip to the aquarium while the second was a class project. They are short lessons, I’ve learned a lot and I totally recommend Skillshare and/or Udemy. It’s a wonderful creative replacement when I can’t use my camera.

You can see responses from other bloggers here: https://travelsandtrifles.wordpress.com/2021/01/02/lens-artists-challenge-129-favorite-images-of-2020/

You can find more of my photography here: photographyinpearls.photoshelter.com

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Cee’s Black and White Challenge – Fences and Gates

So the railing on the marshwalk isn’t technically a fence or gate but I love this photo and decided to use it anyway.

You can see more of my photography here: http://phpotographyinpearls.photoshelter.com

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Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge – Catching People Unaware

These boys were expecting some waves as Hurricane Dorian passed us by September 2019.

You can see more of my photography here: http://photographyinpearls.photoshelter.com

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Photo Challenge – Lens-Artists: And Here Comes the Holiday Season

One of the special things we do for the holidays is a trip to Brookgreen Gardens for the Night of a Thousand Candles. Brookgreen Gardens is a beautiful sculpture garden and I visit there often. There’s always something in bloom and I always have my camera with me.

The gardens are transformed each December for Night of a Thousand Candles. Lights are placed throughout the gardens and it is transformed into a magical place. It started a week early this year so some of our family visiting for Thanksgiving were still here and able to see it for the first time, Three of our four grandchildren were with us and it was very special to me to see it through their eyes.

My father passed away on Christmas day 2014 so the holiday season has been tough since then. We now have grandchildren though and we make the rounds to visit them so Christmas is magical for me again.

You can see responses from other bloggers here: https://lagottocattleya.wordpress.com/2020/12/18/lens-artists-challenge-128-and-here-comes-the-holiday-season/

You can see more of my photography here: http://photographyinpearls.photoshelter.com

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Cee’s Fun Foto – Leaves/Trees

These are some of my favorite pictures from our trip to the North Carolina mountains last year. We timed it right and were there for the peak in the colors. Each bend in the road was so beautiful that it took your breath away.

Another bonus was that I got to try my new wide lens. I love it!

And last is a picture from the top of Grandfather Mountain.

You can see more of my photography here: photographyinpearls.photoshelter.com

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