Shooting for Me

There is one downside to photographing people and events more often...I find myself being less apt to take my camera out to just capture life.  I used to always go out and take pictures of sunsets, flowers, and siblings.  But now, I see a gorgeous sunset and then think "Oh, that would be a great picture" but then I get too lazy to go grab my camera, adjust the settings, and take the time to capture the display of the night.  All I can think is that it will be another picture to upload, another picture to edit, another picture to post, another few minutes spent on the computer.  I've been so blessed with many more frequent photography sessions but the routine of uploading, editing, uploading, and burning has become rather dull.  So much so that I don't want to take pictures of some things anymore because I know the minutes (hours?) of work that will have to follow.  And I just want to enjoy the moment.  I don't always want to have to do it through my lens...I just want to sit back, relax, and not worry about if the picture is too bright or dark, if the white balance is correct, and so forth. 

I'm telling you all this because I realized the other day that I needed to go out and take pictures.  I was letting my creativity and love for the beautiful things outdoors stagnate because I was tired of the routine. 

So, I pulled out my camera and went outside to capture the beauty I have missed so often.  No one asked me to take the pictures, no one expected me to take the pictures...I went out to photograph just because I wanted to.  There was so much beauty I was missing, simply because I didn't want to do all the work.

After photographing everything from my brother to some pretty weeds, I felt so much better and happier!  I was shooting because I loved it...I could let my creativity flow and try shooting on "M" (I've always used "A") or try different angles because if it didn't come out right...who cares?  No one was expecting the pictures to come out great.

Below are some of the pictures I captured from that day.  I walked on the brave side and shot in Manual mode for all these photos.  I've read so many photographers talk about it, but never had the courage to try until that day.  I had so many blown out and DARK pictures as a result but I also figured out a little more of the way ISO, shutter, and aperture work together.  Overall, I'm definitely not ready to shot in Manual for a photography session but I might start trying to work for it!

Enjoy!

I was "watching" my little brother and he made for a great subject sometimes!

 

 LOVE my roses!!

 Probably my favorite photo from the whole day! :)

Take a minute today and smell the roses!!

Kimber :)

A Lovely Lily

Lots and Lots of Yellow Flowers!

If you love the color yellow, this post is for you!  For some reason the flowers we have blooming now are almost all yellow (which the exception of my lovely roses ;)!! 

We planted sunflowers a few years ago, and haven't planted any since, but every year we get beautiful sunflowers!  We think that the birds who eat the seeds must spill some on the ground where they wait to germinate until the next year.  :)

 Lots of bright yellow! :)

The other yellow flowers around our home are from some wildflower seeds Mama "planted".  They're quite beautiful, too! :)

This next photo is probably one of my favorites:

I just love when the sun illuminates flowers and I liked how I got a little sun flare in the bottom right corner! :)

I hope you all are having a great summer!

Kimber :)

Fuzzy Dandelions

As I was trying to figure out what the below plants were called, I asked my sister, Hannah, and she said "Dandelions."  I was like "Dandelions??  Those yellow flowers?  This doesn't look like a dandelion?!"  

So she said "Why don't you look it up on Google?"  I followed her advice, and lo and behold, she was right!!! :) 

I thought dandelions were those slightly uninteresting, bright yellow flowers. 

Lesson of the day: dandelions have more than one form! :)

Personally I love this form much better than the yellow flower!  

Who doesn't like fluffy white things?! :)

Dandelions (in the form pictured) have always amazed me.  One of my favorite things to do when I was younger (and sometimes now ;) is to see if I can blow the little seeds off the plant. :)  Daddy, being a landscaper, always playfully calls out "No, no, no!" as I blow the seeds away.  (Dandelions are not the lawn care workers best friend! ;)

One last little note:  a website I just looked at said the yellow dandelion flower is the yellow composite flower and the white, fluffy balls are the dandelion's seed head.

Okay, the science lesson is over! :)  

Have a great night!

Kimber :)

A Little Daisy

A Delicate Rose

Fruit Tree Blossoms

Lots and Lots of Tulips

Peach Tree Blooms

Pink Hyacinth Splendor

A Sparkling Petal

Looking Down on a Hyacinth

Pink-and-White Flower Bud

A Flower on Our Plum Tree

A Lovely Crocus

 

A Budding Hyacinth

Flowers

Yes, I know...I take lots of pictures of flowers.  :)  They're so beautiful, though, and I need to use my micro lens for something!!!

So, here are some more flower photos! :)

This is a morning glory.  That spot behind it was from a droplet of water that the sun was reflecting off of.  It was pretty neat! :)

Here's another morning glory.  I took these pictures in the afternoon, so the "morning" glory's were not open.  They uncurl only in the morning! :)

These flowers are so much fun!

After they've bloomed they turn into these seed pods.  The seed pods look like little green footballs.  When you lightly press them they pop open and around 10-20 seeds fall out.  It is so neat!

These are some flowers on our butterfly bushes. 

If you want to see how close the micro lens can get, go to one of my previous posts, here.  This is the same butterfly bush but captured with another lens.  That picture was as close as that particular lens would get me and still be in focus.  It's amazing (the difference between micro lenses and non-micro lenses! :)

This was my favorite butterfly-bush flower photo!  I just loved how the sun illuminated the flowers!

Until next time,
Kimber :) :)