Camper

Hat Play

preset kk_DayDreamingLightLeft

The theme this past week in The Studio|Online has been hat and chair. I'll get to my hat and chair but first I want to show you my hat and bench. Since I had several photos that I liked from the shoot, I decided to play a bit. The uptop is one version. Here's another using a David DuChemin black and white preset.

 

 

It's always fun to see how the character of a photo can change with different presets or other edits. Do you play around a lot with presets? I'll be the first to admit, there are some that just don't seem to work for my photography at all but there are others that I use multiple times.

During this little exercise, I did find some new presets that I've never used before and quite liked the effect, at least on this particular set of photos. I do think lighting has everything to do with what works and what doesn't work when it comes to presets.

I've been having a lot of fun using this old bench as a prop these past couple of weeks. Here's another version of the hat and bench, different perspective.

 

kk_shabbychic

 And just in case you thought I'd totally forgotten, I did actually do some hat and chair photos.

 

preset kk_whisper

As luck would have it, my favorite hat and chair photo is the last one which was supposed to be a 'test' shot but I ended up liking it the best.

 

preset kk_pastelhaze

 

So, the polls are open. Which do you like best?

Texture Tuesday

 

 

Bottle :: Love

Hello. My name is Dotti and I'm a bottle-holic. I {heart} bottles and jars and when I brought these home my husband said, 'Well, that's certainly something we need more of around here.' Bottles, jars, mugs, cup, teapots. Those are my 'addictions'. But in spite of that, our home is not cluttered, I manage to use them as part of the decor and when I know I have no more room for something, I quit. Okay. So maybe I'm not quite addicted, but close. What little photo goodies are you addicted to?

Anyhow, I actually found these a few weeks ago but I wasn't able to put up a post to share them so the photos have been sitting in my Lightroom catalog gathering dust. Today it is chilly and grey so it was the perfect day to edit the photos and to create the mosaic for them. I would tell you which presets I used on the photos but I don't remember and I've already closed down Lightroom so that will remain a secret.

Can you believe it's Friday already? Here in the States, it's the long Memorial Day weekend. Fortunately, warmer weather is supposed to return because our neighborhood pool club opens this weekend. I don't plan to go but I'm sure Campbell will entice her parents to arrange to meet friends up there.

That said, I don't think there are any special plans this weekend. More than likely we'll do some more flower shopping, though I vowed we were finished. Mr. Gardener aka Mr. Peepaw thinks we have too many bare spots in the perennial bed. But that's okay. The weather is going to be nice and I do enjoy a nice visit to the garden center. Or several.

Whatever your plans this weekend, I hope you have fun and do something you enjoy doing. After all, that's what weekends are for.

In addition to linking up with Friday Finds, I'd love to have you visit me at Focusing on Life where I'm posting today about my style of still life photography and how I came to define it.

Cheers to your weekend!

From 405

kk_whisper

What's been happening at your house these days? Does spring {or autumn} abound everywhere you look? Have you had a lot of rain? I know Texas has had some terrible rain and flooding.

Here at 405 {our house number}, the garden is beginning to take shape, thanks to a ton of work from Mr. Peepaw and a small assist from yours truly. I was able to cut our first two roses for the season, here you see the red one. Since the last couple of seasons were a bit sparse, I'm hoping for better things this year.

kk_chocolate

It's always hard for me to tinker with the natural color of any flowers, whether we grow them or buy them. But just for the heck of it, I used Kim's chocolate preset on this pink one and thought it was quite nice, bringing out some of the interesting detail of the flower.

kk_teaandhoney

And finally, that same pink rose on our very weather-worn garden bench. Don't you just love the texture on that bench? I think this one and its partner may not make it past this summer, they're really in bad shape. We should put a 'do not sit' sign on each of them like you see on the antique furniture in house museums.

In other news, there are only seven more days in this school year. Gosh, it's so hard to believe that Campbell will soon be a rising third grader. Just this morning, I was thinking about the day she was born, not quite 8 years ago. Come to think of it, how did my daughter get to be 38 in such an short timespan? It seems like the years have just all disappeared like bubbles.

But that's why we have photographs, isn't it? To remember the wonderful days of our lives. I'll leave you with a photo of a happy Campbell on the first day of second grade, last August. Where did the year go?

 

And here she is a couple of weeks ago after her piano recital.

Do they have to grow up so quickly?

With gratitude,

Linking Up:

Texture Tuesday

Life thru the Lens

My Cup Overflows

Last week, Campbell had to write an essay on a hero in her life and what you see above is what she wrote. Her mother took a screen shot of it and sent it to me; needless to say, I was touched, overwhelmed, honored.

While we were awaiting the birth of my granddaughter, I can remember driving to work one morning and thinking to myself, I want to show this child all the love I can; I want to have a positive influence on her life; I want her to have sweet memories of our time together.

It wasn't until she was four years old that I retired and opened up my 'daycare for one'. Oh, not every day is easy, even now when she's on the cusp of 8 years old. But every day is a treasure, a privilege, a sweet memory.

So, yes, my cup overflows. What better time to share this with my Friday Finds friends than this Friday before Mother's Day weekend?

Happy Mother's Day to all of you moms out there! I'm so glad you stop by and visit us here in Camperland.

With a full heart,

Also, today I'm sharing thoughts on motherhood, as well as some more flowers from Biltmore, over at Focusing on Life. Please join me there! I think you'll be glad you did.

In the Pink

preset kk_breathe; texture kk_daisy

On the day that Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana was born, we were at the home of American royalty, the George Vanderbilts. Yes. Those Vanderbilts, offspring of Cornelius Vanderbilt who we all know amassed a huge fortune, which in the United States amounts to 'royalty'. And since we finally got a beautiful weekend, we decided to drive over to visit the Biltmore Gardens. We've already seen the house three times since Christmas so we skipped it and instead headed to the gardens.

You won't believe it from this post, but pink is not one of my favorite colors. I really like bolder colors but I do love azaleas. Those and a few rhododendron were in bloom so we wandered around the vast Azalea Garden for quite some time. Of course, we were there right at the height of the midday sun but since azaleas and rhododendron like shade, the harsh light was not a huge problem that day.

 

preset kk_breeze

This is a type of azalea, so unusual but so beautiful. The day was perfect, mid-70's, slight breeze, sunny. Picture perfect, the kind you want to bottle up and open in January. It was good to get away, even for an all too brief overnight trip but it made me hungry for a 'real' vacation trip. It was so nice to have new sights to see and to photograph. I do believe my camera was happy, too.

 

preset kk_litely

On the home front, we have had no more hail storms {#gratitude}, there are only four more weeks of school left, and I do believe the frosts and freezes are done, so it's time to get on with planting the annuals in pots and distributing them about the garden. Mother's Day is usually the cutoff around here and since the weather looks promising, the garden centers should be very busy. Krista and I usually manage to go flower shopping together over Mother's Day weekend.

Last week, Campbell had her spring piano recital and she did quite nicely. I asked her if she was nervous and she said yes. You couldn't tell because she had a huge smile on her face when she took the stage and again when she took her bows. She actually loves to perform. It's the practicing that she's not too crazy about.

 

 

And Dad got her flowers. So naturally there had to be the obligatory father-daughter photo. With all the people about, it was hard to find a good place to take the photo and I'm not super pleased with this but it's better than nothing.

 

That's all the news from Camperland, where the children are above average!  {smile}

I missed Friday Finds last week but hope to be there this week. And I'll be sharing some more of my photos from Biltmore Gardens on Friday at Focusing on Life.

So, I'll wrap it up here. Thanks for stopping by. Now I plan to say hello to you over at Texture Tuesday and Life thru the Lens.

With gratitude,

 

Wabi Sabi :: Dogwood

{preset kk_pastelhaze; texture kk_rose, one layer soft light, second layer multiply, texture brushed off flowers and bottle}

When I last posted, the dogwood were just beginning to come into their own. Toward the end of last week, I could tell they were probably at their peak. Then, Saturday evening, something happened. We had hail storms. Two of them. The first one wasn't so bad. The second one threw golf ball sized hail at us.

It is a law of nature: dogwood blooms don't fare well against golf ball sized hail. Yup. The six trees in our yard were pretty much decimated. My heart was broken. The dogwood blooms are probably my favorites and I have only a few dozen photos of them this year!  {{smile}}

So the next morning when I went out to get the paper I saw the mess in our yard. And it was a mess. There were little broken stems of dogwood blooms so I plucked a few to bring inside, one of which you see above. It sits here on my desk to remind me of the beauty of the perfectly imperfect.

 

{No preset or textures on this one.}

I wandered out yesterday evening and managed to find a some blooms on the trees that were still mostly perky looking and it did my heart good.

{preset kk_hazydazey with adjustments}

Sadly, the dogwood trees were not the only things that sustained damage. Our roof and gutters are damaged, the gutters were put on three weeks ago. They are the leaf guard kind, sort of like a little roof on them, so they were particularly vulnerable to the hail. So the adjusters are coming Thursday to assess the damage.  

{{sigh}}

However, I must tell you, I cut my pity party short when I read in the Sunday paper about the devastating earthquake and aftershocks in Nepal. Kathmandu in shambles, climbers stranded on Mt. Everest, people afraid to go in any building that remains standing, and ancient treasures ruined. Truly a horrific situation.

So, my dogwood will come back next year. My roof and gutters will be repaired. I'll sleep in my own bed tonight without fear. Seems to me I have much to be grateful for.

How about you? What are you grateful for today?

With much gratitude,

Texture Tuesday

Life Thru the Lens

 

Dogwood :: Love

After all, I don't see why I am always asking for private, individual, selfish miracles when every year there are miracles like white dogwood.

                                                                          ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh

There are a lot of things I like about spring but right up there at the top of my list are the dogwood blooms. When I found this quote by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, I thought, yup! That pretty much sums it up.

My heart seems to beat a little faster when my dogwood blooms begin to open. I've been watching them now for a week, waiting for sunshine after our ample rains because I knew they would explode. While they are not yet at the explosion stage, they're getting there so when I got a brief bit of light the other day, I treated my camera to a walk around the yard. After all, she likes the dogwood blooms, too.

We have six dogwood trees in our yard, five pink, in varying shades, and one white. The white one always seems to bloom more quickly. We planted all of them within the first few years that we moved here thirty years ago so they're all well established.

The pink are different varieties and bloom at different rates, some are deeper pink than others, one is quite pale. They're all beautiful and my heart just bursts each year when they bloom. One year we had an early spring and then a late freeze ... well, I don't have to tell you the tragedy that ensued. My heart was broken at the sight of my frozen, ruined dogwood blooms.

Thankfully, the trees were not harmed and they have bloomed beautifully each year since. And each year I take dozens of photos. You know, just in case there's an early spring and a late freeze the following year.

After all, a girl can't have too many photos of dogwood flowers, can she?

Loving dogwood flowers,

Friday Finds

 

Flower::Power

That can't be a good thing. When I came into the blog just now to write my post, I almost forgot my password. Has it been that long since I've visited you?

Anyway.

Spring is springing here in Camperland. The flower-du-jour in our garden is red tulips. There are a few daffodils hanging around but they've passed their peak. The red tulips are the stars this week. I do hope the rain we're due to get overnight doesn't beat them up. Our yellow tulips are always later than the reds.

You know, red is a hard color to capture with your camera. Especially in the harsh afternoon sun. But the light on the tulips was so glorious. I kicked back the exposure before I shot but I still had to knock it back some more in Lightroom to find the details in the flowers. And then I tidied up with Kim's kk_breeze preset.

Here's another peek at the whole planting of tulips, one of several in our garden. Again, I had to knock back the exposure and use kk_darklight to tone it down a bit.

I do have to tell you -- when I look out my kitchen window first thing in the morning and see these beauties, I can't help but smile and feel good about the day to come. Our weather the past few days has been warm, in the 70's warm, just delightful. In fact, today is the first time since last fall that I was able to eat lunch on the porch!

Speaking of the porch, it is now open for business. I was able to give it a good cleaning yesterday so we're ready for all to enjoy. And it's not all about tulips around here. I found these sweet little Gerbera daisies for the table on the porch. I thought it was only fitting since we're open for the season now.

It is Monday evening as I write this. I'll post on Tuesday morning and very quickly link up to Texture Tuesday {link is on the sidebar} before I head to Lexington. When I return, I'll make the rounds to visit all the other gals and guys who link up most Tuesdays. It's a great group and there is always some eye candy there to see.

Thanks for spending some time with me today and I hope you have a Terrific Tuesday!

With gratitude,

Tea Bowl::Spoon::Tea

A few weeks ago, we attended a Japanese Festival at the local college, sponsored in part by the Japanese company my husband works for. As a result of that sponsorship, Mr. Peepaw was given a Japanese tea bowl as a token of appreciation. And this is what you see above.

Now a couple of things I need to tell you. First, Mr. Peepaw only drinks hot tea at our traditional family Christmas Eve Tea. He has no choice. Neither does anybody else who attends. {After all, it is a 'tea'. And, no, on that occasion, iced tea does not count.} So he kindly brought the tea bowl home to me. Second, the tea bowl was not made in Japan. It was made here in Kentucky. Go figure.

Nevertheless, I love it! It's quite different than anything we own or anything I might choose for myself and it is probably half again as big as the tea bowls I recently found at our favorite tea shop and which I've shared with you before. I haven't used it to drink from. The card that came with it didn't say anything about care or whether it was safe for food consumption. It's glazed so I assume it is but why take chances. Thus, it has become an ornament in our house that is still looking for a permanent home.

Now, the spoon. This is something I chose for myself from a little Etsy shop. The spoon, though larger than I thought, is very beautifully handmade of cherry wood, which was one of three of four finishes that you could choose from. Sorry, I don't have the link. Just go on Etsy and search for handmade spoons.

Next, the tea bags. I share a love of tea with my friend, Pam, who lives in Nova Scotia. I send her things from our favorite tea shoppe here and she sends me things from her favorite local tea shoppe. A few weeks ago, two boxes of caffeine-free, flavored loose teas and a box of tea bags arrived at my home. This is what you see here.

As soon as I opened the tea bags, I was smitten! Now, I've had tea bags for making loose tea but they were square and the only way I could think of to effectively close them was to staple them. Yeah. A pain in the tea bag so that didn't last long. But these little sweethearts have a drawstring and a tea tag at the end. How cute is that?!?

And, finally, the tea. This particular kind is Orange Blossom, chosen because of my love for Orange-Spice tea, my daily morning cuppa. Well, friends ... I wish you could smell this tea! It is so aromatic, it's heavenly. So please look closely at it, one because it's beautiful and then to imagine the wonderful aroma from a blend of rooibos {red tea}, currants, orange peel, orange blossoms, vanilla pieces, marigold blossoms and safflower petals. Yeah. It smells and tastes good ... to the last drop.

So I'm feeling blessed today as I share this week's finds with you because most of them came from two people who love me and whom I love dearly.

Thank you, Mr. Peepaw.

Thank you, Pam.

Life is made sweeter by the love of family and friends ... and tea. {{ smile }} And my life is immeasurably sweeter when I share with you here on Friday Finds and when you stop by to say hello.

And I do hope you'll come visit at Focusing on Life where I'm posting today.

See you soon!

 

Wabi Sabi :: Two

Although it was unintentional, I managed to be MIA for the past two weeks. While I wish I could tell you that it was something wonderful, it wasn't. Nothing dramatic, just plain, old, ordinary every day. It has definitely been a wabi sabi time but then that's the way life is all the time, don't you think?

It's just been difficult the past couple of weeks to find, or make, much time for my photography, which is not how the script is supposed to go but then life usually has a way of going off-script. Thankfully this past weekend brought some sunshine, some daffodils and some time to play.

This photo was taken on my back porch on a cloudy day. Although it looked fine in camera, it was way too underexposed when I downloaded the photos onto my computer. Some post-processing came to the rescue. After some exposure adjustments in LR, I used three of Kim's presets, kk_breeze; kk_slightlight; kk_toucha. The over to Photoshop CC where I adjusted the levels a bit and then called it done.

But I wasn't finished playing!

Here I just grabbed a couple of books from a shelf along with the tiny wabi-sabi flower and played around. Again I had the problem of an underexposed image and again I adjusted the exposure and then used two presets, kk_litely and kk_warmandslight. As I did in the photo just above, I brushed color back into the flower. Once again in Photoshop CC, I adjusted the levels. But I still wasn't happy. After trying a couple of texures, I finally settled on kk_isobel from the Downton Collection, which brought out some pretty tones. The Downton collections are still at the top of my favorites list.

Now that spring has sprung, I find myself wanting to be outside in the sunshine taking photos of flowers and buds and anything else that says 'spring'. Still life photos will be few and far between unless they incorporate some delights from the garden. Right now the only things blooming in our yard are the daffodils and believe me when I tell you: there are a lot of them! And I'm loving every bit of it.

Next week is spring break around here. Campbell will be here with me all week long. No plans yet, but we'll need to think of some fun things to do. And hope that the weather is very springlike!

How about you? Has spring sprung in your neck of the woods? I know some of my long-suffering friends in the Northeast are still inundated with winter weather. Right now is the time to take a deep breath and remember this quote from Hal Borland:

No winter lasts forever;

no spring skips its turn.

Wishing you all a taste of spring this week,

Texture Tuesday

 

Moody Tulips and Other Thoughts

This is probably about as much of a dark and moody picture as you're ever likely to see come out of my editing workshop, i.e., Lightroom, CC. Although I always admire everybody else's dark and moody, I seldom seem to be drawn to shooting in that genre.

This one came about kind of by mistake. I'd been doing a photo shoot with my tulips last week and was finishing up when I noticed the light from the kitchen window backlighting the tulips I had just placed back on the kitchen table. So I took a few photos and when I looked at them in my viewfinder, I was surprised and pleased with what I found.

This photo was edited with preset kk_today and texture, kk_ patinaornate, one I've never used before.

So, how has your week been so far? The snow that buried us last Thursday is almost completely gone thanks to temps getting back to seasonal norms. And as I write this it's raining and pouring and the ol' man is snoring. Well, some ol' man somewhere is snoring. Mr. Peepaw has already been at work for hours. But if it's raining and mild it must mean spring, right?

What are you reading these days? I'm reading The Girl on the Train. Although I find it riveting, it also creates something unsettled within me, like Gone Girl did. I found that book very suspenseful but I was troubled at the conclusion of the book. Somehow, I'm expecting to feel that way again when I finish this. However, it has been recommended to me by several friends and my daughter, so I am reading it. My next book will have to be less unsettling.

It took me years to finally break down and buy a Kindle. I love the tactile feel of books and I like to keep them after I'm finished and they've become like old friends. However ... I either had to cull out my library or get an e-reader. Well, I must tell you, although I've always been an avid reader, I have read more books since I got my Kindle than ever before. I just keep them going one after the other. I wouldn't be surprised if my Kindle soon gave up the ghost it's been used so much. Do you read more than one book at a time? I never do. I like to read a book exclusively from start to finish.

And that, my friends, is all I have for you this Tuesday. I hope to see you over at Texture Tuesday and I hope you'll stop by here at Camper and say hello. We love seeing you!

With gratitude,

Of Snow and Flowers

 

This is what our yard looked like yesterday. Yup. We got another foot +/- of snow. Twice in less than three weeks, we've gotten a foot +/- of the white stuff. But from what I've seen on the news, we got less than our neighbors to the north. Lexington got 17", Frankfort got 20". So I'll stop complaining now and count my blessings.

 

 

It's safe to say the whole state is shut down, I don't think a corner was spared. I'm hopeful that this is the final snowfall of the year. For one thing, Mr. Peepaw is tired of shoveling. I've tried to talk him into getting a snow blower but he won't hear of it.

Campbell was home with her daddy today so I had the whole day to myself. Well, almost. Mr. Peepaw came home mid-afternoon to shovel the driveway. But anyhow, I did what I like to do best on snow days. I played with flowers.

But first, let me tell you about my Friday Finds for this week.

 

 

A mason jar caddy. Isn't that just the cutest thing? As soon as I saw it, I envisioned it with flowers in it and when I put the flowers in, I wasn't disappointed. It brings a smile to my lips every time I pass it.

Now, back to my flower playing. Yesterday, knowing that the snow was coming, I stocked up on tulips. And I'm so glad I did.

 

 

These red tulips might be the prettiest red tulips I've had in a long time. They're holding up much better than the orange ones you see below.

 

 

This photo was taken for a prompt in The Studio, stacked. It's been a fun prompt. So much fun, in fact, I've done another which I really love. I think the forecast of snow filled my head and heart with dreams of the beach. It took me several days to think of what I could stack and then yesterday, it just came to me in the midst of doing something else. So I immediately quit that task and turned to playing with sea shells.

 

 

 

And finally, to conclude this photo marathon today, I'll leave you with this mixed floral bouquet. This is not usually my favorite kind of thing but this has served me well.

 

 

Well, that's about the extent of my faffing this week. If you don't know what faffing is, ask Kim Klassen, she'll be happy to give you a picturesque description and tell you where the word comes from. But you're all smart people out there so I imagine that looking at the potpourri of photos today will help you figure out exactly what faffing means. But I will tell you this: it's fun. You should try it some time.

Until next time,

App Happy Stuff

It's been a while since I've linked up over here at App Happy Wednesday. I don't take photos every day with my iPhone and I've consciously decided to limit how many apps I have. The other day while thinking about our upcoming European trip this summer, I started looking at storage space on my devices and decided all the apps I seldom or never used had to go. And just before the trip, my granddaughter's games are going into hibernation, too.

But I'm here today with two photos, both in one of my very favorite apps, BrushStroke. I found a couple of weeks ago that you can buy additional filters for BrushStroke for $2.99. Now I seldom would pay that much for an app but friends, I'm glad I did. I absolutely love the new filters. Here are two photos where I've used them.

This was taken last Sunday morning when all five of us {we're a small family!} went out for a birthday brunch. The restaurant had some great decor but the lighting was -- well, I don't have to tell you. So while playing in the Illustration portion of BrushStroke filters, I found this and I loved it. I'm going to print it out.

With another winter storm warning hanging over my head, I decided to buy some tulips yesterday and I'm glad I did. As I finished my breakfast and looked through the porch windows at the seemingly ceaseless rain {which will tonight turn to snow}, I looked at the red tulips on my kitchen table with a grateful heart.

This, too, was edited in the Illustrator portion of BrushStroke. This has really become a favorite go to place for me. And while I may not be as daring and artistic as some of you, I find that BrushStroke, My Sketch, and Artista Impresso give me the kind of look I like when I'm playing with my photos.

Since I tend not to spend much time playing with photos and apps on my phone, these are probably more than adequate to serve my needs. I do like to play when I'm on a trip of some sort but for every day, I just don't find the time to truly play. Being an after school childcare provider for my granddaughter, while a blessing, is also very time consuming.

And on that note, I'd better get my morning moving along, I've been diddling long enough. But it was fun to drop in here to see Barb and I hope you see you on my comments page!

Reluctantly awaiting the snow,

Preset Fun

by Dotti

Kim Klassen has changed the guidelines for Texture Tuesday. She, like all the rest of us, has dramatically changed her workflow since the inception of her weekly linky party. Now the photos need not contain a texture but must use a preset or a texture or, of course, both. Anyhow, with this in mind, a few days ago I decided it would be fun to play with presets and show you how they differed from one another. This photo was taken for the top down prompt in The Studio.

All presets are Kim's. From top left, clockwise: touchadrama, chocolate, dreamlike and organic. Is there one you like better than the other? To be honest, I like them all for different reasons. As I looked through them, I realized the different looks resembled the different stages that the tulips go through from fresh to fading.

Have you played with presets very much? Over the past few months, I have truly become a fan of presets. Kim's aren't the only ones that I use, I've accumulated quite a collection. The David duChemin set is one of my favorites. If you're a Lightroom user, I encourage you to find other presets online, in addition to Kim's, and experiment. It's lots of fun. And I have found that it really speeds up my editing workflow. I like that!

There are rumors that we're supposed to get 11" of snow tomorrow. Campbell and I have stated emphatically that we refuse to believe it. So we shall see. I'll report back Friday.

In the meantime, have a happy Tuesday and don't be afraid to experiment with your photography whether it's with presets, textures or something else.

Until the next time,

 

Comfort Zone Blues

One of the things I'm constantly fighting in my photography is stepping outside my comfort zone. I confessed to you last week that still life photography is a genre I'm not comfortable in. However, I'm plugging right along. In addition to trying to improve my still life skills, I'm trying to be more adventurous with presets, you know, trying more obvious edits.

Here's the thing: I love color. Bright, vivid, bold color. So taking any color out of a photo is almost painful for me. Take the photo above. Today also happens to be my day to post at Focusing on Life {so I hope you'll visit!} and I used the uptop photo on that post.

This photo serves two purposes. Several weeks ago, Kim gave us a prompt in The Studio to do something editorial-ish and left it open to our interpretation. Well, it didn't ring a bell with me so I just put it on the back burner. Then yesterday, the bell rang. What you see above is my interpretation of that prompt.

The photo has a very conservative edit, using, appropriately enough, Kim's tea and honey preset. It took a bit of color out of the original and brought in some warm golden tones. I liked it.

But I decided I should try out some other things so here are two more versions of the same photo, my effort to step out of my editing comfort zone.

Same photo but this time I used Kim's preset, today. It made the color more subtle but the key difference I see is that has more haze to it. I like it. Not sure I like it as much as the top one but I do like it. However, it wasn't really that much of a stretch for me so I tried another edit.

Not only is the color more desaturated, the overall mood is totally different. Maybe that's why Kim calls this preset make it moody.

So anyhow, all this chirping here today is to tell you that this week I tried to find my way out of my comfort zone. And it's an ongoing quest. It's not going to happen all at once. And I may not use these edits a lot because after all, my photos are mine and should reflect what I see and what I want them to say. But I do think it's a good exercise to be open to doing things a different way every now and then. We never know what we might learn not only about photography but about ourselves as well.

I want to give you a little Campbell update before I leave you. Tomorrow she is going to a birthday party and this one is unlike any she's ever been to. Truth to tell, I think it's a little over the top for a birthday party for an 8-year old, but hey, it's not my kid. Anyhow, four little girls are going with the birthday girl to a 'professional' spa {Campbell's description} where they will all be shampooed and styled, have make up applied as well as manicures and pedicures. Yes, you read that right. My daughter is afraid of two things. The first is that her baby will come home looking like a child movie star and the second is that Campbell will love the whole thing.

I'll report back next week.

In the meantime, maybe we should all visit a spa this weekend. With all the snow still hanging around, I could probably use one. How about you?

Friday Finds