Nature in Black and White

For this photography swap on Swap-Bot, I chose to focus on nature in black and white. All of the images were originally taken in color, but I felt like the color detracted from the pattern and detail of the object. So, I changed them to all black and white images.

The first image is one that I took on April 28, 2019, in Seward, Alaska, of jellyfish. Watching them float and swim was mesmerizing. Inside their bell-shaped body is their mouth. They both eat and discard waste from this opening. They digest their food very quickly because they could not float if they carried a large, undigested meal around.  

To me, the black and white image shows how delicate the jellyfish are and better illustrates their bodies.

The image below is of milkweed seeds with their fluffy floss (what looks like a tail on each seed). I took this image on October 15, 2021, when opening milkweed pods and spreading the seeds. It was a beautiful fall day, slightly overcast, with a nice breeze to carry the seeds off to their new destinations. 

In color, this image has greens, browns, and whites. It has a lot going on. However, when you remove the color from the image, the pattern of the floss and its wispiness shows better. 

Each year in March, we get rainstorms that turn to ice overnight. This image, taken on March 5, 2022, shows the layer of ice covering the woven-wire fence. Imagine this on everything - trees, buildings, the ground, and roads. It's a rather precarious drive until the sun melts the ice. I removed the color from this image because I wanted the focus to be on the icicles and the ice-wrapped wire. 

This image was one I took on April 30, 2008, of rocks at Interstate State Park in Taylors Falls. Although the rocks are slate-gray, it was better to remove the color so that the lichen (on a couple of the rocks) didn't distract from the arrangement of the rocks and the lines between them. 

On June 2, 2021, I was taking photos of the gardens and took this image of leaves with raindrops on them. When I downloaded the photos, I noticed that the leaves appeared to make an "A" - the initial of my first name. I preferred the image in black and white because there were many muted colors in the background from other flowers and plants, the green of the leaves of the "A," and the clear raindrops. The black-and-white version seemed cleaner and more focused on the image I wanted to show.  

I go either way with clouds - sometimes I like the image in color and other times I like them in black-and-white. In this case, I prefer black and white. The clouds had such dramatic shades - from the dark black to white depending on where the sun was and how big/deep the clouds were. This image was taken on August 21, 2007.

As I was taking the dogs for a walk on the afternoon of October 23, 2019, I saw this bright purple thistle with green base.  The thistle plant was huge - probably a good 4'-5' tall. This one flower stood proudly above the rest. Although I love the colors purple and green, what I wanted to focus on was all the little spikes on top and the tightly-clustered spikes below that. 

Photo Scavenger Hunt

There's a photography swap on Swap-bot that I thought would be fun to do. There are words or phrases that are provided and participants take a photo or find an image from the photos they have taken. 

Below are the words and the images that I created.

  

Singer 

This is a wren that was singing quite loudly on July 21, 2021. There's a house near this post where he has a home full of baby wrens. He and the female would fly continuously back and forth between the pasture and house to feed the babies. 

 Something that Starts with the Letter P 

On June 5, 2022, my family and I were in Scotland. We saw the National Monument of Scotland in Edininburgh which, according to Historic UK, the monument was "most famously called by its resident architect the ‘pride and poverty of us Scots.’" 

It is one of the iconic landmarks of Edinburgh being a facsimile of the Parthenon. However, the building of the structure was abandoned in 1829, leaving a "ruinesque Parthenon of Calton Hill."

A Wild Animal 

We had a trail cam for a while which I enjoyed using at different spots around our farm. On March 5, 2020, the trail cam caught these two rabbits in the front yard. I had no idea that rabbits could jump or leap that high! 

 A Potted Plant 

This is a potted plant that I got on December 11, 2022, for my daughter for Christmas. She liked it, but wanted to create a planter that had a variety of succulents - like this one. So, we went back to Home Depot where she bought a trio of succulents to create her own planter. This one now is sitting on my kitchen ledge by a south-facing window and doing well.

Red 

During this past December, we were having snowstorm after snowstorm. By the middle of the month, we had the amount of snow that we would typically get in an entire winter. It was too much snow in too short of period of time. This photo was taken on December 15, 2022. The birds love to eat these fruits during the winter and spring. Sometimes, if there are enough remaining on the tree in the spring, flocks of cedar waxwings will come to the tree to eat the fruit.

 Something that Reminds You of Your Childhood 

On December 31, 2022, my sister and I went through old slides that my parents had. This was one of the photos of our home being built in summer 1974. My brother and sister are sitting where the solarium or sun room would end up being. 

Below that was a patio, my bedroom, a door, my sister's bedroom, and then my brother's bedroom. We all had windows facing Bass Lake. The upper level had the family room, door, kitchenette, kitchen, and my parents' bedroom. Again - all facing the lake. The front section of our home had other rooms.  

This was truly a beautiful, well-constructed home that my parents lovingly took care of. I loved living on a lake, seeing the sunsets, taking the row boat out around the island, and making fort houses with my sister in the nearby woods. So many good memories. 

 Something in Your Garden or Backyard

The snowstorms that I was referencing earlier dumped a lot of snow in a short period of time. This photo that I took on December 22, 2022, shows how much snow we received in less than a two-week period. There is a picnic table with two attached benches under that snow.

 

 Light Painting

This image is of a chalk painting that was done on September 5, 2021, as part of a chalk festival. It depicts swirls of light and a hand. I was so amazed at the beautiful chalk paintings - some 2D and others 3D. 

Someone Working

 

I went further back in my photos to find this photo of Sophia and Olivia working in the 4-H malt booth stand on July 17, 2015. Sophia is making a strawberry milkshake. Working in the malt booth was a coveted position because it was nice and cool in the trailer. When it was 85-95 degrees outside, it was nice and chilly inside the trailer, and made the work much more enjoyable.

Something Edible

One thing that we do each year is celebrate the Chinese New Year. In 2011, it was on February 3rd. The girls were only 8 and 10 years old, and one of the things that was popular back then was the "muffin tin meal" concept. Each muffin cup was filled with different items - in this case, rice, sushi, and fruit. It encouraged the girls to sample a little from each of the muffin cups. 

My Favorite Photo - January 2023

January was perhaps the month that I have taken the fewest photos on my camera in decades. Most of the photos I took were on my iPhone. As I look back on the month, the photos I took were basically documenting what had happened. None of the photos - with the exception of perhaps the sunset and highly-textured snow - stand out as particularly good photos. However, they all are meaningful to me. 

Olivia, Paige, and I went out on January 1st at the local Chinese restaurant to have our annual Chinese meal to start off the new year. Paige and I have been doing this since we lived in San Francisco back in 1991-1993.

The snow early in the month was overwhelming. We were getting snowstorm after snowstorm. It was piled up higher than it has ever been by the back of the house.

We had to hire a guy who could snowplow our driveway. The snowbanks were as high as the fence.

The snow on the west side of the driveway was so high, making getting to the other side of the garage and the birdfeeder behind the garage impossible to get to safely.

What I liked about the snow in January was its texture.

This is one of my favorite pictures from January - with the textured snow and the sun setting one evening.

As the sun was setting, it was perfectly lined up between the branches of this tree.

A couple days after Chinese New Year, when Sophia and Olivia both had time off of classes and work, we went to a new Chinese restaurant close to their college. It was an excellent meal.

We also went out to eat at a new restaurant to celebrate Olivia's 20th birthday. It is hard to believe she's already 20 years old...no longer a teen.

Sophia ordered a build-your-own pizza. There was plenty left over to bring back to college for meals.

Paige, Olivia, and Sophia are at the restaurant after Olivia's birthday meal.

We had a pheasant family hanging around our home during January. These birds are in the backyard. 

I worked a lot during the month at my second job. I'm doing consultancy work in marketing and public relations. This is the new logo for the museum that I worked with a designer to create. 

The pheasants were back...this time they brought more of their friends to join in the birdseed feast. 

The snow was so high that Cooper (far right in the picture) was level with the middle of the door. 

Toward the end of the month, I went to Stillwater and looked at the snow sculptures there. People from all over the world come to compete in the contest.

 

This is another snow sculpture. It is of Axolotl - the God of Fire. 

This is a lumberjack holding the world on his shoulders with the flags from all the snow sculpture teams. 

I was playing around with editing on Picasa for this photo of the bridge in Stillwater. One of my favorite colors is purple.

ESG: My Favorite Photos - December 2022

 Here are some of my favorite photos from December:

At the beginning of December, we attended the Festival of Christmas. Olivia is on the tech team, so she was operating a camera. She worked with the team to set up the stage, lighting, and sound.

Sophia performed in the Festival of Christmas on handbells. There was a pre-concert performance which I really enjoyed.

This is what the stage and lighting looked like. Throughout the performance, the lighting and images projected onto the walls would change. It was beautiful!

After the performance, Sophia - along with the handbell choir - went "caroling" throughout one of the buildings. The college was hosting major donors, so this is one special feature they do as part of the event.

On the 10th, the Lions held a Breakfast with Santa + Bake Sale. It was a fun morning. I was in charge of the five collection drives, and was so pleased with how generous people were to help local organizations.

Also on the 10th, was one of the Annie's Coffee Parties across the street at Gammelgarden Museum. 

All the windows had these lights in them.

Although this isn't a great photo, I was thrilled to see a flock of cedar waxwings in the apple tree. We left apples on the tree and a wide variety of birds peck away at the frozen apples.

There are five cardinals that are hanging around our feeders a lot - three males and two females.

I've been getting some new plants during December. It seems like the big-box stores had a nice variety of houseplants this year. It's nice to have some different types of plants. This is a jasmine.

I like the one too - the flower is still blooming over a month after I purchased it.

This is a Christmas Cactus that belonged to my dad. It's about 45 years old now. I realize, as I look at the photo, that it needs more height. I'm not sure how to do this.

This is another plant that is doing well. The jade plant/small tree is about 15 year old now and has just begun flowering during the past few years. It was one very small plant that Sophia, Olivia, and I got when we built a terrarium when they were about 5 and 7 years old. The little plants outgrew their terrarium.

On the 11th, I attended the Lucia Dagen service at Gammelgarden. Typically, up until this year, we've attended the St. Lucia Day service at another Lutheran church. Without the girls here, I did something different. 

it was held in an historic church that was built in the 1800s. It is unheated, so people had to wear coats, gloves, hats, and boots just to stay warm.

While I was at Gammelgarden, I enjoyed walking through its prairie. 

There were a variety of native plants - all now in shades of tan and cream.

Inside the historical church, everything was lit by candles. The half-hour service was done all in Swedish.

During December, there were a few significant snowfalls. This was the first one that blanketed all the plants in snow.

Everything was covered with snow. It was very pretty.

Cooper enjoyed burying his face in the snow and looking and listening for activity near the ground.

I liked the look of the snow clinging onto seed pods. 

The apple tree in the backyard was gorgeous. It kind of reminded me of a willow tree.

The snow left an interesting pattern on the fence. 

The trees in our front yard were loaded down with the heavy, wet snow.

This is the view of the trees along the road from our driveway to the west side of our farm.

Even the Christmas lights were covered with snow.

Inside, the St. Nicholas Christmas Village grew by two new buildings - a ski chalet and a home. It started with two buildings that belonged to my parents. There were a few more buildings, but when we had a fire in the hobby shed, we lost them and a lot of other items that I had inherited.

The Christmas stockings were hung by the wood stove. At one time, both sides were packed with stockings that I had made for all the pets and livestock. The years have passed and animals have died. We now have three dogs left.

The windows in the dining room and living room had stars that I made throughout the years. Some are coming apart, so I'll need to make some new ones for next year. 

We had a second major snowfall. This is the picnic table that belonged to my parents. We have not seen this much snow in the first month of winter for as long as I can remember. 

This second snowfall didn't load down the trees as much this time. The snow wasn't as wet.

This is the view down our driveway.

On Christmas morning, I woke up at 6 a.m. to make this maple twist coffee cake. It took four hours to make from scratch. 

During December, I bit on some items that were on an auction that the humane society where we adopted the dogs from was having. One of the items I bid and won was this wooden Christmas tree that was loaded with lots of dog treats and dog-themed items. Needless to say, the dogs loved it!

I love seeing how happy the girls are when they open gifts.

Here, Aspen is checking out the Christmas tree for dogs. Her favorite toy from it is a stuffed lamb. She loves to carry it around with her and have it next to her while sleeping.

Cooper is playing with "Long Husky." It has crinkle-paper in it and multiple squeakers. 

Here's Aspen with the stuffed lamb.

On Christmas, we went to dinner at my sister's home. This is the "young cousin" table.

This is the adult and "older cousin" table.

My brother brought his dog, Bear, a Corgi. He's such a good dog.

When we came home, we rested a bit and then opened some more gifts. One of the gifts I gave the girls were handsewn hats that someone made. Unfortunately, they didn't look quite right on either Sophia or Olivia. Sophia was a good sport and put it on.

For Sophia's 22nd birthday, she spent it in California with one of her roommates. She had never been to this roommate's home or met her parents, so - being it is her senior year - it was a good time to visit. At any rate, we celebrated Sophia's birthday a couple days early.

On the 29th, I was invited to a luncheon hosted by the director of Gammelgarden and the Butik manager. The other ladies are volunteers - greeters and tour guides. It was such a nice luncheon.

On New Year's Eve, my sister came over and we watched hundreds of slides that my parents took and that we inherited. This is my dad and me - I would have been about 4 months old.

This was my favorite costume that my mom sewed: a kangaroo complete with a kangaroo baby (joey) in my pouch.

My first tap dance outfit was for the song "Secondhand Rose." My parents planted red geraniums and white flowers in their raised flower bed.

In 1974, my parents acted as contractors and oversaw the building of their home.

This is one of my favorite photos of my mom when she was a little girl. Even as an adult, my mom loved dolls - so this captures one of her loves in life.

This is a photo I never saw until New Year's Eve this year. It's of my Grandma Olive by part of her garden - tomatoes. This was take in 1960 - six years before she died. She would have been 48 years old in this photo. 

On the 30th, I went to lunch at Famous Dave's with my friend, Karen. I made her an apple pie. Although it got a little overdone on one side, she said it was delicious. She loves pie, but never makes it from scratch. 

On the 31st, I made another apple pie for my sister and me. She, too, doesn't make pie since she lives alone. So, this was a treat for her too.