Morning Glory

Sorry about the absence of posting! My life has fallen into a summer routine, with not much to post about.


One of the benefits of getting up at 6:30 almost every morning is that I have discovered that I'm a morning person! Today I woke up at 7:40 feeling completely rested. I suppose this is good practice for next semester-- both of my two roommates are definitely morning people.

Anyway, I headed out to do some reading, but I caught a glimpse of the morning light, dancing around my backyard. Grabbing my camera, I headed out to capture it.



What's unusual about morning photos is that I'm normally quite happy with how they look, straight out of the camera, no editing needed. There is enough natural contrast, bursting color, and warm light to make the photos shine on their own. No help from Photoshop required.



I love actions, I really do. Recently, however, I've been doing all my work in camera raw. It provides an easy interface stocked with all the essential tools. It lacks the maneuverability of layers, yet I haven't had need of them. Any change can be undone.
I love the look of professional actions, yet I've just been too cheap to actual purchase any.



Remember this cutie? I took this picture with my point and shoot last summer. I just thought this little fern was the cutest thing ever, for some reason.

I found it again this morning. The two pictures, of the same type of plant, are so drastically different it's surprising. I'm not sure under what type of light the old photo was taken, but I remember I was in my 'dark' phase, when I purposely underexposed everything to see how it would turn out.

The old photo also reminds me of the limitations of my point and shoot. I had to get really close to the fern if I wanted any chance of manual focusing.

Even so, I like both of the photos. Each has it's own perks. I love the dark green feel of the old photo, how absolute the shadows became.



I also love the morning brightness of the new photo. How warm everything is. How the fern is set against the green-y background, and not so isolated.

So I hate bees. I've never been stung and I would like to keep this streak for as long as possible. So this photo was taken in a push-the-camera-close-hit-the-button-run-away type of technique. While I love the photo, having the bee in focus would have been so cool. However, I wasn't about to push my luck.

Our blackberry bush! It's doing so well this year; getting even bigger. The berries are amazing and super tart.

So yesterday in class, we spent the majority of the time trotting. Let me tell ya; trotting may seem like a romantic let's-frolic-through-the-fields-hair-waving type of thing but don't be confused! It's actually a teeth-jarring-why-am-I-doing-this-to-myself type of thing. Soooo painful. And I'm sure one of these days I'm just gonna fall off the horse. I don't know how the others manage to stay on their horse.

The abs I don't even have are sore.

Anyway, I have an interview this afternoon-- wish me luck!!