Into the Woods pt 2

Nothing to do with the wonderful musical, Into the Woods. Everything to do with a wonderfully cloudy day!

People tend to write off cloudy days as 'awful' and wait for the sun to come out to take pictures. Which just might be the biggest mistake. I love cloudy days. I love the dark, rich colors that aren't burned away by the sun. I love the mellow tones-- a far cry from the contrast ridden landscape of a sunny day.

Click on me!

I was really feeling black and white this morning. I love the contrast of the fern leaves and the metal railing. I am so in love with that plant! Apparently it's some sort of tree that the squirrels bury in our yard and my mother wants nothing more than to yank every little sprout out of her flower bed. However, I must say I'm entranced by the little fern-like leaves. I can't take enough pictures of it-- though I'm sure you've seen enough of it! ;)

More black and white love! I use Camera Raw, a function of Photoshop, to convert my photos to black and white. It really gives you a good range of editing specific colors. That's what allowed me to make the normally yellow flowers pop against the darker green background.

These are the prettiest flowers, when they are in bloom. Still, I like the decaying blossom. You can almost see a glimpse of its former beauty.

I was absently wandering around my yard, my eyes scanning the ground. I wasn't sure what to photograph next. It was still cloudy, and my eyes jumped from subject to subject. There was a burst of color lying against the dark grass, a premature yellow leaf, a hint of autumn. Then, my eyes fell onto something I didn't expect.

Nestled in the long strands of grass was a small down feather. It clung bravely to the grass, tugged by the wind. Quickly I knelt down, snapping a picture. I didn't expect it to turn out-- I was worried that my shutter speed was too slow to capture this delicate beauty.

I couldn't help but grin as I glanced at the picture on the back of my camera.

I loved it. This is why I take pictures. I love the detail of the whimsical feather, caught in the midst of motion, almost hovering over the dark grass. I literally spent fifteen minutes, taking picture after picture of this feather.

I won't put them all here, I'm sure that you'll tire of looking at the same feather, over and over. ;)

I, however, didn't feel that way. ;)

I could have spent the entire day, snapping away at that feather. Eventually I made myself move on. There is only so many different ways you can photograph one thing.

Last one, I promise!

I stumbled upon this leaf, perfectly cupped as to catch the scant amount of rain that we received. My eyes immediately went to the reflection in the middle of the water. 

I love reflections and I loved this one because it was so unexpected, hidden in this leaf.

Today I've been more patient, uploading the pictures. That's because while they have been loading, I've been watching the Olympics! Now, obviously I've been alive for many Olympics, but this is the first one that I've really taken an interest in. I watched the Opening Ceremony last night-- it was amazing! Seriously, I almost teared up once or twice.

I do believe that I will be in front of the TV for the rest of the Olympics. Though now I really want to learn gymnastics. And fencing. Because fencing is cool.

I've been trying to learn a front handspring for like ten years now. I might actually succeed soon. Or break something. Which ever comes first.

This is my only two part post since the epic 'why I love Hendrix'! Thanks again for reading!