Photography as Hobby Part I

I can't remember just when I became interested in taking "artistic" pictures - most likely in my late 20's or early 30's - sometime after my children were little and all my photographs were of them. As cameras have improved, so have my attempts.

This one of the moon half way between New Moon and First Quarter, I took before the fireworks display July 4. It was by far the best of the pictures I took that night. I'm going to call this one, "Starry, Starry, Night". (Don McLean's song, "Vincent" should be playing.)

Another picture taken over or of the pond that has become a focus or background since moving to Creston. This one was taken last summer. It is so delightful to see the sun and fountain in concert making rainbows. ("Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection, the lovers, the dreamers and me.")

The October, 2010 Hunters Full Moon was my subject for this shot. I used it on my October 24 blog. "The moon was a ghostly galleon, tossed upon cloudy seas." Nearly sixty years have passed, but I can still vividly hear the recording of Alfred Noyes', "The Highwayman".

Early Sunday morning, July 3, I was sitting, reading in the computer room. When I looked out the window toward the pond, I could see my reading light reflected above the pot of flowers on the table on the deck. "I wonder if there is any way a picture of that would come out?", I thought to myself. So I tried it and was VERY happy with the results. Why had I never thought of such an attempt before? I guess my brain is still working.

I have never claimed to be a good cook. When I was a teenager, one of my brother's friends said if I could learn to cook like my mother, I wouldn't have any trouble finding a husband.

I know I will never be the cook/baker my Mom was, but I have learned enough to get by. Once in awhile I even try a new recipe like this "Tomato and Fresh Mozzarella Cheese" dish. It was so pretty I took a picture of it along with the other salads we were having for lunch Wednesday. Bud is not the salad lover I am. That's his small salad above left, while mine is on the right. I ate all of it plus half the mozzarella salad. I could live on salads. (I'm like my Mom, this way.) "Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy (salad) days of summer...."

Water is often featured in my artistic photographic attempts, perhaps because mine is one of the 'water' signs? I love anything to do with water - oceans, rivers, streams, ponds, falls, lakes, springs, rapids. If I see a sign for a waterfall, I'll do my best to get there and take a picture. Which is why when I saw a sign for "Rochester Falls" in northern Missouri last fall, I had to check it out. It is hard to imagine these as falls. What I can imagine is that there was once a mill on this river and the dam and millrace did constitute more of a 'falls'.

Creston celebrates "Balloon Days" each September. Here they are off in the distance but still reflected in Lake McKinley. (Water, again.) I have pictures of a balloon right over our pond, but liked the composition of this shot.

Yet another full moon picture - this one a successful attempt of September's Harvest moon reflected in the pond.

Flowers are another favourite photographic subject. Poppies are so pretty - so fragile looking - but they don't last long. This one was already growing when we moved here. I believe it is a "Louvre Oriental Poppy". I love its delicate petal color contrasted with the dark centers.

Derelict buildings are another favourite topic for me. Generally I like taking photographs of barns in any condition. Even though there is a barn in the background, it was this structure which caught my eye on a trip in SE Iowa. Did it begin life as a dwelling which became a storage shed when a newer house was built? I like the juxtaposition of the upper vertical siding and the horizontal logs below.

My digital camera makes taking and sharing photos so easy, but my scanner makes it possible to share prints from days gone by - and that is even more fun. Photography as a hobby is and has been a good one for me.