Autumn!

I’ve been so busy lately that I haven’t had time for do much photography. :( So I decided to double my exercise and photography time. I took these photos along the trail that my family and I walk and cycle for exercise.

Usually, the leaves in Bermuda don’t change color in the autumn because the temperatures don’t get cool enough. But the hurricane that came through a month ago burnt a lot of the leaves so everything looked very “autumny”.

I hope to post photos here more often so check back again soon! Have a blessed weekend, friends!

Another Blogging Break Due To Hurricane Igor

I’ll be taking another blogging break…this time because a large category 2 hurricane is due to hit our island this weekend with tropical storm force winds forecasted to begin later tonight. Because it’s a slow moving storm, the local weather service is predicting about 30 hours of storm force winds…it’ll be Monday afternoon before the weather begins to settle down again.

The last time a major hurricane came to Bermuda, we were left without power for about 3 weeks. Of course, I’m hoping that we don’t have to wait nearly as long this time around but we’re trying to prepare to go a while without electricity anyway.

Please keep my family and I in your prayers. We appreciate every one of them! If you want to read more about how my family and I have been preparing for the storm, please visit my other blog here.

Hope you all have a blessed week!
 

Spotted Eagle Rays

Several weeks ago we had a wonderful surprise when we visited the pier a few minutes away from our cottage –two beautiful eagle rays were peacefully gliding through the water! They were so majestic –yet they looked graceful at the same time. Truly a beautiful sight! 

I’m so glad Mom reminded me to bring my camera with us on our little walk and I was able to take photos of these beautiful creatures!

 

 

 

Isn’t God’s Creation amazing?! What’s your favorite sea creature? Share your thoughts in a comment below!

All Things Bright And Beautiful

I’m back from my blogging and photography break! It was a much-needed rest as I had to take time off to get better after getting my wisdom teeth pulled. Here are some pictures that I’ve taken recently…I think you’ll all enjoy them!

   All things bright and beautiful…

All creatures great and small…

  All things wise and wonderful…

The Lord God made them all.

What are your favorite subjects to photograph? Please share your photography favorites in a comment below.

Short Blogging Break

Just wanted to let you all know that I'm on a short blogging break this week because I got my wisdom teeth pulled this Monday. I'm just trying to focus on recovering and getting back on track. If you follow my other blog Growing in Him, you'll be able to read more about my surgery and even get a few scheduled posts this week.

I plan to be back to my normal posting schedule next week!

Until then, happy photography friends!

Enjoying Photoshop

I really should apologize for not posting as often as I should. If you follow my other blog, Growing in Him, you've probably realized that I've been very busy over the past few weeks. With it being hot and humid most of the day, photography has taken a seat on the back burner. Don't worry though! I took a lot of photos this spring and early summer --probably enough to keep this blog going for year! Last weekend, I downloaded a trial version of Photoshop Elements 8. It's been so much fun learning how to use the program so I've added it to my list of things to save for. :-) Here are a few photos that I tweaked with PSE. 

In this photo, I enhanced the blue skies...
I left the water and sand untouched.

This little bird is a longtail chick. Longtails nest and raise their
babies in little rock crevices...we found this one while exploring
the beach. It was difficult to photograph him/her because
he was so far into the rock but the picture's not too bad
once edited a bit with Photoshop!

An adult longtail swoops in to check out a hole in the rocks.
I tweaked the greenery on the rocks a bit to enhance their color. 

For this beach shot, I enhanced both the greenery
and sky color. But I left the beach and water
in it's original color.

Do you use Photoshop? What are your favorite effects? Share your tips below!

Photo Editing Fun

Usually, the photos that I share here have only had minimal editing done (e.g. cropping, brightness/contrasting, and sometimes temperature/saturation). As a rule, I use Picnik to do my photo editing and it's the perfect website for a amateur photographer like me. :-)
Today I was in the mood for some fun editing so I chose a few photos from my ever-growing collection of photos on my computer...unique photos that look interesting when more dramatic editing is added to them. I'll show you before and after editing each photo as well as the name of the Picnik feature I used to get that look.

{Photo #1}

Before: Bouquet of flowers on grand piano

After: I used Picnik's "Orton-ish" feature on this photo. I love
the antique look that it gave this picture.

{Photo #2}

Before: A cheerful Day Lily

After: I used focal Black & White to add an interesting touch
to this photo.

{Photo #3}

Before: A little inlet near Bermuda's capital city, Hamilton

After: For this photo, I used "Sepia" to imitate the look
of an older picture.

{Photo #4}

Before: Willowbank Hotel's entrance sign

After: In this picture, I used Picnik's "Lomo-ish" tool to create
an unique look for this photo

Which photo editing feature do you like best on Picnik? If you haven't tried them before, head over to Picnik's cool website and have some fun yourself as you try out their exciting features!

A Few Miscellaneous Shots

I was just looking through my photos this morning and selected a few pictures to share with you all --no particular theme to this post, just some of my favorites.

A garden full of marigolds!

Pink snapdragon with marigolds in background

The beach at low tide!

Another garden view with our home in the background

This is our cottage! I took this photo earlier this year just as the
amaryllis was beginning to bloom!

Our local flower shop!

This is the grand piano in one of Willowbank Hotel's lounges and I enjoy playing it! :-) If you look
closely in this picture you can see me in the mirror taking the picture. 

I'm hoping to start the weekly Scripture Caption feature again so look out for that post early next week! Have a blessed day!

Fun Times At the Beach

Summer has come on in full swing with temperatures about 5-6 degrees higher than the average for this time of year. To escape the heat, we have been heading to the beach quite often and I love to bring the camera along too. :-) At the beach, we have fun swimming, wading in the water, chatting with guests, and meeting neighbors. On a couple of occasions, we've enjoyed talking with a couple of ladies who bring their dogs on to the beach to play. We love dogs and we are always happy when they show up at the beach. One dog named Jemma, is a young Labrador Retriever and she is always begging you to throw the toy so she can fetch it! When she isn't busy fetching she enjoys playing with Orla --her doggie friend, who loves to chase Jemma and "fight" over the toy. Here are a few snapshots of Jemma and Orla having fun!

Jemma with her toy!

Jemma & Orla chasing each other

Orla's got the toy!

It was a calm day --great for boating!

The graceful longtail!

Another angle of the longtail!

Here comes Orla!

Jemma's out to fetch the toy!

Jemma loves to parade around with her newly-caught toy!

And she enjoys playing tug-of-war too!

What are some things you do during the summer to stay cool? If you have dogs, what are your favorite games to play with them?

Blessings,