life is but a dream

As I travel my creative path, everyone once in a while I call on a new muse. And sometimes I don't even know I've invited something else in to change my perspective, shake things up, or give me a whole new way of thinking. It's almost as if I intuitively know that I need a little something to get me out of my usual way of seeing or being and *poof* some new muse comes to do just that.

Such has been the case with my experimentation with shooting out of focus. It's nothing new for me, I've done it before but as a photographer, I'm usually thinking about where to focus and what to focus on rather than thinking about how to throw my entire shot out of focus.

I'm glad when the glimmers of creative muses come my way. When I am reawakened to all the wonder of my everyday life. When it feels like a beautiful dream. When around each corner lies a brand new adventure.

I encourage you to call on your own muse for the next week. Perhaps the muse need only be your life? Ali Edwards' A Week in the Life begins on Monday. It seems like just the thing to get us to focus (or not) on our amazing, everyday lives.

Share your favorite muse today. Anything from subject matter, to tool, to technique...it's all magic when you're open to it.

accidentally ... on purpose

Ben and I were sitting on the front porch.... looking for a little inspiration.

We spotted this Mama, her baby and sweet golden coming down the street. They were a fair distance away...so I snapped a few shots. I then waited til they 'strolled' past the house....and kept going... planning on 'shooting' them from behind. 

But at the same time, Mr. Ben spotted a cat, entering our yard.... a big kerfuffle took place, which allowed me just 2 shots before they were out of site.

The first was in focus....and just plain boring... The second... out of focus and so much more interesting.

Do you have any accidental or perhaps on-purpose 'out-of-focus' shots you just love?  Please share with us today.

softening

I remember when soft-focus portraiture was all the rage. Believe me, I shot my share of them. Glad that trend passed. Alas, the softness of photographic images can be magic. It's just not usually done with a soft-focus lens anymore. Whew.

However it is achieved, softness can be timeless, dreamy, ethereal. It can be comforting, wistful, melancholic. Softness can evoke all kinds of emotion.

I have toyed with so many photographic styles and techniques over the years, some of which yield beautifully soft results. From shooting out of focus to dragging the shutter capturing a soft blur of motion to using lenses like aLensbaby to shooting through water (as I did in the featured shot) to the wonders of post-processing, softness can come any number of ways.

Today share your tips or tricks on how you soften up your subject. Show us your vision of soft.

kindness matters

 

"Be excellent to each other." - Abe Lincoln,Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure

There's no better way to say it than this.

Kindness, compassion, tenderness, encouragement, support, love...these are the best of the best. They are the things that matter the most.

In this community, all of these things have been infused in our daily exchanges and I thank all of you so much for that. And there are some other amazing places where things like kindness are brought into clear focus. Kind Over Matter is one of those places. I encourage you to spend some time there. I promise you will be inspired.

Today, let us see how you focus on kindness. Share with us the shots that speak of being excellent to each other.

So excited to share that there is yet another giveawayfor Picture Color over at Kind Over Matter today. YAY! 

symbolic

 January was the month we celebrated your word. February we focused on words in general; statements, messages, and comments. For March, we will keep right on track and take our cue from the current CliQ photo challenge and feature letters, symbols and numbers.

Yep, it's a FIRST in the history of our One Word Project that we are actually using more than one word for the month's prompt. In this case, we're asking for any or all of the words letters, symbols and numbers! And just because we think the folks at CliQ are so super cool, we encourage you to enter your images to their photo challenge. You can find those details and the prizes you could win on their site which is full of good photo stuff!

As always, we want to see what you've got for the remainder of March and request you share your OWP images of letters, symbols and numbers in the OWP Flickr pool.

1,2,3...shoot!