Theme Thursday - Happy

Wow, I guess I haven't updated this puppy in awhile.

This photo was taken at the Christmas Traditions Around the World exhibit at Frederik Meijer Gardens. This little guy, displayed on the USA tree, sure looked plenty happy to me.

Photo Friday: Portrait

I took several photos of this horse. He's so beautiful, especially with the pastel sky behind him that I just couldn't help myself. Selecting just one for this week's Photo Friday was a challenge, but I had to choose and I chose this one.

Thursday Challenge: Birds

Since birds are one of my favorite subjects, I have many photos of birds. Most of the photos are of ducks and geese because they're plentiful around here. This photo was taken at John Ball Park Zoo during the annual budgie (parakeet) exhibit and was a nice change of pace from the ducks and geese. Not that I don't like the ducks and the geese.

Thursday Challenge: Round

Theme Thursday: Pattern

An interesting pattern from nature.

Photo Friday: Best of 2005

I took SO MANY photos in 2005, it was a challenge to choose one, and I'm not sure why this would be one of the best. I just like it I guess, and I did spend a lot of time getting it as close to right as I could get it. It was taken at Frederick Meijer Gardens in May, very near the end of the tulip season. I remember messing with my camera settings and with the composition to find the right combination for drawing attention to the front flower while leaving a background that hinted at the presence of other flowers without allowing so much attention be drawn to those other flowers that the viewer loses the feeling that the front flower is the focal point. I think, had I used the clone stamp tool and removed the snippet of flower at the bottom of the photo, it might have been a bit better, but it's still an okay photo for me.

Theme Thursday: Celebration

Taken at my brother's place. This simple, elegant expression of Christmas had to be the work of my sister in law.