Thursday's Inspiration: Home

So here is my first attempt at a weekly dose of inspiration.  The prompt was "home."  Of course, I left it till the last minute, and it was dark by the time I wandered around with my camera yesterday evening.  I could have used my speedlite, but I kind of like the warmth that the incandescent lamp lends to this image.  Makes it kind of cozy, which is definitely a big part of how I feel about my home.

Some of you may know that this is my childhood home.  My father built it with his own hands when I was an infant, and it is filled with reminders of my parents.  In the photo above, there is a collection of shells and fossils that I have gathered over the years with my children.  They are displayed in a Lenox bowl that belonged to my mother.  There are books and a camera that belonged to my father, and one of my favorite plates, which I found a few years ago at a rummage sale.  I'm a bit of a magpie -- collecting bright and pretty things -- and that is definitely a part of the word "home" to me.

I can't wait to see your interpretations of home!  Thanks for playing along.  :)

Here are the prompts for the next few weeks.  Please include a link back to this post in your entry.  Thanks so much!  xoxo

February 14:  love
February 21:  white
February 28:  architecture

Will You Join Me?

I'm hoping some of you will join me tomorrow in my quest for inspiration!  I have decided to do a weekly prompt, to help me discover new subjects for my photography.  Tomorrow's subject will be "home."  You may interpret the word any way you wish -- indoors, outdoors, family at dinner, child at sleep, your favorite place to relax...

Here are the subjects for the next few weeks.  If you have a subject that you would like to add to our list, just let me know.  I will try to get my post up by 2:00pm New York time.  I'm not sure yet whether I will have a linky list up, or if I will just ask you to leave your links in the comments section.  I guess I will figure that out tomorrow. :)

February 7:  home
February 14:  love
February 21:  white
February 28:  architecture

I will probably do just one image for each prompt, but if you want to include more, go for it.  I will probably just let the image speak for itself, but if you want to include  text as well, great.  Whatever floats your boat.  And if we get enough people to play, I might do a "My Faves" post at the end of each month, with your permission, and link back to your blog.  I would appreciate a link back to my post each week, so that your friends can join in if they wish.

So thank you so much!  I am looking forward to sharing with you, and drawing inspiration from you!  xoxo

Mosaic Monday: Seeking Inspiration

Gosh, where to start today?  Some days I have absolutely nothing to say.  I feel like such a fraud, or maybe just a bore -- plopping some pictures down here and going on my merry way.  I think it's worst during the winter.  I have not been out getting all the garden visits and landscape shots that I love to do in the rest of the year.  So I buy some supermarket flowers and start to shoot.  Don't get me wrong, I love to shoot flowers.  But I feel as though I do the same shot over and over...

I need some inspiration!!!

I've thought about doing a weekly prompt, just to get the creative juices flowing.  Of course, I should have begun in January.  But what the heck, I will just start this week.  I'm going to post on Thursday afternoons, and if you would like to join me, just leave a link to your post in the comments on Thursday.  I'd love to see what you come up with!  If we get enough interest, I will consider starting a linky party.  Here are the first few prompts to get us started:

February 7:  home
February 14:  love
February 21:  white
February 28:  architecture

I will probably do just one image for each prompt, but if you want to include more, go for it.  I will probably just let the image speak for itself, but if you want to include  text as well, great.  Whatever floats your boat.  And if we get enough people to play, I might do a "My Faves" post at the end of each month, with your permission, and link back to your blog.  I would appreciate a link back to my post each week, so that your friends can join in if they wish.

So, what do you think?  Anybody in?  I hope to see at least a few of you on Thursday!  :)

Here are the instructions to join today's post:
1. Publish your Mosaic Monday post. The post may be about any subject you wish. The only stipulation is that it include a collage, or mosaic of photos.
2. Once it is published, click on the title of the post. This will lead you to the static link for your post. The static link is the page with only that post on it. Copy the url from your browser at the top of the page.
3. Paste the url into the appropriate inlinkz box in this post.
4. Type your name in the appropriate inlinkz box in this post.
5. Click on "Enter."
6. Please link back to this Mosaic Monday post so that your readers can find other wonderful mosaics.

That's all there is to it! It's always a good idea to then check and see if your link is working. If you have any questions, feel free to email me: mrcarroll(at)optonline.net

And a quick reminder: if you would like to join Mosaic Monday but don't know quite where to start, there is a tutorial on mosaic-making on my sidebar. Just scroll down, and click on the small blue mosaic.

Mosaic Monday: Red Roses

First of all, my apologies for not getting this post up by 3:00 pm.  After just having promised to do so last week, I had a bit of an emergency here today.  I dropped my cell phone this morning, and cracked the screen.  I have jury duty tomorrow, so I needed to go replace my phone this afternoon.  :)

I've got some red roses for you today.  My birthday was this past Friday, and I bought them for myself at the supermarket.  You buy yourself flowers once in awhile, right?  My husband actually got me some beautiful pink and purple tulips, but when I saw these roses on Thursday, I knew I had to have them, if only just to photograph them!  It's been a little snowy and beastly cold here this week.  Red roses were definitely in order.  ;)

I find that red roses are difficult to photograph using my camera's built-in metering.  Especially when in a low light situation, they come out way too over-exposed.  This is what I love my light meter for.  If you're serious about photography, consider getting a light meter.  It's awesome for getting the correct exposure in portraits, too.  This is the light meter I use.  All of these photos are SOOC -- meaning straight out of the camera.  They didn't need any adjustment to exposure, or any other edit.

I wanted to leave you a link to the templates I used for this post as well.  They were free from Eva Ricci's website.  You can find them here.  I turned off several layers that I didn't want, and added my own text.

My love is like a red, red rose

That’s newly sprung in June :

My love is like the melody

That’s sweetly played in tune.

As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,

So deep in love am I :

And I will love thee still, my dear,

Till a’ the seas gang dry.

Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,

And the rocks melt wi’ the sun :

And I will love thee still, my dear,

While the sands o’ life shall run.

And fare thee weel, my only love,

And fare thee weel a while !

And I will come again, my love,

Thou’ it were ten thousand mile.

I happened to be reading a romance novel set in Scotland at the moment, and so I felt like a little Robert Burns...   Think of it as an early Valentine's Day gift.  ;)

Here are the instructions to join today's post:
1. Publish your Mosaic Monday post. The post may be about any subject you wish. The only stipulation is that it include a collage, or mosaic of photos.
2. Once it is published, click on the title of the post. This will lead you to the static link for your post. The static link is the page with only that post on it. Copy the url from your browser at the top of the page.
3. Paste the url into the appropriate inlinkz box in this post.
4. Type your name in the appropriate inlinkz box in this post.
5. Click on "Enter."
6. Please link back to this Mosaic Monday post so that your readers can find other wonderful mosaics.

That's all there is to it! It's always a good idea to then check and see if your link is working. If you have any questions, feel free to email me: mrcarroll(at)optonline.net

And a quick reminder: if you would like to join Mosaic Monday but don't know quite where to start, there is a tutorial on mosaic-making on my sidebar. Just scroll down, and click on the small blue mosaic.

Mosaic Monday: Fog

Last week we had grey skies, and lots of fog.  I never really knew I loved fog till I started taking pictures of it.  Now I guess you could call me a fog chaser.  I've got a lot more of these, but I don't want to depress you.  A week of grey skies had me longing for blue, which we finally got this weekend.  :)

This is my Instagram record of it.  By tomorrow, we are due for some snow flurries.  Back to winter.  :(

I can't wait till spring!

Just a note:  I've been trying to publish earlier in the day -- around 3:00 pm New York time, so that our friends in Europe don't have to get up in the middle of the night to join.  I'm so sorry that I didn't manage to get my act together this time, but I promise to try my very best to have my posts up by 3:00 pm from now on.  :)

Here are the instructions to join today's post:
1. Publish your Mosaic Monday post. The post may be about any subject you wish. The only stipulation is that it include a collage, or mosaic of photos.
2. Once it is published, click on the title of the post. This will lead you to the static link for your post. The static link is the page with only that post on it. Copy the url from your browser at the top of the page.
3. Paste the url into the appropriate inlinkz box in this post.
4. Type your name in the appropriate inlinkz box in this post.
5. Click on "Enter."
6. Please link back to this Mosaic Monday post so that your readers can find other wonderful mosaics.

That's all there is to it! It's always a good idea to then check and see if your link is working. If you have any questions, feel free to email me: mrcarroll(at)optonline.net

And a quick reminder: if you would like to join Mosaic Monday but don't know quite where to start, there is a tutorial on mosaic-making on my sidebar. Just scroll down, and click on the small blue mosaic.

Mosaic Monday: More Architect's Garden

First of all, thank you all so much  for your cheerful comments last week.  My daughter landed safely in Italy for the semester, and the rest of us are feeling better slowly but surely.  This has been quite a crazy winter so far.  As usual, I wait with bated breath for spring.  ;)

Here are some more photos from my September visit to the Architect's Garden in Pottersville, NJ.  If you love gardens with lots of good bones, this is the place for you.  Wonderful gravel paths and stone walls are abundant, as well as their signature boxwood hedges.  Most of the photos shown here are from the greenhouses, where there were plenty of sweet little potted plants and a quirky array of antiques to charm the senses.

Here are the instructions to join today's post:
1. Publish your Mosaic Monday post. The post may be about any subject you wish. The only stipulation is that it include a collage, or mosaic of photos.
2. Once it is published, click on the title of the post. This will lead you to the static link for your post. The static link is the page with only that post on it. Copy the url from your browser at the top of the page.
3. Paste the url into the appropriate inlinkz box in this post.
4. Type your name in the appropriate inlinkz box in this post.
5. Click on "Enter."
6. Please link back to this Mosaic Monday post so that your readers can find other wonderful mosaics.

That's all there is to it! It's always a good idea to then check and see if your link is working. If you have any questions, feel free to email me: mrcarroll(at)optonline.net

And a quick reminder: if you would like to join Mosaic Monday but don't know quite where to start, there is a tutorial on mosaic-making on my sidebar. Just scroll down, and click on the small blue mosaic.

Mosaic Monday: Under the Weather

It sounds like a TB ward in our house this week.  My son, my husband and I have all been coughing our lungs out with a nasty upper respiratory infection.  My daughter, who leaves on Monday for a semester in Italy, has been slathering herself in Purel and avoiding us like the plague.  Many cups of tea have been consumed.

So, how has your new year been going so far?  ;)

Here are the instructions to join today's post:
1. Publish your Mosaic Monday post. The post may be about any subject you wish. The only stipulation is that it include a collage, or mosaic of photos.
2. Once it is published, click on the title of the post. This will lead you to the static link for your post. The static link is the page with only that post on it. Copy the url from your browser at the top of the page.
3. Paste the url into the appropriate inlinkz box in this post.
4. Type your name in the appropriate inlinkz box in this post.
5. Click on "Enter."
6. Please link back to this Mosaic Monday post so that your readers can find other wonderful mosaics.

That's all there is to it! It's always a good idea to then check and see if your link is working. If you have any questions, feel free to email me: mrcarroll(at)optonline.net

And a quick reminder: if you would like to join Mosaic Monday but don't know quite where to start, there is a tutorial on mosaic-making on my sidebar. Just scroll down, and click on the small blue mosaic.