Photos of the Week - Week 52

Critique Group Challenge: 

Week 1, Year Word

Photo by Angelia Peterson

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Angelia says:

Magical light was dancing around the valley tonight. We have had a week of straight rain and have almost recieved our whole months rain totals in the first week of the year. The sounds of tundra swans, canadian geese and one barred owl fill my ears as I snap the shutter. Play was my year word last year and I thouroughly loved it. So for the first time I'm going to repeat my year word... it was liberating. Wanting to make the scene look as cold as I felt I placed my lense ball on the hood of the white car I was driving. Guess what a round object does on a slanted hood... it rolls. I keep my ball wrapped in plastic wrap to help keep the fingerprints down. I snagged the plastic wrap, wadded it up, and it became my stop for the project. Happy accident: it added a little mysterious haze to the sky and mimicked snow instead of looking like a blatant car hood. I will happily Play and expland my mind keeping my shutter pointed ahead and ready. Hope you all have a marvelous 2022. 

52-Week Photo Challenge Class
Week 1 - Selective Focus

Week 52 Photo Challenge:

Week 1, Selective Focus

Photo by Anita Taylor

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This is the very first week for the newbies in my photography class. Their goal was to shoot manual, and to shoot a shallow depth of field, highlighting their main subject, and blurring the rest.

Anita says:

Just some coffee pods with fairy lights to give a festive look.

Smart Phone Photo Challenges
Week 1 - Year Word

Smart Phone Challenge:

Week 1, Year Word

Photo by Georgia Brown 

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Georgia says:

This is part of my family. It is my daughters wedding so some are new. Can you find the gay married couple, the cancer survivor, the doctor, the teacher, the fireman, the high functioning autistic? What they all have in common is love.

Smart Phone Challenge:

Week 1, Year Word - Miracles

Photo by Ricky Tims

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Ricky says:

To create the year word, miracle, on my smart phone I had to think of various subjects that I might be able to shoot without going into Photoshop and doing something fancy. It dawned on me, that it is a miracle that I often live above the clouds. My head is not in the clouds, ha ha, but I do find it a miracle that I can look down and see the vastness of the world below. I claim miracles for this year and hope that many of you will find them too 

Critique Group Challenge:

Week 1, Year Word - Miracles

Photo by Ricky Tims
from the 2021 Critique Group

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Ricky says:

My topic gave me fits, even though it's what I'm claiming for 2022. I needed/wanted to make sure my image felt like a miracle. I thought about my lens ball and so I took a photo of me holding it. That photo is very drab, but with some fancy photoshop footwork I incorproated color - aspen leaves, and a little paper mache star. I'm not sure this expresses a miracle, but it feels magical and when I look to the future... I see miracles where few have been in the past few years

Mirkwood, a small oak forest at Ricky's home (Autumn Rock)

Mirkwood by Ricky Tims

On my land, next to my house, there is a small forest of oak trees that I named Mirkwood after the forest in The Hobbit by JRR Tolkein. Mirkwood is a magical place and I have made several quilts using those trees as a theme. The wildfire in 2018 went through Mirkwood, burned the undergrowth, singed all of the trees, and was hot enough that several of the trees did not survive...but most are recovering.

The background for this quilt was dye painted on a single piece of fabric with a color wash to create the general color of the sky, foliage, and foreground in Autumn. I also painted little gray sticks to become trunks of the trees and then painted black bars to represent the fence. On top of the dyed piece I used a confetti type applique' to enhance the fall leaves. The fence posts are created with fabric strips placed on top of the dyed bars. The dye bleeds a bit behind the bars and softens the effect. The random, large-stitch, machine quilting stitching secures the confetti appliqué and by using free motion stitching with black thread I was able to create detail in the aspen trunks as well as to create the wire on the fencing.

This is the only quilt I have made that I had framed and put behind glass. It just seemed appropriate for some reason.

Photos of the Week - Week 52

Critique Group Challenge: 

Week 52, Personal Best

Photo by Pam Pengelly

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52-Week Photo Challenge Class
Week 52 - Personal Best

Week 52 Photo Challenge:

Week 52, Personal Best

Photo by Jill Kerttula

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Jill says:

This was shoot and Edited during "Dreamscape" week . I have gone back to this place several times since, but have never gotten the same light. or composition. I love the strong diagonal and circlular repition, the contridiction of the beautiful light and the rusty and dirty bikes.

Smart Phone Photo Challenges
Week 52 - Personal Best

Smart Phone Challenge:

Week 52, Personal Best

Photo by Charlotte MacNaughton 

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Charlotte says:

Went on a late sept camping trip with my Mom to one of the most beautiful places in the world: Lake O’Hara. Being there in Sept means that the larches are stunning and their colours turn.

Smart Phone Challenge:

Week 52, Personal Best

Photo by Ricky Tims

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Ricky says:

I enjoyed the filter on this - it's real and not real at the same time. Bold and strong - impact with minimal distractions. 

Critique Group Challenge:

Week 52, Personal Best

Photo by Ricky Tims
from the 2021 Critique Group

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Ricky says:

This was my choice for the "introspective" challenge and I find it unique - fun - and meaningful. As with everyone, it's hard to pick a personal best (which is not a favorite). This was in my top options and also set well with my spirit. It was taken in Taos, NM.

Photos of the Week - Week 51

Critique Group Challenge: 

Week 51, Seasonal Sensations

Photo by Wendy Hodina

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Wendy says:

Seasons Sensations -- or maybe Sensational?! Seasons greetings from Cleveland, Ohio and the Christmas Story House. Stopped by there this morning so our Chicago visitors could get a peek before they headed home. the line was out the door with people wanting to walk through the house. We settled for a stop at the gift shop and outside photos. Such a fun way to spend the morning and a lot of laughs! Saw the move this weekend too.
Topaz Filter Starlight Glitter

52-Week Photo Challenge Class
Week 51 - Celestial Celebration

Week 52 Photo Challenge:

Week 51, Celestial Celebration

Photo by Richard Stebbins

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Richard says:

My take on this weeks photo comes from John Denver ( I've seen it rainin' fire in the sky). This is from a beautiful Colorado morning sky. I played with the Gamut Warning to make the colors would be printable. I had to go through several layers to capture all the colors that were grayed out.

Smart Phone Photo Challenges
Week 51 - Heartwarming

Smart Phone Challenge:

Week 51, Little Star

Photo by MJ Hovis  

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MJ says:

There is nothing more heartwarming to me than having all the chicks back in the nest. and apparently we really like our Bombas Christmas socks that arrived in everyone's Christmas stockings this morning. Merry Christmas everyone!

Smart Phone Challenge:

Week 51, Heartwarming

Photo by Ricky Tims

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Ricky says:

What is more heartwarming than a loving family coming together for celebration and festivities. This setting represents a wonderful family time with much loving care taken to cook, decorate, and create a wonderful family memory for our dinner. 

Critique Group Challenge:

Week 51, Seasonal Sensations

Photo by Ricky Tims
from the 2021 Critique Group

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Ricky says:

For the past eight years I have been invited to be the "graphic artist" to create the Christmas card for my nephew and his family. They choose their theme, and I put it together. This year was Scooby Doo. There was actually a "mystery machine' on display in the decorated lawns in the country club area of Wichita Falls. Merry Christmas y'all!