I'm Just Sayin

2021 Photo Critique Group

Challenge: Obsessive Compulsive 
Photo by Ross Millikan

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Ross says:

A marbled godwit among the American avocets. Shorebirds that dig in the mud often gather in large flocks at high tide, waiting for the tide to drop and expose the mud flats again. They usually gather by species, but there are often a few interlopers. I took a bunch of shots and like having the godwit off center. There is another just out of the frame on the upper right. Minor light adjustment in Lightroom.

52 Week Challenge Class

Challenge: One Shape
Photo by Jeff Aleman

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Jeff says:

Wheelbarrel in the snow

2021 Smart Phone Challenges

Challenge: Point
Photo by Laura Minch

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Laura says:

I’m fortunate that there is a lot of math homework in my house. I had many pencils to choose from.

Ricky's Challenge Photos:

Challenge: Point
from the 2021 Smart Phone Challenges

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Ricky says:

My attempt to compose a point with a reward at the end. This is actually just a light on the ceiling and my outstretched arm. It is edited with an extreme filter from prisma.

Challenge: Obsessive Compulsive
from the 2021 Photo Critique Group

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Ricky says:

I was in LaVeta from mid-week dealing with the hard-drive failure and still trying to present my first virtual Quilt Luminarium. In all of the chaos, I did not bring my camera to town. I'm still in town tending to the wrap up, and (being very bad) posting nearly 12 hours after the deadline. This is iPhone - I have all the little soldiers stair-stepping, but one is shorter and leaning - maybe a bit drunk...which I think is what I need to be after what transpired these past 8 days.

Mrs. Moo with her Viva Violetta

My original Viva Violetta
(pattern available)

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Mrs. Moo put her own spin on my Viva Violetta pattern and I love how it turned out!  Check out her story:

I have been quilting since 2000. We had moved from California to Colorado end of 2005. In 2009 I'm teaching begining quilting class at High Country Quilts CO. Saw your book Feathers & Urns, love the design and colors. I am always want to try a new technique and free motion quilting.

Also had your free motion DVD too.

I had start working on the quilt beginning 2011. This is the only quilt I have timed to see how long going to take to finished and it take about 380 hours to completed. I am very happy. Thanks to you "Ricky" your instructions are wonderful. Now I am teaching quilting class at First Stitches Pueblo and Canon City Colorado.

You can get my Viva Violetta pattern here. It is printed on demand so please allow an additional week or more for processing.

2021 Photo Critique Group

Challenge: Chair
Photo by Judith Baker Montano

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Judith says:

The weather changed rapidly on Sunday with cold overcast skies and a covering of fog. I had an idea about a lone chair set in unusual places and decided to scout out local area for my picture and got no further than the Town Lakes! I love mid-century Crossley Griffith chairs, because they remind me of my grandma Adeline Shantze and over the years, I have purchased a vintage assortment for the yard. I decided on the red chair and loaded it into the back of my car. I got up to the lakes around 3:00 p.m. and the fog was socked in. I must have been a sight, hiking from the road down to the iced over lake with a red metal chair slung over my shoulder, camera bag dangling off one elbow. Thank goodness for the weather and the Sunday afternoon football game, because no one was at the lake . I hauled the chair to the edge of the lake and then used it as a prop to walk out onto the ice. It reminded me of early days when I learned to ice skate using an old kitchen chair. Most Canadian kids can skate as soon as they can walk and it is quite common to see bundled up toddlers skating along, mostly on their ankles, just as happy as can be.

52 Week Challenge Class

Challenge: Long Depth
Photo by Barbara Chatelaine

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Barbara says:

This was bittersweet. I worked hard all week, and convinced myself to take a relaxing afternoon to take a photo of the Oaks and Oak Alley. Going to a plantation is a bittersweet experience to begin with. Then, you have to deal with ELEMENTS which has no concious or reasoning, and PEOPLE that do have concious and reasoning. These folks in the photo saw my set up, then decided to have a 20 minute CONVERSATION in my shot, all while looking at me. I sat there and waited. They walked away, then the cloud cover came, and I just felt so defeated. 

2021 Smart Phone Challenges

Challenge: Look Down
Photo by Mandella Edwards

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Mandella says:

Out for a walk we came across this frozen puddle with beautiful striations in the ice and a few hopeful blades of grass.

Ricky's Challenge Photos:

Challenge: Look Down
from the 2021 Smart Phone Challenges

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Ricky says:

I put my camera up against the bottom of the shelf in my pantry so it shot straight down on the cans below. I was pleasantly surprised with the repeated circles. This was edited in Prisma using one of the filters. I think it was called airplane.

Challenge: Chair
from the 2021 Photo Critique Group

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Ricky says:

This chair was hauled out of a alley next to a trash dumpster somewhere around 1980. In the 90s, my dad took it and refinished it and re-wove the seat. I liked the 'me and my shadow' feel for this. I went to Topaz 2 just to see what might help since is was mostly black and white and lifeless. I was surprised at this filter that made the nice purple and blue - so i went with it. The bit of wall texture added interest for me too.