Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: portrait

Hi everyone! I just wanted to say hello and extend my virtual hugs to everyone who's facing this pandemic in your very neighborhood, perhaps in your own house. I apologize for not stopping by to visit...I am having a terrible time trying to be more sociable and I'm so sorry for neglecting everyone. :( I have read that in these strange times, people will act very oddly as they try to come to grips with these world-wide changes that have blanketed everything. For me, it means doing my best to distract myself with something that keeps me away from the news and makes me really happy--I play games on my computer. And right now I'm playing the adorable Garden Paws, an adorable title that has totally engulfed me. It's exactly what I was looking for! I'm raising darling farm animals, running around doing errands for town folk, picking flowers and petting and taming super cute wild animals on my travels. This is just what I was looking for. Today I'm posting a picture of a gleaming Barn Swallow that I saw when Steve and I went on our first RV trip. It was at Upper Klamath Lake and we had a fantastic time! We saw so many of these beautiful birds and my new Sony did a great job getting me the birdy closeups I'd been pining for! *** Pam, your words of wisdom have been wonderful to read and think about. You're right. This is nature's way of giving us a bit of a smack and making us see the real picture. It will pass...but what a lasting impression it will leave. I hope you guys are safe and well! *BIG HUGS from southern Oregon* Explored on 3/27/20; highest placement #1.

(+2 insets!) (please view large for even more detail!) We had originally planned to visit two other places on our Central Oregon Trip, including a two-day side trip out to the coast at Tillamook and a four-night stay at Detroit Lake State Park. Because of our transmission snafu, we ended up turning our four nights at L.L. Stub Stewart State Park to 11 nights and cancelling our other destinations. However, we did end up adding a different destination for our last five nights: Diamond Lake! We'd discovered this place on the way home from my birthday trip last year. We'd headed up to Sun River for a few glorious days of hiking and biking at the end of September and on the way back to Medford we had enough time to stop off at a spot along the way that we'd only driven past before. There was a 10-mile paved path around this beautiful lake which seemed like the perfect distance for a brief stop. That trail turned out to be one of the most delightful we'd ever had the pleasure of riding on and we wanted to return and repeat the experience. I'm happy to report that going around Diamond Lake again was equally fantastic on our second time around! During our stay we also went on another bike ride and a long hike, along with two days of fishing! The RV campground we stayed at was super too, with a wonderful forest setting and lots of birds and other animals to enjoy. I went out with my macro lens one morning and got hundreds of neat images as I strolled along. Part of my wandering took me down to a small, lazy creek clogged with logs which emptied into Diamond Lake. There I found all kind of cool subjects by the water, including damselflies! My main picture today shows my lucky close-up portrait! I have an inset which shows the whole damselfly. Unfortunately the light was low enough that I couldn't get a proper full-dof image but I'm still very happy that I got such a nice, crisp image of its face. This guy was so brave…I just kept creeping closer and closer until I stopped because I didn't want to scare it away. I managed to get a dozen pictures that were crisp, hooray! :) And what luck…today's Saturday Self-Challenge is all about things that fly or float! :D (I'm also sharing an inset that shows the creek so you can see how filled with logs it was! The creek really seemed more like a pond but there was a culvert which led under the main road there and emptied into Diamond Lake) Pam, it's wonderful to be in communication with you again--I've really missed our little back and forth conversations! Best of all, I'm so happy that you are so understanding that I won't be able to post pictures every day when I'm away. It would have been nice but you know how it is! :D *SENDING BIG HUGS YOUR WAY!* Explored on 7/8/19; highest placement, #1.

(+3 insets!) Please view large for more hideous details! :D Steve and I are simply bouncing up and down in excitement!!!! Our tails are flapping wildly!! We cannot control our ear-to-ear grins and happy squeeing! On Monday, we will be driving our RV about an hour away to Upper Klamath Lake where we will park at a reserved campground space!!! AHHHHHHHH!!!! *more uncontrolled bouncing* We plan to arrive at about noon on Monday, stay for 3 nights and leave on the morning of the 4th day. This campsite has water and electricity hookups and more, so it will be just like being at home. Except for one thing…WE WON'T BE AT HOME! :D For our first trip we wanted to go somewhere close by that was familiar to us. It wasn't hard to choose because most places we thought of are still too cold to camp at…but not this spot! Upper Klamath is the largest lake in Oregon and features an enormous variety of local and migrant birds, both waterfowl and others. One of the coolest features found here is the 9.5 mile canoe trail that takes you around and through the shallow marshy areas and give you access to views of many species of waterfowl. Steve and I have paddled this trail one autumn many years ago and it was an amazing experience for both of us. If you'd like to see pictures of our adventure, I have an album that you'll enjoy: Upper Klamath Lake We know that Upper Klamath Lake attracts countless birds during springtime, both as a breeding ground and also a stop-over for birds in migration, but we've never been able to visit during any of the peak times. We're hoping to see lots of birds but even if we don't, it will be an incredibly beautiful place to stay! Where we're staying also has trails to hike and cycle, though we won't be bringing our bikes this time around. The plan is to drive out there and just hang out. We want to just enjoy the beautiful area and not do too much. We need to see how we like this camping business. Heh. Pumpkin and Molly will also be going so we'll have the whole family with us! We can't believe that we're really and truly going to begin our RV touring in just a few days! That being said, we still have lots of things to do but we'll be ready and on time when Monday rolls around. Today I'm featuring pictures I took a couple of days ago with my new Sony camera! Steve and I drove about 30 miles to Grants Pass to do some errands. Afterwards we drove to a park that lines the edge of the Rogue River. While Steve entertained himself on his phone, I hopped out and dove into ducky and goosy heaven! :) There are always lots of people-sensitized Canada Geese and Mallard Ducks there so I knew I'd have plenty of opportunities for some close-up bird pictures. Other species are usually there too and this day the star was a gorgeously hideous Muscovy Duck! A resting seagull made for some nice pictures too. I wasn't sure how much luck I'd have with my new camera but I clicked away and crossed my fingers. Imagine my delight when I discovered dozens of excellent shots that were crisp and included soft backgrounds! I can see that over-exposure will be an issue on bright days--you may notice some blowout here and there--but because I have the choice to save my images in RAW format, I was able to correct most of the problems very nicely. I can't tell you how pleased I am. This camera is so much better than my last bridge camera! I mean, obviously it should be--a camera from 2010 should be blown out of the water by one from 2017--but it's awesome to see this for myself. I am finding some aberrations at full zoom but hey, my Canon 100-300 had them too. They aren't bad and easy enough to fix. To have the freedom to capture portraits of animals I hadn't been able to for so many years…I'm over the moon! :) Today's main picture is a portrait of the Muscovy Duck. I'm afraid this species fell out of the Ugly Tree and hit every branch on the way down! *cringe* :D However, they are really interesting to look at and have gorgeous variegated feathers to appreciate. I'm also sharing a full view of the Muscovy and mallard hybrid with a portrait crop that I captured. The mallard looks different than the normal longer-faced types I've seen. I know they interbreed with other ducks sometimes, maybe that accounts for the lovely petite face? I'll have more to share in the next few days, including some neat Canada Geese images. :D Pam, I did a search for "duck" and came up with Flicka and his ducky toy ! Awwww, how adorable. Moosey and Zoey both loved to shred stuff but Moosey loved STICKS. He'd happily gnaw on a stick until there was nothing left…then he'd look up at us and he mouth would be covered in stick bits and drool…*shudder*…but he was so proud and happy that of course we'd exclaim, "YOU DID IT!! GOOD BOY MOOSIE!!!" And he'd beam with big happy eyes and bang his tail on the ground in joy! :D *sigh*…we miss our Moosey and Zoey ever so… I hope that the storm is long gone and sun has brightened your day like it has here! *BIG HUGS from southern Oregon* :) Explored on 4/20/19, highest placement, #3.

I saw these gentlemen at the pumpkin farm having a warm conversation. Great emotion there. This image was taken at Seven Oaks Farm, in Central Point, Oregon.

Laura had a good time taking pictures of the stones placed around the courtyard outside the entrance to the De Young Museum. I was happy that she was so focused because I was able to take some cute pictures of her! This image was taken during my trip to San Francisco during September 12-15, 2011.

This image was taken during my trip to San Francisco during September 12-15, 2011.

Steve and I celebrated our 4th year wedding anniversary a few days ago, so we went out to see a movie (Moneyball, it was great!). Afterwards, Steve saw one of those silly photo booths and dragged me in for some fun! As you can see, we had a great time! As you can also see, the quality of the printing for these photo booths has decended into the darkest pits of Hades! WOW...we couldn't believe how awful the quality was. The paper was thin and crappy, the images aren't even full color, and the resolution, exposure, EVERYTHING, is so horrible as to be laughable. However...the pictures turned out cute anyway! Just imagine if the quality was even a little bit better! I'll be posting pictures a little bit later, but until now, this will have to do!

This is my next set of 5 images from our trip to Tunnel 13. Here is my husband, showing how silly he can be! :D By the way, if you haven't visited, Steve would love to share his images with you! Take a peeky here: www.flickr.com/photos/steves-visions Thanks to all of you who have left comments and fav'ed my images! I appreciate them all! If you leave a comment, I try very hard to return the favor on the same day. I consider it both a compliment that you've taken the time to tell me what you think about my image(s) and an invitation for me to come see your photography as well! For those of you who may not know, there is a very fun, free Flickr competition site which you might like to take part in. It's called FlickrDuel and features dozens of ongoing competitions, or duels every day. You can enter your pictures into many different categories and vote on contests too. It's another way to enjoy your photography! This image was taken on Saturday, November 12, 2100.

Steve and I got the opportunity to go on a private tour of the High Cascade Emu Ranch back in May, and we even got to visit the nursery! In fact, everyone who wanted to hold a baby Emu was given the opportunity, and we were allowed to hold our chick for as long as we wanted! Kay, who is one of the owners of High Cascade Emu Ranch , gently picked up one baby after another out of the brooder and nestled each into our protective hands. Then the room was full of cooing and sounds of pure bliss and peeping babies. Here is a picture of Steve cradling his baby, lost in love. Below you will see a picture of one of the photographers, Amanda Richter , and a picture taken by my friend Nancy Magruder , of me, showing us in pure bliss with our little babies!

I'm in a rush tonight so I have no time to write about my pictures, so I'm going to make it fast! Here's another emu portrait...I can't get enough of those faces! Aren't they amazing?! I've uploaded two other pictures today and I hope you'll visit them too! Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :)

Steve was playing around with portraits yesterday and I decided to add Pumpkin to the mix! She is our 10 year old White Belly Caique, my best little friend in the whole world and I love her with all my heart!

The other day when Steve and I were in Celebrity Pets, I saw a cute Valentine's balloon, which I thought would make the perfect Valentine's card and also my pick of the day if I added a border. However, when I got up this morning, I saw the image in my mind of our darling parrot, Pumpkin, cuddled up in one of our red blankets and knew that was what I'd do! With the help of Steve doing the cuddling, I got three pictures and they were all wonderful, but this was my favorite! If you're wondering about the hearts, this is how I did it! I have lots of little paper punches in different shapes, including a heart. I found some cardboard in our recycling with glossy red paper on it and punched out about a dozen hearts. This morning I lined them up on white cardstock and used a book to make sure they were straight. Then I took a picture overhead. I opened the file in Photoshop, selected the hearts and pasted them onto their own layer in my image of Pumpkin. I duplicated them until they lined the entire length of the image. I then used some of the "FX special effects filters to create the embossed appearance. Finally, I created a black layer underneath, duplicated the layers to make a top and bottom border, added the off-white rule, and presto! Pretty hearts for my holiday picture! Laozi or Lao Tzu; also romanized as Lao Tse, Lao Tu, Lao-Tsu, Laotze, Laosi, Laocius, and other variations) (fl. 6th century BCE) was a philosopher of ancient China, best known as the author of the Tao Te Ching (often simply referred to as Laozi). His association with the Tào Té Chīng has led him to be traditionally considered the founder of philosophical Taoism (pronounced as "Daoism"). He is also revered as a deity in most religious forms of Taoist philosophy, which often refers to Laozi as Taishang Laojun, or "One of the Three Pure Ones". Wkipedia: Lao Tzu