Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: sepia

(+6 insets) Wonderful Memories of Beverly Beach Today's presentation is my last from this gorgeous park. I hope we'll get to come back to enjoy it again but we certainly soaked up its beauty over the two-week stay we had here. I was simply blown away by the greenery everywhere and loved every opportunity to take walks on the trails that looped this campground. Though the weather was often too windy or stormy to go out on the beach, I was still able to take advantage on the few opportunities when it was nice. Today's Picture One day Steve came back from a walk with Pumpkin on the trail around the park and told me he'd discovered a fantastic group of mushrooms on a stump. The next day we went out together and he showed me the stump…it was right off the trail and yet I'd missed it! I took some pictures with my phone and the next day I came back for more. This one showed one lovely group that posed beautifully for me! Today's Insets Inset #1: I found one cluster of lovely Pacific Bleeding Hearts along the trail and was very happy to get some nice pictures. What I didn't realize is that some of the flowers which I've called Bleeding Hearts are actually a related plant called Squirrel Corn. (They are named for the interesting corn-like corms that grow in their roots.) Now that I know, whenever I find white or near-white flowers, they are Squirrel Corn, not these, which are truly Bleeding Hearts ( The difference between Bleeding Hearts and Squirrel Corn ). Inset #2: This Bristle Flower, or Piggy Back Plant, grew right next to the trail and was easy to overlook because of the brownish-looking flowers. It was only when you crouched down and stared at these tiny blossoms that you saw how beautiful their dramatic maroon and green-striped petals were! Inset #3: Partially framed with huge Skunk Cabbage leaves, this image shows the clear water of Spencer Creek and the glowing green plants along its banks. Inset #4: A vertical panorama of Spencer Creek with the lovely dappling on the streambed and green trees above. Inset #5: A look up the trail to the footbridge across Spencer Creek, you can barely pick it out in this emerald forest! Inset #6: A final look at the expansive coastline of Beverly Beach. So breathtaking, isn't it? Thank You For Stopping By! I am so happy that you've come to see my pictures! Things are getting crazy now with our trip set to start so soon! So much to do! I hope all is well for all of you, and please know how much it means to me that I have this wonderful community to hold me close. You're all so great. :)

(+10 insets!) The days are more and more lovely with blue skies dotted with clouds and warm sunshine that greets me every morning. The explosion of greenery is a wonder to behold and the flowers are popping up everywhere. The transformation is such a wonderful sight. As much as I love the glory of autumn's incredible show, there isn't any way to compete with spring. What a special time. With springtime comes more and more birdies! Our property is home to many species and they really get busy when breeding season arrives. We've recently filled our three bird feeders to give them an easy supply to care for their babies and every day they get more popular. About two weeks ago I made my own suet cakes using the bacon and sausage grease we'd been saving in containers and it's been such fun to see the birds gobbling them up. It is a favorite pastime now to look out the back window to see who's at the feeders. Such personalities they have! Acorn Woodpeckers zoom in singly but sometimes in twos and threes and assume a very defiant, "YOU TALKIN' TO ME?!" attitude. They squawk and posture, letting everyone know they are in charge! Oregon Juncos usually fly in as a small flock of 5-10 and we call them "The Crew". They are equally happy to eat from the feeders or bounce around on the ground picking up fallen goodies. Fairly shy, they will fly away if challenged any other birds. We adore these smartly-attired cutie pies and love to hear their darling twitters. The tiny "Skateboard Punks" are a favorite too, darling mouse-grey Pewees. With adorable triangular wedges of feathers which stick up on top of their heads, they are similar enough to tiny mohawks that we gave them a fitting nickname. Hopelessly cute, they fly in, grab a sunflower seed and disappear. A moment later, it will return for another one! Back and forth, what a fun sighting! If the coast is clear they will grab a sunflower seed, place it between their feet and stand on it. Then they'll hammer away at the seed, gobble the treat within and repeat the process until they're sufficiently full or scared off by another bird. There are many other visitors too--California and Spotted Towees, Scrub and Steller's Jays, Lark Sparrows and just yesterday we began seeing White-Breasted Nuthatches and a Starling too! There should be a number of others as time goes on. We are quite surprised that we haven't seen any finches yet because they were always a common sight at our feeders. Hopefully they will catch wind of the tasty goodies and come to visit! Since today is when I post my Happy Fence Friday picture I'm sharing an image that I photographed through fencing on our back deck and shows an adorable pewee (with its fancy hair lowered) enjoying some suet! You will find insets that show all the different birds that we've seen at our feeders so far this year. (Archive images :) Pam, it was great fun to look for just the right birdy picture to talk about! After much deliberation the prize today goes to your awesome Easter Phoebe Collage , which is just perfect for this wonderful springtime mood! What a grand collection of fantastic pictures that showcase the journey of egg to fledging of these cutie pies. What a show. I loved it!! I hope you are doing well today on this lovely SPRING day!! :) Explored on 3/22/19, highest placement, #4.

(+1 inset) For the past few days I've woken up to a very light dusting of snow which melts within an hour. I haven't been outside in the mess because it's a sloppy, muddy, slippery situation the moment I step off of our porch. The ground is totally saturated and it's a squelching, sloppy mess with every step. I just don't have the patience or interest to deal with mud caked on my shoes if ever I step off the gravel drive. Also, the dirt here is heavy clay so if I get mud on my shoes it's thick and heavy and makes me feel like Frankenstein with my huge feet of sticky clay! Today is another Thursday, which means it's time to post my Happy Fence Friday picture! I’ve got so many fun shots from the motorcycle trip that Steve took a few years ago, I don't know how I'll ever get through them all! :D Whenever I think about this trip, I am reminded of how grateful I am to our traveling photographer friend, Andy Spliethof. He encouraged me to take pictures from the back of the motorcycle as Steve took us on our adventures and I was finally brave enough to try. Once I got used to this method of photography it totally liberated me! It’s made it possible for me to document our trips in an incredible way and the memories from those images are priceless. The photo I'm featuring is from the stretch we rode between the extreme northern coast of California at Fort Bragg down to Santa Cruz, which is south of San Francisco. The coastline is rugged, wild and extremely beautiful. The roads are winding and rustic, full of countryside and seaside views that are totally breathtaking. There is a reason the west coast route from Canada to Baja, California (just north of Mexico) is so popular. The scenery is spectacular! (I've also included a picture I took before I had my Canon 5D Mk II/III when Steve and I drove down to Upper Lake Klammath. The area is brimming with beauty, including the fence shot I am including! :) Pam, I took a peek in your photo stream for a wonderful image and found myself staring dreamily at your glowing pear blossoms image . What lovely light! Incredible! I hope that you are having some pretty days to counter our muddy, sloppy ones! *BIG HUGS* from southern Oregon! Explored on 3/01/19, highest placement, #1.

(Please view large!) Oh, it's so nice to be home! There's nothing like a bit of perspective and time away to really enjoy being back after a trip! And what a fine trip we had. It was wonderful to visit my brother Brian and his wife Nathalie this past six days. Yet, getting back to your usual routine is really nice when you've been away for a while. I stepped outside this morning feeling totally overjoyed. There was a thick layer of frost blanketing everything around me, the ground crunched an enthusiastic greeting and I eagerly returned to my daily walk up and down the driveway. I was happy to see that the resident fox didn't leave a welcome-home present for me! As I relaxed into my exercise, I reflected on our trip down to the San Francisco Bay Area. We'd originally planned on driving into San Francisco for some night photography but as it turned out, we were perfectly happy just hanging out and relaxing. We've made mistakes in the past of packing way too much into our trips so this time we decided to do what felt right instead of what we'd planned to do, and this made our trip perfect. I brought my camera with the mere desire to take pictures around my brother and wife's home, with anything more being a bonus. I was happy as a clam capturing images of Nathalie's garden, interesting photos inside and out, all manner of stuff that caught my eye. It was such fun. But we also got to go on a couple of hikes into the hills above their home in San Anselmo, and there I got piles of pictures of a zillion different things! I think that what I should do is create some collages to show the neat subjects I captured. When I got home and copied my pictures over, the total number was 1444! Totally amazing! Today's image was from our first hike as the sun was creeping below the hills. It was impossible to miss the sun shining through a huge old oak tree but I had no idea that I would get the result I'm posting today! I have never had an image with so many stars without being a long-exposure shot! Pam, did you get the chance to visit any of the pretty places in Marin? I'm going to bet your friends took you to Muir Woods, which isn't too far from where my brother and wife live. That was one place I would like to visit again, this time with my camera. I'm so happy to hear from you that you'd gotten so many pictures…it will be nice to see a few more from your adventure! Thinking warm thoughts of you my dear! Explored on 1/5/19, highest placement, #6.

(+ 2 foggy panorama insets!) Although the days are now beginning to get longer, it was still pitch black when I got up today. I peeked out and saw the reason why. Storm clouds and a thick layer of fog hung heavy over our valley and kept the dawn at bay until Pumpkin and I were downstairs and getting the day started. Finally it began to get light, hooray! :) My morning was its normal bustle of activity as I prepared for my morning exercise. It would be nice to walk in the cool foggy setting. (see my insets!) As I started my first lap down to the gate I heard a wonderful sound. This noise made me stop walking and direct a beaming smile across the road and into a far tree. "Bar! Bar-bar-bar-bar-BAR!" Exactly HOW does one spell the sound of an outraged grey squirrel? I found an audio file that is very close to what I was hearing if you'd like to listen for yourself: Sounds of an annoyed Gray squirrel . (Our grey squirrels have fewer "barks" that are much louder, have more of an echo sound, and their calls carry a long distance.) I listened gleefully as a Western Grey Squirrel yelled an extremely disgruntled string of expletives at an unfortunate target nearby. "BAR-BAR-BAR! Bar! Bar-BAR-BAR-BAR!" Oh dear. Somebody was in BIG TROUBLE. I felt sorry for the recipient of the dressing-down. More yelling ensued. My eyes twinkled mischievously. I couldn't help snickering because whenever I hear this glorious scolding, I immediately picture what it looks like. As we all know, squirrels are hopelessly fluffy. Some might even describe them as blubberously round! When they vocalize, their torsos UNGULATE with each noise! At the same time, their tails flick in time to the furious outburst! If you should be so lucky as to see this, you will likely collapse onto the ground in a helpless fit of hysterics! I ask you: how can anything take a squirrel seriously when they deliver such a hilarious scolding? Grey squirrels aren't usually seen on our property, but I've encountered them a few times. I'll be out taking pictures, minding my own business and suddenly I become the target of a verbal lashing of epic proportion by a grey squirrel! Why, THE NERVE! How RUDE! Looking up, I worry about acorns raining down around me! Angry squirrel yells down at me, "HEY! HUMAN! GET OUTA HERE!!" Gasping in shock, all I can do is laugh in delight and ask for more. "What's that, Mr. Squirrelly Whirlly? I can't hear you!" Disgusted retorts ensue, "YOU HEARD ME! YOU STINK! LEAVE THIS PLACE! YOU'RE NOT WELCOME!" Peering up through the branches I spot the pulsing body and flicking tail. I lose it. "BWAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH!!!!" Outraged squirrel blasts a foul retort. "THIS IS NO LAUGHING MATTER, YOU DISPICABLE BI-PED!" I trade insults until tears of mirth are rolling down my cheeks and my sides are hurting from my nonstop chortling. I must leave before I die laughing, so I stagger away, giggling weakly as the sounds of a victorious squirrel are heard behind me. "THAT'S RIGHT, YOU DISGUSTING EXCUSE FOR A MAMMAL! FEAR ME, FOR I AM THE MASTER OF THIS PLACE! DO NOT COME BACK HERE OR FACE THE CONSEQUENCES!!" Wiping the tears from my cheeks I mumble in exhaustion, "Oh dear…I may never recover." What fun…oh how I adore tree squirrels! They have no idea how funny they are! Turning my focus to today's picture, it's HAPPY FENCE FRIDAY! LOL, ok well it's Thursday here in the US but posting my HFF picture today works out the best. I've selected another image from our motorcycle trip back in 2016. Since it was foggy today, I picked a misty image that I hope you'll all enjoy. This particular spot was along the California coast where a Cyprus forest obscured the view of the ocean. It was a rainy day with a thick layer of fog and you can see the mist beyond the trees. This picture was taken from my spot behind Steve as we enjoyed this beautiful ride towards San Francisco. Pam, I saw that you'd gotten to visit San Francisco not too long ago! I would have loved to try to come down from Oregon to meet you but it looks like you had a great time without any help from me! I do know that at some point Steve and I will be going on an RV trip around the US and so eventually there will be pin mark on the map where we visit you! What a fun occasion to think about. :) I can't wait to give you a real, honest to goodness *HUGGGGGGGG*!!!! :D Hope you're having a nice day my dear! Explored on 12/28/18, highest placement, #2.

This was a picture that I had trouble with, so I began playing with toned and b/w filters. I really liked the texture and light vignetting, which I felt worked nicely with the darker shape in the background.

Steve and I are very fortunate to live in a very beautiful area of southern Oregon, within just a few miles of the lovely Upper and Lower Table Rocks. I took this picture from the top of the Lower Table Rock, showing the Upper Tablerock and Mt. McCloughlin in the distance. As I was processing this image, I took a look at Topaz Lab's Black & White filter set, and found this sepia tone filter with vignette that give this image a cool vintage look! :)

A couple of days ago when I went out into the frosty morning to take pictures, I wandered past the beautiful Oak tree that lives in our large meadow and was taken by the misty scene. Turning the image into a sepia tone gave this image the magical, moody quality I saw that morning! :) Explored on November 25, 2013. Highest placement, page 8...

I brought my camera down to the lower forest to look for some mushrooms, and was amused to discover that some animal had wolfed down the large white mushroom I'd photographed yesterday. It was kind enough to leave the bottom of the stem so that I could identify it as *probably* a Short-Stemmed Russula mushroom (solid stem). I stepped into the forest for a few moments and looked for lumps pushing up the leaves...and I found one!! Pushing back some leaves, I discovered this trio! (and actually, the blurry white spot in the front is a fourth tiny one just beginning to gain size!) I decided to only expose their gills and pull away most of the the matter on their caps so you can see how they look. In the end, I ran into many problems. I realized that the caps were blown out and this hurt the image. I didn't clear enough of the leaves from the background. The 2.8 aperture exposure I took was too far away, so I didn't get the soft background I wanted. The forest was dark enough that I wasn't able to get an exposure with a high enough aperture to include the back edges of the mushrooms. ARGH! However, I did what I could to make this a nice image. I replaced the background with a texture and then I turned it into a sepia toned image and added a vignette to darken the lower edge and corners. I hope you like it! Is it too fussy? I've been staring at it so long I nearly chucked the whole thing! "THIS IS CRAP!!!" But Steve thought it was very nice so here you go. :)

A few days ago I mentioned that Steve and I went into town and I brought along my camera. While we were walking back to the car from a warehouse store called Costco, Steve pointed at a fabulous old car as we went past it. I was thinking about macros though, and it was parked around a bunch of cars, so I quickly forgot it. We got to our car, started putting stuff in the trunk when Steve said, "HEY! THERE'S THAT OLD CAR!!" I turned, crouched, and quickly took three pictures as it went by. I was totally amazed when I saw this one because it was all in the frame and the focus was great! I think that sometimes our best pictures come from situations like this--don't think, just aim and shoot! (A huge thank you to Martyn Gavan for identifying this car for me: 1927 Bentley, 6.5 Litre!!) (And if you'd like to see a page about this particular car, clever and awesome Keith Burton found this page! Vintage Bentleys: 1927 Bentley, 6.5 Litre [owned by Ron Rezek] ) (Additionally, I found a page in one of the local area's website's here! Ashland, Oregon's Local's Guide: 1927 Bentley 6.5liter Yf4648 ) I had other pictures to process that day, but yesterday I was looking for my pictures of Portia and I remembered this image. Another look convinced me that I really did need to process it. Here's what I did! First, I opened it up and clipped out the car, put it on another layer and then began playing with various ideas. Although this car is a nice forest green, I wanted this image to convey its gorgeous old-time style, so I dove into Topaz Labs Black & White Effects and wallowed in a sea of glorious mono and duo tones, settling finally on a beautiful sepia + selenium blend that gave rich chocolate tones and kept all the detail. The background got the same treatment, with an additional copy of the background receiving a 30% opacity of a filter called "Milk Memories" which gives a lovely white vignette and a wash of white over the whole image. (Hence the 30%--I didn't want to have a strong effect). Then I realized that I wanted some texture to add age, and where better to go than to Jerry Jone's amazing texture sets! I ended up using two of his textures in different opacities: Aborigine and Notaclue1. Thanks Jerry! :) By the way, if you would like to try using textures in your images, I found a very nice tutorial here: Digital Photography School: How to Use Textures to Enhance Your Photographs . Have fun and let me know if you create your own! :)

My main picture today looks like a dandelion seedhead, but it's actually a much larger flower called a Goatsbeard ! The seedheads can be 5" across, very impressive to see! Cinderella is a fictional character and a main character in Disney's twelfth animated film, Cinderella (1950), and its two sequels. She is the second in the Disney Princess line-up. Cinderella was voiced by Ilene Woods in the original film with Jennifer Hale taking over in the sequels. Wikipedia: Cinderella

Thought I would fool around with different color modes on this image and I thought it looked really nice in sepia. This image was taken during my trip to San Francisco during September 12-15, 2011.

I loved how this sign appeared to be leaning into the tunnel with this perspective. In actuality, it was off to the side much more than you would think. I walked here and there until I found just the right position to highlight this fun sign! :) This image was taken on Saturday, November 12, 2100.

This is a last shot in a series of images I took of a dead philidendron leaf I found on one of our houseplants. As I was about to throw it away, I realized it would be a beautiful subject to photograph. When I washed the dust off, I was surprised to see how beautifully the water beaded on the surface, and took several pictures which I've shown in my stream over the last couple of months (below I will post the other pictures I took) I thought it might be nice to try turning the image into a sepia tone and was very pleased at the result! I hope you like it too! Explored on June 16, 2012, placement at #48

A couple of days ago I visited one of my friend's photography stream and was stunned by the beauty of a picture he shared, that of a Rhododendron flower shown in black & white. I have been struggling with our Rhododendron flowers and unhappy with the pictures I've gotten. However, with the inspiration that Dr. Ewan filled me with, I went out this morning and took some pictures, and then transformed this one into a sepia monochrome which has the dreamy qualities I'd hoped to achieve. I would have never thought to turn this purple flower into a b/w image, thanks for the inspiration, Dr. Ewan! :) Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882) was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champion of individualism and a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society, and he disseminated his thoughts through dozens of published essays and more than 1,500 public lectures across the United States. Wikipedia: Ralph Waldo Emerson