Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: acorn

{+6 insets!} Photography is a bottomless pit of learning opportunities. We are constantly reminded that it's easy to make mistakes but it's also easy to learn from them too. A few days ago I went out to take pictures of the snow that blanketed everything on our property. I brought my flash attachment and had a lovely time finding fun subjects with snowy hats or otherwise adorned with snowy fluff. I have lately been swapping between my macro flash settings and my aperture priority settings and if I'm not paying attention I will end up with dozens of garbage pictures. Like I did the other day. *groan* When I'm in my usual set-up, aperture priority, I use my index finger to raise or lower the F-stop. I take sets of pictures with a range of apertures so I automatically do this as I roam around. However, if I'm in manual mode, for flash images, that same index finger movement switches the speed, not the aperture. If I'm not paying attention, I'll take a set of pictures and what I end up getting are a bunch at the same F-stop but at different speeds, and therefore blown out or too dark. AKA: junk. The way to adjust the aperture in manual mode is with my thumb on a radial dial on the back. Once again, if I'm not paying attention, I'll use my thumb to adjust aperture when I'm in aperture priority and that adjusts light balance...to the tune of +4 exposure compensation...which, once again, equals junk pictures. Sometimes I can recover enough detail in one of those pictures that it's ok to use but there's no getting around the fact that the whites are blown out. I am especially annoyed with myself because I got lots of really neat pictures of wasp galls, acorns and oak leaves with snow balanced precariously on top. Almost all of these pictures are disasters. It's not like it snows on a regular basis around here so I'm pretty unhappy about this. Granted, the bites that really hurt remind me not to do that again but the pictures are still garbage. I am going to see if any of these pictures are savable. We'll see. I'll finish this post later and let you see what I come up with. Well, I managed to get some nice pictures from the pile of +4 exposure compensation monstrosities! Some turned out better than others but I'm pretty surprised that I was able to recover any of them at all. Most of these pictures were almost WHITE from careless overexposure. However, since I use RAW image format, I can recover a lot of detail. It's not a miracle worker--if something's totally blown out or too dark, there's no way to add detail if there isn't any at all--but It can be astonishing the power you get with more pixels to work with. I needed to work on the backgrounds and make sure the subjects were properly lit to the best of my ability. I know a couple are kind of "meh" but I am happy with what I came up with. :) (Of course, this means that we will get several days of lovely snow falling where I can retake all of these pictures properly…if I didn't try to fix these, it would never snow again until we moved! MURPHY'S LAW! HA!!) I am sharing six insets to go along with the main image--a pair of acorns that decided they didn't want to fall from the tree! In case you were wondering, the background has been replaced! Pam, as I've been wandering around in your archives, I find myself extremely attracted to your collages. From where I sit, it looks like you sometimes begin with an image that's too busy but it's got a lovely subject. So then you get to work with artistically messing with the surrounding area to soften the busy aspects, and then you add more pictures to create a truly beautiful display. I love that you aren't willing to abandon an image just because it has some challenges, and that's what I did with my pictures today too! :) I hope your day is going as well as can be! *BIG HUGGGGGS* Explored on 2/13/19, highest placement, #2.

(+2 insets!) Do you ever wake up feeling "off"? That's how I felt when I got up this morning. My mood was scattered and out of sorts. Nervous and uneasy. I really can't figure out why I wasn't my usual boisterous and happy self but can tell you one thing: I didn't like it. So, I decided that my exercise today would be a "walking meditation." I don't practice meditation on a regular basis though I am sure it would be beneficial to me. I just never make time for it--which is probably a good indicator for doing more meditation. Of course you're supposed to be sitting still and relaxed to meditate, but many of the practices should be doable while in motion if you're focused on it. So as I walked up and down our driveway I repeated to myself different phrases like "Peace and serenity..." while thinking about my complete breath cycle. Or, "Breath in positive energy from the trees and plants around you...and breath out the negative energy..." I spent time thinking about how my body felt as I walked along, the way my breath felt, my heart beat, and the contraction of my muscles while I moved. I made a point to think about nothing but my walking meditation. As I began my walk, a very light rain was falling and I didn't bring my umbrella. I imagined the rain taking away the feelings that had made me feel so off when I woke up today. To keep myself focused to only what I was doing and to immerse myself in the moment and where I was, I asked myself, "List the things you can hear which make you happy and peaceful..." I listened intently while I moved along. "Twittering junkos are there in that tree...a single frog is croaking in the pond...an acorn woodpecker is calling another one... and I can hear some Canada Geese in the distance..." And "The sound my feet make crunching on the gravel...the squelching sound when I walk in the muddy clay...the sound of a pebble skittering along when it's kicked...the rain dripping from the trees...the sound of my breath as I walk...and the cry of a hawk flying over the trees..." I repeated this for the things that I saw which made me feel happy and at peace. As the light rain slowly increased to a proper downfall, I got my umbrella and listened to the rhythmic sound of the droplets pattering over my head. I felt like I was in a bubble of safety here. I spent the rest of my hour and 15 minutes by concentrating on feeling relaxed and happy, feeling grateful to those in my life who have played a part in getting me where I stand today. Picturing wonderful memories, people I loved and those who have passed on but thinking only of the happy memories from them. I finished my "Walking Meditation" feeling completely returned to my normal self. What a nice way to reset myself! Since it's been raining all day, I thought I'd share a few rainy day pictures I took the other day. The main picture is an adorable, tiny acorn that I found nestled in some moss. I was surprised at its nearly black color and how it glistened so beautifully with its slick, wet coat. It measured about half an inch in size and was so cute that I couldn't resist a picture! I'm also sharing a picture of a large rose hip from our rose bush in the front yard that's covered with droplets. I had a lot of fun playing with textures to dress up the plain background. The other inset is some water-soaked wild grass, its head totally engulfed in water! Pam, I did a search for "acorn" and found this very pretty natural collage, entitled, "Heartsease & Acorns, tiny Blueits & Wood Sorrel leaves." I love that you enjoy learning about the things in your pictures. It's so fascinating and fun to know all about the gifts we find as we look around our property. Hope you are faring well today, it's starting to get cold over here…supposed to snow tomorrow but I won't believe it until I see it! *HUGGGGGGS*!!! Explored on 2/4/19, highest placement, #2.

(+2 insets) It's the first day after Winter Solstice and it's already so much lighter out! Ok, not really. LOL, but it is very encouraging to know that the days are now getting longer. I shouldn't complain. After all, parts of Canada, Norway, Greenland, as well as the North and South poles, experience between several weeks and a couple of months where the sun doesn't come up at all! No thank you! When I looked outside this morning, I knew it was going to be really cold. Twinkling back at me, I was excited to see that the meadow was gleaming white with frost! What a nice change. It has been uncharacteristically mild this winter, with few days of frost and not as much rain as normal either. However, today was going to be a "normal" December day. When I headed out for my walk, the freezing cold bit into me instantly, yikes! I wasn't surprised to see it was a mere 26°F/-3.333°C degrees. In fact, no matter how fast I walked today, my extremities refused to do anything but get colder! That's really saying something because the walk up our driveway will really get your heart pumping if you don't dawdle. The grade (steepness) from the main road up to the base of our steep hill is about 15-20° degrees with a spot that's about 25° degrees. Plus, I'm out there for an hour and fifteen minutes of continuous hiking. That's cold! Incidentally, I bet this question has crossed some of your minds: "If you live in such a pretty area, why do you confine yourself to walking up and down your driveway?" The fact is, I love to walk around our lovely 3 miles/4.8km "block" and I used to do this every day. The problem is that it's much more flat and thus, not as good for exercise. It's an obvious difference in terms of exertion and personally, if I'm going to exercise, I'd like to get the most bang for my buck! After I got back inside today, I became one with our heater for the next 20 minutes until I was all fluffy and warm again. Then I got a hot cup of tea and fairly purred up to our "game room", where Steve and I have our computers. Later Steve went on his walk and returned to the house afterwards in utter amazement...he had on two sweaters, a scarf, a coat, a hat and thick gloves and he didn't take off a single thing during his whole hour! In honor of today's ridiculously cold temperatures, I'm sharing a picture of a frosted white Oak acorn cap. I captured this image a few weeks ago when we had one of those perfect frosts with lovely crystals all over everything. (Today's frost was lovely but not quite as dramatic.) I've also included another frost picture, frost covering a barrel with a puncture in the side. Pam, I wonder what the weather is like where you live. Do you get beautiful frosts? I hope that you're keeping warm and dry and getting lots of loving attention from friends and family. Happy holidays my dear! Here's to feeling better every day! :) Explored on 12/23/18, highest placement, #1.

(+3 insets) (View large for the best impact!) I kept waking up last night thinking about this week's Macro Monday theme: Advent. That's kind of a tough subject for me because although I am very spiritual, I am not religious. I felt pretty moody about the issue because it seemed kind of blatantly Christian. But instead of getting ruffled, I decided to focus on one of the suggestions: candles. Yesterday I rummaged around and found a few candles, put some Christmas lights up and played around for half an hour. I was pretty happy with the results except that I should have been back further to get better dof on the candle itself. In any event, I picked out three images that I liked and got them ready to post today. (See the insets) Except that...well, last week the topic was "Light Bulb" and I sort of did the very same thing except I used a light bulb instead of a candle. Where was my originality? I was annoyed—I hadn't produced the quality I would have preferred and I hadn't pushed myself to think outside the box or grow in any way. Finally giving up on sleep, I opened my laptop and began reading about Advent symbology. Candles, wreaths, Christmas trees, etc., but then I stopped on a word I didn't know: Chrismon . What that heck was a Chrismon? It's the joining of the word "Christ" and "monogram" and is an ornament that's usually white, but not always. These ornaments can be free-standing decorations or placed on a special Christmas tree that only has Chrismon ornaments—it's called a Chrismon tree. Ornaments can be made from many things that have specific meaning. For instance, evergreen trees represent eternal life. The traditional number of four candles represent the four weeks before Christmas. Each has its own meaning: hope, joy, faith and peace. Even colors have meaning. I thought it was all very interesting. I had no idea that Advent and Christmas were brimming with so many symbols to convey such deep meaning. To bring this together with my picture, a couple of days ago I took a walk along our ridge line. Although I was hunting for mushrooms, I couldn't stop myself from finding other things along the way. At one point I looked down and discovered a Black Oak acorn cap sitting on an enormous Ponderosa Pine cone. I was amazed and shook my head, considering the odds of that happening. I loved the way this pair looked so I took a set of pictures. I'd looked at the pictures on the computer and loved the dramatic look of the image. While learning about Advent symbology, I discovered that pine cones are often used because they signify death and resurrection, and acorns signify good luck and rebirth. My specific input is also that the acorn springs forth from the acorn cap. The second I put those two nuggets together, the joyful smile on my face warmed the whole room. Nature had provided me with the perfect picture, one that represented who I am and my kind of spirituality! Hooray! Pam, my idea of Advent when I think of you is the coming of your return to good health. Let us hope that each week that comes to pass, representing hope, joy, faith and peace combine together and bring that gift to you. Many *hugs*!! Explored on 12/11/18, highest placement, #1.

(1 more picture above in a note) Until I moved to southern Oregon, it never occurred to me that acorns look different depending on the species of tree they come from. Our home is surrounded by mostly White Oaks with a few Black Oaks here and there. Once I saw each kind, it was totally obvious! This is a White Oak Acorn, and if you roll your mouse over the picture, you'll see what a Black Oak Acorn looks like (fully ripe and on the ground). I think both of them are really interesting with super textures to appreciate! I found this one in September 2013 while walking around on our property. :)

2 pictures above in notes! (One of them is a close up of the fungus I photographed yesterday and completely forgot to upload the inset!) Although it was supposed to rain today, it was still dry when I bounced out of the house, eager to step through "Alice's looking glass" and explore the tiny world. I didn't have to go far. Just over to an Oak tree about 50 feet from the house, in fact. First I found the acorn cap in the second picture I'm sharing today, and when I was done getting various angles, I looked up to find the cap above, balanced between two twigs! (No, I didn't place it there!) It was one of those things where I thought, "Oh, that's neat!" but then I realized how special it was, and knew it would end up being my Picture of the Day! :) David Royston Bailey, CBE (born 2 January 1938) is an English photographer, regarded as one of the nation's best. He became a photographic assistant at the John French studio, then photographer for John Cole's Studio Five before being contracted as a fashion photographer for British Vogue magazine in 1960. Along with Terence Donovan and Brian Duffy, he captured and helped create the 'Swinging London' of the 1960s. In 2012, the BBC made a film of the story of his 1962 New York photoshoot with Jean Shrimpton. Wikipedia: David Bailey

I walked about 50 feet from the house to an Oak tree that has moss growing all over its lower branches. I've seen some beautiful things here before, and I was delighted to find this lovely acorn cap nestled in the moss. I originally planned to make this my Picture of the Day, until I looked up and saw the acorn cap balanced between two twigs! :)

4 pictures above in notes! :) Most of my pictures for Bokeh Thursday involve the tree you see under this destroyed acorn. When Steve and I moved here, we discovered an old, ruined tree house platform in a very dead Oak tree. We will never know if the building of that platform killed the tree but it seems unlikely. However, the tree had been simply massive (for trees in this area) with a base of about 4-5 feet and I was so sad that it had been dead for many years. There were nails pounded into the bark all over, and a crude, broken wooden ladder wound its way up one side. It looked unsafe and we never considered trying to climb up the old skeleton. However, I didn't realize HOW unsafe it truly was until I took the dogs on a walk last early spring and stopped dead in my tracks when I found that the entire tree had fallen over in a heavy storm! So, today's Bokeh Thursday pictures are about the destruction I found on this poor dead tree. First I spotted destroyed acorns on top of the trunk and found a piece that was interesting and you can see lots of pieces in bokeh behind! :)

1 more picture and a text note above! :) The acorns are falling from the trees all over the property, and birds like blue jays and acorn woodpeckers are carrying them to our roof and pounding away at them, sounding like miniature jack hammers! :D Just this afternoon a bird was hammering away on an acorn placed on one of our metal rain gutters and the dogs all started barking and growling because they thought someone was at the door! ROFLMAO!!! :D So funny!!! With that in mind, I went out today to get a picture of an acorn to share! This one is from a White Oak Tree...I think I will try to get a picture of a Black Oak Tree acorn on the tree too! :) 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 Explored on October 8, 2013. Highest placement, page 7.

1 picture above in a note :) I found this lovely little acorn cap while walking around the other day. It's always been amazing to me how water can change, reveal, and intensify colors and textures in an object. I've always known this happening in rocks, but I didn't know it happened with things like acorns too. A couple of days ago I shared an image of a beautiful acorn (see the inset above). When dry, it was dull, plain, boring. But when moistened, the colors and patterns were vivid and beautiful. Here is another example, this time an acorn cap. When dry, it's nothing special, but here is how I found it, wet from the rain and absolutely beautiful! The next time you go out on a nature walk, see what happens when you splash some water on something like a rock or a dull piece of wood. You might be amazed at the colors it shows! :)

Walking along the path that travels around our lower forest, I looked down and did a double-take when I saw this odd-looking shape on the ground. I was amazed when I realized it was an acorn! How beautiful decay can be! I decided to bring this acorn home so that I can put it on a spindle and take pictures all the way around it. When I got home, I took it out so Steve could see it, but by that time it had gotten dry and looked like a normal acorn with little holes! So I put it under the faucet and like magic, the beautiful acorn reappeared! SO COOL!! I'll be creating this special animated gif file in the next week or so when I have some time to fool around with this project! :)

[best appreciated at full size against black] How many of us have seen an acorn? I bet you've had lots of fun picking them up from the ground, pulling them off trees, examining their cute little hats and throwing them at your friends! But...have you ever seen one that's GROWING?!!!! I was down in our granite valley one day, testing out our ring flash and looking for cool stuff to take pictures of, when I looked down and saw something on the moss. At first I thought maybe it was an odd pebble...but looking closer, I saw what it was! A sprouting acorn with an exposed root that was trying to work its way into the ground! AMAZING! I've seen thousands of acorns...but never have I seen one that was sprouting! If you would like to know more about acorns, Wikipedia has a whole page devoted to them! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acorn This image was taken in Janurary, 2012.

One day I was taking some pictures of mushrooms and noticed something odd in the background. Leaning closer and lifting a leaf to get a better view, this is what I saw! Some day this little sprout might be a 30-foot Oak tree, dropping acorns of its own for another generation to follow!

I popped out out of my bed this morning to catch a picture of frost before it melted away in the brilliant sunshine. This is an acorn top, laying on a board! I hope you like it! Walter Elias "Walt" Disney (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966) was an American business magnate, animator, cartoonist, producer, director, screenwriter, philanthropist and voice actor. A major figure within the American animation industry and throughout the world, he is regarded as an international icon, well known for his influence and contributions to the field of entertainment during the 20th century. As a Hollywood business mogul, he, along with his brother Roy O. Disney, co-founded Walt Disney Productions, which later became one of the best-known motion picture production companies in the world. The corporation is now known as The Walt Disney Company and had an annual revenue of approximately US$45 billion in the 2013 financial year. Wiki: Walt Disney

I remember taking this picture on the second day of this project! I couldn't decide which acorn picture I wanted to use for my 365 but finally picked the image below. It reminds me of a diamond-encrusted crown! :)