Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: vignette

(+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.

(+9 insets!) (Please view large against black) :) (If you would like to see the other pictures I've posted of Nice so far, here's a link to my Provence, France album ) Today I'm posting some of my pictures from our trip to Provence, France. I've been working on them when I can and the shocking part is that I've only dipped my toe into the first DAY when we were in Nice. The reality is that I'm not going to get to them all. There's just no way to do it so I will resign myself to having fun working on the pictures I get to. As I've been working on my pictures, I've done a lot of thinking about the problem of too many pictures and too little time. There are many schools of thought on the priority of processing pictures. I will often spend hours poring over images and deciding which ones to process. I while away the hours, happily choosing and cropping potential images in Adobe Bridge and RAW. The problem is that the pictures aren't actually processed. Basically, this translates to precious hours wasted with nothing to show for my efforts. Another of dealing with pictures is to pop around your folders looking at whatever grabs your attention and processing the ones that you like. That works well, especially if you immediately process pictures that you like and don't put it off to the side for later. Another way to deal with a folder of pictures is to look at them in order. Chuck them if they aren't good but when you find one that's usable, process it right then. What that means is that the pictures at the end of the line will be waiting forever perhaps, but at least you'll have pictures that are actually finished and ready to share. Yes, there may be some truly incredible pictures that won't get the attention they deserve, but if you don't see them, who cares? You might have remembered me mentioning that I've decided to just work on my France pictures in order. If this means I only share pictures from our first couple of days, so be it. I do remember some memorable pictures that I'll definitely get to but for now, working on my pictures in order has been really fun and interesting. About the pictures I'm posting today… As you all know, street photography is not my forte, but I really enjoy the opportunity to work on my technique. Since people usually don't want to be photographed, we hold our cameras at our sides, tilted up at people and interesting areas that we pass. The results are definitely hit or miss but I've gotten a surprising number of cool pictures as well. It's such a different facet of photography that looking at my pictures is really fascinating. Likewise, processing these pictures is a very different adventure too. One common problem with an unaimed photo is a subject that isn't sharp. So when I've found an otherwise interesting picture, I've had to process it in a way that the blur doesn't ruin the picture and instead becomes a planned element. This has translated to the use of a lot of filters and other techniques I don't normally use. The end result is that my Nice pictures seem to be taken by another version of me! It's been a delightful discovery and an awesome photographic adventure and I hope that you enjoy this set! By the way, just to remind you, Steve and I flew into Nice, France, spent the night in our Air B and B apartment and I walked from our apartment to a grocery store and back again to make breakfast. Later we went out and walked around Nice. It was really fun to walk around a busy European city. We loved the sights, the sounds, the language, the energy--all of it! Even the grime and filth when it showed itself. My main picture just makes me happy. I'm sure the plan was to get the whole person in the frame but as you can see, I only captured the feet. It would have likely been a nice picture as planned but to me, this picture is so much more interesting and shows such fun fashion. I used various filters to achieve the overall effect! PiP 1: This is an abstract of the sidewalk that I then applied filters to…isn't it pretty? :) PiP 2: Along our route I looked up and saw a cool palm tree and as I took the picture a seagull flew by! PiP 3: Steve and I enjoy taking pictures of each other while we're in photo-mode PiP 4: . We visited a really neat purse shop and outside were some purses for sale. (I have another picture of purses for another set of pictures!) PiP 5-7: Two pictures show collages of our shopping…into a grocery store and also to an open-air produce shop. PiP 7 shows a blue sequined flower that I also found in the produce shop PiP 8: A lady flashed by on a bicycle wearing a bandana to protect against gasoline fumes in the busy streets; I had a lot of fun keeping her in color and turning the rest to b/w. PiP 9: A man rode by with a terrier in the basket…this was a blurry picture and I decided to play with artistic filters to keep it! Pam, I looked up "feet" on your photo stream and though you didn't have anything specific, I did find an adorable picture of Flicka and Lucas waiting for treats and laying mannerly on the rug with their front feeties out in front of them! :) www.ipernity.com/doc/pamj/38634460 I hope that you had a good day today!! Sending hugs from southern Oregon! :)

(+5 insets...ENJOY!) (this picture is very nice at full size!) :) Holy cow, I'm late posting today! I usually try to put my picture up by about 5pm PST but I was carried away and totally forgot about the time. What was I carried away about? Why, tomorrow's Macro Monday project, of course!! First of all, I had a great time taking pictures of the subjects I came up with. Then, when I looked at the images on my computer, I was really happy that I got lots of usable shots of my ideas! I took a running leap and did a swan dive into my artistic persona. For the next few hours I swam around in Photoshop, playing with each image and having a wonderful time. When Steve asked me about dinner I was shocked to see that so much time had gone by! EEK! :D I'm feeling the magic of being in the Moment of my creativity, so today I'm sharing a rather dreamy image of a droplet-encased sporophyte with his people. This was taken on the day there was snow everywhere. It had mostly melted where this group was but I am beyond overjoyed that I took pictures even though the snow was gone. I hope you like this gorgeous sporophyte as much as I do...I am still trying to figure out how to get their autographs! :) My insets feature some of my past sporophyte images. Aren't they just amazing? I think they are all like tiny people. Little villagers with great big personalities! :) Pam, I wanted to find a magical image in your photo stream and I found just what I was looking for with the sunset image you posted that glows in the Golden Hour. It's drop-dead GORGEOUS!! Stunning sunset and incredible silhouettes...but that warm light...ohhhh, it's incredible!!! You added the awesome quote which states the following words that I love so much: Lost, yesterday, somewhere between sunrise and sunset, two golden hours, each set with sixty diamond minutes. No reward is offered for they are gone forever. ~ Horace Mann This was just perfect for the way I feel right now! Sending oodles of *HUGGGGGGZZZZZZ*!!!!

(+4 insets!) (view large!) :) Holy Toledo it's cold out there today, YIKES!! A mere 27.6°F/-2.4°C--that's the coldest it's been all winter! Maybe that's not Polar Vortex Cold , but my fingers and toes have a prominent opinion about it: One Lap is the Limit! Heh…I managed to get up to the top of our hill for a lovely sunrise picture with my phone and down to the front gate to grab our garbage can (pick-up was this morning at 0'dark hundred). There I saw a pool of water that froze in several stages. The appearance reminded me of white malachite and out came my phone for another picture! Then it was up the drive with the garbage can, the handle burning cold through my gloves into my complaining hands and then I flung myself into the house and became one with the heater to warm my hands up. (You can see an inset of the pool of water along with another frozen pool I photographed a while back with a neat formation) What the heck's the deal with extremely low temperatures?! It's just crazy how fast cold can affect you if the temperature is low enough. This begs the intellectual question: how much more does the temperature affect us when things become extreme? What I mean to say is, there's basically no difference to us when the change is in our comfort range, say 60-70°F/15.5-21°C. Big deal, who cares…we can tell there's a change but it doesn't really matter. But as we get further away from our comfort zone, how much more does this mean? For instance, does the difference between 30 degrees and 29 degrees affect us 1%, 5%, 10%, etc. Do lower numbers make this difference more extreme? Does 10 degrees and 9 degrees affect us 5%, 10%, 20%? I should look this up. I bet there is a difference because 27 degrees is FIERCELY COLD and 30 degrees is not NEARLY as cold to me. I found a partial answer! It depends a lot on how much fat you have stored on your body and how well-adjusted you are to that temperature. So, someone who has more padding is going to be much more comfortable in the cold than a lean, athletic person. I didn't find the exact answer I was looking for but I did find a very interesting article that talks about what it feels like to be in -50 degrees vs. -20 degrees. My opinion: I would like to NOT be in those temperatures, thank you very much! :D I was kind of surprised the frogs weren't singing since they seem to enjoy these ridiculously cold temperatures. However, all was quiet down at the pond this morning. In amusement, I pictured froggy popsicles, each with a "ribbit" ready to go but their vocal sacks were frozen so no noise came out. Give them time…it should warm up to 32 degrees down there soon enough and they'll be able to squeak something out! LOL. Tenacious little buddies. :) Since it's so cold AND because it's the day to post my Happy Fence Friday pictures, I'm sharing an image of a very frosty fence, featuring a gossamer necklace touched by Jack Frost. This I found on our deer fencing a month or so back when we had a lovely day of heavy frost. I'm also sharing another frosty barbed-wire picture from my photo shoot last week. :) Pam, can you remember the coldest weather you've walked around in? One year it got down to 8 degrees I think, and venturing outside was a very shocking experience. We wanted to know what it felt like… and then we didn't! Out…and yep, that's REALLY COLD…and inside again! :D What about you? For me, it's a struggle because I know the photography opportunities are amazing the colder it gets but there really is a potential danger of frostbite. I hope you've never been in a situation where frostbite was a real issue for you. I've been lucky in that regard but I've also never been stuck in a place that's too cold and I can't get out of it. Sending a nice, warm *HUGGGGGG* your way on this very cold day! :D Explored on 2/8/19, highest placement, #1.

(+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.

(+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.

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! :)