Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: white oak

I can't tell you how happy I am that I started this photography project. I feel like I've woken up from a very long hibernation and now my virtual tail's wagging nonstop and I'm seeing pictures everywhere I look. I no longer spend all of my time playing computer games and instead I'm reacquainting myself with my friends at ipernity, I'm meeting awesome new people, I'm checking out all of your inspiring photography and I'm having a great time letting each of you know how super your pictures are! The wonderful comments and letters I've been getting have made a huge difference to me and I'm feeling so much better about everything these days! I think it would be nice to give everyone a big hug, but since I can't actually do that, I'm doing my best to repay your kindness by letting you know that I appreciate the time you took to post pictures for me to enjoy! Today was the first really rainy day of the season and it was GLORIOUS!! I opened the front door this morning and was hit by the most wonderful autumn perfume!* When rain falls on parched grass, leaves and dirt after months of sizzling heat and drought, the fragrance in the air is intoxicating! I thought to myself, this air is a kind of nature's wine…sweet, rich and subtly complex with a myriad of individual scents that you can easily identify. Mmmmmmm…I stepped out, stretched, and couldn't stop pulling in enormous nose-fulls of air, enjoying every lovely whiff to the utmost. I set off on my walk, nearly dizzy from the deliciousness of the air swirling about me. I thought it would be a great idea to celebrate this day with a picture of something pretty for Pam. I spotted my little friend—a tiny, glistening, ancient mushroom, withered and exhausted after a long life of two weeks. I strained up on my tiptoes to stare at the droplet-laden sporophytes which made their home on top of the brick posts of our gate. It looked like a party up there and I thought it would be lovely to share an image of this. Was I going to be able to get a decent picture? Plenty of other ideas came to mind by the time I finished my walk and grabbed my camera. As it turned out, and even though I had my flash set up, I wasn't happy with my sporophyte or mushroom pictures. They weren't special enough or had focus issues, or they'd take too much work to turn into something I'd be happy with. But on the way down to the gate, something grabbed my attention and I turned to look. OH!! Would you just LOOK at that leaf!! It was caught on the way down to the ground, a sight that I never tire of. Dripping with rain, the oak leaf was painted with a rich and juicy mélange of autumn shades and I knew I'd found something special. At the time, I figured this picture would wait for another day. But as it turns out, this pretty leaf is my star to share. Pam, I was thinking about you as I looked at my subjects today, imagining what you would say, and I wondered how you would photograph them. What fun it would be to take pictures together. I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving my dear! *A HUGE THANK YOU to George ( tiabunna ) for letting me know that there is an official term for this: Petrichor ! Explored on 11/23/18, highest position, #11.

Please see our new group, Pictures for Pam , we would love to have you! You may read the latest news of Pam`s recoverery here (11/9/18): www.ipernity.com/home/christine.bentley ------------------------- Yesterday's hike to the top of the Upper Table Rock was great fun, partly because I took my husband's Canon 5D Mark III with me! I told myself to be reasonable with the pictures, but you know how it is…"OHHHH LOOK AT THAT!!!" A moment later, "OOOOOOOOH!!! HOW BEAUTIFUL!!!" And so I made my way up to the top, clicking away and immersing myself in the bliss of photography and appreciating the world around me through the lens of my camera. Do you feel as I do? That your camera is like an extension of yourself? I am so very thankful that I enacted my idea to take pictures for Pam to enjoy. After such a very long time, my unquenchable passion for photography has finally been reawakened. What a priceless gift. I truly did not know if I would come back to life again…I'd tried over and over again to reignite my inner flame, but it always sputtered out. Now we're cookin' with GAS!! :D By the time I got up to the top of the trail, I'd captured over 100 pictures, slightly embarrassed at my lack of control, but pleased that I was having such fun. I walked out from the shady oak forest and onto the brightly lit mesa, adjusting to the full sunlight with a big smile on my face. It's so cool up here! Covered with volcanic rocks everywhere, a prairie covers the top of this flat plain and makes a home to a myriad critters including a rare shrimp that completes its lifecycle every spring. A few moments later I was at the edge which looks out majestically over the lovely Rogue Valley. What a sight to see! I was perplexed at the haze in the air because I thought the forest fires in southern Oregon were pretty much out. Obviously I was wrong, I sighed. Snickering to myself, I peered through my camera's lens knowing what I would see. Hardly anything of course! That's because my 100mm macro lens is NOT wide-angle, and if I actually hoped to get an image of this view, it wouldn't be with this camera. Awww, poor I00mm…I do use it for everything but there's just no pretending with a huge view like this. So I pulled out my Samsung smartphone and took some pictures, including a corny selfie for my husband, which I sent to him as I always do when I hike up the Table Rocks. I wandered back along the mesa, taking some time to crawl around looking for some sporophytes to photograph or other nifty macro subjects. Drat--I'd neglected to bring my knee pads. Oh well! I did prepare myself with the likelihood that any macro shots would probably be blurry. Hand-held macros are something I'm pretty good at but I hadn't practiced. This meant almost certain failure, as macro photography is totally unforgiving. It takes patience and the willingness to make sets of various apertures and distances to ensure at least one good picture of a given subject will be a keeper. I wasn't in the mood. So I took a few pictures but didn't expect anything useable. I confirmed later that I got close with a few images but none of them were worthy of seeing the light of day. Deee-leeet! My hike down the trail yielded another few dozen pictures to be excited about. What a great day! How wonderful to be back in the game again! I looked forward to getting home to see how many turned out. Looking through my pictures on my computer, I was extremely pleased to find that the majority of my images were "keepers." It really does blow me away how much our photography skills mimic abilities such as driving a car…even though you may not have done it for a while, the skills come right back and merely need a brush-up to get back to where you left off! GROOVY!!! :D Working through the pile of images, I cropped each "keeper" into a pleasing composition in Canon's Camera Raw, chucking duds or unfavorable duplicates and after a while I looked up at the clock and realized I wasn't going to have time to create the collage I'd planned on. The Samsung snapshot came to mind which I quickly copied over and made it my picture for yesterday. The rest of the images I kept could be doled out over the coming days and weeks if I chose. It was a better plan. Today I sat down and opened up Adobe Bridge. I already knew the picture I would post for Pam to see! I remember walking up the sun-dappled trail and seeing a brilliant flash of yellow catch my eye. Coming closer with my camera, I found this lovely leaf glowing on its branch, with an added bonus of lovely spiderwebs to give it extra character. Talk about a winner of a leaf!! Hooray! Pam, I hope that you enjoy this beautiful treasure from the Upper Table Rock trail…it is as rich and warm as you are my dear! Feel better and take the glow of this beautiful leaf into your heart! :) Explored on 11/14/18, highest placement, #18.

Couldn't help taking a picture of this lovely White Oak Leaf on our lawn. Pulled the color out of the background to make it pop! Explored on 11/23/17, highest placement Page 4.

(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! :)

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 more picture in a note above! :) Dashing through the lower forest, everything was so huge all around me, moss as tall as my head, and dried grass as big as trees...and off in the distance I could hear a high pitched voice calling, "8...9...10...READY OR NOT, HERE I COME!!!" I leaped under a moss frond and pulled it over me. Just in the nick of time too, because as I peered through the green branches, a mushroom fairy glided into view and came to a stop, turning this way and that. She moved past me after a moment, calling, "COME OUT, COME OUT, WHEREVER YOU ARE!!" Suddenly I felt a sneeze coming on from the dust under the moss and burst out with a loud, "ACHOOO!!!!" Quick as a flash, the little mushroom fairy flew over and giggled in her tinkling voice, "I FOUND YOU!! I FOUND YOU!!!" I woke up with a start, opening my eyes in the morning light, the laughter from the mushroom fairy fading away from my evaporating dream. Smiling, I knew it was the sign I'd been waiting for! Dressing quickly, I went out into the drizzle and kept my camera under my sweater while I began peering around. This time I chose our smaller meadow. Looking here and there, I suddenly heard a little squeak, a little tinkle of a giggle, and looked down to find a tiny mushroom fairy staring up at me, quivering in delight! "I FOUND YOU! I FOUND YOU!!" Racing around my feet, I laughed out loud in joy and knelt down to say hello to my little friend. "Well, aren't you adorable! You're the first mushroom of the season, wouldn't you like to get your picture taken?!" More squeals of tinkling laughter and she stopped by some moss just long enough for me to capture her dainty form, and then off she zoomed into the meadow, squeaking a happy goodbye! Mushroom season has come at last. :) Immanuel Kant (22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher who is widely considered to be a central figure of modern philosophy. He argued that human concepts and categories structure our view of the world and its laws, and that reason is the source of morality. His thought continues to hold a major influence in contemporary thought, especially in fields such as metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, political philosophy, and aesthetics. Wikipedia: Immanuel Kant Explored on September 24, 2013. Highest placement, page 4.

2 more pictures in notes above! :) Another drizzly morning had me yanking on my rubber boots and pulling on a jacket, with my sights set for the top of our hill, and my aim being another hunt for the first mushrooms of the season. Yet again, I found none, but I did find some interesting fungus, though the images I got weren't quite good enough to share. On my way up the hill, I spotted some wild iris leaves, which were positively covered with droplets! These leaves repel water so perfectly that the droplets form beautiful round crystal balls all over the surface. I discovered them last year, so I was very happy to see them again today, even though I didn't find any mushrooms. Tomorrow is another day, and the nice thing about not finding mushrooms is that this image can be my Picture of the Day! :) By the way, if you are interested, this is my album of mushroom images, which will give you an idea how crazy I am about them! :D Mushroom Album Isaac McLellan (May 21, 1806-August 20, 1899) was an author and poet, some of whose work has achieved notability by republication in anthologies. Wikipedia: Isaac McLellan Explored on September 23, 2013. Highest placement, page 4.

3 more pictures in notes above! :) I awoke to the sound of rain pattering upon the windows and the fresh smell of a world washed clean drifted inside through the crack. As soon as there was a break in the storm, I got my camera and escaped out into the beautiful fall day. The world glistened around me and as I left for my walk, I hid my camera in my sweater because the droplets were still coming down, but only in a light drizzle. "Ohhhh, little mushrooms...where are you?!! I crept from log to log, and checked the moss in the trees, but it's still too early...or perhaps my little friends are hiding too well and giggling too quietly for me to hear them. That's ok, I can wait. Today I was simply dazzled by the first truly wet day of the season! The world was drenched and dripping everywhere, and it was really wonderful to get the chance to enjoy looking at droplets and moist leaves, and hear the sound of dripping and the happy songs of the birds in the trees. I found several trees with mossy bottoms that were quite torn up, and realized that mule deer bucks must have been rubbing their antlers there. Looking up, I saw the apple-sized wasp gall in the image above and was delighted to see it covered with droplets. In fact, the gall was shedding color, as some of the droplets looked like liquid amber! What a perfect Pick of the Day! :) Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline. He was also the first American to translate Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy and was one of the five Fireside Poets. Wikipedia: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow