Anytime I see something interesting, I try to take a photo of it.... well here is my attempt at taking a picture of icicles hanging from my roof top.... out my bedroom window. it just looked so pretty glistening in the morning sunlight.

Here are some pictures I took today at the Newport News Park. I really like the pictures with the frozen lake....

Just thought it was pretty

Snowflake

I wasn't even trying, but if you look closely at this picture, you can see individual snowflakes hanging off the branch. I was just inside my house seeing how well I could take pictures through the glass, since it was just to cold to want to go out at that moment... I didn't even notice them until I had loaded the pictures on the computer to view them. If I had known they were there, I would have gone out to try and get better close up pictures of them... I thought they looked so awesome... o'well... perhaps next time... LOL

First snow of the season

Last week we had our first dusting of snow for the winter season so far. Hopefully with more to come, as long as I don't have to get out in it to much.

I think sometimes one of my favorite things to do is to take a picture and see what creative way I can alter and make it looks nice and interesting.
sometimes it can be as simple as taking it and turning it in to a black and white photo, or a sepia or an infrared. Sometimes I like to take more time and perhaps erase a background or add a touch of color or sun rays....
Most of them, most of the time are just the way I took them.
These are some that I played with, just to see what the outcome would be.

I like how I can take one photo and make it look beautiful in several different ways. At least to me, I think changing it can look just as nice as the original.

The next photo has the original sunlight that was peering through, all I did was just make it a black and white... I really love black and white photos.

This one that I have posted before just turned out to be a really cool photo editing technique that I was playing around with that turned out quite interesting and almost natural.

I am hoping this next year I can really flourish on my creativity for my love of nature.

My view of fall

A few days ago I am driving Elizabeth to her dance class and had glanced over and see just about the most beautiful site I had ever seen. The sun at a certain time of days hits the trees along the Lee Hall Reservoir and casts an almost perfect image on the water of the trees lining the edge and all I could say is, I have to have a picture of that. Which was about 4:30 to 4:50 when the sun hits it just right. I knew the only way to get good pictures of it was going to be to rent paddle boats at the park and go out onto the water to take pictures.

so since John also, for Veterans Day, had Thursday and Friday off, and we had no kids for the day we decided to head over to Newport News Park and walk the trails while I took pictures. We also rented a paddle boat which turned out to be very relaxing to do and snapped pictures of the waters edge and all the colorful trees that morning.

My biggest challenge with taking pictures of the trees around here is that they are so tall and and skinny, not the bigger rounder trees that I am used to growing up with. So it makes a it a little challenging for me to get an angle that looks just right.

Then after the girls were out of school, which is about four o'clock when they get home, we headed over there again for the second time that day to head out on the paddle boats to take more pictures. We had about thirty minutes of good sun, and only thirty minutes to use the paddle boats, since the Park Ranger said it had to be back at five, sunset. It was all the time I needed.... Now of course being out on the paddle boat the water wasn't perfectly still as it looked just driving by... But I still think the reflection looks pretty cool.
These are just some of the pictures I captured.

As the shadows started to creep in......

I just couldn't let something as beautiful as this pass me by. I can't wait to hang these on my wall!!!

More pictures

Here are some fall pictures I am trying to take.... doesn't seem I quite captured the beauty as I would like.. but perhaps with a little practice...