Farmers' market

I went to the farmers' market over on Kings Drive this afternoon and after I bought my fruits and veggies I brought out the camera and took a few shots.  A guy who was working there said I was the third person this week he's seen doing photography at the market.  Markets are one of my favorite places to shoot and here are a few of today's bests.

lunchtime

I snapped this image today at lunch in Peppers, a restaurant in Boone.  I used an iPhone app, Hipstamatic, and the resulting photo looks a little like an old painting.  With this app you can change the film type, the lens and the flash to recreate old styles of photos.  I used a Helga Viking lens, Kodot Verichrome film and a standard flash.  The results are low resolution and noisy, but fun.

Praying mantis

Two years ago we had a praying mantis in our daylilies almost all summer.  I was hoping that she would have laid eggs and we would have more last summer.  No luck.  A few days ago, however, I found this one.  I was happy to have back this interesting visitor.  I find when I visit with her she stares intently at me and she seems as curious about me as I am about her.  For some reason I've loved these insects since I was a child, so it's good to have one of these intriguing creatures in the yard.

mother nature

Just too weird not to post.  I was walking around late this afternoon taking photos of mosses and lichens near my house when I decided to snap my shadow.  I really didn't even think about the exposure before I shot it and assumed it would be a "throwaway" image.  When I started working with it, I changed it to b&w, blew out the highlights and added more detail in the shadows, and what emerged looked like one of those "yeti" photos I've seen.  So, with the details of the plants in the shadow (the shadow was on the side of a hill) I decided it looked like "mother nature"....hence the title.

Shape, pattern and color

It's raining again, so I'm indoors looking for a subject.  Instead of chasing down a cat, I decided to work on composition using just shape, pattern and color elements.  This is a small fern frond against an orange background.  I liked the contrasting colors with the shape and the repetition of the leaves.  This reminds me of a pattern I might see on a bold wallpaper.

"Snack"

I left early to drive to BR today to play in a golf tournament and just got home a little bit ago.  It's raining outside, so tonight definitely has to be an indoor shot.  I was way too tired to be creative, so I just found Mojo under a light.  We call her "Snack" because she can always find some little bug or crumb or something to eat off the floor.  I caught her in the act when she was licking her lips.....

Honeybee

I needed an easy shot for an early post since I'm heading back to Charlotte for just one night and decided not to take home my computer or my camera bag (I may go into withdrawals!).  So I took this one this morning at breakfast for my friend John, a newbie beekeeper.  John, here's one of your babies doing its thing on with a hosta flower.

Daisies series

Very busy day, so tonight I needed something easy, so I decided to take a series of images of daisies.  Instead of the usual perspective, however, I decided to lie down underneath the daisies and shoot up into the fading sunlight.  I liked this different viewpoint until I realized that I was lying in a bunch of ants!  Oh well, I guess I have to suffer for my art occasionally!  Here are the best of the group.