A good match: WPC

The first thing that jumped to mind for this week’s photo challenge was colour combinations that match or complement each other. As a graphic designer I’ve come across some horrific colour parings and some stunning ones. You may think but there’s only so many ways you can pair colours up, and this is true, but it’s the subtle variations in tones and hues that make the colours match. Or not.

Maybe that’s why I have such a problem with paint colours. My husband says I should go into the DIY store, buy the first colour of paint I like then throw it in the bin, then go buy another colour as I nearly always repaint over the first choice I make. I can’t help it, what looks good in swatches and trials never looks how I imagine it will look in a whole room. *sigh*

Anyway I thought I would go through my stock photos plus also take some new photos with matching colours and do a big lovely post about colours…. this is SO not happening! Not only am I running out of time, but work (real work that pays money) is once again getting in the way of online fun.

So here is my one pathetic photograph about matching colours – orange and yellow in this case. 2 colours that only nature can do justice to side-by-side. That was to have been the second part of my post; the colours that match/complement each other in nature. Maybe I’ll save that idea for a future post.

If you think this post is a bit rambly then don’t get me started on fonts!! My daughter got a wedding invitation in this week with six different fonts…. 6 DIFFERENT FONTS!!! *shaking my head*

Orange and yellow – a good match (macro of tulip petals incase you were wondering)

A Good Match

Holy Smokes Batman, you’re an empty-nester now!

Weird title, huh? That’s because I’m talking about two things today. Firstly I’m now an empty-nester (I tried to find an old photograph I have of an empty nest, but I couldn’t find it anywhere so I’m uploading this one with a full nest of Red Cardinal chicks)

Baby Red Cardinals

My daughter moved into her own apartment this week and the house is SO quiet now. It’s especially quiet because my husband has been away on a business trip this past week and doesn’t get back till Tuesday. My son will probably never be back full-time at home either; he’s in his second year at university and I reckon he’ll end up staying in further education his whole life. So it’s just me and the dog. I really thought I would be miserable this week but can I let you into a secret *whisper* it’s been great! I mean obviously I’d rather my husband was home but the house is SO CLEAN and tidy! It helps I’ve been busy and have been up to daughters new place a couple of times but I think I’m going to enjoy this empty nest lifestyle.

Baby Cardinal practising leaving the nest

Now the Holy Smokes Batman part. Well, this morning I decided to have a huge clearout of my closet and anything that I hadn’t worn in 6 years (since I moved to the USA) was going. A genius idea hit me when I started that because it would take me a couple of hours to do this so I would run the oven’s self-cleaning thingy whilst I was working away in the bedroom. My husband normally does all the yucky jobs (like oven cleaning) and uses obnoxious smelling cleaning fluid, rubber gloves, hazmat suit, the works. Hah, why doesn’t he ever use the self-cleaning button says I to dawg (yes, I talk to my dog, who doesn’t?) All I can say is I apologise to everyone on my street and it’s a good job my next door neighbour is a fireman! I walked into the kitchen and the smoke was belching out the oven. Oops.

Anyway here’s another couple of Red Cardinal pics, which have absolutely nothing to do with the story but this is a (kinda) photography blog after all.

Have a good week chummies 🙂

Male Cardinal

Female Cardinal

Against the Odds: WPC

A few years ago I did a National Photowalk in my nearest ‘big’ town where all sorts of amateur and professional photographers met up to wander round the town taking photographs of things that interested them. Well I found myself wandering through a small downtown park when I felt rather than saw an enormous swoosh go past me. It was a fabulous red-tailed hawk and at first I really did think there must have been a trained bird-of-prey type display going on in the park as I thought it was trailing some tethers on its legs. Lo and behold it landed in a tree right next to me and I saw it didn’t have any tethers, it was actually holding a dead squirrel. I’ve never gotten so close to nature before and even though it was pretty gruesome it was fascinating watching the hawk rip the guts out of the squirrel. Also they don’t eat the fur. It was ripping the fur off and dropping it on the ground. As I said fascinating and gruesome. I stood and watched it for a good 20 minutes then it moved trees. I followed it and watched it for another 15 minutes before it was time for me to leave. Did I get lucky or what? My camera had a 90mm lens on as I was trying to use only one lens that day to improve my composition skills, but even without the superzoom I think I managed to get some pretty decent shots. Anyway I thought these were the perfect photographs to go with this week’s theme of Against the Odds.

This next photograph was funny. I could just picture the squirrel going “Oh cr*p! I’ve picked the wrong tree! Maybe if I just stay still he won’t notice me…” “Mildred, Mildred, where are you? Watch out, there’s a big sock monkey up this tree!” (for sock monkey reference see a previous post https://alba1047.wordpress.com/2015/01/30/sock-monkeys-and-giant-mice/)

Uh-oh!!! Be the tree. Be the tree. I am the tree.

Poor Mildred was lunch for the hungry hawk (sounds a bit like a childrens book!)

“Have any of you seen Mildred?”

Against the Odds

Weekly photo challenge – Shadow

Rows and flows of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere
I’ve looked at clouds that way

It’s a Scottie Dog!

Not much time this week so falling back on old photographs again. This one was taken somewhere over the desert on the way to Nevada. As much as I don’t like travelling, give me a camera, some decent music with my earphones on and sit me at a window seat on a plane and I’m happy. Oh yeah, and my book(s).

I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down and still somehow
It’s cloud’s illusions I recall
I really don’t know clouds at all

Shadow

Solitude: Weekly photo challenge

Well, seeing as I’ve already done ‘Solitude’ twice before (last year it was a cop-out due to domestic crises and new fridges) but the first year was my favourite solitude shot

Photography 101: Solitude

Anyway, apart from a small moan about the same theme again, here’s my take on Solitude this time round. These were taken 3 years ago on a fabby trip to Las Vegas. I really didn’t think I would like it at all but I loved it! Oh, I knew I would like the Grand Canyon but I wasn’t sure about the casinos and hotels and Strip but it was fantastic. I’d go back in a hearbeat. And I didn’t gamble. Much. I didn’t actually pluck up the courage to put $20 in a slot machine till the last evening, and 1 hour later I was $300 up. Yes, I walked away. You can take the Scot out of Scotland, but you can’t take the money out of Vegas…. or something along those lines.

The loneliness of the long distance photographer. Hmmm, that’s not right!?!

Some more Grand Canyon shots thrown in for your perusal.

 

Solitude