flowers . . . flowers . . . flowers . . .

One goal for 2018 that I did not put in writing is to work on my photography.

I would love to take a photography class at the local college, but the courses last 18 weeks and as a new grandmother, I hope to be out of town several days a month visiting this little munchkin.

So, I am simply playing around with my camera and flowers seem to be my focus.

Just as I prefer color in my decorating, I am always looking for something colorful to photograph.

 I love this post in the garden and if I stood at the right angle, the rose bush appeared to be right in front of it.

I zoomed in and to my surprise, when I edited the photo, I noticed a delicate cobweb.

I've been trying my hand with floral arranging and then playing around with different shots.

I had a lot of fun creating this arrangement in a cute little teacup and really like how the shot turned out,

but Steve said the teacup on that stump was the winner.

 As I was leaving a shop that I visit way too much, my eye caught this brick wall in the parking lot for the first time.

A few days later I bought some Trader Joe's flowers and went back to take a photo with that great wall.

And on that visit, I spotted this cute little house right across the street from the shop - I'm a sucker for picket fences.

January felt like spring and February is shaping up the same way so we've been spending lots of time outside with the flowers.

 Saturday you will find me in the garden because I went a little crazy with the flowers at the nursery.

Wasting Time

I love this John Lennon quote because it reflects my life.

I love taking pictures and I love posting 1 picture daily on Instagram, 

but rarely is the picture I post the first (or second or third . . .) shot I take.

I was looking at my computer desktop this morning and it was filled with a ridiculous amount of photos all of the same thing.

The other day I wanted to take a photo of my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt to show Jann of Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson because she recently posted a pic of a similar quilt she found at an estate sale.

I literally took more that 50 shots (and edited most of them) just to get one pic to post on Instagram.

That led me to take my grapevine basket off the bench to get it's own photo, but I just wasn't satisfied with the photo.

 I added a few more flowers, but I thought the photo needed more color

so  I swapped the flowers in the basket, but I still wasn't sure about the photo.

I placed the basket on my sewing machine base table in the garden, 

tried it on a tree stump by my garden house

and then on the patio table.

My last attempt was to put the basket on one of the garden chairs

and this was the final edited shot I posted on Instagram.

After looking back at all the photos to write this post,  I am wondering if all those shots and all that editing was a waste of time because I really like this view that I took about 40 shots before that final picture.

If I listen to the words of John Lennon, all the photos I take

 and all the editing is not wasted time because I am enjoying myself.

Now my only problem is deciding how to waste my time tomorrow.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 

Join me at 

Poofing the Pillows for Thoughts of Home Thursday

What to do ... what to do?

With my dominant hand not working properly, I have had to find other things to do.

Via

Monday we took a drive along Pacific Coast Highway

to visit our son and his wife in their new home in Santa Monica - this is their view.

Via

While we were there, JP gave me his Canon Eos Rebel T3i camera.

So, I have been taking photos 

while I try to learn the ins and outs of the camera.

After cortisone shots in my thumb and wrist on Tuesday, I actually feel pretty good so we went out kayaking yesterday

and I captured some pics of the seals playing around our boats - not shot with my new camera!

I have been taking pictures of the house and objects that I can zoom in on.

One of the reasons I wanted my son's camera was because I have been wanting to get photos with an object in focus, but the background hazy.

This shot of my Valentine centerpiece and an old dried rose came out exactly as I hoped

as did this shot.

But, I haven't captured a hazy background since.

That's okay

because I have plenty of time to figure out the camera

and come up with new "handless hobbies".

Who would have thought ...

I am almost never without a camera.

I took the photo above last weekend with my iPhone while Steve and I were enjoying a romantic dinner at a local restaurant.

I snapped this photo with my little Canon Power Shot D10 while showing family around town.

Most of my photos are taken with Steve's Canon Power Shot SX50 HS.

Before blogging, I didn't have much interest in photography?

It is embarrassing to look back at my very first blog post and the pictures I used.

That post had only 2 photos - taken at night, with poor quality and I didn't even edit the photos.

But, through blogging, 

I began to understand a little bit about framing a photo, color, lighting, etc.

As my photos improved, 

people started writing positive comments on posts about the photos.

Those comments encouraged me to work on my skills

 although I still have no idea what I am doing.

I am enjoying this new hobby of staging photos

and really looking at the world around me.

So today, I did something I never even dreamed of doing.

I entered 5 photos in the Ventura County Fair.

The Bluffs 

Bee At Work

Carol's Garden

Green Gate

Matilija Poppy

Who would have thought that I would ever enter a photograph in a contest?