humble of heart

There's something about

dried flowers

that speaks

to me

so

eloquently

of

life.

LR preset: kk_pause
Textures: kk_anne and kk_bamboo

I gathered several of these
'daisy heads'
from my garden
this fall.
I found them
to be
infinitely more
captivating
than their
showy summertime
incarnation,
the black-eyed susan

I set up
this little still life
and captured it
with my iPhone 5
just so I could
experiment
with some apps.

as seen on Instagram

It is a mystery that unless unless the seed falls to the ground and unless it dies, it remains alone. I realize that there are many things in me that must die before He can live: my pride, my ambition, my impatience, my anger. The difficulty in loving my neighbor, or listening to the problems of another. There is much that I must die to. But unless these things are conquered, He cannot live in me.

 Mother Angelica

***

Linking up with

Friday Finds

weekend walk: just up the street

Most of us lead far more meaningful lives than we know.

Often finding meaning is not about doing things differently;

it is about seeing familiar things in new ways.

~Rachel Naomi Remen

There is an irrigation ditch at the top of our street,

and the path alongside it

is a popular destination for folks

in our little neighborhood

to go for a stroll.

Recently I took

my iPhone camera there

for a little spin

(funny how I think of my iPhone

primarily as a camera -

probably because that's the main reason

I got an iPhone in the first place)

No definite intentions

or real plans

for what I might

capture...

...just delighting

in the

serenity

and

simple beauty

of the place.

The dirt path is shaded by

many big old trees.

A couple of these

big trees

had been recently

cut down.

I mean

b i g.

Someone had

gathered some apples

...

and then left them

to rot.

I was of course

drawn to this rusty old

piece of machinery;

I think it controls

the water flow

somehow.

The entire ditch property is bordered by

several fenced-in back yards

with gated access

to the trail.

Lucky for me

the gates are weathered

and rather rickety.

One property

has this little old cottage

on the banks

of the ditch.

I like to imagine it

as an artist's studio.

October is a beautiful time of year,

with its contrasting colors

of early fall.

This was my favorite

wabi-sabi

fence/gate shot;

I am fascinated by the

tenacity of nature

as it overtakes

man's efforts.

Notes:

CAMERA

iPhone 5

ProCamera app

I love how I can control

focus and exposure

independently,

especially useful

on a hazy-bright day

with plenty of

dappled sun and shadows.

LIGHTROOM

I haven't yet figured out

how to efficiently

edit a batch of iphotos

(I'm sure there's an app for that)

so I just imported everything

into Lightroom.

Minimal editing:

just a bit of the basics

and minor cropping.

Then I auditioned several presets

and finally chose Kim's

kk_earthy.

PHOTOSHOP

No texture work needed;

I tried a few but found

that it interfered with

the clarity,

and literally

muddied the waters.

Linking up with

A Weekend Walk

Friday Finds

Be Still 52 (Week 22)

autumn gatherings

An invitation to

'gather, drop and place'

a few signs of the season

onto a

moodboard

was simply too much

to resist.

This moodboard was

really a joy

to create

from an ever-growing stash

of dried florals,

satisfying an inborn urge in me

to select, arrange, and compose

intuitively.

(I am a collector and organizer of things, after all)

I gathered 'stuff' casually

- over the course of a few days -

as I spied something on the ground

or 'on the vine,' almost dried

and fair game for picking

this time of year.

And while I had all this bounty

scattered about my studio,

I felt the urge

to set up

a still life

photo shoot.

*** 

One stem spoke to me

poignantly of life:

sadly fading, yet still

beautiful

graceful

s a c r e d

I needed

to draw that stem

to see

and

understand

how this

could

be.

Afterward

I wanted to draw

the simple beauty

of the five cherries

- one at a time - 

to see and capture

the uniqueness of

each one.

***

Notes:

CAMERA

Here's what I started with:

'gatherings'

on my

sewing table/desk

before Lillian marched through it

my moodboard set-up

in our garage:

I was hoping for some filtered afternoon light

but the wind forced me to close the garage door

and turn on the overhead light.

Canon EOS 6D

Tamron SP 24-70 f/2.8 lens

Manual Mode

hand-held

ISO 3200

f/5.0 1/125 sec

 my still life setup:

same camera and lens

ISO 400

f/5.0 1/4 sec

Lillian temporarily occupied

with a wad of paper

LIGHTROOM

I cropped and did my own basic edits,

then applied Kim's Moodswing preset,

following her accompanying video

to get those rich, moody tones.

PHOTOSHOP

Simple editing,

the same for all three images.

***

Linking up with

Be Still 52 (week 20)

Texture Tuesday

Friday Finds