Weekly Photo Challenge: Down
Thankfully, I’m not looking or feeling down!!
I’m feeling the opposite of down largely because I begin my new job on Tuesday!! Yesterday, though, I went to Zoo Miami and captured some photos that I think are sweet “down” photos.
The animals were really lively yesterday – they were surely enjoying the beautiful South Florida weather. Some of the animals, like the Gorillas, were having fun just being sleepy. And the Giraffes, well…. their life involves always looking down – they fit the bill rather well.
So, here are the photos for my interpretation of “Down.” I guess you could say this is my interpretation of an animal’s down-time…. 
Here’s a gorilla that we resemble, don’t you think? He’s either feeling pretty down about something, or his head is itchy! I’d wager his head is itchy!
And here he is just a moment later contemplating the grass:
And here he is…. praying?
And here’s another gorilla snoozing in the grass, under the shade of big rocks:
And here a lovely giraffe is doing what they usually do…. look down onto those of us below:
a valentine in white and pink
Although it’s not quite Valentines Day…. I’m getting in the spirit a bit early this year!
Happy and loving wishes to all….
Weekly Photo Challenge: Ready? Splash!
This week the word for the photo challenge is, ready.
This little guy is deciding whether to jump into the water.
To splash or not to splash? That is the question!
He stood there a while just looking into space. Perhaps he was just dreaming, or maybe he didn’t like the water fountain. Or, maybe he was wondering if he needed a bath. Do birds decide when they’re ready for a bath? Maybe!
Photo by Andrea O'Connell
He seemed leery about the water fountain. He wouldn’t jump in until the fountain stopped…
By Andrea O'Connell
Then the water suddenly stopped and he was ready….
Photo by Andrea O'Connell
And then, not two seconds later, big splash!
Photo by Andrea O'Connell
Love those splashes!
Photo by Andrea O'Connell
He is having a grand time, until another bird came and he flew away…. you can see the wake he left!
Photo by Andrea O'Connell
Click on any of the photos to see a larger version.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Hope
This week the theme of the weekly photo challenge is hope…. (which I’m full of).
The first thing I thought of? Being hired at Microsoft! Oh, how I am hoping.
I don’t want just any job, I want the best job. I want a job that feels more like love than work. I want to love having my job and I want my employer to love my passion and creativity and hard work, too.
So far, the Microsoft opportunity feels like the best fit. And so, when the interviews are over, I hope Microsoft hands me something that looks like this:
And, here’s another little reminder of hope.
It was spring and all the birdies were building their nests when I shot this picture, at Butterfly World, in Florida. This little fellow was trying to bring that entire twig up to his nest in a nearby tree.
He tried and tried and tried….hoping to get it to the nest. It was amazing to see.
Ultimately, though, he turned to another twig more his size, leaving that one a much bigger bird.
passion
I should be asleep, and dreaming – but I got caught up in colors! It’s fascinating how easy it is to manipulate colors on the computer. I’m engrossed with the experimentation of re-coloring.
Since the peacock is full of rich colors anyway, he makes a great canvas to play with.
Photo by Andrea O'Connell (2010)
This is a first draft of the peacock – I’m not totally satisfied with the clarity – not yet. And, speaking of clarity…..
My vision is improving. I am seeing the importance of passion – only just lately. Truly, it’s everything. Passion is everything. creating is everything. Creating wonderful work is everything.
passion is a pretty good guide. (Epiphany alert!!)
I used to think i was too passionate about work. But work has to be passionately wonderful. If it’s not, why do it at all? For money alone? No.
There’s a difference between “work” and work. In the past I thought personal success was measured by how much money I could make. And, in a sense it is, but it’s not integral, passion is first.
It’s about passion first, then money will come. It’s about creating and doing the work I love to do. That’s it. Well, it’s about time I figured that out!
Life is good.
a writer’s journal with photography
I just published a book! Well, “Blurb” is doing all the work….I just supplied the photos!
<—- That’s the cover of the book. It’s a photography journal that I titled “Journal of Dreams.”
There are about twenty of my nature photos (birds, butterflies and flowers), throughout the 100 page journal.
It is very easy to create a book and it’s totally free! It’s really fun to create. If you want to make a book, go to the Blurb website: www.blurb.com
You have to download some of their software to create your book, which is really no big deal and they (Blurb) make the rest easy. And, there are many other types of books that you can create. I started out making a date book, but switched to a journal midstream, and it was easy!
Click below to flip through my book. The entire book is there. You can purchase a copy via the link and I think I make about $5.00 (I’m not sure), on sales. I need to look into how that works.
They say they print every book with high-quality paper and binding. I just ordered a copy as a gift to my Mom; so I’ll let you know how it turns out. From what I’ve read, they do a really good job and there are Blurb authors who are publishing and selling their own books like crazy!
I love the idea!
My book is below – Let me know what you think!
Hope you’re having a GREAT weekend!
Moving Rosie’s shark picture down….
Had to get the picture of the poor shark away from the top of the page. Photo credit: Andrea O’Connell 1/10/2012
Weekly Photo Challenge: Launch (of 3 Herons)
This week’s challenge is about finding a photo, or photos, that say launch.
Last year, early one morning, there were three lovely Herons on the bank of the canal, in my backyard. I tiptoed out, camera in hand, to see if I could capture them as they enjoyed the quiet morning, side by side.
I managed to capture this first photo without their knowing it, but it took only moments for them to know I was there:
In this photo, the one in the middle is just beginning to sense my presence:
And, in the very next moment, the guy in the middle is unnerved and probably says to the others, as he’s launching, “Hey Buds, I’m not sticking around,” as he readies himself for take off:
And there he goes:
Now that number one is gone, number two is getting out of Dodge, and number three is right on his heels, or rather wings, getting ready for take off:
And here’s the last glimpse of number three, as he’s heading out of the frame and on his way:
Related articles
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Launch (dailypost.wordpress.com)
sparkles and lights and glowing butterflies
Photography and mixed media design is a wonderful art form that I have only just begun to experiment with.
I have much to learn about using Photography to illustrate unusual patterns and images that lie beneath what we see with our normal vision. The great thing about tools to enhance photography is its ability to bring out what wouldn’t normally be seen.
I just created the below image using my photograph of a butterfly, underneath the altered one. I am going to continue to experiment with this… it’s such fun!
The original photo I took with my Canon Rebel (I cropped the above image just a bit):
Happy, Happy, Happy New Year!
Well, we made it! It’s officially 2012. Unbelievable, isn’t it?
I’m looking forward to this brand new year. I don’t know what’s coming, but it’s going to be good. It’s going to be a great year!
There are some things I don’t like about a new year. I don’t enjoy doing taxes, not even when I get money back. I just don’t like doing it! And the holiday bills. The indulgences and over-spending always comes back to haunt me and I end up hating life for a couple of days. And, the resolution I hope to keep but never do….. The D. I. E. T. Oy. It’s the one resolution we all make, I suppose. I always make it, then break it, then make it again the first time I put on a pair of jeans that should fit but don’t and are so tight they barely move past my knees. This year, as every year, I gained cookie, cake and brownie pounds because my face went into every party plate which was more like a cow-trough than anything.
That was then, this is now, one more year to get the diet dilemma right!
Anyway, the first day of 2012 went by so fast! 2012 will probably go by just as fast as 2011 did, if we’re lucky, I guess. The older I get the faster times flies. Growing older makes time go faster and end shorter in equal measure. Well, that’s life, isn’t it?
I sure hope everyone is enjoying this holiday weekend! Here’s a little gift from me. I’m enclosing a few of my mixed-media experiments that I hope will bring you cheer! If you’d care to give me feedback on these images – good or bad – I would appreciate it so much.
Mixed Media Creations:
This first one is a photograph that I added a little shimmer to:
Captured on a river in Winter Park Florida
This second one is a lovely gazebo that I’ve changed to look like a painting using dots of paint, kind of like the style of the artist Georges Seurat.
Sort of like the style of Georges Seurat
This is a photo I took on a river in Winter Park, Florida. At the end of the river bend, a white boat house waits:
On the river in Winter Park, Florida
Here’s another version of the gazebo I’ve made to appear blue:
The gazebo on the river in Winter Park, Florida
Another version of the gazebo – I wanted to make it feel as if it shimmered:
- Another version of the gazebo on the river in Winter Park, Florida
I played with the colors of a Hummingbird. This is the same photo I posted earlier this week for the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge:
New colors for a Broad-tailed Hummingbird
:nd finally, here is a photo of birds sitting in a cypress tree in the middle of the river. I guess I’m into the color blue today because I washed this image in blue:
A look at birds in a cypress tree in the middle of a river
I would really love your feedback on these photos – good or BAD feedback is welcomed and appreciated!
I’ve uploaded all these images here: http://andrea-oconnell.artistwebsites.com/
Weekly Photo Challenge: Winter
Oh my! Old Man Winter hardly stops in South Florida – my neck of the woods.
When South Florida’s temps reach 60 degrees during the day, that’s cold! (And beautiful!)
There are rare South Florida days when the High-Temperature will get down to the 40′s or the 50′s. Alas, they are few and far between, but memorable. It’s pretty common to catch a whiff of moth balls on those very cold South Florida days. You’ll smell them well before you see them – furs are the usual suspects. When the furs come out, with the fine scent of moth-balls, you know it’s got to be below 60 degrees outside.
Anyway, this photo challenge is going to be a challenge, I thought at first. Then I remembered that I’d taken pictures of trees in Orlando that lost their leaves and seemed so brittle and old without them. Those pictures were a bit depressing and cold in the wrong way. Winter isn’t necessarily barren – there’s a lot of life happening in the winter, right?
Then, I looked at my bird photographs and saw this! It felt and looked like it could be winter, if you didn’t know it wasn’t! Well, I shot it during the winter months in Florida, anyway!
Can you feel the winter in it, too?
- A Jamaican Streamertail Hummingbird; Shot in Ft Lauderdale FL at Butterfly World by Andrea O’Connell
Creative Whack # 13: Look to Nature
Maybe it’s a result of being on vacation, but I’ve had to drag myself from off the couch to open my laptop. I’m being very lazy. But, it’s rather nice. It’s plenty nice!
I’m not even keeping track of the news this week…. My brother gets the New York Times every day. I opened it only once this week.
I needed a break from all the bad news anyway.
Tonight we were watching old re-runs of 60 Minutes, and after about an hour, or so of watching, I got very depressed. It was painful to be reminded of how horrible the economy is; how gloomy the job-market has looked – though it’s getting better. But hearing all the sad stories of people without any money, no jobs, being foreclosed on….. Although it is always upsetting to hear these heartbreaking stories, it was especially very upsetting tonight.
Even though I am not worried about finding work, it’s very unnerving to hear the stories of people who have been laid-off for over a year and still have no work. And I actually RESIGNED from a job!
I thought for a moment tonight: Am I nuts? And I answered myself: Well yes, just a little!
Seriously, I’m not really nuts. And it was not nutty to resign from the horrible job I had! Truly, that job would send me to the grave earlier than necessary had I stayed one day longer. Either that, or I fought the system via the EEOC. I really didn’t want to do that.
I couldn’t pretend to be happy working there anymore. Just because it’s a job, is not enough for me. I can’t just have a “job” for the sake of a job. Why should I spend my working hours being miserable, working with people who are miserable – and with people who are just miserable period? It felt dishonest and it felt like I was purposely hurting myself.
A lot of people hate work. I want to love my work. I have always loved my work, and I still do. I was allowing the environment – the negative and demeaning environment – to cause me to hate my work, and to not want to give my best. I began to resent giving them my best work, when I realized that I knew I had to get out of there.
Too many people stay at a job because they think they have no choice but to stay. I understand that, but I cannot do it. It goes against my nature. And, if I don’t care about my well-being, who will?
So, that leads me to Creative Whack 13, Look to Nature. These Creative Whacks, you may recall, were
Designed by Roger von Oech
created by Roger von Oech, who has a few wonderful products that stimulate creative thinking. I love his Creative Whack Pack and plan to discuss all 64 of them here, eventually.
So, what does look to nature mean? To me, it means many things. Most importantly it means, not denying or defying your own nature and instincts.
“Let nature by your guide,” is the first sentence on the card. It’s taken me a while, but I understand now that I must follow my instincts. When I don’t follow my instincts I get into trouble.
It’s not easy to allow nature or intuition be the guide. I certainly don’t always make the right decisions or take the right road, that’s for sure. And, I can be impulsive. I always work on that.
My decision to leave a job that was making me so unhappy was something I had to do despite all the risks. I had to ask myself if I was being impulsive. I truly can say: No, I was not. I’ve spent the last four and a half years being miserable – too long.
What I need help with is strength. Staying strong. Staying the course without undermining my success with fear of the unknown; or maybe, fear of success?
In order for nature to help, it’s important to clarify what the problem is.
I do need to think with a bit more clarity about what problem I need to solve. I’m pretty sure it’s going to be strength to get me to my next job – my next big thing.
The roots of trees say strength to me. I love trees, especially the big, old ones
The root systems that support the great Cypress trees and support all the things that live within the branches of the tree: The birds. The bird nests. The leaves. The squirrels that make the tree home. The animals and the insects that trust the tree. That is a good model for me.
Trust.
Now, there’s something I need…..
don’t let the bed bugs bite!
There’s a wonderful boat tour in Winter Park that traverses Lake Osceola and some of the little canals that finger off of it. The canals wind around some of the beautiful estates and the boat-houses that go with them.
We were all over the lake and it was a perfect day to be on the water - sunny, with just a bit of a cool wind. It was lovely.
I was particularly looking forward to photographing the flora and the fauna, the magnificent trees, and the abundant variety of birds that populate the lake.
Unfortunately, I forgot to change my camera lens for the trip. I had the macro lens on the camera, but needed a zoom. I still got some fairly good pictures, but not many. Soooooo if there is time, I will simply have to go back and do the trip all over again!
When I have a chance to go back, hopefully on Monday, I’ll share pictures of the lovely trees that are just covered with Spanish Moss. I did get one good one of the Spanish Moss, below.
Isn’t it amazing? The tour guide on our boat told us that the term “Don’t let the bed-bugs bite,” literally resulted from using Spanish Moss to stuff mattresses! Back then, apparently, the moss was not cleaned before it was stuffed in mattresses and pillows. The items were sold bugs and all.
Ford Motor company stuffed their car seats with the Spanish Moss, too. When an entire fleet of Ford autos were recalled as a result of customers complaining of bugs and bug-bites, the slogan, “Itching to drive a Ford” was born!
I’m sending you a Christmas tree. Well, a wannabe Christmas Tree, I suppose! It’s really a Cypress tree standing in the middle of the lake. Someone has attached ornaments to it and I can’t resist sharing it and wishing everyone a joyous holiday.
Sending you warm wishes for a merry Christmas and a happy fifth day of Chanukah!
A holiday Cypress
where it ends it begins and other angles
I am looking at things in different ways. different angles. necks don’t always stick out but they should, sometimes. maybe. for others. yes. and then again. no. but usually. yes. sticking my neck out. wondering. in shades like salmon. feathered. weathered. but fine. so happy.
See more here: http://aeoconnell.deviantart.com/
Where it ends, it begins!
(Photo taken at Flamingo Gardens, by Andrea O’Connell, all rights reserved.)
Weekly Photo Challenge: Waiting
The weekly photo challenge topic is waiting…. and it is a challenge because there are many ways to interpret what waiting is.
I chose to use one of my photos of butterflies as they slurp up the sweet nectar of a waiting flower.
Here it is - Update: Photo #2 is the original I posted last night.
I realized this morning I’d chosen the wrong photo to publish! I intended to post #1 last night. I like #1 because the wings are quiet and appear darker – in focus. However, in #1 the Butterfly’s face is less focused…. Trade off, I guess!
(Click on either photo to see the detail.)
#1 Flowers waiting for the Butterfly ~ Andrea O'Connell 2011
#2 Flowers waiting for the butterfly ~ Andrea O'Connell, 2011
