Focus On: Food

Nom Nom Nom!

This week's Photo Prompt from Sally Russick of The Studio Sublime, "Foodie!"

Food is one of my favorite subjects. The growing, preparing and eating of same - Nom, nom.

I have tried to photograph food, with varying results. 

Here's the progression of some green and red bell peppers, and also some yellow onions from crisp and fresh, to ready to be placed on a sausage sandwich. 

Crisp and fresh, ready to be cooked.

Green peppers first, they take longer because they are not ripe!

Then the red peppers, still in a very hot pan

As they start too cook down, the onions go in.

Cover and walk away...ooops, a little overdone!

The essence of cooking, encouraging a state of change!

See how others have interpreted "Foodie!" at Sally's Studio Sublime.

Focus On: Reminiscence

Thinking about the Pansy Girls

Ok, I just made that one up. There's no such thing as the Pansy Girls. But I am reminiscing about my grandmother, my mother and myself, triggered by Sally Russick's photo prompt, "Reminisce."

Have you ever been in the middle of a busy day and all of a sudden you run across a certain baked good, candy, flower or an object catches your attention and you are sent right back to your childhood? 

Oh yes, yes I have. I live in the house my grandparents bought in 1949, and little reminders are everywhere. Many things have changed as well. But most years, someone has planted pansies, and I always am reminded of my grandmother, whose favorite flower they were. 

And of course, they were favorites of my mother, and well, me too! Sad to say my daughter finds them a bit off-putting, with those little funny faces in the middle. 

This year's crop. 

  Not too many faces there. 

For more reminiscence visit Sally's blog, The Studio Sublime. 

Focus on: The World Above

What's up there, anyway? 

This weeks's Focus on Life prompt from Sally Russick, of The Studio Sublime is "Look Up." Sometimes when I go out with my camera, I feel like it's "looking for little things on the ground" time. Also, I tend to use my outdoor walking time as my photography time. So it's mostly nature studies. 

This prompt got me thinking about spectacular bird shots (maybe on the wing?) Or one of the beautiful sunsets from the parking area where my daughter works. Or maybe I would look up and see something brand spanking new up there. 

Well.......

You should have seen the ones that got away. 

Anyway. 

Here are some shots I did consider worthy. 

What's this? An old railroad station? 

Nice roof lines, Huh?

Almost looks Southwestern. 

Actually, this is both the former Erie Railroad Station in Middletown New York, and the current home of the Middletown Thrall Library. It's a stunning restoration from any angle. Somehow, I managed to run out of memory while photographing the front entrance, and forgot to go back around after I deleted some pictures to make room. But I think these shots show the roof lines to good advantage. 

Oh, and here are some birdies. 

Wild Dove

Hawk

Can't resist the nature shots!

Go see what happens when others look up! The Studio Sublime.

Focus on: Feeling Hope

Hope is a little seed.

Who are the most hopeful people you know? 

Unless you live in the country, like I do, you probably won't answer that question with, "A farmer."  Even among those of us who live here, how many actually farm for a living? 

People who grow our food are the most hopeful people I can think of. Imagine placing your entire year's prospective earnings in the ground, and hoping it grows!

The day after Sally Russick's photo prompt, "Hope" arrived, this was our local newspaper front page.

What they are referring to in the headline is the fact that the dominant crop of our most successful farms for many years, has been onions. They grow really well in the "black dirt" of Orange County New York. But you can no longer count on onions to build a fortune, or even pay all the bills. 

But that does not kill the hope of farmers, they have started to diversify and add everything from corn and soy beans, to arugula and rich green grass turf.  

Here are some pictures of hope I captured this week. Not much green showing in the fields yet, but so much hope!

Going down into the prehistoric glacial lake bottom. 

You can see why they call it Black Dirt.

When frost is predicted, it's important to know which way the wind is blowing.  Or maybe the farmer has a small plane. 

It's been dry, so irrigation has started before the crop can be seen. Can you see the rainbows? 

To learn more about the Black Dirt Region of New York go HERE.

To find out how others interpreted HOPE, go to The Studio Sublime. 

Focus on: the Abstract

Making the image secondary.

Sally Russick's  Focus on Life prompt this week was "Abstract." She gave us several suggestions for how to create abstract photographs. But I decided to continue exploring  PicMonkey. 

Each week I do try to use new photographs for this project, but this time I used several images I had taken earlier, combined with an older picture, not taken by me, and one of the textures provided by PicMonkey to create the picture below. 

I used three images of the metal bridge near my home, one of the old bridge that it replaced, and a metal texture supplied by the program. And what you see below, I think qualifies as something brand new.

Here's a completely different effect, achieved by simply cropping  a slightly out-of-focus shot of a violet, then sharpening it and intensifying the color. 

Check in on what others have done to achieve abstraction at The Studio Sublime.