Vacation Photos and Blogging Artist's Directory

Hi!  I'm back!  Didja miss me?  Huh, huh, did you?  Fine! ;-)

I just got back a few days ago from a nice relaxing vacation at Kern River.  Right before we left we got us some iPhones and I had fun taking tons of photos with the "hipstamatic" app!  Love it!! 

 Thought I'd share some of the photos with you. 

 

These three bottom ones were taken during our drive home (sadly, most of the photos are from the drives and not actually of Kern River...oops!) .   I have tons more to share with you.  This is just to start things off.

Lake Isabella

I also wanted to share this with you.  Geri over at My Heart Art is starting a directory for blogging artists.  If you want to be included hurry, she's gathering the info now to launch it this Monday, July 11th.  To find out more click on her blog name or the photo below to be  taken to her blog.

I'll be back in the next day or two to post my yellow "stuff" for the Summer of Color.  See you then.

Light and Beauty and SSS

There is something about the light in Oregon that takes my breath away, especially the late afternoon light.  That's my favorite time of day anyway because I LOVE the long shadows, and because the afternoon light seems to soften the appearance of everything that its warm glow caresses,

even paved roads and dirty, tattered old mail boxes.

These pictures were taken from my sister's house, at the end of her driveway.  Amazing.  Every afternoon I would just stare out at their front yard and try to take it all in...try to soak up the light and beauty that was right there in front of me...right in their yard.  I wondered if I would ever get anything done at this time of day if I lived there...and wondered how often her and her husband stop....and just breath it in.

This is for you V and B, to remind you to not take advantage of the beauty that surrounds you...and to remind all of us to do the same.  We may not all have a view like this, but there is always beauty that we could appreciate right there in front of us, which we probably take for granted.

What is it that is right there in front of you, that you would suddenly miss if it were gone?  Take a good look around.

These pictures below were taken IN their yard.  I was working just outside their garage, making them some art pieces (talk about an inspiring view!  picts of the artwork coming soon), and I looked up, caught my breath, then grabbed my camera and walked maybe 25 feet in front of me and snapped these shots.  Unbelievable.  Sooooo pretty!  I did nothing to any of these pictures, just simply captured the Lord's light and beauty that seemed to make things glow from within...hmm kind of like He can do with us if we let HIM.

I love how the leaves seem to capture and hold the light.

I've been wanting to participate in Shadow Shot Sundays for a while now, and I think that this might be a good week to start.  I love capturing the play of shadows and light, so now I found a good reason to keep it up!  It's as simple as it sounds, take photos of shadows,  post them, and link to the amazing person who created Shadow Shot Sundays so everyone could go check out all the other participants.   To check it out just click on the button below.  Enjoy!
                                                                                  

On My Way To Oregon

Don't these pictures just remind you of summertime!  These were taken at the Irvine Spectrum in So. Cal.

Just a quick post to let you know I'm going on a trip up to Oregon today.  I'll be back on the 18th, hopefully with some pretty Oregon pictures!  See you then.  Bye now.

Photography: Beautiful Waterfalls Part 2

Here's the other waterfall from Kern River, as promised in the last post.  It looks like a short fall, but in reality it has about a 60 ft drop.  Hmmm ... looking at these pictures makes me want to go back!  "Honey, pack your bags, we're goin for a drive!"

Can you feel the spray against your face?  Refreshing, huh?  Man, our Creator sure knows what He's doing.  The ultimate artist.

Photography: Beautiful Waterfalls Part 1

Here's a few pictures of one of the waterfalls (altough this one might be more of a waterslide) at Kern River.  I took tons of pictures on a hike on our recent vacation, so it's taken a while to go through them.  I decided to split the waterfalls into two posts, one for today and one for tuesday.  I was afraid that cramming them into one post might take the attention away from the beauty of each, so without further ado, here's the first...

Ahh...breathe it in.  So pretty, right?  I usually avoid turning my camera toward the sun, to avoid sun spot (or halos, or whatever they're called), but this time I was having fun experimenting with purposely trying to get some spots and glare from the sun.  I like how they turned out, who needs photoshop right ?(she says longingly while (not so) secretly hoping her dear husband will surprise her with it one day...wink wink).

Vacation!!

Just a quick post to let you know I'm gone on vacation till July 6th.  I'm going camping in Kern River with my husband and baby boy, and we're meeting some of our family and friends up there (yay, babysitters!)  I'm really looking forward to much needed quiet and downtime.  I'm going to miss you guys though.  I might try to sneak a look at some of your blogs while I'm there, and maybe even post, but I'm not sure if I'll get a chance, or internet access.  If not, I'll have fun catching up with you when I get back.

Toodles (did I really just say that?),

Esther