Category: Photography

Spring Afternoon

We have had some amazing amounts of rain for our dry patch in Southern California. Local dams are spilling and water rationing, at least for the present, is not a big deal. Now, the weather is warmer and drier, and Mother Nature is happily letting us see her beauty. This time of year is a favorite of mine – flowers and fragrances and birds and butterflies.

A couple of days ago I went to our local botanical garden, and took photos – a lot of them. I had forgotten I had set up Nikon Z6ii up to do 5 bracketed images at a time, so that is what I got. I used Photomatix 7.xx to process them and LR and On1 to complete the process. I have a lot more to edit, keep, or discard, but for now, these will have to do.

Conejo Botanical Garden on 3-2-2026 (5 of 6)
Conejo Botanical Garden on 3-2-2026 (4 of 6)
Conejo Botanical Garden on 3-2-2026 (3 of 6)
Conejo Botanical Garden on 3-2-2026 (2 of 6)
Conejo Botanical Garden on 3-2-2026 (1 of 6)
Conejo Botanical Garden on 3-2-2026 (6 of 6)

Shy Sunflower

Today is my mother’s birthday – she would have been 106 today. From horse-drawn ice wagons to men in outer space, she saw a lot in her lifetime. She worked in television as a camera (wo)man during the 1940s in Chicago, broadcasting the Cubbies to the world and playing bit parts on live TV, to being a housewife with a bunch of kids. As a child, she was a challenge, and even when I became an adult she could push you. Now, as someone older and in my last loop of life, I really admire her non-traditional viewpoints and life she lived. Her independence of spirit and honesty and sense of justice are something not often seen when she was young, and nowadays. Thanks for being you, mom!

Gentle Spring

Gentle Spring

While I am busy with lots of other things – sewing, painting, learning 3-deck Canasta – I am also trying to move back into photography and just getting out. As well, editing photos I have taken, and adding mood to them which matches my mood but perhaps not what the original photo looked like! I guess that is cheating per some, but for me it is artistic license.

Before the day begins and I have read my snippets of depressing news, coffee in hand, I am reviewing past photos and editing them. This photo is one I took while at the Settling Ponds earlier this month.

Taken with a Canon G7X, edited with LR and On1.

The Settling Ponds

With the weather shifting from awful to delightful, and wanting to get oot and aboot, photography is always the excuse. As well, I have not been doing much in that arena. When I saw the Lens Artists Challenge #381- minimalist, black and white, I figured one way to get me moving was to edit some of the photos I took when a friend and I went to the settling ponds at a local water treatment plant. It is a dog-free bird sanctuary, and we saw egrets, herons, grebes, and a lot of others. It’s not a well-known place and the only person we saw was a man leaving with a spotting scope. My kind of place.

Now, whether or not these can be considered “minimalist” is up to you, but converted them to black and white, cropped them, sometimes severely to get a closer look, and how they hold up may be a bit dicey. Additionally, I pushed contrast, black and white, as well as dropping some of the highlights for a bit more detail.

Taken with a Canon G7X Mark II camera.