About 6-8 inches of snow blanketed our neighborhood last night. Today was a beautiful day for a walk in the snow, with some playfulness along the way. The contrast of the white snow against the dark bark always draws me. These are just a few images I captured.
Pitaya Leaf (Dragonfruit)
This large, beautiful Dragonfruit had a really cute, fuzzy, curled, green leaf. It fascinated me. Pitaya are a favorite subject of mine, both to photograph and to eat! I’m not quite done with the photographing part yet, but it does look like a delicious fruit. Presenting: the curly, fuzzy, cute green leaf!
Dragonfruit, Studio Style
One of my Christmas gifts was a small set of LED lights I can use for small studio lighting projects. Like this Dragonfruit. A little table top setup with a black cloth and two very bright LED lights, shining on the Dragonfruit to provide drama, detail and color.
This is also my January 1 image of A Picture a Day for a Year.
Withered
Fall brings color, plants dying off, trees getting ready for winter. But this fall has been hot and dry. The result is withered plants.
Black & White Photography
Mama said there’d be days like this
Month of Mornings is a great exercise for a photographer!
Today, however, the skies darkened, the rain began to fall, the thunder was loud and the lightening flashed.
The song “Mamma Said” popped in my head and I began singing, reminding myself that there will always be days like this, with imperfect light, bad conditions, no blue sky, and shadows everywhere!
There is Beauty in the Common wherever you look. Did I capture “beauty” in this image?
Pitaya Macros

June 2017, with tripod, natural light and a new macro lens, I explored the shape and texture of one dragonfruit, or pitaya.
See the Pitaya/Dragonfruit Macros in Flickr.
Portals
I’ve started a new series: Portals. I’ve enjoyed capturing doors while traveling in Europe. I focus on the old ones. I also have a number of National Park landscape images, especially ones that look like alien landscapes. i decided to try combining the two using Photoshop, blending modes and selective masking. These are the first results.
Antique Woodworking Tools
Studio 1 class opened my eyes to lighting in a refreshing and new way. I’ve posted my class assignment finals and my final project “Antique Woodworking Tools” to my website. The tools gave me a lot of latitude with creativity, and I enjoyed the hours I spent with them. They take on a whole new look with the Contour Shape lighting, very dramatic!
You can see the entire series, as well as class assignments on the main website.