Ohio

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #157: Getting Away

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My family’s favorite getaways are the many state parks around Ohio. There are a bunch within driving distance and they have great activities for families. And some really nice lodges/restaurants; no camping for me!

On our last trip pre-kids, we spent a long weekend at Mohican State Park, hiking the trails and enjoying the beginnings of fall color. And enjoying sleeping in. I look back fondly on that part as well.

Burr Oak State Park was the site of an extended family trip with my in-laws. We’ve also visited Maumee Bay and Deer Creek as a large group; the lodges or cabins are a great way to vacation together without too much togetherness.

Punderson Manor was another lovely getaway for me and my husband. It was November, so the trails were a bit muddy and the fall color was past its prime. It was, however, also NaNoWriMo, so I took the opportunity to treat it as a bit of a personal writer’s retreat. I remember how excited I was that I was able to complete one really key scene in a different, more interesting way than I had originally thought. Sometimes it takes some new scenery to get out of a writing rut!

You can find more getaways at the original Lens-Artist challenge, guest hosted this week by Rusha at Oh, The Places We See…

Lens-Artists Challenge #154 – One Photo Two Ways

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This week’s photos are brought to you courtesy of the Google Photos editor. Being a scrapbooker as well as someone who uses my phone as my camera, I am big on photo editing and it is amazing to me how easy it is nowadays. I did all these edits on my phone with one hand while feeding my 9-mo-old at 3:30am. (Hey, I’ve got to stay awake somehow.)

I was skimming through photos of flowers from my yard and decided to do some editing to make some look extra special. First we have this shot of a quince bush which had nice color but was quite backlit. I cropped it, then used the Bazaar filter to make it pop more.

Next we have my weeping cherry tree, which I cropped, then Enhanced, and then added some vignette effect around the edges to give it even more focus.

Do you think the edits were an improvement? I’m happy with how they turned out. Do you guys normally edit all your photos, at least a little, like I do? Or are you more of a purist?

You can find more photos two ways at the original Lens-Artist challenge.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #151: From Large to Small

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What a unique challenge we have this week. Patti asks us to pick a color, then “start with a photo of a big subject in that color….and move all the way down to a small subject in that same color.” I’m going with my favorite color, blue!

Large

St. Augustine, FL

Water meeting sky gives a sense that the whole world is blue! It is such a calming color, is there any surprise that the people in these pictures are all gazing to the horizon? It’s just natural.

Washington Oaks State Park, FL

Medium

Sometimes a pop of blue can come up in unexpected places.

Franklin Park Conservatory, Columbus, OH
Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside Resort, Orlando, FL

Small

There are not that many blue flowers around here, so I have to appreciate them when I find them!

You can find more colors from large to small at the original Lens-Artist challenge.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #147: Gardens

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I love visiting gardens wherever I am in the world. They are like a secret to be shared with the others who seek out their magic, an interesting combination of civilization and wilderness.

Ecuador (Hosteria La Cienega)

Spain (Royal Alcazar, Sevilla)

Ohio (Franklin Park Conservatory)

Ohio (Columbus Park of Roses)

You can find more gardens at the original Lens-Artist challenge.

Lens-Artists Challenge #129 – Favorite Images of 2020

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Once again, I’d like to say thanks to Patti, Ann-Christine, Amy, and Tina for another great year of challenges.  Lens-Artists is one of the highlights of my blogging activities and right now is one of the things keeping me from dropping this blog entirely haha.

2020 started off so promisingly, with a trip to Disney World with my family at the end of February. In retrospect, we were lucky to have made it there, because only a few weeks after this was taken, everything shut down, including Disney. I shared this photo for last month’s Precious Moments challenge.

During the shutdown, we mostly stayed home for the spring and summer, which meant that I was photographing a lot of the flowers around our house. This hydrangea photo was my most-liked post last year, for the Creativity in the Time of Covid challenge.

The end of 2020 has brought some changes with the arrival of my second kid and a move to a new house. This has actually been the toughest part of the year for me, adjusting to all these changes. And the weather here in Ohio is matching my mood! But it’s good to remind myself that sometimes a new perspective can yield a beautiful view, even in the cold and snow. Here’s the view from under the dogwood tree at my new house in December, a new photo for this post.

It’s definitely been a crazy year full of ups and downs–a memorable year for sure. Here’s to good photos and good memories in 2021!

You can find everyone else’s favorite photos of the year at the original Lens-Artist challenge.