Spookiness

The challenge for this months Clickin Moms blog circle was to capture "Spookiness".
Originally I thought I'd probably take photos of the local Halloween displays and costumes. But my plan changed one sunny afternoon.

You see, I had an appointment with my realtor to look at a vacant property that was very old, rundown and heavily overgrown.

I was early for our appointment.....when she called at the last minute saying she could not make it, but I was free to walk the property and explore it's vacant old house. Cool - because I love exploring abandoned buildings!

There is a certain charm about this old place. The house is severely neglected, and the city is demanding the structure be demolished, but some of the old wood would be worth reclaiming.

As I'm walking around outside the building I'm seeing small signs of someone having been there recently, like a bowl with dried up milk and cereal,  empty cans that have not rusted yet, drug paraphernalia.... all signs that someone is likely squatting on the property.

As I walk around through the brush and approached the front porch I'm looking in the windows to view the interior. And then I see smilie face balloon through the window!! This totally creeped me out knowing someone had indeed been in the house - recently! The helium balloon was still floating,  so it had to have been placed there recently!! I was way too spooked to go inside the house and look around because I was afraid I would encounter someone inside there.

I'll apologize now for only having instagram photos, but they were all I had from this experience.

Thanks for stopping by!

Now treat yourself to some more spookiness by visiting Holly's awesome blog!!

Humanizing the Non-Human

This months blog circle challenge at Clickin' Moms was  "Anthropomorphism" to "Humanize the non Human." To make objects look and feel human.

Our dogs are definitely members of the family and get treated as such. They enjoy home cooked meals (the RAW diet), they have an active social life, they even go wine tasting with us. Yes they are very spoiled, but they are oh so sweet!  I also enjoy dressing them up much to my children's chagrin! :)

Ruby actually enjoys wearing clothes. Being an Italian Greyhound, and a breed with little to no body fat, it's important to keep them warm. So Ruby has an extensive wardrobe. One of her cutest outfits is her giraffe costume, but her daily wear is polar tech fleece by DogGoneChic.

Ruby and her sister Hazel

The cold wet weather is here but Ruby stays snugly warm in her DogGoneChic fleece!

 Sometimes both girls will get dresses up.  Hazel definitely does not care for it!

And because the dogs go everywhere with us we decided to buy them an RV so we could all travel together. They even have their own bed!

Thanks for stopping by. Please visit Holly's blog and see her lovely interpretation of anthropomorphism.

CM Blog Circle Challenge - Motion Blur

This months CM's blog circle challenge was to capture Motion Blur. I've been utilizing my iPhone a lot this summer and I found it's harder than expected to capture a descent motion blur shot. Surely there must be an App for that!

If you look closely you can see my little dogs buzzing around me. Normally they are very calm and snuggly, but for some reason here they are having a major spaz attack.

And then one afternoon I came home and discovered the dogs had gutted a stuffed toy and shredded a tennis ball! I wonder who the guilty party was? 

Normally the girls are very well behaved! Really they are!! :)

Thanks for stopping by. You can follow the blog circle and see how the incredibly talented Holly captured motion blur.

Blog Circle Challenge - Cell Phone Photogrpahy

This months blog circle challenge at Clickin Mom is Cell Phone photography! I love my iPhone!! We took several road trips this month, like little mini vacations. I had a great time shooting random images for this challenge and processing them with various apps.

The fourth batch of Robins to hatch this year!

Stopped to have lunch at a local Mexican food restaurant where the neighboring chickens like to hang out!

Grabbed some lunch at a french bistro and they had this unique bathroom.

Hanging out with friends enjoying the summer sun and captured this amazing flare with my iPhone.

A cool place to rest

I love this gate! Such a creative use of old gears and other old parts!

Pink Bubble Gum Cornflower in my friends yard.

Beautiful scenery along the way.

Thanks for stopping by! Now treat yourself to some amazing cell phone images taken by Holly!

Blog Circle Challenge - Shallow Depth of Field

This months blog circle challenge over at Clickin Mom's is shallow depth of field.  This is absolutely one of my most favorite aspects of photography! I love how a shallow DOF can isolate your subject and make it more prominent or more the center of focus in the image.

This is our little dog Hazel. And yes, we are those kind of people who sometimes enjoy dressing up their dogs! LOL

Thanks for taking the time to stop by. Please hop on over to Holly's blog and see her amazing images focusing on shallow depth of field!

CM Blog Circle Challenge - Beautiful Ugly

This months photography challenge at CM was to capture something ugly, yet beautiful.  I'd been looking forward to this activity for weeks and enjoyed this months shooting so much, and I had so many ideas in my head. I did a ton of macro shooting. Shooting everything from ugly toadstools/mushrooms growing in the pasture, to pollen dust on the ferns, spiderwebs covered with dew....focusing on lots of tiny details that are ugly in a normal sense, but really beautiful when looked at in unique ways.

However, it was during a recent road trip this month that really changed my perspective of the ugly. I spent hours driving through some really desolate areas. What I once viewed as ugly, brown, boring,
landscape became something really, really beautiful!!

Beautiful skies..... golden fields...... and wide open spaces.

And out of nowhere I come upon a huge wind farm and lush green fields and lots of rusty gold.

And cows grazing with wind turbines in their pasture!

And old abandoned buildings that I desperately wanted to explore, but did not want to trespass, so I just took a quick snapshot from the road and continued on my way.

And as I continued my journey on down the road,  I enjoyed a renewed sense of beautiful ugly.

Tumbleweeds, isolation, vast open spaces, blue sky and glorious clouds....and untold beauty at every bend!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Now hop on over to Holly's blog and see her wonderful interpretation of Beautiful Ugly!!

CM Blog Circle- Shooting Through Glass

This months CM blog circle photography challenge was to shoot through glass. 

While on a brief trip out of town I decided to focus on some of the sites in the downtown area. I started my morning off at a local bakery. Who can resist the smell of fresh baked bread? 

During my stroll around the city I came upon a quaint little church and noticed the sunlight shining through this beautiful stained glass window.  It was impossible to photograph it without the reflective glare of the power lines overhead. At first I found them to be very distracting and almost deleted the photo, but the more I looked at the image the more I decided to embrace the geometric pattern.

As I continued my walk and enjoyed a bit of window shopping, my eyes were captivated by these yellow submarines and hanging bits of confetti!

Thanks for stopping by! Now pop on over to Holly's blog and see her creative interpretation of this months challenge!