The Azalea Garden in Summerville,SC, did not have any azaleas blooming in Dec. However they have a lot of bronze sculptures around the park. This was a statue taken from different view points. The image on the left I got some rippling of the water and a partial reflection. To the right is a cypress knee above the water. The one on the left used opening in a gazebo to try to frame the same statue. Image taken with the Panasonic camera with minimal editing. 
Greensboro had a big snow storm on Dec 7th & 8th. We had 12 inches and it was difficult to shovel because of cold temperatures and refreezing at night. The mage on the left is of our house with Jack's van in driveway. The image on the right is of my Prius at end of drive and with the Green Needle street/cars.
Visited Summerville, SC, on 12/21/18. My sister and I did a walking tour of some historic houses. The image on the left was the original taken in color, but wanted to convert to B & W with Windows 10 Media player which was also used to sharpen and increase color & brightness.
One of my heritage plants from the NC HSA: an Old Confederate Rose. It is really not a rose but a member of the mallow family. It blooms in Sept. The bloom only lasts for a day. The left image is showing the flower with buds CU. The right image is a macro image of the texture of the the petals from the back. Panosonic ZS70.
Was out looking for fall colored leaves to photograph in Greensboro. The maple tree leaves have a lot of variation in oranges & red colors. There are a lot of young ginko trees @ Target parking lot on Lawndale. Only a few had more of the yellow color and could use the blue sky as a background. It has been difficult to get out to capture images when not raining or windy this fall. Taken with the Panasonic camera which as a zoom to capture the sky as a background but better to go before sun becomes too bright. Minor editing for saturation with PSE 15,
Went to NC MOA last Tuesday for the Georgia O'Keefe exhibit but I was much more impressed with Dylan Gebbia-Richards wax panels (OMNI). I loved the textures and colors in these artistic panels. These wall panels weigh over 400 lbs each. They have a wax base and then pigment powders are applied to various areas. These shapes on the panels are formed from many layers of colorful paraffin wax and resin. The irregular textures protrude from the wall and intrude into the gallery. He describes his work as landscapes, "Each of my pieces is a microcosm of the natural world. The works are formed by the same physical laws of the universe which dictate how dessert bluffs erode, rivers carve out deltas, and uplift forms of mountains. I took these images with my Panasonic Lumix. You can see that the way the panels were hung on the close up shots there were edges that were not in sharp focus due to decreased depth of field --also not all the particles in the same plane with the ridges and valleys.
The town of Mayodan,NC, has been having a hay bale sculpture contest for 5 years. Members of the community are encouraged to particpate and come up with artistic designs using bales of hay. The community had festival this past Saturday with vendors, beer, and music.
Today I went with my photo friend, Pat, to Mayoden..N C. to take pictures of hay bales. Those sculptures will be another entry for the blog. We decided to take off on some country roads & found some tobacco barns. This area was known for growing tobacco until cigarettes got labeled as promoting lung cancer and respiratory issues. I loved all the foliage on this shed an also liked the close up.
My sister was visiting and we went to the Weatherspoon Museum of Art Exhibit "Dread & Delight" - UNC-G. The carriage on the left is of crystalized rock candy. The image on the right is "Ties of Protection" and there are words written on the hanging pieces of red flannel fabric. The carriage had pictures behind it and I cloned them out in PSE 15. I used my Kindle HD camera app which does not have high resolution So, on close examination images might look grainy due to low lighting in the museum and using hand held mode. Photos and edited in PSE 15. This exhibit does allow you to take photographs.
I was at Lowe's Garden area and saw these air plants on display in a vase. The left image was taken with taken with my Apple iPhone 6S. Minimal post processing. The right image I used a new software: Smart Photo Editor. You can select numerous effects to create a different perspective. This one reminds me HDR. I super saturated and used multiple sliders to get the effect I liked. I also chose a frame. 
Jack celebrated his 79th birthday in July. I was trying to take a portrait image of him with my Alpha Sony 700 camera using my 200 mm Milnota lens. He does not like having his picture taken. Trying to find a foliage background to blur out. . Since this is a close up image, you will see he has some old age spots. The plan is to eventually get a friend to take a picture of both of us or set up a tripod and use a self timer. Maybe weather will be cooler next week after Hurricane Florence gone 
If you go to the Greensboro Science Center and Sciquarium it is a really neat place to visit even if you do not have children. There are many photo opportunities. I have a membership. The image on the left is of some coral in an aquarium but did not catch any fish swimming in front. Love the texture & colors. This is real coral. The image on the right is of a copperhead snake commonly seen in NC and is poisonous. Both of the these images were taken with artificial lighting. I set my Panasonic camera on Intellegent Assist and selected auto ISO. I did not use a tripod. Minimal edititing with PSE 15. 
Went to Gateway Gardens, off East Lee St., GSO, today. I managed to capture a Tiger Swallowtale butterfly in some Lantana blossoms using the telezoom Panasonic camera. The image on the right is of a cluster of green colored Echinacea. The lighting helped to show texture. 
I went to the GSO Science Center to capture some images because I thought it was World Photography Day. NOT!! It is not until Sunday, August 19th. The photo of the black monkey was my favorite, but the Llama chewing on grass is my 2nd. Minor editing in PSE 15. Images taken with Sony a700 camera and 200mm telephoto lens.
Sunday, went my photo friend, Pat, to Sarah Duke Gardens, in Durham, NC. I was intrigued by the palms in the annual terrace garden about 10:30 a.m. EDST. I liked the backlighting of the intertwined leaves that I took with my Sony A700 camera with 200 mm lens. Original design was great...but I also wanted to play with more abstract colors with filters in PSE 15 for the R image. I used saturation & hue to change color. Then increased sharpness, used accented edges and posterized filters post processing. 
In June my sister and I went to the Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia, SC. I saw a lamp hanging from the ceiling and decided to just capture an image of part of the glass to get a sense of texture. I used my Panasonic with the telezoom to get just a portion of the glass hanging sculpture by the famous glass artist Chihuly. The orange one on the left I did apply accented edges filter to make the design/texture more distinct and sharpened slightly. The image on the left with the blue green and blue, I cropped a portion I liked the pattern, then use enhance color to change the hue and saturation. Then sharpened to show a more graphic design look. Both images will be shown at the TOPS camera meeting on Thursday night. Instead of always using an image "as is". I keep saying "what if". I like to try for an abstract look. The post processing was done using filters in PSE 15. 
I have a few herbs in my garden and planted a few tomato plants and jalapeno peppers. I harvested some of the gold cherry tomatoes this week which are very sweet. The image on the right is a macro image of a jalapeno blossom which is quite small -maybe like 1/2 inch in diameter. It is mid July and I harvested 10 jalapeno peppers yesterday. Time to make picked jalapeno peppers which are so much better than the store bought one. They are preserved in a brine solution and not canned so the peppers remain crisp for a long period of time stored in the refrigerator. I will probably make some brushetta topping with the tomatoes. Will soon have some ripe Roma tomatoes. The image of the tomatoes I used a green piece of felt as the background but it looks like more blue green color because taken late evening. 
Today I am showing off some of my images that I have taken at various venues. 3 are from the NC coast area and 1 of the Raffidini Winery in Rhoda, NC. First I had to size my images and then cut with a white boarder remaining. I eyeballed the measurements and used a paper cutter to have as a rectangle and fit in an A2 size card.
