Day 247; Black and Lace

I really love lace, though I don't wear it often. There are white lace curtains over the windows in my room which I see everyday but don't really look at. If you really look at lace there are some very interesting patterns and textures. For this photo, I laid the curtain over a blanket and took a close up of the threads which make up the lace. I love black and white, and especially with the high contrast in this shot.

Day 246; Noah and Thalia

I love my brother Noah and my horse Thalia, and especially like watching them together. Today's photo is simply a snapshot taken while Noah was walking Thalia around this afternoon.

Day 245; If the Shoe Fits

This year I'm old enough to run for our County Fair Queen. I ran for (and won) Junior Miss a couple years ago, which is simply the younger age division of the Fair Queen. I'm very excited for this opportunity, and have been working to find my interview outfit and formal wear for the evening. I did finally find the dress a couple weeks ago, and it's a very pretty black mermaid-style dress with very little embellishment. I love glitter, sparkles, and the like, so I knew I wanted very bold shoes. I fell in love with these black peep-toe heels covered in glitter as soon as I tried them on. Since both the dress and the shoes are black, a black and white effect made since to eliminate the yellow hues caused by the lighting available.

Day 244; Beaded Bracelet

My county fair is just around the corner and I have been starting to put together my 4-H projects. Yesterday I finished this bracelet made from safety pins and glass beads, and have been working on the paperwork today. The beads are shades of blue and white which are very pretty in person, but not so much on camera. Thus, black and white was the direction I went in. I used a combination of a Holga and Infrared to get the look I wanted.

Day 243; The Not-So-Ugly Duckling

Ugly is one of the last adjectives I would use to describe our new ducklings which just hatched out this morning. We brought this one inside right after it hatched for a photo shoot in Noah's hands, and it has since gotten fluffier and even more adorable.  The duckling is black, so in order to fully appreciate the details of its feathers I opted for a black and white effect.

Day 242; Wood from Retreat

I had the most amazing time ever at the State 4-H Council retreat last week and cannot wait to work with all the great youth selected throughout the year. There weren't really any opportunities to lug around my camera, but I did go outside before breakfast on Friday and got this shot of the mulch around one of the trees. The early morning light and the great texture of the wood chips appealed to me, though it didn't turn out as dramatically as I had imagined.

Day 241; On the Grass

This photo was actually taken a couple weeks ago. Tomorrow morning I'm leaving for a State 4-H Council retreat and won't be back until late on Friday. I'm going to miss both Elijah and Noah and the rest of my family so I wanted to bring out this cute shot before I left. It was actually Elijah's idea to make it look like he was giving Noah a monkey-back ride, but getting Noah to cooperate was difficult. I did love how it turned out though, especially with the texture of the grass in the background.

Day 240; Inside the Iris

Irises are a very popular type of flower where I'm from. My mom has some bearded irises which are blooming right now. I take pictures of them every year, but wanted to try something a little different today. I turned the camera to get a different angle and zoomed in on the inner portion of the blossom. I altered the saturation and exposure slightly to truly represent the brilliance of color I saw in real life which didn't necessarily transfer to the lens.

Day 239; Techno Petals

We've been having beautiful weather lately so there're all sorts of flowers blooming outside. My mom has a comple peony bushes in the yard which are full of blossoms, one of which is featured in today's photo. And no, they're not blue flowers. I tried out some new techniques today. Below you can see the original image. I first applied an infrared black and white filter, then added a blue tint. I loved the blue, which I felt gave a modern, techno feel to the image.

Day 238; Zebras

Zebras are one of my favorite animals. I love the great contrast between their black and white stripes, and highlighted it with a Holga effect just as I did last year after our trip to the zoo. To make sure the focus was on the zebra on the left I added a focal soften.