radnor lake: nashville hiking meet-up

well, so i joined the nashville hiking meet-up group while g was off at boy scout camp.  i thought it would be a fun way to motivate myself to get out and see some new parks in the area and take more wildflower pics.  well.  it was fun, i hiked with some lovely people, and i did see a new to me park, radnor lake.  the flower pics, however, are sparse, as in one, but i did learn that bee balm grows wild in tennessee.  friends.  i need to tell you that if you're looking for a good workout in the area, this is it.  we were speedwalking straight up a mountain.  i didn't dare slow down for more than a second to take a pic for fear that i wouldn't be able to catch back up, and i was drenched in sweat when we finished.  the blur you see in the third picture down is an indication of our pace.  we did stop for a minute to enjoy the baby turkeys, but by that point i think i was huffing and puffing too much to have a steady hand to press the shutter button.  so yea.  not such amazing photos, but a good memory and a solid accomplishment for me.  :)

the b&w photography project: first timer

these photos were also taken on our interstate hike.  i had been toying with the idea of joining in on the b&w photography project at the podcast for quite some time now, but never gotten around to it.  while i was going through my pictures from the hike, i had a good 40+ that i liked and decided it was a good time to finally dabble with converting some to black and white.  i've never really done black and white for the artistic element.  mostly it's just been for poor quality or noisy photos with the occasional one for "emotional impact" on a scrapbook page.  this was an eye-opening experience.

there is a nice write up of black and white photography tips at the podcast and two of those really stood out to me.  one is the idea that you have to begin seeing the world in black and white.  i think i am very much color driven, so this will be something to really focus on.  the second tip that practically made my head spin was that overcast days can be good for black and white photos.  i am very much into lighting in my photography.  finding out that i can pursue interesting photos in flat lighting is mind blowing.  this could be the answer to my winter photography blues!

wasp's nest.

as i was choosing which to convert to black and white, i mostly ignored the ones i had chosen for a specific color quality.  that was a no brainer to me.  the part that surprised me was that 90% of the ones that i had taken because of lighting conditions, didn't show well in black and white.  wow!

i'm really quite excited to explore this aspect of photography more.  it's fascinating!

g trying to make it through the fence gap on his own.

finally he needed a helping hand from his mama.

i'm curious.  do you have a favorite out of these?  there are several that i like for various reasons . . .

bird nest.

here is something else to analyze.  this portrait i thought was so striking in black and white and the one in the previous post was taken just a few seconds prior and lost something when i tried converting it to black and white.  like i said earlier . . . fascinating!

joining in with the b&w photography project on podcast.

woc: a walk in the woods

“Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.”

― Henry David Thoreau, Walden    

 

 

“I have never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude.”
― Henry David Thoreau, Walden    

“Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.”
― Henry David Thoreau, Walden    

"The true harvest of my daily life is somewhat as intangible and indescribable as the tints of morning or evening. It is a little star-dust caught, a segment of the rainbow which I have clutched.”
― Henry David Thoreau, Walden    

“We need the tonic of wildness...At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be indefinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable. We can never have enough of nature.”
― Henry David Thoreau, Walden: Or, Life in the Woods    

“My greatest skill in life has been to want but little”
― Henry David Thoreau, Walden    

“The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.”
― Henry David Thoreau, Walden    

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”
― Henry David Thoreau, Walden    

“A written word is the choicest of relics. It is something at once more intimate with us and more universal than any other work of art. It is the work of art nearest to life itself. It may be translated into every language, and not only be read but actually breathed from all human lips; -- not be represented on canvas or in marble only, but be carved out of the breath of life itself.”
― Henry David Thoreau, Walden    

webelo outdoor challenge weekend.  a solitary walk on ackers lake, camp percy dempsey, boxwell boy scout reservation, tennessee.