Nicci Carrera

March 22, 2014 Nicci Art school, Photography

Garden extravaganza and pondering composition

Our daily walk takes me by people’s fabulous gardens. I stand on the street near their flowers with my camera, clicking away! One lady came out of her house and looked startled, but then it’s like… well I guess it’s okay. I’m not on their property and I’m just “taking” a picture… so it’s not really theft, is it? I don’t take any pictures that reveal location. But it is a little bizarre, I guess.

Okay, I don’t think the rule of thirds applies to macros. More landscapes and maybe portraits? Well… here is one where I tried it:

Maybe it didn’t do much for me because there’s nothing but green blur on the right. I noticed my earlier picture, which was a big hit, did use the Ro3:

Of course, the Bird of Paradise flower lends itself to the Ro3.

Here’s another one where I tried it. I do like the composition. Maybe Ro3 can be used on macros!

I definitely think the Ro3 improved what would have looked like a mass of flowers if I’d centered the camera right on the bush. I’m feeling a little encouraged about all of this!

I cropped this next one into shape. It’s okay, but doesn’t thrill me.

With this next one, it’s not Ro3, but I think it’s nice how the rose buds march up the plane of the photo:

I’d like to thank my friend, Laurie, for pushing me to get my photos posted. I missed my post yesterday. I really appreciate having friends in the blogosphere who care! It feels great. Thank you, Laurie!

And now I’m dashing off for a meeting. The writing life is a bit hectic at the moment. In a good way, but still! Have a good one, blog friends.

March 19, 2014March 19, 2014 Nicci Blogger award

Sunshine award

Thank you Daily Musings (check out that link to get inspired about planning) for nominating me for the Sunshine Award! Woo hoo!! Sweet. This happened over a month ago… I have been too busy to apply myself properly to this honor. But during the time between the nomination and my response, I have been buzzing around with a happy glow knowing the pleasure of an award acceptance and pay-it-forward awaited.

Note: For some bloggers, awards are a burden. If this is you, and this award comes your way, please accept your nomination as a hug.

Here are the rules:

– Include the award’s logo in a post or on your blog.
– Link to the person who nominated you.
– Answer 10 questions about yourself.
– Nominate 10 bloggers.
– Link your nominees to the post and comment on their blogs, letting them know they have been nominated.

This award requests that you give ten random facts about yourself:

1. I find photography thrilling, both seeing a shot to take myself and seeing what others do. And this surprises me… I never knew this about myself until I blogged.

2. I have to know what my philosophy is before I take a step.

3. I grew up surrounded by a huge library, a large hardback section and a separate paperback section.

4. Listening to audio books is one of my great pleasures.

5. I have recently rediscovered the simple and amazing pleasure of taking a bath.

6. I sleep like the dead.

7. I do not cry easily. But I get misty-eyed easily.

8. I am not fascinated by history at all, which is unfortunate, because my dad was a gifted history teacher. I like the future a lot more. I’m getting a lot better about being in the present, too. However, here is someone whose posts about history do, in fact, fascinate me: Ed Mooney.

9. I started writing when I was 8. But I count my start date as the year I started the first novel I would complete. Here is a picture of me holding my first completed novel.

10. I dislike doing things the same way twice.

Here are the 10 Bloggers I’m nominating for their sunshine:

Sheri Kennedy

Laura Mackey

Cindy Knoke

Highlighting the Good and Beautiful Around Us

The Nice Thing About Strangers

Get Set and Go

Petals Unfolding

Delicious Daydreams

The Obvious and the Hidden

Margaret Lynette Sharp

March 17, 2014March 19, 2014 Nicci High Sierra, Travel

Indigo sky and first light

March 15, 2014March 19, 2014 Nicci Photography

Back yard visitors

My blog post flew in and landed on our pool today!

March 13, 2014March 19, 2014 Nicci Photography

Color

I was awed by the black and white photos on Leanne Cole’s and Laura Macky’s Monochromatic Madness series. So what did I do but go out and get drunk on color.

I was also talking to Leanne Cole today about preferences for the original photo versus a photo with actions applied. You can take a look at her before-and-after images here.

Here is a straight photo followed by an oil painting rendition. Not the same as an “Action” but kind of the same idea. I’m trying to decide which I like more. Which do you like more?

March 12, 2014March 19, 2014 Nicci Uncategorized

Launching Ántonia Moran

Who’s she?!

Me.

Why????

Because I intend… I can’t say dream after my big manifesto about dreams, ha ha! (Hint, I still have dreams. Of course.) Anyway, I intend and hope to write hundreds of books, short ones, long ones, tall ones, fat ones and skinny ones. Mostly I think they will fall into two groups that might appeal to different people or the same people in different moods. To facilitate browsing among these future multitudes, I made a new name. It’s actually my real name, at least the first name, that is. (Nia is short for Ántonia, which is from My Ántonia by Willa Cather. Yes my mom was an English major.)

If you would like to take a peek at what’s going on under my alter ego, please check out www.antoniamoran.com.

March 11, 2014March 19, 2014 Nicci Photography

Morning sun

With daylight savings time just starting up, it’s easy to get out of bed in time to catch first light. I admit, I did not go out with the intention to take pictures, I was getting the paper, but quickly ran back inside for the camera when I saw this neighbor’s tree. I sacrificed composition and cropped this so you could really see the light on the tree.

March 9, 2014March 19, 2014 Nicci Art school, California, High Sierra, Photography, Travel

The three sentinels

Ha ha, in my last post I said I wasn’t doing much post processing these days and so of course the next thing I did was this! That always happens to me. I have to be careful about what I say because as soon as I decide something, I want to do the opposite. Are you like that?

March 7, 2014March 19, 2014 Nicci California, High Sierra, Photography, Travel

Alpine Meadows California and The Rule of Thirds

My focus right now is composition. I’m not doing much if any post-processing. I’ve been experimenting with the Rule of Thirds as described in this outstanding article: Two Seconds to Better Photos by Michelle W.

I like how those turned out, but sometimes during my photo shoot walk, I grew frustrated and just put the subject in the middle. I love the knot hole in this dead tree.

Here’s the same tree from a different angle, obeying the rule of thirds, at least a little more.

I do prefer the composition of the second photo.

Here’s another one where I just wanted the subject in the middle. I call it, Standing Tall.

And last but not least, I loved the majestic mountain and the sky at this moment. I think the rule of thirds wouldn’t work with this, but I don’t know. I like that big peak right where it is.