366: Daily Archive Photo

Happy New Year, and welcome to my new project! For a while now, I've been thinking about my backlog of pictures. We all have them. You know what I'm talking about...multiple hard drives, entire terabytes of images that need to be looked at and processed. So many cool pictures that we mean to work on, but in the end, life gets in the way. Time passes, and the pile of pictures grows larger. I wanted to do something creative this year with photography but I didn't want to tie myself down with a monster like my past 365 Project. (That entailed taking a new picture and posting it every single day for an entire year.) I kept thinking about all the pictures I haven't posted, and all the zillions of pictures that are just sitting in mothballs. Then it hit me: 365: Daily Archive Photo! This project lets me post pictures that I've processed but never publicized. I can pick through folders and process old images. If I don't have extra time, I won't even write about the image! My first picture just has to be a mushroom image! This is one that I processed some time ago but never posted. I didn't want people to get bored with all of my mushrooms so I tried not to post too many. Unfortunately, that meant that some of them never saw the light of day!) Behold this adorable little mushroom with mossy bokeh galore! I'm so happy that I can share my tiny buddy with the world! Explored on January 1, 2016. Highest placement: #11.

The day after Halloween 2012, Steve and I went to Lithia Park in Ashland, Oregon to take pictures. This was a very pivitol day in my life as a photographer. Comparing the pictures I took with my Canon SX30 Super Zoom camera to Steve's Canon 5D yet again made me so upset that I finally had enough. I could see that no matter how hard I tried, I would not get the quality of image I saw with Steve's camera, and so on this day in 2012, I put my foot down. I demanded we purchase a SLR for me. A week later I had my precious Canon 5D Mk II, and the rest is history! This was one of the pictures I took that day. I have 22 pictures in that folder, and looking them over, I can see that they aren't the same quality as a 5D. But they are still very nice pictures and my technique was fine! :) Thank you all so very much for the overwhelming response to my return to ipernity with a new project! I am so touched!! You are all so amazing and wonderful!! *big hugs all around* A big thanks to Heidiho for letting me know that 2016 has 366 days because of Leap Year!! HOORAY!!

I used to be terrified of spiders, but when I realized they were more afraid of me, I became curious about this much-maligned creature. This little guy is a jumping spider, and they are inquisitive, bold arachnids that can leap a surprisingly long distance! These are my favorite type of spider and can be found all over the world! Explored on January 3, 2016. Highest placement: #4

I am officially in love with this project, and this image is my illustration. How is it that I never posted this one? I think it must have been that I didn't want to post too many similar images and back in October 2012, I was taking countless pictures of droplets. There were always more new pictures to post and I just didn't get to this one! Until now. Hooray for my Daily Archive Photo project!! :D NOTE: I will be getting back to the great joy of visiting all of you, commenting, and reacquainting myself with your marvelous photography within about 3 weeks. However, it's going to take me a little while before I tie up some projects going on around here that are keeping my participation at a low ebb for now. I can't wait to say hello, so please stay tuned! :) I'm very excited to be back!!!

On January 1, 2013, I began my 365 Project. I remember the day so clearly. How excited I was as I wandered around on our snowy property, looking for just the right picture to be my very first. Along the way I found a snow-covered pine tree and managed to get this image!

Back in Feb 2012, Steve helped me take my first long-exposure images with my 5D Mark II camera. It was a lot of fun to press the shutter release and just stand there for ages before the shutter finally closed and took the picture. I liked this one for its dramatic sky. Incidentally, the pine needle shown in my previous image was on the tree you see here!

Here's a magical scene that I discovered on the first day of my 365 project back in 2013. Walking around in the snow that day, I found so many lovely subjects to capture...such a wonderland. This pair of sporophytes--which are the reproductive parts of moss--were peeking up out of a mound of snow, complete with a melted droplet on top! :)

A couple of years ago I decided to turn our overgrown raised bed into a proper flower garden. It was a huge project and my reward was an amazing display of flowers that simply took my breath away every single day for months on end. These lovely African Daisies were grown from seeds, as were all the flowers I was so lucky to raise. As well as yellow, I got orange ones too, and I will have to share the pretty picture I captured of a yellow and orange one side by side. If you are interested, I wrote a series of posts about my raised bed garden project !

In August, 2012, Steve and I visited the Jackson County Fair and were delighted to find out there was a bird show taking place throughout the day. We had an fantastic time, and I got so many pictures that I was never able to post them all. This one is a favorite of mine, and I'm so happy to finally show it to everyone! :) Chris Biro is an educator, conservationist, and rehabilitator of parrots, and all of his birds come from rescue situations, including this pair of Blue & Gold macaws. It is a true love affair between Chris and his avian friends, and he gives them all something rarely heard of in the pet bird world: the gift of free flight. I would like to invite all of you to visit my album for Chris Biro's remarkable Pirate's Parrot Show , and please take the time to read the information under each picture to learn more about this ambassador and conservator of parrots! There are also links that will take you to his websites if you'd like to know even more!

Using a macro lens reveals a fascinating new perspective, and will often surprise you with these fresh views. How common, boring and ugly dandilions are...to most people, anyway. Detested, yanked out, and scorned, these enemies to the lawn perfectionist are actually quite beautiful, when seen through a macro lens. I quickly fell in love with these flowers, and all others which make these seedheads of parachutes. This was a picture I took in May of 2012, to show how exquisitely perfect these lovely seedheads truly are. Explored on January 10, 2012. Highest placement, #10.

Just a few miles from our home are the beautiful Upper and Loweer Table Rock plateaus. Every spring the rain turns these plateaus into large marshy areas with pools of water everywhere. The flora and fauna are wonderful to see, and some are unique to the Table Rocks. Steve and I ventured up to the top for a photo walk back in March 2012 and enjoyed photographing the special environment there. These buds are probably a common, very tiny flower called Spring Sandwort, and when I saw these buds surrounded by water, I couldn't resist taking pictures! It was a challenge to get this image and not fall face-first into the muck!

I don't think I'll ever become bored with photographing leaves, especially in Fall when their colors explode from every tree. I discovered this beauty in October 2012, on one of our hillside trees, the sun glowing warmly through it. I am struck suddenly by painful reality. The tree which grew this leaf is gone. Burned to ashes by the fire with roared through 10 of our 26 acres. Sad as it may be, its ashes will act as excellent nutrient for the trees and plants which will take its place.

The first day of my 365 project, back in 2013, was truly full of wonderous scenes to capture. I kept finding lovely subjects but on that day, I really wanted to find a mushroom to begin my project. However, just in case I didn't find one, I took pictures of everything that dazzled me along the way. This adorable Pixie lichen is very common on our property, where it grows in groups on logs, stumps and thick branches on trees. I will also find it adhered to boulders where it nestles among moss and other species of lichen. Barely rising above the snow which surrounded it, I was delighted to find that its cup contained not one droplet, but two, and one of them was still frozen. So special! :)

Here in southern Medford, it has been raining all day and bone-chillingly cold. In fact, it was so miserable out there that I decided not to go on my lunch walk, something totally unheard of for me! I thought that it would be perfect to post a picture from my flower garden I grew a couple of years ago. It was a great success and the main flower was a total favorite of mine...POPPIES! :) They are so bright and cheery, the opposite of the weather right now! :D I especially loved the uncommon salmon-colored poppies, so unique among all the pink, red and white!

"Air Control to Bumble Bee, you are cleared to land. We repeat, all other insects have departed, you may land at any time!" :D In May of 2013, Steve and I got to visit a friend's garden to take pictures and I spent a few hours totally immersed in complete bliss. Along with a seemingly endless variety of flowers, there were ferns and hostas, and of course, plenty of bees and other insects who were making rounds. I was delighted when I managed to get this cool capture to share with you today!

Gardens are such a photographic wonderland. You get the chance to take pictures of countless subjects that don't grow locally. Steve and I spent a few hours at my friend's garden in May 2013, and along with a dizzying variety of flowers there were decorative plants as well. Including ferns, which is a huge favorite to me. The magnificence of an unfurling fern has few equals in my book, and here is an example of nature's perfection.

At the end of June 2014, I was upstairs in our home and walking in the hallway, when I noticed movement on the ground. Peering down at our beige carpet, I could hardly believe my eyes. "NO WAY!!!" It was an adult praying mantis!! I could barely see it on the carpet because it so perfectly matched the color! Somehow, this praying mantis managed to find its way inside our house and climb up our stairs to the second floor. Who knows how long it had been lost inside, but I figured it was probably very hungry, thirsty and weak. Trotting downstairs to get a jar, it took me a few seconds to find it again when I returned. Amazed, I gently coaxed it inside and brought the jar downstairs, where I stared in awe at the "space alien of the insect world". I ran upstairs to get Steve and after admiring our cool friend, we went outside to let him disappear into the dried grass which it so perfectly matched. Just before releasing him, Steve held him for a photo session, and I managed to get lots of great pictures! What a magnificent insect!!! :) Information about camouflage and the praying mantis: These masters of camouflage don't change colors within minutes like chameleons can. Instead, they change colors every time they molt to match the current environment they're in. They molt approximately every two weeks as they are growing up, but once they are adults, they no longer molt, and they cannot change color after that.

Every year in June, our local city hosts a week-long classic car extravaganza called the Medford Cruise. Hundreds of gorgeous cars from around the western U.S. are showcased during the week which culminates in the Cruise, a mile-long circuitous parade route where drivers have the chance to show off their beautiful cars in motion for a couple of hours. Steve and I went to one of the daily "Show 'n' Shine's", and spent a couple of hours drooling at the parked cars and taking pictures. So many gorgeous details!!! I am not sure what model car this is, but my friend Andy thought it might be a Studebaker? If you know, I'd love to hear from you!