Photography
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Kitsnaps: Baloo
Except this is not a Kitsnaps. This is a picture taken by Young Indiana, who is captivated by my big camera and asked, “Mama, can *I* try some pfa..fopa…forpar…far-tography?”
I think “‘far’tography” is the most wonderful word in the world, and will be featuring Indy’s far-tography from time to time on Kitsnaps. What a darling kid. <3
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Kitsnaps: Early Morning Oxford
I don’t have anything wildly brilliant to say about my Early Morning Oxford Photography Expedition, except that I was very, very glad I’d gotten up so early because the day was absolutely glorious, and the next morning, which would have been my only other chance to take pictures, was heavily misty, which wouldn’ta been so nice. :)
I have a deep fondness for shadow-selfies. I don’t know why, really. I just find them pleasing, and the gold wall with gold morning light seemed a particularly suitable place for one. :)
This is the quite magnificent Methodist church more or less around the corner from where I was staying. (The place I stayed, called the Cherwell Guest House, was about as minimial (and as cheap) as you could possibly find in a B&B, but they were incredibly understanding about my whole “well I’ve booked for 11 nights but I could be here 8 or I could be here 15, I just don’t know,” situation, and were perfectly happy to let me go home with no penalty after 4 nights, so frankly if you need genuinely budget accommodations in Oxford and very nice people running them, I recommend it. None of that has anything to do with the church, but all I know about the church is it’s pretty, anyway, so. :))
Edmund’s Church, Oxford, is off to the right there. I spent a fair amount of time taking pitures of its very cool garden through its gates, and didn’t come up with one I liked enough to share. :p
Towers cast morning shadows on Radcliffe Library, or at least I think that’s what the rotunda is called. Possibly it’s the University Church towers casting the shadows, but I don’t think so. I think it’s just the super cool building beside the rotunda. :)
Said super cool building can be seen to the left, here. :)
I wish this was a much nicer picture, but I couldn’t get it any better without climbing over things I wasn’t supposed to. Anyway, it’s for Tersa, even if it’s not actually a rose window. :)
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Kitsnaps: Oxford Botanic Gardens
I’d brought my Big Camera (the DSLR) to Oxford because we’d been told 10 days for recovery for my dad’s brain surgery (he’s doing well, he goes back next week to get the power turned on), and I knew Oxford was beautiful and I wanted to spend a few mornings and afternoons taking pictures.
Then Dad did so brilliantly they were threatening to send him home after 3 days (!), so I got up Very Early and went out with my camera, because damned if I was gonna have lugged the camera and an extra lens all the way to Oxford and not use it!
And I do mean Very Early, because I wanted the sunrise light, so I was out on the streets before 6am. And then the light had changed by 7:15 or so and because EUROPE there weren’t any damn cafes or anything at all open yet and the Botanic Gardens, which I wanted to go to, didn’t open until 9, so I spent a great deal of time wandering around in an exhausted haze.
Eventually the gardens opened, and to my offense I had to pay a fiver to get in (Dublin’s are free, and better), but I got some pictures I loved, so it was all good. :)
This is the most Stock Photography photograph I’ve ever taken. That’s not a bad thing, but it’s so Stock Photography that I find it ridiculous. :) It needs a little bit of fill light on the foreground to really make it pop, and while it’s probably possible to do that with Photoshop, I didn’t know how any more than I had a fill flash with me, so it’s not quite as Perfectly Stock as it could be, but it’s Pretty Stock. :)
I should probably not love the intense saturation of colors as much as I do, but, well, I do, and so that’s my photography aesthetic. And to be fair, these tulips in the morning sunshine really were very strongly colored!
These tulips are METAL, folks. Look at those ragged edges!
I am deeply, deeply in love with this photo. My goal was a crisp close-up with the petals rising toward the lens in sharper (but inevitably blurred because focal point) focus, but lacking three hands, I couldn’t hold the camera properly and hold the flower *still* in the mild wind, so there was an even softer focus than I’d intended and I just love it.
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Kitsnaps: Rimfrost
More from the photo archives; a glorious winter day in 2003, where I lay in the snow and took pictures of rimfrosted trees, and of my puppy snoofling me. <3
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Kitsnaps: Eklutna Lake
Sadly, no, I have not been home lately to take these pictures; they’re from 2003, when several of us went out kayaking on Eklutna Lake, outside of Anchorage, on a ridiculously glorious day.
I’m going through my digital photo archives, trying to clean them up and get rid of all the terrible pictures, which is something I’ve been meaning to do for, uh, ever. Mostly it’s not very hard, but these Alaska photos do make me homesick.
