A New Day, A Different Way The creative and photographic endeavours of a woman trying to add color and beauty to her world.

Today over at Kim Klassen's Cafe she is having a Texture Tuesday.  The idea is to post your favorite photo using one of Kim's textures.  I encourage anyone who loves adding texture to their photos to go over and check her site out.  She has some amazing textures.  Here is the before and after photo I have chosen.  I loved the initial photo but I think the texture adds some darkness to it that really appeals to me, it adds almost a tropical feel to the photo.  For this photo I used Kim's simple things texture in two layers with the first layer on linear burn and the second on soft light. 

I have a bunch of photos from our honeymoon in San Francisco almost three years ago.  As I mentioned before when I posted a few of these photos the quality is not that great.  I have upgraded my camera twice since these photos were taken but they still mean a lot to me, so when I have time I have been editing them using Photoshop Elements 9 or Picnik just to slightly improve the images.  I really like how simple it is to add texture to your photos using Picnik.  Below are a few that I was working on this afternoon, they are still far from perfect some more than others but they still hold great personal memories for me.  

My railway addiction continues with a few more shots I took this last weekend.  I was still practicing different angles and perspective when I was taking these shots and I kind of like the way they turned out especially the middle one, I love the color of the sky and the blur of the flowers in front of the lens.

When I was out walking yesterday I found these remanents of summer past.  I thought that even though they are dead and dry they were still intricate and beautiful so I took a few shots.  I love all three of them and can't decide which is my favorite.  Any opinions??

I have noticed in looking at my photos that there appeared to be a certain sameness (I'm not even sure if that is a word) about them.  So today I went for a short walk to take a few photos and I decided to try to get a different perspective on them.  So I got down on my knees to take some, backed up when I normally would have gotten closer and even fought my way through the branches to take a photo leaning right on the trunk of a tree.  I am not sure they are the best photos I have ever taken but I think it was a good creative exercise.  Here are a few results.

Today I am participating in Pixel Perfect's blog hop "Critique This".  Below is my photo for consideration.  I welcome all constructive criticism.

I love railway photos, I'm really not sure what it is about them that appeals to me but I love to look at them and to take them.  I also like photos of industrial sites as well but that is foder for another day.  These are a few photos I took this weekend.  Everytime he sees my railway photos my husband reminds me that it can be a $10,000 fine for trespassing on the rail lines but I keep doing it, I just can't help it. 

Today was a beautiful day.  Well above freezing, the sun was shinning and the snow was melting.  There was, perhaps, a hint of spring in the air.  As luck would have it I also found the most beautiful little spot to take photos, it is a little paradise right in the middle of town.  I stopped to photograph the trees along the road but then I noticed the grasses and rushes and so I found the path and wandered in to find a lovely treed area with a creek, a small bridge and hundreds of things to photograph.  I only stopped because my memory card was full.  I can see myself going back there often especially as spring hits.  I have a lot of shots to share but here are just a few, I will put more up later this week.  There were so many I loved.

We will start with the trees that drew me in the first place, all winter long I have admired how their yellow branches add such a nice pop of color to the dullness of winter.