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

Well I was by the lake actually but I like this title better.  On Saturday morning I was up early and it was going to be a beautiful day and I decided to go on a photo safari.  I thought I would go to the beach before it got too busy as I don't like a bunch of people in my shots.  Unfortunately I got to the beach took about six shots and my camera battery died.  So I headed home, not a very happy camper, and cleaned house instead.  This is one of the shots I took and I can't really say why but I am really drawn to it so I am submitting it for this weeks Watery Wednesday. 

Here is my submission for today's texture Tuesday challenge over at Kim Klassens's Cafe.

O'Keefe Ranch is a historic site right her in Vernon.  The ranch was founded in 1867 and many of the buildings are in fantastic condition.  The mansion on the ranch is amazing, it isn't a mansion by today's standards but at the time it would have been truly been impressive.  The main house had hot and cold running water installed as far back as 1910 which I found impressive.  It is a beautful place to visit.  I took a few shots while I was there and I have edited them using Kim Klassen's textures and Nelly Nero's actions to give them a feel that matches the time period of the ranch. 

I am feeling guilty because I have been ignoring my blog lately.  For some reason I have been having trouble getting motivated.  If I am honest there are a number of reasons why my photography and my blog are languishing.   My job is very stressful right now and actually so is my non-profit activity...something that I didn't expect and quite frankly resent.  I expect it from my job but they actually pay me.  I don't expect it from my volunteer work, it simply takes any of the joy away.  The weather also isn't cooperating it is either raining to just way to bright to take pictures and end up with anything decent.  And to top it all off my back pain is really acting up making it very difficult for me to spend time at the computer editing photos.  I have Thoracic Outlet Syndrome which is a nerve compression which causes a lot of pain in my back and radiating down my arms at times it really effects the quality of my life, it has been good for about six months but is getting worse again.

Another issue is that I simply am not happy with my blog, I haven't been able to find a blogger template that I like and I simply do not have the tech skills to do my own and since I make no income off my photography it is hard to justify spending money to get a new blog done up for me.  Although I may have found the answer to this issue here.  I am registered for this course and we will see if I am capable of learning how to build my own blog.

Anyway sorry for the rant, I just wanted to explain my absence.  I am going to try to get out with the camera this weekend, the weather is supposed to be beautiful and I will see what I can find to motivate me. 

And since this is a photography blog, not a Deanna bitching blog I had to include this photo I shot the other night while we were relaxing in the yard.  This is my princess. Her name is Trixie although I mostly call her big dog and she responds to it quite well.  We also have a little dog and he responds to nothing but the word "treats" but that is a story for another day. 

Friday night we were relaxing in the backyard, unwinding after a busy week and I decided to take some shots of the fire pit.  I love how the flames in this image look like a woman dancing.

Just a couple shots of loveliness for a Tuesday evening.  The last one is my favorite.

I was inspired to do a mini makeover of our front porch by Kim Klassen's post over here.  Now we don't have nearly the porch she does and since we still have to finish the landscaping on half the front yard (you would not believe how much dust is created by the delivery of a load of landscape rock) I didn't want to spend a lot of money decorating but I wanted something prettier than we had.  My parents also arrive today and I knew they would like a nice spot to drink coffee in the morning.  All I did was pick up a couple new plants added the bright cushions and buy a little container for the shells which I already had in the cupboard. 

So below is a before shot, which is shot in terrible light, and a couple after shots.  I also threw in a couple of macro shots of the flowers because...well...I just couldn't help myself.  If it were possible for me to make a living just shooting flowers I would so be all over it. 

The Clydsdale horses out at Fort Steele were so majestic and beautiful that I wanted to get some close up shots of these amazing animals.  It was obvious as soon as I approached the pen that there was a bit of a hierarchy among these animals and the largest and oldest horse was the one who approached.  He was not in the least bit interested in posing for pictures however, all he wanted was his nose rubbed.  So after a couple of trys with the camera I gave up and scratched his nose. 

When we were coming back from the Kootenay's on Sunday we ended up waiting about an hour for the ferry because it was a busy long weekend.  So since we were just sitting there anyway I decided to get out my camera and take some shots of the flowers growing along the roadside.  I was pretty happy with some of the shots I was able to get so I thought I would share some of them.  All of these flowers were just growing along side the road near the Needles ferry about 20 minutes out of Nakusp, BC.

Over the last weekend we travelled to the Kootenay's for my aunts wedding in Cranbrook, BC.  It has been close to 10 years since I have been there.   We had a bit of time to kill Saturday between family lunch and the wedding so I dragged my husband out to Fort Steele. Fort Steele can trace it's roots back to the gold rush days in the 1860's although most of the original town was destroyed by fire in 1906 I believe so most of the buildings date back to the early 1900's. 

I love history and vintage so Ft. Steele is the perfect place for me to visit and I haven't actually been there in close to 30 years since we moved away from Cranbrook when I was a child so a visit was in order.

Below are some of the photos I took on Saturday.  None of them are technically exceptional, the sun was right overhead so the lighting was really harsh and we had a lot of shadows but I played with a few Nelly Nero and Pioneer Woman actions on a couple of these and added some of Kim Klassen's textures to some of the others to try to hide some of the harsh lighting.  I am not sure if it worked or not but it is such a great place to visit I thought I would show everyone the photos anyway.  Hope you enjoy them, the mountains in the background are simply amazing.