OUR COMMON HOURS

baby turtle

Our house abuts a conservation area that mostly consists of a largely manmade, yet long out-of-use, body of water called the Mill Pond. Every Spring the mama turtles come up from the water and lay eggs, which hatch sometime near the end of summer. I was so surprised to see a baby painted turtle this past weekend, since it seemed to be the wrong time of year. It turns out, some painted turtles overwinter in their nests after they hatch, and then make their journey back to the water in the Spring! I can’t believe this little one survived the winter we had this year — it was so brutally cold and long. But, here he or she is, against the odds!

baby turtle 1
baby turtle 2
baby turtle 3
baby turtle 4 // explored 10 may 2014 // my first explore - thank you!!!

lakebreeze village

Last weekend my daughter, Lillia, and my mom built a little fairy village in our backyard. Strategically placed just beyond the fence (possibly to keep little brothers out?), it sits atop an embankment that provides a lovely vista over the Mill Pond. Aptly named “Lakebreeze Village,” it is a gloriously colorful and bustling fairy haven. It is also very tiny, which gave me an excellent opportunity to do some practicing with my new 105mm macro lens. I love how the little plastic characters actually seem to come alive when you see them larger than life. Let’s meet some of them, shall we?

lakebreeze village 1
lakebreeze village 3
lakebreeze village 9
lakebreeze village 4
lakebreeze village 2
lakebreeze village 5
lakebreeze village 6
lakebreee village 7
lakebreeze village 8
P.S. I still believe in fairies, do you?

19 // 52

the eyes have it
zane b&w

“A portrait of my children once a week, every week, in 2014.”

Lillia: This week at school was riddled with drama — mean girls and mean teachers. You are so hard on yourself when you cry at school, but your big heart is one of your best qualities. I know this situation well, as I was once the little girl who cried a lot at school (now I’m the adult who still cries more than most other adults, but I’m okay with it). The good news is that most people are unlikely to remember much of anything about their elementary years, let alone whether or not you happened to cry often. It will get easier to contain as you get older, but you’ll probably always have very strong feelings, and that’s not a bad thing. The world needs compassion and empathy more than it needs anything else.

Zane: This week you got to come with me to the car dealership to have my car inspected. That was a pretty exciting adventure for someone who loves anything that has a motor. We got to see a tow truck really close-up and you were surprised to learn that they weren’t moving a car, but a very big tool box! When you’re a little bigger, I bet your uncle (who works there) will let you come and look around the shop.

playing with tilt-shift

I’m not a huge fan of photography gimmicks. If an image can’t stand on its own without tons of Photoshopping & weird filters, then it’s probably not a great photo. I used to use a lot of filters to cover up the fact that my photos just weren’t very good. I’m still learning, and I wouldn’t say my photos are awesome yet. But, I am MUCH more confident in my skills and I find that, aside from tweaking white balance and exposure or making them black & white, I don’t have to do much to make my photos look the way I want. That having been said, I think that it’s really important to play with my photos sometimes.

I recently discovered that Adobe CS6 has a built in filter called “tilt-shift”, which is often applied in the world of photography in such a way that it makes buildings and landscapes look miniaturized. I also downloaded a tilt-shift action for Photoshop from AJ Troxell. While none of my scenes really look “miniature,” I do think that the tilt-shift effect (when applied sparingly) can actually make a photo look more dynamic and interesting. The first photo I used the CS6 filter, and for the others I used the action. The action made my photos super-saturated, but I toned it down quite a bit because I’m just not a huge fan of that look.

head harbour lightstation (a.k.a. east quoddy lighthouse) // campobello island
backyard in winter (tilt-shift)
lubec downtown tilt-shift action
lubec nighttime tilt-shift

please excuse the mess

DSC_0150

It’s been almost three years since I started this blog, and my purpose for blogging has changed quite a bit in that time. I started out blogging in a fairly traditional way, with lots of text and some supporting photos. Over time I wrote less and relied more on my photos to tell my story. I think that most visitors would agree that photography is now the main focus here. With that in mind, I decided to bring the images front and center by making them larger and getting rid of the gobbledy-gook in the sidebar. I’m really pleased with the change, but in order to bring all of my posts in line with the new aesthetics I have to resize all of my photos. This is going to take me some time, so thank you in advance for your patience.

I’m always interested in feedback, positive or negative. If something is not working for you, or if you have suggestions on how the reader’s experience could be improved, please let me know! kelli@monadnockmama.com