there's something about a rose

There's something about a rose that always makes me want to take its picture. I think I already have close to a hundred photos of roses, yet I still go on taking more pictures. Is it the color? the fragility and softness of its petals? the sensuousness of its curves? ... I really don't know. Maybe it's a combination of all those plus more. What do you think?

There is really something about a rose...

curvy road

I don’t know why but a curvy road always appeals to me. So every time I see one, I always take a picture if possible. Somehow, it seems that there is always something mysterious about a curvy road. One cannot see what is behind each curve so I guess the element of mystery intrigues me.

I must confess I did follow this road after I took its picture. I discovered there was really nothing mysterious behind every bend. Everything was just like this picture – a long winding stretch of an almost empty road because I did not meet anybody as I walked along. There were some ups and downs though but the scene hardly changed. So after walking for a while, I simply turned and went back to where I started.

Oh well, so the mystery I expected was not there but I guess that is what life is – sometimes it is mysterious, sometimes it’s like a steady, calm lake.

sand on my path

This is one shot that certainly looks much better in black and white. When I first took this picture, it was in color, so there was a grayish tint to it. However, it did not merit my second look. I just left it there sleeping in my hard drive. When our contest theme for the month was “black and white” however, I remembered this photo and played with it in Photoshop. I converted it to black and white and that’s when I took notice. I hope you notice too. The light and shadows somehow created a mood that reminded me of the following line from somebody unknown: “Adversity is only sand on your path…to prevent you from skidding.” Isn’t the quotation apt for the photo?

from my hometown2

I'm sharing another view from my hometown today. This shows one of the ferryboats that ferries us across the river and brings us to the mainland of our province. You can see the fish pens (shown in my previous post) in the background. So my hometown is really a small island within another island. Pretty rural huh?

This photo also illustrates perfectly the rule of thirds that I have mentioned before.

you are what you eat

This caterpillar is certainly the epitome of this adage. It’s as green as the leaf it was eating such that I almost missed it during one of my many garden visits. I just knew it was there because all the young leaves of the plant were almost gone. Anyway, I looked real hard and finally saw it so engorged with food such that it can hardly move. Good for me because I was able to take several shots. What I'm sharing today is one of those shots.

ordinary things

I never really paid attention to our gate until the morning I took this photograph. I looked out our window and saw the early morning sun just peeping out from over the rooftops and creating a silhouette of our gate. I immediately got my camera and went out to take this picture. I never imagined that this ordinary gate will give me this interesting sunrise picture. Somehow the gate gave this picture a different kind of mood. Don't you agree? Just imagine how this picture will look like without the gate and you will see what I mean.

After this incident ordinary things have stopped being ordinary to me. Rather, they have become objects and opportunities for extraordinary pictures.

reflection...reflection...reflection....

I discovered a way to create multiple pictures of myself without resorting to photoshop - take a picture using mirrors. I discovered this actually by accident. We were inside an elevator which had mirrors and I just focused my lens at a certain angle - and viola! - this picture. Isn't it neat?

I called this picture - "me, myself, I."