~ rhythm ~

I've signed up for yet another course involving yet another 52 week's project, along with 52 of twenty eleven (where I'm again behind) and 52 weeks of no colour (where I'm just about keeping up). The new project is Picture Inspiration at Big Picture Classes. I enjoyed Picture the Holidays and Picture Winter but the daily prompts were a bit stressful and really just too much for me. But once a week should be manageable. I hope :-).

The course started last week and this (the second's) week prompt is rhythm. We were given a number of definitions and had to translate one of them into a picture. I chose the definition pattern of masses alternating with voids. I love bare winter trees (I only really came to appreciate them now, after I got my camera and finally learned to see), the mass of dark branches in all sizes and the voids in between them. I took the picture a few weeks ago, but I just thought it fitted the prompt so well and I did the processing today :-).

For week 1, we had to take a self portrait so that we could all see each other, as we are going to spend the next 52 weeks together. A good idea, of course, only that I don't really feel much like taking selfies at the moment. I have no energy at all right now (health issues...) and I'm tired all the time. I took some pics in the bath room mirror and then tried some b&w processing and added a framte, until I got a result I could halfway live with. I also added some Gaussian blur under the pretext of softening it up but it's really just an excuse to disguise the fact that the picture isn't really quite sharp but slightly out of focus.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to the journey and I hope that I'll manage to keep up :-). I'm really happy about seeing many of the "girls" from Picture the Holidays and Picture Winter again in the new course and taking the journey with them. I know I'll find lots of inspiration in the class gallery. I also like the community spirit in these classes and I really hope that I'll manage to keep up with everyone's uploads and with commenting better than I did in the last two classes.

The quote is by Cecil Taylor, the textures and the frame are from The CoffeeShop Blog and Flypaper Textures.

{Day 9} ~ Bundle Up

Today's prompt for Picture Winter: "Bundle Up"

In winter, you have to "bundle up to head out into the winter world". No problem for me, I love bundling up in warm woolly seaters, scarves, wristlets and layers and layers of warm clothes. Skimpy summer dresses really aren't for me. I'm a true winter girl :-).

The horrible dark circles under my eyes come from spending virtually the whole weekend at the computer working through the PSE lessons. I think I overdid it slightly...

One of the things I learnt today is how to do grungy frames - you can see my creations here. With the help of grungy brushes form Shadowhouse Creations and my favourite ornaments from MouritsaDA .

Soon I'll be making my own brushes and textures. Yay! :-)

Textures by rubyblossom and Kim Klassen.

New Year, (yet another) New Project ~ 1*52 of 2011

I admire people who are doing a 365 project - 365 pictures, one picture each day. I know I couldn't do it. Picture the Holidays last month kept me busy and sleepless (spending far too long nights at the computer) and I didn't manage to take a picture for each day and prompt but had to resort to a picture from the archive in a few cases. PictureWinter will mean an equally busy January and I enjoy the daily e-mails and inspiration but I also know that at the end of the month, I'll be glad to get some breathing space.

On the other hand, I like the idea of a year long project, to get the challenge and opportunity to grow and develop. So I decided to join a 52 project - 52 pictures, one picture a week. I joined the Flickr group 52 of Twenty Eleven, which is a themed group, making it even more of a challenge.

The first week's theme is I wish...

I've given up wishing and hoping for too much for the moment. I just wish that the new year will be a better one than the last. And I wish for lots of inspiration to work and improve my photography and post processing skills. But I have no doubts that that wish will come true every day :-)

Texture by: rubyblossom
Butterflies: Lileya
Thank you! ♥

{Day 30} ~ Now, There's No Looking Back!

Well, I've already said what I think of the year that's coming to an end (and a triple hurray to that!!) in my last post, so this is now about LOOKING FORWARD to a new and (hopefully) better one.

Today's prompt would also make a good mantra for me, as I tend to live in the past far too often and am often uncomfortable and sceptical about and far too much of a pessimist for looking ahead. But now it's all for LOOKING AHEAD and no turning back!! :-)

On the other hand... Funnily enough, I've just earmarked a page in a novel this morning while at the hairdressers (which is why my hair is looking decent for once :-) ). A woman who has a career in the big city has come back to her home town and the house of her grandmother. She tells herself that she should take more time to think about her grandmother and reflects about who determined that it was better to concentrate on the now anyway? I liked the sentence "Jag har många rum i mitt minne..." - I have many rooms in my memory...

It's important to live in the present, it's good to look forward but there's nothing wrong with remembering the past. It's up to us what we choose remember: to cherish the good memories and not to dwell on the bad things.

May the new year hold many happy memories to look forward to :-)

Textures by SkeletalMess / Shadowhouse Creations

{Day 7} ~ Express Yourself

"Express Yourself" was  was the prompt for Day 7 for Picture the Holidays. How am I? How do I feel? How I was yesterday? I'm not so sure, it wasn't really such a good day. And I'm also not quite sure what exactly it is I wanted to express here. This is just what came out of trying to do a shot for the prompt. I took about 50 shots and wasn't happy with any one of them, when I finally had the idea to change the angle and shot from the left hand side, which gave a result I could live and work with. Sometimes, things are so simple... I'm a bit tired at the moment, and in need of a Christmas break. Some peace and quiet and sleep. Two more weeks to go...

I found this "änglaspel" (angel chimes) at a supermarket and couldn't resist it. They're quite popular here and most, like this one, come from Sweden. It looked so wonderfully simple and nostalgic, and the pictures on the box lookes as if they hadn't changed at all since the 1970s. I haven't found the box yet, but looking a the picture today, I have a strange feeling that it isn't all too different from the one on the box. Which would explain where the inspiration came from :-). Funny also to think that the girl with the pigtails on the box is now probably about my age :-).