just for fun

 This Week’s theme for Photo Friday is entitled: 

“Doors, Doorways, & Entries…. to the soul, the house, a city, whatever…”

This theme immediately drew my attention to two photos I have taken.   I have a photo that I absolutely love that I took a couple years ago.   This first photo became one of my favorites immediately, along with my customers.   I sold numerous copies at arts and craft fairs/farmer’s markets, as well as a 16 x 24 framed and matted piece at our local Manitou Springs Business of Arts Center.    The below photo is taken on Gold Camp Road, in Manitou Springs/Colorado Springs area.  

A couple weekends ago, I discovered another tunnel while camping with my boyfriend that looks similar to the above photo.   I asked him to pull over so I could photograph it…..and the below photo is the result.  I think I am onto something here…..I tend to like to collect photos with a theme, so these two photos are in my new “Tunnels” theme collection.  This particular photo was taken at a place called Eleven Mile Canyon just outside of Florissant, Colorado, which is near Colorado Springs as well. 

 I love the fact that you can see through the tunnel to the other side where it is light and inviting.  A good thought for me right now……my boyfriend just moved to Texas and I am feeling pretty sad about that.  So, it is a good thing to remember that when we are in the middle of a dark tunnel,  there is light ahead……do you suppose that the whole saying about when we die there is a light at the end of the tunnel has more to do with what is at the end, not visually but spiritually and physically?  Hmmmm…..

Hope you enjoy these as well.

Check out the other entrants here:

 http://j9marshall.wordpress.com/

  http://ideajump.wordpress.com/

 http://skywindows.wordpress.com/

http://blahblahblog.wordpress.com/ 

Next week’s Photo Friday is:

Friday 23th May : Title by Julie: Emotion

Friday 30th May : Title by CordieB: Phantasmagoria

Friday 6th June : Title by Author: Diptychs

(or Triptychs if you prefer to use 3 images)

I had it all thought out…..how I would do it…..but my life is so crazy, I haven’t had time….can I ask for a REDO????? a rain check?????? I look foward to seeing everyone else’s and to doing mine, but I won’t have it by tomorroow…………I’m soooo sorry!

Love you guys!

Julie

Today’s Photo Friday is entitled: “Religion″

Well, here it is another Friday.  This week’s topic is Religion. I had great ideas of what I wanted to do, but I was out of town Saturday - Wednesday, so it left me little time….. Religion is such a broad term, hard to narrow it down to one specific thing, which is maybe a good thing for a topic for photography!  

My friend Brandy helped me set this photo up. I originally was going to take a cute photo of her nephew folding his hands to pray, but he was just a little to little to cooperate fully.  He is so adorable…you will see him in future photos….just don’t know when……

 Check out the other participants:

 http://j9marshall.wordpress.com/2008/05/02/photo-friday-religion/

http://ideajump.wordpress.com/

 http://skywindows.wordpress.com/2008/05/02/photo-friday-religion/

  http://blahblahblog.wordpress.com/2008/05/02/religion-photo-friday/

http://cordieb.wordpress.com/

Today’s Photo Friday is entitled: “Juxtaposition″

Wow, what a word! Had to look that one up a couple of times……Dictionary.com references it as follows:

Well, I think I got the easy way out on this one……My cousin Lou was the first to suggest this, and the more I thought about it, it was the only think I could do in an “quick” instant…..These are my identical twin boys, Schuyler and Jordan.   Although they are identical, you can definitely tell differences in them.  (As well as character/personality differences).  When they were born, Schuyler was 6 lb. 8 oz., Jordan 5 lb. 12 oz., Schuyler was yellow with jaundice, and Jordan red and tiny.  So, there’s always been a way to tell them apart, although from time to time, they look almost completely identical. 

Here’s another photo looking nose to nose…a different view.

 Check out the other participants:

 Sky Windows 

Idea jump!

A Curious State of Affairs 

http://cordieb.wordpress.com/2008/04/25/photo-friday-juxtaposition/

PHOTO FRIDAY

(click above for more information)

Today’s Photo Friday entry is entitled: Photographic Art 2 © Jan Marshall   

I love this photo just as it is….I took it one year ago on 4/8/07at the Butterfly Pavillion in Denver, Colorado.  It cost me quite a bit as the lense got fogged up from all the humidity and I had to have it cleaned, but it was worth it….I have enlarged it to an 11 x 16 then doubled matted it in black….looks very dramatic.   Anyways, fooling around with my photos is totally new to me…I was kind of a stickler on priding myself with not “manipulating” my photos at all…what you see is what I saw…..but after viewing some of the other participants photos that have been manipulated, I have decided to give it a try, as long as I can post the original as well. 

Original Photo:  “Caliandra”

Manipulated:

 I took out most of the color to give it a black & white look, with just a hint of color, and of course, pink is my favorite color….

 Check out the other participants:

 www.wordpress.blahblahblog.com

http://j9marshall.wordpress.com

http://ideajump.wordpress.com

Okay, so I’m working at my kiosk at the mall, and can hear babies crying over and over……the culprit?

 THE EASTER BUNNY….he’s big, hairy and doesn’t speak, just moves around looking scary…so here’s the question(s):

 (1)Why do we as parents feel the need to take photos with these type of

characters? and

(2) Does anyone have a “decent” photo from this experience?

Maybe we all just like to torture the kids a little? Who knows……When my daughter was about 18 months old, she was really into “Barney”, the purple dinosaur.  So, one day I was at Wally World when I saw him in the toy department…he didn’t really look like he did on TV, but I knew that was who he was supposed to be representing.  Well, as you can imagine, the purple guy on TV is much smaller than in real life…….my daughter did not think he was so cool! See photo below.

So, why don’t we shrink these guys’ costumes a little or take off the big scary “heads”…….whose idea was this?  Any thoughts? Anyone else  have some good or bad photos with Santa/Easter Bunny, etc????

PHOTO FRIDAY

(click above for more information)

Today’s Photo Friday entry is entitled: A View Through My Window © Jan Marshall   

This week’s Photo Friday theme is “A View Through My Window”

Well, whether we’re supposed to take this literally or not, I have no problem doing exactly that.  I live in Colorado Springs, Colorado, home of the magnificent Pikes Peak, one of the many 14′ers here.  Click on the highlight to see a web page of all the 14′ers in panoramic view. 

My selection for this week comes in two-fold.  One focussing on the foreground, the next the back ground….kinda neat!

 Pikes Peak is named for Zebulon Pike, an early explorer of the Southwest. Lieutenant (later General) Pike first sighted what he termed the “Great Peak” in mid-November of 1806. A few days later, he attempted to climb it with a small band of men. Heavy snows in the 10,000 foot area turned his party back. He estimated the mountain’s height at over 18,000 feet (he was only 4000 feet off!) and is said to have claimed that it might never be climbed. However, a botanist who climbed many peaks in Colorado, Edwin James, did ascend the mountain in 1820. By the mid-1800’s, a trail was well established to the top, and the first woman, Julia Holmes, climbed the peak in 1858.

Check out my link to Pikes Peak Web cam…kinda cool! 

Check out other participants’ entries for this week:

 www.wordpress.blahblahblog.com

http://j9marshall.wordpress.com

http://ideajump.wordpress.com

This is a new category for me……I have collected so many “thoughts” and “stories” to share, I decided that if not now, when is a good time to share them?  Would love your thoughts as well, if you have any….

Thot #1 (quote from the book, The Success Principles)

“Change is the law of life.  And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future” John F. Kennedy

So, in order to keep up, we must continually change, right? I don’t know about you, but it’s exhausting trying to keep up with technology…my cousin Linda is pretty good about this…she always has the latest phone or gadget, I always look to her to see what’s “new”.  This blogging thing is still so new to me too…I had one a year ago, but had to set it aside, and now, my main purpose was to get one going again so I could participate in the Photo Friday that you will see posted in my blog.  You need a blog to particiapte, hmmmmph! Imagine that! (I feel like an old lady complaining about change….I really don’t mind, it’s just trying to keep up.  Case in point, my $1200 digital camera is in the shop, and I was informed the other day that I could replace it for approximately $500….what an insult! It can’t be as good as mine, can it?  So, I’m awaiting the estimate to fix it to see what to do…..Linda, any advice?

Today’s Photo Friday entry is entitled: Amazing Architecture © Jan Marshall  

This one took some thought…..I immediately had a “vision” in my head of a couple buildings that I’ve been meaning to take photos of, but have not as of yet……so, for my entry into this week’s theme, I will have to go to the master architect for my selection.  (He does the best work, anyways!)

This is a rock formation named “The Three Graces” at Garden of the Gods here  in Colorado Springs.

PHOTO FRIDAY

(click above for more information)

Today’s Photo Friday entry is entitled: Black and White © Jan Marshall  

Well, this photo was taken recently at the Cripple Creek Ice Festival on February 10, 2008.  This was originally taken in color, but I brought it home, and my daughter, Corinna, who is very handy dandy on the computer showed me how to turn it into a black & white…this was my intent, even before I knew about this photo friday so, of course, it was the first thing that popped into my head for an entry.