More Designs

Brno 1

Brno 2

Taj Mahal

Now that I have my new laptop with Photoshop I've been able to play around with some more ideas. Nothing has jumped out at me yet as great but I have found the filter I want so now I think it's mostly playing with levels and shadows to get the most visually appealing affect. Also I've been really experimenting with what images I use since I started out with one idea in mind and I've strayed slightly (doing more landscape than up close architectural details). So lots more work to do still but I was so happy to be able to create anything that I needed to share it, and as always, feed back is appreciated.

Middle school flash back...

This picture just makes me giggle, doesn't it look like a muppet or something? I can just picture it talking in a deep grumpy voice.

The insides are so beautiful and delicate, like little exotic sea anenomes
"Poppies, I'll get them with poppies "

I absolutely adore poppies (they come in all my favorite colors) and with the heat wave we're experiencing everything at our house is bursting into full bloom (instantaneously almost). In middle school we performed "The Wizard of Oz" and I was the wicked witch, so as soon as I saw all the poppies in the front garden it put me right back in that evil cackling state (hence the post title and the caption above).

Peony progression

I feel like I can hear the little bud going "eh!" as it's growing and trying to open up
That's some progress little bud, you can do it!
There's the flower, good work
A whole host of beautiful peonies

Another great internet find

So my sister is actually responsible for this find, but like my love of the daily National Geographic photo (see post below) this is just too good not to share. Pandora is free online radio that plays music you pick (better yet with no commercials). You select a couple "seed" songs or artists (for my station "Rick's picks" I started with Gary Jules, Mason Jennings, and Brett Dennen) and it sets up a station that plays those artists, and then also songs with similar musical qualities. With each song you can give it a thumbs up or a thumbs down (which further helps Pandora figure out what you like) and it also tells you why it picked a song which helps you figure out some common themes in what you like (I apparently have a thing for mellow rock instrumentation, folk influences, major key tonality, and acoustic sonority among other things). So go check it out, play around, find some new great music, or realize exactly what it is that you've always loved about those tried and true favorites.

In the meantime

Lately my traveling has been limited to going to work (with some of the construction going on the commute definitely has an air of adventure) but luckily I will soon be going to Baltimore and D.C. to visit Rick and have a bit of a vacation. It looks like more international travel will have to wait, so until I'm able to get overseas again I've been scratching the travel itch (and torturing myself a little) by checking out National Geographic's picture of the day and the travel photos in particular. Since I'm working on improving my photography skills it's great to study the photographs and see what makes a really great shot and read some of the tips.