Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Beauty in the Barren

One thing that is becoming very apparent to me as I do these Walk and Click Wednesdays is that I LOVE structures. Cottages, Lighthouses, Bridges, Barns, even benches and stairs. I love them all.

This past Friday I visited Upper Macatawa Natural Area, my 9th Ottawa County Park visited out of the 26 I need to visit before June 19, 2013. I knew right away I was going to be challenged, not a structure in sight, not even very many trees. I was going to have to "see" new and different things to photograph.

Then some gifts started to present themselves. The beauty of a red cardinal in a tangle of vines. That was the spark I needed.


I continued down the wide mown path and really started to look and down and all around.


More gifts became apparent...




I had some processing fun with the remains of these Queen Anne's Lace using some Lightroom presets and Sarah Gardner textures.

I did find somewhat of a structure in this fence...


One the way back to the car there was a rusted railing, wood planked foot bridge over a small creek. I went back to the car and got a dried hydrangea blossom that I had found that morning on my walk with the dogs. I set the hydrangea blossom in the rusted texture rail and did a few still life shots. Post-processing and a Sarah Gardner texture and here is the final result...


I may not have found the structures that I enjoy shooting, but I did find beauty in the barren.








10 comments:

Kate said...

Just beautiful. There is indeed beauty in the barren!

Lissa Forbes said...

You make me smile, Sarah. This is EXACTLY what I hope for folks as they invest in Walk and Click Wednesdays. Discovery! and yes, sometimes you have to be hypervigilent, especially at this time of year. There truly are wonders out there that are not evident at first glance. You did a fabulous job here and I love your post-processing. Thank you for playing in Walk and Click Wednesdays!

Pride In Photos Beauty said...

Sarah, these images are gorgeous! Your work just keeps getting better everyday. How are you going to top this? I know you will somehow☺
Laurie

Mary said...

Sarah, Stunning photos. Well done!! Inspiring

Roxi H said...

Finding a dried hydrangea blossom on a walk is just NOT fair! I SOOOOO love that Queen Ann's lace. To die for. Gorgeous, makes me want to go for a walk..... In another county at least. LOL

Unknown said...

I'm loving what you're doing, from capture to edit...barren is so full of subtle drama and rich beauty!

xoxo

Unknown said...

These photos are amazing! Love the fence picture and how you added the hydrangea to the photo!

Sherri B. said...

These are all so lovely...that's one thing winter forces us to do with our cameras. We have to get down to the "bare bones" of things and see their minimalist beauty. It's amazing what we find if we really look! Thanks so much for sharing.

Viv@Thoughts from the Desktop said...

Gorgeous Sarah.... lovely processing they would lovely framed in a really old frame...

Ahayes1225 said...

Very nice. If we just look we can find beauty everywhere. I was not able to get out and do my walk this weekend, too rainy. Now I realize I should get a rain cover for my camera. But you have inspired me to look a little deeper. Thanks!