Unexpected Beauty

This morning as I was sipping my morning coffee a flash of red in my backyard caught my eye. A plant that I thought was pretty much through had bloomed!

A friend gave me this plant for my birthday last year.  I promptly planted it and then, even though I tried to make it happy it seemed to suffer, losing all of its leaves and looking like a twig sticking out of the ground.

Les had asked me several times over the last few months if he could just pull it out, but I said no, hoping that it wasn't actually dead.  It had little nubs which I thought might be leaves coming in, but after months and months it wasn't doing anything.

I was about ready to give in, but luckily I waited!  My reward (so far) is this beautiful flower!  The rest of the plant still looks twiggy, but now I know for a fact that it is still alive!

And on another note, look what else I found in my garden:

Almost ready!  Just a couple more days and I think they will be perfect.

Noto Infiorata 2010

Wow, this past weekend flew by! I  guess that is a side effect of being busy.  I essentially spent the weekend behind the camera; Saturday was the Sig Photo Club  trip to Noto for Infiorata, and Sunday I did a portrait photo shoot.

This was my third trip to Noto for Infiorata.  Each year has been so different!  To see what I mean check out my posts about my first visit, and second visit.  Here are a few photos of this year's incredible flower mosaics:

The flower mosaics along Via Nicolaci

"Musica Picta" by Marziano Debora

"Duetto classico" by Castobello Vincenzo

"Angelica melodia" by Alibrio Salvatore

"The Musician" (Tamara De Lempicka) by Perricone Concetta

"The Musician" (Tamara De Lempicka) by Perricone Concetta

"The Musician" (Tamara De Lempicka) by Perricone Concetta

"Blues" by Civello Davide, Sammarco Luigi, and Ali Noemi

"Suonatore di flauto" by Lauretta Cettina

"Mille Bolle" by Caruso Sara and Civello Concetta

"Radeyzky in sound" by Andolina Marco

A few other things I saw around Noto:

Flowers floating in a fountain

Just a bit of color and whimsy, slinkys for sale

A reflection

For some reason this shop caught my attention :)

The Duomo

Infiorata has been one of the few Sicilian festivals that I've attended more than one.  I love the color and creativity that goes into creating these beautiful mosaics.  Each year is so different and I've really enjoyed seeing the differences from year to year.

Less is more

Another photography challenge, this one for a group I belong to on Facebook aptly named FotoClub.

I processed this image with Photoshop CS3 and Topaz DeNoise (one of my new favorite pieces of software).  I hope you like it!

Now Showing...

A few months ago when I was back in the States I was contacted by the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art to ask if I was interested in participating in their business exhibit program.  Of course I said yes!!

What a great opportunity to share my work!  I worked feverishly during my last couple of weeks in San Luis Obispo to prepare eight pieces that were ready for display.  Here are the pieces that I chose:

Just a few days ago the business exhibit rotation started and eight of my photographs are now displayed on the walls of a San Luis Obispo law firm!!  My awesome mom took care of hanging the prints for me and she even took a few pictures so I could see what they look like hanging on the law office walls.

So far the feedback from those who work at the law office has been really good! They even have more empty wall space so I am having seven more prints made. Over the next several months my photos will rotate through several San Luis Obispo businesses. If I'm lucky I might even sell a few!

A special thanks to my mom who has been taking care of hanging my pictures and will be framing my new prints.  Its a lot of work to do for someone else, especially considering that she is also a photographer trying to promote her own work!  There aren't even words to express how grateful I am.  Thank you, mom!!

Spring

A certain word keeps popping into my head that seems to describe my mood: snarky.  I've used the word but never looked it up, so I thought before I defined my mood as snarky, especially online, I should find out what it means.

According to Wiktionary "snarky" means "Snide and sarcastic; usually out of irritation."

Urban Dictionary definition #2 states that snarky is "a witty mannerism, personality, or behavior that is a combination of sarcasm and cynicism. Usually accepted as a complimentary term. Snark is sometimes mistaken for a snotty or arrogant attitude."

I like the Urban Dictionary definition better but both are probably accurate.  The irritation stems from my ability or lack thereof to take a picture specifically for the "Spring" photo challenge for my local photography club.  Certainly I have beautiful spring photos that I've taken over the past couple of months, but for photo challenges I try to do exactly that - challenge myself to take a photo for that theme, not just pull one out of the archives that fits.

Yesterday I took several photos of my rose bush out front that is exploding with buds.  It is gorgeous.  Sadly, my photos didn't do it justice. Perhaps it was just an off day but I blame it on the fact that I don't have a proper Macro Lens like this (which incidently I've been lusting after for months).

Today, completely frustrated by my flower pictures I thought of an alternative definition for "spring".

What do you think of my snarky interpretation of the challenge?  It certainly seems to fit my current frame of mind.