I'm Just Sayin

2021 52 Week Challenge Class

52 Week Challenge Class: The Road
Photo by Kathleen Madden

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Kathleen says:

This is a rail "road" along Turnagain Arm, Alaska. With the traffic, it wasn't possible to get the actual auto road without risking my life. This is one of the spectacular drives along water and mountains in our state.

2021 Smart Phone Challenge Group

Challenge: Movie Title
Photo by Hannelore Nunn

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Hannelore says:

Let's pretend that my watch is a clockwork piece.

Did you guess the movie?

A Clockwork Orange

2021 Critique Group

Challenge: Weathered
Photo by Mary Degreef

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Mary says:

This is some of the hay bales we put up last fall. We didn't use a lot this winter because we had plenty of grass. The ends of the bales that are stacked along the sides of barn are open to the rain and sun and will weather quite a bit before use. These haven't been here long enough to show too much weathering but it is beginning. The barn itself is probably about 50 years old and shows some pretty good weathering. I like the way I was able to frame the bales with the barn posts. I gave the photo a gradient using one of photographic toning choices for a sort of vintage look. Simple, but I like it.

Ricky's Challenge Photos:

Challenge: Weathered
from the 2021 Critique Group

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Ricky says:

This old wagon wheel table sits outside not far away from my house—24/7/365. Every year I give it a bath of linseed oil. But it never looks fresh and new. Mother Nature takes her toll. Fortunately, it still holds together and makes for a nice place to sit amongst the oaks that managed to survive the fire.

Challenge: Movie Title
from the 2021 Smart Phone Challenge Group

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Ricky says:

Just trying to spice things up a bit...he he he.

Did you guess the movie?

Some Like It Hot

2021 52 Week Challenge Class

52 Week Challenge Class: Mirrored Montage
Photo by Lynn Watkins

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Lynn says:

A store display of lawn whirligigs.

2021 Smart Phone Challenge Group

Challenge: Rocks
Photo by Dale McMillanl

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Dale says:

A quiet spot.

2021 Critique Group

Challenge: We've Only Just Begun
Photo by Carol Freda

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Carol says:

'And when the evening comes, we smile'

Ricky's Challenge Photos:

Challenge: We've Only Just Begun
from the 2021 Critique Group

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Ricky says:

Sharing horizons... the calm after the storm. Mother Natured hammered La Veta with a thunderstorm and hail just before this was taken. My side of the mountain only had a short heavy rain and pea sized hail. My horizons are always hills - nothing flat. The sun comes up about an hour and twenty minutes after the time stated and it sets about an hour before the time stated. These burned sentinals create a totally different dynamic than they did as living trees fleshed out in their evergreen dresses. Still, thre is a certain type of beauty that can be found after Mother Nature does her thing. The jounery through it is grueling. Still - I maintain, "hope is on the horizon". So. I'm sharing my horizon.

Challenge: Rocks
from the 2021 Smart Phone Challenge Group

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Ricky says:

I used the iPhone Portrait Mode which gives a shallow depth. I didn't want to background to compete with the cairn. Edited in Prisma app with "Wild". I have a love affair with cairns and love stacking the stones on my property. I have them around my house, but also out and about. There is something meditative about them.

2021 52 Week Challenge Class

52 Week Challenge Class: RED
Photo by Jill Kerttula

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Jill says:

I shot this composition thinking of "lines" (both the car and the sticks and the oposite line of the repition of the three shiney dots.) It was shot in bright sunlight and the car was a washed out red with a ton of pollen on it, so I did some work on that, enhanced the red, then took it into photoshop for "Dreamscaping" with a second layer. I earased the blur over the bushes to add contrast.

2021 Smart Phone Challenge Group

Challenge: Paper
Photo by Maureen O'Neill

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Maureen says:

I just got a new iPhone with the 3 lenses. It’s wonderfully. I highly recommend if you need a new phone.

2021 Critique Group

Challenge: Floating
Photo by Larry Stiles

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Larry says:

The Northern Mist: Floating? My first thought, go find a boat. This is an old wooden fisher, well maintained but hasn’t left her moorings for some time. Much loved but under used. What you’re looking at is where the stem meets the keel, called the cutwater. It’s the part of the boat that the water meets first. Where the boat itself bridges the ancient interface between the wind and the waves, the sky and the sea.
We have here many different types of light, direct, indirect, refracted, shadows and some sort of sun burst thing in the water to the lower left that I don’t understand and everything changed as the polarizing filter was adjusted. Drastic fun.

Ricky's Challenge Photos:

Challenge: Floating
from the 2021 Critique Group

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Ricky says:

Today is a foggy day and out walking the dogs I looked down my new gravel path to the few non-burned trees near my house and saw magic. I love the original, just plain foggy, but decided to see what Topaz Studio 2 might offer. I used the City Flare which brings some highlight accents. Then, decided maybe I could create floating will-o-the-wisps or faeries. I created a layer of black and placed a few white specks on it and used Topaz Star Effects to create the main orbs you see. Then, back in Photoshop I used Render - Lens Flare - to add various sizes of orbs in different colors. These are my floating magical spirits. They bring good juju!

Challenge: Paper
from the 2021 Smart Phone Challenge Group

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Ricky says:

This is strips of curled paper shot on a light table and edited in Prisma