Pack Up Your Troubles

"Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag
And smile, smile, smile"

Following this advice from an old WW1 song it's just what I did this morning.  Our camera club had an outing at Salisbury Greenhouses, which just happens to be one of my favorite places.  The worries and troubles are left at the door the minute the warm air and the scent of flowers greet you.

I had originally planned on picking a few favorite photos from the morning for today's blog and I know that a few photos should be able to tell the story.  Unfortunately, a new set of flower pots in the greenhouse stole my plans and my heart.

I also know that one photo of a subject should be enough, but I couldn't stop.  I'm not sure if it was the rustic feel to these pots or perhaps the delicate painted flowers that drew my attention, or both.  Perhaps I'm a potaholic.

And the more I photographed them the more I was drawn to them.

Sanity finally took over and I grabbed this square pot, put it on my pile of things to buy and it now sits on my kitchen table.  I'm thinking that next time I'm going past Salisbury Greenhouses, a nice pot of basil would look lovely in it.

Lensbaby Pansies

Wake Up at 5:30 am

Post daily photo

Shower

Eat Breakfast

Leave for work at 7:00 am

Work

15 minute break at 9:15 am

Work

Lunch break at noon

Work

15 minute break at 2:15 pm

Work

Leave work at 4:30 pm

Arrive home and start supper

Husband home at 5:45 pm

Supper at 6:00 pm

Process photos, watch TV

Bed at 9:30 pm

For the past four years that was my daily routine.  Very structured and organized.  My work in accounting was also very structured and creativity during the day was really something that did not happen.  Bad things happen when one gets creative with accounting.

When I got my first DSLR, 3 years ago, my photos were also very structured.  As I had taken a few courses in photography, I knew what DOF was. f2.8 gave out of focus photos, but when you spend good money on a sharp lens, why would you want to use anything but f14. To me f2.8 was something you used when you needed more light.  My photos had to be sharp and in focus all the time.  A photo copy of reality is what I was after.

A couple of years my husband gave me a Lensbaby Composer for Christmas and I called it my “play” lens.  Great for shots of the Christmas tree and lights but I didn’t use it much.

During the past couple of years, being part of the Daily community on Smugmug, I began to appreciate f2.8.  Now, the majority of my photos are taken at f2.8 or f4. My new job is less structured.  I still don’t get creative with the accounting, but there are no buzzers to tell me when to take a break and when to eat lunch.  I’m starting to feel a little less like a trained mouse.

Sunday morning I woke up to a beautiful day and I put the Lensbaby on the camera and decided to play with the pansies in the yard.

 

My first thought was that the rain drops were ruining the photos and then I began to see everything a little different. I added a little star from the bokeh kit to see if I could catch a few out of focus drops.

And came across the wet leaves of a daylily.

Again back into the house to add a macro filter to the lensbaby.

It’s now Tuesday and I still have the lensbaby on the camera.

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