Hold my hand...

This is my beloved and this is my friend.

-- Song of Solomon 5:16

A Truck Full of Weeds

I found this photog's dream of a backdrop in downtown Apex. Who knew? I was driving when I spotted the truck and just about went off the road last week. I went back on Saturday with my my honey who was kind enough to stand in the hot sun for me. He doesn't really like posing so he only lets me use him as a last resort. Gotta love that man! Thank you, Beb!

Special thanks to: Shadowhouse Creations Textures, MCP Actions, Pioneer Woman Actions and Topaz Labs Simplify & Adjust

Joplyn

Yesterday morning:
Jim: Whatcha wanna do?
Me: Don't know. Whatchu wanna do?
Jim: Now don't stat dat again...
Me: K, how 'bout the church pictures I need?
I got my church pictures and then a few other pics to the tune of 274! Gotta love the digital age. In a nutshell churches, Rolling Thunder, Joplyn, African American Cultural Festival., Jim's office, shrimp & hush puppies, fruits and veggies, a caterpillar named Spike and a truck full of weeds.Stay tuned for the visuals starting with Joplin. You meet the nicest ppl at the end of a leash. Purely anecdotal and solely based on personal experience I think the friendliest ppl have the friendliest dogs. I don't think that's a coincidence ;-) So yesterday we met Joplyn:

I like the full portrait but the other four would make cool wall art. Don't you think?

Could you just.....

I want to squeeze her! She is just so luscious.

Beach - York, Maine

I had more luck capturing a bird mid-flight than I had with Josie.

Can you see why I am in love with textures! Thanks to ShadowhouseCreations

Crystal

This is a perfect example of the type of photo I love to work on. Crystal is a beautiful young lady but this snapshot doesn't do her justice. When I look at this photo I think in terms of what if. What if I changed the background? What if I warm up the skin tones? What if her blouse matched her eye color? Those are the type of things I can change what I don't change are the truly important elements - the smile, the expression, the beauty within. The original photo was taken with a Canon Powershot sd1100 Point and Shoot camera, 640 by 480 pixels 180 resolution.

 

I enlarged it to 6000 by 4800 pixels at 300 resolution (16" by 20")

Just goes to show with the right elements a simple snapshot can turn into a work of art. ;-)

Ooh la la textures

Textures, it's all about the textures and a very talented and generous texture master; shadowhousecreations. He offers all his textures free. How cool is that! Thank you Jerry! The freebies at MCP Actions make it really easy to pick and choose just the right blend combination.
Ho hum before:

I used Scratchbox 3 texture with Multiply, Color Burn,Vivid and Soft Light blend.

Whatcha think?