Thursday, July 18, 2013

Finding Beauty in Rust and Splinters



I love going to ranch out of Heppner simply for all the wonderful photo ops. My sis and I worked on getting some good shots despite our rather inexpensive cameras and lack of experience. We have the same camera, must be a twin thing. It makes it nice when one of us discovers a new feature on it, so we can tell the other one how to use it. The picture above is of an old cookstove that probably belonged to the cookhouse built of logs when the ranch use to have a logging camp on it. 
 Loved this old sign.
 Who doesn't like an old rusty milk can sitting next to some teasel?

 Just a taste of the beautiful scenery. It had just rained and everything was lush and green. Wildflowers everywhere.

 My sis and I finally had a chance to explore the old school house at the bottom of the road leading up to the ranch.
 If those walls could only talk! You can see where the blackboard used to be. Every year we go back, I'm amazed to see it still standing.
 Like the angles of the siding with the teasel.
 This picture cracks me up. It looks like my sis is leaning with the building.
 As we were driving the fourwheelers back to camp, Stacie spotted this old dugout in the creek bottom. I have yet to find out what it was used for. Going to have to get to the bottom of that one.
 Spotted this old rusted out car, probably from the 1920's laying in the field. You can see the headlight and what is left of the steering wheel.
 Oh, the beautiful wildflowers!
 There is a small pond above the cabin with the most beautiful lily pads.
 They attract all kinds of different dragon flies.
 My favorite Lily of them all!
I managed to get this dragon fly just as it landed on the stump.

Trying to decide which of these pics to enter into the county fair under the amateur category. Please help me out and tell me which is your favorite?

God Bless,
Jackie

6 comments:

aimee said...

Three of my favorite things--historic sites, wildflowers and children out in nature! I SO wish that some historical preservation society had restored that old schoolhouse--I absolutely love them!
My fav photos were the one of Lily and the one with the milk can:)Love the weathered wood---
Blessings,
Aimee

RaD said...

Hmmmm... Well I would encourage you to look at them from a competitive standpoint. Your photo should be in focus, a few are not. The stove is in focus with the background blurred and it looks good. The milk can and the teasel on the side of the building are in focus and look good, although I would say you might have pulled that picture back just a smidge because the one is cut off a little at the top. I love the dragonfly but it's very busy with all the greenery around it.

I'm not an expert but these are things I have been told to look for when entering in contests. If I were to choose though, I'd go for the stove, the milk can or the teasel. :)

Sorry we missed you guys this year. We had family plans before we contacted you and wouldn't have been able to see you before that. We did get a few days at Wallowa Lake this year though, and we got to see Billy and Kay as well. Believe it or not we ran into him at Wal-Mart!

RaD said...

By the way, what camera do you have anyway? Are you changing settings or just shooting mostly in automatic?

Grandmabeckyl.blogspot said...

Love this post. I'd choose the milk can photo for the fair. Scenic are good, but alot of those don't get picked since there r so many of them. I've dealt with state fair and that's where I'm coming from. Pick unusual. One of schoolhouse with Stacie walking towards it is good. Yes good lighting and in focus photos are necessary for a great photo. Looks like you had fun. The special Lily photo is priceless. She is really growing. Take care.

Cheesemakin' Mamma said...

I have a cheap Canon Powershot SX130. I change settings, depending on what I'm trying to shoot.

Thanks for your advice, gals! Fair is next week! I'll post the results.

Unknown said...

Nice photos.

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