Arriving at a Photo

The other day, I wanted to take a picture of my desk for my photography project. I had just joined Pinterest and wanted to show off how it inspired me to organize that usually-cluttered piece of furniture. Here's how I got it the photo I decided on.



The first photo I took. It's alright, but I'm certainly mot satisfied with the distracting background. And this whole deal was about the death of clutter, so I'll try something else.



Second angle. I like it, but it wasn't quite what I had in mind . . .



Here we go! I like this one - it's clean, bright, and the order is clear. Maybe it's a bit too clean, though . . .



. . . so I added an extra element to make the whited-out half matter a bit. Have I mentioned that G2 pens are a favorite of mine?

So there it is! A nice thing about digital photography has to be the breathe-easy way of experimenting . . . no film's being wasted, after all!

Of course, the beauty of film is that you're not going to take a photo that might not be what you want . . .

But that's a different topic entirely. =)

PS - Check a guest post I wrote here today!

Tagged!

Nela at Beloved Star and Marie at Marie Loves tagged me! This is how it works: I answer the eight questions the person who tagged me wrote, then make up eight more for those I tag to answer. Here are my answers for Nela's questions: :)

1. If you're writing a book what would be the title, plot, and characters?
It would take me a few posts to fully answer this one! The temporary title I have given my book is The Pace, the plot is... uhh, moving on, it has three MC's. :)

2. What animal would you prefer to be for a day?
My little sister asked me this just last night! Haha, I told her I would be a raven. Flight, oh, flight....

3. Did you ever have a baking disaster? (like the cake didn't turn out right, or the cookies were too thin, etc) If you did, what happened?
Ohhh yes! Read about it here. :)

4. Whose you favorite Christian singer?
Hmm, I am not a big Christian music fan, but I don't mind Britt Nicole.

5. Tell about your favorite birthday celebration that you've personally experienced.
My fourteenth birthday was fun; I went to the zoo with my family and had DQ, then my friends and their parents came over in the evening. Simple joys. :)

6. What is something you've done that you never thought you'd do?
Made it down the double black diamond at the ski resort my family always goes to. I was scared stiff and basically snowplowed the first half on the my first time, but now I can do it with relative ease. My friend and I always told each other we would never attempt so frightening a slope. But somehow we got dared or talked into it or something and we did it. And now it's so fun! (I am really getting ski fever right now, can you tell?)

7. If you could add any person to Mount Rushmore, who would you add and why?
Well, since they are all presidents, I would say George W. Bush. He was our president during some of our toughest times ever and handled everything very well. Sure, he made mistakes, but he's human! Why couldn't people give him some slack? Okay, I'll stop before I start ranting. Politics don't agree with my conservative self. :)

8. If money were no obstacle, what would be the perfect birthday gift to receive?
A Nikon D3100 and plenty of lenses to go with it!! Or my own really nice set of skis, boots, and bindings. *Sighs blissfully*

And Marie's questions:

1. What is your favorite Winter accessory?
Tasteful hand knit lovelies! I love my scarves and mittens. :)

2. How do you like to spend your Winter weekends?
In the piles of snow, having cookies with friends, and being cozy at home. Mmm, I love winter. (And it's almost here!)

3. List your top 3 favorite things about the Winter season.
1. Skiing
2. The cold
3. The SNOW

4. What is something new you'd like to try this year?
I want to solidify my new crochet skills! It's lots of fun, but I need to, um, get better. granny squares are my highest aspiration.

5. If you could spend your Christmas abroad, where would you go?
Scandinavia. It may not be home, but at least it would have the chill of my wonderful Northern home.

6. Your favorite historic monument and why?
The Washington Monument. It has the the words Laus Deo carved onto the eastern top, so the first rays of sun that hit our capital light up the words Praise God. How sweet is that?

7. What museum would you most love to visit?
Well, I have been to NYC's Metropolitan Museum of Art once already, but it was a very short visit and I would love to go back and really, really look at that art.

8. If you won a shopping spree tomorrow, which store would you want to spend it at?

J. Crew. I have never bought anything from this store, as it isn't in my price range, but I love their stuff. Or maybe I would choose Toast, if I could figure out my Euro sizes!

Here are my eight questions:

1. If you could be rich or famous, what would you be?
3. How do you feel about The Lion King?
4. When did you begin blogging?
5. Do you like bonfires?
6. If someone gave you a pet monkey, what would you name it?
7. Which continent would you most love to have a nice, long, wonderful tour of?
8. Pens or pencils?

I am tagging:

Kaley Grace
Izori
Charming Elephant
Jessica
Polka Dot
Lily

Have a beautiful Friday, lovelies! I have some good news from my life: NaNo is once again looking amazingly fun to me! It had lost its appeal for a little while there, and that scared me. But that's over, thankfully. And my brother is coming home from college for the weekend! I haven't seen him since August! Eeee! Okay, those were a lot of exclamation points. I am going to give us a breather and sign off for now! :)

Signed with a few grins,
Margaret R. :) :) :)

Guin is having a party!

This should be fun! Did I mention the prizes from some ah-mazing blog design sites? I am definitely interested...

1. What has been your favorite part of summer so far?
The evenings spent reading and writing.

2. What is your favorite part of autumn?
The cool air and color.

3. Raindrops on roses or whiskers on kittens?
Whiskers on kittens- it would make a more unique photo!

4. Describe your dream house.
Lots of room, windows, and big trees in the big yard.

5. What's your favorite movie?
Lord of Rings. The books are great,too, if you didn't know...

6. Quote something from the book you most recently read:
I went out to the fields to sleep under the stars; there were no stars. -Jean Valjean, Les Miserables (I haven't finished it yet, which isn't a surprise, as its super huge.)

7. What do you like/not like about my blog?
Your theme, Guin! It's beautiful! And I have not followed you long enough to see what I don't find fetching.

8. Rain or shine?
That is a hard question, but I am going to have to say rain. My brother once said that rain is girly, and I almost agree with him- do you ever see boys itching to go dance in it? But I like what is does to my imagination, dancing in it is just a perk.

9. The worst grammatical mistake, in your opinion:
Funner. Is. Not. A. Word!!!! But even spellcheck thinks it is!! Argh!

10. If you had a choice, would you want to live: in the mountains, in a rainforest, on a prairie, or by the beach?
Easy: Mountains.

11. What character from a book would you say you are most like?
Ummm... perhaps I am a mix of many....

12. Be constantly talking the rest of your life or not be able to communicate in any way for the rest of your life?
I could probably handle being mute for the rest of my life, if a hermitage in Alaska came with it and I could still use pencil and paper. But I would hate to have to constantly talk for the rest of my life.

13. Owl City or Switchfoot?
Owl City, hands down.

14. Taylor Swift of Selena Gomez?
Taylor Swift, I guess.

15. Your pet peeve?
Aforesaid funner. Something about that word really bugs me...

16. What's your favorite font?
Baskerville old face

17. How are you educated? (i.e. homeschooled, public schooled, private schooled)
Homeschooled and wild. ;)

18. Do you consider yourself tomboy-ish or feminine?
I like to think of myself as feminine.

19. What's your favorite song?
Vivaldi's four seasons, Anywhere Is by Enya, Symphonic Dance by Phil Keagy (I am not loving the name for that one, but the song is spellbinding.) Vida la Vida by Coldplay, and lots more. Why and how could I limit it to just one?

20. Did you enjoy answering these questions?
Haha, yes. Who doesn't find TMI interesting? :)

Days 26-30

This challenge has been so much fun. Here is my final post-

26- A childhood memory
I am not sure how old I was, perhaps 6 or 7. My brother and I started a drawing club in our crawlspace. It's a little room beneath the stairs that we all used to regard as the most incredible place on earth. We drew all sorts of things, mostly strange monsters. I filled a whole notebook with my art forms! I wonder whatever happened to that book...

27- A physical feature I love

Eyes. They are different on everyone and so very interesting. If it weren't for the creepy factor, I would ask people if I could simply look at their eyes. Just kidding ;)

28- A scar I have and it's story
Two summers ago, I was camping with my family. One of my dogs was chained to a tree, and I was standing between her and the tree. My dog saw another dog, went all crazy, and ran toward it. The chain caught me by the ankles and I was down in a heartbeat. I now have this gnarly- looking light purple spot on the back of my left ankle. (Too bad it has faded so much)

29- Hopes, dreams and plans I have for the next 365 days
Hopes: That I will go to eastern Europe next spring
Dreams: That I may write the first several drafts of my story
Plans: A wedding, a conference, music lessons, camping trips, birthdays, friendships

30-A motto or philosophy
Do not be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewal if your mind...

Days 21-25

21- Something I know I do differently than most people
The way I play "The Girl with the Flaxen Hair" by Debussy on the piano- I use different rhythm and even a few odd notes.

22- A website
A blog page I found today has some very cute blog flair. Other than that, I don't do much web surfing. Blogger and Facebook are my haunts. I do know a ton of ah-mazing blogs, though; check out the above page to see 'em.

23- A way in which I want to be remembered
I want to be the slightly eccentric old lady with long grey hair that lived with her multitude of animals in the middle of nowhere. She wrote under a pen name, so none of the skeptical neighbors knew that the nutty old lady was actually writing published books.

24- A movie no one expected me to love
Everyone thinks I am nuts for liking the old Alice in Wonderland. Yeah, that's all I got. The people I watch movies with are pretty unabashed by weird movies. Oh, they were surprised by my adamant dislike of Chicken Run. P.S.- I really want to see the new 'Alice' with Johnny Depp.

25- A recipe
Take a good slice of wheat bread. Homemade is ideal for this; thick and full. Slather some creamy peanut butter on one half. Don't be shy! Then spread some Nutella on the other half. If you want, put another piece of bread on top. You have just made the most wonderful sandwich in the known world.


Who's ready for a random photo?

Have a delightful day, everyone!

~Margaret Rowena

Days 16-20

16-A song that makes me cry
'Morning' from Peer Gynt by Grieg, played by a good orchestra. I found a YouTube video for you to listen to. It's so full of soul.

17- An art piece
Once again, I am on the wrong computer so I can't give you a photo of any of my art. But I can put up....... Miss Mona! :)

18- A time when I felt passionate and alive
I had just finished a good book. It was one in the morning. The moon was bright.

19- A talent of mine
Piano. I may not be Lang Lang, but I love it enough to practice.

20- A hobby of mine
Happiness in the form of sunlight and music on summer evenings.

Days 11-15

11- A picture of me taken recently
I am not using the computer that has my photos on, so you will have to wait. But you can see a recent photo of me on my last post. (I cheated ;)

12- A song I want played at my weddingLet's see... nothing by Elvis, for sure. Perhaps "All I ask of You" or another pieces of show music.

13- A guilty pleasure
Same as Ellyn's: blogging when I should be busy otherwise...

14- A vacation I would like to take
Easy: Italy, France, or Greece. Or England, Scotland, Russia... Anything Europe! (This photo is not mine)
15- A person I admire
Sarah Palin- she shares my values and is very courageous.

Look at that, I am half way finished! This has been fun so far, no? I may not be posting for the next two days, as I am about to become very busy, so I will see you later!

~Margaret Rowena

Days 1-5

Day 1: A favorite song

That's a hard one. It changes often, but there is one song that never fails to move me: Vida la Vida by Coldplay.

2: A favorite movie.

"Bride and Prejudice". It's a modernization of Jane Austen's classic about an Indian girl and a rich American. It's the first Bollywood film I had experienced, and, honestly, I loved all of the crazy dancing and music!

3: A favorite book.

Oy, another hard one. I will just choose one off my profile... okay, The Secret Garden.
I love it because it reminds me of a very happy night of my life, as well as being a great story.

4: A favorite television program.

First, I really don't watch very much real TV, so my favorite TV show was found at the library.
Monarch of the Glen is about a Scottish highland estate called Glenbogle and its young laird. My mom and I have watched all seven seasons twice (!) The series really, really pulls you in. (It's also BBC!)

5. A favorite quote

Well, if I thought about it, I could recall some deep, wise one I have heard, but for now, I will give you:
You get more with a gun and a smile than just a smile. -Al Capone

Thanks for reading and I will see you all again tomorrow!

~Margaret Rowena

30 Day Challenge

Hi there! Marie introduced this to me and it looks too fun to pass up. I will post a few of the below categories every day, or when I can, so it won't be a 30-day challenge for me- maybe more like fourteen or twenty...

Do you want to do it too? Go right ahead!
~~

Day 1: A favorite song.

Day 2: A favorite movie.

Day 3: A favorite book.

Day 4: A favorite television program.

Day 5: A favorite quote.

Day 6: A moment you wish you could relive.

Day 7: Five things you couldn't possible live without.

Day 8: A thank you letter to someone who has changed your life.

Day 9: A photo you took.

Day 10: A photo of you taken over ten years ago.

Day 11: A photo of you taken recently.

Day 12: A song that you want played at your wedding(or was played).

Day 13: A guilty pleasure.

Day 14: A vacation you would like to take.

Day 15: A person you admire.

Day 16: A song that makes you cry.

Day 17: An art piece.

Day 18: A time when you felt passionate and alive.

Day 19: A talent of yours.

Day 20: A hobby of yours.

Day 21: Something you know you do differently than most people.

Day 22: A website.

Day 23: A way in which you want to be remembered.

Day 24: A movie no one would expect you to love.

Day 25: A recipe.

Day 26: A childhood memory.

Day 27: A physical feature you love.

Day 28: A scar you have and it's story.

Day 29: Hopes, dreams and plans you have for the next 365 days.

Day 30: A motto or philosophy.

~~