Her Grace and Face of an Altered State

* I forgot to do something VERY important....like kudos to a few of my favs....
Hat by Moaning Minnie. I wear that thing just about every day. Ring (that Kashmir is in kinda hiding, but you can see the crystal) by My Little Eye. Check these ladies out. I have a neck full of other goodies, but hard to see them.

I have this thing about taking photos and having a bit of fun with them. I see faces and I sometimes see other places or moods. (click to enlarge) I enjoy "tinkering" with them a great deal just as a hobby. I have one of my son on the homepage of my site. He was sleeping, it was to good not to go for. But this one I did a few years ago...it just reminds me how fast he is growing up.

Not every photo I see inspires me, but sometimes I run across one here and there. Sometimes I have an idea and I'll create a prefabricated Kodak moment like I did below here of myself. Where I come up with this stuff....no idea. It just pops up in my head. A pretty scary place...a bone yard of bits and pieces of ideas and visions....no sugar plum fairies dancing in this head.

Of course when you got a gal who likes to play with snakes as down time, what do you expect? In case you have not met him yet...this is Kashmir...my now 5 foot long corn snake. He is very sweet and gentle and more fun to play with than a slinky. He is a bit camera shy and was being very difficult for my son to take a photo of....but we finally got at least his head. The other 4 feet of him is in my sleeve. It's OK....he is 100% a gentleman. Me however...um no.

I have this little challenge going on right now with photos. To see what we can do with a simple cell phone camera. I have other cameras....but what damage can I do with a cell phone? The two photos above (the altered one and non-altered one) are both cell phone shots.

Here is another unaltered shot of my youngest with a cell phone. We thought we would go outside and have a bit of fun with the two feet of blessed snow we had dumped on us this weekend. He was having a hard time with all of the glare, so I just instructed him to close his eyes and relax...it's a keeper for me! He takes instruction well....very graceful...his mother....

Not so much.

Yup, leave it to me to fall flat on my ass in the snow and him catching me at the exact moment I do so. Yes, call me Grace. I can assure you the snow is cold, and it felt like sitting on nails. Regardless it was funny as hell and I had a good laugh over it all. I have a rule in life. "If you cannot laugh at yourself, you have no business laughing at anyone else." I hear a hot jacuzzi bath calling my name....

Back to SERIOUS business as a friend of mine, Chris, allowed me to basically trash him. He sent me a photo of him covered in dust from a saw mill. Perfect! So he got a bit sprouty (I just made that word up) and a bit stoned too. :) I also scratched him up here and there. (Sorry Chris!!! Hope that didn't hurt too much!) Was like stressing a piece of wood to make it look old....er...not to say you are old ...um...ya. I am going to stop there. Doesn't he look great?!?!

Finally, I was just sitting next to my son on the couch the other night when I just had an idea. I grabbed my phone...gave him a few instructions and wa-la. Did very little to this photo...it didn't need much. I am happy with how it turned out. I am even more happy at how willing he is to be creative and dare to do what other kids may not even consider. I am really proud of him for this. Being comfortable in your own skin is really important. Not caring what others think is even more important.

I have another series with a girlfriend of mine I am working on, and I need permission from a friend on a minor. So I will post more in the future as I finish my "tinkering." Some folks do crossword puzzles to relax...I like to toy with photos.