Still feeling pale and out of focus, as befits the smudge stick filter I applied here. I seem to be exchanging one locus of misery (head) for another (throat and lungs). Once I run out of body parts, I have to get well, right? Thanks for all your well wishes, and from the sound of if, many of you are in similar need. So, "Get well! You, me, and all our loved ones" DP048-2013. Posted February 17, 2013

I'm hoping to use this gallery to challenge myself to learn something every day about seeing the world, photographing it, expressing myself through photos, and enjoying the works of other photographers. It will test my self-discipline. I won't even pretend that I'll take a picture every single day, but I will try to process one each day. Critiques are welcomed, and even encouraged. If you make a suggestion for altering one of my posts, to this or any other gallery, and I can act on it (short of retaking the shot), I'll try to respond and post the altered versions in a new 'Take Your Pick' gallery here: http://arctangent.smugmug.com/Photography/Take-Your-Pick/27975689_qs5bJs

gallery pages: << < 10 11 12 13 14 15 >

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Equality of Educational Opportunity.
When I was growing up in the 50's and 60's, that was one of the major issues in the battle for civil rights. It still seems to me that no society can be truly free unless all children, regardless of race, religion, gender, economic status have equal access to education.

So my offering in honor of Black History Month, and more broadly in honor of the global struggle for human rights, is a collection of pictures of Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School, a school which proudly proclaims that it is "Keeping the Dream Alive Every Day".

DP055-2013. Posted February 24; processed ditto.

Ann Arbor, Michigan
February 24, 2013

"My, what long wings you have!"

A young trumpeter swan stretching its wings. Adult trumpeters have been showing considerable agression toward the young from last year, identifiable by their charcoal grey feathers. I suppose they have to drive those offspring away before starting to raise this year's brood of cygnets.

DP054-2013. Posted February 23; processed ditto.

Huron River, Gallup Park'
February 23, 2013

Today was a special day, spent with a special friend. I wasn't sure I'd even be able to post a picture for today. Apologies for not commenting. I'll try to catch up tomorrow.

Icicles, I guess you'd call them.
Most of what you see in this shot is ice that built up, who knows how, on a wall that separates two parts of one of the tailraces at Geddes Dam. To see this section in context, look here: http://smu.gs/15AwFPw

DP053-2013. Posted February 22; processed ditto.

Huron River, Ann Arbor
February 9, 2013

At many places along Sabino Creek golden color from cottonwoods, sycamores, and willows made a stunning contrast to the blue sky and the dark rocks of the canyon walls and the greener vegetation out away from the riparian environment.

DP052-2013. Posted February 21; processed ditto.

Sabino Canyon.
Tucson, Arizona
December 20, 2013

(My lungs still aren't up to bearing much cold air, so no nature walks to provide new subjects. Maybe remembering the dry warmer air of Arizona will help. Health by association?)

'Dew' Drops.
This petite cactus (not more than 3" in diameter, at a guess) was doing an efficient job of holding on to the droplets it received from the scheduled misting from overhead jets. Almost every other cactus in the room had already given back that source of moisture through evaporation.

DP051-2013. Posted February 20, 2013; processed February 19.

I had hoped to be able to choose from among pictures taken yesterday during some of the snow squalls, showing birds, squirrels, and even deer who came into the yard in search of food. But all the ones I took were dull and uninteresting. So I opted for an older, but technically better and visually more interesting (in my opinion) shot from a recent visit to Matthaei Botanical Gardens.

Taken February 12, 2013

Another abstract from the incomparable hand of mother nature.
Fragments of thin, semi-translucent ice modulate the reflections in the waters of a closed tailrace of the concrete sidewall being warmed by the afternoon sun.

DP050-2013 Posted February 19; processed ditto.

Taken February 9, 2013 at Geddes Dam, Huron River, Ann Arbor.

What a difference a day makes!
This spring bouquet, a gift from my dear sister, expresses my mood today, now that I'm finally feeling semi-normal. (I took this yesterday, before I changed the water and rearranged the flowers, so it's a lop-sided arrangement, just as the buds came out of the florist's box. But I like this shot better for the purpose at hand than the other ones I took later. Thanks, Carol, for the lovely flowers.)

DP049-2013. Posted February 18; processed ditto.

Thanks once again for all the well wishes. I'll be able to comment later today on some of the great DP's of the past few days, once I get back from a necessary shopping expedition. Got to put some food on the table!

I've uploaded another shot of part of the bouquet to my 'Seeing Red' gallery, http://smu.gs/YtUzGV, along with an unframed, unlabeled version of this shot, if you're interested.

A peek inside my fevered brain.

DP047-2013. Posted February 16; processed ditto.

Apologies to all who have left comments during the past ~30 hours, for which I've been unable to reciprocate. I've been pretty much out of commision since 10 am yesterday. I'll try to catch up once the fever breaks and I can once again eat, drink, and sit at the computer comfortably.

Still feeling pale and out of focus, as befits the smudge stick filter I applied here.
I seem to be exchanging one locus of misery (head) for another (throat and lungs). Once I run out of body parts, I have to get well, right?

Thanks for all your well wishes, and from the sound of if, many of you are in similar need. So, "Get well! You, me, and all our loved ones"

DP048-2013. Posted February 17, 2013