Photos, videos and docs of Janet Brien, with the keywords: "goal"

283/366: Lovely Little Buttercup

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Wed, 12 Oct 2016 03:02:47 +0000

This bright and happy little flower can be found all over our property from the start of spring until about mid-April. I took this picture back in 2012!

287/366: Last Day For a Lovely Daffodil

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Sun, 16 Oct 2016 03:02:06 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

One of the things that make daffodils so popular is their long-lasting blossoms. This flower is fading into the sunset but I thought it was still pretty enough to share. I took this picture at my friend's garden near Ashland, Oregon.

282/366: Juicy Jonquils

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Tue, 11 Oct 2016 03:51:30 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

Our springs are often very rainy, and it's wonderful to sneak out between showers to get pictures of the flowers with droplets on them. Here are some jonquils drenched after a storm. :)

281/366: Rough Eyelash

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Mon, 10 Oct 2016 03:54:26 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

That's the name of this wildflower, which grows all over our property in the late spring. Even though its leaves and stems are very sticky and leave a strong scent that isn't wonderful, the blossom is beautiful and unique. I love them! :)

267/366: Filiment Frost on a Pine Needle

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Mon, 26 Sep 2016 04:42:04 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

Summer has ended and the mornings are starting to get chilly. It won't be too long before we begin to get frost again, and I can't wait! This is what a pine needle looks like when it has frost on it! I captured this unusual frost formation back in 2013 when I was working on my 356 Project! :)

253/366: Roscoe's Children Coming Out of Egg Sac

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Mon, 12 Sep 2016 03:06:08 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

One day in September of 2012, I found a baby orb weaver spider on my front porch. Over the next year, I watched this baby get her first meal, survive a freezing winter, grow to adulthood, find a mate, make an egg sac, and finally, I saw her crawl slowly away under a bush to die. Somewhere along the way, I fell in love with this beautiful Cat-Faced Orb-Weaver, and I cried my eyes out when she died. Maybe just a spider to most, she was my little friend, and I missed her terribly in the months that followed. In fact, revisiting her pictures now pulls hard on my heart strings. I feel like I should be embarrassed that I feel sad as I look at all the pictures I took. How can a person become attached to a spider? I did though, and I feel pretty darn lucky that I got to know a spider well enough to cry over its death.

This is a picture of Roscoe's children, hatching out of the egg sac she made and protected until she was too weak to do so. Seeing all of these kids brings a tear to my eye. I wished that some of them would have stayed around, but they all left after a few days. What a great experience it was to know my friend Roscoe. :)

If you'd like to see Rocoe's story in pictures and tales, please visit her album here My Friend Roscoe

194/366: Heart of a Wood Rose

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Fri, 15 Jul 2016 04:08:17 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

One day Steve and I went on a photography outing that turned out to be too cold and windy, but as we returned home to our area, I realized we would have a great time on a trail that followed the Rogue River...and we did! I discovered a bush covered with Wood Roses. Look at its lovely center! Wild and beautiful roses! :)

191/366: Hot Pink Blossoms (+1 in a note)

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Tue, 12 Jul 2016 04:09:30 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

These are some flowers I photographed when Steve and I went on a garden tour down in Ashland a few years ago. I wanted to have sharp focus on only the flowers in front, while allowing everything else to fade off into bokeh. You can see an entire flower cluster in another image that I've added in a note above. :)

190/366: Golden Daffodils

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Mon, 11 Jul 2016 03:24:15 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

This is another picture I took at my friend's property a few years ago. She and her husband planted countless daffodil bulbs and iris corms and I got to visit when they were in bloom. What an experience. Also a wonderful opportunity to practice my technique! :)

Explored on July 12, 2016. Highest placement, page 3.

179/366: Yellow Triple Rose Daffodil

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Thu, 30 Jun 2016 03:49:34 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

Who knew that daffodils came in nearly countless shapes, sizes and styles? I certainly didn't! It's funny how it just doesn't occur to you that something very familiar may actually have many other appearances.

Here is a triple daffodil in yellow and orange and it was growing on my friend's estate south of Ashland in Oregon. She and her husband planted probably a thousand daffodil bulbs in every type they could find, and I had a lovely day a few years back taking pictures of them. What fun to learn that the normal yellow daffodil with its single beautiful flute can look so different!

178/366: A Rear View of a Lovely Grass Widow

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Wed, 29 Jun 2016 03:44:02 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

One of the most beautiful flowers of southern Oregon is the stunning Grass Widow. They don't grow on our property, but instead, on the tops of the Upper and Lower Table Rocks, which are just a few miles from our home. These breathtaking flowers burst into bloom in early spring and draw admirers from miles away to appreciate their beauty. (And the view from the tops of these mesas are spectacular too!) Here are some other pictures of Grass Widows that I've taken.

142/366: Frost on Rusted Barbed Wire

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Tue, 24 May 2016 03:48:26 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

Frost on barbed wire is such fun to photograph! The sparkling frost dissolves into starry bokeh, the crisp frost crystals are so sharp and yet "furry" looking, and if you should get lucky, the colorful rust on the barbed wire makes a perfect contrast! And of course, you have a natural leading line of the wire to guide the eye. What's not to love?! :)

Explored on 5/25/16. Highest placement #24.

89/366: Elegance (+1 inset)

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 04:10:38 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

(+1 in a note)

The past few days I've been going on short walks part-way up the Upper Table Rock on the way into my work, and right now is when these stunning flowers are in full bloom. To the left and right of the trail there are countless blossoms to appreciate. I don't think most people really see the beauty of these flowers, which require viewing from a very low stance so that you may look up at its lovely face. I took this picture a couple of years ago and was very pleased with how it turned out...and finally, I can share it with the world! :)

(By the way, earlier in this project, I shared another picture of one of these flowers...roll your mouse over the image to see it!)

Explored on April 1, 2016. Highest placement, page 5.

78/366: Shelf Fungus

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Mon, 21 Mar 2016 03:06:31 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

Shelf fungus is often fairly boring to look at from a distance, but it's usually quite interesting up close. There are some that are very pretty, and I thought this group looked like terrestrial clams! :)

Explored on March 22, 2016. Highest placement, page 5.

77/366: Twinkling Weeds

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Sun, 20 Mar 2016 05:17:39 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

This is another shallow depth of field image where only the closest sepals are in focus. It was intentional because I love the way everything begins to fade out into bokeh. I like to stop and appreciate these leftover flower stalks when I see them because the nearly transparent, dried sepals glow so luminously when any light hits them. I found this in September of 2013, a time of year that is bone-dry and brown everywhere. These illuminated weeds add a much appreciated sparkle to a sea of gold and brown. (Question: is "sepals" the right word here? I am not sure, so if you know better, please let me know in a comment! :)

76/366: Tiny Sweat Bee on Thistle

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 05:45:53 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

It's fun to play with extremely shallow depth of field when you have a macro lens. Here we have a tiny sweat bee on a thistle blossom, and that's the only thing in focus! I found this image back in July, 2013.

75/366: Rare Pink and White Grass Widow (+ 3 insets)

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Fri, 18 Mar 2016 02:42:01 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

(3 more in notes above)

Steve and I live very close to a prominent pair of landmarks in southern Oregon called the Upper and Lower Tablerocks. Every Spring, these plateaus explode into a flowering wonderland, complete with a seasonal marsh. The stars of the show are acres of magenta-colored flowers called Grass Widows. Steve and I went up to photograph the flowers a couple of years ago and while I was wandering around, I found this amazing blossom! I didn't know they come in any other color, let alone two tones! I have since learned that there are rare white ones, though I have never seen one here.

The background of this picture was not ideal so I created a textured background to replace the original.

Explored on March 18, 2016. Highest placement, #54.

53/366: Elegant Erythronium (+5 more in notes)

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Thu, 25 Feb 2016 02:19:03 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

(5 more in notes above)

Living in rural southern Oregon has shown me that even on my own property, some of the most beautiful flowers in the world can be found. This is a close up of a Henderson's Fawn Lily, which blooms during March all over our hillside and lower forest. This lovely blossom faces downwards, so getting a proper picture requires one to flop onto the ground and angle your camera up for a "face" shot!

These flowers are usally lavender-purple, but some species are creamy yellow to bright yellow in color. There are a few of the creamy yellow ones along our ridge top, a wonderful surprise for me to find! If you roll your mouse over this picture, you will see other pictures I've taken of Henderson's Fawn Lily, and a couple of Oregon Fawn Lilies too! :)

52/366: Frosty Screw

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Wed, 24 Feb 2016 02:12:02 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

It's the third week of February and this morning we woke up to a world of frost! What a perfect opportunity to share a frosty image from my archives! On this extremely cold December morning in 2013, the frost formed wonderful crystals, and this rusty screw was positively covered with it!

30/366: Garage Toad (+ 2 insets!)

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 02:50:48 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

[2 more pictures above in notes]

In July 2013, I was in the middle of my 365 Project and on this particular day, I discovered a toad in our garage. Before releasing it, however, I could not resist taking lots of pictures! I ended up getting several very nice ones, and in the end, this one was never posted. Until today!! :)

I copied the text I wrote from that day in case you would like to read about my toad discovery and rescue. :D
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
July 1, 2013:
My, how plans for my 365 image can change! This morning when I went out to water the garden, the light was just beautiful and the newly blooming chicory blossoms were positively glowing. I ran inside for my camera and proceeded to take bunches of pictures. In fact, I looked through them on my computer and had my picks of the day chosen.

Before I began working on the images, I decided to go down to our garage to hop on the orbital trainer and watch a bit of Lonesome Dove. However, in the quiet parts, I kept hearing small noises... scratching? Bumping? I stopped the video and listened again. *Scratch, rustle, bump* What the heck could it be? I angled my head up and wondered if one of our dogs was scratching at their bedding. *Screech... scratch*...no, that sound was down here...but...where? I got off the orbital trainer and began looking around, listening for the noises. I thought that maybe a mouse was digging a hole somewhere since we have had them in the garage before. *Scratchhhh* AH HAH!! It must be the box by the refrigerator! Moving quietly, I leaned down to look inside the box. Imagine my surprise when I discovered not a mouse, not a rat, but a juvenile TOAD trying to climb out of the box that it somehow managed to jump into!!!! I could hardly believe my eyes!! The next thing that hit me was the fact that if I hadn't heard this toad scratching on the side of the box, it would have died without question because it couldn't get out. That would have broken our hearts...I was overcome by relief and joy that I found this guy before he was too exhausted to make any noise!! WHEW!!!!!

Cooing softly at the frightened and exhausted toad, "Little fella, that's no place for you!" I gently picked it up out of the box and noticed that it was positively COVERED with dog hair, YUCK! Poor guy! So I brought it inside and held it under the sink while I removed all the hairs and assorted lint stuck all over. As I cleaned my adorable little buddy up, it began trilling at me! I giggled in surprise at the cute noises it was making! Finally, the toad was clean and ready to be released...but not before I got a couple of pictures!! :D Once I took a few images, I brought the toad out to Angel's Pond and placed him on the rocky beach area to recuperate. There's a ramp to climb out if he can't hop out. I checked a couple of times today and he's hanging out in the water under the ramp where it's cool on this very hot day. I expect he'll hop out when it gets dark, as these toads are nocturnal. (By the way, this is a smaller toad than the one I've taken pictures of, it was actually in the other wading pool that I call "Lucky's Pond"! :) I thought it was really funny that there's now a toad in each pond! :D

When Steve got home from his trip into town, I told him what happened and we were both so happy that I'd found this beautiful toad in time to save it!! HOORAY FOR HAPPY ENDINGS!!! :) :) :)