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

Medford Fall Parking Lot Adventure: Gingko Leaves and More! (+5 insets)

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Sun, 01 Nov 2020 17:30:42 +0000

(+5 insets)

Happy Fall Back Day!
Oh my, we've gained an hour! As I type it's 8:15 on the clock but really it's 9:15…or at least that's what my body has to say about it! I just love gaining an hour, even though it's not truly real. Real or not, I feel like I have a whole extra hour and it's delightful! :)

A Very Covid Halloween
By the way, for those of you who enjoy Halloween, I hope you managed to find a safe way to celebrate! I have always loved this holiday and as a kid it was my very favorite day of the year. I cannot help but feel sad about Covid ruining this special day for so many. Personally, I haven't actually done anything festive for Halloween for a few years now--we often get pumpkins to carve, but not lately. Instead, I'll participate in Halloween events happening within online video games and that really satisfies me.

This year it was Animal Crossing! A few weeks ago Steve surprised me with a birthday gift--a Nintendo Switch! This is something I'd never buy for myself--I cannot justify the price of these little time-wasters--so Steve likes to get things like this for me because he knows I will enjoy them. He's right. I have a soft spot for this particular game and it's only available on the Nintendo Switch. Instead of Animal Crossing, I made due by finding other games which are similar--the outstanding Garden Paws and equally excellent My Time at Portia--but there's nothing like the real thing! I've been having a great time with it and the Halloween event was charming, darling, and so cute. Something very nice as well is that players can gather and celebrate together, which means a lot to all those kids who didn’t get to celebrate properly this year. I hope that next year kids will have their trick-or-treating and holiday parties restored!

Fall in Medford, Parking Lot Style!
Who says you need to go to a park or grand location to photograph the lovely colors of Fall? Steve and I don't always get out for a photo day that features Fall's dramatic show. However, if I want to immortalize the pretty colors everywhere, all I need to do is tag along when Steve's going out for some shopping and errands, and my wish is granted!

Parking lots around here are often lavishly planted with a large variety of trees, shrubs and other plants. When Fall rolls around, the colors are simply outrageous! Yet, if you took pictures from a distance, the effect would be a disaster--who wants to see an ugly parking lot, cars, power lines and endless cement? However, if you get in closer, shoot up towards the sky, and take time to carefully compose images to eliminate the manmade distractions, the results can be just as marvelous as if we'd driven for hours to get pretty Fall landscape images. Yes, I do miss out on those amazing landscape images but I get so many lovely photos that are up-close and personal, it's a satisfying, marvelous show!

Today's Pictures: Gingko Leaves and More!
I had a wonderful time taking pictures of all of the beautiful things that presented themselves to me at each stop we made around town. However, I was beside myself with joy when I spotted a number of Gingko trees with some colorful leaves left just for me! Don't you just love their unique and interesting leaves? These marvelous trees with their many medical benefits are native to China and are commonly used for landscaping around the world. Creeping around the trees I found, I looked for the best way to photograph those magnificent leave. Happily, I was rewarded with a number of very successful winners to share, which I'll spread out over the next few posts. (For more information about these trees, Wiki has a super page on them here:Wiki: Ginkgo Biloba)

I'm also including a glorious spray of fiery red maple leaves against a blue sky--how awesome to find such a perfect branch of leaves! There is also a backlit "stained glass" maple leaf with a variety of colorful splotches and shadows of stems which look like an X through the leaf! A group of glowing orange leaves with a background of leaves in shadow turned out nicely too! There's a close-up of a red-edged, dripping leaf found under a tree just beginning to turn color. And finally, a some red leaves on a short hedge that were covered with water…I couldn't help but try for a starry-droplet shot! Partly blown-out but still a win in my book and I hope you like it too! :)

That's all from me! Thanks again for your visits, comments and favorites! Please stay safe out there in this new explosion of cases…combined with the flu, I don't think this will be a very nice winter for a lot of people.

Explored on 11/1/20; highest placement #2.

Pictures for Pam, Day 150: Macro Monday: Bark Bark Bark!!

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Mon, 08 Apr 2019 23:23:57 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

(+13 insets!) *sheepish grin* Sorry, I got a little carried away but I think you'll like them! :D (please view large for all the neato details!)

It rained and it rained and it rained, rained, rained! On and off all day yesterday and then into the evening. And as I fell asleep last night, I was lulled into dreams by the pattering of droplets on the windows. Before opening my eyes this morning I was gently guided into wakefulness with the tap of rain on the panes of glass. Will it ever end?

Walking down to the gate this morning to open the gate for Steve's drive in a little while, I surveyed the damage to our road repairs. Enough rain has come down that our work to fix the road has been reversed in some places. I fixed the worst spot and was pleased to see the water flowing off the road again. There were many other places that needed attention though. Hmm. Steve will need to do some touch-ups at some point. The next week promises to continue the ongoing series of spring storms and waiting on ruts in the road is never a good thing.

Steve left early to take the RV trailer into a professional shop today! He rescheduled once due to the rain but decided to go ahead today, rain and mud be damned! We hooked up the truck yesterday and today he drove carefully and confidently down our driveway and on to Medford. I got a cheerful call from him to let me know that everything had gone great and they'd have the trailer's maintenance completed by mid-week. Hooray! This is a crucial step before we go on our first camping trip. We need to know that the undercarriage is ship-shape. They will be repacking the bearings and doing a variety of other work which we'd like seasoned eyes to carry out. Steve's extremely handy but all of this is new to him and we both agreed that it should be looked at by a pro who knows what they are doing. (As it turned out, all of the brake pads were worn almost down to the plates--it was a good thing we had everything checked!)

Did you happen to notice that it's Macro Monday?! YES!! This week's theme is "bark" and bark is what you'll get! When I was up on the top of our ridgeline yesterday at one point I noticed the time and told Steve I'd be right down, "10 minutes max!" Silly wabbit, I had a camera in my hand! I need to remember that if I have my camera I need to add more time to my estimation! Heh. As I headed back along the ridge to the trail down to the house, I took lots of pictures of different bark that I saw. Is it my fault there were so many interesting bark pictures to take?! Ponderosa pine and oak bark on healthy trees, charred bark on dead trees, burned bark on the ground, and the insides of bark too! I even found some bark that has termite trails on it and a woodpecker hole! It was twenty minutes before I scurried in the door with a bashful expression on my face...heh. :D

Along with my main picture--which shows charred oak bark and a bit of bare trunk--I'm sharing an embarrassing number of insets! I hope you enjoy the show!

Pam, I thought it would be fun to look in your photo stream for "bark" and I found one that would work for Macro Monday! Your ice-covered Redbud bark is wonderful and so interesting to look at with its fine, glossy coat! Many kinds of lichen are visible too, so pretty in all their many colors! I hope your day is going well and your house isn't floating away in the rain! :D *BIG HUGS*

Explored on 4/9/19, highest placement, #2.

Pictures for Pam, Day 48: Oak Leaf Stuck on Ponderosa Pine Bark

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Wed, 26 Dec 2018 23:55:06 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

(please view large!) (+8 insets!)

What is your favorite kind of picture to take? Are you drawn to landscapes or street photography? Do you enjoy nature photography of all types or do you prefer city-based themes? Are you a "Jack of all trades" because any type of photography is interesting to you?

For me It's always been macro. Ever since I was a little kid in San Francisco, I've loved discovering tiny things. I used to love walking up our neighborhood street and turning over bricks to see what was underneath. Salamanders, ants, spiders, bugs, slugs and snails, and sometimes even centipedes. Lots of mushrooms, weird fungus and molds, it was all interesting to me. I loved finding the smallest flowers in the cracks of the sidewalk and I would collect a miniature bouquet to present to my mother with an ecstatic, "Mom, I brought you a mouse bouquet!" She loved them and put her tiny flowers into a shot glass and placed it on the kitchen table for all to see. Climbing around Mt. Davidson, which was our backyard, I spent hours exploring the different areas and learning about the countless things that grew there.

Three of the things I love are tiny details, textures and abstracts. As a kid, I would hold a leaf up to my nose and just stare. The wonderful details, textures and abstracts I saw were so beautiful and fascinating to me, but it's hard to tell someone about these things. You have to show them. And still, people could rarely see what I did...that was pretty frustrating.

Discovering macro photography changed everything. For the first time I could finally show everyone exactly what I was looking at! I could zero in on tiny creatures or flowers or I could show the textures of a subject. Abstracts were finally something I could photograph and allow the viewer to ponder and question. And by learning how to use a specialized macro lens, the magic of bokeh can be added into the mix for a magical touch I'd never considered as a child. A new way to explore the world...how cool is that? What adventure! What freedom! Macro photography opens the door to a universe of endless possibilities on a very small scale. That is why it's my favorite kind of photography.

Today's picture is another "caught" leaf, but I think it's pretty special because it requires looking closer. It's also both a texture picture and an abstract because at first it's hard to see what it is.

A few weeks ago, I was wandering around in our lower forest. At one point I looked up and noticed an Oak leaf stuck on the trunk of a Ponderosa pine tree. Did you know that pine trees can have different looking bark? That never occurred to me until I took a good look at our pine trees. Ponderosa pine bark looks like jigsaw puzzle pieces! I know you don't believe me, so please take a look at the insets so I can show you! The leaf in today's picture got stuck on one of the "puzzle pieces"!

Pam, I hope that all is well with you today and that you are happy and comfortable. Give your dogs some pats from me and tell them that they're doing a great job being a good friend to you. I hope they give you lots of good energy and put a smile on your face! I am thinking of you all the time! :)

Explored on 12/27/18, highest placement, #6.

30/366: Glowing Manzanita Leaf

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Sat, 30 Jan 2016 19:50:02 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

On the afternoon of October 1, 2016, a fire broke out on our property. It raced across one of our meadows, completely destroyed our shop, and roared up to the top of our ridge before finally being put out. One day, when I could bear to witness the aftermath, I wandered up onto our hillside and captured some of the things that I saw. This is a dying leaf on a Manzanita that was burned too badly to survive. Even still there is beauty as it glows warmly in the late afternoon sun.

Resin Droplet Star

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Wed, 23 Dec 2015 22:11:50 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

The fire fighters cut down many smoldering trees and I found droplets of resin in the cuts of some of them. Catching the light just so created a pretty star!

Damaged Madrone Leaf

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Wed, 23 Dec 2015 22:11:17 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

It was a curious thing to look at the trees and to find that the fire didn't burn everything in its path. Instead, the damage came from the incredible heat from the fire, which singed the leaves and left them totally dry, and yet with a beauty of their own.

Teasel

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 07:30:04 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

This image was taken with our Canon 5D on our property in Southern Oregon on November 4, 2011.

Cool Manzanita Burl

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Sat, 30 Nov 2013 05:35:55 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

This burl was at the base of the tree under Shelby's Heart. I thought it was very unique and interesting with an awesome texture, so I'm sharing it too! :D

A Heart for Shelby

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Sat, 30 Nov 2013 05:36:10 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

One of ipernity's fine personalities is my friend Shelby, who is as talented as she is sweet and wonderful. She also has a darling habit of finding hearts in pictures and pointing them out. If she doesn't find a heart, she finds something sweet to add a ❤ symbol to.

Today while I was puttering up the hillside, studying everything I passed by, I found myself staring at one of Shelby's hearts! Now, how did she get here, I wonder?! :D Shelby, I know your heart's been hurting over the loss of your dear kitty, Frisco, but I hope this picture will make you smile and lighten your heart just a little. *big hugs*

By the way, this heart is actually a special formation on some tree trunks called a burl. Wiki's description says, "A burl (American English) or bur or burr (used in all non-US English speaking countries) is a tree growth in which the grain has grown in a deformed manner. It is commonly found in the form of a rounded outgrowth on a tree trunk or branch that is filled with small knots from dormant buds."

Burls are very special because the wood inside is often a beautiful swirled texture of two colors and they are prized by woodworkers for creating magnificent wood items like pens, bowls, clocks, and many other things. If you would like to read more about burls from Wiki, you can read the article here: Wikipedia: Burl. If you would like to see pictures of items created from manzanita burls, you can see some here:
Google Image Search: Manzanita Burl

Thanks again, Shelby, for the sweet notes that I love to read on everyone's pictures that you visit. You make me smile every time I see them! :)

10-Week Projects: Trees--Single Tree (Vintage Oak Tree at 50 mph!)

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 04:19:30 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

1 picture above in a note!

Welcome to our second 10-Week Photo Project!! This Project is focused on TREES, with a different theme each week. This week is for a SINGLE TREE! I did take some pictures today with my camera phone but they just couldn't compare to this one, not even close. :) Here's the story:

As Steve and I were driving home from Medford, we went past a beautiful, enormous Oak tree that I always admire every time we go by. Magnificent and huge, I couldn't resist pointing my camera and taking a picture or two as we flew by at 50mph. Looking at the pictures when we got home, I was surprised that one of them was nice enough that I could process it! I decided to give it a vintage look, using Topaz Lab's Black and White Effects "Sepia & Gold" filter and then adding a 60% opacity of Jerry Jone's texture, "Aborigine" as an overlay. I also added a Photoshop sandstone texture.

I've included the unaltered version for you to see how it looked before I used the filter and texture overlay. Isn't it amazing how different it looks? And if you like this, it's really so easy to learn how to use these filters and texture techniques. It just takes some practice to get an understanding of what you can expect. If you would like to try out Topaz Lab's Black & White Effects, there is a trial version to try here: www.topazlabs.com/downloads

307/365: "The true method of knowledge is experiment." ~ William Blake

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 04:19:54 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

3 more pictures in notes above ! :)

Steve and I went into town today for groceries and I brought my camera with me. After shopping, we stopped for gas and I saw a tree covered with beautiful berries and pretty red leaves. I hopped out of the car and spent a few minutes taking pictures, two of which I've posted tonight! :)

When I looked at my berry pictures, I decided that I liked this one the best, but the color was not quite to my liking. A perfect opportunity for me to experiment with my trial download of Topaz Lab's ReStyle! This enormous suite of filters is filled with literally hundreds of color palettes that you can scroll through, and each selection shows a preview of how your picture will be altered. In this case, all the colors that you see were much more drab, but with the selection, "Blue Skies and Cherry Blossoms", the picture instantly turned into what I'd been hoping for! (I've included the non-filtered version above so you can see what it looked like before.) Decreasing the opacity to 57% was just the right amount for the finished image.

I think that one of the secrets to a long life is continuing to learn and grow, and keeping an open mind. Part of that includes experimenting and trying new things! When it comes to Photoshop, I love trying out filters and different methods of doing things because the results can be surprising and often quite wonderful! (If you would like to try this suite of filters, here's a link! www.topazlabs.com/downloads)

William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. His prophetic poetry has been said to form "what is in proportion to its merits the least read body of poetry in the English language". His visual artistry led one contemporary art critic to proclaim him "far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced". Although he lived in London for all but three years of his life, he produced a diverse and symbolically rich corpus, which embraced the imagination as "the body of God", or "Human existence itself". Wkipedia: William Blake

Explore one November 4, 2013. Highest placement, page 2.

296/365: "Photography is more than a medium for factual communication of ideas. It is a creative art." ~ Ansel Adams

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Thu, 24 Oct 2013 04:45:09 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

2 more pictures in notes above! :)

Today Steve had my camera for a work assignment, so when he got home I popped on the macro flash and went out to take pictures. However, when I looked at them on my computer, I didn't think any of them were especially interesting. So, I decided to use one of my "emergency subjects" for times when I'm rushed for a picture and can't go out on another hunt.

What do you think of this strange leaf-seed combination that I found one day in Medford?! I looked carefully at the tree this came from, and the regular leaves are quite different. In hindsight, I'm sorry I didn't take one of those leaves home too, it would be good for comparison. (This is a picture of the normal leaves along with the seed-bearing leaves) Anyway, I think the seeds are so cute and fuzzy and hoped they would make a nice picture! Thanks to all of you who helped me to identify this as a Basswood, Linden or Lime tree (not related to the fruit).

From Wiki:
Commonly known by the names Basswood, Linden or Lime tree, Tilia is a genus of about 30 species of trees native throughout most of the temperate Northern Hemisphere. Commonly called lime trees in the British Isles, they are not closely related to the lime fruit. Other names include linden and basswood. The genus occurs in Europe and eastern North America, but the greatest species diversity is found in Asia.

Tilia species are mostly large, deciduous trees, reaching typically 20 to 40 metres (66 to 130 ft) tall, with oblique-cordate leaves 6 to 20 centimetres (2 to 8 in) across. As with elms, the exact number of species is uncertain, as many if not most of the species will hybridise readily, both in the wild and in cultivation. Limes are hermaphroditic, having perfect flowers with both male and female parts, pollinated by insects.

I discovered that many parts of this plant are edible, after reading a fascinating article about the Basswood tree by Samuel Thayer: Basswood: The Ultimate Wild Salad Plant.

Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American photographer and environmentalist. His black-and-white landscape photographs of the American West, especially Yosemite National Park, have been widely reproduced on calendars, posters, and in books. Wikipedia: Ansel Adams

Explored on October 24, 2013. Highest placement, page 3.

285/365: "There are no extra pieces in the universe. Everyone is here because he or she has a place to fill, and every piece must fit itself into the big jigsaw puzzle." ~ Deepak Chopra (many pictures in notes!)

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Sun, 13 Oct 2013 03:24:51 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

12 more pictures in notes above! :)

I was planning on taking the dogs on a walk around the lower forest today, but I ended up only about 100 feet from the house when I saw a mossy stump and wanted to investigate more closely. No mushrooms. Then I noticed some pine cones and thought they would make a very nice subject. After I spent some time taking pictures, I saw that the bark on the pine tree was very interesting and took a closer look. What a surprise! Did you know that pine trees can have all kinds of different bark? I completely forgot that I'd seen trees with bark like this before, but even then, I didn't look very closely. Ponderosa Pine trees have bark like layered jigsaw puzzle pieces!! To prove the point, see the inset images or the next two pictures (with their insets). Totally fascinated, I studied the bark carefully, gently removing a piece or two, and discovering that many pieces can be removed and then replaced on the tree! I spent time trying to show how much the layers resemble shale (a type of fine-grained sedimentary rock). Very interesting, isn't it?! The bark is fun to look at too, with beautiful textures and colors. I chose the picture above for my Picture of the Day because it's such an picturesque abstract and looks like a pterodactyl to me! :)

From Wiki:
Pinus ponderosa, commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, or western yellow pine, is a very large pine tree of variable habit native to western North America, but widespread throughout the temperate world. It was first described by David Douglas in 1826, from eastern Washington near present-day Spokane. It is the official state tree of the State of Montana. The Ponderosa Pine is a large coniferous evergreen tree. The bark helps to distinguish it from other species. Mature individuals have cinnamon-red bark with black crevices. Younger trees have black to reddish-brown bark. The tree can often be identified by its characteristic long needles that grow in tufts of two to four (or five) depending on subspecies.

Deepak Chopra (born October 22, 1947) is an Indian-American physician, a holistic health/New Age guru, and alternative medicine practitioner. Chopra has taught at the medical schools of Tufts University, Boston University and Harvard University. He became Chief of Staff at the New England Memorial Hospital (NEMH) in Massachusetts, before establishing a private practice. In 1985, Chopra met Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who invited him to study Ayurveda. Chopra left his position at the NEMH and became the founding president of the American Association of Ayurvedic Medicine, and was later named medical director of the Maharishi Ayurveda Health Center. Wikipedia: Deepak Chopra

195/365: "Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit." ~ Aristotle

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 04:50:07 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

4 images in notes above!! :)

Today was Steve's Sunday Brunch Ride, and we rode our bikes from our home around a beautiful valley nearby, and stopped at the lovely Touvelle Park on the Rogue River. After eating lunch, I wandered around taking pictures and was very surprised when I found a PLUM TREE growing next to the bank! AMAZING! (Thanks to Leapfrog Art for helping to point me in the right direction on identifying the species, I found a page about these plums here: Stringer's Orchard: Pacific Plum)

Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC)was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology. Together with Plato and Socrates (Plato's teacher), Aristotle is one of the most important founding figures in Western philosophy. Aristotle's writings were the first to create a comprehensive system of Western philosophy, encompassing morality, aesthetics, logic, science, politics, and metaphysics. Wikipedia: Aristotle

Explored on July 15, 2013. Highest placement: page 2 (#38).

Teasel

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 07:30:04 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

This image was taken with our Canon 5D on our property in Southern Oregon on November 4, 2011.

Decaying Trunk Rubble

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 11:25:58 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

Old Warriors

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 11:27:25 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

Pine Forest

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 11:27:03 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

pearseverywhere

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 11:32:46 +0000

Janet Brien has posted:

pears

nobody@ipernity.com (Janet Brien) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 11:32:54 +0000

Janet Brien has posted: