POVERTY

What struck me first were the "Keep Right" sign and "One Way" sign pointing up the hill with the man asking for help just below them.  What strikes me now is the contrast of the lush green corner garden across the roads with the near lack of color in the midst of the roads where the man is standing.  You can see the water line around the garden across the roads where the grass turns from manicured green to a thirsty dull shade. Life in the city.  Monotone poverty on one block then you turn a corner to well kept gardens and green green grass.

CLUSTERED

Tomato hornworms are strange looking critters. Stranger still when there are wasp cocoons clustered on them. If you look closely, you can see that some of the cocoons have open ends where the wasps have emerged.
It's actually a very cool bit of nature in play. The hornworms are feasting on my tomato plants (the ones Mr. L. now refuses to feast on because the idea that green monsters crawled around on them grosses him out) and the wasp larvae are feasting on the hornworms. Eventually the wasp larvae would kill the hornworm so it's a natural pest deterent in theory. In reality, the hornworms usually eat the tomat plant bare long before the wasp larvae kill them. Still very cool.

High Style

Youngest Ms. Lorri created a video entry for a contest by Aveda.   She's the stylist in the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaDDDV3KxlI

MOVEMENT

One captive makes a move toward freedom.

No crawdads were harmed in the splashing, rock turning, mudbug catching chase in the creek and all were returned to their home in short order.

FOUND

Found: A bucket full of crawdads while wading the creek with 3 little boys.

Found: The forgotten wonder of little boys in exploration mode.

DISCOVERY

I guess a guy is willing to take a risk when he discovers a box full of birdseed and corn just waiting to be enjoyed.

And imagine our surprise when we discovered him stuck in one deck box and his five siblings stranded in another.

4-H/FAIR RESULTS

My 4-H girls did well in their county fair--both received a blue in their class, both were considered for higher honors and one of the girls ended up winning Grand Champion in her class. There were over 100 entries in their project. They are already talking about next year's project. Thanks to those ofyou who reviewed their shots and helped with selection. You can see their photo boards by looking through my archive for "4-H Photography" The lighter blue board is the one that received Grand Champion.

In my local county fair I was pleased to get a Reserve Champion with an Ohio landscape shot, an Honorable Mention in Manipulated Photos and blue ribbons in 5 other categories. This little county fair gets close to 1000 photo entries each year.

BLUR

Playing with a wide angle lens with a macro ring. Nothing high tech or high end, picked it up on eBay for fifteen bucks.

RED

Sunlit petunia.

FRAGILE

I think dragonflies are actually a little creepy which contrasts with the fragile appearance of their wings.

GLITTERING

Fireworks glittering like jewels in the night.

Another from the King's Island amusement park's July 4th show.

This is an example of my camera knowing better than me. After reviewing several shots done according to various articles I read, I popped the camera on "Auto" for a few shots and got this one.

NIGHT

Fireworks light up the night at King's Island amusement park in Ohio.

Life always gets in the way of my best intentions. I read a few articles about shooting fireworks and practiced camera settings, got the tripod ready, dug out the cable release. In the end, though, I made a quick relocation to an open spot with a better view and shot handheld.

So much for good intentions.

PATRIOTIC

Two young men from Denmark spent the July 4th weekend with us in Ohio. They wanted to visit "an American funpark" for the holiday. As we arrived at King's Island there were sky divers coming in to open the holiday celebration.

I had seconds to grab a camera. Ended up with no sky in the background.

4-H Photography

Our little girls, ages 9 and 11, completed their boards for 4-H Photography. In their early divisions there is not a lot of room for creativity. All color or all black & white shots, 10 to a board with a pre-determined title.

The girls did a good job, though, and here are their completed boards. Judging will be July 15 so keep your fingers crossed for a good outcome.

Hannah, age 11, has the top board on the darker blue background. Andrea, age 9, has the bottom, lighter blue, board.

THE CITY

Mr. L. and two friends look out from a hillside high above the city. They can see Great American Ballpark, home of the Reds, clear across the Ohio River and into Kentucky.

The girls are visiting from a neighboring state to work on their 4-H Photography projects. It's been fun to see them going from taking snapshots to photos that many of us would be proud to claim. The youngest especially. She listens to an instruction and I can see her putting it into action with her next shot. she can name the parts of the camera and is using "Auto" less each day.

SEASIDE

I'm sad to say this is as close to seaside as I'm likely to get this summer.

FEMININE (one of many themes I missed over the months!)

Our daughter has a quiet moment to reflect in the midst of the engagement celebration. The wedding day will be a celebration of both our family's Catholic Christian traditions and her fiance's Hindu traditions. For this Hindu engagement blessing she is honoring her future husband's traditions by wearing a bindi (a small jewel that doesn't really show well in the photo) in the center of her forehead. The red marking is a powder (sometimes a paste is used but our girl has sensitive skin!) and is, I think, called "tilak."

PASSAGE OF TIME

Our daughter receives a welcoming hug from her fiance's grandmother following their engagement blessing ceremony, a Hindu tradition. I liked the behind the scenes perspective and the way the passage of time is measured in generations in this shot.

VEHICLE

He didn't seem to mind the off and on mist of rain. I liked the texture the misty rain added to the shot.

DROPLETS

A visit to our garden after an early day rain.