The 50th week was self portrait.  I forgot to post it to the blog.  It's certainly not my favorite challenge, but here it is.  Several friends mentioned that I was trying to be Mother Nature.  No, I was just trying to hide.  

 Seasonal sensations was our assignment.  I tried to get a good photo of a poinsettia but that failed.  So went out in the front yard at night and took a picture of our tree in the bay window.  Finally got one after much frustration with "bulb", "ISO" and remote shutter release.  

 The weekly challenge was Introspective.  Dennis was the guinea pig again this week and stood out in the freezing rain at Pomona Lake for me to get this photo.  Then I turned it to black and white to add drama.  

 The theme for the photo challenge this week is Movie Quote.  Dennis suggested this one so he had to help since he opened his mouth.  It's from Dirty Harry.  "Do you feel lucky, punk?"

 The challenge was "Thankful for..."   Thankful for each new morning.  

 Guilty Pleasures was the theme for this week.  This is the only time of year to get Dark chocolate covered cherries.  My friend texted me when she found the first of them.  I'm taking advantage. 

 The challenge was "what is it".  These are the string heddles (needles) on my weaving loom.  My other loom has metal heddles.  But string are supposed to be easier on the yarn.  

 This week was "suspense".  I couldn't come up with anything so the "Hatchet Man" walked down the road after prey. 

 Camouflage is the challenge of the week.  I couldn't come up with anything except asking Dennis to put on a camo shirt and sit in the grass.  Over like a lead balloon.  So this is a hay bale camouflaged to keep the cattle from eating it. 

Wide Angle was the challenge this week.  No ocean view, mountain views and the flint hills haven't turned yet.  So this is the wide angle view in our town.
 

 This week's challenge was Sting's "Fields of Gold".  I decided to go a different direction from everyone else who did yellow or gold fields.  Matthew Fall helped me with a field of gold aka corn.  And the money that this field is producing (gold).  He let me ride with him while he harvested two fields.  It was really soooo much fun (for me).  Probably not so much for Matthew as he had to answer 1,000 questions. 

 This week's challenge was Pep Ventosa.  A technique of walking around the subject and taking multiple pictures.  Then in PhotoShop, they are reduced in opacity and  stacked on top of each other.  I really don't know the reason for this but I did learn a lot from Patty Low, who I met at the Photo Summit, on this technique.  

Wabi sabi was the challenge this week.  Beauty in imperfection.  I fell down a bluff with my camera and damaged my lens.  So I had to do this photo with my cell phone.   I liked the lacy sections on the leaf where there was damage and the missing petal on the sunflower. 
 

The challenge this week was abandoned.  This is the downtown area of Michigan Valley, Ks.  These are the bank and grocery store.  What stories they could tell. 

 This week was props and photo shop practice to create a imaginary fantasy.  I really don't like doing this, but it was good practice.  It is a foggy morning this week and I superimposed a Halloween  decoration over it. 

 The Eyes Have It.  This is Red's eye close up.  I was going to take a picture of him running and superimpose it on his eye.  He just was too cooperative.  

 The theme for this week was cups and saucers.  My assistant, aka Dennis, my husband, poured the cream into the iced coffee and I quickly took the photo before the cream spread throughout the coffee.  

 "Tickled Pink" was the theme.  We could use the color pink or some one tickled.  These are Roxane's granddaughters and a friend in pink regalia.  We tried posed photos with pink cotton candy and then later they were riding rides at the carnival at the fair.  I like this one so much better than the posed photos.  

 Night Lights was the challenge.  It was so hazy from the smoke from the wildfires, the sky was not visible.  I really wanted to experiment with night skies, but that was out.  This is a photo of the foot bridge on the north end of Overbrook's city lake.  

Week 30. Drip, Drippy or Drop.  Over half way through.  The temps were in the high 90's and I had to be quick.  After I took the picture, I had to eat the evidence.
 

 The theme is "Wee Willie Winky".  I only knew the first verse but Ricky posted all of them.  These are the confused thrums belonging to the cat.  Thrums are loom waste.  Some people save them and cut them smaller then spin them in their yarn to create texture.  A friend gave me a light box for my birthday.  So I'm getting good use out of it.  

  

Selective color.  Worked and worked and had a good one and then lost it when I went to import it.  So this was the second try.  It will work.  
 

"Explore" was the year word from January so I explored some of the options on my camera.  Long exposure on the tripod.  The Big Dipper and I think that is Polaris (North Star) in the upper right hand corner. 
 

 Dennis and I drove to Mushroom Rock State Park to get a "precarious or unstable" subject for the weekly photo challenge.  A tiny state park of 5 acres.  It was overcast and sprinkling and I had to protect the camera from the damp.  The greenish coloring is kind of eerie.  I adjusted a lot of the coloring out in Lightroom but some of it was left. 

This cute little oreo-like dragonfly was the subject of our week's challenge for contrast.  I sat on an upturned bucket and waited for him to land on my side of the stake.  
 

 Flowers are the subject of the photo challenge.  I had some nice photos of beebalms, butterfly weeds and Stella d'oro Lillies, but Dennis picked this one.  So I used this one which is our Oakleaf Hydrangeas.  They have just started blooming out.  In the fall the leaves turn nice fall colors too.   

 Pomona Reservoir sunset.  This week was wide angle.  It's been so long since the wind was still enough to get a reflection.  Also I had to edit out the swimming area floaters, since the water is so high, it looked like the swimming area was in the middle of the lake. 

 Kevin posed for this week's challenge, liquify.  I squeezed his face and elongated it.  Then used the oil paint effect to make it more like a painting.  This is my version of Edward Munch's "The Scream". 

The challenge was Super  High Key B&W.  We had to look at the internet to learn the technique.   Some did it with an overexposure in the camera and some did it with changes in LR and PS.  I used my light table under the brown and white eggs.  I should have 
erased out the light bar in the lower right hand corner.  But I didn't notice it until I had published. 

The photo challenge this week was "weathered".  This is a tombstone of R. N. Still who died Sept. 2, 188?.  Don't know the year because the stone is so weathered. 
 

 Floating was the challenge.  I tried bubbles, feathers, oak seeds and other things.  Nothing turned out.  Today I went out after a rain and drove around with the car windows open and stood outside and froze waiting for a vulture to come close.  

 These are Dennis' welding gloves.  This week's challenge was gloves.  They are bright blue and so I changed the photo to black and white. 

 Hearts... this week's challenge.  I tried and tried after looking at the internet.  Gave up and tried 6 coffee shops in Topeka.  Three said NO WAY.  Three tried.  One complete failure and two that were close.  I choose this one for the challenge.  

 This week was "delicate"  the seed fly away at the slightest breeze.   But I liked the double tulip from the Ward-Meade Tulip Garden.  

 The challenge was ICM (intentional Camera Movement).  This is the center of a raffle quilt that was on display all week at the shop hop.  I couldhave centered it better if I had brought my tripod.  But Oh Well, it is what it is.  

The photo challenge was a "story".  I ran out of time and ideas, but a friend and I took pictures in the Flint Hills.  So this is my story and I'm sticking to it.  It's the burning of old grass so this year's get a good start.  This fire was between 10-15 miles away. 
 

 Magical Light.  With dreary skies all week, this was the first sunrise with any light,  I just couldn't come up with a clever idea so depended on Mother Nature.

 This week's challenge is timepieces.  My Lightroom has quit working and so this photo is only done with cropping and nothing else.  This is Dennis' reenactors pocket watch and eye glasses.  

 Multiple exposures was this week's challenge.  I learned that it can be done in the camera.  I chose a silhouette and took a new picture of a leafless tree.  Then turned it to B&W in Lightroom, 

 It's Alive was the challenge this week.  I sprouted a bean seed but like the lilac but better.  

 Pins and Needles.  First thought was pine needles, but the class has had a large number of those.  Then pin cushions, again a bunch.  So I guess I'm sitting on pins and needles as to when the balloon will pop.  

 Crystalized the icicles in photoshop.  Couldn't figure out how to get rid of the tiny lines that defined what crystalized and what didn't.  With temps at zero all week, these little icicles were the result of the only couple of hours of sun on the barn roof. 

 Obsessive/compulsive was the challenge.  A hard one for me since you can see I'm not that.  I didn't notice the diagonal lines on the mat were off center until I was uploading the photo.  

This week's challenge was chair.  At first Ricky wanted abstract and then changed it to any chair.  I put an old metal lawn chair in the yard and hoped for snow to make ridges to photograph across.  It didn't snow very much so this is what I was left with.  So the shot straight down was much more interesting.   

 The challenge this week was called Flat Lay, items arranged and then shot from above.  I "borrowed" the stones from the shop's neighbor.  I think this reminds me of those fossils that they cut in half and polish.   I guess now that the photo is done, I need to take the stones back to the neighbor's tree ring.  

 The challenge was long exposure. I tried limbs blowing in the wind but it was too windy.  I only ended up with a smear.  So tried night across the Pomona Dam.  The camera wouldn't work and went back to the house and then it worked.  Went north a mile and waited and waited for a car to come buy.  Finally Dennis drove down the road and turned around and drove past me so that I wouldn't freeze to death waiting for traffic.  Good sport. 

 The challenege this week is pick a word for the year and depict it in a photo.  I decided on Explore.  Explore new techniques and photo sites.