Hidden Treasure

I was up all night, night-before-last. I finally crawled into bed around 5:30 a.m. Unfortunately, this is an all-too-common occurrence. One of the joys of being me is that I have very fractured sleep patterns. It wasn't always this way. I used to be able to sleep 8 hours straight...and, on occasion, 10 hours.

Not anymore.

Now, I'm lucky if I make it 3-4 hours before I wake up. I know what's at the root of my insomnia. Actually, there are several contributing culprits...and they all work together (sort of like a deranged group of Power Rangers) to prevent me from getting restful, uninterrupted sleep.

This is why I usually end up taking naps in the afternoon, and frequently find myself (in the wee hours) on Pinterest.

Early this morning, at about 4 a.m., I was perusing Pinterest and ran across a strikingly beautiful photo. I did some investigating and, after about 20 minutes, I figured out what the picture was. It turned out to be a photo of a place that is 10 minutes away from my house.

10 minutes.

How could I not know this place exists? It's so beautiful.

So, today, I took my DH and mom to see this wonder. I didn't tell them where we were going...just that it was going to be a beautiful, peaceful, spiritual outing.

They were intrigued.

We went to see the Chapel of Thanks-Giving. It's a tiny, pan-denominational chapel right in the heart of downtown Dallas. It sits in the corner of Thanks-Giving Square--a quiet, inner-city refuge set aside for people to reflect on the gifts they have been given and, in turn, give thanks.

It's not a typical park with playground equipment and park benches. It's more of a spiritual oasis where people go to just....be. There is a network of walled, cement pathways that extend the length of the square. The walls of the paths provide places for people to sit. Nestled in between these paths are grassy knolls dotted with trees.

On the northeast corner of the square (which is really a big triangle) sits the chapel. To me, the chapel sort of looks like a giant Dairy Queen ice cream cone. It's not fancy. In fact, it's very plain. One might even say...vanilla. Its walls are white stucco-covered cement. It's truly a case of "it's what's inside that counts".

Inside is a small, circular room with several chairs arranged in a half circle. A small dais stands at the far side. The lighting is very low and soft. The walls are the same white stucco as on the outside. It's quiet in there. The type of quiet you can feel...like you're immersed in a cotton ball. It's a palpable silence that instantly imbues you with a reverent sense of calm. It's a place where speaking out loud just feels wrong.

But the magic happens when you look...upwards.

When you turn your eyes heavenward, this is what you see...

Inset in the upward-spiraling ceiling are the most glorious abstract stained glass panels I've seen. It's mesmerizing.

I'm sure there are places in every hometown, like this chapel, that many people don't even know exist. I encourage everyone to take some time to seek out and visit these places. You just never know what hidden treasures you'll discover!

Flash Dance...a Photography tutorial

Hidy Ho, crafty peeps!

Today I was trying to figure out how to make the pop-up flash on my camera (Canon Rebel EOS) more subject-friendly. I HATE using my  built-in flash because the lighting is SO harsh. Using a diffuser can really make a HUMONGO difference in softening the light from your flash, and makes your subject look SOooooo much more appealing...and natural.

It's a simple idea...imagine a lamp with its lampshade on. The light it gives off is nice and soft and it doesn't cast harsh shadows or create raging glare. Remove the shade and you get a bare bulb which casts light that is more suited for interrogation and torture sessions. So, basically, a diffuser is a lampshade for your flash.

It can be made out of anything semi-opaque and white (cloth, paper, plastic)...as long as SOME light can pass through it. I read somewhere how to make a VERY simple light diffuser using a Post It note. It works ok...but it kept falling off, even with tape. I also saw a video about making one out of a white plastic film canister (like any of us have film canisters laying around anymore). So, today, I went searching the internet for places to buy a diffuser. Some of those suckers were like $50. Can you believe it????

They ain't cheap.

And, I am.

So...after getting all disgusted with the prices for a "store bought" diffuser, I set out to make my own. I watched several videos on Youtube and finally landed on combining a couple of techniques I saw. I made mine out of an empty coffee creamer bottle like this one below. I removed the plastic covering to reveal the white container underneath (it just peels right off)

Guess what?

It actually worked!

Whadaya know.

I'll explain how to make your own later in this post. For now, here are examples of the same shot without and with my homemade diffuser.  I put my camera in auto mode and shot the same test subject in the same lighting. These pictures are not retouched or altered in any way...they're as they came straight out of my camera.

TEST 1 

WITHOUT the diffuser

Notice the harsh glare and washed-out colors of the card. That cardstock looks grey, not black. And look at that hard shadow on the right. Yuck.

WITH the diffuser

 

The improvement in color and the lessening of that harsh shadow is very noticeable. AND, that glare is GREATLY reduced.

Test 2 

WITHOUT the diffuser

Washed out, glarefest.

WITH the diffuser

Much better. Warmer light, truer colors, decreased glare.

So you can see...the simple addition of a diffuser over your flash makes a HUGE difference! This will really save time when it comes to "correcting" everything in Photoshop afterwards!

As promised, here is how I made mine. 

I drew this pattern in Photoshop. The measurements of this pattern are for my Canon EOS. If you want to make your own for a different type of camera, I suggest you print out the pattern on paper, cut it out, and see if it fits. You'll probably have to make some minor adjustments so that it fits your camera.  Once you've finalized your pattern:

• Just use the pattern to cut out a piece of BENDABLE white plastic (or you could use heavy cardstock)
• fold up along the fold line so that diffuser is covering front of flash (you want a couple of inches space between the diffuser and your flash)
• Insert tab into the hot shoe under flash

Here is what it looks like mounted on the camera (photo taken with my phone). Since I made mine from a coffee creamer bottle, it has a natural curve to it. I actually like that feature...it makes it look like a sailboat. And, like a curved lampshade, it diffuses the light very evenly.

Here is the pattern! 

It's 6.25 inches long from the top of the diffuser to the bottom of its tab, and 5 inches wide at the main part (if you need specific dimensions of all the parts, contact me).

TIPS for customizing pattern to fit YOUR camera: 

1. The tab at the bottom should fit snugly in the hot shoe assembly under your flash. The little "wings" on the bottom of the tab prevent it from sliding back out and should be slightly wider than the shoe.
2. The fold line should rest on the lip of the flash housing (where the flash goes when it's not popped up). 
3. The material you choose to make your diffuser should still allow light to glow through it. Test it by holding whatever you want to use up to a bare light bulb...if you can still see the bulb itself, you need heavier material. If you can just see a soft, general light...you're good to go.

Thank you for visiting Left Field Studio today!

May your life be filled with photo ops!

The Ice Man Cometh

...or rather...cameth.

I know that a large part of the country is deep within the grips of some majorly cold, winter weather. I've heard reports of areas in Colorado with temperatures hovering somewhere around -10 F during the day. That's MINUS 10 (-23 C).

That is colder than my freezer.

Now, here in Texas...on Wednesday this week it was a balmy 78 degrees F (~26 C). By Thursday morning the mercury was plunging and holding around 35 F (2 C). Of course...that was the day Jonathan and I hung the Christmas lights on the house...if only we had done it one day earlier.

Today, I awoke to more than just a "frosty" morning. I awoke to an ice age. The temperature outside today is 16 F (-9 C)

Mom told me to look out the window at the trees in her front yard. They were bent double...touching the ground. They weren't broken...just bent under the weight of a solid shield of ice that had formed, overnight,  on every leaf, every branch, every limb...everything.

I decided to wrap up in my warmest winter garb and brave the cold and snap some pictures of the amazing ice. Forget Jack Frost...we were visited by Mortimer Ice--his second cousin. Mortimer dips everything in a shroud of crystal-clear ice. We're talking > 1/4 inch of crystal ice...on everything.

I'll start out with the Christmas lights that Jonathan and I labored over yesterday...

Puts a whole new meaning on the term "icicle lights" doesn't it? And no...that is not dripping water on the gutter. That is solid ice...and it is totally encasing the wires and bulbs.

The ice encapsulates everything...as though everything was dipped in ice.

The bud-laden limbs of our elm tree

The oak trees

 

The chicken wire trellis in the garden 

The wild grasses and dandelion in the side yard

(every blade of grass in the lawn was individually coated too...and made the most interesting crunchy sound when I walked on it)

The neighbor's shrubs and roses

Front-Porch Visitor

I know I've posted on this subject before...but here's another one, deal with it.

As most of y'all know, I live in Texas. To me, Texas feels like I'm living in a tropical climate (I grew up in Colorado remember, so anything remotely warm is "tropical"). Being that it's tropical here, we get all sorts of critters that I had never seen before in Colorado. Most of these critters are the six-legged, icky kind...but some are truly beautiful.

Take the anole. An anole (pronounced ah-NO-lee) is a little lizard. It grows to be about 7 inches from nose to tail tip. They are usually a bright, vibrant green...but they have the chameleon-like ability to change their color to match their surrounding. My anole clan lives around my front porch. They're often seen at night, scurrying along the brick wall away from the porch light when you approach them. They eat all manner of bugs (including cockroaches), so as far as I'm concerned...they can live here as long as they want to.

I went out to water the flower box on my porch and found this guy clinging to the vertical pole that holds my hanging flower pot. He didn't run away, even when I moved my camera in for a macro shot of his head. He just looked at me and cocked his head in that curious way lizards do. Isn't he beautiful? I love his turquoise eye liner. As you can tell by the yellow on top of his head, he was just starting to change color to match the bricks on our house. Yeah, my camera lens was about 4 inches away from him. Can you say "extreme closeup"??? I call him a "he" because he is a "he". Male anoles do not have a stripe down their backs like the females do. Also, males have really pointy noses like this guy.

Iris I May...Iris I Might

Springtime!

I know it's springtime. Not because the trees are leafing out. Not because the grass is greening up. Not because my nose and eyes are itchy, runny and DRIVING ME CRAZY.

I know it's springtime because our irises are blooming.

We have a glorious crop this year. My favorite ones are these purple ones that look like they've been stipple-brushed. I love the little polka dots. I had never seen irises like these before when my mom and I ran across them on one of our flower-peeper drives around town. This lady had a huge yard filled with irises. These uniquely spotted ones were among them. When we drove by, she was out in yard working on her flowers.
So, we stopped to tall with her awhile, and told her how beautiful we deemed her garden. She was so delighted to have us as visitors that she dug up 3 of her prized purple-spotted irises to send home with us. I immediately planted them when we arrived home.

I'd like to say that I nurtured them and tended to them faithfully. But, truth be told, I neglected them. I did water them on occasion ... but that's about it. Now, 4 years later, they have taken over the flower bed. There are now about 15 (or more) plants and each one blooms with MANY multi-blossomed stalks.

So, here's a little something to remind my friends and family in Colorado (who are buried under a couple of feet of snow at the moment...with more on the way) what spring looks like.

It's Not Easy Being Green

Hi everyone out there in blog land. Today's offering is a group of photos I shot as I was leaving the house to mail off a package. We share our house with a very large family of Anoles. Anoles are tiny little lizards that have the ability to change color depending on their surroundings. For this reason, they're often confused with or called "chameleons" but they are NOT chameleons. Nor are they geckos. Actually, they're related to iguanas. They grow to be about 5-7 inches from nose to tail tip. They are harmless. Actually, they're more than that...They're very beneficial as they eat all manner of bugs and spiders. If it's a bug that's small enough  to fit in his mouth...he'll eat it.

I just love these little guys! They're so cute and right now we have about 8 of them living behind the window shutters and under the Soffit by the front door. Occasionally we catch them sunning themselves on the hedges out front, but if they see us coming...ZIP...they disappear. This gal, however, was not afraid of me. You can tell she's a rebel right off, because she didn't try to blend into the brick behind her. In fact, she was quite curious and maintained eye contact with me while I gingerly inched my camera lens towards her until I could almost touch her nose. She is a BEAUTIFUL vivid green with a hint of turquoise around her eyes and little orange/terracotta flecks scattered all over her head and the center of her back. This little gal was about 5 inches long. I refer to her as a "she" because it is a "she". Female anoles have a stripe that runs down their back...males don't. Females also have a much blunter nose. Males have very pointy noses.

I can't seem to shake this odd urge to switch to Geico.

Oh Hail No

Here are a few things I know:

• I know I live in Texas
• I know Texas is in the middle of tornado alley
• I know, speaking generally, things ARE bigger here
• I know spring/summer storms can be volatile, at best.

Here are a few things I DIDN'T know (until today)

• "Pea size" hail in Texas is really golf ball size
• "Golf ball" hail in Texas is really tennis ball size
• Texas hail is EVIL...and SPIKY.
• Ducks are stupid.

So, today we got our first hail storm of the season...and it was a doozy. I've never seen hail this big...or spiky. This hail was not smooth marble-like projectiles...these were spike-laden missiles of death.

Don't believe me?

See for yourself.

It's hard to tell by this photo...but these things had spikes protruding from ALL surfaces. They were little frozen Medieval maces--you know, the ones covered in spikes and connected to a stick by a chain. And they were HUGE...this sucker was over 3 inches across. DANG. It now lives in my freezer, so I can marvel at it whenever I want.

The hail started out "normal"...like little peas from heaven. Then the storm very quickly evolved and began hurling icy death bombs from the sky. The picture below is right when it transitioned to golf-ball hail. This is my front yard.

After it rained down golf balls...it started throwing those spiky hail monsters at us. The one below reminded me of a little frozen sun. It was actually quite beautiful. Deadly, but beautiful. Can you imagine getting hit by one of these suckers?

The storm slowed down and turned to rain just long enough for me to run out into the yard and gather up some hailstones for closer inspection. Then, it started back up again...and progressed back to golf ball-sized hail. And NO...I wasn't an idiot. I didn't run out in the yard WHILE the golf-ball-spikes of death were raining down. SHEESH, give me some credit.

In the photo below note the one in the middle. SEE IT??? It has Jesus' face on it!!! Wait, it actually looks more like Elvis. NO WAIT...maybe that's William Shatner. No matter...I'll make a KILLING on Ebay.

I even found a lump-o-hail that had a Zombie face! brains, Brains, BRAINS!!!!

Our cars, trees and bushes took quite a pounding. No windows broken. Jonathan's going up to inspect our new roof tomorrow (*cry*). We got lucky. About 2 miles south of us, the hail was softball size and it was breaking windshields, sky lights and destroying trees and roofs.

Oh, and my earlier comment about stupid ducks??? There was a mated couple of mallards 3 doors down...standing in the middle of the lawn during the golf-ball pummeling. They FINALLY waddled under the bushes for cover...but MAN...they stood out there for 5 minutes. DUMB.

Here's a video from the news last night.
Dallas Hail video 

Flutter by Little Butterfly

Today I was treated to a living lesson on resurrection...at least that's how I like to look at it.

I ventured outside to our back porch today despite the fact that it's overcast and threatening rain. Our privet hedge is in full bloom and is perfuming the air with such a delicately sweet fragrance it's almost like an instant sedative. The aroma just melts away all tension and imbues me with an overwhelming sense of...peace.

What's even more calming is the presence of butterflies...dozens of them. They're all flitting about the hedge in pursuit of nectar. They're EVERYWHERE. Beautiful little orange and black butterflies called Vanessa Atalanta or, more commonly, Red Admirals. I haven't seen so many butterflies on this hedge before. Ever.

Of course, whenever I look at butterflies, I start thinking about the incredible metamorphosis that takes place in their life cycle. They start out as mere caterpillars and then cocoon  themselves and emerge as...something else. Something new....something....GLORIOUS.

Sorta reminds me of The Resurrection. New hope. New beginnings.

Happy Easter!