06/23/12 - Flower Hopping My Blog: http://maryanng.blogspot.com/2012/06/flower-hopping.html A shot from earlier in the month that I pp'ed yesterday. I cropped and applied a reduced opacity lomo filter. By the time I got around to going outside to take some pics yesterday, the clouds and rain had settled in and I'd lost my chance:-( The boys and I are off to Bubble Blitz at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham today. I am hoping for some really good bubble pics as well as spending some time in the outdoor butterfly garden which has tons of great flowers in bloom right now. Thank you all so much for your generous comments on my Buckeye butterfly shot from yesterday... HAGD, Maryann

Thanks for stopping by to view my daily photo! I will post a new photo each day to this gallery. Typically, I will post early morning, and the photo will have been taken the day before. Sometimes the photo may be from sometime earlier in the week, but all the pictures posted will be relatively new. I hope you see something that makes you smile. Feel free to leave professionally appropriate comments.

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06/27/12 - Hummingbird Clearwing Moth

My Blog: http://maryanng.blogspot.com/2012/06/hummingbird-clearwing-moth.html

I took quite a few shots of Hummingbird Clearwing Moths on the butterfly bushes at Donnie's house yesterday.  I deleted more than my average amount from the shots.  So many were misses, blurry, overexposed, or grainy.  I picked the daily I think because I like the proboscis and the hard to get head-on view.  I also like the wing detail in the shot below.

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There were several silver-spotted skippers on the bush too.

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This five-lined skink was on the back step as I went into the house.  Usually I don't have a chance to catch these quick guys.  I was glad this one posed for me!

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From the night before, Boston Butt with homemade BBQ sauce, green beans, and homemade coleslaw.  Yum!

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Thanks for the comments and support on my hummingbird shot from yesterday...

HAGD,
Maryann

06/26/12 - Hummers Come and Hummers Go

My Blog: http://maryanng.blogspot.com/2012/06/hummers-come-and-hummers-go.html

Obviously not the best hummingbird shot ever, but I wanted to share anyway.  I sat on Ms. Jeanne's steps yesterday for about 30 minutes holding up the SX40 HS with a focal lock breathing as slow and steady as a could all aimed up on the feeder waiting for the hummers to come and go.  I think I had 4 chances to take pics for a few fleeting seconds, and the daily shot of the male and the other shot of him and the female below are the best that I came away with.  Thankfully I was in the shade, but that camera is heavy for me, and  I was ready to take a rest at that point.

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Gail, thecuriouscamel, has the best hummer shots!

Also in Ms. Jeanne's garden is this interesting cross and very large hollyhock (I think).  That burgundy color is stunning!

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Where is a butterfly when you need one?  Maybe I could turn one or both of the coneflower shots below into cards. There is room for text.

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This white coneflower variety is quite eye catching too!

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Thanks for all your comments on my butterfly shot from yesterday:-)

HAGD,
Maryann

06/25/12 - Pipevine Swallowtail

My Blog: http://maryanng.blogspot.com/2012/06/pipevine-swallowtail.html

I took the butterfly pictures in today's daily photo inside the NC butterfly greenhouse off the side of the Magic Wings butterfly house at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham.  I believe this to be a Pipevine Swallowtail. I wasn't happy with the original sharpness or color of the shot, so I played around with it in ColorEfex Pro.

Here's a collage showing what I thought were the best butterfly shots of hte day.  I loved that green butterfly and smile on that little girl's face.  Had to share her even though I don't know who she is.  Johnny is in the blue shirt behind her hopefully waiting for his turn to hold a butterfly.

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Sometimes you've got to stand out from the crowd!  Maybe I should turn the shot below into a card!

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Ranger Greg says this is a gray catbird.  Pretty!

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We also saw a Greg Blue Heron in the wetlands!

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HAGD,
Maryann

06/24/12 - Bubble Blitz

My Blog: http://maryanng.blogspot.com/2012/06/bubble-blitz.html

The Museum of Life and Science in Durham held their annual Bubble Blitz event yesterday, and the boys and I attended and had a great time.  So, you ask, what is Bubble Blitz?  Well, it's an event about the science of bubbles of course.  The kids get to blow bubbles, some of them huge.  They create artwork with bubbles, they make fizzy drinks, and they get to explode Mentos candies in Diet Coke.  You get the gist.  A photographers bubbledise of sorts:-)

Pictured is staff member Ro delighting the kids, and me, by using a very large wand to make big bubbles.  When the wind was just right, the bubbles would come lose from the ring and float away as the kids reached up to pop them.  I had the camera in continuous shooting mode, and I took a lot of pics.  Seriously, I'm lucky I've made it through looking at all of them (over 1,100) overnight let alone pp any of them:-)   I kept around 425.

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Here's the Mentos video:

I'll replace with YouTube link after the upload completes.

Dry ice bubbles.

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I've got tons more pics from our day too.  Here's the tornado well formed in the WRAL weather area.

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Johnny waiting for a golf ball to come through a plastic pipe in the Contraptions room.

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Love the window in that room too!

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Scout the muscovy duck.

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I have at least one picture each year since like 2006 of the boys in this butterfly chair.

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Johnny with a frog on his head:-)

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And last but not least, my very wet boys after playing in the water area:-)

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I've intentionally ignored the butterfly shots that I took.  Maybe tomorrow:-)

HAGD,
Maryann

06/23/12 - Flower Hopping

My Blog: http://maryanng.blogspot.com/2012/06/flower-hopping.html

A shot from earlier in the month that I pp'ed yesterday.  I cropped and applied a reduced opacity lomo filter.  By the time I got around to going outside to take some pics yesterday, the clouds and rain had settled in and I'd lost my chance:-(

The boys and I are off to Bubble Blitz at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham today. I am hoping for some really good bubble pics as well as spending some time in the outdoor butterfly garden which has tons of great flowers in bloom right now.

Thank you all so much for your generous comments on my Buckeye butterfly shot from yesterday...

HAGD,
Maryann

06/22/12 - Common Buckeye

My Blog: http://maryanng.blogspot.com/2012/06/common-buckeye.html

I had the opportunity to take a few pics in Donnie's yard yesterday.  His purple and white butterfly bushes are blooming nicely, and I chased several varieties of butterflies and bees.  My daily is a Common Buckeye although it looks far from common to me.  I must confess that I have fixed the butterflies' lower left wing injury in the photo I posted as my daily.  See below for a cropped but unfixed image.

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To make this fix, I saved a copy of the original photo.  I brought up both the copy and original in PSE7.  I did a horizontal flip on the copy and then used the quick select tool to select the corresponding undamaged area on the the wing and copy it to a new layer.  I slid the wing layer over to the original butterfly and fit it into place like a puzzle piece rotating it a bit and stretching it a tad.  I had to clone out a small section of the torn wing with the green background.  I merged the piece layer and the original layer and did a tad more clone work to blend any seams.  

Here's a dragonfly shot from Donnie's yard too.  Love the green body color!

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Two yellow Eastern Tiger Swallowtails were also on the butterfly bushes, but both had torn wings with more damage than I could repair.

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HAGD,
Maryann

06/21/12 - Orange Coneflower

My Blog: http://maryanng.blogspot.com/2012/06/smugmug-daily-link-my-daily-today-was.html

My daily today was taken in Ms. Jeanne's front yard.  It's an orange coneflower, and I've obviously pp'ed it a bit for better or worse. 

Here's another more regular coneflower and a bleeding heart combo.  I just couldn't frame it up with the coneflowers and bleeding heart closer together.  It's a bit too vertical but I liked it. 

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The goldfinch were in her fountain.  I didn't get any splash shots, though.

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I thought this hanging basket was beautiful!  I love petunias!

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I snuck around behind the produce stand at Ball's Berries and Produce and took this red barn shot.  I admore this barn every day.  I am sure Mr. Ball will let me take some more pics and walk around back there if I ask.  Just waiting for the right day.  There are sheds and lots of wood grains and I think and hope quite a few photo ops.

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I loved the bokeh behind this hummingbird feeder...just wish I'd managed to catch the hummer.  He was in and out too quick for me, and I ran out of time to wait him out.  Thankfully I was in the shade.  It was midday and 90 when I was there but I had a nice spot on the front porch to shoot from.

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Johnny and his teacher invited me and all the parents to the school yesterday afternoon for a student led parent conference.  Johnny showed me examples of his writing and math from the start of the year to the end so I could see how much he'd improved.  I was very proud and so was he.  Love that cheery disposition and smile he has!

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HAGD,
Maryann

06/20/12 - Gold Beauty

My Blog: http://maryanng.blogspot.com/2012/06/gold-beauty.html

I still have goldfinch coming to my feeders:-)  I liked the sharpness and color contrast of this lucky shot through my kitchen window.  Sorry I chopped off his foot a bit.

The yummy meatballs below were made by substituting crushed pork rinds for the bread crumbs.  Yum!

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We saw a rainbow on the way home from Johnny's baseball game:-)  One minute it was there and I snatched this quick picture, and the next minute it was gone.

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Love this gorgeous yellow lily in the Kidd Family Garden with the blue hydrangea providing such a pretty back-drop.

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This butterfly is a red-spotted purple.  Odd name considering he's black with orange spots, but when his wings are open there is a lovely teal color.

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Johnny's team lost their tournament game.  No more Little League until it kicks back up again in August for the fall season.  Johnny did get a hit and get on first and then was forced out at second.  I loved his face when he knew he had a hit and was running to first.

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Thanks as always for your comments and for stopping by to check out my daily...

HAGD,
Maryann

06/19/12 - Perched Dragon

My Blog: http://maryanng.blogspot.com/2012/06/perched-dragon.html

A dragon shot I took last week and pp'ed this morning.

I had a follow-up doctor's appt. yesterday, and everything is going OK.  I only took a few pics inbetween doctor, work, and errands, and most of them were more painted lady butterflies on coneflower.  I'm sure none them were better than my shot from a few days ago.

HAGD,
Maryann

06/23/12 - Flower Hopping

My Blog: http://maryanng.blogspot.com/2012/06/flower-hopping.html

A shot from earlier in the month that I pp'ed yesterday. I cropped and applied a reduced opacity lomo filter. By the time I got around to going outside to take some pics yesterday, the clouds and rain had settled in and I'd lost my chance:-(

The boys and I are off to Bubble Blitz at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham today. I am hoping for some really good bubble pics as well as spending some time in the outdoor butterfly garden which has tons of great flowers in bloom right now.

Thank you all so much for your generous comments on my Buckeye butterfly shot from yesterday...

HAGD,
Maryann