Remember this picture, the straight out of the camera (SOC) shot of Dragon’s Teeth?

Well, I toyed around with it a bit, and here’s the final image I came up with:

First, I used some of the Pioneer Woman’s actions. I used “define and sharpen” twice, to accentuate the difference between the water spray and the sky…in the original it blended together too much and I like the drama of the sharp contrast. Then, I used the PW Black and White action, with a light opacity of about 25%. After that was done, I used the lasso tool to select the flat rock in the bottom right hand corner, and increased the brightness by playing with the levels (before I did this, the rock was just a black blob).

And…well, there it is. I’m pretty pleased with it.

I’m really trying to push myself creatively. I’ve been pretty dissatisfied with life lately…nothing in particular, just a general feeling of “blah.” And I’m pretty sure that a big part of it is that I’ve really been slacking in the creative front. I haven’t been taking pictures as much, I haven’t played with PhotoShop in months. I haven’t even been writing at all, until yesterday. And once I stop being creative, it’s really hard to start it up again. So, I decided that I need to pull myself out of the funk by stretching my mind muscles.

And then, maybe, I can stretch my body muscles and get off my fat ass once and a while. But that might be pushing it.

Technorati Tags: Photography, Photoshop,   Creativity, Hawaii

Dragons Teeth, originally uploaded by WonderSpot.

This picture was taken at Dragon’s Teeth in Napili, just north of where JS and I stayed in Kaanapali.

A few seconds later, I took this one:

Dragons Teeth, originally uploaded by WonderSpot.

Keep in mind that these haven’t been doctored at all yet. I want to sharpen up the second one a tad, to bring out the contrast between the clouds and the water spray.

Maui was beautiful, even though I didn’t take as many pictures of the beach as I had planned.

I’ll be posting many more pictures in the Daily Photo section, but I’ll also do a brief photo essay on the main page here.

Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: Maui, Vacation, Photography

Aloha, InterWebs. Greetings from Paradise.

JS and I are loving our Maui vacation. We’ve alternated outings (we rented a car…a jeep, actually! An old school, Indiana Jones type Jeep!!!…so we can go at our own pace) with lazy days lounging at the beach and pool. It’s quite hot here, which doesn’t really surprise me, but it means that all that teasing I did about bathing in Mai Tai’s was really a pack of lies (ha! a poem!) because by evening, all I want is a ginormous glass of water. Maybe a glass of wine. I’m so old and boring.

We seem to have decided not to adjust to the time difference. We’re in bed by 10 and up by 7. But it is working out perfectly, because it means we get to fit as much into the daylight hours as possible (aside from my daily 2 hour nap…ain’t I just THRILLING?!).
I haven’t been taking tons of pictures, but definitely enough to fill a set on Flickr, so don’t you worry your pretty little heads. I’m trying to be a part of what I’m seeing, rather than just an observer; when I have my camera out, I’m not very good at doing both.

We head back to SD on Tuesday, and truth be told, I’ll be ready. I’m not bored, or sick of it, or anything like that. I’m just ready for home. I’m a homebody, in the truest sense of the world, and I miss my creature comforts. And my puppy!

I think, also, that this vacation has allowed me to take a mental break from guilting myself about my lack of writing, and I actually feel like I’m ready to go back, fix my outline, and hammer out my thesis novel. If for nothing else, than to complete my MFA degree, but hopefully it will also be a solid, creative piece.

Today we’re off to see the Blowhole and Dragon’s Teeth, then sushi at a beyond-belief-busy restaurant tonight (I had to make reservations days in advance, which, for a tourist area, is pretty crazy!).

I’ll do a few posts with lots of pictures when I get back, so don’t stop reading, me, OK? It’s funny how quickly I got used to seeing my stats in the hundreds per day during my giveaway; now that I’m just back to being a regular-ol-blogger, I’m not nearly as popular. Sigh.

Technorati Tags: Maui, Vacation, Travel, Life, Writing

It’s nice to be back…but also weird. Going from being completely alone in Nature for hours at a time to having constant noise and people around. Wowsa. The drive was long (duh). My wonderful car, Ginny (yes, as in Ginny Weasley) made the 2400 round-trip trek with nary a problem! I’m so proud of her. It’s the longest she’s driven. I gave her a fancy bath at the Car Wash today and she seems very pleased with herself now. She’s showing off in the parking lot now.

It’s been a bit of a challenge to wind down. I’m more tired today than yesterday (got back Wednesday night), but I’m taking it very easy. I want to be truly refreshed and relaxed when I go back to work on Monday (or, rather, as much as possible) and that, of course, meant not working or even doing work email in my two off days in town. I think I’m finally getting to the point where I can close my eyes and NOT feel like I’m still cruising down the freeway at 80 MPH.

I have, however, managed to upload all of my pictures on Flickr; just follow that link and look in the Columbia River Gorge and Sequoia National Park groups. There’s probably over 500 pictures, though, just so’s you knows.

 I’ll post some directly on here in the next few days along with some stories about them, but I haven’t decided which ones to use yet.

But just to tease you a little, here’s one shot of one of the stags I saw while in Sequoia. I have tons more, and I’m not sure if this is the best shot or not, but here it is anyway.

There were 3 of the stags together, so that was pretty neat. I also have pictures of the three bears (sans Goldilocks, dunno what that bitch was up to) who crossed our path on a hike. VERY SCARY…but neat. 2 cubs and a mama bear. Needless to say those pictures aren’t as clear cause I didn’t want to get too close.

I’ll be back soon with more pics and more stories!

La la la la la. I can’t wait to be back on the road again. (Except, yes, yes I can. I can wait a LONG TIME.)

 I’s tired. Driving is exhausting. We’re now in Sequoia National Park, and it’s absofrickinlutely gorgeous. I saw deer, DEER, walking from our room to the lodge for dinner. There’s no cell phone reception, but good God almighty, if there hasn’t been Wi-Fi in every place JS and I have stayed.  It’s pretty great, actually. I got to keep up with which of my stories won Emmy’s and which ones got shaft. Yay for Terry O’Quinn! Yay for Katherine Heigl! And Sally Field? Uh, whatever. No offense, of course, to those who love her and that show.

(Please excuse typos and misspellings. Am too tired and 2 glasses of wine into the night. Also, am dyslexic so is not my fault. Take that!)

It will take me at least a week to recover from all of the driving. And it will take poor JS months of therapy to get over my foul mood at the end of each driving day. Meh, what can ya do?

OK, well, we’re gonna aim for being back late tomorrow night…maybe Thursday morning. I’ll have tons of photos to post (I’ve taken about 350 so far, and I’ve taken none of the Sequoia’s yet!). But not right away. First I’ll need sleep and a bath and…I don’t know, a day or so to make the world stop moving at the same pace as I-5.

Peace out, yo!