Flowers – Page 2 – nancy merrill photography

Photo a Week Challenge: In Memoriam

The Memorial Day after my father-in-law passed away, we bought two mum plants. One we put on his grave; the other we planted in our garden. His birthday was last month, but because it’s been such a strange weather year, the mums didn’t bloom in time for it like they usually do. Today was the first day for good pictures of the blossoms. I love having this living reminder of a loved one no longer with us here.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR MORE) THAT FEATURE A MEMORIAL OF ANY KIND.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Insects

Our ecosystem is highly dependent on everything working together to keep the balance needed to make the earth a livable place. While we sometimes might find bugs (or more specifically for me, spiders) annoying and frustrating, without them our world collapses. The United States had a scare in May of murder hornet sitings. I’m very happy to report that this little guy really is a little guy (less than an inch long) just being a busy bee pollinating my roses (and hopefully moving on to my tomato plants).

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR MORE) FEATURING INSECTS.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Threes and Threes

The Rule of Thirds is an old standard for art and photography aficionados for pretty much ever. You divide the frame into a grid of three across and three down, and then don’t put your subject in the middle square. It’s also best if you can put the focus of your image on one of the grid lines. Just like any really good rule, it’s also fun when you know when to break it. However, for this photo, I didn’t. Not only did I follow the basics of the thirds rule, I also used three lovely rose buds to demonstrate it. You’re welcome.

For anyone who needs it, here’s a grid for reference. If you want to do portrait orientation, just flip it.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR MORE) USING THE RULE OF THIRDS.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Opening

Last week, I asked you what changes you have made because of the pandemic. This week, our state went from orange alert to yellow, which means that all businesses can open again and restaurants can offer limited dine-in services (with all proper precautions). Our governor is also talking about some counties that have had little to no impact from the virus might be back to green (all clear and normal) by the end of the month. This is good news. The shutdown was initially only supposed to help hospitals prepare and be ready for an increase of patients. I’m not sure when it went to “we can’t open anything until we have a cure”. We don’t have a cure for the Spanish Flu from 1918-19. Why do we think we will find a cure for this virus? Sorry about the rant. I just worry about economies and isolated people who are at risk with no outside contact. There has to be a balance.

So, in honor of some small signs of hope that this will eventually end, this week’s topic is opening. I know I post a lot of pictures of our rose garden. I’m not going to apologize. I love them. This particular rose starts as a variegated bud but once it is fully opened is a beautiful red.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO OF THINGS IN AN OPENING STAGE.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Fleeting

“The beauty of a moment is that it’s fleeting. By its very nature, it slips through our fingers, making it that much more precious.” Ted Mosby (How I Meet Your Mother)

The soil at our house is horrible. Each year, I think about getting a couple of bags of gardening soil and spreading it around the rose bed, but by the time that the ground is ready for new soil, the tulips are up. I know they would last longer if I replaced the soil, but I forget about it by the time they are gone. Maybe this year…

Anyway, I love flowers, but they are delicate and fleeting. Their beauty is here for a short time, but they bring so much joy. The current world situation has made me realize how many things we think as permanent are actually not that permanent. It has made me very thankful for the things that I know will last, but it has also made me stop to appreciate the moment because it might not last.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO OF THINGS YOU LOVE THAT ARE FLEETING.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Just for Fun

With the stress of lockdown (or semi-lockdown, depending on where you live), I thought we could all use another de-stressing challenge. A couple of years ago, I bought a small crystal ball to use in my photography but hadn’t gotten around to trying it out. With the tulips and early bulb flowers in bloom right now, it seems like a good time to see how it worked. It worked just great. I did make my husband worry a bit when I told him it was a standard crystal ball and not one made specifically for photography, but I also assured him that I wasn’t planning on following Professor Trelawney from the Harry Potter books into divination. I really did buy this to use for photography.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO THAT ARE JUST FOR FUN.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Changing Seasons

Last night, I started a post for my normal Thursday challenge, and I just wasn’t feeling it. This morning, the sun was shining and some of our early spring flowers are blooming, and I changed my mind to this topic. With all of the uncertainty in the world right now, I’m so glad we can count on the earth understanding its role. The changing of the seasons tells us that things do move forward. Life goes on. We will get through this, we just have to be smart and patient.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO THAT SHOW HOW THE SEASONS ARE CHANGING IN YOUR PART OF THE WORLD.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Red

In images, color (or the lack of it) is as important as what is in the image. Sometimes, the color is the reason for the image. Red roses are iconic in our society for many things: love, wealth, success. The red of blood can mean life or death. At the funeral of a friend, the family provided several vases of red roses for anyone who wished to place one on the casket.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO THAT HAS RED AS EITHER THE MAIN OR AN ACCENT COLOR.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

Thankful November 14th: Flowers

I love flowers. I love smelling flowers. I love looking at flowers. And I especially love photographing flowers. My maternal grandmother had the most amazing flower garden: roses, lilies, snapdragons, daisies. Each summer, her small yard was transformed by colors and scents that transported us to a fairy world.

Thankful November 2nd: The Beauties of the Earth

For the beauty of the earth,
For the beauty of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies,
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This our hymn of grateful praise.
Folliott S. Pierpoint, 1835-1917

I have been lucky enough to do a bit of traveling around this amazing planet on which we live (that sentence structure is a nod to all of my English professors at the University of Utah). I’ve been to Asia, Europe, Mexico, Great Britain, and most of the United States of America. Everywhere I go, I find beautiful things to photograph and wonderful people who fill my heart with happiness.