December 18, 2011 Bending Tree Pond Painting I took this on Thanksgiving, actually. It is the pond at Dolce Norwalk (http://www.dolce-norwalk-hotel.com/?gclid=CKekg6ibjK0CFQ5T7AodQUtwpA . It wasn't a knock out photo but I liked the curves and the potential for color, so I experimented using Corel's Painter Essentials 4. This is the detailed watercolor setting, with some tweaks.

December 17, 2011 Christmas Village Quick shot of our little Christmas village. We always have fun setting it up, and it's fun to get lost in the tiny perspective and pretend it is real!

December 17, 2011 Christmas Village Quick shot of our little Christmas village. We always have fun setting it up, and it's fun to get lost in the tiny perspective and pretend it is real!

December 16, 2011 Duke Children's Hospital Just a quick snap from inside Duke Children's Hosp. I just love the architecture of this facility - very welcoming and inviting. I tried to get some shots of the fish tank, but they didn't come out well. Son's check up went fine. :)

November 30, 2011 This barn is also from our walk on Thanksgiving evening. I decided it would make a good candidate to play with a painting effect. I used Corel's Painter Essentials 4 to give it a classical oil painting effect. You can't really see the effect in regular size, but you can in larger sizes. UPDATE: EDITOR'S PICK, betterphoto.com, November 2011, Digital Darkroom

Thursday, November 24, 2011 Dolce On Thanksgiving Day (evening), my family and I took a walk at what is now Dolce Norwalk, which used to be owned by GTE, and prior to that was a seminary. As Dolce, it is a conference and event center. Neighborhood residents have use of the grounds, which include ponds, trails, and an interesting cemetery from the days as a seminary. Info and history here: http://www.dolce-norwalk-hotel.com/ec699/371/property-overview/history-of-dolce-norwalk I liked the reflection of the trees in this shot, and being nosy, I really liked that you can see the details of what is in the interior of the building through the windows - look in larger sizes to see lamp, poster, holiday decorations, details of daily life as a conference center. I used Topaz Adjust's small details filter on this. Thanks so much for all your comments - I hope to catch up on commenting on your images this evening!

Wednesday, November 23, 2011 Thanksgiving Traffic in the Rain We were on the road, apparently with all other residents of the US, the day before Thanksgiving. I think most of those residents ended up on the George Washington Bridge into NYC. It was backed up for miles. Edit: It's not selective color - it's in full color. The day was just that gray and rainy!

Wednesday, November 23, 2011 George Washington Bridge in the Rain I took this through the rainy windshield on our trip to CT for Thanksgiving. Rain and traffic, but it did make a nice picture! UPDATE: EDITOR'S PICK, betterphoto.com, November 2011, Travel & Place

November 20, 2011 My blog: www.karastewartaip.blogspot.com Autumn Lake Actually, this was taken last November, but who's telling? I just found it and decided to process it today, although it didn't take much processing. This is at Umstead Park in Raleigh, and the colors really were that vivid. I didn't up the saturation at all on this. I bumped up the levels very slightly and took out a bit of noise, and cropped very slightly and that's about it. My blog this week concentrates on things I am thankful for. I hope all my American friends in the dailies have a great Thanksgiving this week - you are definitely one of the things I am thankful for. UPDATE: EDITOR'S PICK, betterphoto.com, November 2011, Nature & Landscapes

November 19, 2011 Frosty Leaf Grunge There was a good bit of frost on the ground this morning, so I got out early and got a few shots. Just for fun, I played with this one in Topaz Adjust 4, using a grunge filter. I really like the way it turned out - something about the colors and the way the frost is played up with the filter appeals to me. About the Red Mushroom shot from yesterday, I don't know what kind it is, but I took it a few years ago at a park in Person County, NC, which is kind of almost on the border of VA and NC. There were a number of them there, and I've seen them in other parts of this area also. Hope you all are having a nice weekend. UPDATE: EDITOR'S PICK, betterphoto.com, November 2011, Details & Macro

November 18, 2011 Red Mushroom This is one from the archives that I resurrected by playing around with it in Topaz Adjust BW Effects. Thanks so much for all your comments this week!

November 17, 2011 Lichen It Took this a few days ago in my back yard. I loved the lichen and also the golden fall colors in the background. My blog: http://www.karastewartaip.blogspot.com/ UPDATE: Editor's Pick, betterphoto.com, November 2011, Nature & Landscapes

November 16, 2011 Duke Children's Hospital I hope you will forgive 2 posts from me today since I have been away so long! This is a shot I took about a year ago on my terrible cell phone, but I do just love the architecture of the Duke Children's Hospital - our "home away from home". I took this at my daughter's appointment last December, I think, and I just love the sunlight and structure of the building. There is also a huge fish tank that I will try to get a shot of when we are there with my son next month. Thanks for all the comments on my photos this week! I have missed your wonderful images and insights. Not sure how much I'll be able to pop in (and out!), but I'll do my best.

November 16, 2011 Golden Wide Angle Copper Red I took this about a year ago with a wide angle lens, but played with it just a few days ago using Topaz Adjust BW Effects. I used their Copper Red filter on this. EDIT: Yes, I am Samson! :) UPDATE: EDITOR'S PICK, betterphoto.com, November 2011, Animals

November 15, 2011 Bear Rug This is Samson enjoying the backyard a few days ago. He's like my own personal bear rug - the rug just moves from place to place!

November 14, 2011 Two Waiting Lucy and Luke waiting.

November 13, 2011 One Waiting Luke, waiting.

November 12, 2011 My daughter's 21st birthday! Time really does fly.

November 12, 2011 Pierogies Potato & cheese pierogies with panchetta, shallots, and green, red & yellow peppers. Yum!

October 16, 2011 Birdhouse Dipping into the archives again to try to clear them up a bit. I think I took this at the NC State Fair last fall at the Dept. of Agriculture end of fair layout. They had some great displays there of tobacco production, cooking over fires in cast iron skillets, apple cider making, lots of garden and produce displays and info. Sorry I wasn't able to view and comment on your images last week, all, but very busy few weeks at work!

October 9, 2011 Wheelbarrow This is another from the archives, that I am just now (years later) having a chance to get to! I took this on my trip to Cullowhee, NC a few years ago on an NCCAT (North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching www.nccat.org) workshop. They gave us 35mms to work with for the time we were there, so this was taken with their 35 mm. Today I played with that 35mm image, just fooling around with software. I liked the general idea of the original image, but the wheelbarrow of flowers just kind of blended in with the background of stone and wood, since they all have a lot of pattern and texture. So I just used it to play with today. I applied Topaz Adjust's Spicify filter, which plays up texture and color, and then burned the wood and stone in the background to darken it a bit so that the wheelbarrow stood out more. Not really happy with it, but hey, it was for play and practice! :) Thanks for your comments this week on kids and dogs and Mandolin! Oh! And check out my blog if you have a chance. The story winner, based on daily photog Janet McQueen's photo has been chosen! Great short story and great image, Janet! http://www.karastewartaip.blogspot.com/ UPDATE: EDITOR'S PICK, betterphoto.com, October 2011, Flowers

October 8, 2011 Mandolin Another dig into the archives for today's daily/weekly. I took this at an NCCAT (North Carolina Center for Advancement of Teaching http://www.nccat.org/s/1099/start.aspx ) workshop in Cullowhee, NC a few years ago. This was taken with a 35mm. Thanks for all your kind comments on my kids' snapshots - you know how it is! :) UPDATE: Not sure what keeps happening to this image. It keeps disappearing from my smug daily site! I don't mean disappearing from some sort of ranking on the dailies - I mean this is the THIRD TIME I have uploaded it to my dailies gallery on smug. It keeps disappearing. Very odd and frustrating. ANOTHER UPDATE: We have a winner on my blog for the Write That Photo Contest! This is the one using our own daily photog, Janet McQueen's photo. Check it out at: http://karastewartaip.blogspot.com/2011/10/we-have-winner.html UPDATE: EDITOR'S PICK, betterphoto.com, October 2011, Catch-All