Texture

Dog Blog Post #484 Dogs were out of pocket most the day, so I relied on a late afternoon sunbeam and an easy prompt:

Our Daily Challenge - "Natural Texture"
111 Pictures in 2011 - "#59. Texture"

That's the top of Henry's fuzzy head, of course, after I'd pet it the wrong way a few times with a slightly damp hand to get the hair as up-on-end as it was going to get.

It's a trick that works well for Henry (but not at all for Zachary) and I've used it several times, like these...

Six Months old

8 Months old

Extreme closeup at 9 Months old

With the boys out of the house, I focused (cough) on my LAST Scavenger Challenge shot, and the one I had been dreading the most:

"25) This month's Education Center topic is Simplicity. First, you must find a piece of old wood (driftwood, for example). Display it on a dark background with no other obvious visual background element. You may use some small accents (a flower, a stone, etc.) to create interest, but attempt to create a still life with the style and elegance seen in Japanese art."

I don't care for still life shots, because (a) I'm never satisfied with how things look and (b) lighting is a pain.

Today, I was outside around 1pm taking pictures in full sunlight of piece I filched from the tan bark under a Crape Myrtle tree in front of an office building.

The background was the stretchy black velvet, which was a total pain to work with as it was extremely reflective in that light unless you positioned it "just so" compared to the sun - and even "just so" I still had sparkles. The fabric was draped over a kitchen chair, and held taught behind the chair with a butterfly clip.

The flower is a Lantana - one of the few things still blooming in my yard.

I took over 80 pictures, and of those 80 there were only two that I would even consider uploading. The other one is below, with a few of last years Crape Myrtle seed pots added for interest. Alas, I blew out the highlights on that one.

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