Macro Makeup and Poolside Assortments: Cee’s Odd Ball Photo Challenge, Week 20

My odd ball photos for Cee’s Odd Ball Photo Challenge were taken in the comfort of my own home. I guess that makes me an odd ball since all this stuff is mine.

It’s pretty and sparkly and something I haven’t used in a long time. What is it? Blue eye shadow taken with the macro lens on my iPhone. It looks so much better in the packaging than it does on my face.

Is it a strange creature from another world? A gross hair brush? No, it’s a mascara brush. I took this macro photo with my iPhone.

I was relaxing under the red umbrella and decided it was an interesting photo opportunity.

This is a rule when visiting my house. What else is there to do in the heat of a Florida summer?

As an added bonus odd ball photo, this is a strange creature from another world. I think I saw him creep off the mother ship that landed in my yard the other night. Now he lives on my gutter. Kinda snugly, isn’t he?

 

A Starfish, Lime Face, a Wishing Tree and Fireworks: Cee’s Odd Ball Photo Challenge: Week 19

Here’s my entry for this week’s Cee’s Odd Ball Photo Challenge.

This is a macro shot of the underbelly of a starfish. I ventured into the ominous depths of the sea and used my iPhone to shoot this rather toothy looking creature. Maybe I’m exaggerating a little. I actually took it at a little shop in the sponge diving community of Tarpon Springs, Florida.

My mojito was smiling at me, so I took a photo of it. He was delicious, but I was not smiling later in the day, as I’m a bit of a lightweight.

The Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida calls this The Wishing Tree. After you visit the museum, you can write a wish on your wrist band and tie it to the banyan (ficus) tree. My band is the blue one.

Our July 4th party is over for another year. Here’s the discarded remnants of the fireworks in our backyard. They’re really just glorified sparklers, but they’re still fun. Unless you count the firecrackers and bottle rockets. They’re real, and I don’t find them all that fun since I seem to be a target for explosives and fire.

Fry Guy, Wooden Outlet, and Banyan Roots: Cee’s Odd Ball Photo Challenge, Week 16

Here’s a little quirkery (yes, I made up that word) for you to enjoy. Of course, it wouldn’t be my usual contribution to Cee’s Odd Ball Photo Challenge without a little creepiness thrown in the mix.

This little gem was the greeter at the entrance to a junk store. He was named “Fry Guy” on the sales tag, so he’s probably the former face of a fast food burger joint. He’s odd and slightly creepy with those vacant eyes and evil smile. I’m certain he’s hiding something. Why do fast food restaurants use such creepy icons?

 

We could all use an extra outlet, even when standing under a giant tree in a park. This is tree graffiti on the trunk of a Banyan tree.

These Banyan tree roots sort of look like worms snaking toward the ground. A massive gnarled tangle of wickedness, they are quite possibly the root of all evil. I think Fry Guy might live inside the dark crevices of this tree.

Doll Heads, Patina, and Powerade: Cee’s Odd Ball Photo Challenge

Please enjoy these odd ball photos I took for Cee’s Odd Ball Photo Challenge.

Dolls are creepy enough when they are fully intact, but this is horrifying! Add in a few clown heads, and I’m about to lose my head. I found this scary gem of a chair in a junk store. Would you sit on it?

When I used my computer to rename and save the file, it wanted me to tag the “people” in the photo. Could it get any creepier than this? I might have nightmares tonight.

This is the handle for my outdoor shower by the pool. It hasn’t been used in the nearly four years we’ve lived here. The patina and rust is progressing nicely. Let’s think of it as a science experiment.

These are Powerade bottles. For those of you not familiar with Powerade, it’s a sports drink. I think they taste gross, but they make quite the colorful photo with the sunlight behind them.

 

A Moth, Beer, Evil Sand, and a Wooden Eye: Cee’s Odd Ball Photo Challenge Week 11

So you don’t think I’ve completely abandoned my blog, here are some odd ball photos for Cee’s Odd Ball Photo Challenge Week 11. Since I’m a fan of macro/close-up photos, I included a couple in this group. Enjoy the scenery! I’ll be back with some weird short stories soon.

No, it’s not a fish! It’s a tiny moth resting on my basil plant leaf. From afar, he looks sort of faded purple and is about a quarter of an inch long. With my iPhone macro lens, his true colors are revealed.

This is a refreshing and delicious lemon floating in a mug of beer. Taken with my iPhone macro lens.

Here’s an evil sand sculpture on the beach in Florida. He must have brought the oppressive heat and humidity with him.

Don’t stare too long into the eye! This is a knot on an aspen tree in Colorado. I felt like the trees were watching me. (Cee’s photo of the face in the tree inspired me to include this one.)

 

 

 

 

Sand, the Moon and Toilets: Cee’s Odd Ball Photo Challenge

Things have been a little too serious around here lately. We need a little nonsense to balance it out. Plus, I need to live up to my blog name once in a while.

This is my first time participating in Cee’s Odd Ball Photo Challenge. I’m known for being odd, so I should fit right in. All these weird and whimsical photos were taken at random times and in random places.

A Penny, Sand Balls, Godzilla, and a Floating Flower

The weekly photo challenge for the Daily Post was to show OBJECT. Here’s my interpretation with some of my usual macro photography.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Community, Ancient People

This week’s photo challenge for the Daily Post was to show Community. For me, ancient rock art, petroglyphs, and dwellings of the indigenous people of the American Southwest represent community. I took these photos a few years ago in Arizona, near Tucson and Sedona.

Petroglyph of the Hohokam near Tucson, Arizona, Saguaro National Park. The Circle of Life.

Petroglyphs Tucson, Arizona

Petroglyphs Tucson, Arizona

Goat petroglyph near Tucson, Arizona

Various petroglyph scenes found near Tucson, Arizona.

Kokopelli petroglyph at Honanki Heritage Site near Sedona, Arizona

Man and Moon Rock Painting, Honanki Heritage Site near Sedona, Arizona

Rock Painting scene near Sedona, Arizona

V-Bar-V Heritage Site, Rock Paintings near Sedona, Arizona

V-Bar-V Heritage Site, Rock Painting wall near Sedona, Arizona

Rock paintings and petroglyphs near Sedona, Arizona

Montezuma Castle near Sedona, Arizona

Montezuma Well near Sedona, Arizona

Montezuma Castle and well – An ancient Sinagua 20-room cliff dwelling near Camp Verde, Arizona.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Grand Ruby Falls

See Ruby Falls…

On a recent road trip, my husband and I stopped at Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, Tennessee. We took the Ruby Falls cave tour. For those of you who don’t know about Ruby Falls, it’s a spectacular 145-foot waterfall located 1,120 feet beneath Lookout Mountain.

This week’s Daily Post photo challenge was to show GRAND. I thought an underground waterfall qualified.

Panoramic View Above Ground

Falls with Water Droplets

Ruby Falls Wide View

Infinite Water and Sunshine

This week’s Daily Post photography challenge is to show: Infinite. I thought I would show infinite water, beach and sunshine. All these photos were taken on the Gulf Coast of Florida.

School of Fish

Through the Screen

Beach Path

Dry Tortugas Beach

Weekly Photo Challenge: Focus, Randomness

In honor of randomness, and because I like using that word, I’m sharing some arbitrary photos for The Daily Post’s Weekly Photo Challenge. This week it’s about focus. Something I often lack in life and can’t achieve in a photo.

I picked these photos because I don’t know where else I would share some of this odd stuff, if not on my blog.

Dry Tortugas National Park

Seaweed on Beach

Sand dollars, all natural

The beachy photos were taken in Florida. The catamarans are a shot from the island of Dry Tortugas National Park, 70 miles west of Key West. One of the least visited national parks in the U.S. You can learn more about the park here. It’s a spectacular place to visit. I used the tilt-shift effect on the photo.

The seaweed comes from Ft. Myers Beach, as well as the sand dollars. The sand dollars were dead when I found them. I decided not to remove their prickly spines or bleach them. They are all natural. In case you didn’t know, some sand dollars are brown and furry in life. The white ones you typically see are bleached and cleaned over time by the sun or humans. Both photos were shot in macro/microscopic mode.

Pike’s Peak Cog Railway

Root of a weed

Lizard Skeleton

The weed roots and the lizard skeleton were taken in macro/microscopic mode. I suppose I should explain the skeleton. He was found that way in the pool skimmer; snuffed out by drowning in chlorine water. Poor thing. A moment of silence would be nice. He’s commemorated in a grotesque photo for all of eternity now.

Using tilt-shift again, I created the effect on the Pike’s Peak Cog Railway atop the mountain, at over 14,000 feet, near Colorado Springs, Colorado. It’s a dizzying ride up.

I hope you enjoyed looking at my focus photo ensemble. Please let me know what you think. Feedback is always appreciated.

Weekly Photo Challenge: One Shot, Two Ways (Aloha Lily)

Here is another attempt at the weekly photo challenge from The Daily Post. A landscape and portrait shot of the same subject.

This is an aloha lily leia with a perfectly posed water droplet. Beautiful pineapple shaped spikes teeming with tiny, pink flowers. It’s one of my favorites.

Water Droplet Landscape

Water Droplet Portrait

Weekly Photo Challenge: One Shot, Two Ways (Succulent)

This is my attempt at the weekly photo challenge from The Daily Post. Two photos of the same subject or scene, one in landscape (horizontal) and one in portrait (vertical) orientation. I decided to use one of my favorite subjects, a plant, close-up.

This plant, growing in a pot on my patio, has turned out to be quite invasive. It sprouts and drops new sections that grow anywhere, including in the brick. A hearty plant indeed. And as an added bonus, I captured a stray hair or some such thing on the leaves.

Succulent Landscape

Succulent Portrait