Monday Blahs (and my kinda Best Shots)

Not sure why, but I'm having a case of the Monday blahs. It may be the heat (a taste of summer), the winds (blowing any sense out of my head) or the new project at work which has me feeling like I just stepped off my Conestoga wagon and landed on the helm of the Enterprise. Yeah, That Kind of Project that tests the limits of my brain's elasticity and finds it shrinking. (Or would it be snapping?)

The past week was also a busy one which I am only now realizing as I look back upon a small pool of images for Best Shot Monday. Small because we were on the go and the camera couldn't keep up. Friends were in town, Cowgirl got asked to be on in a commercial shoot for our zoo, I hit the farmer's market which seems to get busier and busier with each passing year (remember to wear steel capped boots next visit; it was that crowded) and I don't know! Things were just happening.





In all the busyness we managed a trip to the zoo (separate from the film shoot.) Normally, I am reminding Cowgirl to slow down and look. She tears around and I wonder if she realizes we are there to see all these wild live animals. But every once and awhile she reminds me that while I'm off photographing the splashy male peacock, she is searching for the less obvious treasures. (The boys were all out strutting their stuff for the ladies - it is the funniest thing, they open their feathers and then turn away from the females to and wiggle their bottoms in a mad mating booty call!)




Isn't that cool - a peacock egg! (is it a pea-egg since it was laid by a peahen?) This peahen was fussing over her egg with such determination to get it in exactly the right position to lay upon it. And doesn't that seem right? While the males are off busying themselves with their fancy plumage, the female is tending to life.

I did pick up Susan Tuttle's new book Digital Expressions and am having fun playing around with Photo Shop. It gives great ideas and walks you through all the steps. I am still a novice when it comes to Photo Shop (I can manage Pioneer Woman's Action sets and am thrilled when I can adjust color, exposure and drop in a texture layer) so this book offers me a lot of material to work on. Here were some fun and easy effects:

I never tire of photographing flowers:






And our old friend, Mr. Peacock:



These were created using the colored pencil and fresco filters (I think? I mess around so much I cannot remember what I have done when I get something I like!)

I am liking some of the dreamy, surrealist effects you can get with textures and layers. This is one exercise I adapted from the book:




Not sure why I added the Italian script, but kind of like the sense of memory and nostalgia evoked by the ghostly writing:




And here is me getting wacky with rust, calligraphy other effects:




A lot of fun, but bottom line: I'd much rather be out taking pictures than sitting inside on the computer. But when the blahs strike, at least I can Photo Shop some color back into my world.

How do you fight the Blue Meanies? Do share.