I added a bird to my list of sightings! We had a painted bunting visit our bird feeder. What a pretty bird!
He was flirting with a female on the new bird feeder, and I love this photo where the female is getting after him and I caught him leaning away.
We actually saw a deer with our own eyes in the back yard, rather than just a picture from the trail cam. She was watching us watching her. She was OK until I walked toward her with my big camera. Then she decided to find forage elsewhere.
My husband spotted a hawk in the trees, so again I took my big camera to take a picture. The young hawk also kept a keen eye on me, but this time I did not scare it off.
It was just before 9:00am on Saturday March 7, 2015. Spring break had just started, but it was a cool Texas morning, so we started the gas fireplace. The flue failed, heat built up in the chimney and caught the material outside the metal pipe on fire. We saw the flames through the gaps in the mantel and fireplace. Our house was on fire.
We got everyone out, dog and cats included. There was no loss of life, but the fire took the chimney and the upper level. Smoke filled the whole house. We were displaced into a rental for six months while a contractor oversaw the restoration process. I wouldn’t wish fire or flood on anyone, but a single fire is easier than a flooded city, because there are good neighbors who can reach out and help, especially mentally.
Pouring through old photos for the Throwback Thursday posts sometimes do throw a kick to the gut. I decided not to pass this one by, but to remember. The biggest take away I had from the house fire is that it was all just… stuff. And we had so much stuff. The house had great storage areas, and we filled them. After the fire, I started reducing the sheer amount of things we kept, and believe me, plenty of things survived the smoke and then the ozone cleaning process. I still have too many things, and reducing is a work in progress. Things are not life, what we do with things is, but there is a balance to be found.
OK, this is the last photo pair that I took at the Myriad Botanical Gardens in Oklahoma City, OK. This one is my favorite.
The plant in the foreground is centered in the photo, and the side of the trench hits about the same place in each photo, which gives less edge artifacts when viewing the 3D image. I like the way the plants and trees add depth, and more trees and the conservatory are in the background.
That is it for the stereographic photography for now. It is such an easy thing to do when I’m taking pictures, though, that I will absolutely be taking more. I have fun seeing the unexpected depth in the blog feed, so I’ll keep sharing too.
Here is a quick recap of my process: I find a subject with a foreground, mid ground, and background, with little or no moving elements. I plant my feet hip width apart and hold the camera at eye level. I shift my weight to the left, take a portrait picture, then switch my weight to the right and take another portrait picture. At home, I make a file in my photo editor that is twice as wide as my portrait photos and put the photos next to each other. I have to zoom out to see the parallel view and check that I put the photos in the right order. I then switch the photo positions for the cross view. I still can’t view the cross view, which is called a cross view because the left eye looks at the right picture, and the right eye looks at the left picture. It gives me a headache.
Yup, more photo pairs that I took at the Myriad Botanical Gardens in Oklahoma City, OK. This time outside in the gardens.
I had high hopes for the 3D viewing of the Band Shell (and really should have made my eldest try the acoustics with me, or recruited people for a quartet, or even tried a little yodel, I thought it was a shade structure at the time of the photography). The tile work has depth, but the structure doesn’t really, and the building and trees are too far away. Hm.
Here is a little walkway to a wood bench, which always makes me happy, where ever I find them.
Critters and Craft 