Oz Girl's Photo Spot

Puerto Rico

noreply@blogger.com (Oz Girl) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:23:00 +0000

As much as I love where we live on the prairie, this time of year I inevitably wish I was somewhere in the tropics, by the ocean. I'm sure many of you do also ~ unless you already live in the tropics. You lucky bug, you.

Here are some shots from a trip to Puerto Rico, several years ago, with my mom and sister. Live ecstatically through them - maybe we can all feel the warmth of the sun if we try hard enough.

We stayed at Las Casitas Village, in case anyone is interested in checking out their website. The villas are gorgeous!! We got a really, really, really good deal. I mean, REALLY GOOD. I doubt we could ever afford to go there ever again!!!

I Never Tire of Spectacular Prairie Skies

noreply@blogger.com (Oz Girl) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 17:06:00 +0000

October prairie sunrise

Almost 8 Weeks Later....

noreply@blogger.com (Oz Girl) — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:40:00 +0000

Seriously?? I haven't posted on my photo blog for almost 8 weeks?

I am getting to be quite the negligent blogger, aren't I?!!

I love this photo of Fluff and Ringo (above), taken a few years ago. So I pulled it out of my archives and spiffed it up a bit in Photoshop Elements 9, which I ordered a few months ago.

Of course, as you may know, Photoshop Elements 10 just came out, and that happened to me a week after I received my Elements 9 version. Not sure why I missed that announcement... oh well. I'm enjoying working with the 9 version for the time being!

I have always liked this old barn photo (below), which I snapped shortly after my move to Kansas, and on one of my first photo excursions with my then-new Nike DSLR. I've brightened it up in Photoshop Elements 9 here...

And then I converted it to B and W (below), adjusting the contrast to get a slightly wild and stormy look....

And then there's this forever-favorite of mine (below), taken during the same above photo excursion...

I have a ton of favorite photos, but I admit these are in my top 25, er, maybe top 50?!

Looking forward to a weekend of temps in the 60s.... here's hoping you have a great weekend and good weather to go along with it!

Altered Images

noreply@blogger.com (Oz Girl) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 16:17:00 +0000

I used PS Elements 6 to add a texture to this black eyed susan shot.

Country Deer

noreply@blogger.com (Oz Girl) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 14:55:00 +0000

Our resident family of deer either need to come closer to me, or I need to take the splurge and buy a better zoom lens, say 400mm??!! :-)

I crept up on them today, and got closer than I have yet. But of course some farmer decided to come down the road and make a bunch of gravelly noise and so our deer family took off running!

Fluff

noreply@blogger.com (Oz Girl) — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 13:58:00 +0000

Fluff - one really good barn kitty

Young Red-Tailed Hawk

noreply@blogger.com (Oz Girl) — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 03:53:00 +0000


Juvenile red-tailed hawk with injured wing

Of course I saved him!

You didn't think I was going to just leave him there?

You should know me better than that!

I can't bear to see animals suffer, domestic or wild.

Read his story here and here.


One tired boy.

(Yes, it was confirmed to be a boy!)

New Guinea Keets (Babies!)

noreply@blogger.com (Oz Girl) — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 19:33:00 +0000

Hatched in our incubator. Two hatched on their own, I had to assist #3. You're looking at #1 and #3 here. Regretfully, #2 passed away when the STUPID brooder light slipped off the windowsill and fell into the brooder.

As you can see, hubby fixed that.

In the Chicken Coop

noreply@blogger.com (Oz Girl) — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 13:43:00 +0000

From left to right:

Plymouth Barred Rock rooster and pullet, Ameraucana pullet,

Buff Orpington pullet and Rhode Island Red rooster

My, they grow up so fast! Only 13 weeks old.

My beautiful Ameraucana, Midge.

June Storms in Kansas

noreply@blogger.com (Oz Girl) — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 23:40:00 +0000

Monday night's storm

6-20-11

You Talkin' To Me??!

noreply@blogger.com (Oz Girl) — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 17:06:00 +0000

One of our Plymouth Barred Rock chickens wants to give me some sass.

Only 10 weeks old.... my, how fast they grow!!

Fiery Sunset

noreply@blogger.com (Oz Girl) — Mon, 09 May 2011 00:25:00 +0000

fiery March sunset

I haven't had much time lately to wander around our property snapping photos... working two jobs not only takes up my time, but it's been sapping my energy to do all the things I love at home. :-(

So I decided to look through my photos and found this one that I took only a scant two months ago.

We have such amazing sunsets here... and sunrises (when I'm up to see them!) I never tire of the unique and spectacular vistas that our big sky provides here in south central Kansas.

It sure is a big and welcome change from my city digs in Ohio!

Spring Has Sprung in Kansas

noreply@blogger.com (Oz Girl) — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 17:40:00 +0000

Is this the craziest sky you've ever seen?

No Photoshop manipulation, straight out of the camera!

We had some serious storms rumble through here Thursday night, March 26th.

Can you say "fa-reeeeky"!!!

I will say it was definitely scary standing out there taking this picture,

with lightning jagging down everywhere and thunder clapping,

the wind whipping my hair around... needless to say, I only snapped 3 or 4 pictures

and hightailed it back into the house!

Famous Dogs

noreply@blogger.com (Oz Girl) — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 21:55:00 +0000

Ringo has been featured in Grit magazine more than once... his most recent photo is this frog-fishing mug (above) in the March/April issue of Grit.

Trixie is also a Grit-published dog. But her and Ringo have not let their newfound fame go to their little doggie heads. They are both very down-to-earth country pooches.

Good thing ... any demands for new collars or extra treats would be flatly refused. :-)

A Horse With Something to Say

noreply@blogger.com (Oz Girl) — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 02:41:00 +0000

I think paint-boy was voicing his opinion about this blizzard storm.

A Crisp Kansas Sunrise

noreply@blogger.com (Oz Girl) — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 14:02:00 +0000

So I set the alarm yesterday morning ... I wanted to take an early morning drive, explore new dirt roads and get some awesome new photography shots. The weather was most uncooperative ~ it was 17 degrees with 20 mph winds and NO sunrise, just gray, cloudy skies! Even all bundled up and with mittens, my fingers turned to frost-cicles real fast.

Here is our gorgeous sunrise today. I ran outside in my jammies before it was gone. We had a beautiful sunrise Saturday morning also. I worked Saturday, and of course, I have to go to work today.

I guess the sunrise doesn't plan to be perfect when you have a day off work, does it?

Before the Snowstorm

noreply@blogger.com (Oz Girl) — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 00:33:00 +0000

I think Miss Stormy was expecting a treat.

A Rare Vacation Day

noreply@blogger.com (Oz Girl) — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 19:15:00 +0000

The hubster and I rarely have a day off work... together. He decided to take a week's vacation at the end of October, and I requested a few days off work, so on October 25th, we drove down to Oklahoma City to take in some team roping finals action.

I didn't take too many photos, but instead decided to just enjoy the day!

behind the scenes

top-of-the-line horse trailer displays

hmmm, can we dream for a few minutes??

disagreeable photo subject

A Lightning Strike

noreply@blogger.com (Oz Girl) — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 14:24:00 +0000

Do you know how many shots I've snapped with my Nikon camera on a stormy day, trying to to get a lightning capture? I've been known to snap off 300-400 shots and all I captured was flash lightning in the clouds.

So I'm at work several weeks ago when a bad storm came through our area... all I had was my cell phone and lo and behold, I managed to capture a lightning strike.

So it's blurry and grainy.

What do you expect from a cell phone camera?! ;-}

Note: The little building has extra gates and such for our K-Tag lanes and that other little structure which is cut off in the photo? That's our tornado shelter.

Late Autumn Kansas Sunrise

noreply@blogger.com (Oz Girl) — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 01:22:00 +0000

to the north, a lavender glow

to the southeast... the sun struggles to rise

to the south, orange and lavender collide

My early morning sleep was interrupted on October 25 by three very noisy dogs clamoring to go outside... but when I saw our sunrise, I wasn't upset about my sleep being interrupted!

Instead I rushed to grab my camera, running outside with my jammies still on... and left the dogs staring at me through the screen door while I snapped off as many pics as I could before this glorious display disappeared.

Luckily for the dogs, it only lasted a few more minutes!

(All photos are SOOC, straight out of the camera, no Photoshop needed!)

September Storms in Kansas

noreply@blogger.com (Oz Girl) — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 14:19:00 +0000

We had some stormy days in September, but this one on September 15 was spectacular.
Above, the front as it heads to the east.

The stormy sunset to the west.

Storm clouds after sunset to our east.
I set the exposure really low to get this shot, hence the purple glow.

Baby Longhorn Eats Lunch

noreply@blogger.com (Oz Girl) — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 16:09:00 +0000

I just adore our neighbor's longhorns. So many great photographic opportunities. This mom had two babies earlier this summer... on my way home from work one day I stopped to watch the two kids play... alas, no camera with me! A video would have been the ultimate - they were so much fun to watch.

But on my way to work a month or so ago, one of the babies was eating his lunch, I had my camera ... and the beautiful Kansas sky provided yet another perfect photo opp!!

Watch for this photo to appear in the next Grit magazine issue. :-)

Country Simplicity

noreply@blogger.com (Oz Girl) — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 13:52:00 +0000

Fluff is so much like me... she enjoys the simpler things in life, like a beautiful sunrise.

Our Kansas sun rises over verdant green fields.

What are the simple things in life that you enjoy?

BFFs

noreply@blogger.com (Oz Girl) — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 13:29:00 +0000

SOOC

noreply@blogger.com (Oz Girl) — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 03:03:00 +0000

Sunrise near Kansas/Oklahoma border

Straight Out Of Camera (SOOC)

Skies so beautiful, no Photoshop necessary.