This garden had a very asian feel to it, very peaceful indeed. There were fish in the water, and coins, and this beautiful misty fog. Taken with a macro lens from a Nikon Coolpix 880.

This photograph was also taken with a macro lens. I was trying to capture light, life, and plant, and a feeling of private peacefulness.

Just some green bulbous plant life, it just felt alive to me.

I was experimenting, taking shots of the building outside in the sunshine. This came out like it was a night shot, the building is quite beautiful.

Hello everybody, Yesterday we took some time my son and I, and went to a Botanical Gardens very near our home. It was a remarkably beautiful sunny day, and although most of the flowers are are not as brilliant as they were in the summer, and of course the variety and kind of plant was to a minimum, we had a wonderful time. He took his Gameboy Camera, and I took my Nikon, and we spent some hours just wandering, and shooting. This was an experimental plant life shoot for me, but I am trying to expand and understand my horizons, and this was the first step. I took about 100 pictures in all, I have some more, but I'll hold out, that came out pretty good. It was really a turning point for us here at home, as we have been very distraught over this past weeks event here in our country, me in particular. This whole exercise worked brilliantly, because, I forgot, we forgot everything except the beauty, the building, the plant life, and our photography session together. Life simply must go on, no matter how hard things are right now. Later in the day, I took my son to his football game, where we got the shock of our lives. Driving up to the game, ten minutes from my house to LaSalle Park in Buffalo, we turned down Porter Avenue, and went up over the hill to the field, to find the street heavily guarded by the military. We felt as though we were in slow motion, driving past the soldiers and their loaded rifles. I said to my son "I think we drove to the wrong country". I got so rattled I got lost and had to stop and ask for directions. A wonderful young man guided us to the field. However, when I went to hand my map out the window, the other soldier on guard with him at this post, turned her rifle up. My son and I were bug eyed. Afterward, my son said to me "Mom, in all my life, I never thought I would come face to face with an armed soldier ten minutes from our house". Let me point out we live close to the Canadian border, so my thought is they are guarding the border, and they are being mobilized as 35,000 reservists were called up. I hope, I pray, with every fibre in my being, for liberty, for peace, for a resolution to this awful awful tragedy, that will leave us with our lives, and our future. And finally, here is your co-moderator of the forum, through a looking glass. God bless you all, Syyd

Wow - really nice shots!! First one is another of those great pictures that haunt me with the thought of Triffids, but the second one rocks!! Lovely tone to it! I wanted to get to a Buterfly Sanctuary while away, but spent that day watching the news... I know what you mean about the impact this had had on security etc - as we were leaving Poole in Dorset (on the South coast of England) we saw the police blocking off the road and driving a robot out with a long arm - yep, the type that look for bombs. According to the radio they closed off a bit of the town later on, too.... that hit home to us in the same way - I thought I'd only ever see them on TV or at military shows..... Here's hoping things get sorted & back to normal sooner rather than later, but that we keep the memories of those people alive forever. Mike

I like the sepia and the feeling of the second shot. Did you take it in color and convert?? Post some more. Doing anything in nature calms me a great deal--I went up to the top of our rise above our small pond and watched the birds, the sky--even took comfort in seeing a contrail--a sign of some kind of 'normalcy' returning. I also think many of us tried to find a diversion yesterday--and photography can pull you in for hours.

Fred here's a better one, I was working at something here but didn't quite figure it out...I kept moving in closer and closer, until I moved out of the frame...It was weird....This is something I am going to bug you about, we can try to do this, and set it up differently. Thanks for the comments, the third one was actually taken in natural light, no flash, and I was literally on top of the plant.... One thing I found yesterday was that your body is your guide to a decent shot some times, I was in some cases laying on the ground, crawling over things, upside down, all kinds of goodies, tilting and turning the camera as well sometimes without knowing what the viewfinder was capturing, and then shooting. I need work with architecture shots cause they came out crooked a lot of the time. I also did a dome shot, but didn't have it lined up correctly. It was just what the photo doctor ordered...an excursion outside the self to return the calm to the inner self, and I find that green, and color, are amazingly healthy and soothing.

Diane, it was converted in Photoshop, but you've given me an idea to try a bunch of things, so I am out of here, and you are right....you can lose yourself for hours, or days....in this case, till tonight at least LOL

It is very liberating to take the time, pick the place and just concentrate on image and technique. I believe that the mental feedback from such sessions is one of the best ways to learn both ourselves and the equipment. After months of use and several hundred images I am just learning what the Nikon 880 will do for me. The first image is my favorite of this series (excluding the self portraits). As you stated, a feeling is evoked.

Thanks Bill. Im really hopping like nuts to do so much more, and you are very correct in your statement about what this camera can do. This was my first big venture away from portraits, so in that sense I am learning both camera and subject, and me all at once....I love that first one, I thought it was worth all the contorting, just to feel such a mystical peace.

...damn, cant say anything, so heavenly beautiful pics. I dig the building most, soooo beautiful. I really cant find the words for these. .n