cold {you capture}

I don't know if I've ever explained You Capture before, so if you've been wondering, here goes. If you aren't wondering, Congratulations, you can skip ahead to the pictures and avoid unnecessary reading.

Each week, Beth** over at I Should Be Folding Laundry posts a theme. The idea is to go out that week and take pictures to fit the theme, then Beth hosts a link up party on Thursday where everyone shares their photos. The purpose of You Capture is to get you out there taking pictures, so you're only supposed to use photos that were taken that week, not old photos that just so happen to fit with the theme. It's fun to see everyone's pictures, from professional photographers, to amateurs in various stages of learning, to iPhone shots (some of which are pretty impressive). I have been wanting to improve my skills so very much, but until I can scrape together the time and funds needed for a workshop, I'm stuck with just snapping and learning. You Capture has been a fun way to try new things, you know, besides just pictures of my kids (though they're still my favorite subject).

This week's theme is "cold." I rolled my eyes since the temperature last weekend reached nearly 70 degrees. Not exactly a winter wonderland. But Monday, it started dipping down to the 30's, even 20's, at night and I got into the spirit of capturing "cold." While I would love to have taken pictures of a gorgeous snowscape, I really don't like being cold, and the thought of shoveling a walkway out of my house is frightening, AND I don't live where there is snow. In fact, the landscape is greatly lacking in visual appeal at the moment, dead brown grass does little to convey a sense of "cold," so I tried to get creative.


The bird bath froze over. Our pond froze over too, but I was hiding in the warm comfort of my mama's home and missed the whole beautiful sight.  Or, at least I imagine it was a beautiful sight. I'll never really know.

I made this hat after I found a free pattern online, and although it's a bit late for Christmas, I just love red and white together. Hats say "cold," right?

I snapped a picture of the wood pile, a necessity when it gets cold like this. You just can't beat the intense warmth and comfort of a wood stove fire.

In hopes of making it more interesting, I ran a Pioneer Woman** action (in PSE6), since that's what was available at the moment.  Heavy editing, anything beyond a few little tweaks, really just isn't my thing. I don't know enough to get the results I'm after, so it's all just an experiment at this point.

Then I ran six more actions.

And then I wanted to try some actions from Rita** at The Coffee Shop Blog, but kids were crying and I was saying, "Just a minute," and that ended that.

So, I ran the same action on a picture of the thermometer, cropped it, "burned" the edges, and pretended that a completely boring picture was now some kind of photographic masterpiece.

Thus ends this week's adventure in shooting and editing. For more, and likely prettier, pictures of "cold," click on over to Beth's blog. Or, better yet, post your own. It isn't nearly as scary as it sounds.

**I don't know any of these talented women personally, nor do they have any idea who I am.  I simply enjoy the awesome stuff they offer FOR FREE, and thought you'd enjoy them too.