Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #156: Black and White

Many thanks to Anne Sandler of Slow Shutter Speed for guest hosting with the theme of Black and White. My contribution to the challenge is a selection of photos from a recent tour of Andulsia, author Flannery O’connor’s home in Milledgeville, Georgia. She was the author of two novels, thirty-one short stories, and many essays and reviews.

O’Conner lived at Andalusia from 1951 until her death in 1964. To help take us back to the time when Flannery lived here I converted these photos to black and white.

Andalusia was first settled in 1814 as a cotton plantation and farm. In 1931, Flannery’s uncle purchased the property. She moved to Andalusia in 1951 after being diagnosed with Lupus and lived there with her mother until she died in 1964. She did much of her writing while living there.

Our tour began at Flannery’s home which is shown in the header image at the top of the page. As we walked through the rooms I felt like I had gone back in time to my childhood.

There are several out buildings around the property. Hill House was built in the 1820’s and was the original home at Andalusia.

The cow barn.

Flannery raised Peacocks and these two are descendants of her birds.

Andalusia was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. Today it is owned by Georgia College and open to the public. To learn more please visit Georgia College – Andalusia.

All of these photos were shot in color and edited using Photoshop Elements.

Many thanks to Anne Sandler for this challenge. Please be sure to visit her original post at Lens-Artists Challenge #156: Black and White

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #155: On the Water

Many thanks to John Steiner of Journeys with Johnbo for hosting this weeks Lens-Artists Photo Challenge “On the Water”.

His challenge immediately made me think of boats and ships. Boats are a common sight on the water where I live in coastal Georgia. There are pleasure boats, working boats, and even giant container ships going in and out of the port of Savannah. The above image is the Coast Guard Cutter Eagle as it led the 2012 Tall Ships Challenge out of Savannah.

I love to see boats on the water wherever we wander.

Many thanks to John for this challenge. Please be sure to visit his original post at Lens-Artists Challenge #155: On the Water

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #154: One Photo Two Ways

Tina’s challenge this week is to show the same subject but captured using multiple, different approaches. I chose to include three different images each of which was edited in different ways.

In honor America’s Independence day, the first image I selected is of the Tybee Island Lighthouse flying a giant American Flag. The finished image is at the top of this page. Below are the before and after images. The original photo needed a little cropping to remove the corner of a roof in the bottom right hand corner. I liked the way it looked after cropping but then took an extra step to add a little drama by removing all of the colors except for the red, white and blue of the American Flag.

My second image is an orange zinnia. To me, the background in the original image on the left distracts from the detail of the center of the flower. The cropped image focuses on the deatils.

My final images are of animals in the savanna at The Animal Kingdom Lodge in Walt Disney World. The image on the left is the original photo which shows a chain link fence and a building behind the giraffe indicating it wasn’t taken in a wild place. It also shows three other animals in front of the giraffe. The image on the right was cropped to only show the giraffe’s face and neck with trees in the background.

Many thanks to Tina for the challenge. Please be sure to visit her post at Lens-Artists Challenge #154: One Photo Two Ways

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #153: It’s a Wonderful World

Amy introduced this challenge using the lyrics to one of my favorite songs, Louis Armstrong’s “It’s a Wonderful World.”

I see trees of green
Red roses too
I see them bloom
For me and you…

Trees of Green
Red Roses too

I see skies of blue
And clouds of white
The bright blessed day
The dark sacred night

Skies of blue
Clouds of white
Dark Sacred Night

The colors of the rainbow
So pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces
Of people going by
I see friends shaking hands
Saying, “How do you do?”
They’re really saying
“I love you”

Colors of the Rainbow

Yes, I think to myself
What a wonderful world

I think Louis Armstrong got it right. It’s the simple things around us that make it a wonderful world.

Many thanks to Amy for the challenge. Please be sure to visit her post at Lens-Artists Challenge #153: It’s a Wonderful World

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #152: Shades and Shadows

This fun challenge is brought to us by Ann-Christine.

The shadow of the bridge at the top of the page was taken from the Hurricane Turn Train stopped on the bridge over Hurricane Gulch, Alaska. The shadow of the airplane is from a flight seeing trip to see Mt. Denali in Alaska.

Closer to home in Georgia are shadows of a fence out in the country and an Egret flying over a salt water creek at low tide.

During our RV travels we were happy campers when we found a campsite with a shady place to set up our chairs.

Many thanks to guest host Ann-Christine for the challenge. Please be sure to visit her post at Lens-Artists Challenge #151: Shades and Shadows