Janet Brien's photos

One of the things we love so much about where we love is the sheer number and species of birds here. So many we had never seen before, including this large relative of the woodpecker, a Northern Flicker. These stunning birds love to eat the suet that we put out and sometimes there have been as many as 5 of them at once at the feeder! I got lucky with this shot on my husband's birthday at the end of April in 2013!

Even though this mushroom has seen better days, it's still beautiful and very interesting to look at! I found this guy back in November 2013 in our lower forest.

In 2013, Steve and I cycled almost every weekend with a local group that went on rides all over southern Oregon. I always took my camera and whenever we took breaks, I could be found creeping around with my camera and having a glorious time! Our springs are incredible here, and for the first time in my life, I got to see magnolia trees in bloom. I wasn't prepared for the dozens of species that have been planted here, and oh the flowers!! INCREDIBLE! So many colors, different shapes and sizes of blossoms...what a treat to capture them! I found this pink magnolia image just yesterday. It makes me so happy to give the proper attention to it, and to share with all of you! :) Thanks to all of you who properly identified tthis flower as a DOGWOOD! :D I thought it was a Magnolia! :D

Back in May 2013, Steve and I visited ta buddhist center which was highly recommended for its beauty and cultural interest. We spent a very enjoyable hour strolling around the grounds and appreciating the beautiful buildings and landscaping. There were several places that featured bowls of these multi-colored glass stones, which represent prayer stones. They gave me a wonderful opportunity to play with depth of field and fun bokeh! If you would like more information about this peaceful oasis and to see a few pictures, this is their website: Tashi Choling Center for Buddhist Studies Explored on February 13, 2016. Highest placement, #45.

(2 more pictures above in notes) In July 2013, Steve and I drove up to Cottage Grove, Oregon, to go on a bike ride there. This town features six covered bridges, and during the 35 miles of riding that day, we would visit most of them! What a marvelous trip! At one point we stopped for a picnic lunch and I wandered around taking pictures and soaking up the warmthe of the summer day. There were countless Queen Anne's Lace flowers in bloom and I spent a lot of time appreciating them from all angles and playing with dof for fun bokeh!

A couple of years ago I had my raised-bed garden, and decided to splurge on a variety of flower bulbs, including a bunch of anemones in different colors. Such elegant beauties they are, with stunning details like their crisply veined petals and lovely fuzzy centers!

It is always a great prize when I find a feather on my photo walks because they make such fine subjects. To the naked eye, these feathers look like nothing, but up close, the details reveal themselves and you find yourself staring at something that is almost ethereal in its beauty. I found this one on a drizzly morning at the end of September 2013. I especially like how you see the droplets of water on the underside of the feather...they look like spots!

My front garden was where I first tried to grow poppies. I had a 5-year old packet of red poppies and thought, "These will NEVER sprout, but certainly not if I don't plant them!" So I walked outside and went to my small flower bed and promptly flung them all over the bed without care! I hoped that maybe a few would sprout. I was not prepared for what happened in the coming months. Instead of just a few, I think there must have been over 100 that sprouted and grew into a veritable WALL of red poppies!! Every morning I would come out and my jaw would drop at the incredible sight before me as new poppies opened! It was incredible. I fell madly in love with these flowers and watered them every day through our hot and unforgiving summer, and all the way until the first frost of winter killed the last of them. What a show! What a gift of beauty that continued month after month. If that weren't enough, the next spring, without any input by me, these flowers had reseeded themselves and put on ANOTHER show!! I added a mixture of poppies that year and soon the red ones were joined by a rainbow of lovely blossoms of different types of poppies. Even without care, they put on another show last year. Not a speck of water from me and still, these prolific flowers greeted me with another glorious springtime show! They didn't last as long, but still, I was happy to see them blooming until June! This picture is from May 2014, the year I had my raised bed garden, and here in my front garden I had irises and hyacinths and different kinds of allium (onion ), and others too. Seeing the poppies as the sun peeked over the hillside was a sight I relished, and I would be there with my camera to see the first rays of warm light shine through the crepe-like petals of these flowers I so adore.

What a joy it is to dive into an archive folder and discover another treasure! Steve and I went to the top of the Lower Tablerock with a friend back in the spring of 2013, and I had a great time taking pictures. At one point I heard a lot of buzzing and noticed that the Manzanita flowers were being visited by countless bees, beetles and other insects. I spent about 20 minutes clicking away, and this lucky shot was one of my prizes!! Explored on February 10, 2016. Highest placement, #38.

Steve and I met up with a friend at a cafe in June 2013 before going on a photo outing. It was the first time I got to use our new 50mm lens, and I soon discovered how fun it was to take pictures with! In fact, I couldn't stop! While we waited for our orders to arrive, I found myself clicking away at everything. But then...I heard eerie sci-fi music (ok, ok, the Twilight music was just in my head) and looked up to see a bunch of UFO's floating in mid-air all over the cafe! AMAZING!! The cool thing was that the lamps were hung on thin wire that didn't show up in the pictures, so they appear to be hovering! How cool is that?! :D

(One more image above in a note) At the end of 2014 I did a 10-week photography project based on the color wheel . It was a perfect opportunity to appreciate the many bags of mixed beads I got from my husband's work, Fire Mountain Gems & Beads. I ended up processing some extra images, and this is one of them, which features a lovely and unusual orange bead in front, with lots for bokeh in the background! Explored on February 7, 2016. Highest placement, #64.

(3picture above in a note) Oh, how I love crab spiders. I think they are so funny the way they look as they lay in wait for their meal to come within grasp. They all appear to be telling the same story to anyone who cares to listen, "I once caught a fly THIIIIIIIIIIS BIG!!" :D Too funny!! One of the cool features of crab spiders is their ability to change colors to match the flower they are hunting on. It takes them several days to closely approximate the color--in this case, I expect this spider came from some yellow flower and if it stays here, will change to a very light beige. I found this youngster hanging out on the edge of a Candytuft blossom in my friend's garden when I visited a couple of years ago.

(One more picture in a note above) One of the most dramatic things about living here in southern Oregon are the incredible skies we have. I was born and raised in San Francisco, which was often enveloped in fog or overcast days, and I didn't move away from the Bay Area until I was 42. That being said, I was not prepared for the amazing cloud formations that we get here, and the incredible sunsets and sunrises. Breathtaking hardly covers it. In mid-July last year I looked out the kitchen window and just about fell over. WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?!! I immediately ran outside with my camera and couldn't stop staring at these unusual, undulating clouds. I have never seen anything like them, and I'm so glad that I got pictures! I have included another image that shows the top of a pine tree so you have some perspective. :)

Last year on Valentine's Day, I decided to take my camera out for a little photo walk. What should I find but this lovely mushroom in our meadow. It made a perfect study for a shallow dof and dreamy bokeh everywhere! :)

The garden I grew a couple of years ago was absolutely breathtaking in the number and variety of flowers it produced. Every morning I ventured out to see the new arrivals and sometimes I simply couldn't believe my eyes for all the blossoms everywhere! The most common flowers were two different types of poppies--corn poppies and California poppies--and I planned it that way by sprinkling hundreds upon hundreds of seeds over the whole garden before I planted any other seeds. I knew they would grow and produce flowers because they did so well in my small front garden. However, I was not prepared for the volume of flowers in so many colors...it was an incredible sight! This is one of the lovely California poppy blossoms I captured one morning after it rained the night before. I adore these flowers, and I'm delighted that they are very slowly beginning to spread by themselves outside the garden. They are very prolific all over southern Oregon, but the one time I tried to plant them in a wildflower mix around our property, not even one grew. It seems that I am finally going to get my wish of having these lovely orange beauties add sparkle to our property!

[2 more pictures above in notes] In July 2013, I was in the middle of my 365 Project and on this particular day, I discovered a toad in our garage. Before releasing it, however, I could not resist taking lots of pictures! I ended up getting several very nice ones, and in the end, this one was never posted. Until today!! :) I copied the text I wrote from that day in case you would like to read about my toad discovery and rescue. :D ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ July 1, 2013: My, how plans for my 365 image can change! This morning when I went out to water the garden, the light was just beautiful and the newly blooming chicory blossoms were positively glowing. I ran inside for my camera and proceeded to take bunches of pictures. In fact, I looked through them on my computer and had my picks of the day chosen. Before I began working on the images, I decided to go down to our garage to hop on the orbital trainer and watch a bit of Lonesome Dove. However, in the quiet parts, I kept hearing small noises... scratching? Bumping? I stopped the video and listened again. *Scratch, rustle, bump* What the heck could it be? I angled my head up and wondered if one of our dogs was scratching at their bedding. *Screech... scratch*...no, that sound was down here...but...where? I got off the orbital trainer and began looking around, listening for the noises. I thought that maybe a mouse was digging a hole somewhere since we have had them in the garage before. *Scratchhhh* AH HAH!! It must be the box by the refrigerator! Moving quietly, I leaned down to look inside the box. Imagine my surprise when I discovered not a mouse, not a rat, but a juvenile TOAD trying to climb out of the box that it somehow managed to jump into!!!! I could hardly believe my eyes!! The next thing that hit me was the fact that if I hadn't heard this toad scratching on the side of the box, it would have died without question because it couldn't get out. That would have broken our hearts...I was overcome by relief and joy that I found this guy before he was too exhausted to make any noise!! WHEW!!!!! Cooing softly at the frightened and exhausted toad, "Little fella, that's no place for you!" I gently picked it up out of the box and noticed that it was positively COVERED with dog hair, YUCK! Poor guy! So I brought it inside and held it under the sink while I removed all the hairs and assorted lint stuck all over. As I cleaned my adorable little buddy up, it began trilling at me! I giggled in surprise at the cute noises it was making! Finally, the toad was clean and ready to be released...but not before I got a couple of pictures!! :D Once I took a few images, I brought the toad out to Angel's Pond and placed him on the rocky beach area to recuperate. There's a ramp to climb out if he can't hop out. I checked a couple of times today and he's hanging out in the water under the ramp where it's cool on this very hot day. I expect he'll hop out when it gets dark, as these toads are nocturnal. (By the way, this is a smaller toad than the one I've taken pictures of, it was actually in the other wading pool that I call "Lucky's Pond"! :) I thought it was really funny that there's now a toad in each pond! :D When Steve got home from his trip into town, I told him what happened and we were both so happy that I'd found this beautiful toad in time to save it!! HOORAY FOR HAPPY ENDINGS!!! :) :) :)

I bet you didn't know there are over 12,000 species of MOSS. Hard to believe, isn't it?! :D There are so many things in the world like that--it never occurs to us to think further. Photography has been a huge eye-opener to me...the world really is brimming with things to learn about and underderstand! :) On our property, we probably have at least half a dozen species of moss, and they are all very interesting and obviously different. Some look like feathers or ferns, many look like fronds on fir trees, and others look like a thick green velvet. I photographed this clump back in 2012, and it reminds me of something Dr. Suess would draw! :) If you are curious about moss, Wikipedia has a great article here: Wikipedia: Moss Explored on February 1, 2016. Highest placement, #15.

On the afternoon of October 1, 2016, a fire broke out on our property. It raced across one of our meadows, completely destroyed our shop, and roared up to the top of our ridge before finally being put out. One day, when I could bear to witness the aftermath, I wandered up onto our hillside and captured some of the things that I saw. This is a dying leaf on a Manzanita that was burned too badly to survive. Even still there is beauty as it glows warmly in the late afternoon sun.