Janet Brien's photos

I took this picture on the last day of my 365 Project, and it's wonderful that I can put it on a pedestal by itself! I must admit, it could be frustrating when I had a string of good luck during the day and captured many images which could each be a "First Position" picture, only...I could only choose one, and the next day I'd have to pick one from that day, so those nice pictures would never get top billing. However, now I can pick and choose, and it's so nice!! I was walking along the top of our ridge when I nearly stepped on this pair of chocolate mushrooms. It was fun playing around with depth of field and angles. Even after having my macro lens for over two years now, I am still amazed at the effect that it has with bokeh! Explored on January 7, 2014. Highest placement, page 2...

This is the last picture of my 365 Project, the December collage. What a crazy challenge. Now that it's over, I'm kind of amazed that I was successful, given all the issues that could have gotten in the way. I am going to take a very short break from photography. It won't be long, but I want to do something else for a while, just to refresh myself. I'm not burned out at all, but I would like to have a couple of weeks where I don't think about taking pictures. I plan to post images here, but I'm going to put photography on the back burner for a little while. I have work projects and other things going on, so it will be nice to have this committment off my shoulders to concentrate on other things. Hooray, I'm done with my 365!! :)

1 more picture in a note above! :) You can also find me on Facebook ! I can hardly believe that this day has finally arrived. #365 of 365 of my amazing photography project, and I have arrived overjoyed and also a bit relieved. I MADE IT!! To all of you out there who have completed this project, I SALUTE YOU!!!! It was not easy! But it was everything I could have hoped for, and more. My biggest hope was that I would learn to be a better photographer, and I believe that I am. I'm able to get the picture I want much easier now, with much higher quality on a more consistent basis. I understand my camera's distance vs. depth of field vs. size of object. I wanted to learn more techniques and to become more confident, and I've achieved that too. (For example, when I began this project, I rarely used our macro flash--now I rarely leave the house without it!) I am more observant, a better judge of good subjects, and can see potential where I couldn't before. This project forced me to be incredibly disciplined, and to never ever lose sight of my goal. I carried the daily chore with a happy bounce in my step, comfortable with restricting the time I spent taking pictures so I didn't burn out. I was careful to make sure I had enough time each day to take, process, and upload my picture(s). It helped to have a 100% supportive husband, who was there every day to encourage me and to remind me about time if I was side-tracked with something else. I went into this project armed with the knowledge that burn-out is the #1 killer of a 365 Project, so I was very careful to set limits to keep my passion burning every day. I read about the pitfalls from other people who've taken part in this project, and planned for months before I started, because once I set out to achieve a goal, I absolutely will not be stopped from achieving it. In the end, I never missed a day, and on the one day we had no internet, I emailed my picture to my husband's phone and we uploaded it to my account! I have to say though: I only had a part-time job doing freelance projects during the year, and I simply do not know how anyone can do this project with a full-time job. Those people are incredible!!! My hat's off to you crazy people! :D I want to say THANK YOU to each and every one of you who have followed along with me on this wonderful adventure. The support and encouragement, your kind words and super comments have meant so much to me. I am humbled. Along the way, I've made so many friends, and I've learned from your photography, seeing what you do, and trying to emulate some of the mind-blowing pictures that I see every single day. Without a photo site like ipernity (and previously, Flickr), I would not be half the photographer I am today. Thanks to all of you. I am blessed to know you all. :) Finally, about today's picture: I thought about what I should do for my last picture. I wondered if I should go somewhere special and try for something scenic and stunning. But then it hit me. I began this project with a little snow-covered mushroom, and because mushrooms are one of the subjects I'm most well-known for, I thought a mushroom would be perfect for my last picture. I decided to go out alone so I could spend time thinking about this project as I walked, reflecting on how much has happened to me as a photographer through the year. I bundled up because it was cold out--but not below freezing, happily--and made my way slowly and carefully up the muddy, steep and slippery trail to our ridge. Even though I knew I planned on finding mushrooms, that didn't stop me from capturing the many lovely and wonderful things I found along the way. Wonderful miniature circles of white fur-lined orange fungus, stunning PURPLE shelf fungus, and beautiful droplets glistening on cedar and pine branches were some of the things that caught my eye. And of course I found mushrooms! Wonderful chocolate beauties with lovely bokehlicious backgrounds, and a tiny pair clinging together with a droplet of water holding them together, and I also found one with a cute little hat! I was very happy with the mushrooms I'd found, but as I neared the end of the trail, I noticed a tiny blur of white on a moss-covered Oak trunk, and after taking two steps further, I slammed on the brakes and backed up. "What WAS that?" (See what I mean about being more observant than ever?) I knelt down at the same time as I began to coo in joy. "Oh MY!! Look at this happy family!!" I could not believe my luck, for this sight was exactly what I had hoped for but could not possibly expect. The tallest of these mushrooms is just 1/2" tall, and I carefully pulled a few bits of moss away to show these beautiful white mushrooms off to their very finest. It really is amazing to me because it's freezing cold here and has been for many weeks. And yet, these resilient mushrooms have grown as happily as if it was much warmer! I had to shake my head in wonder at my good fortune to find this perfect family to showcase for the very last picture of my 365 project. I am overjoyed. :) I have one other picture today for New Year's, and the image was taken this afternoon! Enjoy! :) Robert "Bo" Bennett started "Adgrafix", a graphic design firm, right after graduating Bryant University in 1994, with a bachelor's degree in marketing. In 1995, he sold the graphic design business, but kept the name for his webhosting company. As a self-taught programmer, Bo created one of the first (perhaps the first) affiliate systems and web-based webhosting interfaces in 1996. He built Adgrafix to a 5 million dollar revenue a year business, then sold to Allegiance Telecom in 2001. Amazon: Bo Bennett

I thought it would be perfect to have a quote for my Happy New Year's wishes, and isn't this just perfect?! :) This quote can be considered in a lot of ways. I would invite anyone who wants a gratifying challenge to take on a 365 Project. It's an amazing experience. Or write a book! After all, I may very well be turning my 365 Project into a book, which would be available a an e-book to enjoy on your tablet. But another way to look at that quote is that every day is the opportunity to do better. To try something new. To change your ways or to keep on that awesome path you've been on. To quote myself, "The world is an oyster...eat it up!" Remember this: in our lives, we have no reset button. So if you're not happy with your life, you need to do whatever you can to change that--or learn to find the joy in the life you have now. :) HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you!! May this be your very best ever! Thank you for all of your support and encouragement this past year, I am so lucky to know you all. Best wishes, and may your lives be full of joy and prosperity, love and laughter, each and every day. Brad Douglas Paisley (born October 28, 1972) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His songs are frequently laced with humor and pop culture references. Wiki: Brad Paisley

1 more picture in a note above! :) Today I took a walk into part of our lower forest with a plan in mind. I was hoping to find the one fern plant which I know of there, and it grows on the side of the seasonal stream bed. Our lower forest looks very different than it once did, because I spent months clearing buck brush and dead trees out, piling them up into habitats for animals. Now, instead of being an impenetrable, ugly mess, the lower forest is open and beautiful, filled with Oak, Manzanita and Madrone trees. So when I found a very large, mossy tree on the ground, I was quite surprised. Following my eye down the trunk, I saw that it had broken off the base of the tree about three feet up and looked as if it had been dead for a while. I walked up to the trunk and peered inside. At first I didn't see anything but a leaf, but moving my head, the light reflected on droplets below, and straining my eyes in the dim light, I could see the droplets suspended on an invisible web! If I could get my camera to focus on the droplets, my flash would light up the scene and I thought it might just be awesome! It took me a bit of time to find focus, but eventually I was successful, and got a bunch of different apertures to choose from. I hoped that the 2.8 images would be clear because the illusion of droplets floating in the air would be just that much more cool. And...they worked out!! HOORAY!! As it turned out, I have done almost nothing to this image except cropping and adding a very slight vignette! Saul Bellow (10 June 1915 – 5 April 2005) was a Canadian-born American writer. For his literary contributions, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts. He is the only writer to win the National Book Award for Fiction three times and he received the Foundation's lifetime Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters in 1990. Wiki: Saul Bellow Explored on December 31, 2013. Highest placement, page 6.

This fern plant isn't large, with each frond being only a few inches long, so I thought it would be fun to try getting some close-ups of the undersides, which are so fascinating to me. What you are looking at are spores, which is how ferns reproduce. Ferns are one of the world's oldest plants, and they do not reproduce by flower pollination like most other plants. The next time you are admiring a fern, take a look at the underside, and you'll be surprised how interesting the spores look! In fact, the spore vary drastically from one species to another, and I find them quite beautiful! :) If you would like to know more about spore reproduction in plants, Wiki has a very nice page here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sporogenesis

1 more picture and two notes above! :) I can't believe that there are only two more days after this one for my 365 Project! It's just incredible to me. I've lived with this project every day for a year and to think that it will soon come to an end...I'm just stunned by the thought! With the end of this project just around the corner, I am finally wrestling with the burden of this commitment. It's not something I allowed myself to think about and now I find myself looking forward to not having to be consumed by this every moment of the day. However, that being said, I'm still as excited about photography as ever, and going out today was such fun! I went over to our dry seasonal stream and walked along it, pausing now and then to peer carefully at the things that caught my attention. A cool mushroom, frosted diamond spider web necklaces, and then, these incredible droplets on wild honeysuckle leaves. I got many super pictures, but this one was my favorite because the droplets are marching along the edge like little soldiers! :) I was also amazed to see the unusual frost formations on various plants like Oak twigs. I took lots of pictures of this unique, needle-like frost, and you'll see my picture as my second entry today. Enjoy! :) Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production. Contrary to popular belief, Ford did not invent the automobile nor did he invent the assembly line. Ford however was the first to develop and manufacture the first automobile that many middle class Americans could afford to buy. In doing so, Ford converted the automobile from a relatively unknown invention into an innovation that would profoundly impact the landscape of the twentieth century. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry. As owner of the Ford Motor Company, he became one of the richest and best-known people in the world. He is credited with "Fordism": mass production of inexpensive goods coupled with high wages for workers. Ford had a global vision, with consumerism as the key to peace. His intense commitment to systematically lowering costs resulted in many technical and business innovations, including a franchise system that put dealerships throughout most of North America and in major cities on six continents. Ford left most of his vast wealth to the Ford Foundation and arranged for his family to control the company permanently. Wiki: Henry Ford Explored on December 29, 2013. Highest placement, page 5.

This is a close-up of an Oak branch with the unique frost I found today. I find it incredibly fascinating that frost has so many forms! It's so beautiful, isn't it?

What a frosty day it was! Frozen fog, mist everywhere, and frost covering the world! I took a quick walk outside to look around and found these dried weeds covered with nature's jewelry, and I thought to myself how much it reminded me of fireworks! (I have been buried in too much to do for weeks now, I'm so sorry for my lack of commenting!) Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC)was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology. Together with Plato and Socrates (Plato's teacher), Aristotle is one of the most important founding figures in Western philosophy. Aristotle's writings were the first to create a comprehensive system of Western philosophy, encompassing morality, aesthetics, logic, science, politics, and metaphysics. Wikipedia: Aristotle Explored on December 29, 2013. Highest placement, page 9.

1 more picture above in a note! :) It wasn't horribly cold today--just about freezing, but sometimes it feels extra cold. I'm not sure why. It wasn't windy, but the cold just went right to the bone! However, that certainly didn't stop me! I wandered up onto our hill and soon found droplets on lichen that had me fascinated. Many were frozen and I looked for lichen that had just the right frozen droplets, positioned so that I'd be able to make them stand out, and I looked for distance from other subjects to create a solid, low-key background. That was a challenge because this type of moss usually clings closely to the branch it's growing on, or there are clusters all together. But I was able to find a few that were just right! :) Robert Delaunay (12 April 1885 – 25 October 1941) was a French artist who, with his wife Sonia Delaunay and others, cofounded the Orphism art movement, noted for its use of strong colours and geometric shapes. His later works were more abstract, reminiscent of Paul Klee. His key influence related to bold use of colour, and a clear love of experimentation of both depth and tone. Wikipedia: Robert Delaunay

As I studied the lichen for just the right frozen droplets, I discovered many fine spider webs here and there with frozen tiny droplets on them! I enjoyed trying to get crisp images, and this picture turned out the best! :)

It was a cold and misty day today, so I took the dogs out into our larger meadow and looked around for interesting subjects to photograph. I found some tiny spider web strands and neat droplets clinging to various plants, but I really liked the droplets on this dried foxtail because they remind me of crystal balls! :) Śri Sathya Sai Baba (born as Sathyanarayana Raju; 23 November 1926 – 24 April 2011) was an Indian guru. He claimed to be the reincarnation of Sai Baba of Shirdi, who was also considered by his followers to be an avatar, spiritual saint and miracle worker, and who died in 1918. Wikipedia: Sai Baba Explored on December 27, 2013. Highest placement, page 9.

1 more picture above in a note! :) I hope that everyone has had a wonderful holiday season! I am overwhelmed by all of the warm wishes, email, greetings and cards sent by everyone--I don't even know where to begin when it comes to replying!! Thanks to each and every one of you for helping to make my Christmas so joyful! I went up on the hill for about 15 minutes today, and my plan was to find a mushroom to share for Christmas Day. I found one almost immediately, and you'll see it as my second image for today! I was about to head back to the house, but I found my mushroom so quickly that I thought I'd look around for a few minutes more. I saw a dead manzanita tree with its branches spread out on the hillside, and as stood wondering which way would be the easiest to get around it, I saw something pale on the ground under one of the branches. There I found a couple of bones, probably from a deer, but I can't be sure. What got my attention was the beautiful moss growing on the end of the larger of the two bones. I wondered, "Could I find a way to photograph this bone so that it looks interesting and not gross?" I realized that if I focused on the moss and let the rest of the bone fade away into bokeh, it would be a unique image which I hope would capture everyone's curiosity and attention as it did mine! :) Reba Nell McEntire (born March 28, 1955) is an American country music singer, songwriter and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band,[1] on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. While a sophomore in college, she performed the National Anthem at the National Rodeo in Oklahoma City and caught the attention of country artist Red Steagall. He brought her to Nashville, Tennessee, where she signed a contract with Mercury Records a year later in 1975. She released her first solo album in 1977 and released five additional studio albums under the label until 1983. Wikipedia: Reba McEntire

I found this mushroom about 5 minutes after I got up onto the hillside and actually, I almost stepped on it! It was fun getting images from various angles and depth of field, but when I saw that the bokeh showed the shape of the Oak leaf perfectly, I was delighted! :)

You can also find me on Facebook ! I would like to wish each and every one of you a joyful, wonderful day, surrounded by friends and family. May your next year be better than ever, and may all your wishes come true! :) It has been such a gift to me that I found ipernity and all of the wonderful friends that I have made here. Your support has been so fantastic, and your encouragement has helped spur me on in my less inspired days. I have become a better photographer because I've gained insights from seeing what you do. Every picture that I feel proud of is a reflection on the images I have seen from all of you. Thanks to all of you, and here's to another year of the same! :) Theodor Seuss Geisel (March 2, 1904 – September 24, 1991) was an American writer, poet, and cartoonist. He was most widely known for his children's books written and illustrated as Dr. Seuss. He had used the pen name Dr. Theophrastus Seuss in college and later used Theo LeSieg and Rosetta Stone. Wikipedia: Dr. Suess

2 more pictures above in notes! :) It was raining off and on today, so when it stopped, I immediately took the opportunity to go out and find my Picture of the Day. I returned to the same area of our upper forest as yesterday because I realized there is a lushness there which promises endless wonderful discoveries! I only went about 200 feet from the house, and there I found all kinds of mossy stumps and Oak saplings which begged closer inspection. First I found some Pixie lichen, but they weren't quite right. Then I found a lovely little mushroom under the lip of a log, and got some nice images. Then, I was carefully sweeping away leaves when I saw the leaf in the picture above! WOOT!! Look at those tiny wasp galls!! I did some looking on the internet but wasn't able to find out what kind these are, but they're a brand new discovery for me! So interesting to look at, like something from another planet. If you don't know, a wasp gall has the egg of a wasp inside, which will grow as the gall grows larger, and eventually the adult wasp will emerge from the gall! You can see the escape hole in the inset image above! Totally fascinating!! :D Richard Melville Hall (born September 11, 1965), known by his stage name Moby, is an American singer-songwriter, musician, DJ and photographer. He is well known for his electronic music, vegan lifestyle, and support of animal rights. Moby has sold over 20 million albums worldwide. Allmusic considers him "one of the most important dance music figures of the early '90s, helping bring the music to a mainstream audience both in the UK and in America". Wikipedia: Moby Explored on December 24, 2013. Highest placement, page 6.

After I took the picture of the wasp galls on the Oak leaf, I looked over at the small Oak saplings right next to me. I now know where to look to find the itty-bitty mushrooms that grow on these trees, and it didn't take me long. At the base of the sapling I found this darling little mushroom, about 1/8" in diameter! So cute and perfect! :)

Just one picture today, I have been so busy with a million things going on! I found a few minutes to spare and walked up on our hill, just a short distance from the house, and when I looked at a mossy stump , I found this mushroom peeking up at me! It amazed me that there are lots and lots of mushrooms even in this cold season! John Burroughs (April 3, 1837 – March 29, 1921) was an American naturalist and essayist important in the evolution of the U.S. conservation movement. According to biographers at the American Memory project at the Library of Congress, John Burroughs was the most important practitioner after Henry David Thoreau of that especially American literary genre, the nature essay. By the turn of the 20th century he had become a virtual cultural institution in his own right: the Grand Old Man of Nature at a time when the American romance with the idea of nature, and the American conservation movement, had come fully into their own. His extraordinary popularity and popular visibility were sustained by a prolific stream of essay collections, beginning with Wake-Robin in 1871. Wikipedia: John Burroughs Explored on December 23, 2013. Highest placement, page 4.