Gratitude

Today is Thanksgiving Day in the USA.  It is the day we give Thanks for all the blessings we have received. I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving Day.

As we celebrate Thanksgiving, it is a good time to look back over the past year and express our thanks for all of our blessings.  In this post I will be showing you through my photographs a few of the many blessings I have experienced during the past year.

God, Family and Church

Chapel of the Cross Lutheran Church

God has blessed me with a wonderful husband, two great children and their spouses and four wonderful granddaughters.  For this I am grateful.

I also belong to a church family that has many wonderful supportive members.  They are true blessings.

Photography

I enjoy taking photographs and honing my photography skills.  I belong to a photography club that gives me opportunities to learn more about my hobby and also provides the opportunity for field trips around the area.

Fort Zumwalt Park

Civic Park

St. Louis Riverfront

Nature Photography

I enjoy taking photos of nature, but I am particularly grateful for all the opportunities to take nature photography in my own back yard.  Here are a few of my favorites from the past year.

Lighthouse Photography

Over the past 12 years since my retirement, I have enjoyed photographing lighthouses and have photographed over 150 in that time period.  This year I am thankful for the lighthouses I was able to photograph on the east coast.

Photography Near my Home

I live in the St. Louis metro area and have some wonderful opportunities for photography near my home.  Here are a few from the past year.

Art Hill

History Museum

St. Louis Wheel

Bandstand in Forest Park

Sunrise and Sunsets

I find the variety in sunrises and sunsets to be amazing.  I love photographing them at all different times and different weather conditions  The first photo here is a sunrise in Jupiter, Florida and the second is a sunset in Cape Cod Massachusetts.

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Visit Missouri-Explore St Louis- Forest Park and the Jewel Box

One of my favorite places for photography in St. Louis is Forest Park.  On this page I will be reviewing some of my favorite sites to take photos.

A Bit of Forest Park History and Facts

Forest Park is a public park that covers 1,371 acres in the heart of St. Louis.  It was first opened in 1876.  The park hosted both the 1904 World's Fair and the 1904 Summer Olympics.  An annual balloon race starts in Forest Park and in the summer you can attend wonderful summer theatre at the Muny.

Here are just a few of the wonderful attractions that you can see at Forest Park.

•  St. Louis Zoo
•  Science Center
•  Art Museum
•  Boathouse
•  Missouri History Museum
•  Jewel Box 
•  World's Fair Pavilion

In addition you can walk or ride the many trails and paths and in the winter you can enjoy the ice skating rink.  

I have many fond memories of Forest Park as a child, as a young Mother bringing my children there and now as a place to bring my grandchildren.  It is also one of my favorite place to take photographs and I will share them with you on the rest of this post.

Jewel Box

The Jewel Box is located on 17 acres in the park and was first used as a greenhouse.  It has lovely plants, water features and fountains throughout the area and is a great place to take photos.  It is popular with visitors and the building can be reserved for weddings.  Around Christmas the inside of the building is full of poinsettias, which are quite beautiful.

I visited there with my photo club on a recent spring evening and took the photo above and the beautiful daisies that lines the sides of the pond.

Muny

The Muny is a wonderful outdoor amphitheater that holds 11,000 people.  1500 of the seats are free seats making the theatre accessible to people from all walks of life.  Each summer for the past 100 years the Muny has  held a variety of different live productions.  Some of my favorites over the years include: South Pacific, Oklahoma, The Jersey Boys, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, The Beach Boys, and The Wizard of Oz.  I have also enjoyed  taking my two oldest granddaughters to the Muny when they have visited during the summer months.

The first photo on this page and the ones below were taken at the entrance area to the Muny.

The Boathouse

The Boathouse in Forest Park is a favorite gathering place of visitors to the park.  It is located just across the way from the Muny and is especially a favorite place for theatre goers to have a meal before or after the show.  The restaurant has both indoor and outdoor seating.

By the dock is an area where you can rent paddleboats and kayaks to ride around in the great basin. This is a favorite of my granddaughters.
After our photo club outing we met at the outdoor area of the Boathouse to sit by the dock and discuss the photos we took.  Here are a couple of the photos that I took from the docks.

Postcards from Forest Park

Here are some postcards I have made from my photos.

Penguins at the Zoo Postcard
by mbgphoto

St. Louis Art Museum Postcard
by mbgphoto

Saint Louis Zoo Postcard
by mbgphoto

Missouri History Museum
by mbgphoto

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Challenge Yourself to Take Better Photographs

Fuchsia Plant

Review of Tips to Becoming a Better Photographer

In this article I will review tips I have passed on in the past and offer a new tip to challenge yourself to increase your skills. Whether you like taking photos for yourself and your friends or you want to take them professionally there are several things you can do to enhance your skills. Of course the first is practice, practice, practice. But besides using your camera regularly there are many things you can do to become a better photographer.  Here are a few of my favorites.

Take a class on photography or attend a photography seminar.   

 No matter how many times I take classes or seminars, I always come away with something useful.  I try to take at least one class or seminar each year.   There are many different places to find classes or seminars.  Just type "Local Photography classes" into your search engine and you will find lots of choices.  If you are short for time you might try some of the online classes that are listed, but I always try to take one in person at least every other year.  I think sharing with other people you meet at the seminars and classes is a great part of the learning experience.   

Study the work of Photographers you Admire.

A great way to become a better photographer is to study the photos that you enjoy.  There are photographs all around us.  Look in books, check out photos of your friends or look at the many sources online.  I'm sure you've looked before, but have you looked at the photographs critically.  Take the time to examine  a photograph.

• What makes it appealing to you?
• Is the lighting good for the subject?
• What can you learn from the photo?
• What would you do differently?

Here is a photo I took of a bird in my backyard.  Take your time and examine this photo and answer the four questions above.

Baltimore  Oriole on Hummingbird Feeder

Now try the same four questions on this pot of flowers.

Backyard Flowers

Take a 52 week Photography Challenge.

This year I am taking a photography challenge.  The particular challenge I am taking is on Facebook in a group called 2 Lil Owls Photography Project.  You can find lots of similar challenges online or you and some friends could start your own.  Here is how the challenge works.  We have a list of words, one for each week in the year.  The challenge is to create a photograph using the word.  How you interpret the word is entirely up to you.  This challenge  has you getting out your camera each week and finding creative ways to use the weeks word.  Here are a few of the words we've had this year and some of my photos.

 Window

Path

In a Distance

    Shadows





A few of the other words for the challenge include: large, small, scattered, up close, looking out, red, flowers, fill the frame and daily habit.  Of course there are many  more but this gives you an idea of how it works.

Zazzle

Stop by my Zazzle stores to see my photos on products.Zazzle/mbgphoto

Great Egret in Flight Ceramic Ornament
by mbgphoto

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The Best Picture Hooks for Drywall

Available on Amazon

These hooks for hanging pictures are so amazing I'd be willing to do an Infomercial about them!

I first noticed the hooks advertised on TV a few years back, and remember thinking I really should give these a try. Well, I finally did...and yep, they're amazing. 

They're called 'The Monkey Hook', in fact the package says 'The Amazing Monkey Hook', with each hook holding up to 50lbs. Actually, they have hooks for various weights, so be sure to check the package to ensure it's the weight you wanted.

You don't need any tools whatsoever to put up a picture..not one tool. There's no mess, no major damage to the walls, no hammers, no plugs for the wall, and no nails for screws. Best of all, there's no need to try and find wall-studs. Use these directly on the drywall, where there isn't a stud, even for those heavier pictures.

For women, or at least for me, I found these hooks to be a HUGE time saver. I no longer ask my husband to put pictures on the wall.

How They Work:

They're shaped in a curve.

With the end of the curved hook, simply work a little hole into the wall then turn it upwards inside the wall where the hook then grips onto the drywall, leaving you with a nice little, but strong hook to hang your pictures on.

The absolute best part is they barely leave a mark on the wall. All you see when the photo is taken down is a tiny pinprick where the hook initially was.

If you've never tried The Monkey Hook, don't hesitate because it works exactly as it claims it does. I highly recommend these hooks. They're all I use now.

I'll add that I trust the hooks more than I do hooks that just stick to the wall, especially for heavy items.

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Add Interest to your Writing with your Photos

Wherever I go I carry a camera.  It might be a DSLR, a point and shoot or at times just my camera phone.  This gives me the flexibility to take photos to use with my writing.  When I first started writing online, I use to look for photos that I could use from a variety of online sources.  I found this to be cumbersome for several reasons.

• Difficulty finding the right photo
• Confusion on the copyright and how I could use the photo
• Very time consuming

To solve this dilemma I started to take more of my own photos.  I now keep files of photos on my computer labeled with keywords such as foods, flowers, lighthouse, etc.  This way  I can easily retrieve the photos when I need one for an article I am writing.  

I asked several of my fellow contributors to Review This to share lenses they created where they used their own photos.  As you will see there are many ways that photos can be used to highlight an article.

• When Pat wants to show items that she has for sale on Etsy she uses her own photos of the crochet creatures. Crochet, Crafts and Cute Critters
• Dawn loves to tell us about places to visit in her region.  Her photos always make me want to visit.  Here is one she did on Longwood Gardens.
• Coletta gives great how to directions and her photos really make the directions easy to follow. Big Bows for Steampunk Halloween Directions
• My hobby is photographing lighthouses and on this page I share with you photos from my latest adventure. Lighthouses on the Jersey Shore

Photos on this page are all my own-mbgphoto.

Top photo is a rose in front of the Smithsonian Castle in Washington D.C.  Photo to left in Concord Point lighthouse in Maryland.

As you can see from the links above there are many different ways you can use photos to enhance your writing, using your own is easy and you will be assured that you have the legal right to the photo.  I hope to see your photos on your pages soon.

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