My, What Lovely Papaveraceae You Have!

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Ok, I'd never seen that word until today either… it's just the name of the family of flowers that the California Poppy belongs to.
  I never get tired of seeing them, and they are blooming all over the Napa Valley right now.

#FloralFriday The +FloralFriday theme was created by +Tamara Pruessner and is co-curated by +Beth Akerman, +Kiki Nelson, and +Eustace James.

#landscapephotography +Landscape Photography +Landscape Photography Show +Margaret Tompkins +Jim Warthman +Kevin Rowe +Johan Peijnenburg +David Heath Williams +Tom Hierl +Carolyn Lim +Tom Sloan +Howard L. Smith +Kai Kosonen +Tony Heyward +Sheila B. DuBois +Sandra Brown +Vishal Kumar +Toshi Nakamura +David Pilasky

My, What Lovely Papaveraceae You Have!
————————————————————-
Ok, I’d never seen that word until today either… it’s just the name of the family of flowers that the California Poppy belongs to.
I never get tired of seeing them, and they are blooming all over the Napa Valley right now.

#FloralFriday The +FloralFriday theme was created by +Tamara Pruessner and is co-curated by +Beth Akerman, +Kiki Nelson, and +Eustace James.

#landscapephotography +Landscape Photography +Landscape Photography Show +Margaret Tompkins +Jim Warthman +Kevin Rowe +Johan Peijnenburg +David Heath Williams +Tom Hierl +Carolyn Lim +Tom Sloan +Howard L. Smith +Kai Kosonen +Tony Heyward +Sheila B. DuBois +Sandra Brown +Vishal Kumar +Toshi Nakamura +David Pilasky

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Hey Buddy, Could You Spare Some Chlorophyll?

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Yes, it's springtime… and yes, these are brand new leaves…
This is a quick snap of our front yard Japanese Maple tree… I've always been fascinated by its bright red color.

#landscapephotography  +Landscape Photography 

Hey Buddy, Could You Spare Some Chlorophyll?
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Yes, it’s springtime… and yes, these are brand new leaves…
This is a quick snap of our front yard Japanese Maple tree… I’ve always been fascinated by its bright red color.

#landscapephotography  +Landscape Photography 

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Does Your Park Have a Dress Code?

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While scanning through some of my grandpa's old photos for this week's #blastfromthepast  I found this one taken in the mid 1950s at Griffith Park (north of Los Angeles)
  That's grandpa on the left (I'm not sure who was holding the camera), mom in the middle, and dad on the far right.
   I wasn't even a twinkle in mom's eye at this point… but I do remember going to the Griffith Park observatory as a young boy in the late 1960s. I clearly recall being fascinated by the huge Foucault Pendulum which appears to slowly change its direction of swing while in actuality it is the earth turning underneath (that should make sense to the astrophotographers out there!)

+Blast From The Past  is curated by +Cheryl Cooper  +Mark Rodriguez  & +Isabelle Fortin 
#throwbackthursday   

Does Your Park Have a Dress Code?
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While scanning through some of my grandpa’s old photos for this week’s #blastfromthepast  I found this one taken at Griffith Park (north of Los Angeles) in the mid 1950s.
That’s grandpa on the left (I’m not sure who was holding the camera), mom in the middle, and dad on the far right.
I wasn’t even a twinkle in mom’s eye at this point… but I do remember going to the Griffith Park observatory as a young boy in the late 1960s. I clearly recall being fascinated by the huge Foucault Pendulum which appears to slowly change its direction of swing while in actuality it is the earth’s turning that makes it appear to change direction.

+Blast From The Past  is curated by +Cheryl Cooper  +Mark Rodriguez  & +Isabelle Fortin 
#throwbackthursday

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It's Worth Your Time to Watch This!!

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Another awesome episode of The Chat with +Karen Hutton has been posted.
If you haven't already circled +Tamara Lackey, you must.  Besides being an awesome portrait photographer, she is fabulous at teaching it as well.

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The Chat with +Tamara Lackey is now live!
On my blog today: http://bit.ly/1hYf4oO

To say that she's a human dynamo is understating the impact of my guest on The Chat today. +Tamara Lackey  is a photographer, author, speaker, teacher, host, wife, mom, thinker, seeker. And that's before breakfast!

Although we'd met briefly at Photoshop World last fall… this was my first time to sit down with Tamara, have a chat and get to know her. Now I wish we lived next door to each other!  She's as genuine, talented, beautiful, engaged and passionate about what she does as they come… and truly brings it all to this episode. 

We met up after her "Photographers at Google" talk in Mountain View, California, right there on the Google Campus. We set up outside for a Chat that was all at once funny, heartfelt, insightful, unexpected and thoroughly delightful. What's really funny is that I can't seem to describe Tamara without it being a list… she's just so many awesome qualities all rolled up into one! 

If you know Tamara for all the marvelous educational and inspiring content she turns out – you'll love meeting this personal side of her. 

Enjoy!

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Only a handful of spots left in the Spring Fling edition of the +Chrysta Rae Photography…

Only a handful of spots left in the Spring Fling edition of the +Chrysta Rae Photography Scavenger Hunt!
Get in quick… there are prizes this time around!

Reshared post from +Chrysta Rae

THIS IS THE OFFICIAL SIGN UP POST
for the +Chrysta Rae Photography Scavenger Hunt,
 *2014 SPRING FLING edition*

**SPONSORED BY +MeFOTO and +Induro****

(nodding – oh that's right – we have a sponsor, boys and girls!!!) 
(puffs up like a peacock)

I am SO EXCITED to announce that +MeFOTO – incredibly colorful tripods that make me happy and +Induro – about as good as a tripod gets – have eagerly agreed to Sponsor this round of the hunt!!!!!
throws confetti

What does that mean? 
Oh so many things! 
The two biggest are: +Brian Hynes from the MAC Group will be one of our judges this round!!! 
And there are… wait for it…  thousands of dollars in PRIZES!
(I literally can't stop grinning)

We'll go into more details once our community is all up and running, but until then – show +Brian Hynes, +MeFOTO, and +Induro HUGE love and appreciation for supporting us – do it Scavengers style, guys!!

I am ALSO TOO EXCITED to keep the other judges a secret like I have done in the past. I am bursting!!!

The judges for the 2014 Spring Fling round ARE:
+Brian Hynes 
+Alan Shapiro 
+Barry Blanchard 
our winner from last round, +Stefan Riss,
and two NEW judges I can't stop bouncing over – 
+Gordon Laing 
AND +Colby Brown!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh yes. It's beyond Epic.

There is also one more judge who is going to be part of a special surprise – that I am going to save for later!

Oh soooo many reasons to sign up!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AND – if you live under a rock have never heard of the Scavenger Hunt, here are the details – 

_________________________________________________________________________
 The Chrysta Rae Photography Scavenger Hunt is an amazing game that has turned into so much more.
If you love photography, and you have a camera,
you can play!

After sign ups (500 spots are open)
I will be giving you an item list –
10 simple things to take pictures of.
It's up to you to make your picture stand out!! So fun!!
I give you an amount of time to get those shots done (approximately 2 months).

You do NOT need to be a professional shooter. 
You do NOT need to feel any hesitation on your skill level,
as this group of Scavengers is one of the most supportive groups of people around.
This is just FOR FUN.
To get you using your camera in ways you might not do otherwise,
It's to push yourself to try new things.

During the course of the round, you will make friends, you will learn from some amazing photographers, we have behind-the-scenes lessons, personal interaction with the judges, etc. etc.
You will have support and be encouraged and be a part of THE MOST amazing community on G+.

SO, if that sounds like something you'd like to be a part of…
All you have to do is type two simple little words, "*I'M IN* "
And you will be registered.

IF YOU ARE SIGNING UP SOMEONE AS A PROXY (if someone has asked you to sign them up) do so on different comments.

I will only enter ONE PERSON per comment, if there are more than one on a single comment, only the first person will be entered. 
(This is the only way I can keep track of the 500 spots.)

PLEASE DO NOT comment on this post unless it is to sign up. Any stray comments will be deleted.

PLEASE DO NOT sign up unless you actually want to participate, not just because you see everyone else doing it.

I can't wait to spend the fall with you!!!!

And with that – (like any of you even read this) – let the registration BEGIN!!  bounces around room

(This image below was shots from the "CIRCLE" category from the last round.  PHOTOS BY: +Laura Ockel, +Grant Meyer, +Erika Griffin, +E.E. Giorgi, +Rasa G-V, +Maureen Roberson, +Matt Crace, +Bethany DiTecco and +Pam Boling)

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+The Photoshop Show is starting in less than an hour.

+The Photoshop Show is starting in less than an hour.
Join us live as +Ron Clifford shows some creative uses of Lightroom…
You might think twice about deleting some of those not-so-great shots after we look at some before-and-afters!

Reshared post from +The Photoshop Show

How Do You Decide?

Artistic Post Processing in Lightroom
PIcked up from the cutting room floor, this image was nearly deleted before it was even considered 

Regular Co Host, +Ron Clifford   becomes this weeks guest and walks through the creative choices in producing the image "Swans In The Mist".

Join us this week as we talk about creating this weeks  image then walk through the process that goes from boring before to artistic after. 

Regular host +Jan Kabili  , producer +Dave Bell  , panelist +Erika Thornes  and perhaps others  will be there to keep it lively and engaging

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Today is the 10th and last day of reveals for the +Chrysta Rae Photography Scavenger…

Today is the 10th and last day of reveals for the +Chrysta Rae Photography Scavenger Hunt.
The Theme: Selfie (Your Opposite).
  This is a really fun album to see how people created their vision of who they are not!  
  If you haven't gathered from my photo, yelling in anger is something you'll never see from me 😉

Reshared post from +Chrysta Rae

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No Picking Allowed!

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For #floralfriday  
Of course you can't pick them!  It's our state flower… the California Poppy.

I never get tired of seeing these pop up all over the Napa Valley in early March. It means that our brutal winter weather is headed out…
(ok, perhaps brutal isn't quite the right word… we hit 80 degrees in the valley today..)

Floral Friday is curated by: +Tamara Pruessner, +Beth Akerman, +Eustace James, and +Kiki Nelson.

#landscapephotography +Landscape Photography +Landscape Photography Show +Margaret Tompkins +Jim Warthman +Kevin Rowe +Johan Peijnenburg +David Heath Williams +Tom Hierl +Carolyn Lim +Tom Sloan +Howard L. Smith +Kai Kosonen +Tony Heyward +Sheila B. DuBois +Sandra Brown +Vishal Kumar +Toshi Nakamura +David Pilasky

#hqsplandscape , +HQSP Landscape curated by +Michael Garza +Nader El Assy +Vinod Krishnamoorthy +Luca Ferroglio +midori chan +Craig Loxley +Rob Tilley

#floralphotography  

No Picking Allowed!
———————————-
For #floralfriday
Of course you can’t pick them!  It’s our state flower… the California Poppy.

I never get tired of seeing these pop up all over the Napa Valley in early March. It means that our brutal winter weather is headed out…
(ok, perhaps brutal isn’t quite the right word… we hit 80 degrees in the valley today..)

Floral Friday is curated by: +Tamara Pruessner, +Beth Akerman, +Eustace James, and +Kiki Nelson.

#landscapephotography +Landscape Photography +Landscape Photography Show +Margaret Tompkins +Jim Warthman +Kevin Rowe +Johan Peijnenburg +David Heath Williams +Tom Hierl +Carolyn Lim +Tom Sloan +Howard L. Smith +Kai Kosonen +Tony Heyward +Sheila B. DuBois +Sandra Brown +Vishal Kumar +Toshi Nakamura +David Pilasky

#hqsplandscape , +HQSP Landscape curated by +Michael Garza +Nader El Assy +Vinod Krishnamoorthy +Luca Ferroglio +midori chan +Craig Loxley +Rob Tilley

#floralphotography  

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