Meadowbrook Hall

The back view of the mansion.

A peak of the backyard

This summer I took a trip to Meadowbrook Hall for the first time.  I've always heard so much about it and wanted to have the chance to see it for myself.  It is one magnificent structure, the mansion, the gardens and the grounds.  I didn't take the house tour but got a sneak peak of the inside.  Wow, it was amazing! So much elaborate detail.  I see now why they have a lot of weddings and elegant events there. 

The Gazebo

I love beautiful architecture.  They took much pride in building homes back when.  I wish I could post more photos of every little corner of the place.  If you haven't been there, you really need to go.  It is only a 30 minute drive from Detroit.  It is a site to see.  I hope to go back for a tour of the inside of the mansion.  I will share photos of its many gardens in another post. 

The children's playhouse.

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Pumpkins

This is pumpkin week.  I remember as a kid being so excited for those last few days before Halloween so we could carve our pumpkin.  Wow, it was such an exciting thing to do.  Cutting out the face and pulling out the guts and seeds.  Then placing a candle inside the pumpkin so it can glow.  Oh, and I can't forget about those seeds ... roasting them toasty and munching on them until they were gone.   yum.  Funny how soon kids forget about the pumpkin once they got all that candy.

A Way

Another country photograph.  This was taken at Cranbrook gardens - a lovely place for a photo shoot.
I love this saying, when it look like there is no way out just believe God will provide a way.  He will.  I've seen it happen in my life and believe it will continue to happen.  Never stop believing.

This image available for purchasing in My EtsyShop,  Inspirational Photos-set two.

A Day in the Country

I spent the afternoon in the country yesterday.  The little village of Ortonville, MI.  It was a cozy, peaceful little town.  It was like something out of an old book.  Colorful store signs, neat, old houses in a roll, picket fences, a winding creek, old school house and church.  Wow, it was a lovely site.  This town was established in the 1840's and I think most of the houses and stores were built back then.  I really enjoyed my day walking down the streets of this picture perfect village.  I am going to have to do this again soon.

The old church on Church Rd.

The old school house

Cute Faces

I am trying to improve my portrait shots.  I think they look very nice in black and white.  I also believe that the person doesn't always have to look at the camera in order for it to be a great photo, profiles make awesome images too.  Today I will experiment photographing a baby under one year old.  This will be a challenge, since babies move so much and get fussy easily.  I will see how things come out.  I wish it was a warmer day to take the photos outside in natural light.  Tell me what you think of these portrait shots.

More Cemetery Shots

These were taken at Woodmere Cemetery.  I thought the coffin looked very eerie sitting above ground.  Too bad it wasn't a foggy day, that would have made the image more eerie looking.
I love all the statues they have in the cemetery.  Some have been there for over 100 years and have been battered by the weather and other stuff.  It's kind of sad to know that the monuments meant so much to people who purchased them but are now neglected and almost destroyed.  A lot of the headstones themselves have sunken into the ground that you can even see them.  So sad.

Sunsets

I wish I had more opportunity to get sunset photos.  They can be very spectacular.  But you can never perdict when the sunset will be awesome enough to photograph.  These images were taken at three different times.

Cemetery Shots

People think I am crazy when I say I love to go photo shooting in the cemetery.  But there is so much to photograph there and not too many distractions.  The architecture of the statutes, mausoleums and tombstones; the trees and flowers; ponds, rolling hills and winding roads; sometimes even wild life.  And there are not many people there to get into my shots.  Autumn is a very nice time to go there, the changing colors of all the different trees is awesome.  Give it a try sometime.
Well, since it is the Halloween season, I thought I would share some of my cemetery shots.  These were taken at Woodmere Cemetery in Detroit.

Awesome Autumn

I wish the warm, sunshine weather can stay around all year.  But I will focus on the beauty spots in this new season.  It offers so many photo opportunities; the plentiful harvest, changing colors of the leaves, the foggy mornings, faded flowers and a lot more.  I sure hope I can capture a lot of its beauty this year. 
This image was taken at Erie Orchards.  Their apples were so bright red and the sky was very blue that day.  It made a perfect day for a photo shoot.

A Long Pathway

Another of my favorite black and white images.  I love the long, brick path way and the dark door in the back ground.  It is a very captivating view.  It makes me think of the many steps we take in life until we are able to reach the door. 
I am very excited about having my Etsy shop set up.  I hope you get the chance to view the items I have posted.  It has taken me many steps to get there.  I am trusting God will open doors for me.   http://www.etsy.com/shop/NellysCreations   This image is available for purchasing.

Just Believe

This bench among all the flowers and greenery looks so inviting.  That is what inspired me to take this photo.  I just love the way a black and white tone makes images "pop".  This photo looks very dramatic more so than in color.  This is part of my inspiration photos set one.  This is one of my favorite verses, we only need to believe, have faith in God, and He will make all things possible!  Not only that, but will make our faith in Him grow stronger.  All things are possible to him who believes.  I believe.  I hope this image invites you to believe too.

Beautiful

I got these flowers for "Administrative Assistance Day" one year and decided to try to capture them in an image.  I love the way they came out, the lighting is perfect.  This image with the scripture is part of my "set two"-a set of 12 assorted inspiration photos.  This verse confirms what I believe, that there is a beauty spot in everything-we just have to be open minded to look at things in the right way. 

Ghetto Art

 As I mentioned in another post, everything can be art if you only look at it the right way.  This stack of tires were thrown in an alley among the weeds.  It caught my attention so I thought I would make it into one of my creations.  What do you think?

Portraits

I've always been leary about taking portrait shots.  It is very hard to capture the nice features of a person's face in a photo.  But all the wonderful costumes at the Civil War days added a marvelous touch to all my portrait photographs.   It was a  great learning experience for me and gave me the edge to try it out more often.  I love using the sepia and black and white color tones with portraits.  It gives them a classy look. 

Historic Fort Wayne

This week end Historic Fort Wayne will be opened to the public for tours.  I am glad they have it opened a few times a year, there is so much history there.  These photos I took at their Civil War Days this summer.  It was a wonderful photo opportunity, with all the costumes and historic memoriablia.  I also had a lot of fun editing these photos.  I turned these into sepia because I think they add a bit of vintage to the images.   
I hope you get the chance to make it to the Fort this week end.

Oriental Garden

Serenity

This is another image I took at Cranbrook, in the Oriental Garden.  It was such a beautiful location, a wonderful place for photo shoot.  It was so peaceful and relaxing there.  I wish I could have such a place near to me where I can go for peaceful, relaxing walks each day.  Available for purchasing on Etsy.

Meditating

Here is another inspirational photo included in my "set one".  This image was taken at Cranbrook Gardens using my macro lens.  I was able to get a lot of photos there to use for my inspirational photos.  Even if flowers are fading we can keep a reminder of God's beauty close at hand with photographs.

Motor Muster

Cars are usually not my thing to photograph.  But I gave it a try this summer, knowing I have to be open minded to all subjects in order to grow in my skills.  The Motor Muster at Greenfield Village gave me a wonderful opportunity to do just that.   When I was viewing my images later that evening, I noticed that my skills did improve from the first one of that day to the last one.  I was truely amazed.  Just like the saying goes:  "practice make perfect".  I'd like to know what you think of these images.  Please do leave your comments.  I loved to read them.

Have a Wonderful Day

I no longer believe in such a thing as a "bad day".  I believe it is a wrong attitude that makes things look like everything is going wrong.  I do not like to hear people say they are having a bad day and they are in a bad mood.  We need to take control over our emotions and determine that everything is wonderful and we are in control over what kind of day we are having.  I spent so many of my days down in the dumps until I finally realized it is not the situations but my mind set.  So no matter what happens today or any day, I hope you, like David, say "I will rejoice and be glad"!!
This image was taken in Heritage Park in Taylor.  I was looking for something different to photograph in the garden and happened to look up and saw this lovely view.
This inspiration photo is part of "set one" - a set of 12 assorted photos available for purchasing.

Listen to the Music



Listen to the Music



Another black and white image.  I love the challenge of photographing simple objects and turning them into an awesome shot. It's not easy to do. This shot I got of headphones made me think "wow, great shot". I think it came out very well.   Available for purchase on Etsy.