roselover (Sondra)'s blog

I finally did it - after cursing, yelling, and nearly banging my head against a wall because I hated Windows so much - I bought an IMac. Got it last week and have spent the time learning my way (somewhat) around the system. Of course I had to buy some new software because I refuse to run a parallel Windows system, but it's gonna be worth it because the Mac hasn't crashed once.

I still have to get the Mac version of Photoshop, but discovered that Windows users of Adobe products can do a "cross upgrade" to the Mac version for less than the normal upgrade price. The cost is a lot less if you own the current version of Photoshop, but I don't qualify since CS4 just came out.

Guess I've done my part to stimulate the US economy :-)

Thank you everyone for viewing my photos.  Since joining Ipernity in Feb. 2008, I've been overwhelmed with the response.  Ipernity is a great photo community!

I'm back in New England indefinitely due to a serious health problem concerning my son in law. A big  "Thank you" to those who leave comments while I'm away. 

In case you hadn't noticed, my photostream has started featuring photos of my large flower garden.  I haven't been as active on Ipernity because I'm always working in the garden.  Weeding, feeding, digging, and raking take a large part of my time...but I love it!

My maternal grandparents were the inspiration of this gardening love of mine.  They grew all their food and that food sustained them all winter long.  Many of the plants in my garden were also in their garden - peonies, roses, rose of sharon, bleeding heart, hydrangea and many more.  I suppose replicating their garden keeps them close in my memory.

I hope you enjoy seeing my flowers as much as I enjoy sharing their beauty.

I enjoyed 10 days in New Hampshire with two of my children and their families.  Visits to antique shops, cities, mill towns, and the countryside plus hours of playing with my new grandson made for a perfect time. I have over 1500 photos to process and share. 

Glad to be back...

Although Easter is a Christian observance, it also in my mind signals the beginning of Spring.  Whatever your religion or beliefs, may this day be beautiful and bright for you.

I recently bought Photoshop CS3, mainly because there are so many actions available to use with this program.  It's a slow learning process - as soon as I finish a project, I've forgotten how to do it.  Experimentation is fun so you'll be seeing a lot of different kinds of images.

If you know of any good free or inexpensive actions, please let me know.

Thank you all so much for the warm welcome I've received on ipernity.  I'm finding some groups to post my photos to and may even start a few groups of my own.  As you may have noticed, I love color and lots of it - perhaps that come from growing up in the black & white movie era.

In the past I've used Photoshop Elements to edit my photos, but I've recently moved to Photoshop CS3.  If anyone has any CS3 tips to share, please do so as I can use all the help I can get.  For a couple of months now, I've been experimenting with adding texture layers to my shots as I always loved old photos.  There are several groups on Flickr where nice people share textures so this is one group I plan to start here. 

Please visit my daughter's photostream on ipernity - she's Jen in my contacts.  Several weeks ago she lost hundreds of photos in a computer mishap.  She was able to find some for download on sites such as this one, but many other fabulous photos were lost.

Until next time...

After 3 years on Flickr, I've decided to move my photos to another site. Flickr has become so large and impersonal, that my photos get far fewer views that previously. I'm hoping that to make new photography friends on ipernity.  The only thing that concerns me about this site is the fact that downloading photos is permitted.  I would like to see a choice given as to whether a member allows downloading or not.