The opening act!

I was on my way out the door to fetch our "to go" order of fried chicken when out of the blue sky was an incredible bunch of sun rays just streaming out of the clouds. I started scrambling through my purse for my camera .... "shoot, I left it at home!"  I was bumming as I know how fast these sunsets can transpire and disappear.  I went with the flow and continued on to the restaurant admiring the beautiful rays of light pouring out of the clouds.  As I drove viewing this incredible sight, I was thinking it was still fairly early in the evening and if the chicken was ready to go once I got there that that I may have a fighting chance of getting this incredible visual on the camera after all.   I'm telling you, I was starting to also think, seriously, I must be off my bloody rocker for getting all pumped up about this sunset!

I was in luck! The restaurant was quick and fast!  I grabbed it and I was back out the door to do the CSD dash.  Once I got back to the house, I quickly sat the order of fried chicken on the counter top and scrambled to find the camera.  As I am searching for the camera, I am also yelling out to the family ... "you've got to see this sunset, it's uniquely beautiful!"  Did they budge to come outside?  No.  They just looked at the crazy lunatic with a blank deer in the headlights look and continued on with whatever they were doing.  Oh well, it's kind of like that catching the big fish and having no one there to validate that you really in fact caught the fish.  Then having to throw the fish back in the water.  The camera never does give justice to the actual visual of seeing the sunset in person!

Anyways, so I was in luck, a quick find of the camera and back out the door I went!  The visual of sun rays had faded some in all that matter of time from when I first spotted it, but I was still able to get a quick snap shot of it's fading glory.

Once you take a look at these pictures then go to the next in line blog insertion titled "Exceptionally Stunning" and you will see the grand finale! 

All people of action are dreamers.


CSD "Compulsive Shutterbug Disorder" © is copyright of eDOOZIE, but feel free to use or refer to it with a link back to eDOOZIE somewhere within your website, blog or publication.

A kick off to colorful leaves galore

Well, the time is nearing for a plethora of color in leaves.  Late August and September are my favorite times of the year.  There is not a lot of autumn colors right now but the hint of the season about to change is lingering in the air.

The pictures below show a little something I stumbled onto while walking along the river.  Bold red leaves with unique speckled designs.   The berries are always a nice addition to transitional autumn's splendor.

Autumn is a second spring, when every leaf is a flower.


CSD "Compulsive Shutterbug Disorder" © is copyright of eDOOZIE, but feel free to use or refer to it with a link back to eDOOZIE somewhere within your website, blog or publication.

amazingly different

Okay, so I am a sucker for leaves.  I admit it.  I'm pretty much a sucker for a lot of stuff, including men.  Okay the "men" part was a joke.  But seriously, leaves....well, there is just something about autumnal leaves that pulls me in to escape the world.  I love the unique varieties of color and shapes.

It's August and I really don't want to see fall come anytime soon.  But today we were out walking on a bike path and amongst all of the green this particular pop of color caught my eye. I absolutely love the speckles or design so to speak.  So there you have it, my CSD moment of the latest 2011 intro to autumn leaves!  I'm sure by the time October hits, you will be sick of looking at my collection.

Autumn's the mellow time...


CSD "Compulsive Shutterbug Disorder" © is copyright of eDOOZIE, but feel free to use or refer to it with a link back to eDOOZIE somewhere within your website, blog or publication.

OH BOY, FARMER'S MARKET

I've seen flowers at the farmer's market before and yes they are pretty and all...but typically they look kind of major wild flower looking, sometimes droopy and scraggly.... but oh boy, either I wasn't looking hard enough before or my eye sight has taken a turn for the better.

Today's display of blooms at the market were exceptionally beautiful!  I suppose a lot of outdoor blooms are in peak season right now too, which would explain the flower power show today.  Trust me, I am in the wholesale floral industry so I notice these things.  I typically don't get all giddy with flowers as when you work with them constantly for a career, you kind of become... you know, desensitized.  So when I saw all the wonderful varieties and colors of flowers...my heart started to race.  I got the CSD urge to take some snapshots, so grab your seat for an explosion of color show!  Too bad there is no smellavision with today's computers...

Our new slogan at work is "Love People...Give them Flowers!"  So here I am in a virtual sense, sharing the love with you...awe ;)

These flower bouquets were located at the farmer's market in beautiful downtown Appleton Wisconsin . 

Nature's pretty lucky…I don't think I could get away with wearing that many colors at once and still look good. 

CSD "Compulsive Shutterbug Disorder" © is copyright of eDOOZIE, but feel free to use or refer to it with a link back to eDOOZIE somewhere within your website, blog or publication.

Simply ethereal

As I was traveling, I was blessed by this view.  It prompted CSD action.  I am fasinated by it's beauty. Looking at this sunset is simply ethereal...need I say more?

The future's as bright as you allow it to be; sometimes you need to turn the light on.  


CSD "Compulsive Shutterbug Disorder" © is copyright of eDOOZIE, but feel free to use or refer to it with a link back to eDOOZIE somewhere within your website, blog or publication.

Duck, Duck and no goose...

It was early morning, everyone else in the room was sleleping but my back was killing me as I laid in the hotel sofa sleeper bed wide awake.  I thought to myself "self, you can lay here on this thing they call a make shift bed in pain or sneak out on the balcony to get some fresh air and get rid of the pain." I took the second choice.

I was pleasantly surprised...ducks, ducks and more ducks!  I got me 'ol camera out and shifted into CSD gear!  Amazingly enough, I was taking these pictures quite some distance away from the ducks.  I was in a building,  on the second floor balcony and the ducks were about 20 feet from the building.  I believe I was pretty much in full zoomed mode on my camera to get a close up but as you can tell from the "before" images, they still looked far away. The focus detail is not the greatest but not bad for the distance.

I'm telling you, I'm learning that object placement and cropping is essential for photo emphasis.  Putting an object dead center of a photo while taking a photo is a first impluse but the process of cropping the object off centered makes for a much better end result.  I find that searching the image for the best cropping spot after it is taken is like finding a lost treasure.  These were kind of plain Jane pictures, but once I cropped them and clicked on the Apple MacBook Pro image enhance wand, they took on a whole new story!  I will try to include a before and after image.  Of course the larger images directly below are the cropped after versions.  The last image will show all three in their before stage.  

I love the end result of these images.  The clover was non existent in the before cropping images.  I really did not even notice the clover there while taking the picture.  But once I zoomed in for cropping ...tadah,  the clover magically appeared!  No lucky leprechaun in the clover, but it makes for a nice backdrop on the photos with the little white blooms and the ducks nestled amongst them. These ducks were my entertainment for the morning while I was watching them.  I know, I lead quite an exciting life.   

Don't aim for success, just do what you love and believe in and it will come naturally.

CSD "Compulsive Shutterbug Disorder" © is copyright of eDOOZIE, but feel free to use or refer to it with a link back to eDOOZIE somewhere within your website, blog or publication.

Green Bay Botanical Gardens, Wisconsin

These pictures are from a recent trip to the Green Bay Botanical Gardens in Wisconsin. A lovely place to visit and a sweet spot to let a crazy CSD individual loose.  I totally recommend going there if you are in the area!  Lots to see so be prepared to be lost in all of it's beauty and forget about the woes of the world!
http://www.gbbg.org

Seize the day and spend it as you wish.

CSD "Compulsive Shutterbug Disorder" © is copyright of eDOOZIE, but feel free to use or refer to it with a link back toeDOOZIE somewhere within your website, blog or publication.