Nimavenl - Nicole's Random Ramblings

While I usually really enjoy taking photos and sharing them, I've barely taken any photos at all the past few months. Sure, I've got plenty of excuses I can use. It's cold outside. I've been reading a lot. I haven't felt like taking photos. Editing my photos to hide the spots and scratches on my lens is a real pain. I've been experiencing a winter dip . All these excuses are true yet when I took my camera out for a play-date recently, I realised how much I'd missed scouting for shots with my trusty friend. It was fun to traipse through the mud trying to find the right angle or the so-called perfect shot and doing my best to showcase the beauty of my surroundings. It was good to remind myself that even though there are no roaring rivers or majestic mountains near where I live here in The Netherlands, it is still a beautiful country with a lot of charming and scenic locations. So... I've decided that it is most definitely a good thing to remind myself of...

Some more photos from last month's outing-with-camera in the mist. Not quite a separate Challenge but hey... It's been challenging lately to find the time to take and edit photos so I say it counts. Right?! Either way: YAY! I managed to write and publish a Photo Challenge post on a Sunday! It's been a while. Enjoy!!!

After posting a single photo as a preview of this newest Photo Challenge last week , here are some of the other photos. I hope you enjoy the beauty of a misty morning. As is evident, I haven't written a Photo Challenge post every week, haven't written a proper Photo Challenge post for some time now. Yes, creating a Photo Challenge for this blog was meant in part to challenge me to go out there and take photos, however I've just not felt inspired lately. Walking around with a camera, attempting to see the beauty all around, sharing that beauty - All that sounds great in theory, however doesn't always work out in real life. Sometimes you're just too tired or drained. Sometimes you have a period when seeing the beauty is hard. Sometimes you feel let down by others and taking photos takes too much emotional effort. Sometimes you look at what is happening in the world and feel like taking photos of beautiful scenes is pointless. Sometimes you wonder why you even bothe...

On the 25th of August I posted a blog entry about photographer Nicole S. Young's 10-day #StayOutThere challenge . Inspired by the topics she chose to cover for her challenge, I decided to see if I could 'do' her Challenge as well, my own way. The topics Nicole S. Young chose for the ten days of her Challenge: 01: Sky 02: Flower 03: Water 04: Blur 05: Texture 06: Farmer's Market 07: Summer 08: Play 09: Shade 10: Reflection In my earlier post, I mentioned that finding a Farmer's Market (#06) might be challenging. However, I did figure out a possible alternative. There is a carnival / fair going on in my city at the moment. It may not be a Farmer's Market however it does have a lot of interesting-looking attractions. A walk through the Kermis might be a good substitute for a Farmer's Market. I faced another challenge when deciding on a topic to photograph for #08: Play. In the past, I've written that I don't like taking photos of people without p...

Photographer Nicole S. Young recently partnered with Adobe for a #StayOutThere 10-day Photography Challenge. She shares her images online every day and explains her reasons for participating in the challenge on her blog / website:   " Over the next ten days, I am partnering with Adobe for a “#StayOutThere 10-Day Photography Challenge” to help you look for new ways to invigorate your photography! Each day I will share a photo that fits in with a daily theme (see the next section for more info). Please follow along with my posts on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to view my interpretations of each daily theme, and don’t forget to share your own images as well! " Source: 10-Day #StayOutThere Challenge | Nicole S. Young Challenge yourself to #StayOutThere over the next ten days with @nicolesy ’s daily themes: http://t.co/XoabB50ZuR pic.twitter.com/4UlaqQ1Zbn — Adobe Lightroom (@Lightroom) August 24, 2015 As an avid photographer myself (albeit not a professional o...

This week's Photo Challenge used photos taken on the same day and at the same location as last week's Photo Challenge photos. In a way, they're more of the same - photos of nature taken around the Noord Holland area in The Netherlands. Moss on a branch #01 Moss on a branch #02 Moss on a branch #03 A Touch of Red Fold Me Up Branches and Leaves It's A Fluffy World Flower Thistles on the Water Delicate in White

It's Tuesday evening and I'm writing a Photo Challenge post. Honestly, I'm a little amazed with myself. Instead of trying to come up with a topic on Saturday and posting photos on Sunday, I'm actually starting 'early' this week and posting the first photos on Tuesday! (Heck, I might even try to add a photo every day this week to have a complete post on Sunday. No guarantees though...) Enjoy nature up close and personal this week! Sunday Update: I've added more photos!   Thistles, horizontal Cows in a field Thistles, vertical Just a field

I have a confession to make. I didn't take many photos this week. Well, a few of the sunset and a few of some trees, but really - I didn't think that they were nice enough to share or even to edit profusely and then share. I've been busy reading books and honestly, reading has been so much fun that taking my camera out wasn't high on my list of things to do. Even looking through older photos to find some to share seemed like too much time away from my books. Seeing I decided on weekly photo challenges, I feel a little bad about not actually taking any photos, yet reading has been so much fun that I don't feel guilty or bad about not taking my camera out. So, instead of sharing more photos and works of art that aren't actually mine (yet still very awesome, cool, amazing, share-worthy and all that), this week I'm posting several older photos. Because, yes, I did look through some of my older photos after deciding that posting no photos at all would be worse ...