faulker042

Container hosta nestled between nepeta and Japanese painted ferns, growing beneath a tree-form Encore® Azalea. May 2013 Gloomy. Misty. Chilly. Where do I live? Not Seattle. North Carolina is having a cool spring. To find a bright side to this weather, I walked in the garden with the camera. Colors show true in photos when the skies are overcast. On a typical, bright sunny morning in my south-facing garden, it is difficult to catch the true bloom colors as the rays of the sun cast a yellow-orange glow. I compared the two conditions in this photo post in 2009 . So, I'll stop complaining about wearing a raincoat outside and running the heat inside and share today's garden highlights in the lowlight. Perennial blue flax, grown from seeds originally sown in 2009, continues to return or self-sow. Flax is a favorite and I have two varieties that, when transplanted early in spring, are welcome fillers in bare spots. Otherwise, I let it go where it sows as the slender foliage takes up l...

Losing or breaking my iPhone while in the garden has been a concern when I carried it in my back pocket. Turns out, a travel accessory that I've had for ten years turned out to be the perfect way to carry my cell phone and seed packets in the garden. My undercover travel pouch keeps my phone handy, dry and free from dirt. Mine is old enough to be made of nylon and has three compartments (intended for a passport, foreign currency, etc.). Newer styles are typically in silk and I have one of those, but decided the nylon is easer to wipe off. Made to wear around the neck, I wear the pouch in a cross body style beneath my shirt so that when I'm weeding, it doesn't fall in my way. The neck strap is adjustable to the length that works best for an individual. Undercover travel pouch can be used while gardening. I discovered that the pouch is also the perfect size for stowing seed packets. Although I don't need to carry meds in the garden, it could also be used for something lik...

1. La Tour Eiffel shot from Museé du Quai Branly. Paris, October 2012 2. Boucicaud Square,  Sévres Babylon neighborhood. Paris, October 2012 3. "Jelly Baby Family" by artist Mario Perucchetti. Photo by my husband. Paris, October 2012. 4. Parc Monceau. Paris, October 2012 5. Panorama of Parc Monceau. Paris, October 2012 (click to enlarge photo) 6. View of Louvre. Paris, October 2012 Special effects using CameraBag. I packed a "real" camera, but it never left our Paris apartment. On this trip in October 2012, I used my iPhone 4s with OS 6 for all photos. That said, we've traveled to Paris many times, so I've accumulated hundreds of photos with Canon and Sony cameras that took advantage of powerful zoom capabilities and high resolution. I've used some of those photos to  decorate our family room . If you travel to Paris for a once-in-a-lifetime trip, take your best camera. Unless specified in the caption, none of these photos were edited (other than cropped...

Jardin des Plantes, Paris in panorama mode. October 2012 (click to enlarge photos) Jardin des Plantes in October exceeded my expectations with grand displays of color, especially through salvia, tropicals and grasses. This is my favorite garden in Paris, but all of my prior visits were in the spring  when the tulips and forget-me-nots formed low carpets of color. All of my photos were taken with an iPhone 4s with OS/6. Today, we went to a social hosted by realtor Adrian Leeds (you may have seen her on HGTV's House Hunters International ). "Eye Phoned Paris" was presented by professional photographer Michael Honegger  who introduced us to a few applications to edit and enhance photos taken with an iPhone. After I shot these photos, I played around with CameraBag and Iris Photo Suite , so some have been edited with filters. For true inspiration in photography, be sure to take a look at Michael's website. We spent very little time in the gardens today as it began to sp...

Photo taken using iPhone with IOS 6, Panoramic mode. October 2012 Double trouble? That's my wonderful husband (aka "The Musician") on the left, then he walked behind me and stood on my right while I scanned the scene in the panoramic mode with my iPhone.  (click the photos to enlarge)  To take the panoramic photos, you'll need to upgrade your iPhone to IOS/6. Cool trick, huh? The Musician then took my photo in the Tuileries, outside the Louvre Museum. We're celebrating our tenth wedding anniversary and having a great time catching up with expat friends and eating far too much. That said, we walked at least six hours today. À bientôt! That's me with the umbrella on the left and again on the right. Who else wears sunglasses in the rain? Louvre from the Tuileries. View from terrace atop Galeries Lafayette. View of Île de la Cité. Words and photos by Freda Cameron , Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel . All company or product or patented names mentioned are regi...

Come on back to the family room. It's so hot outside in the garden; let's go indoors where it is cool so that I can show you a decorating project that's fun and easy for anyone with a digital camera and a computer. Every few years, I like to change the "art" on my walls. I use the word "art" in the sense of being creative with what's unique and original in my life, rather than owning any masterpieces. The photos that I've chosen make me smile. Previously, I've used framed photos from our travels in Italy. Recently, I decided to swap out Italy photos with those from Paris, France. Architecture is a favorite photographic subject of mine. I'm not a professional photographer, but there are favorite photos that please me enough to view on my walls. Color photos don't really work with our family room color scheme and furniture. Therefore, I use a little photo editing magic (iPhoto® on my MacBook®) to convert my photos to sepia tone for f...

Travelers, gardeners and bloggers have one thing in common—they take lots of photos. For a few years, I've been in pursuit of a camera that handles the majority of my issues. When I travel, I don't check bags anymore, but that's another story. I pack all of my clothes and belongings in one bag, but that's also another story. So, I require a small and lightweight camera to meet my limited baggage space. Given my past experience with a SLR camera and the flexibility of multiple lenses, I prefer having wide angle and zoom capabilities. For the last two years, I've been using a Canon SX10 IS camera with a 20x zoom lens. The body resembles a DSLR, but the zoom and wide angle lens are built-in to the camera, so there are no extra pieces to carry on a trip. The camera weighs 1.5 lbs, uses four AA batteries and does not fit in a pocket. To use the full capability of the zoom, it is best to use a tripod for stability. I don't want to haul a tripod to Europe. After carryi...