Wednesday, June 2, 2004

Summer Solstice

Celtic Engraving on Headstone

Yes, I know that yesterday wasn't the first day of summer, and I know that the Solstice isn't for a few more weeks.  But I have always marked June 1 as the beginning of summer, probably because when I was in elementary school, we finished by Memorial Day, and so June did mark the onset of a season of warmth and sunshine and, most importantly, freedom!.

And with any luck, I'll celebrate the Solstice itself on a beach overlooking the Atlantic. There will be no computer in my life that week, so I thought I'd get started ahead of time.  I have some gravestone photos that are perfect for the task.  Above is a portion of a tall marker, and below is the same, using Paint Shop Pro's Kaleidoscope effect:

Pamela asked about my camera: it's a Canon Powershot S30 that my husband gave me Christmas before last.  At the time I was in no shape to take on a new challenge, so I've only just begun to play around with it in the last month or two.  I am not the least bit technologically minded, so I can only try one or two new things at a time over the space of several weeks.  It will be a long time before I exhaust the resources of the S30.

This photo was taken and is printed in color, by the way.  I've enhanced the contrast a bit, but what you see is pretty much the color of the stone itself.

Walked: 3 miles

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very nice.  You're getting some cool effects with your photo editor.

Anonymous said...

OK - we are going to have to work on the calendar challenge of celebrating on the actual solstice.   A beach is the perfect place to celebrate it!!     June 1 may be when you mark the start of summer but it has been so cool here on the north coast of the US that I feel like it's more like April than June.   I was glad to see the sun though.