This past November, my husband and I went to Dillon Beach to celebrate our anniversary. It’s taken me a long time, but I’ve finally edited the photos. I’ve done some experimenting to try and make these more dramatic and engaging. Do you think I’ve gone too far? Do you have a favorite? One that just doesn’t work for you? Let me know. I’m planning to take a ton of photos this year, and I really want to get better at both shooting and editing.
I hope everyone is doing well and staying warm. Have a great rest of your week!
Hello, friends! We are already a few weeks into 2026 and I’m finally emerging from a long hiatus to share with you my first moon photos of the year. These are mostly not the moon, as you’ll see, but they are what happens when you head out on a cloudy evening to chase the moon and it hides from you for a long time.
I’m sorry I’ve been absent from this space for so long. Life has been a bit challenging, beautiful, and messy. I found my creative tank completely drained. However, these photos mark a new start for me. I’m recommitting to growing my skills in all things. My short story collection just got accepted into another book store, my poetry book is starting to take shape, I’ve got three senior portrait sessions booked, and I’m working with an artist on a children’s book.
Life continues to throw curve balls my way, but I’m dedicated to showing up. Let me know if you have a favorite photo and I’m glad you’re here!
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Photos were taken with an Olympus OM-D1 and edited with Lightroom Classic
My beautiful sister and her family invited me on a trip with them last weekend to the ocean. For a moment, all the worries of life were swept to the side. I got to be a kid with a camera. Dogs. Forts. Dance parties. Card games. Laughs. Deer. A hornet bite on my neck (not so fun). Reading in bed. Coffee on the balcony. Seagulls. Snuggles by the fire. A sea monster sighting (maybe). Salt water taffy. Mint tea. A stunning sunset.
I’m starting to feel words swirling inside me again. They seem almost ready to come forth. Yesterday, one of the local indie bookstores, Bloodstone Books, emailed “can you bring more books to the shop? We are officially out.” I can almost forget sometimes my book is in the world, but people are buying it. Slowly but surely. Taking more copies to them today, which feels fantastic.
My daughter is having some scary health struggles and my son is getting his wisdom teeth out tomorrow. Life continues to throw things at us, but damn, I sure do love seeing it all through the camera lens. For those taking the time to view all my photos lately, THANK YOU!
Let me know if you have a favorite photo and have a fantastic day!
In 44 days, my book will be out into the world. A book with my words inside and my name on the cover. It’s a strange feeling still buried beneath all the details of self-publishing, but I wanted to acknowledge it here. With you.
This week, I got the Library of Congress number and started Instagram promotions. Next week, I’ll receive my proof copy, meet the bookstore manager to plan the book signing event, reveal the cover, and begin pre-orders.
It’s all happening.
It feels like it did when I published my first blog post—terrifying. Will anyone but my mom buy it? I recently came across an interview with David Bowie where he said, “If you feel safe in the area that you’re working in, you’re not working in the right area. Always go a little further into the water than you feel you’re capable of being in. Go a little bit out of your depth, and when you don’t feel that your feet are quite touching the bottom, you’re just about in the right place to do something exciting.”
I’m going out of my depth, and it’s scary.
So for today, I’m going to share with you photos from a recent trip I took to Dillion Beach. Photos of water, birds, and starfish. These photos make me feel safe and I hope you like them. Let me know if you have a favorite, and I’ll see you next week with my heart in my hands.
“How blue is the sea, how blue is the sky, how blue and tiny and redeemable everything is, even you, even your eyes, even your imagination.” —Mary Oliver, Why I Wake Early
I’ve not been posting much. I’ve not been reading much. I’ve started rewriting my middle-grade novel, a fictional adventure story of Thor’s daughter. This means I will be less active here for a bit, but I’m not going away. I’m still around. I’m still moving.
These photos are from a brief trip I took yesterday to pick up my son in Chico. The sky showed me all the ways blue can be and how many clouds it can hold. I only found one spot to pull over as many of the sideroads were flooded from the recent storm, but I like these photos. They tell a story. Which one speaks to you?
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Photos were taken with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW
“The destiny of every walking man is to immerse himself in the panorama surrounding him, to the point of becoming one with it and, ultimately, to vanish”. —Federico Castigliano
This week’s assignment for the 52 photo challenge was to take a panorama shot. We were given two options—the photograph-and-stitch method or the panorama setting on your iPhone. I didn’t have the time and/or energy to learn something new this week, so I went with the easier option and used my phone.
The top image shows what normally happens when I use the iPhone panorama feature—the distorted bend and uneven spots. For the rest of these, I tried to avoid such a huge distortion. #1 is my absolute favorite and #7 was just to show you my cute Christmas decorations in my front yard.
I’m getting toward the end of this challenge and I’m ready to be done. Next week is street photography with all the examples being amazing street vendors in foreign countries. I’m not sure yet what I’ll be able to do…but I hope to end on a high note. Hope you have a wonderful week.
“Eternal sunrise, eternal sunset, eternal dawn and gloaming, on sea and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls.” —John Muir
This week’s assignment for the 52 photo challenge was to take photos of the sunrise/sunset. This aligned perfectly with a very rare week of double travel for me. Not only did I visit Tahoe for a few days, but it was swiftly followed by a quick trip to Dillion Beach. I feel so lucky!
Both trips provided such incredible views to photograph. My selection of images includes both locations at sunrise and sunset. Let me know if you have a favorite and have a wonderful week.
If you want to read the short story I wrote this time last year: Week 47: Chalky Hands
#1#2#3#4#5#6#7#8#9#10#11My friend Heidi took this shot of me in Tahoe.
Photos were taken with Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW
If you want to join the 52 Photo Challenge, you can find all the information at nicolesy.com
“I can bench press steam, but not fog. I just have to wait until the fog lifts itself.” —Jarod Kintz
This week my assignment for the 52 photo challenge was to photograph fog or steam. It’s almost the end of the week and the only morning we had fog I was in the emergency room with my son (he’s fine). Sigh.
Last night, however, I went for a drive near our local casino and noticed a factory spewing steam into the air. I ran home and got my camera and these photos are the result. These are technically not great but I like them. There’s something in the imperfect almost abstract way they came together which speaks to where I am right now.
I hope you enjoy them and if you have a favorite I’d love to know. Have a wonderful weekend.
“If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.” —Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden
This week my assignment for the 52 photo challenge was to explore low perspective. I had intended to find interesting shots at WorldFest this weekend, but they changed their policy and I wasn’t allowed to bring my camera in. This turned out to be a blessing, which I will write about later this week, but it meant my challenge photos had to wait until this morning.
Most of these shots are from my yard a little after sunrise. While these photos are somewhat similar to the ones I took in Week 20 for Unique Perspective, I hope you will find something new to enjoy here. Let me know if you have a favorite and have a fantastic week.
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After looking down for so long, I had to look up. The darkness on the right makes it look a bit like the view of Earth from space.
Photos were taken with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW
If you want to join the 52 Photo Challenge, you can find all the information at nicolesy.com
Bridgette Tales 