The Short Life of the Crocus

Spring has Sprung!

On March 13, 2012 The first signs of the Crocus flower came out.

I took photos of the flowers every day to show the life of this flower that comes with the start of Spring. 

 Seeing these colorful flowers you can see why they stand for cheerfulness and gladness.

  

After 9 days the garden bed of Crocus were littered with dying flowers.

 

There was nothing left of the Crocus by the time I went back on day 10.  The short lifespan of the Crocus has brought us the simple joy of seeing emerging colors so early this season.  

Happy Spring Everyone!!

Sunset

 I love to see the sky change at sunset, it's one of my favorite times of day, you can't help but have your breath taken away by some of the views as the sun sets beyond the horizon. 

The above photo was shot in Valley Crucis, North Carolina.

The photo to the left was shot during a senior portrait.  This sunset had all of us watching as the colors invaded the sky

These photos were taken on the beautiful Lake Wallenpaupack 

 I did a custom crosshatch, and increased vibrance edit on this image:

Is there any better way to end the day than to watch two kids ride off into the sunset together??

This is a black and white of my daughter at the age of  18months with one of her friends riding their tractors at a farm.

The Black Bears at Grandfather Mountain, NC

My husband is from North Carolina so we try to get down there at least once a year.  Last year we went down for Easter.  We went all over visiting family and enjoying the sites.  One of our favorite places to go is Grandfather Mountain.  I have a lot of photos from the view, hiking, and the animals.  The early spring day was perfect for the bears.  We were there for one of their snack feeding times and were able to enjoy them with a large group of people.  It was truly a wonderful day and I was able to get some great photos of the bears being active.

Here's Kodiak Grandfather's male, cinnamon colored black bear, waiting for his snack of fish and veggies.

 

To read and learn more about the captive black bears at the Grandfather Mountain animals habitats click here 

One of the black bears decided it was so nice out that she'd enjoy a swim in the pond and show off for us.  What a treat that was to watch and be able to capture on camera.

I will share with you other photos I took from that day as well in latter post so keep an eye open for the beautiful views of Grandfather Mountain by LittleDeerPhotography

To get over one of my largest fears...

I've always had a huge phobia of snakes.  My fear was so bad I would get the chills and freak out over seeing a photo of one, or seeing it on TV.  A couple of my friends have snakes and they use to creep me out.  My family use to think it was a big joke and pick on me for it.  I never really wanted to get over my fear but my daughter had no fear of the animals...actually it was quite the opposite, she loved them and became obsessed with wanting to see the snakes every time we'd visit our friends with them.  I was soon forced to get over my fear for her.

Above photo is of one of my friends baby snakes

Below is the same friend with her corn snake

The easiest way for me to work on getting over my fear was to go with my daughter when she went in the room to look at the snakes in the tank.  I soon found the one to be very pretty.  My one friend who owns the snakes is the same form the post "The Morning After" so I told her I'd photograph her rings with the snakes.  That small barrier of my camera lens between me and the snakes really worked because I kept moving around the snake trying to get different angles and once in a while I'd jump because I was closer than I thought or the snake moved towards me.

I had my camera bag sitting on a table top and this snake slithered right up on top of it making me realize that I should never sit my camera bag on the ground outside again.

The next step to me getting over my fear was to hold it.  I was a little freaked out but am so happy I did because I realized that not all snakes are bad...and some are really pretty and nice.  Below is a photo my mom took of me holding a snake with my husband and daughter.

One day I went over to one of my other friends houses and found out on that in order to go into the bathroom or kitchen you had to walk through her reptile room! The first time I went over to her house I didn't leave the living room, but eventually after visiting her a couple times I told her that I'd love to photograph her animals for her.

Here is a custom edit of her with one of her 8ft albino snakes

 


A great thing happened in just a short amount of time.  I found the beauty in this creature I has such a huge fear of.  I found the texture and colors to be wonderful.  I enjoyed photographing these snakes and even look forward to capturing more of these creatures on camera.  

My fear isn't completely gone I still have fear of coming across one in the woods and I won't be stopping to photograph that one.

At the end of this photo shoot my friend had me hold her 8 foot albino snake...and here's a photo of me with it...actually laughing because I had a huge snake around my neck!!