Desktop Backgrounds

I love using images I have taken myself for my desktop background. It lends a special, personalized touch to a coldblooded, heartless machine. No, but literally my aluminum MacBook Pro is cold to the touch most of the time :). The images I choose for my backgrounds almost seem contradictory to my wording above: personalized touch. This is because all the images I use follow the typical desktop preference categories of nature and plants. These images have no direct visible connection with my being. No backgrounds of friends, boyfriends, pets, family, etc... I prefer to put in place a background that is a solid and comforting base that can be looked at over and over again. I find certain landscapes I visit and close ups of flowers, plants, and rocks to do the trick. In the beginning I would just take lots of close up photos of random plants, rocks, etc... things that made an interesting pattern or had pretty colors. I then realized that this was the perfect outlet for them, so now I'm always on the search for more when I take pictures. For example, here in France I have been taking lots of close ups of the stones used in the buildings because they are so old and have great texture and character.

Here are the backgrounds I've used in chronological order.  Keep in mind that they look a little different as a background because they usually get zoomed in. I also would switch back and forth sometimes and have definitely forgotten a few that weren't used for as long.

This is the first one I remember having and it was up for a really, really long time. It was taken in 2009 at Brookview Park, Golden Valley, MN. Friends liked to make jokes that these are "magic mushrooms",  but I don't care because fungus and mushrooms are just so interesting to look at closely! Brookview Park has always been a frequent summer hangout for us bored high school (now college) kids. 

I'm pretty sure there was a background in between this one and the one above, but I honestly can't remember which one. I have some guesses, but since I'm not certain I won't post them just yet.  This is a spring tulip in my dad's garden with delicate fringed edges, something I hadn't seen before in a tulip! I love my dad's flowers and take pictures of them all the time.

Typical beach landscape. What makes it special for me is that it looks like it could be the ocean, but really it is lake Superior (Park Point, Dulth, MN). It makes me wonder at the grandeur of nature and remember times spent with a good friend who lives up there. Also just on the other side of the canal downtown Duluth was receiving some stormy clouds and rain, while I enjoyed this view not even a mile away.

This is a picture of a relief carving I found in Central Park, NYC while on spring break. There were tons of relief carvings, but I happened to only snap a photo of this one. It only became my background this fall because it was inspiration for an owl relief carving in wood I made for art class. I like how the owl is not cutesy and the carving of him seems very rough, while his border is very smooth. I also like the monochromatic coloring of the stone and the shadows. As a background it is much more zoomed in.

I chose this as a background when I got my new MacBook. For awhile though, I had to use one of the stock background pictures. It was a close up shot of a zebras head/body. I love the upward angle of this tree fungus (I've started taking more photos with this angle). Lots of interesting layers, almost brain-like. Taken in Chester park in Duluth, MN during a wonderful fall weekend with nature and friends.

First background, since being in France. I was on top of Montpellier's Arc de Triomphe taking pictures of the awesome views of the city when I looked down at the ledge and saw this. I immediately knew it would be perfect because of it's interesting patterns and colors created by the mossy stone. 

Second background while being in France, it's hard to keep a constant background when you are traveling and taking many pictures of the places you explore. This is actually right near the Pont du Gard and it was a rock that was on the ground. After taking many ariel shots of the rock formations, I put my camera on the ground facing up and snapped this shot not knowing how it would turn out. I like the colors (the sky!) and angle in this one. It has the same mustard yellow moss as the previous background has above...must be a France thing :) And the angle adds a interesting dimension to the small flat rock formation.

This is my current background, yet another image from France. This was taken on a rocky beach in Collioure, France (check out my other blog for more info). I always hunt for cool rocks at Kitchi Gammi park in Duluth and come home with a bunch. The variety of colors, patterns, and textures you find in rocks is appealling to me. At this beach in collioure I was in heaven! Soooo many interesting rocks, especially the random pops of orange from this type of rock. I took a few pictures like this, but this one is my favorite because that rock ended up being my favorite. It has such a great shape, feel, and color. I also like how the many other rocks in blue and gray tones act as a frame or base for this one terracotta orange rock. As a background it is much, much more zoomed in.

Well that has it for my desktop backgrounds. To wrap it up, I find that I like to use photos that look impersonal, but in fact have a personal meaning or memory to me. I also like pops of color and texture in a high contrast light. Upwards angles and straight on close up shots are also appealing to me in a perfect background. While, hunting through my files I for these specific photos I found soooo many more that have similar qualities and would make wonderful backgrounds.  For me though it is kind of hard to go back into the past and use an old image when new ones keep arising, especially while abroad in Europe. I also found that there are many more images in this category than in the actual images used, showing I like an image that will last or maybe that they just weren't perfect enough. I think I will still make a post about them though soon because they are still interesting. Ok enough of my OCD post on the type of desktop backgrounds I like.