“Write Christmas” Writing Contest + Recent Photography

Posted in Photos, Writing

What’s up, friends? I hope you’re all doing well and having a great November!

I’m going to share some of my recent photography with y’all, but first I have an announcement to make! 😀 Charis, Abby, and I are collaborating to create a Christmas themed writing contest! We’re calling it “Write Christmas.”

write-christmas

This contest can help you stay motivated to write after the end of NaNo, and is a fun way to get into the Christmas spirit! More details on the contest will be coming soon. 😉 Will you be participating?

Now for some of my recent photography! We recently traveled to North GA, Alabama, Virginia, and the Okefenokee swamp, plus we had a bonfire and I went exploring in the woods. That was the long way of saying that I have recently taken an abundance of pictures, so buckle up, guys. XD

We shall begin with some pictures I took in Alabama. I’ve never really liked Alabama that much – it’s always just seemed like nothing but a bunch of pine trees, Dollar Generals, and football fans. XD However, this trip changed my mind! We went to the mountains of Alabama, and it was absolutely beautiful. 😀

I think this picture kinda looks like the road just goes straight into the sky!

Puffy clouds…

The mountains were beautiful!

Car mirror thingies (don’t question my vocabulary) and sunglasses are good things to take a picture of your reflection in when you’re bored. XD

This might not be the most beautiful picture in the world, but LOOK! IT’S THE WORLD’S LARGEST OFFICE CHAIR! I wonder if anyone’s ever tried to sit in it. It was really huge. XD

I took both of those airplane pictures on the way home from Alabama. Now onto North Georgia! I already posted some of the pictures that I took on this trip here, and now I’ll share the rest of them. 😀

This is my grandparents’ extremely ancient cat.

And this is their not-so-ancient one. XD

Here are two colorful flowers that were planted around my grandparents’ cabin.

We went to a small fair in the mountains, and they had a tiger show! There were several orange and white tigers who were enormous and extremely majestic. (I love tigers.) Sadly I didn’t get to see the whole thing since I had to go sign up for a fiddle competition, but what I did get to see was super neat!

This was the view from the fair. So pretty!

The next day on the way home, we stopped at a scenic overlook to get one last good look at the mountains.

We also stopped at this place called Goats on the Roof, which was basically a big goat petting zoo/tourist attraction. 😛

This was a fountain at the goat place.

The last place we stopped was a park that I forget the name of. XD I took a few pictures of the lovely view.

Here’s a random happy-looking dog that we passed on the walk back to the car.

More dogs. XD

That was the last of the North GA pictures. Now on to Virginia!

When we flew to VA, we had a pretty late flight, so it was dark by the time we were in the air. It was pretty neat to see all the city lights from above!

The morning after our flight, my dad, Laura, and I went to a little coffee shop for breakfast.

After breakfast, we drove to Assateague Island where we saw wild ponies! Sadly none got close enough for me to get a good picture of them, but it was still super cool. My older sister and I were completely obsessed with the Misty of Chincoteague books when we were little, so it was super neat to see the place where the books were set. 🙂

Here are some pictures that I took on the way to the island:

I didn’t take any more pictures until we flew home the next day. Here are a few photos from the flight. 😀

This flight was super early in the morning (I only got 4 hours of sleep the night before), so we got to see the sunrise from the plane! That was beautiful.

That’s all of the Virginia photos! Now for some more recent pictures – I took these yesterday when we went to the Okefenokee Swamp. Crazy name, I know. XD

This was a pretty tree that was growing near the picnic area.

There were SO many alligators! They were everywhere, and some of them were quite large. It was rather unnerving. XD

This was the train that we rode. Colorful, huh?

Some random chickens….

They had a pretty big Christmas light exhibit, and there was this huge tree covered in lights that was so pretty!

Here are some pictures of the other lights that were around the park.

Next are some pictures I took of a bonfire that we had the other night. 😀

I took pictures of some of my family silhouetted in front of the fire. I thought they turned out pretty neat!

Alright – we’re almost done! Have you survived so far? XD These last pictures are some photos that I took when I brought my little sister, Lila, and my dog Maude into the woods last weekend.

It’s deer season right now, and I didn’t want Maude to get shot by someone since we’re surrounded by hunting land. So I bought her a dog-sized orange vest. Isn’t she adorable in it? XD

Here’s Lila climbing on a fallen tree while wearing an inside-out hat, an orange vest over a tan vest over a Hello Kitty shirt, a bag with a strap that’s way too long, and muddy rain boots. 😂

As you can see, Maude found the mud. *sigh* She did not appreciate the bath I gave her when we returned from the woods. I think I got even wetter than she did. XD

We shall end this post with one last adorable picture of a muddy Maude. 😛

Thank you SO much for reading! I hope you all have a great week. 🙂

Will you participate in the Write Christmas writing contest? Which of my pictures was your favorite? Which was your least favorite?

Published by Clara

I'm Clara - photographer, dog enthusiast, Christian, book lover, and musician. Explore my creations @ clara-and-co.com.

103 thoughts on ““Write Christmas” Writing Contest + Recent Photography”

  1. I would love to participate in “Write Christmas!” Christmas and writing – a match made in Heaven.

    Oh, I don’t think I can pick a favorite picture – they’re all so beautiful! But a few of them would be one of the ones in the cafe, one of the ones of the fire, and one of the Christmas light pictures. SO beautiful!!

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  2. Oooh, nice pictures! Planes are great for taking pictures. Also, HOW WERE YOU NOT SCARED WHEN YOU SEEN THOSE ALLIGATORS GKJFADMNEIRUEODKLSFMJNHRTU. Ok I need to calm down XD Also, Maude is so cute!
    ❤ AAG ❤

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    1. Thank you! They are, aren’t they? 🙂
      Haha! XD Alligators are pretty creepy, but I wasn’t that scared since it was rather cold and they were all in hibernation mode. 😛
      Yes, I agree – Maude is adorable!

      -Clara ❤

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      1. You’re welcome! There’s a pond near my local park, when I was there I couldn’t stop thinking of how there might be alligators, I banged my head on a pole and said “GET IT OUT OF YOUR HEAD” XD

        ❤ Maelyn ❤

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  4. I liked all of your pictures!! I loved the pictures taken from the plane, so pretty! Maude is such a cute dog! I might do the writing contest, not sure maybe 😀 Did you have a good time on your trip? I hope so! 🙂

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    1. Thank you, Brooke!! Okay, let’s see if I can explain this. XD

      First, I went to picmonkey.com and opened a template that was 480×73 pixels. Since PicMonkey is no longer free, you could do this in Canva or any other design site. 🙂 Then I opened a text box, chose my font, and began typing. I typed one letter at a time and saved the image each time before adding the next letter until I had 11 images, each with another letter added. To add the watercolor texture to the words, I just opened some watercolor clipart before I started typing and changed the mode to “Add” so that it would show up on the text. Then, I used https://giphy.com/ to put the images together into a GIF. 😀 I hope that helps!

      -Clara ❤

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  7. Oh, Clara, takes a deep breath…that whole blog post was breathtaking! I feel like I just went on a mini adventure! I loved all the pictures, I’m not sure I liked one over another, except maybe, the ones from out the plane window at night. I certainly don’t have a least favorite! I loved this post!(can you tell?😉)

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  16. I hope I can participate! I’m kind of doing my own independent writing for my business (I write books and have published and sold one so far, making about a 1,000 dollars my first 8 months in) and while I’m on Thxgiving break currently, school starts back up on Monday and all the homework and assignments I’ll be getting will crush me for the next 3 weeks. If I can’t participate, I’ll support as much as I can! And thanks for hosting that comment-a-thon! It drove me crazy, but it was fuuuuuun

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  17. Write Christmas sounds like a lot of fun!! All your pictures were soooo good but I think one of my favorites was the Christmas lights one. You’re a great photographer! I don’t have a least favorite – they’re all super! 😀

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  18. All of your photos are gorgeous as always! I am definitely going to participate in the Christmas writing if I have enough time!! How many siblings do you have? (I am the oldest of 7)

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  19. clouds! water! cats! tigers! I LOVE these photos! 😀 😀 😀
    (oooh, and fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiire!)
    AND GUESS WHAT CLARA??? I MET SHANNON MESSENGER!!!! it was so awesome! we went to a book signing near us last friday, and she was super nice! she signed my book, my sisters book, and the rule was one book signed per person but when I asked, she signed another book that I’m giving to my cousin for christmas. and talking about nightfall, have you read it yet? I had pre-ordered it, and it arrived at 2:00pm, and I finished at 10:00pm the same day. and ooooooooh the plot twists! I figured one out half a page before it was revealed, so I’m not sure if that counts or not, but a few others just blew my mind, ohmyword. and oooooh, the ending! i don’t know who to feel bad for! dies because she got worked up
    Most crazily, ~a dead Olive

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    1. Yay! Thank you, Olive! 😀 😀
      gasp THAT’S SO AWESOME AND I AM EXTREMELY JEALOUS. XD I’m so glad you got to meet her! Yes, I read Nightfall and I absolutely loved it!! The ending was awful yet amazing. XD

      -Clara ❤

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      1. so awful. so amazing. I about died with frustration. XD WHY CAN’T ANYTHING GO RIGHT FOR ONCE.
        oh well. at least it wasn’t as bad as the ending for lodestar. 😛
        Most crazily, ~Olive

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  20. I love the fire silhouettes and the one of your little sister in her garb! My least favorite is the one of the bridge because I am SCARED of heights and just IMAGINING myself on there makes my heartbeat speed up.

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  21. Ooh! These are SO pretty! And I think we drove along that very road in this picture when we went to Assateague:

    Maybe not, but it looks familiar. XD
    Some of my favorites were




    and

    Whew!
    YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY IS AMAZING CLARA!!
    ~Megan~
    P.S. I may sign up for the Write Christmas Contest, but I’m not exactly sure yet. 🙂 I’ll have to wait to see what it’s like.

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    1. THANK YOU MEGAN! 😀 😀 Wow, that’s really cool! XD
      Thank you again!! 😊
      Okay! It’s fine if you don’t want to do it. 😛 Also, did you get my reply to your email? Gmail was being weird and I’m not sure if it worked…

      -Clara ❤

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  28. These are goregous! My favorites were the last ones – IDK why, but the one of Lila especially. I think it’s because you caught her in action. Action shots….are the best.
    So jelly that you got to see the Chincoteague ponies! I was OBSESSED with that book when I was little. I still am 😉 but I like King of the Wind better.

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    1. Thank you so much, Tess!! I agree – I love action shots. 🙂
      Aw, I hope you can see them someday! OOH yes, I LOVE King of the Wind. I’ve lost count of how many times I read that book. XD

      -Clara ❤

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  30. I love this post! I’m looking forward to hearing more about Write Christmas… 🙂 I AM SO SHOCKED I did not know Alabama had mountains, haha. My family and I have driven there many times, but we’ve always pretty such stayed on that little tip part at the bottom that’s close to Florida, if you know what I mean. XD
    All your photos were amazing! A few of my favorites was the fountain one (the water looked so cool), and the ones of the chickens. 😀

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  37. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. gasps for breath These are… well, breath-taking. XD BUT SERIOUSLY, I just love these pictures so much, eep!
    I pretty much loved every single photo, but these are a few of my favorites… This INCREDIBLE fountain one:

    This super neat restaurant one (it looks like a stock photo!):

    And oh my word, THOSE CLOUD PICTURES FROM THE AIRPLANE?? ♥♥♥ I think I want to go on a plane just so I can take cloud pictures. XD
    Also the… whatever-it’s-called swamp pictures were gorgeous, especially the first ones of the trees and the Christmas lights. ♥ BUT YIKES, ALLIGATORS.
    And of course, I can’t forget Maude the adorable (Lila’s pretty cute too 😉 )! 😀 The last picture… SO CUTE!
    Oh no my least favorite picture? gulp That’s hard. O.o Maybe this one? It’s not the best lighting (well obviously, since it’s inside XD).

    Ahem. Ooh, you went to Assateague Island? So did we! It was quite fun, and I agree, the ponies were really neat. 🙂
    Ooh, and Write Christmas sounds really neat! I hope I can participate. 🙂
    Okay, I shall stop now before I wear my fingers out. XD Lovely post as always, dear! ♥

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    1. Thank you SO MUCH, Allison!! 😀 I’m so glad you liked them!
      I hope you can go on a plane sometime! Cloud pictures are so fun. 🙂 Yes, that one is probably my least favorite, too. 😛
      Yep, we sure did! I wish we had gone a little earlier or you guys had gone a little later so we could have met! XD
      Yay, I hope you’ll be able to participate!
      Thank you again! ❤ Your comments always make me smile!!

      -Clara ❤

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  39. Wow! I just stumbled upon your blog and it is AMAZING! I really love your photos, they are like, my goals!:) Especially the Christmas lights! May I ask, what type of lense do you use? Thanks so much!
    Lydia
    abitoflifesite.wordpress.com

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  40. THESE PHOTOS ARE SO COOL! 😀
    I didn’t know that anyone else shared my opinion that hilly roads always look look like they go off into the sky! I love that kind. Aw, that coffee shop is so cute. And the clouds are SO PRETTY! WOW, your photography yet amazes me. 😀
    -Sara

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  42. Fabulous photos, Clara! The photo of the road seemingly going off into the sky reminded me of the roads my family drove on in Kansas this past summer. They were so straight, and there were no mountains, so the roads seemed to go right into the sky! I also love the pictures you took on the airplane! I especially love the ones of the clouds; they look amazing! I really like the airplane view photo of the highways, as well. 🙂
    And of course the Christmas lights pictures are pretty, too. Christmas light bokeh is gorgeous. 🙂
    ~Sassafras

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  43. Pingback: WRITE CHRISTMAS: Sign-Ups for the Christmas Writing Contest – Clara and Co.
  44. Pingback: Best of 2017 {Blogging Awards} – Voting Part 2 – A Barefoot Gal

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