North Carolina

Nearly

Room With A View

This has been my project this week, I wish you all could see it, it is really cool. My next lens on my list is to buy a wide angle lens. If I had a wide angle for this picture you would get to see a lot more of the room. Three of the 4 walls are painted with these trees. I have some other big projects in the works for this fall so I'll post them as well. For those who don't know I am an Artist, not just a photographer. Photography makes money, painting, not so much, but I really love it. I tried to convince my husband to let me paint a mural in the family room, he said NO.

Friend or Foe

Little Girl

Old Summertime Classics

After the Storm

Today we had a bad storm come through during church. It wiped the power out all through Northern Virginia till late into the night, not sure when it came back on. So if you check the date this post is on Monday because I couldn't use my computer yesterday. In the evening our home really started to get hot so we took a drive to cool off. I grabbed my camera to fulfill my assignment and this is what I shot. I'll have two posts today. So far no one has guessed correctly on the picture I posted Saturday. Keep guessing!

Guess

The first person who can guess what this is gets a free 5x7, your choice of an image posted thus far.

Playground

Butterfly

With this picture I used one of the NIK filters named glamour Glow. I liked the effect. Nik filters are a lot of fun if you haven't tried them. If you have photoshop on your computer NIK offers a free trial just click here to get started. Also this picture was shot at high noon, the least desirable time to take pictures but in this case it lit the butterfly perfectly.

Stalker

This is my daughter's friend's rooster whom she dubbed "Stalker" because he is black and follows people around, I forget what his real name is but I think Stalker suits him.

Early Bird

After the Rain

I was watching the clouds today thinking I would do a cloud shot till the rains came. When they stopped I stepped outside to see what clouds were left and this was the first thing I saw.

Note to Viewers

So far with all of my images I have used natural existing light. I haven't used flashes, or reflectors or any artificial light source. I feel this is important to tell you because It shows that you don't have to have fancy equipment, (a tripod yes) but nothing else. I also haven't used any photoshop, again this helps others understand that it isn't a necessity. I am sure I will use it sometime in the future and I'll try to remember to let you know. Feel free to ask questions in the comments if you want to know how I set up for a particular shot. I am shooting in RAW format thanks to my friend Jbwolfer, I avoided it for a long time because I was doing my editing in photoshop and had to convert my picture files to jpeg to edit them, I didn't see the point of shooting raw. Now that I'm converted my hard drive space is maxed out but believe me, it is worth it if you have raw capabilities. I edit in raw with the software that came with my camera, nothing fancy but very powerful if you shoot in raw. I shoot with a Canon 50D mostly with my 24-105 mm lens. For the macro type pictures I use an extension tube in addition to my 24-105 lens. Very simple, and easy, anyone can do it.

Bones

It is interesting to me that most of my friends that are into photography have stunning children, the ones with great eyes, hair, personality, the sort of children every photographer wants to walk through their door. It is strange for me to ask to photograph a photographers kids, however this picture is one of them. Really cute boy, great personality,amazing eye color. His younger brothers have killer eyes as well. My goal was to photograph the dog, but he was scared of me so my pictures were of him cowering in a corner. I'm going to have to think more about how best to take a dogs picture. So with little luck with the dog we added the boy, which really makes the picture and tells the story.

Relay

I really enjoy sports photography. It is sometimes difficult to get in the right spot, and to anticipate the swimmers moves and breathing, I get a lot of not so great shots but occasionally I can get some really cool ones. I like this one because my son swims his best on a relay, he really pushes it to the finish line. This pictures is a good representation of that. It has been a fun swim team season.

Never in a million years

Sometimes out of desperation I have served breakfast for dinner. Some spouses are okay with this and don't mind. Mine does not like breakfast for dinner, he grumbles on the few occasions that this happens during the year. Today when he asked what I'd be making for dinner (pasta) he was discouraged, I offered him a few more choices which he rejected. We were on our cell phones and our called was dropped, with no alternative plan I filled the pot of water for the pasta. He calls back and says,"Lets have breakfast for dinner". This might not sound like a big deal but it was monumental in our household. So I took a picture of it, not the most attractive food picture, perhaps I should have stacked a tall pile of pancakes and taken them form a lower angle but the crew was hungry so we needed to eat.

Ahoy Mate

Swim Team

Nostalgia

I haven't been to a High School football game since I was in High School. If I remember correctly I don't even think this football is from the years I was in school. At my High School the team sponsors would print their logo on footballs and basketballs, the cheerleaders would throw them out to the audience during half time. I am certain this ball is not mine, I never caught one but some how it has found a home at our house. I can't ever recall packing it in any of our moves, It just shows up. It is funny how things float around like that. We loose so many things over the years, it is interesting to look at the things we have kept... or have kept us. This football is almost a quarter of the way from becoming an antique.

Bumble Bee

I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee
Won't my Mommy be so proud of me
(Cup hands together as if holding bee)
I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee
Ouch, he stung me
(Shake hands as if just stung)
I'm squishing up a baby bumblebee
Won't my Mommy be so proud of me
('Squish' bee between palms of hands)
I'm squishing up a baby bumblebee
Squish, squish, squish
('Squish' bee between palms of hands)
I'm licking up a baby bumblebee
Won't my Mommy be so proud of me
(Pretend to lick bee off hands)
I'm licking up a baby bumblebee
Slurp, slurp, slurp
(Make slurping sounds)
I'm throwing up a baby bumblebee
Won't my Mommy be so proud of me
(Stick tongue out and look 'sick')
I'm throwing up a baby bumblebee
Blech, blech, blech
(Make awful face)
I'm mopping up a baby bumblebee
Won't my Mommy be so proud of me
(Pretent to mop bee up)
I'm mopping up a baby bumblebee
Swish, swish, swish
(Pretent to mop bee up)
All clean!

1st Real Haircut

My husband has been wanting his son's hair cut for a long time now. I finally agreed

Climbing trees

Pie

It's a funny thing how we think about things as a child and discover they are completely different as an adult. For example, before moving out East I thought it was completely developed and paved over, no wilderness left. I didn't think there was even any wildlife. My friend gets a good laugh out of that. I had never seen pictures, my only visit previously was to NJ and everything I saw was Industrial areas, cities and towns. So I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived to see forests, wild animals, and tons of open undeveloped space, I'm not sure now why everyone rushed to the West.Not that I don't love the west because I do, but they told us in school they were looking for open spaces, wouldn't that mean there was no space left. Blueberries are another misconception for me. Where I grew up we didn't have blueberries, we had wild huckleberries. Huckleberries look like tiny blueberries. The shrub is small, knee height. So... that is what I expected when it came to blueberries. Boy was I wrong. I don't know if in the west a blueberry bush would be classified as a bush, probably a small tree is more like it. They are as tall as the average adult. Considerably bigger than a huckleberry bush. The grower plant them in rows like an orchard. I sort of expected them random, like in the book "Blueberries for Sal", I was kind of expecting something like "Blueberries for Sal". Anyway I learned something new this week about blueberries. It blueberries in Main don't grow like this please tell me now.

Cub Camp

Today I was a parent volunteer for my son's cub camp. So I took my camera... my old camera, and forgot how to use it. So I took a lot of not so great pictures. This picture however tells a story of how much fun cup camp is. Note the line, to left, all boys had to wear life jackets to go down the slide (Slide Day! only for the last day), they line up to get them on, then take them off... wait in line and put them back on again. It's a riot. I think I'll be selling my old camera, anyone interested?

Yarn

Baby's Favorite Books

I have to say that there are some books babies don't like. My baby will close the book if I pick the wrong one or if it is boring. These in the picture are the tried and true books he likes. My husband might have a different stack but these are the ones I read him. We add library books in the mix here and there. There is one title from the library I must buy for my kids and for my youngest brother as a baby gift for child #2 (Congrats, A&W). The title is "Me Hungry" by Jermey Tankard, I highly recommend it.

Herb Garden

Today was a down to the wire shot, taken right before it got dark. You can get great colors at dusk with a long exposure. These pots were left by previous owners, a little paint, dirt and seeds and I have my own herb garden. Too bad I don't have more time to cook great food with all my fresh herbs. (Jen I need recipes!)

Independance Day

I am so grateful to be an American and I honor our founding fathers. They were not perfect men, everyone has their faults but they valued freedom and fought and sacrificed to give this country the blessings of free agency,individual rights and new opportunities. Oh how I hope we can hold on to those founding principles. It only takes a little time living out of the USA to understand how incredibly valuable freedom and agency are. Sometimes we forget how truly blessed we are to live in the USA. Happy Fourth of July!

Hello Blue Fish

Dad and the older children went fishing today. I captured one too, just not with a hook. I'm starting to bring my camera with me, because you never know what you'll see. This morning I didn't have it and a boy from our church came out in a home made robot costume at our church 4th of July party. It was a riot! I wish I had my camera. So at a friends dinner party I see their fish and had to snap some photos.

I'm in love!

Long story short. One of my good friends introduced me to extreme macro. I absolutely love it. My daughter picked this one as her favorite for today's post. I could post tons of these images, but one a day, that is it. You'll see more macro pictures throughout the year. Isn't it incredible!

Bubbles

I set out to try to take a photo of a bubble in the sky. The wind didn't cooperate, then my battery died so I ran into the house for a new one. When I returned I found that the child put dirt in the bubbles and proceeded to blame it on his baby brother. So that was the end of that. I like this picture, it makes me happy, I think bubbles make everyone happy, especially big ones.