Camerashy Week 34: Tricky

A Tricky Game

Jordan started to learn about the game of chess as a achievement bead in cub scouts last year. They had to learn the names of the pieces and the rules about their movement.

I've always loved chess, but hadn't played it in forever. Jordan was really interested in it, so we bought a board and started to play. He's actually pretty good (or I'm just really rusty!!) 

Camerashy Week 32: High

Rylie loves to be thrown up high. 

I can't really figure out if she likes the going up or the coming down part more, but I know she likes it. Her daddy throws her up all the time in the pool, and more carefully when we're out in the backyard or in the house. I love to hear her little laugh as she gets tossed up in the air.

Photochallenge Week 32: Landscape - “Tilt Shift” Quasi-Landscape

I loved looking at all the pictures that were posted this week. This type of shot is really interesting to me. I love the way everything looks like a little model! I've always loved model train set out on tables. Not for the trains though, but for the elaborate sets of trees and buildings that get set up around them. 

Unfortunately I struggled to find time to get somewhere to get a really nice "base" picture that would give me a "WOW" factor once I applied the technique. I ended up using a picture of the view out of my window at work. There are some cars in the foreground so I think it a least works somewhat to give the overall effect. 

I'll definitely be trying this on future shots I'm able to take.

Photochallege.org Week 25: Composition - Framing

Phew!! This week was a busy one. I felt like I was in my car(s) more than I was anywhere else. I chose to take advantage of that and utilize those views this week. I had two different options for the week.

I took the first one as a view of what I see during my commute to work, the steering wheel framing the dash.

The second, and the official submission for this week, was of Rylie looking back at me through her mirror. A little grainy, probably since I took it around dusk, so I decided to convert it to black and white. Looking forward to a little calmer week ahead.

 

Camerashy Week 22: Inspired

Inspiration

 

I had a few different ideas for this week, but ended up settling on a picture I took of a little plate I have on my desk at work. Over the past few years I've gotten some gifts from different co-workers, and this is one of them. I played around with some post-processing and ended up with a look I really liked. It made it look kind of "dreamy" which fits in the quote on the plate.

 

 

Photochallenge Week 22: Still Life - Technology

Outdated Technology - That's we we currently have at work. I work in a call center and we use these phones that are out of the dark ages. Okay, maybe not that long ago, but they are pretty old. The first time I sat down and looked at all the lights blinking I thought "There is no way I'll be able to do this." But, just like anything else, after awhile it became old hat.

 

Of course, now, after I've got this bulky thing mastered, we are going to be upgrading to new phones. So I'm going to lose my old friend here. I'm sure I'll revolt with the new technology since it's different.  But then I'll get use to it and it'll become normal.

 

Bye - Bye old friend!

 

 

CameraShy Week 21: Flash

 

This week went by in a flash, which is why I'm a day behind. I wanted to wait though, because I wanted this to be my theme.

 

Gone in a "flash."

 

On Tuesday May 27, 2014 my Mom was killed in a car accident. Of course it was unexpected, shocking, and still not quite real. Today we had her funeral. I shouldn't be burying my 59 year old mother at only 31, but sometimes life doesn't give you what you should get.

We pass car accidents almost everyday but do we ever really think about the people involved? I do now. No one was impaired, it was just truly a tragic accident.

Life can be here and gone in the flash of the eye. Think about that as you spend time with your immediate family and any time you touch base with those you love. Make sure you don't hold grudges, don't leave things unresolved, and make sure that they know exactly how much you love them.
 

By far it's not the best picture I've ever taken, but this week it doesn't matter.
 

 

 

Photochallenge Week 21: Composition - Symmetry

I've lived in my house for 9 years and it took 8 for me to get something to hang over the couch in my living room. I do love the piece I ended up with though, and it's so pretty with all of the candles lit up at night.

 

I played with post-processing this week, since the picture itself isn't all too exciting. I added some texture to the wall and took it down to a chrome black and white. I think it makes the iron pop a little more than the original picture.

 

Photochallenge.org Week 20: Landscape - Minimalist

I really struggled with the theme this week. I ended up taking some pictures of my pond at work. I'm not thrilled with the result, but it meets the theme and I didn't miss a week, which is my own challenge to myself.

 

Camerashy Week 20: Random

 

Grrrrrrr....

 

I openly admit that I hate general topics like this one. What in the world does "random" even mean? Now I have 14,000 different direction to go in. That's no good for anyone.

 

I really wanted to be smart and compose some kind of shot with a random color, figure, or item in the mix. But, then I thought about my life and realized there was no way I could pull that off this week, so I just started taking pictures. As usual, that gets the creative juices flowing, and I did end up with something.

Here's a "random" picture of my cherry tomato plant that I've been growing this season. I like this shot because of the three tomatoes that line up, and I've embraced the theme by convincing myself that a random one is red.

 

 

And yes, I know I'm behind in my blogging. I will post the past couple of pics that I've missed, but I didn't want to put it off again this week and make myself more behind. I'm a mom of two you know, sometimes I get a little busy. ;-)

Photochallenge.org Week 19: Nature & Wildlife - Mother Nature

This week I chaperoned my son's 1st grade field trip to Sea World. We had a great time. With such an open theme this week I decided to use the opportunity to submit a picture of a creature not many of us get to see on a daily basis.

 

This is a sea anenome. I'm actually really happy with this picture since it was taken through the glass of the aquarium. I didn't use a flash since it just would have reflected off the glass.

 

I love sea creatures. I wanted to be a marine biologist forever and ever, but life just didn't work out that way. I think the beautiful things that lay beneath the ocean's surface just open up a world that we could never even imagine!!

 

 

Photochallenge Week 19: Pure

Pure Power!!

 

On my son's 1st grade field trip this week, we went to Sea World; and you can't take a group of 7 year olds to Sea World without seeing Shamu.

 

Regardless of your thoughts on Sea World or Orca captivity, you can't deny that these animals are beyond powerful. They have an amazing beauty to them. I captured this right before they came down with enough strength to drench the entire class. I however, stayed safely behind the "you may get wet" line. :)

 

Photochallenge.org Week 18: Still Life - Books

I love books, and I always have. I have a thing for a real life book. E-books are fine and dandy and I do have several of those, but I love a good book you can hold in your hand. I love the smell of a new book.

I also love to reading in bed. For this weeks challenge I decided to use that as a jumping point and use just the light from the book lamp as the light of the picture.

 

 

Camera Shy Week 18: Down

Down

 

I had a little help from my son this week. I took advantage of him playing outside on his playset to get my "down" picture of the week.

Here he is going "down" the slide. :)

 

 

 

Camerashy Week 17: Markings

The "Markings" of a Runner

 

I did it!!!

At the beginning of the year I signed up to run a 5K at Disney's Animal Kingdom. It was a birthday present to myself since it was on the same weekend as my birthday. I was nervous, since I'm not a runner, if I would be able to make it, but I did pretty good.

 

I ran as a two person team with my sister. In addition to the 5K there was a scavenger hunt afterwards that was also timed. Then the two times were added together for our final time. We actually did pretty decent, right in the middle of the pack.

 

Since we were going to be running I didn't have my good camera on me, but I did use my phone to capture some of the night. We made some "markings" on this big poster that we could sign as participates.

 

But my main submission for this week's theme is the last I'm posting here. My bib and my medal.

 

 

 

Photochallenge Week 17: Composition - Leading Lines

 

I have a love/hate relationship this big Sycamore tree in my front yard. It's so tall and beautiful during the spring and summer. I love how all the branches lead up to the sky. This is the view from underneath looking up.

My hate relationship is the fact that come September every single leaf starts to come down, and there are a lot of leaves!! All fall and winter long my yard is a leaf graveyard. Raking is hopeless as for everyone you get up, three more fall in the next 20 minutes. My neighbors also love the fact that many of the leaves make it into their yards as well.

Regardless, it's still a great tree and I'm glad to have it.

 

 

Photochallenge.org Week 16: Nature & Wildlife - Water (Long Exposure)

 

You'd think in living in Florida I'd have a massive amount of water options to pick from, but living in "Lake"land, most of my local options are standing water and the beach is just a little too far away for me to manage a visit this week.

 

We do have a local garden nearby though, with beautiful landscaping. Within it is an area with a water feature of rocks into a lily pool. It's shaded, which made it easier to get a longer shutter time and not overexpose my picture - which is NOT to say that this week was easy. It was actually quite the opposite.

 

Here's my official submission:

 

 

Here's some other pictures I took of all the plants and flowers, and a shot of my special helper of the day :-)

 



Camerashy Week 16: Formless

 

"The fog comes on little cat feet" - Carl Sandburg

 

Fog is formless, filling in spaces around it.

I love the way fog changes the look of your surroundings. As a kid I loved the idea of the clouds coming down to earth in the morning.

 

As always I'm struggling with which picture to choose this week.

 

Here's the official submission:

 

Here's the two other photos I was choosing between. I like all three for different reasons.



 

Photochallenge.org Week 15: Container

I had a few container ideas for this week, but ended up liking this set up the best when looking over the photos. This is probably my husband's favorite container in the house, when it's not empty.

 

 

CameraShy Week 15: Classic

Classic - such a simple word, but so many different ways to represent it.

 

As usual, I have to start shooting to get some inspiration. While I was thinking of different "classic" things, I saw the shaker in my dining room and had my idea. What's more classic than a traditional martini? Of course, this one was shaken - not stirred, but don't tell James that I used vodka because I'm not much of a gin fan ;-)

CameraShy Challenge Week 14: Peephole

The first thing I wanted to photograph when I saw this week's theme was the doorknob from Alice in Wonderland. It's somewhere on the Disney property, I know, but I wasn't going to find it this week so I had to come up with some alternative options.

 

I ended up with two choices. The first is a picture of "our" cardinal through my dining room window. He and his lady eat at our feeder every day, but catching a picture outside is almost impossible. They are both so aware of my presence when I try to sneak out and get a good shot. I was able to snap this from inside as they ate one day this week. 

The second picture is the one I submitted. I was walking around the backyard looking for further inspiration when I noticed the hole in the top of Jordan's picnic table. Here's a pic of the whole table, just for perspective.

 

 

Looking through the hole in the middle, I saw the clover growing and had my shot. I had to take a few to get the positioning right, but I ended up liking this a little better than picture one. I think it just fit the theme a little nicer.

Photochallenge.org Week 14: Composition - Rule of Thirds

There's a few nature trails within about 30 minutes of where I live and when I get a chance, and it's not to hot, I love to go walk through them. This week after I picked up my son from school we went for a little hike. We caught some great pictures as always.

This little guy was having an afternoon snack and was great to stay for a few minutes so I could get a shot of him. I love butterflies and it's always a great treat to get one that will let you take it's picture.

Camerashy Week 13: Delicate

 

"Delicate"

So every time I thought I had a good idea for this weeks theme, someone else posted it first. I know my picture would be different, but I want to make sure I don't just copy another idea so I usually try to regroup and think of something else. I took a few pictures this week. Delicate glass figurines, delicate tender new leaves... In the end I chose a delicate spider web that I found on a hike in a nearby wild preserve.

Here's my official submission. I've posted the "rejects" below.

 

 

Photochallenge.org Week 13: Landscape - Vanishing Road

This was a fun challenge. It made me get out of the house and drive all over town. It's interesting what you end up seeing when you are looking more closely on the roads you drive every day.

 

Here's the shot I submitted:

Here are two of my alternative shots that I didn't go with, but still like. I also found an awesome tree that was just begging to have it's picture taken.

Camerashy Week 12: Score

I was SO excited when I saw this weeks theme!! I had so much sports centered activity going on this week. It's Spring Break and I'm off almost the entire week so we are going to a Lighting hockey game, a spring training game between the Tigers and the Rays, and on Saturday Jordan has a baseball game. So much opportunity for a picture for this week.

 

I ended up using a picture of Jordan scoring a run at his little league game (proud Momma moment of course) but first, here are a few of my favorite "sport" shots of the week:

 

 

 

And my official submission for the week: