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:

 

 

 

Photochallenge.org Week 12: Buds

I took a lot of pics this week. With spring ahead, we are rolling with buds down here in FL. Magnolia buds in the backyard, wildflower buds about, and then buds of the few plants we've decided to grow this year.

 

I ended up submitting a picture of our peach buds. We planted this small tree last year knowing it would take a while to mature but the way it's been growing this year has been amazing! Some of the fruit is already falling off so I'm sure it's not really ready yet to give me enough for a peach pie this year, but if we can get a few to taste I'll be so happy.

 

Here's a few pictures I considered:

 

Wild flowers (aka: Weeds) growing in my yard.

 



A tomato bud! Cannot wait to eat what this turns into!

 

And a Magnolia bud. These are all over our tree in the backyard, just ready to bloom. It's always a beautiful sight!

 



 

Camerashy Week 11: Unlucky

This one stumped me at first. I had a few ideas, but nothing good. Like some other participants I googled "unlucky" superstitions. There are some crazy ones out there!

Still mulling over my shot ideas I was in the backyard and got stung, again, by one of our lovely weeds. I believe it's some sort of stinging nettle. Our yard is covered with them this time of year. I am always the unlucky one that gets stung. Of course, I wear flip flops every day so that doesn't help.

Here's a close up of these dastardly nuisances. This is one growing on the fence line. It has gotten quite big.

 

 

Normally we get them mowed down before they are too tall,  but even then they can get you. Here's a bigger picture to see the entire thing.

Photochallenge.org Week 11: Still Life - Toy

So many ideas for this week!! Legos came to mind instantly, but I didn't really have time to build a scene so I opted not to go that route.

My first photo shoot was with Jordan's castle set. He helped me build it up and we took a few pictures. Overall, nothing impressive. It was fun, but I wasn't inspired so I moved on.

 

 

 

My next attempt was with dog toys. I had a few I liked, but again, I was not inspired. Now I just started taking pictures. Baby toys, Smurfs, anything lying around.

 

 

Then I saw ducky.... Inspiration!! First I thought about the bathtub but the lighting - yuck! So I went out to the pool. Good thing we set it up a few weeks ago :)

 

A little lonely right now, but it'll warm up soon enough and you won't be able to keep us out of the pool - unless it's raining - which happens a lot. It is Florida you know ;-)

Camerashy Week 10: Angle

I really struggled with the theme this week. All I saw were curves!! lol  There were so many good submissions for this week too, and I couldn't come up with anything all week long. All I kept thinking about was someone having an "angle" and I wanted to go take a picture of an attorney. :-)

Saturday morning though, as I was sitting on the couch enjoying my coffee I noticed how pretty my porch was, as the sun was rising and the light was coming through the trees. And there's my angle! The angle of the sun as it was going up.

 

 

I had to act quickly though, or I was going to miss it. Unfortunately I didn't take the time to wipe down the table so I had to crop the picture in close so you didn't see all the yucky cat hair. It's a little blown out since the sun was so bright and I could only block it out so much with the coffee cup.

Photochallenge.org Week 10: Depth of Field

I have been mulling this theme over in my mind since Sunday, coming no closer to a good idea. So I started taking pictures. I just started shooting different things around the house, inside and outside, to get some inspiration.

Then, success!! I got a great picture of my "cork" board. I love this thing. My sister bought the frame for me a few Christmases ago and then I filled it up. Yes, I filled it, with a little help from my husband.

 

Here's how it looks, hung on the wall.

Garden Time

It's that time of the year. I think our last cold snap is over and so it's time to start planting. I went out today and got some tomato plants (one cherry and one regular) a jalapeno plant, and some herbs. I wanted to get one pot for all my herbs to grow and I think I found exactly what I was looking for.

 

Here's what we started with...

 

 

Jordan was the biggest helper!!

 

 Rylie joined us for a bit after her nap

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Here's the finished herb pot. I'm so excided about this!! I've grown a few before, but I can't wait to have everything I want at my fingertips :)

 

 

And soon we'll have some jalapenos and tomatoes!! Yummy!!

 

 

The Peach Tree

We bought a peach tree on a whim last summer and have been anxiously watching it grow the past few months. Over the winter it lost all it's leaves and I was really worried, but apparently that's what is supposed to happen. The past few weeks it's been blooming like crazy, and lo and behold, peaches are actually starting to appear!!

Here are some pics of the last few weeks progress. I can't wait to see it as it continues to blossom. Maybe we'll get a small harvest this year!

 

CameraShy Week 9: Roots

This is a picture of the roots of the crepe myrtle in my backyard. If you know anything about crepe myrtles, you know that they should be cut down each year in the early spring to keep them the correct size. No one did that with this one and when we moved it was already the size of a regular tree. It takes it longer to flower each year, but when it does it's a beautiful purple. The roots spread all over the yard, popping up out of the ground.

Photochallenge.org Week 9: Landscape - Panorama

This week has been fun! I've been enjoying putting together panoramic shots. I think it's definitely something I'll continue to do, and that's exactly part of why I'm participating in this challenge, to learn new things and add new skills as I move forward.

I had two shots this week that I really liked. One was of the walking path at my work. The other, Lake Mirror in downtown Lakeland.

Even as I type this I'm not sure which one to make my final submission for the week, which is why I'm going to finally link my blog to the post, to share both.

Photography is such a personal thing, that no matter which one I submit, I'll have people who prefer the other one. I need to stop worrying so much what is the "best" picture I've taken each week and just go with my gut, because at the end of the day, it's me who will be looking back and remembering my own life with these pictures. They should really reflect me, because if they don't, it isn't worth remembering.

So here they are, the path that I walk around in circles at work to get some fresh air everyday (from the view of the bench, which I will also post a photo of):

 

and Lake Mirror, the setting of my first "professional" photo shoot and other great memories.

Which is your favorite?

Camerashy Week 8: Blue

I love the color blue: blue oceans, blue skys. My car is blue, my house is blue, and my bedroom is blue. I think blue is such a great color for a room, it's so soothing, which is what your bedroom should be.
My bedroom is tones of blue and brown. I have a few different decorative accents placed around the room, and I decided to use this plate as the focal point of my "blue" submission this week.

It sits on top of my armoire with some candle sticks. When our cats lived inside they used to jump up there and I was always so afraid it would get knocked down and break, but it survived. I love the details of the lining. It's funny, things you pic up along the way that become pieces you grow to love and will keep forever. I think this might be one of them.

Photochallenge.org Challenge Week 8: Birds in Flight

After hitting the backyard and a nearby lake full of birds, I still didn't have anything I liked for this week. So on Saturday, during my breaks at work,  I headed out to our walking path, which circles around a little man made lake ie: retention pond, and finally had some success. I got a few pics of an egret, but most were too blown out. Then, on break two I got lucky. I got some great pics of a heron flying across the lake, some hawks circling ahead, and even a little cute sparrow moving from limb to limb.
After I had put my camera in my bag and was walking back to work, I noticed two birds above that seemed to be fighting. I assumed it was the hawks, but when I really looked, one was way bigger. I grabbed my camera and grabbed some shots as he flew by, having chased the hawk away. Once I got home and loaded my pics on the computer my suspicions were confirmed: a bald eagle!! I couldn't believe it. Jordan was uber impressed. I got three or four really clear shots, albeit far away. Even though I love the composition of some of the heron shots, I had to use the eagle as my picture submission of the week, but I've put some of my other favorite shots here too.