From a Distance

I can't say I'm proud of these 2 shots. I made a bonehead move and left the camera battery charger at my house, 150 miles from where we were this weekend. I was excited to get a fun shot at the railroad museum this morning but I spent the last of the camera battery playing with the manual settings. Needless to say, I didn't get the shot I wanted. So I took out my point n shoot (which I had forgotten to take to the museum- another bonehead move) when we were stuck in traffic on I-80. Here's what I saw....

How Close Can You Get?

I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this challenge! In fact, you'll have to forgive me because I chose to post A LOT of pics from today. I'm still at my parents' so these are unedited pics. But, I doubt I would've done much to them had I had access to my software because I love them that much.


(DaddyBull)



(If you blow this one up you can see the spider web to the right of the flower)


(The dancing dog that P is afraid of at my parents' house)


(What's left of the delicious Thomas the Train cake my mom made for P's 2nd birthday)




On a side note, today I got together with a childhood friend that I've known for 30+ years. It was good for my soul and for my camera knowledge! Kim is the one that has spear-headed this challenge and has supported me through countless questions this month. She showed me things about my dad's camera that I doubt I would've ever discovered on my own. Thank you, Kim, for helping me so much in the world of photography. Love ya girl!

Pink!

Please forgive me for displaying such RAW photos. I'm having technical difficulties on my dad's computer and he hasn't uploaded any photo software to it yet so I'm limited on my editing. So here is my pretty n pink shots....

A horse, a chicken, a llama...oh my!

(Neigborhood mustangs)


Today's challenge is a favorite of mine because it's become a favorite of P's....ANIMALS! When I saw today's challenge I decided we'd go on an early morning fieldtrip to find some animals. I just discovered a place down the hill that has ostriches, llamas, donkeys and goats. P is in heaven when we stop by there. So here are today's animals......





(Our neighbor's chicken that lays us good eggs.)



(This is one from our anniversary trip that I think is funny...(read the sign and look which way the cow is headed.)


(P's favorite...mama llama!)

Sunflares!

I LOVE sun flares and (now) bokeh! So I set off this morning to capture some great shots of both. I was not 100% sold on the sun flare shots I was getting so I came home and researched it. I learned that if you set the ISO at about 400(ish) and the f/ up as high as it'll go it's pretty simple to get some fun sun flare pictures. So, I ended up capturing quite a few but here are my favs...with minimal editing.

Complaining Hands

I know. I know. Hands don't complain. But today's photo challenge is hands and I want to complain for just a second before showing you my shots. I'm not fun to be around when I haven't slept and since you don't get the joy of being around me today I thought I'd just share my complaints with you so you don't feel left out. This morning was FABULOUS! My friend recommended a website called LivingSocial.com, which sends you daily coupons to your email. You can choose to take advantage of them so I did when they sent me one for a massage and facial. I figured it'd be a nice post race reward for myself....and it was! I was so relaxed that I just wanted to crawl into bed for the rest of the day. But I couldn't because I had a carpet cleaning appointment (Get ready cause here's where the complaining starts). My appt was at 1:15 so I raced home to be here in time. I didn't need to do that because the guy was almost an hour late....and acted like it was no big deal. Then I got an email that P's swim lessons were cancelled due to the instructor having problems with her pregnancy. I can't fault her for that but I'm frustrated that I'm back to Square One with finding swim lessons, which isn't as easy as it sounds. Once I finally picked P up from daycare and ran to Walmart he decided that Walmart was a good place to demonstrate his Terrible 2 tantrum, making everyone comment while I stood in line. In the whole scheme of things, my day was not bad at all. But I do feel much better venting to you my friend. Thanks for listening/reading.
OK, today's challenge is hands. I have veiny (is that a word?), old lady looking hands. So I used my men as my hand models. P's new thing is "knuckles" so that's one of the pics. Enjoy...

Faceless Self Portrait and a big Thank you!

I was going to wait until the last day of the photo challenge to send a shout out of thank-yous but decided against it. I'll do it today instead. I'd like to thank everyone, especially Eva of Love From Eva, Valeria of ZenMind Project, Kimberly of Human Behavior, my husband, my parents and my mother-in-law for all the encouragement and compliments during this photo challenge. It's been challenging at time, fun most of the time and a learning experience all of the time. I'm inspired by the other photos that Kimberly posts every day on her blog. It makes me want to learn everything I can about the camera, lighting and software. Thanks everyone for making this challenge so much fun!

Today's challenge was one I really had fun with. I don't know if it's because P has been a pistol since he woke up (early) and it was my escape or because I just really liked it. Either way here are my shots for today's faceless self portrait.....