78-365 Couple of Irene

So some of my friends have asked me if I'll get back to my 365 Project.  I'm so super involved in my town's youth football program and love it so much that my project sort of took a back burner for a little while.  Now that all of my rosters have been approved and made active and my little man has decided not to play which means I don't HAVE to be at the field every night and every home game Saturday every day, I hope to be able to get back to my project.  I may not post every day or take a photo every day but I will do my best.  I had wanted to start this project so I could create a photo book including the 365 days of photos and though they may not be consecutive, I will still make myself a book of my years worth of photos once I've reached 365 days.

This past Thursday, I decided to take a trip out to Bogue Pier before Hurricane Irene because I had never been out there before a storm and always wanted to.  (I was sorry to hear that this icon of our coast, that the end of the pier where the observation deck was, had been destroyed by the storm.) I didn't know there would be as many people in the surf, nor was I prepared for the shaking going on, on the pier.  The waves weren't the biggest they could be at this point in the storm but they were still bigger than I had seen and I can't imagine what that amount of water must feel like when the surfers were hit with it.  I have a lot of pictures but out of all of them that I still haven't finished processing, this one I kept coming back to.  I love the scene.  I think it's simple, romantic and leaves an impact on me.  This young couple were hanging out on the beach together and the innocence in the young lady standing there with her boyfriend in this scene was beautiful to me.  Human nature made me want to know more about them.  I applied one my my favorite Photoshop actions called Midnight Sepia because it lends to the romanticism in the image.  I'm sincerely considering entering this into the Art Contest I plan to enter in the next few weeks.

My settings are as follows: Shutter speed - 1/1000 secs, Aperture - F2.8, ISO - 100, Flash - Not fired, Focal Length - 60mm, WB - Cloudy.

77-365 A Racing Legend

I was walking around the house trying to figure out what to take a picture of and saw my husbands Dale Earnhardt collectors shot glass.  I should have filled it up and celebrated afterwards but I didn't.  LOL!  My husband and I used to be pretty big race fans but after Earnhardt Sr died from an accident at Daytona (a race we watched) it just didn't seem the same.  We still watch it occasionally but with the retirement of some of our favorite generation of racers, the missing black intimidator car and the high number of rules and restrictions that have been added to nascar racing, it's just not as fun to watch anymore.  

Settings for this shot were: Shutter speed 1/15 sec, Aperture F3.2, ISO 400, WB Auto, Focal Length 60mm, Flash not fired.

76-365 Laguna Bay

I took this in a subdivision called Laguna Bay.  It is a very pretty area with prime lots by the water.  Unfortunately the owner is having a hard time selling the lots due to the neighborhoods you have to drive through to get to it.

75-365 Noose

I took this at a pier visit and thought it turned out pretty neat.  I called it noose because it looked like one once I saw it on my computer.  I cropped it to have 13 rows which if I remember correctly is the number of loops that you used in a noose knot though I didn't confirm it prior to posting.  Settings aren't anything special as this was taken with my cell phone.

74-365 Clips that Shine

These paperclips actually looked neater in real life than they do in this picture I think.  It still made for a nifty macro shot.  I hope that Saturday I'll get to use my wide angle lens some because I think I might be getting bored with macro.  Is that possible when macro opens so many doors?  Maybe I'm just in a slump on ideas. 

Settings for this shot were: Shutter speed 1/30, Aperture F5.6, ISO 400, WB Auto, Focal length 60mm, Flash not fired.

73-365 Violet Wilds

These were in my backyard blowing in the wind.  Way too much for me to focus well on it.  So...I grabbed a handful of them and stuck them in the flower vase my son had filled earlier in the week with azaleas.  I had them under my LED light strip in my kitchen and I think it really brought out some neat shadows and textures.  

The settings were: Shutter speed - 1/125 secs, Aperture - F4.0, ISO 400, WB Fluorescent, Focal length 60mm, Flash not fired.

72-365 Yellow Winds

These yellow flowers are on a vine hanging over my fence in the backyard.  I adjusted the levels like usual and got these great colors.  The flower isn't as clear as I wanted but it was windy before the bad storms we got a few hours later.

The settings were: Shutter speed -  1/125 sec, Aperture - F8, ISO - 200, WB Cloudy, Focal Length - 60mm, Flash not fired.

71-365 Berrylicious

I bought strawberries, angel food cake and whip cream for strawberry shortcake and boy was it yummy.  I thought a macro shot would be great on the bright red strawberries.  Not sure that I'm too happy with the final product though but I'm sure I'll have another shot before the spring and summer is over.

Settings for this were: Shutter speed - 1/30 sec, Aperture - F3.5, ISO 400, Focal Length - 60mm, WB - Cloudy, Flash not fired.

70-365 Rio's Toucan

I got this cute little character in my happy meal and thought he was cute enough to take a picture of.  I was going to put my cheeseburger in his wings like he was holding it but it wouldn't stay there.  LOL!  So...while slightly unfocused and technically a nightmare...I wanted to post my cheesy snapshot for today's photo of the day.  :)

69-365 Butterfly

So I'm wayyyy behind this time.  The most behind as I've ever been.  BUT...just because I haven't been able to keep up my postings, it doesn't mean I haven't been taking pictures.  So my 69th photo of my 365 Project is a butterfly I saw on the ground when a co-worker and I were leaving a job site.  It's my first ever butterfly shot and I wish I had had my macro lens with me.  Taken with my cell phone, I still like the shot.

Catching Up

I am the most behind that I've been in my project since I started it...but no worries...because I'm getting caught up tomorrow.  I have all of my pictures from the last few days...I've post processed them....I just haven't had a chance to post them yet.  (I was more consumed with the storms last night that were occurring in this area...and I hope those of you who follow me that live in or around the areas that were hit with tornado's are praying for the healing of those who were directly affected.  Many places and folks lost a lot during these storms and I pray for their safety and immediate recovery after a very scary night for us all.)

I'll have my photos up tomorrow so those who are saying "ah...she's always behind"...stand by....because I'll only be behind...for one more night".  Isn't the anticipation worth it, though?!?!  ;-)

Thanks so much for your patience.  I'm especially happy with the photo that will take tonight's slot!

68-365 Disney or Bust

My husband and I have been talking for a few months about the idea of taking our boys to Disney World for Christmas this year and finally we decided on Sunday to plan our trip.  For the most part, it was fairly painless and though we have a lot to do to get ready for the trip that is still 8 months away, planning early we think is going allow us to have a nice trip that is efficient and allows us to see and do everything we want to do.  We told our boys and along with that, we told them that they were going to help pay for it.  We pulled out two glass jars and told them that whenever they have change, they need to consider putting it in the jars because that money collected will be our "spending money" for the trip.  Of course we'll make contributions to the spending fund but this way, they might be able to appreciate their souvenirs a little more knowing they helped to save for it.

The settings were: Shutter speed 1/15 sec, Aperture F2.8, ISO 400, WB Cloudy, Focal length 20mm, Flash not fired.

67-365 Willow Greens

This tree is the same one I photographed in the beginning of my project with no leaves.  It is also the same tree that has the beautiful moss all over the side of it.  Today when I got to it, the new leaves really grabbed my attention.  The light fresh green with the dense heaviness of the atmosphere that sort of gave a soft haze to parts of the final image I think worked out quite nicely.  I love the way the light is sprinkled throughout the leaves.  I am beginning to have quite an enjoyment of trees and the different phases of their life in one year.  My own Crape Myrtle tree looks pretty neat right now because it's just now starting to show it's buds for the spring.  Maybe I'll try some creative shots with it tomorrow....maybe with my wide angle lens.  This was taken from inside my car through my opened sunroof with my cell phone.  I don't have any settings to report except that I bumped the saturation a bit in my phone to bring out the bright light green in the leaves.

66-365 Pink

I know some folks might get tired of seeing flowers but I have never had the opportunities to photograph them like this until I got my macro lens.  My azaleas, which I keep saying I'm going to get rid of, are just now starting to bloom and are so beautiful.  Each year that I think I'll get rid of them or move them, I end up just cutting them back after the summer and enjoying them the next season.

The settings were: Shutter speed - 1/60 sec, Aperture - F5.6, ISO 400, WB - manual, Focal length - 60mm, Flash not fired.

 

65-365 Caterpillar

My boys love bugs, especially the oldest one.  He found his first caterpillar of the season and I thought...yay, my first macro "bug" shot opportunity.  My sisters and neighbors used to find this particular species all the time growing up.  This caterpillar is a Malacosoma Americanum also known as an Eastern Tent Caterpillar as I found out on Wikipedia.  I really, really love this picture.  I think the colors and focus area is just like I wanted it.  He was a squirmy little thing so I chalk it all up to pure luck.

The settings were: Shutter speed - 1/250 sec, Aperture - F4.0, ISO 400, WB - manual, Focal length - 60mm, Flash not fired. 

64-365 Cut Crystal Cups

I saw these plastic "wanna be" crystal cut plastic cups in my cabinet and they make a neat artistic style photo.  I bumped the saturation on it and did my typical post processing on it.  Nothing too dramatic but I like the outcome!  Taken with my cell phone.

63-365 Carnation Crumble

I noticed these dead carnations from the flower set my mom gave me a few weeks ago on my bar counter and the texture of them looked really cool.  I completely forgot they were even there because they were parked in between some of my other plants hiding.  It's definitely a more abstract picture.  :-)

The settings were: Shutter speed - 1/30 sec, Aperture - F4.0, ISO 400, WB - Manual, Focal length - 60mm, Flash not fired.

62-365 Movie Theater Butter

Everybody loves popcorn at the movies.  It's one of those staples we can't go without.  Well, I enjoy popcorn outside of the movies at home too.  This popcorn in particular is White Cheddar Popcorn.  I thought it would make a neat macro shot for this project.

The settings were: Shutter speed - 1/15 sec, Aperture - F4.0, WB Manual (not sure what the temperature was because I didn't realize it was even on manual), Focal length - 60mm, Flash not fired.

61-365 Bamboozled

I had to bring my bamboo that my little one bought me for Mother's Day last year home from work because one of the stalks died and another one had turned yellow.  After doing some research on it, I think it has a fungus that I don't believe I can get rid of.  So, I'm going to enjoy it while I can and when it's days are over, maybe I'll give it a proper burial.  I think I'll have to go buy another one because I really, really love this plant.  I really love this picture!  Funny thing is that I usually take 10 or more pictures of my subject.  For this...I only took one.  I thought it was going to look like a "snapshot" but I am so happy with the outcome.

Settings were: Shutter speed - 1/30 sec, Aperture - F3.2, ISO - 400, WB - Cloudy, Focal Length - 60mm, Flash not fired.

60-365 Shell Shock

I was walking around trying to figure out what in the world to take a photo of.  I saw this on my bookshelf and liked the character on it.  I cropped it tight around the shell because I really liked the wavy edge against the neutral tone of my background.  I put my white balance on cloudy because I love the warmer tones it offers.  I had read somewhere before from a photographers book or magazine that they almost always shot on cloudy.  I can see why.

Settings were: Shutter speed - 1/60 secs, Aperture - F3.2, ISO - 400, WB - Cloudy, Flash not fired.

 

59-365 Denim Blues

I was driving home from errands yesterday when the sun hit my jeans and made the prettiest blue texture show up.  I thought it was worth a shot.  It's definitely an "art" shot.  I didn't do anything but bump the levels a little.

58-365A & B Amusing Fun

We went to the Newport Pig Cooking contest just to check out the festival.  I had read that they had donated more than 700,000 dollars to charitable organizations over the years.  I expected it was going to pretty much be food and craft stands.  My boys and I were pleasantly surprised that they had rides too.  I don't ride rides but I love watching others ride them.  This first ride was a different version of what I believe was similar to a ride called the Zipper.  Crazy!  My little one hadn't ridden any big rides yet so this was his first one and I was a little nervous for him.  He LOVED it!  They are in the bottom section of this ride.  I think this would have been a really cool picture if it wasn't for that ugly RED truck.  LOL!

The next ride they rode I just knew was going to make one of them throw up all over the other.  Who in the world thought "hey, I think it'll be fun to make a round bucket with seats and a steering wheel in the center that allows you to spin it so fast you get dizzy..."?  My two boys happened to get on the ride with a bunch of other kids closer to their age when the previous bunch looked to be very young kids.  The little ones didn't spin their buckets too much.  I guess the whole thing spinning was enough.  Heck, THAT was even too much for me.  This older group of kids couldn't even wait until the ride started to start spinning their buckets as fast as they can with all hands on deck making it turn.  I got queasy just watching them.  I have a couple pictures of my little one where I was afraid he really  might lose his lunch...and we hadn't even eaten yet.  LOL!  After this ride, they went on the swings which also went around in large circle.  A glutton for punishment I guess.  Which is why we made them wait to eat barbecue!  Once they were done riding, we got in the food line and boy my little man had white lips and didn't look the bright pretty flesh color that he should!  We hugged him close while we laughed our butts off at him.  It was his first experience like that and I think he'll be a bit more cautious before he goes on that many dizzy type rides in a row.  :-)

57-365 Recycle & Reuse

I caught this on my way to run some errands and thought it looked pretty cool.  Looks like someone is recycling nicely.  These are a bunch of broken down and tied up cardboard boxes.  I applied a gradient map to convert it to black and white and then also applied a curves layer where I bumped the contrast to almost unrealistic.  I like the outcome.  I especially like the star on the metal container behind the boxes.

 

Burned Out

As I have been reminded, I didn't post a picture yesterday. Well, guess what? I'm not posting one today either. It's not because I don't want to but because I am in a photo "funk". After 50+ days of steady photos, I am out of ideas and those of you who have done this project or who have a love for a similar art can sympathize with my delima. I have every intention of continuing my project but I feel that I owe my few followers an explanation when I can't post. I'll catch up & before I do a coffee table book of my experience, I plan to have 365+ (remember I've posted more than just one shot on some days) photos in it. I'm going to the Newport pig cooking contest tomorrow & I plan to take my camera. Maybe I'll find enough subject matter to re-inspire me & help me up for yesterday, today & tomorrow. Please keep checking because I still want to share this experience with the few friends I have keeping up with my 365 Project. Thank you so much for "following" me whether public or anonymously. I really do appreciate it more than you know. :-)

56-365 Mirror Like

So it was rainy as all get out and cold today.  I was sitting in my car when it started to rain and since I'm into the water drops right now, I thought I'd try to capture the ones on my windshield a little differently.  When I put my camera up towards the window and saw the tree limbs above me in the frame, it looked like a mirror reflection.  I really liked it.  I adjusted the levels just a bit and bumped the saturation just a tiny amount and this is what I ended up with.  Taken with my cell phone so no fancy settings.  Just changed the white balance to cloudy.

55-365 Color Drops

I really want to get a really cool water drop picture but I'm not too happy with what I've done thus far.  Of course, I've only done two so far...but still.  I want a "cool" one.  I might try the whole water droplet hitting water and capturing the splash next.  For now, here is what I came up with tonight.

The settings were: shutter speed 1/60sec, aperture F3.5, ISO 400, WB Auto, flash not fired, focal length 60mm.

54-365a Warmed Pine & 54-365b Rusty Grate

I went out in my backyard real quick to snap this first picture because the dead pine needles looked a nice warm color at sundown.

The settings were as follows: shutter speed 1/125 sec, aperture F5.6, ISO 500, WB Auto, Focal length 20mm.

I also liked the sunlight on the rusty cover that goes over my fire pit.  

The settings for this one were: shutter speed 1/125 sec, aperture F5.6, ISO 500, WB Auto, Focal length 20mm.

53-365 Onion Top

I don't feel so great today but I made myself get up and take some pictures to catch up from yesterday and to post for today.  I decided to use my wide angle lens for all of my pictures and am pretty happy with the results.  The clarity at closer ranges is great for a wide angle lens.  I cropped a fair amount off of this picture because I liked the texture on the end of the onion.

Settings for this were: shutter speed 1/15 sec, aperture F2.8, ISO 500, WB Auto, Focal Length 20mm.

52-365 Water Drops

I've always wanted to do macro of water droplets so when I was watering my plant, I saw the cool looking drops on it and decided to snap a couple shots of it.  I didn't use my tripod so it was hard to get positioned just right so that I wasn't moving and could keep the droplet in focus long enough hand held to snap the picture.  

The settings were: Shutter speed 1/30 sec, Aperture F5.0, ISO 500, WB Flash, Focal length 60mm, Flash bounced from side wall.

51/365 Pirates at the Expo

I actually "sort of cheated" on this picture but I wanted to post the one I had of our booth WITH the awesome balloon arch our Grant/ByLaw Coordinator made.  She did a great job so it just had to be in the picture.

Our Fundraising Coordinator got us a booth at the Swansboro Business Expo and even though we are non profit and not really a "business" we were able to make a little money off of our hourly raffles for the upcoming  seasons. We even got some potential first time football players from the 6 hours we were there.  We were quite surprised with the turn out and response.  I hope to be able to have a booth for my husbands shop next year.

So...here is my photo for yesterday...(we did decorate everything but the trophy's and the arch yesterday so it technically "counts" as a yesterday picture.)

50/365 Frost from the Past

Okay so I'm cheating today.  I found this in my archives and forgot I had taken it.  I think it would be much cooler if it had been a clearer more sharp image.  It's frost on my car window.  It makes great patterns so I may have to try this again next winter.  Taken on cell so no fancy settings or anything and I did some Photoshop levels and curves adjustments on it.

49/365 Wirey Rust

Tonight I spent some time "scouting" in my back yard.  I started off with this cool rusted net looking metal fire pit cover but couldn't get enough focus range on it to be happy with it.  Then, I snapped some shots of quarry rock around our sump pump because it's got some great texture in it but I wasn't feeling the macro on it.  I snapped some shots of other stuff like the wood roof on my birdhouse and the top of a fence post.  Nothing was pleasing me, even the center bolt of the rutter on my husbands boat that looked awesome "in camera".  One of the series of shots I took was of a rusty wire fence and post that sits in my neighbors yard closing in a small section where our two fences meet so their dog can't get out.  I took 15 shots of the same thing.  Some closer than others, a couple different angles.  For my shot of the day, this one satisfied me the most.  I love the color, the clarity, the composition and also how the green rusty spotted steel fence post rail that was used as a "color" backdrop for the rusty knot.  If you haven't looked for rusty items to photograph before, I definitely suggest trying it out.  The color and texture it lends in your pictures is gorgeous to me.

My settings for this shot were: Exposure 1/250, Aperture F3.5, ISO 500, WB Shade, Focal Length 60mm, Flash not fired.

48/365 - Eat Your Greens...or Purples

So I will be caught up after tonight.  Yesterdays picture I'm posting now is asparagus....and as you know, it's SUPPOSED to be bright green and pretty with purplish "tinted" ends.  Well...I had to Photoshop this one because it wasn't focused as it looked in my camera and I wasn't  pleased with my white balance as it made it dull in appearance.  So....here we go.

Settings were: Exposure 1/15 sec, Aperture F4, ISO 500, WB Fluorescent, Focal length 60mm, Flash not fired.

47-385 Colored Clips

I have to first share my awesome news!  I FOUND my card reader and favorite memory card.  It was in the bottomless pit I call my purse.  Hrmph.  How excited I was for that!  I had pretty much given up and thought it was gone.  

My picture today is actually yesterdays picture and I may retake this later with my Nikon because I really like the idea and this was taken with my HTC Evo. (I'm still impressed with the photos that it produces.)  The real thing looks much "cooler" in person too.  The picture is colored paperclips on my football registration forms.  I had to slide them down a little for each packet so they would stack a little flatter.  I thought the colors along the white paper offered up some pretty cool contrast and texture. 

As always, thanks for looking.  :-)

46/365 Nerd

This is a boring, uncreative, lack luster photo.  But...it's "organized", right?  These are my folders for football registration paperwork.  My creative juices were non existent but I had to take a picture yesterday.  I'm only one more picture behind so I'll post two tomorrow and be caught up.  Guess I better go take a picture for today, huh?  LOL!  Sorry for the lack of quality on this one.  I photoshopped it too and it still looks horrible.  I'll try to do better for my tomorrow night picture.  :-)

45/365 Good Health Food

So Saturday, I wanted to make my family a healthy dinner.  I always have a craving for healthy food when it starts to get warm outside like this.  This time of year is the prime time for fresh vegetables and fish!  I bought some tuna steaks and grilled them on the grill with a simple mix of salt, pepper & garlic powder.  They were a tiny bit more cooked than I wanted them to be but still really good.  I made sauteed spinach & mushrooms with Parmesan cheese and also roasted red potato's and olive oil & garlic whole wheat toast.  We also had one over sized crab stuffed mushrooms.  So...I thought I'd share my picture of my delicious dinner even though a couple of my friends have said to stop posting food if I didn't have enough to share. :-)

44/365 Ball & Chain

Okay, so I'm a little late posting this but with all of my technical issue's, I think I had a good excuse.  I still haven't found my good memory card, nor my super fast card reader...and my hard drive is with my friend and he is my last resort in recovering my data because I can't afford the $1500 quote I got for it.  I have two days to catch up after this but for now, I'm posting Friday's picture.  I'll get the others caught up tomorrow as it's been a long day recreating my football paperwork.

My picture of today is of my son's chain that he wears with a neat little yen/yang charm on it.  I like the "bokeh" of my lens in this one and also the colors.  It reminds me of the colors in my aluminum foil picture I took a few days ago.

The settings for this one are as follows: Shutter speed 1/15 sec, Aperture F4.2, ISO 400, WB Auto, Flash not fired, Focal Length 60mm.

44/365 Temporary Hold

I am having horrible technical difficulties. Beside my hard drive possibly being damaged I still haven't found my favorite memory card & card reader. I pulled out a different card after finding my sons card reader to use after even though it's slow as all get out and stuck it in my camera. After taking multiple cool pictures of a chain my son was wearing, I went to plug it in to ,y computer to download the pictures...and guess what...?!?! NO DICE! Windows is having trouble recognizing the drive. So...since I want to post one of those pictures & I can't get to them until I break down & get another card reader, I unfortunately will not be posting tonight. I guess I couldn't have expected to have been able to go all year without missing a day. I'm really only missing one day POSTING and not taking the picture. I can't wait to see it large on my computer. So, forgive me & check back tomorrow as I will be posting it tomorrow

43/365 iPad 2

If only you guys knew how hard it was to stop playing on my ipad 2 to post here, you would understand why I didn't really feel like posting a picture tonight.  LOL!  I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!!!  

Of course, I had to take a picture of it when I got here so that's what I'm posting.  I tried to be "creative" but it didn't quite work out.  No one said 365 Project photos had to be "good" photos....and since I lost all originals of my project and all photos and documents from my crashed external drive and I'm an idiot and didn't have a back up for my back up....it's okay that I'm posting a crappy photo for today.  I have an iPad 2 too, so it's okay even more!  :-)

 

42/365 Watching the Welding

Today my friend and co-worker Martin and I went out in the field to see some projects.  This is the welding going on about halfway down (13') to the final depth of the pump station.  They use a huge crane to shove sheet piling down into the ground and then put a steel frame inside it to hold the piling in so they can work.  They have to pump the water that the come into contact with as they get deeper and deeper.  This pump station will be about 25' deep.  I like both of these pictures so I thought I'd try something a little different so I could show both of them. While they were welding below, I snapped the shot of Martin.  I like both pictures a lot so I combined them so that you could see what he was watching during the picture.

On a separate note, I am having huge technical difficulties and trouble with locating my card reader for my big camera memory card.  I guess I could plug up my camera but it takes forever to get pictures off of it that way.  My major issue right now is that my external hard drive where I keep EVERYTHING, including all of these 365 pictures, is dysfunctional right now.  I'm having a hard time deciding what to do with it to try to get my data off so if I happen to not post at any time, it's because I was unable to.  I don't plan on missing a single day of my whole year.  If I do happen to miss a day, I will still post my picture.  It just may be the next day when I am able to do so.  I pray I can recover my data.  My whole project is on it too.  Stupid stupid for not having a back up for my back up.  :*(

41/365 Marinated Chicken

So how about a food picture?  This is a 3 day old picture but shhhhh, we won't tell anyone.  The marinade recipe I used for this chicken is incredible.  1/2 C. Soy Sauce, 1/2 C Lemon Juice, 1 C good Vegetable Oil, 1 Package Good Seasonings brand Italian Dressing Mix, Parsley.  Mix it all up, marinate chicken, pork or steak 8-10 hours...or even better, overnight and grill!  It's delicious.  I know this is a photography blog but food is good once in a while.  If you try the recipe, let me know how you like it! 

 

40/365 Cooking Drops

So tonight, I got out my tripod, my camera and brought in a stem of dried out and dead Crape Myrtle pods (or whatever those things are) in preparation of attempting a variety of macro shots with them as I work towards the macro contest for the photo group I am a member of that I want to enter.  I want to enter what I think would be extra great shots!  Well, after going back home for the weekend and of course taking my camera with me, when I went to get my card out of my card reader, I couldn't find it.  I pretty much leave my card in my card reader when I'm done downloading pictures from it each night and then just put it in my camera when I'm ready to use it. I have 3 or 4 cards but this one is my favorite.  I couldn't find my darn card reader either.  I've looked in my camera bag, my clothes bag (since I haven't completely unpacked yet) and everywhere else I could think I'd have put it.  Usually, I just keep it in my camera bag.  Since I lost my old card and unbearably slow card reader, I don't have a way to get my photos off of a memory card, even if I use one of my older less desired cards.

In my frustration, I just grabbed my phone and snapped a quick shot of the water that had condensed onto the clear lid covering my dinner.  I didn't have high expectations or anything but after taking only two shots, I really like the patterns and variety in this shot.  I like that it's dark on the outside edges and brightens as it moves towards the middle.  So, even though I wasn't able to do what I had planned, I was able to get a shot that I was pretty pleased with.  (In the meantime, please pray that I can find my darn card reader and favorite memory card) :-/

39-365 Josie Portrait

I didn't take a picture today.  This time change sucks.  I like the longer days but this particular time change always seems to be hardest for me to adjust to.  

Since I am pulling from the archives, I thought I'd share my most absolute favorite portrait I've ever taken.  I'm pleased with everything about this one.  I feel that the composition, exposure, softness and precious personality of this beautiful little girl.  I love it in black and white because of her dark hair and dark eyes.  This was taken in 2006 and her name is Josie.  Her mom used to babysit for and is also a great friend as well as her mom is to me.  We've known each other quite a while and I've been able to be a part of many of Josie's "firsts" along her first couple of years.  It's sad how time can separate people and though I still consider them great friends, we don't get to see each other so much these days.  Josie has a little sister and brother two that I've not gotten a chance to photograph due to the busy schedule I seem to never be able to reduce.  I hope that eventually that will change.  Hopefully before the little ones grow up and go to college.

I'm so thankful for EXIF data because even though this was quite some time ago, the digital file still has the shooting data.  The settings were: 1/100 sec, aperture F4.5, ISO 1250, focal length 40mm.

38-365a Toothpicks & 38-365b Grill Brush

I don't want any of my followers/friends/coworkers (ahemVICahem) to say a single word about cheating by using an archived photo once in a while or if I ever miss a day posting completely because I've posted double pictures on more that two occasions....as I will be doing this time...and the project only requires ONE per day!  ;-)

For the majority of the rest of this month, you will likely see a large number of macro pictures simply because there's a macro photo contest with our photography group for this months project.  I'll pick my two favorites sometime during the last week of the month to submit.

My first photo of today consists of a little brown cup that used to be my great grandmothers.  It's in a set with 3 matching little cups and a miniature pitcher.  They are about the size of shot glasses to be honest with you. ;-)  They are full of toothpicks and I didn't think this snapshot would end up as my photo of the day.

The settings for this shot were; Shutter Speed: 1/8 sec, Aperture: F3.5,  ISO 400, WB: Auto, Focal length: 60mm, Flash: not fired.

The following photo was taken while I was out cooking chicken and tuna on the grill.  I had also seen a really cool grill brush macro earlier this week in the same set of macro pictures I mention in a previous post this week.  I like the contrast between the red color (peeling off in some spots) and the grill bristles.

The settings for this shot were: Shutter Speed: 1/8 sec, Aperture: F3.5, ISO 400, WB: Auto, Focal Length: 60mm, Flash: not fired.

37/365 Pink Flowering Tree

I came up to see my mom and was so glad to see some of the trees were blooming here too.  The foliage in this area of the state is much more full and bountiful than it is out on the coast.  I can't wait to come up here once spring has really kicked into gear because the canopy trees like maples and oaks are gorgeous.  I may have to even take a trip up to the mountains for some waterfall hunting while the trees are bright green.  I think this tree is a cherry tree but I'm not completely sure.  It looks much bigger than what I had thought cherry trees grew too.  Anyway, it's the time of year to start taking pictures of the colorful flowers and soon to be greenery so you'll probably be seeing a lot of that from me in the coming weeks.

36/365 iPad 2 Sales

I was SO upset after calling Best Buy this afternoon about their iPad 2 sales and finding out that you had to go inside at 4:30pm and be given a ticket to go buy the thing at 5:00pm!  And on top of that the 3 stores that are selling them around here, don't even know which ones they are going to have in stock!  So...I really don't want to risk standing in a 3 hour line to "maybe" get the one I want.  (64GB Wifi + 3G)  I figured if the "release date" was March 11th, I'd logically be able to go get it in the morning when the store opened.  So, I came home and made a couple of calls where my mom lives just to make sure it's the same deal and it is.  Plus, my internet research confirmed the same thing.  I have been so excited all week and it's been the slowest week ever just because of that.  Now, I don't know when I'll get one because they don't allow pre-sales.  Guess I'll be getting up at 4am to order it straight from Apple.  If I wait til I get up in the morning...on my day off...I'm thinking it'll be sold out.  So...sorry for venting for this photo of the day but dang I'm NOT happy and I want everyone to know about it!  HA!  It'll be better tomorrow.  Maybe I'll throw in an extra update post after 4am to let you know if I got it ordered.  LOL!

35/365a Bubbles & 35/365b A Fork in the Road

I went to a website today that had some really cool macro photos and I wanted to try the bubbles one that I saw there.  My bubbles didn't look all cool and hexagonal like the photo I saw.  I pointed a green colored flashlight at the bowl that held my Dawn dish bubbles and took a couple of shots.  Here is the one that I ended up with.  I was kind of pleased with the final product.

The settings were shutter speed 1/30, F5.6, ISO 40, WB auto, focal length 60mm, no flash used.

After not being impressed with the bubbles and pretty much thinking I wasn't going to use one of those, I went on to other ideas.  Some of the ideas were crushed red peppers, salt and pepper, the rope hanging off of the bag of a Crown Royal bottle and a fork.  I wasn't impressed with the fork in the camera either but when I opened it up on the computer, I was quite happy with it.  I processed this one a little in Photoshop just to give it a little more character.  This was also and idea I had seen on this website I saw today.

The settings were: shutter speed 1/15 secs, aperture F5.6, ISO 400, WB Manual (about 5000K), focal length 60mm.

34/365 - No Cokaine

My coke can looked so pretty sitting on my table so I snapped a picture of it for today.  I'm starting to notice a trend in my project.  Most of my weekday shots are with my cell phone (though I do sneak a couple with my big camera too) and my weekend shots are with my big camera.  We had a meeting tonight so I forgot until I was sitting here on my computer that I hadn't taken a picture yet.  So...it's not something fancy but I did come up with a unique name...so that makes it okay that I didn't spend much time tonight on taking pictures, right?!?!  :-)

33/365 Jailhouse

I went outside this morning after my friend Tom got to work and told me that if I hurried I might could catch the sun coming up through the dead trees.  It did look pretty cool but I only had my cell phone (because I lug enough crap to and from work each day as it is) so I wasn't able to get a good photo of it.  When I was walking back around the main entry, I just happened to look up and I thought the building looked like a jail turret/guard house.  LOL!  Kind of funny that the building I work in 40 hours a week looks like a prison to me!  HAHA!  Anyway, I snapped this quick shot.  I did a little post processing to try to make it look a little more interesting.