A Quick Photo Share

I'm just posting a quick one today to update my space (it desperately needs it!)

This is my favorite photo from my family vacation in Myrtle Beach.   I just need to Photoshop out the light standards and it will be perfect to enlarge and hang on the bedroom wall.  I can't wait!

Signs of Spring

On a happier note, I wanted to share with you these pics of a 'friend' that came to visit me the other day. Imagine my surprise when I walked out the door to find this little gal (at least I think it's a female) in my porch hanging planter. She was so young, that she didn't even know to be afraid of me I guess, and I watched her for a good 10 minutes or so. I even had time to get the camera, and then the kids so that they could see her too. They thought it was pretty cool indeed.

At one point, the mother bird came around the corner to feed her, but the fact that we were all there scared her off. She then waited patiently nearby until her baby got up the courage to finally take flight. Not an experienced flyer yet, she had some trouble, but did manage to go about 20 feet to land atop the neighbours SUV.

{Photo-A-Day} Challenge Day 24

The topic for Tuesday was 'Me'.

I didn't have to take a self-portrait -- I could have used a shot of something that 'defines' me at this point in my life but I surprisingly went with option (1). Like most people I think, I generally loathe photographs of myself, so this one was tough for me. I wound up taking like 50 shots - but in the end settled on the first one. Here it is.

I actually liked this one enough that I switched my blogger profile pic! {I think the reason I like it is that I'm hiding behind the camera - lol!}

{Photo-A-Day} Day 23

The word for July 7 was FRESH. I was a bit late taking my photo (in fact I didn't take it until this morning), but here it is nonetheless. Unfortunately I couldn't photograph local produce because it's not quite ready here yet, but I thought these looked nice. I took the shot on macro mode, but manually adjusted the ISO to 1600 since it wasn't very bright in my kitchen this morning. I didn't use a flash, but still managed to capture some nice reflected light.

{Photo-A-Day} Days 17 thru 21

Wow, I am totally behind in posting these (and I got a bit behind this last few days taking pics too). I'm all caught up now though and ready for the week ahead. Anyhow, here is the recap. Day 17 -- The word of the day is SOFT. I shot tons of different things for this one, and finally settled on this. These are baby blankets that were crocheted for my kids when they were babies, and they are sooooo soft. They love them even today to snuggle up with every once in a while. Day 18 -- The word of the day is HAPPY. Coming up with the subject was easy (my kids), but getting a decent shot of the two of them, not so simple. This is the best one. Day 19 (lucky for me was a free day) -- and I say lucky, because like I said, I was getting a bit behind with my photos. Here is my son on his new bike. Day 20 (July 5) - another free day. I just loved this shot of my daughter peeking through the back of the hay wagon. Last but not least....Day 21 (July 6) - yet another free day. Since we all can't be happy all of the time, I've chosen this shot, also of my daughter, for today. She fell, and I just happened to have camera in hand to capture this expression. {and I promise, I only took this one shot before making sure that she was okay :) which she was.....of course, it just looks much worse.}

Fun with Night Photography

For the last couple of nights we've had lots of thunderstorm activity in my area. So, last night on a whim, I stepped outside with camera in hand to practice some night photography (something I struggle with). My husband thought I was crazy and just didn't 'get it', but I had fun....and that's all that matters right? As you might have experienced, night photography is tricky at the best of times, but I was trying to capture lightning --- even trickier yet as it is so unpredictable. I wasn't seeing actual bolts from where I sat, but saw lots of electric activity illuminating the clouds. All tolled I took 33 shots, and these ones are the only ones that were even remote keepers. I realize that the composition is terrible with the tops of vehicles and the hydro line in the frame, but nonetheless they look pretty cool (at least I think so). We're expecting more thunderstorms over the next few days too, so I'm going to try again for sure! Hopefully, I'll be lucky enough to catch and actual bolt next time. Perhaps I should be brave enough to venture away from the comfort of my front porch!