Project 365, day 27

I know, I'm a bit slow with this lately but I have a good reason. We bought a house and we are spending five weeks redoing it before we move in. Between that and keeping up with the girls activities, things are a bit wild and many pictures aren't really taken for the project.

Last night, I committed a grave error and didn't bring my good camera to my daughter's baseball game. So, when she was put in to pitch for the first game ever, I was only manned with my iPhone to take pictures.

Thankfully, I was able to capture an interesting one, even at a a distance.

Project 365 - day 26

I took this picture at our local coffee shop on Friday.

Then, when making an avatar, it cut off part of the coffee cup - I thought it added an interesting look to the picture. I hadn't considered this until technology accidentally showed me another option. I may have to try this again when I go back.

Project 365 - day 25

The other day, it snowed. Yes, it's April. So, I took a few pictures as it was snowing. I like how this one captured the snow (this was not filtered through a window).

Project 365 day 24

The other day, I took picture during a dance practice. I was so happy with so many of the pictures I took. I chose this one because it didn't show faces but it shows amazing strength and movement.

Project 365 day 23

I call this one "Neighbors Meeting by the Fence."  Over the 6 mos we've been living here, Spots has gotten  used to the dog next door. She quickly ran to him when the dog came outside, then stalked towards him.

Project 365 day 22

Here are some pictures I took yesterday morning. I couldn't quite get the effect that I wanted, but I'm not sure what I really wanted. Maybe I needed to wait for the sun to come up a little bit more (but I was walking the fine line between sun reflecting off snow and sun melting snow). Maybe I needed to get the macro lens to change the focus. I'm not sure I'll have the chance to do this again -- depends on the spring snow.

Project 365 day 21

Yesterday evening, it snowed. This morning, I wanted to try to take some backlit pictures of the snow on the bushes before it all melted. I didn't like the way they came out. Later, glanced over and noticed my cat sleeping in the sun. She looked so cool with the halo of light that I went to grab my camera. Just as I started to focus, she jumped up and I was quick enough to capture this picture of her. Not what I intended to post, but fun.

Project 365, day 20

The house we are renting has a great yard for chasing birds (but perfect for the birds to escape before they become a trophy). . . and our cat loves to hunt.

Project 365 - day 19

This past weekend, we were in Denver for a skating competition. When we finished eating lunch, I looked up to see a great image of the Rocky Mountains. I wish the photo did the mountains justice, but this was the best I could accomplish. I did blur the edges some to reduce the look of the shopping center.

And in black and white to see if that would change the depth of field. I think it made it harder to see where the mountains ended and the clouds began once you changed from color to black and white.

Project 365 - day 18

A couple of weeks ago, I bought new blades for my ice skates. I decided to see how my skates would photograph.


I liked this photo because it really show the shape of the blade.

With this photo, I was trying to get a better photo of the teeth (the teeth and the rocker are the real advantages of the blade)

And the same photo in black and white because I wanted to see if it changed the definition of the teeth.

Project 365 - Day 17

The picture I took last Saturday of Spots (day 16) was the day she got sick. She managed to get a hold of some  of my sewing thread and ate enough to make herself sick. Monday she had emergency surgery to get the thread from her digestive system. Friday we brought her home. She still wasn't voluntarily eating, but everything thought that since she would eat some for me, that maybe it was just that she wanted to eat at home. Last night she started to eat kitty food. We still have to keep her from jumping on things for the next two weeks, but we (Spots and her sister cat included) are all happy she's home with us.

Project 365 - Day 16

I love the silhouette of a curious kitty. I think she was watching the dog next door.

Project 365 Day 15 - Twilight

I love the sunsets and sunrises here. Unlike when we lived in Michigan, we usually have clear skies that go forever.

Last night I went out to grill and was drawn to the sunset. I loved how the sunset was orange and pinks and the silhouette of the houses from the backlight and the sky was that deep blue to black with a single star in the sky.  It took me a minute to find a setting that didn't autoflash, and then realize the porch light was reflecting off the snow, and as I fixed all of those things the sun was still setting so I did lose a little of the effect, but I think it will be a cool picture once I get everything set and a tripod so I get rid of the shake.

The first picture was taken with the close-up setting (not that I meant to choose it, it just happened). It gave it an almost fisheye effect.

This one was taken with the landscape setting. I want to try this one again, maybe tonight, but with the camera stabilized and a few minutes earlier to get more of the pinks.

Project 356 - day 14

Our cats love to be outside. Because of the wildlife in our area, the cats aren't allowed to be outside unless we are watching them.  When I peeked outside to see what the cats were doing,  I saw Sparkles sitting up on a chair watching the sunset. Based on the reflection off the trailer, I'm guessing the flash went off when I took the picture. I'm thinking that is what created the reflection off the cats fur that outlines her, almost making it look like she was photoshopped into the picture.

Project 365 day 13 - Playing in the Extreme Cold

Last night, it was sub zero temps - actually it had been sub zero F all day. On our drive home from quilting,  we took a side road and saw a graduate student standing in the parking lot of a housing complex with a camera. Then saw his friend run out of the door holding a pot of water. The girls and I slowed the car down while we watched them throw the water into the air and saw it turn to snow and vapor.

Not surprising, the girls quickly asked if we could try that. Hey, we have to have some fun with the cold so we set the pizza aside and tried the experiment. The girls tried first and the water that fell on them froze before they could feel wet. Then DH tried:

Project 365 - day 12

Breakfast in our house usually involved two girls and one cat. They just looked too sweet this morning so I had to capture it.

Project 365 - day 11 - Pictures from a Car Window

The other day, we had to drive 2.5 hours to Denver to pick up the girls skates. Usually, while we are driving, I will see the most amazing scenery. Being on the interstate, we can't just pull over so I can take pictures, so I decided to just pick up my camera and see what happened (I couldn't open the window because we had some pretty decent gust of wind going (it's not unusual to drive in 40-60+ wind gusts.

One segment of our drive takes us through a mountain range.  It was quite a bit snowy and foggy:

I loved the way the clouds were swirling. They are obscuring the mountains a bit.

Project 365 - day 10

Yesterday I was trying to take a lovely picture of my pummelo. As I was trying to get a picture with my macro lens, I realized the cat was taking an interest in my fruit. So, I can't just post one picture, but the series.

Project 365 - day 9

I'm still posting pictures from this past weekend...which is probably good since I'm lacking motivation to take pictures at the moment.

Here is a sunrise picture I took from a friend's back porch in Denver.  The funny thing was, when I was taking the pictures I didn't think this picture had caputured the pinks of the sky as well so I took one from another angle that I thought was perfect. Once I loaded them, I discovered that this one was the best of the three. I love how the pink is reflecting off the house and how the sun is backlighting the pine needles of the tree.

Project 365 - day 8

This past weekend, the girls competed in a skating competition. I took a ton of pictures during the weekend, and I'm going to use these pictures over the next few days.

The pictures were taken from a distance, and the judges were on the opposite side of the rink so it was harder to catch the pictures I might have liked.

Practicing a backward crossover during warm up.

Practicing a snow plow stop during warm up.

Project 365 - day 7

I belong to a quilting group - quilting ministry actually. We make quilts for people who are sick or need love and support after losing a loved one. I tend to be pretty private about anything religious. So it took me a few weeks after learning about this group to decide to show up. But, I learned that while the group is based on the tenants of prayer, it's more a giving group than a religious group.

At quilting yesterday, I decided to bring my camera and see if I could capture the feeling of the group, the camaraderie, the feeling of peace that I get when I work with these women.

I missed noticing how the light in the background of the first picture would affect the overall affect. Playing with the color, adding black and white, and softening the edges seemed to help.

Project 365 - day 6

The other evening, we were celebrating my daughter's birthday. While I'm not sure I love this picture, I do love the joy in her face when she saw the picture my parents had sent her of her face superimposed in a Harry Potter uniform and holding Hedwig.  What I love most is that she couldn't decide which she was more excited over, the picture or the money that came with it. If you click on the picture, it should enlarge it so you can see her expression.

Quilt shop pictures

I was at the quilt shop and took pictures of a bunch of the fabric. These are two of my favorite pictures. I wish I could have gotten back just a little further from the sewing table, but the darn wall got in my way.

Project 365 - day 5

See day four published below this one.

Today, as we were driving home, we saw a herd of antelope eating lunch in a field. Since I had my camera with me, I pulled over and got a few shots. Some day, I'll read the book of instructions with my camera so I know what I'm actually doing, but for now, it's more 'point and shoot.'

I couldn't decide which picture I liked better...the one that shows that these antelope are hanging in a field in the middle of town or the one with the pretty mountains in the background that make it appear that I'm hiking in the wild.

Project 365 - day 4

I missed posting this yesterday, so you will get two posts today instead of just one.

I took two pictures I really liked. So, you get both for Friday's picture.

This was our sunset Thursday night. While it was not intentional, I like how the buildings are all in the shadows to help the colors of the clouds pop.

On an almost daily basis, we have a cat that comes to visit our house. Thankfully, the cats have only met each other without a house between them once (which resulted in a few scratches), but they do try to fight between the doors. This is our cat Spots showing her opinion of our guest.

project 365 - day 3

This picture was taken one evening as our cat decided to run out for one last tour of the yard to make sure everything was safe. Our cats had been indoor cats when we lived in Michigan, now they are pampered indoor/outdoor cats. They are allowed to go outside while we are home and as long as they don't leave the fenced yard. I quickly ran out without my coat to snap a few pictures of our little huntress. I also didn't have the right shoes to walk in snow, so my framing is a bit off. But, I love her focused attention on checking the yard to make sure it was free of the cat who visits sometimes.

I can't frame this one right, and the sun had gone down enough to change the lighting, but I love the way she has pounced on the snow.

365 project - day 2

We are currently renting a house this year. I'm not sure if its insulation or the way we are heating the house, but our bedroom window has ice crystals on it. I've been staring at them for several days - intrigued. I decided to try to take some pictures of them with my macro lens.

The first picture I took was the crystals filling the camera. It reminds me a bit of a frosted shower door.

By changing the angle, I captured the blue sky behind the ice crystals.

This was one of the first pictures I took. It really captured the definition of the crystals.

Project 365 - Day 1

A friend of mine is doing Project 365. When I learned I was getting a camera for Christmas, I decided that I was going to do this too. I'm not sure I'll make everyday, but I'm hoping to manage 3-4 times a week.

A friend of mine is doing it, and so it seems a great idea to do also.  Here is her explanation of the project: What is project 365.

Here is my first picture.  This is a sunset from our back yard.