imagesisee

2012-02-14T02:52:00.000-05:00

Blue

29/365

The photo topic for the day is Blue.

Saturday some friends and I went on a hike to Manoa Falls. It didn't rain the day before, and it didn't rain that morning. The "falls" were just a trickle. But we had a fun time hiking the mile long, rocky, slimy trail together.

As we approached the trailhead, we saw these blue berries all over the ground. It's probably hard for you to tell how large they are because I didn't put anything in the image to show perspective, so you'll have to take my word for it that they are about 3/4" in diameter. The leaf they are resting on is about 9" from end to end. I decided to bring a bunch of them home with me so that I could make an image that was a little more creative than just shooting them laying scattered on the scruffy ground.

No one knew what they are, but they certainly fit the day's topic of blue.

2012-02-12T21:48:00.000-05:00

Another Attempt at Sunset

28/365

My friend and I thought we'd give it another go to photograph sunset. It was a bust. The color, although beautiful, only lasted a few minutes, and there weren't any clouds near the sun to reflect the color. But it didn't hurt at all being on the beach at sunset.

After the sun went below the horizon, I practiced with a slow shutter speed to try and get the water looking milky. Kind of successful. But it might require a few more nights being at the beach at sunset. I think I can bring myself to do that for art's sake.

2012-02-09T11:09:00.000-05:00

Head's Up

I'm sorry to have to go this route, but because of all the spam I'm receiving lately, I've enable the "comment moderation" function.

All comments that are left will be reviewed by me before they will be posted.

If you're a legitmate follower of my blog, please don't let this deter you from commenting. I love hearing from you.

2012-02-09T01:38:00.001-05:00

The Four of Us

27/365

The four of us went to Waioli Tea Room this morning for brunch. It's a cute little place with tables inside and out. Even though it was pretty chilly this morning, we opted to eat outside.

My meal--very yummy.

The other three ladies wanted dessert, so they brought the tray over so we could see what they had available. I was good--I didn't order dessert...

After taking Leah back to get her car, Betty and I headed up to Waimea Bay to see the waves. It was a beautiful day, but did I mention it was a little chilly? The waves were high, the sky was blue and the water was gorgeous.

AND, I struck paydirt! A vanity plate that wasn't from Hawaii, woot, woot.

Even though I didn't eat dessert at the Tea House, Betty and I stopped at the Dole Plantation and we had a Pineapple Whip (basically an ice-cream-type, pineapple-flavored soft serve. Yummy again.

2012-02-07T02:25:00.000-05:00

26/365

2012-02-05T22:22:00.001-05:00

Another Sunday Post

25/365

I certainly had no intentions of posting a second time today.

Last night my friend's son performed at a small venue on the North Shore. I didn't take my grown-up camera because I knew it would be dark by the time they began and I was sure I couldn't get any good images. Yikes!!! When will I ever learn?

Fortunately I had my amazing point-and-shoot with me. That baby goes up to 3200 iso. I had soooo much fun shooting with it. However....there's a huge amount of grain at such a high iso, and there's likely to be movement because even at that high iso, the shutter speed was slow. I shot away, knowing that I could apply some fun filters in photoshop that would somewhat disguise the grain.

I haven't had time to process more than these two images, but really, what fun!

You probably all know my resistance to manipulated images, but I offer these as "manipulated" images. No pretenses that they're straight from the camera. I don't object to that. I only object to those photographers who highly manipulate and then try to pass the images off as "straight".

Just tell the truth, people.

Be sure and click on the images (especially the second one) to see the fun effects.

2012-02-05T21:11:00.001-05:00

5 Plates

24/365

Well, I'm falling farther and farther behind this whole "365 day challenge", but, what the hey. It still keeps me thinking about taking photos, even if I don't do it.

I didn't take all these license plate photos on the same day. I just haven't gotten around to

posting them till now. So there ya go!

As seen on a PT Cruiser

As seen on a honkin' big truck, which, as far as I'm concerned,
should be illegal on this tiny island of Oahu where the
parking spaces are about as big as postage stamps.
I'm glad he's mo payn for that sucker of a truck!

2012-02-03T18:19:00.000-05:00

North Shore Waves

23/365

The waves on the North Shore have been very high this past week. When that happens, it's a "go" for the surfing competitions. I finally managed to get to one of them for a few hours. The traffic is usually very heavy and finding a parking spot is all but impossible.

But on that particular day, the stars all aligned nicely for me, and after 5 years I was able to sit on the beach during a surf competition. (cue in triumphal entry music)

2012-01-31T21:07:00.000-05:00

No Photo This Time

I don't have a photo to go with this post. This is a RANT!!!

If you do not have a comment about the posted photos or something I've written,

STAY OFF MY BLOG!!!

I AM ABSOLUTELY NOT interested in buying anything or advertising for you for nothing.

And you who posted the obscene info--did you not notice that I'm a Christian and am therefore not interested in anything related to perverted or immoral activities????

You may not like my stance on your issues, but I suggest you find

someone who is sympathetic to your moral agenda and advertise on their site.

There!!!

2012-01-29T23:37:00.000-05:00

Ko Olina Sunset

22/365

2012-01-28T20:12:00.000-05:00

Abort the Hike, On to Plan B

21/365

We were going to go for a hike today, but decided against it since it has been raining for the past two days and we were sure the trail would be wet, mushy, and slimy. Moving on to plan B we headed out to the windward side of the island, to a town called Laie (don't even try to pronounce it, I stumble over it ever time I try to say it). Anyway, at this one spot, there's an outcropping of a lava formation in the water with a small bridge structure. All-in-all, it's a beautiful place, although if you're not fishing, there isn't much to keep you there longer than a half hour or so. Still....who could resist?

Just up the road is Hukilau Beach--probably named in conjunction with the Hukilau Cafe. If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you'll remember I mentioned this place before. It's a cute little local breakfast place--7 tables little. The name was used for the cafe in "50 First Dates". An entirely new structure was built at the edge of the water for the movie, and when the movie was finished, the cafe was torn down--yikes.

After spending a little while at the beach we headed over to the Hukilau Cafe, but alas, it closed just as we arrived. So....moving on to plan B for the second time, we headed back to Haleiwa to have burgers at Kua Aina Burgers--one of our favorite places anyway.

Hooray for Plan B.

2012-01-26T12:50:00.000-05:00

Something You Made

20/365

My "home" for the next 3 months is a very small house (1200 sq feet). Needless to say, there isn't much room inside for anything extra. So when I borrowed a sewing machine to work on some projects, I had to give a lot of thought as to where I was going to set up my sewing area. There didn't seem to be any solution until I looked out the door at the lanai. Bingo!!!

So although I didn't really photograph "something I made", this is the area in which those "somethings" will be made. Not bad.

2012-01-23T21:54:00.002-05:00

Slacking

19/365

I'm sooo slacking on this 365 day photo challenge. But really, I have a good ~~excuse~~ reason. Well, it's kind of a good reason.

There's no wireless internet where I'm staying. I have to connect to an ethernet cable. The boy is homeschooled and is often on the cable, and the mom works from home much of the time and she's on the computer when she's working. (I'm spending a LOT of time at McDonalds and Starbucks...)

I'm out of the house a lot, a real lot. I've made about 4 copies of the topic list, but it never fails that when I'm out, each of the 4 lists is someplace else other than with me.

Okay--pretty lame ~~excuses~~ reasons, I know. I'll try to do better in the coming weeks.

The two topics I missed since posting "someone you love" are "reflection" and "your shoes" (both really, really simple topics, sigh). But for today, this is what you get.

The beach made famous in the classic movie "From Here to Eternity"

The topic for today is "something old". So consider this lighthouse "old". Now I'm caught up, hah. Let's see how it goes from here.

Lighthouse seen in the movie "50 First Dates"

2012-01-21T00:14:00.000-05:00

Someone You Love

18/365

Okay, so the only member of my family that I'm near is my daughter, and there was no way to see her today to take her picture. This is a picture she posted on fb that was taken with a phone, sheesh. One of the best pics of her, but taken with a phone!!! argh. Anyway, I cleaned it up and lightened it a little. It is what it is. And she is someone I love, good pic or not.

2012-01-19T23:02:00.000-05:00

Sweet

17/365

My all-time favorite winter fruit, luscious, SWEET naval oranges.

2012-01-18T21:41:00.005-05:00

Something You Bought

16/365

My friend, Julie, and I decided to take a trip to the North Shore today for Shave Ice. We traveled up the windward coast, stopping many times along the way to take pictures and talk story about cameras. It started out as a grey day that threatened to rain and be miserable. By the time we got out on the road, the clouds had cleared away, the sky was blue, clouds were puffy white, and the water was a spectacular azure color.

We arrived at Matsumoto's and got our Shave Ice. Now I can say I Have. Truly. Arrived. in Hawaii!!!

(We each only had one a piece, but we had to hold each other's while the pics were being taken)

2012-01-18T21:23:00.000-05:00

Water

15/365

(Just a little explanation--I decided to keep track of how many posts I do, so the number above reflects how many posts I've made compared to 365 days of the year. So...even though today is the 18th, I've only posted 15 times [actually less than that, but I'm not going to recalculate])

2012-01-16T23:43:00.000-05:00

Morning

14/365

Need I say anything?

2012-01-15T22:05:00.002-05:00

Happiness

13/365

As with most words, there are several definitions for the word "happiness". The one I'm using here is: good fortune, pleasure, contentment, joy. An explaination below the definiton in the online dictionary states: it results from the possession or attainment of what one considers good.

In my adult life, I've know one mom who would rather have cut off her hand than take her children to Disney Land. Too commercial, too worldly, too cliche. But she's the only one I ever met that felt that way. Everyone else either did manage to take their kids to one of the Disney wonderland at least once, or always dreamt of it. So, in a way, I guess you could define the experience of being there as happiness.

Here on Oahu there's a Disney Resort, as I mentioned in my previous post. Not a theme park. It's beautiful! Right on the beach! There are Disney Characters walking around, they offer a Character breakfast (at breathtaking prices I hear), and I think there are other "events" on the grounds. I'll find out more later.

My daughter is a waitress there. I think that's happiness for her, at least for now.

Watching sunset from the lanai of the restaurant.

A small chapel on the grounds. There was a bride on the beach having her photo taken.

Kind of like something you'd see on TV.

I have to confess--I didn't take these shots today. Church took up a large part of the day, and right now I have no inspiration for the topic. I told you I'm not good at conceptual ideas.

2012-01-15T13:00:00.000-05:00

Falling Behind

12/365

I'm way behind on this "daily challenge" thing. Several reasons: 1) the flight to Hawaii, 2) being very busy since I arrived here, and 3) probably the most important--I have limited-to-no access to the internet. Of course, #3 doesn't have anything to do with whether I take the photo for the day or not, but it sounds like a good excuse, so I'm gonna use it!

This first image is of a ~~mail box~~ letter box. That was the suggested theme about a week ago, but when I saw this, I just had to post it. So cute. I saw this on the grounds of Aulani Disney Resort.

A few days ago the theme was close-up, but I was traveling and was ccompletely uninspired. This is part of a center piece on the tables in the outdoor dining area of Aulani. They really are live flowers even though they're so beautiful they look fake.

Part of the Aulani Resort.

The beach at the resort.

And then, just a couple of funky plates.

2012-01-11T17:01:00.000-05:00

Where You Sleep

11/365

No funny story about this post, except that minutes before I took this picture, my room looked like there had been an explosion. I always marvel that when I'm getting ready to pack, everything that is spread out on the bed and floor actually does fit into the two suitcases and doesn't exceed the weight limit of 50 lbs. (To be really honest though, I shipped two very heavy flat rate boxes instead of packing the contents into my suitcases). It just occured to me that I should have documented that process of the chaos on the bed and then the two prim & proper suitcases. Next time.

On another happy note, back at the beginning of Oct I went on the Nutri-system program with the hopes of losing 25 lbs by the end of Dec. Well, that didn't happen, but I'm happy with the 13 lbs I lost. Woot, woot.

2012-01-10T21:54:00.005-05:00

Childhood

10/365

I had several ideas for this topic--which in itself is quite a miracle because I don't usually have any ideas for the topics. But I was unable to execute any of them during the day. I knew I was going to my grandson's bb game tonight, so I figured I'd use an image from the game. You don't usually think of JV players when you think of "childhood", but really, in the big scheme of things (living to 80-90 years), a 16-year-old is still in the stage of life referred to as "childhood".

Now for my rant. Before leaving the bb game for the hour drive home, I decided to visit the loo. I usually head for the handicap stall, not because I'm handicapped, but because there's sooooo much more room. Well, once again I faced the all-too-frequent logistic predicament found in all-too-many ladies' rooms.

The commode was about 3 inches from the wall--really, what's that all about? The stall is almost as big as a small bedroom, but the commode is jammed up against the wall. If you sit down too fast and your shoulder accidentally touches the wall, you practically rebound off the seat.

Okay, then it's time to get the t-paper. Well, that in itself, is an adventure, because invariably the dispenser is located so far down the wall that it's almost impossible for me, who isn't handicapped, to get the paper. What in the world do the "handicapped" people do? You practically tip yourself off the seat while bending over to grab the paper. And if there isn't a little "tail" of paper to grab onto, you have to go on a search & rescue mission, hoping that you don't land on your knees before being able to clean up.

All I can say is, men must design those arrangements, cause a woman certainly wouldn't subject herself and her fellow-women to that kind of indignity. hmmmph

2012-01-09T20:03:00.002-05:00

Daily Routine

9/365

I've been trying to figure out how to label my posts since I began this 365 day Photo-a-Day challenge. I think I finally hit on the way I'm going to do it. Each post will be titled by the topic of the day, suggested by fat mum slim (Jan 6) . And under the title will be the day's number/365. Not exactly rocket-science, and I can't even say I came up with the idea on my own. But it's a good idea, it will provide continuity and most importantly, it's easy enough for me to remember from one day to the next.

I do the dishes as my daily routine. Well.....if the truth be told, maybe not every day. But often enough to call it a daily routine.

Even the dishes look pretty good in HDR.

Oh, by the way, my plane leaves at 5:15 am on Thurs, so I actually have only two more days till I fly off to Hawaii. Woot, woot!!

2012-01-08T16:52:00.001-05:00

Day 8 Challenge

"Your Sky"

It's about 30 degrees with some blowing wind. Even so, we occasionally get a nice sunset around here. The straight shot, not so great. The HDR, pretty tolerable.

I was only out there for about 10 minutes. Needless to say, I didn't belabor the issue. I could have worked the composition and location, but 10 minutes was long enough for me. I'm so NOT a winter photographer. (of course, being dressed properly would have helped quite a bit...)

Tomorrow's challege: Daily Routine. Anyone want to jump in? Leave me a link to your

blog so I can check out your image.

2012-01-07T23:16:00.001-05:00

Photo a Day Challenge, Day 7

"Favorite"

Jacob just turned 9. Tonight was his party. He's my "favorite" 9-year-old grandson, and his sister is my "favorite" 7-year-old granddaughter.

The party was chaos. The dad and the uncles wrestled with all the boys (there must have been 50 6 of them) right in the middle of the room where everyone was trying to talk--not in the completely empty other room. hmmmm. I'm too old for this.

I've noticed that my photography skills are deteriorating at an alarming rate. I think I'll blame my equipment, or maybe the chaos, or maybe the lack of cooperation of my subjects. And if you believe that, I have a bridge in the middle of Arizona to sell to you. Sigh!

2012-01-06T20:17:00.002-05:00

Photo-A-Day Challenge, Day 6

"Makes You Smile"

Getting a head start on Christmas 2012 makes me smile. Last year I got hooked on making quilted totes. I lost track of how many I made. This year, as Christmas drew closer and closer and no handmade projects reared their heads, I despaired of having something creative to give as gifts.

About three weeks before Christmas this year, a friend showed me a table runner that she had made. Eureka!!! I found my project, but it was too late to make them for this year. No worries. Now I have an entire year to make my gifts for next Christmas. I'm psyched....and I'm smiling.

Want to join in on the Photo-A-Day-Challenge. Click here.

2012-01-05T20:38:00.000-05:00

Something You Wore

My favorite kind of footwear. (not talking about the brand...)

2012-01-04T23:31:00.001-05:00

Lettebox

The photo challenge for the day was "letterbox". fatmumslim is from the UK, so I'm guessing that is referring to what we call, the mailbox.

Couldn't find one that was interesting enough and I thought I'd have to miss a day already, but when I arrived at Morrette's for dinner with my photo group, I noticed these cute minatures on their Christmas display.

It's not a ~~mailbox~~ letterbox, but pretty close.

Tomorrow the challenge is "something I wore". Now that should be easy, right? The operative word is "should". Knowing me, I'll convolute it in my head and make it much harder than it should be. Go to photographer mum to see what she posted.

2012-01-03T22:26:00.001-05:00

Something You Adore

The suggested topic for the day.

Yikes, how I hate abstract. You might not think that's an abstract idea, but to me it is. My kids are gone, there isn't much left that I "adore".

But.....almost as soon as I began thinking about what to photograph, this wallet came to my mind. Now seriously, I don't adore, adore it, but it kind of makes me giddy. Pathetic, I know. Wait! A little background might redeem me from being consigned to the "totally frivolous" camp.

A loooong time ago I bought myself a spiffy leather wallet that I really liked. Over the years it began to ~~self-destruct~~ fall apart and for at least the past 3 years, I've been on the lookout for another that I would enjoy as much. My daughter asked for a particular Christmas gift from the Fossil store and while I was there I spied this cute wallet. I thought the style would suit my needs and I love the color. Ergo, a new wallet that makes me giddy.

2012-01-02T22:42:00.002-05:00

The Past Couple of Days

For the past couple of days I've been thinking about what a slacker I've been about posting on my blog. I don't make New Year's Resolutions, but I thought that Jan 1 would be a great time to begin posting an image a day for a year.

As some of you know, a few friends and I did that a few years ago. Most of the time it was pretty agonizing, although, ultimately, very rewarding. Well, in her Dec 19 post, fat mum slim has challenged her readers to the very same activity, but she's added a nice twist. She's posting a topic for each day as a suggestion.

Today is Jan 2, and I didn't post yesterday, so there ya go. I've already blown the 365 thing. And since it's late at night and I just found fat mum slim's list, it's too late to do her suggestion.

So here's my pic for the day. The only vanity plate I could find in a parking lot full of cars.

2011-12-30T23:09:00.000-05:00

Playing Catch-Up

I haven't been blogging much lately. Don't know why. Could be because I'm busy. Could be because I'm in a funk. (holidays do that to me) Could be because I'm not taking too many photos and I don't like to post without photos. Who knows.

Anyway, this post is an effort to catch-up a little.

My older daughter's birthday is Dec. 24. So on Sat, Caleb and I went over there to give her her presents. Out of the clear blue, someone suggested we go bowling. So we did.

I hadn't been bowling in more years than I could remember, and believe me, it was totally obvious from my scores. But it was great fun.

Caleb has a great hook and managed to get quite a few strikes...

My birthday girl and her family.

Awesome son-in-law and grandkids!

Moving on. Before Caleb came home I asked him if he'd put down a new floor in my bedroom. This is the result. It was painted plywood before. The walls will have to wait to be painted until I return from Hawaii in the spring.

Moving on again. My husband and I usually drink about 1 cup of coffee each a day. Even with a small 4-cup coffee brewer, I wound up throwing some of it away. I like decaf sometimes, he doesn't. He likes flavored sometimes, I don't. I like bold brew all the time, he doesn't.

It was becoming quite a conundrum. Enter the KEURIG coffee maker. Exit all the problems. This gadget is awesome! Makes one cup at a time--no waste. Everyone can have their own coffee brew & flavor. Or tea. Or hot chocolate. Or hot cider. There is Half & Half (1/2 caf, 1/2 decaf) which is the way I often mixed my grounds. There are all different kinds of tea. There is Brew Over Ice for Iced coffee. It's such a kick. I even wound up giving two for Christmas presents.

Moving right along. Today we went to lunch at a local restaurant with some folks from church. The pastor we had for 16 years, and who moved away to take another pastorate about 10 years ago, was in town. They figured the best way for a group of people to visit with him and his wife was to meet at a restaurant. It was a great time, and the food was yummy.

Dave and Janet and my good friend, Jean (middle).

So, you'd think that I never used a camera... I never gave a thought to checking the ISO before I handed the camera to the waitress to take this photo. Sure enough, it was on 1600 for goodness sake. Kind of overkill for a flash picture. The reason I even mention it is because the high ISO makes flash pictures grainy, and the image has been cropped, which tends to make grainy pics even granier. Doesn't make any difference here on the blog, but for printing purposes it's less than ideal. Will I ever learn????

And now for the finale. Caleb was home for almost two weeks, after being gone for 2 1/2 years. In that time I saw him for a week when I went to Alaska for a visit, and for 15 minutes when I flew with the dog and met him at the Fairbanks airport.

On Thursday evening we drove him back to Syracuse to meet up with his good friend, James. They left on Friday morning for their drive back to Florida so they could arrive in time for New Year's Eve services at their church. Wonder how long it will be till next time?

13 days till I leave for Hawaii. Woot, woot!

2011-12-23T20:47:00.000-05:00

Random

A couple of license plates.

The Scrabble game. Need I say it? I lost!

2011-12-18T19:57:00.001-05:00

He's Home!

So, early this morning we grabbed our coffee (and that's another story in itself), jumped into the car and headed off to Syracuse to collect our baby boy for the holidays. He arrived at his friend's house in the wee hours of the morning after driving all night from Florida. We met him at his friend's church.

Soooo good to see him. It's been 2 1/2 years since he left for Alaska. I spent one week with him the summer after he left, and then about 15 minutes with him last winter when I delivered the dog to him at the airport. See post for April 30, 2011.

Since then, he's temporarily relocated to Pensacola, FL to attend the Bible institute there, so getting back to NY is a lot easier than it was when he was in Alaska.

2011-12-17T21:33:00.000-05:00

The First Game

Well, another grandchild has joined the ranks in the basketball world. Jacob played his first-ever game this morning. The team was made up of a mixture of 3rd & 4th graders. Several of the 4th graders played last year, but it was the first game for Jacob and most of the other 3rd graders. It was very impressive.

I think there are going to be some really good ball players coming out of this group of boys.

Jacob was so cute yesterday when I was asking him about the up-coming game.

Jacob: I love basketball. If there's a flat surface and a basketball hoop, then I'm there playing basketball.

Me: I didn't know that, I didn't know you liked the game so much.

Jacob: I play with Mace (his older brother who has been highlighted in this blog in past posts) as much as I can.

Me: That's great that you like the game so much.

Jacob: Yup--Mace taught me everything I know. (Jacob is 8--"taught me everything I know" cracks me up).

It will be a lot of fun watching him grow into the game as he gets older.

Once again--camera was on 3200 iso and I still got movement and soft images. I didn't want to use flash. I was afraid it might be distracting to the boys. But what I got is better than nothing.

2011-12-12T17:10:00.001-05:00

Shutterfly Book

A couple of weeks ago a blogger friend (she) passed along the code for a free 7x9 soft-cover book from Shutterfly. All I had to do was contact five other friends on behalf of Shutterfly, and the book was mine. Whoopie!

I already had the images sorted from my trip to Denali Park, Alaska this past Fall, so I quickly edited them and got them into the template. I only had a few days to design the book, so I wasn't able to label the images or be more creative with my text, but I'm happy I made the book.

My book arrived today. I definitely recommend shutterfly.

2011-12-08T21:40:00.002-05:00

Another BB Game

Another basketball game. Ok, ok, I promise not to post any more. I just wanted to post this one to show that even my big-boy camera doesn't do the game justice in the gym. Or maybe it's me. Not sure.

Anyway, I cranked the iso up to 3200 and still needed the flash. Argh! I can't quite figure out what's going on. I remember taking BB pics a couple of years ago and they were great. hmmm Maybe the gym was brighter.

So this was a good game. Long story short: the team was waaaayyyy behind during the first quarter, but they caught up nicely, and then managed to win. Woot, woot!

Grandson made about 7 baskets during the game. Not that I'm bragging or anything.
He spends a lot of time in the air.

2011-12-05T17:54:00.000-05:00

I Succumbed!

Last year and the year before, I had a severe case of "grinch"-itis. No Christmas tree, no decorations, no joy. Oh, I still appreciated the "reason for the season"--the birth of Jesus, but my heart wasn't into all the "stuff" that goes along with the worldly part of the holiday.

For about 10 years I've been threatening to get an artificial tree. While the kids were still home, it was too much of a hurdle to go against their protestations. But alas, they grew up and left. And still I didn't get the tree.

Not far from here there's a funky little gift shop called "The Garden Bug". If I had my druthers, my entire house would be decorated with the things that are sold there. I was visiting the shop the other day when I discovered the exact artificial tree I had been looking for and didn't even know it.

So I succumbed. I bought one. It's perfect. It's small, but not too small, full but not too full, and it even came with the lights. It fits in front of the bay window, the place where I've always wanted to put the tree but a real one was usually too big. Bingo!

I may put some other decorations on it, but then again, I may not. I have a few red bows that I used to use in days gone by and they might be just the right touch. Gotta give this some thought.

I do, however, have to spend a few minutes rearranging the lights near the bottom of the tree, but other than that, it's making my heart sing. (that may be a little melodramatic, but that's my story and I'm stickin' to it).

Another image from my foray to the High School football field the other day.

2011-12-04T22:34:00.000-05:00

Indoor Soccer?????

My friend's son plays soccer. Soccer season is over. At least I thought it was over. She told me the boy plays indoor soccer every Sunday night. "What!?!?", I said. hmmmm, I didn't know there was such a thing.

So, of course, I just had to attend one of his games, camera in hand.

They play the game in a completely enclosed court (just like racket-ball), playing the ball off the walls. So it's a much faster and intense game than when played outdoors.

And of course, the lighting is less than stellar, you have to shoot through glass (reinforced with black wire in the shape of diamonds, like chain link), you have to deal with reflections on the glass, and crazy lighting on the court. So all in all, it's a challenge.

Solution? Crank up the ISO to 3200 (which I've never had the nerve to do before), open the apeture as wide as it will go and pan as much as possible, hoping to get something near decent. Fortunately this was sheer practice.

I managed to get a shot of the boy before he went onto the court.

I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the images with such a high ISO. Cameras sure have come a long way in the past couple of years.

Yesterday I went out for a little while in the hopes of finding something to photograph. For some reason I thought of the football field at the high school. I haven't processed any of the others, but I love this one.

HDR rocks!!~!!!!!

2011-12-02T22:24:00.001-05:00

Decorating and Cookies

The first weekend of December is when our church gets decorated for Christmas. This year it was combined with the cookie baking and packaging by the teens. The cookies will be distributed to the neighborhood families along with an invitation to attend our Carol-sing a week from now.

We cranked up the Christmas music and did the decorating and cookies. Some of the cookies were already made, some were baked on-site by the teens.

Decorating is not my strong suit. I do little-to-none in my house, but as the saying goes, "many hands make light work". We finished in record time, and then I cajoled everyone to go into the kitchen (the brightest room in the church--and isn't the kitchen the heart of the house for any family?) for a group shot. And, unlike trying to get my biological family together for a group photo, NO ONE COMPLAINED!!! Be still my heart.

Amazingly I didn't eat a single cookie. This dieting through the holidays is working out great. I'll be a few pounds down by the end of Dec.

Funny thing is, I brought my tripod to church specifically so I could join the group in the photo. When I said, "okay, we're done", I realized I hadn't gotten into any of the shots. But people scattered the instant I said that, so there was no getting them back together. Sigh.

2011-12-02T16:02:00.000-05:00

Morrette's Again

Every Wed night (or at least almost every Wed night) from Oct-Ap I attend a photo meeting. Part of the fun of going to the meeting is that some of us meet for dinner ahead of time at a place called Morrette's. This probably isn't new news to most of you since I've talked about this many times before.

Anyway, when I arrived at the restaurant last Wed, I took out my point and shoot and began taking pics right away. I don't know why. I don't usually do that, but for some reason, I was motivated. These images were all made without flash and without a tripod, so I had to secure the camera to the table in order to keep it steady enough.

None of these can be used to sell or for stock because of the brand name that's showing, but making images like these reminds me that there's always something to photograph. I'm so happy that I can be so easily amused too.

2011-11-29T21:47:00.000-05:00

The Basketball Game

Well, high school basketball season has begun. Tonight was the first game I was able to attend. However, I made a really bad decision when with my camera of choice for the event.

Once there, however, it was a done deal and I had to make the best of it. Highest iso on the camera, which created noise, and horrors of horrors, I had to use my flash. On-camera flash in a gym is almost as bad as trying to take photos of the moon with a flash.

Anyway, grandson #1 was a starter and played for most of the game (until he got hurt in the 4th quarter). So even though the images are not great, or even "as good" as many of the others I've taken in past years, they're tolerable and definitely record the event.

Note to self: Don't be so lazy next time--get the big-boy camera ready ahead of time so there are no excuses...and no regrets.

2011-11-24T22:03:00.000-05:00

A Mixed Bag

Thanksgiving 2011. A mixed bag of a day.

I started the day by watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Almost from the very beginning to the very end. A first for me. Usually I'm in the kitchen cooking and organizing, but not today. Today we were scheduled to have dinner at my daughter's, and wonder of wonders, she was going to do the cooking. I did, however, make a pumpkin pie this morning, and a cheesecake last night as my contribution and planned on going to her house early to "help" with the preparations.

But I digress. As Santa made his way along the parade route, signaling the end of the parade, one of the MCs said, "and here's a shout-out to M___ M____. He's been tweeting us all morning, so I'm giving a shout-out to him". The name he said was my grandson's name. I immediately texted the boy, but he didn't text back, which I thought was odd.

When I arrived at his house the boy denied that he had been texting the MC. Now, my grandson has a very unique name, and I find it hard to believe that there's another person by that name, but that's exactly what must have happened. Very weird.

So we proceeded to get ready for dinner.

And then there was dessert.

Backing up a little... Several weeks ago my daughter decided that they just had to have another dog after their other dog passed away unexpectedly and quickly. After doing some research, they found a family they know whose dog had a litter of Golden Retrievers that were almost ready to leave home.

Logically (???) they decided to go get the puppy today, because having a house-full of people on Thanksgiving Day wouldn't be hectic enough. The puppy, named Bella, is adorable though.

After dinner, the ladies spread out the sale fliers and plotted their course for their night of shopping. Yup, they were heading out by about 8 pm to shop till they drop--dragging themselves home by dawn's early light tomorrow morning. Oi vey!! Better them than me.

So ended the wonderful "mixed-bag" day. It was a good one. Much to give thanks for.

2011-11-22T17:54:00.001-05:00

BusssssTed!!

The other day I saw a really cute license plate on a parked vehicle as I was walking along the street, but I didn't have my camera on me, so I couldn't get the pic. The plate said:

4MY2DOGS

and it was on a large SUV type vehicle. I thought it was great, although I'm not sure I would own such a gas-guzzler just for my dogs. But each to their own, I guess.

Today, after a long hiatus, I found a plate on a car in a parking lot. Now, one of the things I'm always a little nervous about is the thought that the owner of the car I'm photographing will come marching along just as I click the shutter. So far, this hasn't happened. Really though, what could they say? "You can't do that, it's private, it's my property, it's personal". The answer in my head is always something like, "seriously! you paid good money for this vanity plate, you put it on your car, you drive your car around hill and dale for all the world to see, and then you say I can't take a photo of it?"

Well, that's all in my head, cause I've never been caught. Until today that is. Today I was bussssTed! I heard the footsteps behind me, and then a woman's voice saying, "can I help you?" Oh, ick!!! So I smiled and said, "Oh, I just like to photograph funky license plates". She.....smiled back and said, "I've had the same plate since I was 16". We had a short pleasant conversation and as I was leaving she said, "enjoy!"

So, even though it's not the most creative / imaginative plate I've seen, it is cute and I love that she's had the same plate all these years.

2011-11-19T21:55:00.001-05:00

It's Pretty AmAZing

Today is Saturday. For the first time in a long time, I didn't have any commitments for the entire day. Even though I was happy about that, I did have several moments of wondering what I could/should do. Not that I don't have things that NEED to be done around here, but they aren't necessarily things I WANT to do. So I basically took the day off from the "needs" and did the "wants" . Visited a friend, took an unfruitful trip to the fabric store, came home, baked, took a long walk, ate lunch, sewed a quilt square, finished a book (The Summons by John Grisham--very, very good btw), and then played with some images in photoshop.

It's pretty amazing what one can accomplish when one ignores the TV for an entire day.

2011-11-17T11:06:00.004-05:00

The Anniversary

For the past 16 years I've been a member of The Schenectady Photographic Society. It's a great group. I've learned a lot, made some good friends and had some good times, both at the meetings and on the fieldtrips conducted by the group. We meet once a week from Oct-April. The club conducts competitions, tutorial sessions, and brings in speakers. This November was the 80th Anniversary of the Society. Whew!

I'm sure there are clubs throughout the country that are older than ours, but in our local area, our group has survived longer than most of the others that once existed. So last night we celebrated that perseverence.

The next image is of the president and a group chairperson having a discussion before the meeting began.

There were several displays around the room of historical type objects--plate glass negatives, old newspaper articles about the club, old annual reports, and then there were these black & white images. I was showing someone the neat fish-eye function on my new point and shoot when I took this image.

Two of the long-standing members (50 years) were recognized and gave a kind of town-meeting presentation. Did I take pics of them??? No. What was I thinking?

At the close of their presentation, they showed a couple of short photo essays they had created years ago when most people were still shooting slide film. Recognize these contraptions?

It was a nice meeting, a nice walk down memory lane and a nice way to celebrate the anniversay of the Schenectady Photographic Society. If you're interested in seeing what's going on with the group, click here to go to the website.

This morning I went into the bathroom, only to find Bella in one of her favorite resting places. Cats are so funny.

2011-11-09T09:34:00.006-05:00

Great Christmas Cards

A few weeks ago, a blogger friend pointed me in the direction of this website. tinyprints.com

They're currently running a special for anyone who is willing to talk about the products for them on their blog. The promotion is:

Talk about their product and you'll receive 50 free Christmas cards.

It's that easy. Below are my two favorites. I love the circle card because the recipient can use it as an ornament and ~~maybe~~ probably save it for future years.

The rectangular card is just so classy. I love the sentiment, and it comes in three different background colors.

There are directions for the specs on the image(s) you choose to put on your card. Everything is very user friendly... and there is a large selection of shapes and sizes and colors of cards and their prices are truly reasonable.

It's never too early to start thinking about your Christmas card list, so head on over there and check them out. If you're interested in participating in the promotion, click on this sentence

Have fun!!Have fun!Have fun!

2011-11-08T20:55:00.000-05:00

Just a Little Practice

I attended a photoshop class last week. Tonight I spent some time trying to remember what I learned. This is a 6x6 card--completely incompatible with any envelopes that I'm aware of, but remember, it was just practice. So fun...

2011-11-06T21:19:00.000-05:00

It's That Time Again

Christmas is on the way, and it's that time again. Time to fill a shoebox that gets distributed to third-world and underprivileged children all over the world. An organization called Samaritan's Purse, begun by Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham, is responsible for collecting and distributing the boxes.

My church has been participating in this project for several years. This morning the youth group showed a short promotional video about "Operation Christmas Child". It brought tears to my eyes.

The idea is to fill a shoebox with "gifts". Things like pencils, crayons, small toys or suffed animals, toothpaste, hair accessories, coloring books, hard candies, etc--anything that will fit in the box. Each box can be designated by age group and gender. Add a small, pre-determined financial contribution to help cover shipping and you're good to go.

I look forward to this every year. It's so much fun walking around the store, imagining the excitement of the child who will receive my box. It's such a small thing, but it means so much to the children.

This year I got a head-start on filling my shoe box. I had the foresight to buy some goodies when the stores were offering their back-to-school sales in late August. A number of years ago I heard a saying at one of my photography marketing classes. "Money spent is money forgotten". So now that I've "forgotten" the money I spent on those sale goodies, I get to go out and buy some more for a second shoe box!

I'm psyched.

2011-11-05T15:08:00.000-04:00

Just a Few Patterns

About a month ago I bought myself a new point-and-shoot camera. Did I need it? No. Should I have bought it? Probably not. But this particular camera is getting amazing reviews and does amazing things. So, not usually one who has to have the newest and best of technology, I bought it anyway. I think this is probably the last point-and-shoot I'll need to purchase for a very, very long time.

Anyway, after reading the cameral manual, I discovered how to use some of the fun functions it has. One of them is a built in, modified fish-eye effect. Oh joy!

This past week, on a beautiful sunny, warm Fall day, my husband made arrangements at a tire shop for them to put some snow tires on my car. So I took the car down to the shop and spent some pleasant time standing around waiting for the job to be done. After a little while, though, I started getting a little antsy, but then I finally remembered the camera in my purse, set it on the fish-eye function and had some fun making images of the tires in the shop.

Yeah, I know. Pathetic, but I was pretty intrigued by the myriad of patterns on different tires. Just remember, these were taken with the fish-eye function. The tires aren't really deformed or damaged.

2011-10-30T20:32:00.000-04:00

Small World

There are times when I feel like my world is very small. I live in a very small town in a very small part of NYS. I attend a church with a small congregation and I have a small circle of friends. The towns I live nearest are small. Although the school my children attended is a Central School, it's not large because we live in the middle of farm country where the population is not large. I was a stay-at-home mom most of the time I was raising children. I don't like or pay attention to politics or world events, so I impose much of the small-mindedness I'm guilty of on myself.

All this to say: today I attended a Comic Book Convention in Albany. I'm constantly surprised at the things that other people are interested in. Who would have thought that there would be Conventions for Comic Book addicts?? Not only are there vendors who sell old Comic books & the artists (amazing artists) who draw the comics, but there are those who dress up as their favorite characters from the comic books--much like the Civil War and French & Indian War re-enactors do. It's an entire industry, for goodness sake!

Never having been to one of these events, I don't know if the venue was typical--good or bad--but I was wishing the entire time that there was some kind of solid wall or backdrop against which to photograph the characters. But alas, there wasn't. It was what it was, and I had to make the best of it.

There was another room dedicated to playing games. Some folks were being taught how to play, some were actually playing the game. Below are two game pieces. The pieces average about 3/4 inch high and are hand painted. Now that's dedication and determination!

2011-10-27T18:27:00.000-04:00

Clean Windows

At the beginning of this week, on a balmy sunny afternoon, I got motivated to clean the living room windows. It's always a relief for me when I finish that task. I'm not good at cleaning windows and I find it a frustrating job so I procrastinate for long periods of time before I buckle down and do the deed.

It's really a good thing that I cleaned the windows when I did, because now they're nice and clean, so I can have a really clear view of the SNOW THAT'S FALLING (*&%##@!!*) right now. Wouldn't want to miss one flake... It's not even Halloween for goodness sake!

I wanted to get a shot of the snow on the pumpkins on the back porch through the screen, but the camera kept focusing on the screen and not the pumpkins. I was going to trash the pictures, but when I put them on the computer I thought they looked kind of interesting. I'm not planning on entering a competition or anything with them, but I think they're fun enough to post here.

By the way, I spent some time checking flights to Hawaii this afternoon.

2011-10-25T22:14:00.000-04:00

A Twelve Hour Day

A few weeks ago I was surfing blogs and I came across one blogger who had posted 10 images from one day. The images were made one per hour, on the hour, throughout the day. The challenge is to take the photos wherever you are and whatever you're doing on the hour. I thought that was a pretty interesting concept and I decided I wanted to try it. The tricky part was remembering to begin the process early enough in the day that I wouldn't have to stay up till 1 am to take my last photo.

So yesterday I began early enough (8 am). None of these are earth shattering or even the slightest bit creative. But I did it. In order to remember (because that's part of the tricky part), I set the timer on my cell phone to ring every hour. So at one point I was in the bank, chatting with the tellers, when someone's alarm went off. I continued chatting, ignoring the alarm until I finally realized it was mine. I'm pretty hopeless sometimes.

Anyway, here's the journey through my day. I got so into the routine that I wound up with 13 images.

I'd like to try this again, but the next self-challenge will be to make the images just a wee bit more creative.

2011-10-24T14:36:00.000-04:00

Inspiration and Determination

A few weeks ago I decided that I had had enough of being overweight. No matter what I tried on my own, I wasn't able to lose a pound--mostly because I didn't stick to what I was doing. And as we all know, the ~~older~~ more mature one gets, the harder it is for one to lose the weight.

So I got inspired and determined. I decided to go on nurtri-system. I did it for a month last year and lost a nice bit of weight. I'm giving myself three months to do it this year. (if I can persevere, that is...this is NOT fun!)

Anyway, one of the bloggers that I follow (she-she-says.blogspot.com) challenged her followers to join her in her quest to be more careful about what she's eating and to shed a few pounds. It's nice to have someone to be accountable to. But just so you know, as I sit here writing this, I'm gnawing on my finger and ~~dreading~~ thinking about the fact that it's still 3 hours till dinner-time. My goal is to lose 20 lbs by Christmas. I think that's doable.

Another self-improvement project was to get my hair cut. I'm very lazy about my hair. I don't want to fuss with it, never have, never will, so my cut has to be one that enables me to wash and go. As in, walk out the door while it's still wet and have it air dry in some semblance of a decent look.

It's been 10 1/2 months since I cut it last, and I was having (totally unrealistic) expectations of once again enjoying long hair--you know, clip it back, pony tail, leave it loose, blowing in the wind. Not! Newsflash--one CANNOT regain one's youth by letting one's hair grow long. It only makes you look ridiculous and it's more work than it's worth.

So I made an emergency appointment at my hairdresser's, bit the bullet, and went back to short (kinda) hair. I couldn't quite figure out how to hold the camera in this first picture so you can see what it looked like before the cut.

While my hairdresser was working on the cut, it occured to me to hold the camera the other way. Duh! Sometimes I'm a little slow on the uptake. But at least you can see what the final results are. And you know how it is when you get a cut. It never again looks as good as it does while you're sitting in the chair. So this is as good as it'll get, but I'm happy...

2011-10-18T20:55:00.001-04:00

I Wasn't Going to Post

I decided yesterday that I wasn't going to post anything to my blog for the next couple of days. At the end of the year I'll be making a book of this year's posts, and I need to slow down on the entries so that the book isn't humongous.

But this morning a friend loaned me a Scott Kelby book called "Down & Dirty Tricks for photoshop CS". I was looking at some of the fun things that can be done with images in photoshop, but when I tried one of the "tricks" I realized I couldn't do it because I only have elements 7 and some of the CS functions are not available in elements. That's why elements is so ~~cheap~~ inexpensive. Usually elements is totally sufficient, but I was a little disappointed.

Then I remembered that I have Scott Kelby's book for Elements 7. There aren't as many tricks as in the other book, but it has some funky ideas, and since I was psyched to try a special effect, I got the book out and practiced a little.

This is what I came up with. I like it.

(it's not as large as I expected it to be, but it will enlarge a little if you click on it)

2011-10-17T16:23:00.001-04:00

A Good Day

Today was one of those "stay at home and do whatever I want to" days. They are few and far between and I really enjoy them when I get the chance.

I started out by trying to make a photo card for a friend of mine. Had to edit the image, put the shadow on it, then create the template for the card, import the image and then try to align everything correctly so that when it printed everything would be in the correct place.

So while I was doing that I flipped on the TV and found a great movie to watch. If you want to see a "feel good" movie, get "Operation Dumbo Drop". The movie is based on a true situation that took place during the Viet Nam war. I know that the terms "feel good" and "Viet Nam war" in the same sentence might seem like an oxymoron to some of you, but really, it's a great movie...

After completing the card, I packaged up some items my son wanted sent to him and headed off to the post office. But before I left I googled a recipe for Pumpkin Choc. Chip cookies, just in case I needed to buy any of the ingredients. Sure enough, I couldn't find any pumpkin puree in the house, even though I was sure I had a can of it and about three pkgs of frozen pumpkin. None to be found, so I went on a search and rescue mission after stopping at the PO.

The pumpkin I found was Libby brand and while putting the ingredients together I tasted the puree. Ick. No flavor at all which really surprised me for being a name-brand.

The finished cookies look okay but according to the wee little taste I took, they taste like regular chocolate chip cookies. So I guess my next mission is to get out there and buy some cooking pumpkins at a farm stand and try the recipe again with the real thing.

I have a fun meeting tonight and then home to watch what will be left of Dancing With the Stars. Altogether it's been a good day!

2011-10-15T19:30:00.001-04:00

Followers

I've noticed lately that the number of "followers" for my blog has been growing, slowly but surely. It's encouraging, but it has me curious as to why. I mean, I began this blog about 5 years ago and have been pretty faithful about posting. Along the way I've had a small group of "followers", but the numbers have increased at the slowest possible rate. Well maybe not, maybe the slowest rate would be no increase in numbers. So why now?

Anyway, I began my blog the first time I went to Hawaii so that I could post images I took while there, so people back in NY (I was thinking about those in my church) would be able to see the pictures. Well, as it turns out, the majority of them say they don't have time to look at my blog. Okay--well, I wonder why they all said they couldn't wait for me to return so they could see the pictures I took?

(and I won't even comment about that excuse cause I would certainly make some enemies).

When I discovered, about a year ago, that I could make books out of my blog posts, I decided to continue using the blog as an online, fairly superficial, journal, you know, highlighting some of my daily activities and the sights I was seeing. Maybe someday my children/grandchildren will enjoy reading through the books and get a kick out of my adventures.

But now that I have a few more "followers" and have read some of their insightful and profound blogs, I'm beginning to think I should be writing more philosophical, thought-provoking posts. Seriously, do I owe my readers more than a few pictures of license plates?

Nah!!

So in light of that, I went back to my archives and did some alternate processing on an image I made this past summer when a friend and I visited an abandoned quarry.

This is all you get today. I'll come up with something a little more provocative another day...maybe.

2011-10-14T22:27:00.000-04:00

Just a Few

Here are just a few fun license plates. I must have seen at least three really funky plates while I was driving today, but, alas, I couldn't photograph them. The first two here are from a few weeks ago, but the last two were ones I found parked today.

2011-10-12T16:02:00.000-04:00

What a Surprise!!

Many years ago an acquaintance, who was a pretty needy person, got a job selling Cutco knives. To help him out, I agreed to let him do his schpeel on me for practice. I had never, in my entire adult life, had good knives and I was so impressed with the product, I purchased a set from him.

Well, as I said, it was a long time ago--maybe, hmmm, 20 or so years. They have a lifetime guarantee. Lifetime in terms of sharpening, replacement, etc. I never took advantage of that because I never again knew anyone who sold the product. I LOVE THE KNIVES. They are awesome, but after 20 years, they definitely needed to be sharpened.

One day I received a sale brochure and noticed that they had instructions and a "where-to" address if sharpening was desired. I finally got off my ~~lazy~~ procrastinating butt, wrapped them, wrote out a check for only $9 (for 5 knives), and sent them off.

They came back today. Woot, woot!!

Now here's the kicker! As I happily unwrapped them, I remarked to myself that some of them looked as good as new. When my husband came in the house later, I gave him a heads-up that the knives were newly sharpened and that he should be aware of that if he decided to use them.

He looked at the invoice, which I ignored when I opened the pkg, and asked why they replaced some of them. I said, "they didn't replace them, they just sharpened them". Here's the thing...they actually did replace three of them--NO CHARGE--not even an explanation on the invoice. I guess it was the ones with the serrated edges. What a surprise!

So!! If any of you have Cutco knives and they need to be sharpened, go to the website for the address and don't delay. If you don't have them and you're in the market for good knives, bite the bullet and purchase them. You will never regret it.

2011-10-10T23:11:00.002-04:00

North Creek

So today, two friends and I took a train ride to North Creek. You might be thinking to yourself, 'okay, why would a train be going to North Creek, and exactly what is there to do in North Creek once the train arrives there?'

Hmmm, I had the very same thoughts when I saw the flyer for the trip. I mean, I've been through North Creek and I guarantee it's not a thriving metropolis. Actually, it's not a metropolis of any kind, and it's pretty much in the middle of nowhere.

Always on the lookout for a new experience and a new photo opportunity, I decided to take the trip anyway, and fortunately two of my friends agreed to go along.

However, Indian Summer decided to return with a vengeance today. The train was very warm on the way there, and a veritable sauna on the way home. No a/c, no breeze, and hardly any view to speak of. In spite of that, we did manage to have some great conversation, a yummy lunch at one of the local restaurants and some fun taking photos in front of a wonderful mosaic mural.

Back at the train depot, we saw this old car off to the side. Not the best abandoned car specimen I've every seen, but it will do.

2011-10-08T21:49:00.000-04:00

Either, Or

It was a stunningly beautiful day today. Much more like our usual Fall weather than all the rain and cool conditions we've been having. So . . . three grandkids in sports, three games to attend.

After putting the images on the computer and ~~crying over~~ viewing them,

I feel like I have only three alternatives left.

EITHER I turn a blind eye to the results from the lens, OR I:

1) Stop trying to take action shots,

2) suck it up, keep taking action shots and deal with the soft images I've been getting, or

3) get the new super-duper, very, very, very expensive sharp lens that I want.

NONE of these are acceptable alternatives, although #3 is the ~~most~~ only desireable one. Each time I get soft images like these , it drives me crazy, I mean, closer and closer to getting the lens. They may not look too bad on the blog, but they aren't sharp, and the lens doesn't seem to get sharp images no matter what I do. Okay, I'm whining. I'll stop now.

2011-10-02T22:12:00.000-04:00

The Art Show

When I arrived back in town tonight, this is how the Glen Store looked. It was only about 52 hours since the "takeover" and it has a new paint-job, a new porch, a new railing and a new sign. I could see people inside being busy.

The annual Hagaman Art Show was held this weekend. I was completely blown away when a friend called to congratulate me for the 2nd place ribbon on one of my images. I was even more blown away when I arrived there this afternoon and saw the other photographs on display. They were great! So the 2nd place award is much sweeter, knowing what my competition was. Success definitely breeds motivation and enthusiasm. On my way home from the art show, I was already thinking about which of my images I would submit next year.

2011-10-01T21:38:00.001-04:00

Again

Yup, rain again.

Our Photo Walk this morning included a stop at the fire house. I was psyched!

2011-09-30T20:31:00.001-04:00

Saying Goodbye

This is somewhat of a random post. I went driving around this afternoon to find some photo ops. I decided to go to the Guy Park Manor that was so seriously damaged when hurricane Irene hit. It's the first time I attempted to get on the property, and although I've seen other pictures of it, it was so sad to see it in person. One wing of the historical building was almost destroyed when the waters rose, but good news!! reconstruction has already begun.

When I was walking back to my car, I heard a train approaching and I decided to try and get some motion images. I didn't have my tripod, so I had to hand-hold the camer on a slow shutter speed. The stationary items are not sharp, but it was still fun.

And now to the "Saying Goodbye" part. For many weeks we, the residents of Glen, have known that our local store would be closing. Well, not actually closing... The people running the cafe didn't own the bldg, and after several years of struggling to make a go of the business, they decided to close and direct their efforts in a different direction.

As their last "hurrah" they announced their final Thursday night dinner with this sign. Tim's sense of humor is notrious.

They had to vacate the store by noon today. On my way home from my mini-road trip at about 1 pm, I saw the new proprietors painting the outside of the bldg using a bucket-loader. At about 7 pm I went out for a walk, and unbelievably, the bldg is completely painted. I didn't have my camera, otherwise I would have posted a pic of the store with its new look, at least the outside.

New look or not, we sadly say Goodbye to Tim and his crew.

2011-09-25T21:06:00.001-04:00

People-Watching

I attended my granddaughter's soccer game yesterday morning. She does a great job and it's fun watching her.

While I was waiting for the game to begin, I did some people watching. Usually there isn't too much out of the ordinary at small town soccer games, but yesterday a few people caught my eye. This girl is dressed for winter. It was 71 degrees and she was wearing Ughs (or wanna-be ughs), jeans and a heavy hoodie. I broke into a sweat just looking at her.

I come from redneck country. The moms and other females that attend soccer/little league games wear things like: jeans, cut-offs, sweatshirts, t-shirts, sneakers, sandals. This soccer game was a mere 15 miles from my home turf, but I guess the dress code is a little different. Cap, stylin' raincoat, skinny jeans and designer wellies. Cracked me up!

By the way, granddaughter's team won. Woot, woot!

2011-09-24T15:44:00.001-04:00

Sure Sign of Fall, Part II

I stopped at an awesome gift shop on my way home today. I know the owner. I had carte blanche to take pictures around the grounds. Fall is definitely on the way. Sigh.

But before I stopped at the gift shop, I went to the site of the Chalmer Building again. More of it has been demolished. I don't feel any less sad . . .

2011-09-22T18:08:00.000-04:00

Sure Sign of Fall

I forced myself to go out for a walk today, and I took my camera with me which I don't usually do. I'm pretty bored with taking photos in my little town, which is really just an intersection, but I thought there just might be a chance that I'd see something interesting.

I saw a caterpillar on the shoulder of the road, you know, the brown furry kind that seems to be a sure sign of Fall. I put my foot in its path and it climbed up on my shoe, so I sat down on the side of the road and spent a few minutes "working the subject". I wonder what the passing drivers thought when they passed me? Oh well.

I saw this bumper sticker on a car parked in a driveway along my route.

2011-09-19T12:43:00.001-04:00

Doomed, Part II

2011-09-18T21:29:00.000-04:00

Doomed

When Tropical Storm Irene hit upstate NY, I was in Alaska. Everyone at the workshop was keeping in touch with family and friends to see what was happening back East. Several of our bridges are out, and several homes have been condemned, but my local area wasn't affected anywhere near as badly as others surrounding us.

I never went out to take photos after my return to NY. I felt a little self-conscious about taking photos of the destruction of the homes I had seen, but today I decided to go out and see if I could get close to some of the bridges near me.

I walked down to the next set of barracades on this road, but didn't go near the bridge. Considering it was Sunday afternoon and there wasn't a soul in sight, I probably could have approached the bridge, but I knew of another place I thought I could get closer to.

The locks at this bridge are damaged pretty seriously.

Then I went over to the site of the old Chalmers Bldg. I've been there several times before, and once had the nerve to step into the entrance. I was alone that time and didn't have the courage to go farther inside, which I regret now. Anyway, I guess that all the efforts to save the building and restore it have come to naught, since, as you can see, it's being demolished. Well . . . maybe you can't see, since part of it isn't there anymore. The area in the foreground with all the red brick on the ground used to be a beautiful, historic building . . . sigh.

There's obviously more than one kind of destruction--nature and manmade. Nature can't be controlled, but I sure hope that in this case, the manmade destruction is the wisest thing to do.

2011-09-17T21:47:00.000-04:00

The Annual Dog Walk

Today was the 4th (I think, or maybe 5th) annual county SPCA Dog Walk. The event was raising money to build a much-much-needed new shelter. There were vendors, demonstrations and food. Oh...and of course, lots of dogs.

My friend talked me into being a vendor to photograph pet portraits. I HATE doing this kind of thing. I usually stand around for the 4-5 hours of the event, trying to look upbeat, but being bored and angry with myself for being sucked into doing yet another "show". I won't even consider something like this unless I can be in a booth next to someone I know, just so I can be sure of having someone to talk to during the long, lonely hours that I'm there.

Well, for this event the booth fee was zero $s, I was next to my friend, I love dogs, and it was for the benefit of a great organization. So I caved and said I'd do it.

Contrary to my expectations of doom, I actually had a good time in spite of the fact that except for my camera, almost every piece of equipment I had with me (computer, printer, media card adapter, strobe light, and light meter) malfunctioned in some way.

I muddled through and tried to stay calm and managed to get some acceptable images. They certainly won't go down in "doggie-portrait-hall-of-fame", but the people had eyes only for the faces of their adorable pets and they were fairly satisfied with the results. And except for my technological nightmare, so was I.

2011-09-10T21:28:00.000-04:00

Stockade Art Show

I was in town this morning to do some errands and I stopped at a friend's house to have a quick lunch and chat. While I was there I received a surprise call on my cell phone, from a friend I haven't seen in a very long time. She was heading to the Stockade Art show in Schenectady and was calling to see if I wanted to join her.

So off I went to meet up with her. What a great visit we had. It was a beautiful day--perfect for this type of event. Of course we had our cameras with us. After spending time looking at all the wonderful art, we walked along some side streets and took photos of some of the fun front doors and other decorative details we saw.

Some of the homes nearer the river were hit hard by the floods caused by Irene, but on the whole the Stockade fared pretty well. I'm sure that the Art Show today was a celebration of sorts considering how devastating the flood could have been.

It was a blessing to be able to spend this wonderful day with two great friends.

2011-09-07T20:08:00.000-04:00

The Alaska Zoo

My roommate and I arrived in Alaska the day before the workshop was scheduled to begin. We did that as a safety net, you know, just in case there was an issue with our flights. That way we were guaranteed to be at the motel in time for the first session on Sat. afternoon.

So that left us with all day Sat. to do some exploring. We decided to go to the zoo. I felt it was a good choice, just to hedge the bets in case we didn't see any animals in Denali. So off we went. Again, my expectations exceeded the reality, but it was still a nice way to spend the day.

This particular zoo was one of the least photographer friendly zoos I have ever been at. Most of the time we were shooting through plexiglass and/or wire mesh enclosures. But I managed to get a few interesting shots.

It was overcast and cool that day, so the animals were reasonably active, which makes any zoo experience a little more fun.

Another fun plate. What's your guess?

2011-09-06T21:25:00.001-04:00

My Expectations

A year ago, when I reserved my space in the Denali Photo Workshop, I had some very vague ideas of what it would be like in the park. I didn't know anyone who had been there, so these ideas were based on my imagination. To say that my imagination was off-base would be an understatement.

My expectations were way too high in one area, but not high enough in some other areas.

There's one (1) road in. Period. Getting out requires travel on the same road. It's 90 miles to the interior where we stayed, and it takes about 4 . 5 hours. I'm not saying that it's not beautiful (sometimes totally breath-taking), but it is a loooong drive.

The naturalist guides / drivers were great - - personable, funny, friendly and extremely knowledgeable. But . . . . . . the best they could do was guess at where the animals might be based on activity observed in the previous days.

Along with information about the animals we received a plethora of facts concerning the flora and fauna. It's Fall in Alaska now and the colors are changing. In the 4 days we were inside the park, we saw the colors change dramatically - - it was beautiful. There weren't many flowers still in bloom, but I managed to get this one.

This mooose was way far away on a hill. I usually didn't try to photograph the animals when they were so far away because I didn't have a long enough lens and I'm doubting its critical sharpness. But I figured I should come home with at least a few images of wildlife and not just scenics.

This was the only bear that was close enough for me to bother photographing and even so, it's not sharp. Sigh.

I think I need to start saving my pennies to buy that pro-series lens I almost purchased this past July. Kind of like "closing the barn door after the horses escape" if you get my drift . . .

2011-09-05T19:53:00.001-04:00

Get off the Tracks???

On the way into Denali Park, we gathered at the train station to await our bus. We had some time before departure, so most of us wandered around looking for some photo ops. Never one to waste the opportunity to photograph train tracks, I looked around to see if anyone was watching and then I stealthily (but boldly) stepped onto the tracks to get some down & dirty shots. I was tempted to lay down on the tracks, but then decided against that since I'm not as agile as I once was and I wouldn't have been able to get up quickly if some "train person" saw me and told me to vacate my spot. (as if I wouldn't be visible to the entire crowd of people gathered there anyway).

Well, I got busted! I did manage to get a few photos before I noticed this rail nazi waving for me to get off the tracks, which I obediently, if not regretfully, did as soon as I was convinced that he was really waving at me for me to move. Now, you have to understand that there are only two trains a day and one had just left--so really . . . what were the odds that I'd be smooshed by a train right then??

Well, we got on the bus and began our loooonngggg journey to the entrance to Denali Park. Oh my goodness - - Alaska is so big. On the way, we were able to see many views of Mt. McKinley and even though we were shooting from a moving bus, the images aren't too bad. The kicker is that the mountain is only visible about 100 days/year, but the chances of seeing it with blue sky and in it's entirety are even slimmer. So we were really blessed that we could see it like this. And any photographer who has a clue knows that you have to get the shot when it presents itself no matter what the situation, because surely there will not be a repeat performance.

Now, you all know how I feel about funky vanity plates. Hawaii is replete with them and I have a blast photographing them there. NY, not so much. As a matter of fact, it's pretty darned boring in NY. But Alaska, ahhh, such fun. I wonder, does that say something about New Yorkers???

Anyway, this plate was on a tour van--I love it. Looks like the way they'd say it in Hawaii. Maybe Hawaii and Alaska are more similar that we think--after all, they're only separated by about 120 degrees in the middle of winter.

2011-09-04T22:30:00.000-04:00

Just a Couple

I arrived in Albany this afternoon from my adventure in Denali Park in Alaska. Here are just a couple of images from my trip.

2011-08-27T01:26:00.003-04:00

The Trip to Alaska

This morning I boarded the plane at 7 am bound for Alaska to attend a photo workshop in Denali Park. My big-girl camera was packed in my camera bag so all of these images were made with my point and shoot.

Totally full plane

Flying over Chicago where I transferred flights

The scene as we approached Anchorage

Flying over the outskirts of Anchorage

I thought I was well prepared to keep myself occupied on the plane. It was a two hour flight to Chicago, then a 6 . 5 hour flight to Anchorage. I had my electronic book loaded with a brand new book (House Rules by Jodi Picoult) and my recently charged ipod.

Well, it was too noisy to listen to the ipod and the only way to watch movies/tv on the plane was to pay for it and for some reason I just didn't want to do that (pay) this time, and wouldn't you know it - - my e-reader battery died---aaarghhh! So I spent some time working on the sudoko and crossword puzzles in the onflight magazine, and still had time to spare.

In desperation I got out my point and shoot and started taking photos of my soda can. Well that kept me busy for, hmmm, let's see, maybe about 15 minutes. Fortunately by then we were pretty close, so I forced myself to sit still and do nothing - - which, for your information, is practically impossible for me to do successfully!

So we finally arrived. My roommate was on the same plane, although in a different section of the plane, so we arranged for a shuttle to bring us to the hotel. We checked in and unpacked - - kind of.

This is where it gets really interesting because it's another one of those situations that would make you snicker if you read it in a novel. Caleb (my baby who's been living in North Pole, AK for the past two years), just left for Florida two days ago. Good timing, huh? North Pole is about an 8.5 hour drive from Anchorage. It just so happened that Caleb's girlfriend is in Anchorage (she lives in Fairbanks, right next to North Pole) for a work situation and a wedding on Saturday. Really!!! what are the chances that she would be in Anchorage on the very weekend that I arrive?

Anyway, long story short, we were able to go out to dinner and play catch-up on getting to know one another. It was awesome.

While looking for a place to park, I saw this license plate and told her she just had to stop so I could photograph it. She did. I think she's a keeper . . .

After dinner we took the dog for a short walk around downtown Anchorage and I got a few more shots for the record.

Visitor's Center

Flowers at the Visitor's Center

Tori and Kashmir

2011-08-24T20:49:00.000-04:00

"Some More Albany" & "Now For the Good News"

Another Albany scene. Another HDR.

Directly out of the camera

HDR version

We decided to get something to eat, but first I had to get the address of a particular building that I photographed. We packed our gear in the car, grabbed our purses and headed to the building with the intention of finding a restaurant after getting the address. As we approached the building we saw this great scene under an over-pass. Of course, our cameras were two blocks away, locked in my car, but I remembered I had my point and shoot in my purse. Trish was a willing model and I was able to get this shot. Maybe we'll go back with the big guns and get some really creative images.

And now for the good news. In just about 36 hours I'll be boarding a plane for Alaska! Yup, off to a photo workshop in Denali Park, AK. Very excited and hoping I get at least a few keepers.

2011-08-23T22:32:00.002-04:00

A Day in Albany

Well . . . it wasn't actually a day, it was more like a few hours. A friend and I decided to go to Albany to photograph some of the architecture. We didn't have a particular destination in mind, but as we drove down Central Avenue, we stopped where it looked good and then moved on. The weather was wonderful and the sky was blue. Almost too good to be true.

We ended our photo safari at this little plaza. I was beginning to think HDR again so I gave it a try on this scene.

2011-08-19T16:55:00.003-04:00

700 . . . But Who's Counting ? ?

As I was getting ready to write this post, I noticed that as of my last post, I have blogged 700 times. Wowzer. But really, if I had been more faithful, I could have achieved that many in just two years, and the last I noticed, I began this blog in July of 2006 -- 5 years ago. (I actually had to go back and look because I forgot -- but I know it was the summer I went to Hawaii for the first time to help my daughter get settled in for graduate school.)

So I've averaged 140 posts / year, which really isn't terribly accurate because for one year I posted every day (minus about 3 times) during a challenge I had with some friends. Anyway . . . I'm sure these statistics aren't knocking your socks off, but I'm impressed that I've kept this up for 5 years.

So . . . . in light of that bit of trivia, here's my post for today. Actually, I made these images yesterday. I had an assignment to create some holiday images. I converted my sewing room into a temporary photo studio and this is what I came up with . . . so far. I have a few more ideas, but I needed to go for a bike ride today.

My temporary "studio" has north facing windows, but they're small and the light is uneven, so I had to use a flash. I took it off the camer and bounced it off the ceiling to avoid creating shadows. I think I've got the beginning of a Christmas card collection.

So there you have it, post #701. Merry Christmas!

2011-08-13T22:36:00.001-04:00

A Friday Hike

Yesterday was one of the best days of the summer. I went hiking. Usually there are 3 or 4 of us, but this time only 2 of us could make it. The other person is a photographer, so we knew before we started out that this would be a photography hike, as opposed to a hike during which we might get a few shots on our point-and-shoots.

Before we arrived at the trailhead, we stopped at a pull-off where there was a pretty stream. I totally forgot to take my tripod, so I couldn't do any hdr work. Jane, however, not only remembered her tripod, but she had her infrared camera with her and was concentrating on refreshing her infrared skills. While she was working, I was trying desperately to photograph something, anything that was interesting but didn't include the sky.

This was the best I could do. Too bad there wasn't a cow or something standing on the other side of the fence.

As you can see, this was a short hike, more of a trail--some incline, but not up a mountain. It was a beautiful walk.

There was a small lake at the end of the trail, and there were a lot of these sweet little flowers. While Jane was working on her infrared, I decided to try, for the first time ever (I think), the macro setting on my slr. Now I've used that setting on my point-and-shoot many times, but never on the big boy. Pretty amazing. The wind was blowing these flowers around, but I held onto the stem with one hand and shot with the other. Not too bad, although not critically sharp.

So here's the lake--practically the same scene in horizontal and verticle. I like them both, but have a very, very slight preference for one of them. Which do you like better?

2011-08-10T13:12:00.002-04:00

It's the Little Things

I've discovered over the years that often it's the little things that bring pleasure or get me psyched. Here are a few examples:

1) About two years ago I purchased a new lens. I loved the focal range and it seemed to be a very good lens. But lately I began to notice that the images weren't sharp. Even after sharpening in Photoshop, they weren't as crisp as I felt they should be.

Well . . . I was going to buy another lens (an L-series Canon lens = big $s), but I decided to send mine back to the company so they could check it first. I called, told them my thoughts and said I would need the lens returned by Aug. 20 since I'm leaving for Alaska on the 26th. They assured me the lens would be in my hands before then.

Eureka ! ! I received it today. Gotta love Tamron. Not only do they have great customer service, but their lenses are guaranteed for 6, yes-that's SIX full years from date of purchase. I haven't put it on the camera yet, but I'm still happy. (I know, I know this image is soft - - I handheld the camera in low light without flash)

2) We have two dogs and two cats. Needless to say, there's an issue with dog hair and fur flying around all the time. That means that I have to vacuum quite often - - ugh !

The other day I was in the store, browsing, when I came across this gadget. It's a Swiffer-Vac. Now, I've heard of the original Swiffer, and the Swiffer-mop, but this one was new to me. It's a Swiffer (with the Swiffer cloth), AND a vacuum. So it catches dust/hair on the cloth and then sucks up more into the vacuum. OMGoodness ! ! ! That means I don't have to lug out the big, clunky vacuum every time I want to clean up a little. When done, you plug it in so it can charge and then when you use it, it's cordless. Sweeeet !

Check it out in the store, you might like it.

3) For several years now I've been whining about what a bother it is to need glasses. My distance vision is good enough that I don't usually need my glasses for TV, movies, driving or anything that's at least three feet away. But heaven forbid I go into the supermarket without my purse (in which my glasses usually reside), cause then I can't read a single label. Or forget it if I'm in a part of the house where I haven't left a pair of glasses . . .

As a result, I purchased about 1/2 dozen pair of those inexpensive magnifying glasses and there's a pair in every part of the house and in every bag I own, in addition to my prescription glasses. What a PAIN ! ! !

Well, yesterday I finally got . . . . . . . . drumroll please . . . . . . . CONTACTS ! ! ! ! ! I'm sooooo psyched. Still can't see without my glasses really close up, but seeing the computer is good along with many other close things that required glasses before. Be. Still. My. Heart !

These things may not be a new house, brand new car, jewels, trips, furs or fancy new furniture, (none of which I would refuse if they came my way, thank you very much), but they make me really happy and remind me to count my blessings no matter how small.

Hopefully you can rejoice in and enjoy the small blessings that have come your way lately.

2011-08-03T18:42:00.001-04:00

The Zooquarium

Yesterday we took the kids to the Zooquarium. Pretty interesting and the kids had a good time.

Seems like 3 out of 4 homes and businesses here in Cape Cod have Hydrangea bushes in their yards. They're so beautiful and there are many different colors. This one was in the yard of a gift shop.

I haven't found a single interesting vanity license plate here, but I did find this sign at the same gift shop as mentioned above.

2011-08-02T23:25:00.000-04:00

Cape Cod

Born and raised in NYC. Residing in upstate NY for all of my adult life. Many trips to Maine, NH, VT & MA, but never have been to Cape Cod.

Until Now!

Spent some time at the beach yesterday. The kids finally got themselves busy creating a sand castle of sorts. Grabbed this shot just before we started getting ready to leave for home. Dang, they're cute!

New England beaches have their own beauty. I love the beach grasses and paths leading to the beach from the parking areas.

And then there are the occasional really colorful beach umbrellas.

2011-07-27T20:40:00.002-04:00

Once Upon a Time . . .

A couple of years ago, once upon a time, some friends and I challenged each other to a year of daily posts--one or more photos that were taken on that day. No archieval safety nets for us. Although it was fun, it was pretty agonizing.

I mention that to say this : this is the 4th day since my last post, and I was feeling pretty sluggish and annoyed with myself that I hadn't taken any photos worth mentioning in four whole days. So in desperation, just before it got too dark to make a photo without flash, I grabbed my SLR and tried to get some images of this flower. Wasn't working. Then I remembered my trusty point-and-shoot, which can do amazing macro work.

So in spite of the fact that I can't hold that little, itty-bitty camera as still as I'd like to, and the light was fading at amazing speed, and there was just a wee tiny breeze, I think these images are okay. Not great, not tack sharp, but nice enough to show off the flower.

I know, I know, you're thinking that there are four almost identical images, and what the heck was I thinking, posting all four of them, when one would have been just fine, thank you very much. Well. I just felt like it! I think that each slightly different angle is interesting. And it's my blog, and I can post what I want. (actually the main reason there are 4 images here is that I couldn't decide which I liked the best)

So there ya go...

2011-07-24T21:52:00.000-04:00

Remembrances

I finally saw a vanity plate that wasn't moving along the thruway at 65 mph. This one was in a parking lot, but do you think there were any others among the gazillion cars parked there? Oh no! What's with the drivers in NY???

The other day I posted a story about my golf experience while in college. It occured to me that since I'm using this blog as a sort of journal, and will be making a book out of it at the end of the year, I should try and post a few more remembrances "for the record". Someday, maybe, just maybe, my children/grandchildren will pick up one of the "blog books" and browse through it. They might learn something about me that they didn't already know.

Not that my life was particularly interesting or noteworthy, but there have been a few funky instances that I don't usually talk about, primarily because I don't usually think about them on a daily basis.

So when I was trying to remember some of those situations, this was one of the first things that came to my mind.

Within months of beginning college, one of the soda machines began acting weird, as in, we could hear the bottle of soda begin to drop down inside the machine, but it never reached the opening where we could get it. So the machine kept eating our money. One day I decided to explore the situation and see what was preventing the bottle from reaching its destination.

That involved putting my hand inside the machine, reaching up to where the bottles were and trying to guide the bottle through its route to see why it was getting stuck. Well, I found the bottles and was able to keep my hand on it as it began its descent. Until . . . my thumb became wedged between something below my hand and the entire stack of bottles above my hand.

So there I was, with my hand stuck and my arm inside the dumb soda machine all the way up to my elbow. Hmmmm . . . what to do now, I wondered. Finally someone came along and saw my predicament and went to find the dorm mother. In the meantime, my finger was getting flatter and flatter by the minute because of all the weight on it. Dorm mother = nowhere to be found. Dorm mother = the only one with the key to the soda machine. (Now remember, this was back in the day when there was no such thing as cell phones & computers) Someone was dispatched to try and locate her downtown.

By this time there were about a dozen other students gathered around the machine watching the progress (or non-progress in this case) of the frosh-with-her-hand-stuck-in-the-soda-machine-chuckle-chuckle. Meanwhile, my thumb was beginning to seriously throb. My boyfriend was outside the door pacing and worried sick.

By the time the dorm mother arrived, I was more than ready to get out of there. (ok, ok, I hear you laughing again. STOP IT ! ! ! ) When she walked in, the first thing she said was, "I was wondering when something like this was going to happen". When I heard that, it occured to me that I had done her a favor. I had fulfilled her expectations and she didn't ever have to worry about that again. Sure enough, it never happened again, at least not during the 4 years I was there.

So, she opened the machine, released my poor thumb and warned me never to do that again. Seriously ? ? Did I really need to be warned?, but you know how "mothers" are. My thumb recovered nicely, and I even managed to laugh about it. But ever since then, if a soda machine ate my money, I walked away, wishing it well.

2011-07-23T22:49:00.000-04:00

So It Was Time For a Change

2011-07-20T22:12:00.000-04:00

And People Think Golf is Fun Because....?

Back in the day when I was in college, my major was Physical Education. One of the required courses was g..., g..., gol..., golf. ugh! Now...I had never played golf, but my gut reaction was that I didn't like the game.

When registering for the last semester courses in my senior year, Golf was looming over my head. I had put it off as long as I could. No golf, no graduation!!! I implored my advisor, "please, please...I don't want to take that course, I'll do anything, anything--write a paper, take two other courses in its place, pay you". I pleaded. I begged. I whined. I almost cried.

All to no avail. It was, "take the course or don't graduate".

So on the first day at the golf course, I approaced the tee-off spot (see, I don't even know what it's called), started shaking, placed my rubber tee on the spot, took the stance, almost cried, prayed that the rest of my class would stop watching me, and swung. I connected! It was a thing of beauty. It felt awesome. I followed through just like you're supposed to. "Well, that wasn't so bad", I thought. Until I looked down. Right where I put the tee sat the ball and right where the ball should have gone went the tee. As my classmates laughed, I died a thousand deaths. (I can hear you laughing too. STOP IT!)

Since that course I have never set foot on a golf course.

Except, of course, for minature golf--at which I am equally bad.

Jessica, Lauren, Jacob and I went golfing today. It was actually fun. I'm glad it's over.

I'm still wondering, people think golf is fun because.........?

2011-07-18T13:14:00.000-04:00

NECCC

This past weekend I attended the annual NECCC weekend at the University of MA in Amherst, MA. (NECCC stands for New England Camera Club Council). This is an amazing weekend when about 1,100 photographer, from beginners to pros, gather together to attend various workshops and classes. As if that weren't good enough, you don't have to clean house, wipe runny noses, run errands, answer the phone (oops you can tell I started attending this weekend back in the days before cell phones), cook, clean the table or wash the dishes. Could it get any better?

Anyway, the sessions begin early Friday afternoon and continue until noon on Sunday. There has always been a featured speaker on Sat. night in the auditorium, along with awards, kudos to those who plan the event, and the dispersion of door prizes. This year, however, the auditorium wasn't available, so the council planned a mini-balloon festival.

The balloons were tethered, but it was still an awesome photo op, and they continued using the flames to keep the balloons inflated durning dusk and into darkness, which was very cool. I've only been to one Balloon Festival, but I never had the chance to see them being inflated at dusk. It was a really nice alternative to a Featured Speaker.

2011-07-13T16:08:00.000-04:00

Wednesday's Post

I've reached a new low. Did you get a look at the title for this post??? I just couldn't quite get the creative juices flowing for an interesting title.

Anyway, this morning I had plans to meet a friend for breakfast, so we thought we'd try the diner at the Riverlink Park. While I was waiting for her, I took a few more photos of this bridge (the one I photographed with HDR a few days ago), but I only had my point and shoot with me. So in an attempt to be creative, I put the camera down on the ground to get a low perspective.

When we got down to the diner, it was closed--never open for breakfast. That will teach me to take a photo of the store hours next time so I can remember (for longer than 30 seconds) when a place is open. Anyway, we found somewhere else to eat and had a good visit.

So, a few weeks ago I posted a photo of my new (to me) car.

The vanity plates arrived today. Here ya go!

2011-07-12T16:03:00.000-04:00

Out of Character

Yesterday I went hiking with two other friends. We were in the Lake George area where there are a lot of outlet stores. On the way to the hike I spied a clothing store that I particularly like, so I asked the others if they would mind stopping there after the hike. No problem!

Practically everything in the store was on sale--big time, woot, woot! I found a few things I wanted and when I was getting ready to pay for my items, I noticed a jewely rack. I saw these earrings and decided to get them. They are totally out of character for me. I don't usually wear such flashy jewelry, but there's just something about them that I love.

It's kind of scary stepping out of the box like that, but kind of invigorating too.

When I was in Hawaii this past winter, I worked for a photo company (that shall remain nameless on the internet by their request/command). Each day we would go into a school and photograph the kids for yearbook pics/IDs/spring memories. At the end of each photography season (in this case, the spring season), we employees are encouraged to submit a sampling of our work to the Portrait Excellence Competition.

We choose a school where we think we did a good job, then the computer generates a random collection of 25 images for submission. That's so tenuous. In any given 25 images, someone isn't smiling the best, someone's hair wasn't groomed properly, someone's hand position isn't "just right", someone's shoelace isn't tied...you get the point.

The 25 images are then submitted to the national judges. Awards are then made.

The only reason I made a submission is because my supervisors kind of told me I had to. I don't usually feel too good about my work, and I certainly don't think my work is good enough to enter into a national competition.

When I got home today, there was a pkg for me from one of my supervisors. The first thing I noticed was a bundle of checks that I didn't even know I was supposed to get but were issued to me after I returned to NY. Hip, hip, hooray--I want to buy a new tripod and they will certainly help.

The second thing I noticed was a photo that was taken of us workers at one of the last proms we photographed. I forgot to get it before I returned to NY. Another hip, hip, hooray--a great memory.

And the third thing I noticed was my Portrait Excellence Award!!!! Oh. My. Gosh!! At first I thought it was a joke, but then I realized it was real. I am so PSYCHED!!! It's amazing what even a small amount of affirmation can do for your perception of your work.

I just want to say, Thank You, Thank You, Thank You. I'm still pinching myself!

2011-07-11T22:15:00.000-04:00

Wow, It Was Hot

About two weeks ago, we set the date for today's hike. It's understood that we go rain or shine, unless, of course, there are thunderstorms forecast.

Well, there was no rain in the forecast, but there was the prediction of hot, humid weather. So we drove up north and started the hike. Approximately 5 miles RT--fairly short for us, but steeper than we've done this year.

One of the things I have to say about today is, Wow it was hot!!! & humid!!! Did I mention that it was hot? The trail was pretty intense, but not the worst we've ever done.

It was pretty hazy, but practically all of Lake George is visible from this 2, 646 ft. high summit. The trailhead was part way up the mountain, so the walking ascent was only 1,046 ft. But really, it was hot!

I managed to find a rock to set my camera on so that we could take a group photo.

Bev, Linda & Jane

Unfortunately this tower was closed, so we weren't able to see the view from the top.

I think the only reason I hike with these ladies is because we stop for dinner someplace wonderful every time we finish a hike. This time we went to Panera and I got my favorite meal--Asian Sesame Chicken Salad and iced green tea. So, so yummy.

2011-07-09T21:32:00.000-04:00

The Bike Ride, or, 9 on the 9th

I had plans to meet a group of bicyclists this morning at a bike path I've never been to before. I wound up not being able to find where they were, but I found another access to the bike path, so I went out on my own.

Although I didn't like the long drive to get there, the new path was a nice change from the paths I usually ride on. Many more photos ops along this route, and it was a beautiful day.

As I was getting ready to start tonight's post, I remembered that I forgot to do my "5 on the 5th" this month, so you're getting "9 on the 9th". I guess it was serendipity that I was able to take so many pics today.

An old railroad station

View from the train station

2011-07-06T22:23:00.003-04:00

Abandoned Quarry

A friend and I took a roadtrip today to visit an historical abandoned quarry in MA. He sent me a link to check it out online a few days ago, and when I saw the posted images, I was hooked and couldn't wait to get there.

We started out bright and early this morning. It was a great ride and we didn't even get very lost finding the quarry--we only had to ask directions once at a cute little country store.

We arrived, signed in, and began walking up the path. We were a little under-whelmed. Actually, that's an under-statement--we were very under-whelmed. It wasn't anything like we had anticipated. We decided that if things improved we would say the trip was Steve's idea, but if things didn't get any better, we'd say it was my idea.

I was okay with that.

So we persevered. We walked the loop around the quarry--the walk/hike being very pleasureable-- occasionally stopping to photograph the random equipment dotting the trail. We were still under-whelmed, so I decided to concentrate on shooting for HDR.

Camera exposure.

HDR

Camera exposure

HDR

The consensus: the trip was my idea.

After meandering through the quarry, we found a nifty place to have lunch. So even though the trip was a near bust we had a very good time and I'm not totally unhappy with the results.

2011-07-04T22:26:00.000-04:00

Desperation

I actually got a lot accomplished today. Laundry, a short visit with my daughter, a medium-long bike ride before it got too hot, bills paid, and I watched a movie. Okay, so not everything I did was super-productive, but, hey, it's a holiday and I didn't have any deadlines to meet.

But this afternoon I began getting a little restless. As the sun was getting lower in the sky, the light was getting more and more beautiful and I wanted to get out and do some photography. Desperation was setting in though. Where to go and what to photograph?--that was the predicament.

So I headed over to Riverlink Park in Amsterdam. I didn't really expect much, but it's someplace I haven't been in a long time. Reality met my expectations. Although it was still a beautiful day, and it was a nice place to spend a little time, I was not at all inspired--

except...

on the bridge crossing the railroad tracks.

A little hdr.

And a little shooting through chain link.