The First Basketball Game of the Season

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Don't Forget Your Media Card

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I do actually believe that this is the very first post, and hopefully the only post EVER, that does not contain a photograph.

And here's why:

Tonight was the beginning of the high school basketball season.  Grandson's game began at 7:30 pm. I arrived home from running errands in plenty of time to eat, get my camera ready and get to the game before it started.

I put my super-duper long lens on my camera.  Checked the battery level.  Put the camera in a place where I wouldn't forget it when I left the house (as if that ever happened!)

Arrived at the game early.  Found a decent parking spot.

Opened the car door, preparing to get the camera out of the back seat, when BINGO, I remembered that I left the media card in the card reader on my kitchen counter.

And.....because I didn't bring my purse (just stuck my driver's license in my back pocket), I didn't have access to my emergency 64 meg card (good grief--what is that anyway?) that I usually carry in my purse for backup.

So.....For.   The.   First.    Time.   I.    Can.    Remember.  I sat at the grandson's sporting event without a camera in my hand.  

Tomorrow night is another game which is part of the same tournament.  It remains to be seen if I can do better then.

Honor Roll

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This morning my daughter called me bright and early....very bright and early.  "Oh, were you sleeping?"  "Well....I was, but what's up?"

The kids were each chosen for Character Honor Roll in their grade.  There was a breakfast in honor of the award and since she couldn't attend because of working, she asked me if I would go.

It was cute.  Short and sweet. 

Thanksgiving Dinner, or, Why You Need to Take

More Than One Shot

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Thanksgiving Day and we spent the afternoon at the sister-in-law's house.  I forewarned everyone that we would be gathering for a group photo after dinner.  Amazingly, not a single person argued the point. (image me doing a victory dance)

So while everyone was hovering around, sis-in-law decided to pose.  I couldn't resist this image.

Cousins

Siblings

A couple

Here's exactly why you need to take more than one shot:

the yawn

the hunched shoulders

the closed eyes

finally, the best of the bad shots

They're Here

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Late last night, or really, early this morning, Scott & Sybil arrived at Albany airport.  My husband drove over to get them while I tried to nap before they arrived at the house.  We all finally got to bed around 3 am, which was only midnight for them, but was  REALLY  3 am for me.

It was worth it.

This afternoon Scott took Sybil and me to Lock 27 in Little Falls to scramble around the rocks on Moss Island.  It was an awesome little hike (we estimate only about 1/2 mile) with some challenging spots getting up and around the rock formations.  I was thrilled to be able to do it in spite of the issue with my hip.  

Tomorrow we're going to the aunt's house for Thanksgiving dinner late in the afternoon, and by then Leah will be home too. 

Scavenger Hunt #18--"Something with Stripes"

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When I got the news that the scavenger hunt theme was "something with stripes", I figured it wouldn't be too difficult to find a photo op for the topic.  

We have a glass enclosed porch and several months ago my husband hung an American flag in one of the window sections.  I thought this would make a great photo for the theme.  I kept looking at it from the outside, but this afternoon I walked past the porch and saw how great it looked from the inside.  So here it is.  I know the flag is pretty cliche for "something with stripes" but I love the way the flag looks with the light coming through it...

Another thought I had was this window with these blinds.  The afternoon sun comes directly in this window, casting the most beautiful soft yellow light into the room.  The slats of the blinds make great stripes.

When I crack the blinds open, the sun creates a beautiful striped pattern on the wall...

Thumbprint Practice

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A couple of weeks ago, a young friend of mine posted a picture of these cookies on Facebook....well, okay, not these exact same ones.  I think hers looked a wee bit better than these.

Anyway, I think I've only made this kind of cookie once or twice in my entire life, and that was a long, long time ago.  So I decided to do some thumbprint practice this morning.  They didn't turn out too bad taste-wise, but I was reminded about how bad I am at decorating.  You should see my cakes, sheesh!

Funny thing about the recipe though.  It said to use about two teaspoons of dough for each cookie and that the recipe would make 4 dozen.  I thought that was too much dough, so I cut it down to one teaspoon per cookie and it only made 3 dozen.  What's up with that?  If I had done what the recipe said, it might have yielded 5 cookies total!

They're kind of fussy to make, so I probably won't be making them too often.  But I'm glad I did today.

No Purpose

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Once in a while I get the urge to do some photography.   If I don't have any place special to go that offers an interesting photo op, I'll try to work on still life.  

These photos were created last summer.  They have no purpose, except that they provided me with some photography practice.  

I didn't do them in the same session.  

I have no use for them.

There's not much WOW! factor going on.

But the sessions were fun.  And I learned a little bit of what not to do when doing still-life like this.

Of course, it was so long ago, and I haven't done any work like this since, so by the time I try it again, all those things I learned not to do will be forgotten, and I'll have to start all over again.  Sigh!

Scavenger Hunt #16--Strangers

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Last April I decided to transfer my allegiance from PC to Mac computers.  I became the proud but inept owner of a Mac laptop.  Upon the advice of several good friends, I wisely purchased the One-to-One training package.  It was probably one of the best decisions I've ever made.

So a few days ago I was at the Apple Store waiting for my group training session to begin, when I got the idea to take some stealth photos of "strangers".  

Whenever I do this kind of "street" photography, I totally remember how much I love it.  

Grasping at Straws

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My motivation for posting to my blog seems to be waning.  I'm not totally sure why but it could be partially because I don't seem to have much inspiration for doing photography lately & and I don't really enjoy posting without some images.  

So this post is pretty much a grasping at straws.  Last night was my weekly photo meeting night and being the first Wed of the month, it was also the print competition night.  There were a lot of people there and a goodly number of them participated in the competition.

For some reason I had my camera in hand, which isn't usually the case at these meetings, and I took this picture just for kicks.  There was some beautiful work on display.  I don't envy the judges on nights like last night.

Scavenger Hunt #14--Something You Collect

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Last week the assignment was "a collection".  At the beginning of the week I was super-busy and trying to get ready to leave for my trip to Tennessee, and then I was traveling, and then I was in someone else's home where I don't have my own things to photograph.

I don't really do "collections" anyway, so I was kind of at a loss as to what to photograph.  But I wanted to post something, so I decided on coins.

Yes, I save change (coins) in a jar.  I don't keep them forever--I wind up spending them eventually, but I guess you could say that coins are "something I collect".  

So.... there ya go!

Saying Goodbye...

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Saying goodbye to someone you like and care about is difficult enough when you or they are moving away, or even when someone is just leaving for a trip.  But it's doubly/triply difficult when they pass away and you know you'll never, in this life, see them again.

Uncle Jim, as he's known to my daughter, passed away suddenly just two days ago of a heart attack.  He was a funny, funny man who endeared himself to many people--he was a member of his local volunteer fire department for a good number of years, he supported his wife in all her crazy artistic endeavors, he helped anyone who needed it, and best of all, he made us laugh almost all the time.

Long ago I used to see him pretty regularly. Lately I didn't see him more than a couple of times a year.  Nonetheless the shock of his passing is immense.

And to make it worse, I'm in Knoxville, Tennessee and will be here for the rest of the week.  The funeral is next Sat. in deference to impending hurricane Sandy, I imagine.  I think I'll cut my visit here short and head back to NY early in an effort to be there for the service.  

My daughter is devastated.  Besides wanting to be there in support of Jim's immediate family, I'd like to be there for my daughter.  

There are some hard roads to travel and some dark places to pass through in this life.  This is one of them, but by God's mercy we do.  I'm praying that His grace will give some comfort to Jim's friends and family at this time.  

I don't know for sure, but this might be the last photo taken of him.  I took this at a mini-family-reunion this past August.  I'm thankful that I'm so obsessed with taking pictures at functions.

Atlas Shrugged

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Today I received an email from a friend who owns a used bookstore in Amsterdam.  He announced that he's beginning a weekly Friday night event at his store.  Book signings, poetry readings, music, discussions, etc.  This coming Friday he will lead a discussion about "Atlas Shrugged" & the 2012 elections.  

I think it was in college, or it very well could have been during high school when I first read the book.  I must have been very smitten with it and the author because I remember that I also read "Fountainhead" and "We The Living" by the same author.  If you were to ask me today what any of them are about, I'd have to shrug my shoulders (no pun intended) and say I don't know.  I do seem to remember that one of them was about life in Russia.  I'm not sure I could come up with the title of any book that is more depressing. I have a dark side.  The books must have fed that side of me.

When my friend mentioned the book in his email, it piqued my interest so I decided to try and read it again.  I remembered that it was a large volume tome, but I thought that if I don't finish it, it's no big deal.  I'm a very different person now than I was all those years ago.  I'll probably hate it.

So I found a fairly local library that had it on the shelf and went a got it this afternoon.  Well....saying that it's a large volume tome is an understatement!  When I first located it on the shelf, I thought for sure I was in the "large print" section.  But, no.  It was the regular print section.

I took it out anyway.  I'm going away for 12 days, I need something to read.

Two (2) inches thick.  1163 pages. I'm  hoping  I hate it so I don't try to convince myself to read all of it . . .

"Who is John Galt?"

That's the first line of the book.  I guess you'll have to read it yourselves to find out.

Last Game

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This afternoon was the last soccer game of the season.  And the very last high school game for the 7 seniors on the team.  I had no idea there was going to be any kind of recognition, but when the coach brought the team over to the stands and began introducing the seniors, I took the opportunity to photograph their congratulatory hand shake.

I don't know any of the seniors, but thought it was a great photo op.

During the game, I managed to get a few good images of grandson #1 playing.  It will be his turn to get that senior handshake next year.  Sigh.

Assignment 12--Flashlight Face

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The assignment this week, as you can see from the title, was Flashlight Face.  I pretty much completed the assignment at the 11th hour.  

Once again I thought about it all week, had the idea for it from the get-go, procrastinated all week, then gave up.  At least I thought I gave up.

I had the chance to go to a friend's house this afternoon for a game night and I knew I hit pay dirt.  I grabbed my flashlight, tripod and camera and practically skipped to my friend's house.  (just a slight exaggeration since her house is about 12 miles away--I'd still be skipping if I actually did that)

I knew there would be two ladies there, but to my happy surprise, there were three, so I got busy cajoling them to pose for me.  They did so reluctantly and begged me not to reveal their names.  I had to agree to the terms because they saved my butt for this assignment.

So, thanks ladies.  You rock!

A Brand New Experience

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Well.....I hardly know where to begin so I guess I'll just plunge right in.

A friend of mine is beginning her career as a photographer.  About 1 1/2 years ago she raffled a free portrait sitting.  A body builder won the raffle and she has since then become an acquaintance of his.  He asked her to photograph a competition that took place today. 

I offered to go with her to give her moral support for this first-time endeavor.

Once we got there and saw the lay of the land, I shamelessly asked her if she minded if I took some photos too.

Being completely unprepared, I encountered a few difficulties:

1)  The venue was dark.  

2)  Because I didn't know I'd be taking pictures, I didn't bring my off-camera flash, so I was limited to using the built-in flash--which left a lot to be desired.  

3)  I bumped the iso up to a high number which I knew would render grain in the image because of the darkness of the scene.

4)  I'm experiencing some shutter lag with my camera which will require a trip to the repair shop, I'm afraid

5)  The shutter-lag caused some of my images to be soft, or downright blurry.

6)  I couldn't figure out what white balance to use--I experimented with several, all of which fell short of being "good enough"

7)  The background was ugly

But...

Out of all the images I took, I only kept about 20.  

They're not sharp, but it was still good practice.  

Turning them into b/w definitely improved them. 

By the way, for any of you who might be new to my blog, these images are waaaayyy outside my comfort zone and not typically the types of portraits I do.  But as I mentioned above, it was a new experience and not totally unpleasant.

A Couple More

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A couple more images from my short hike the other day.

If you'd like to see images made by my friend, go here.

A Short Hike

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A short hike today.  Threat of rain.  Cloudy, dreary skies. Not as much color as I'd hoped.

But....

a great morning to be outdoors and more practice photographing moving water.

54 Days

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My Hawaii daughter surprised me the other day when she contacted me and said she was flying to NY for Thanksgiving.  Then my California son and his wife notified me that they were flying to NY for Thanksgiving too.  I'm so, so, so happy that they'll be here.

Well, the Hawaii girl has been on a running/swimming/exercise regime for quite a while now, and she came up with the suggestion that we all register for the 5k Turkey-Trot in Altamont the Sat. after Thanksgiving.  Ok....that sounds like a good thing to do.  I think.

So it will be the NY daughter, the Hawaii daughter, the California daughter-in-law and me.

I'm thinking I'll probably wimp out and walk most of the 3.1 miles.  I am, however, going to start training to run jog as much of the distance as I can.  I can say that now cause today was only Day 1 of training.

54 days to go.  

I figure if I increase the running jogging by 1.5 tenths a day, by the day of the Turkey-Trot, I should be able to run jog the entire way.  

We'll see.  I confess that I'm a woman of good intentions but weak will.  I'll try and keep you posted about my progress.

Scavenger Hunt--Assignment #10:  Rays

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Ray:  (mathematics)

Any of a set of straight lines passing through one point

Usually It's Christmastime

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Today I photographed the two younger grand kids for their school photos.  Usually it's Christmastime before I/we get around to it.  Last year we never did get any pics of #1 grandson.

They were pretty cooperative, but the boy began losing patience after about 45 minutes.  Can't say I blame him--but I wasn't feeling well today and he was getting hungry, so of lot of those "later" images are only mediocre. 

This first series is acceptable though.