182/365

BW Bronc Rider

Bronc riding event at the rodeo.

158/366

Paddleboarder

As I was walking across the Chena River bridge, I wanted to take a photo of the water and the trees, but this paddle boarder was in the scene, so that was a bonus.  By the time I had my camera focused I noticed that she might be taking a selfie.  Another bonus.

I personally wouldn't take my phone anywhere near a body of water, but each to their own I guess.

My heart was happy:

to come across an unexpected scene

53/365    

Decor

I was visiting a photographer friend of mine in his studio today.  He has several of these camera statues scattered around and then I saw these mini-albums that he offers his clients.

I did a little reorganization and voila.

My heart is grateful today for:

the smiles and laughter my "group" shared around the table after our

exercise class this morning

17/366

Water Pipes

Today as I was driving to a friend's house, I saw these pipes in the field.  There were a lot of them, so I knew there is some construction in the future, but I wasn't sure what they are actually for.  When I arrived at my friend's house, I asked her if she knew and she said they are water pipes.  So there ya go!

I love the color of these pipes~~it contrasts so nicely with the dead grass and winter landscape.  I only had my phone with me...I've carried my big cameral with me so many times when I never took it out of the bag that I decided to leave it home today.  So naturally a scene presented itself.  

There's a saying that the "best" camera is the one in your hand at any given time, so today my best camera was my phone.  Not usually my camera of choice, but today it worked.

Special Christmas Service and High ISO

37/365

 Every December my church holds a special pre-Christmas Sunday evening service.  That service took place two days ago. We sing many Christmas Carols from the hymnal, there is a lot of other music and Scripture is read chronicling the prophecy of and the birth of Christ.  Following the service there is always a food reception, the reputation of which precedes the event and spreads far and wide.  

I always go about an hour early. That way I can photograph to my heart's content without interfering with the somber but joyous nature of the event.  I refuse to use flash though and because the service takes place at night when there's no ambient light from outside, I have to bump the ISO up pretty high.  Even after all these years of using a digital camera and experimenting with high ISO and knowing how good the cameras of today are, I still almost hyperventilate when going past 800 or so.

But I had to go high in spite of my stubborn innate resistance. So I tried 1200--no good.  Then 1600--no good.  Then 2000--still no good but getting close.  Finally up to 2500 and knew I didn't have to go any higher.  Whew, I was getting nervous.  My camera is excellent at those ISOs, I need to learn to relax and just go with what's necessary to get the images.

It was a great evening and I'm pretty happy with the images.  They'll be a nice addition to the church history scrapbooks.

Waikiki in Black & White

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The other day my friend and I went to Waikiki with the intention of doing some street photography only in black & white.  We both LOVE black & white and I remember back in the day when the only  way to shoot b&w was to insert an entire roll of b&w film into the camera.

If you decided you wanted to switch to color halfway through the roll, you either had to stick it out and finish the roll or remove it which was pretty tricky to do.

Now....with digital, it's just a matter of switching functions. 

But shooting b&w is a different animal than shooting color.  You have to "see" differently and anticipate what will look good and what won't.  Sometimes it's easier to shoot in color and then convert to b&w on the computer.  Part of me thinks that's cheating.  Part of me thinks that's cool.

Shooting in a b&w function forces you to be more discerning--you know that the image has to stand on the merits of composition and contrast without the impact of beautiful color to grab the viewer's attention.  Of course, the digital darkroom can really enhance any image, as did the wet darkroom, so some images can be salvaged.

So we set our cameras on b&w and began shooting.

After we finished at the beach, we headed over to our favorite Starbucks.  We did a little practice with panning and slow shutter speed.  I didn't have my tripod and I was just trying to teach my friend how to do these techniques, so I really didn't anticipate having any keepers.  Most of the images I shot were deleted, but these next three appealed to me.  

(Although the camera was hand-held, I was resting the camera on a newspaper box)

Just For Fun

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A good friend of mine celebrates her birthday at the end of March while I'm still in Hawaii.  I promised to take her out for brunch after I returned to NY.  Yesterday was the day.  We went to this great little place called Grapevine Farms that has the sweetest dining room/gift shop/wine cellar ever.

Between taking our time with our meal and wandering around the gift shop, we practically made a day of it.  It was wonderful.

Today, I went to another friend's house to help her figure out how to use her point & shoot camera.  I have the same one--she has a super-duper camera manual, so between the two of us and the manual, we managed to have a great time trying the special-effects functions on the camera.  

These first two images show the fish-eye effect, my personal favorite.  My friend isn't too impressed with it, but it's an effect that I really enjoy working with, even though it's not strictly a pure fish-eye.  It's just funky enough to be fun enough to use once in a while.

This next effects is selective color.  Although the composition isn't anything to write home about, the technique is so cool.  After putting the camera on the "selective color" function, you point the camera at the color you want to isolate, take the picture, and voila!!

And then!!!!  What fun.  This is called "color switch".  What a hoot.

The next two are just close-ups of flowers. But really, the lens is about 1.5 inches away from the subject.  If it's bright enough and there's no wind, you can get some great macro images.

No special effects on these last two.  Unless you want to call a slow shutter speed a special effect.  So that combined with some beautiful color in the sky and this is what you get.  I rested the camera on the picnic table because the shutter speed was so slow. I used a high ISO, so when they're enlarged they're very grainy.  But in small versions, they look pretty iconic.

Some Small Miracles

This is not my photo post for today. I woke up this morning way too early, and in the process of not being able to fall back to sleep began thinking about what happened to me the other day. So now I share it with you. This might be long, but if you need a little reminder of how good God is, read on.

I went to the zoo the other day (see the post for April 2 if you're interested). It took me three months to finally get motivated to go. The guidebooks I have don't give the Honolulu Zoo a very good review, and neither did any of the people I spoke with who have been there. So I was torn as to whether I should bother or not. But the lure of possible photo ops overcame my hesitancy, and I made the trip. The zoo is in Waikiki, right across the street from the beach. Another two-for-one opportunity.

As I drove into the parking lot, I remembered that I needed quarters to feed the parking meters with. Sure enough, I forgot to get some before leaving home. I thought I might be able to find a meter with some time left on it so I could go to the store, get change and feed the meter before going into the zoo. Well, eureka, I found a meter with 1 hour and 15 minutes left! And as I put my keys into my pocket I found a quarter which then extended my time to 2 hrs 15 min. (miracle #1). Each quarter is good for 1 hour. That certainly wouldn't happen in NY. It was 3 pm and the zoo closed at 5 pm. Perfect timing.

So off to the zoo entrance, where I discovered that the kama 'aina fee was 1/2 the regular fee. (miracle #2) (kama 'aina is local resident and I have a local checking account) I also discovered that the zoo was open till 5:30 so I had some extra time.

The weather was great-anyone who knows me knows how I basically fall apart if it's too hot or muggy. That day was cool, brightly overcast, with a nice breeze. Wonderful! (miracle #3)

The animals were moving around. (miracle #4)

It wasn't crowded. (miracle #5)

My camera worked! In light of all the camera mishaps I've had this trip, it was refreshing to get through the entire zoo without a problem. (miracle #6)

On my way out of the zoo, I remembered to get some quarters because I wanted to spend some time at the beach before heading off to my friend's house. When I arrived at my car, with only minutes to spare (since I stayed inside the zoo longer than I originally intended to), I was ready to feed another quarter into the meter. However, I noticed that the meter in front of the empty space next to me had an hour and 15 minutes still left. (miracle #7) So being basically cheap (gotta save those quarters, dontcha know), I moved the car over and headed off to the beach.

When I finally looked at my watch, I disappointedly realized I needed to head back to the car and wished I had put that silly quarter in the meter. I arrived at the car with only 1 (one) minute left. (miracle #8)

I started driving to my friend's house and between my GPS and her directions I arrived there without getting lost! (BIG miracle #9)

Well, in light of all the tragedy and sorrow in our world, i.e. our new president, the economy, the mass shootings, the jobless rate, the high cost of everything, cancer, pollution, rude people, bail outs, wars, death, etc., you're probably wondering why I'm writing about parking meters and not getting lost in Honolulu, etc., as miracles.

It's just that I'm constantly reminded by my loving God that He is still in control--not just of the big things, but also of the little things. He reminds me that He can bless me big-time or in the myriad of the quiet, unseen, almost unnoticed details that make up my life. I hope I never lose my appreciation of these Small Miracles.

We will soon be celebrating the greatest miracle of all--Easter. Jesus died to atone for our sins and was resurrected. Praise God.

Pineapple Anyone?

I decided to take a ride to the Dole Plantation this afternoon. I spent the morning and the early part of the afternoon catching up on emails, bills, cleaning and just puttering around the house. Nathan went to his Grandma's this morning, so I had the house to myself. Glory!!!

But by mid afternoon, I was getting cabin fever. So I decided to take my camera and get some images at the plantation.

When you first arrive, there are several kiosks outside, specializing in Pick-a-Pearl. For anyone who doesn't know what that is, they spin a drum with pieces of paper and then you pick one out. It usually has a price on it or "free". This is the cost of the pearl you get when you "pick your pearl" by choosing a clam.

Once you get a pearl, you're encouraged to pick some jewelry to have the pearl "set" in. The jewelry is truly beautiful, and it's very, very difficult to say no.

There is a large pond on the grounds, filled with koi. I was standing on a small foot bridge and the people next to me were feeding the fish. You can see what a frenzy they were in.

There are many, many things to look at and purchase inside the building, including that delicious Pineapple Ice Cream I treated myself to last week with my friend, Sue. But I didn't succumb today, I was just there to look and photograph. Tucked into a corner, where I wouldn't be seen taking this photo, is this display of beautiful Hawaiian quilt wall-hangings. I just love the patterns and the colors, and you can buy almost any type of item made out of these quilts--purses, pot-holders, bed quilts, throw pillows, etc.

After finishing there, I headed toward the North Shore and stopped at Haleiwa again. Didn't take too many shots, but this sign caught my eye.

As a last resort, I headed to Laniakia Beach to see if there were any turtles basking and to see if maybe, just maybe there might be some kind of sunset. The weather has been so cloudy and rainy lately, that a pretty sunset seems like a thing of the past. This picture gives you an idea of the "grey" conditions this afternoon. But it was still beautiful.

And last, but not least, a turtle for Jayme. The light was pretty flat, but I did manage to catch this guy when he was moving his head. So there you go!!

Posted at 7:55 pm on Friday, Feb 20, 2009

An Hawaiian Icon

Yesterday a friend and I spent some time at Waikiki (see previous post). As soon as we walked onto the main street, I noticed a man sitting on the sidewalk, creating lei ("lei" is singular and plural). I grabbed my camera and started shooting, so did my friend. I began to feel a little guilty about taking so many photos and not compensating him in any way, when I noticed this particular lei. All of the lei were beautiful, but this one really stood out for me because of the crimson and yellow combination. So I treated myself. I wore it for the rest of the evening while shooting. The scent is truly beautiful.

PS--these flowers are plumeria.
Posted at 12:15 pm on Sat., Feb 14, 2009

Wandering Around the Neighborhood

I didn't go anywhere special today. I had a lot of work to do on the computer, and had to clean my room and pay attention to some bills. So I just took my camera and went for a walk around the neighborhood. These are some of the things I saw.

Remember I said I'm not too good at gardening? This is another thing I think I might be successful at. Almost a no-brainer if I could remember to water it regularly. I think it looks sweet.

Being winter in Hawaii means that there aren't too many flowers in bloom. But I did manage to find a few of these growing in a hedge at one home. They're awesome.

This one is growing in Kristine's yard. She says it's part of the gardenia family. Even though it's in the dieing stages, I think the image looks pretty interesting, and boy does it smell wonderful. I guess I never paid too much attention to gardenias before.

This little guy was just sitting on the concrete right outside the house and he stayed still enough for me to get several shots.

I love signs with personality.

And this is one of my favorites. Bird of Paradise. Not too many blooming at this time of year, but I managed to see this one in someone's yard.

Posted at 6:15 pm on Monday, Feb. 2, 2009