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.

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.

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.

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.  



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. 



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...

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.

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.

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!   

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.

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.