Thursday, December 31, 2009

White New Years

The shop at night.

And cars on Hayden Avenue.

Wishing everyone a happy New Year!
Celebrate safely.
Oh, and happy anniversary, Scott!



Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Pepper Flower

Check out the 1CM Macro function on the new camera!
This is a flower on my pepper plant. It's about 1/4 inch wide.
The camera was very close.
I'm impressed.

My New Toy

It finally arrived!!

Monday, December 28, 2009

Flash & The Poinsettia

Ok, it's been months since my photography workshop.
I've learned to use, and even prefer
manual focus in some situations.
I mean, let's be honest. I took almost 450 shots
over two days of the eagles.
Maybe half a dozen were manually focused.
Auto-focus has it's place.
So I'm not completely converted.
But today, we're talking about flash - because that's the other thing
I was told I needed to work on. And I'm still not loving the flash.
This photo of my poinsettia was taken with flash and then Photoshopped.
In spite of the adjustments I've made, it still looks flat to me.
Not to mention what the flash does to the colors.
Those leaves look blue.
This is the same shot with natural light, also Photoshopped.
I like the colors so much better.
Which is not to say I'm giving up on flash.
We have a long dark winter ahead - I'm sure I'll have
plenty of opportunity to practice.
I'm just saying I don't like it.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Eagles - Day Two

We went out early this morning for more shots of the eagles.
The conditions, while gorgeous, weren't the best for photos.
It was foggy and freezing.


I still can't get over how majestic they are.

Absolutely beautiful in flight.

This guy was eating his fish from a perch safely in the tree.

This one flew right overhead.

I am frozen to the core, but still glad
we got up early and went to the lake.
Thanks, Scott, for being such a good sport.

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Eagles on Lake Coeur d'Alene

The eagles are back on Lake Coeur d'Alene.
We went for a hike today to see if we could get any photos.
Aren't they magnificent creatures?

So graceful...

So beautiful...

So powerful!

Look at those talons!
We are going back tomorrow, early in the day
to see if we can get more shots of them fishing.
I can't wait.

Christmas

Scott says "Merry Christmas, Everyone!"

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Christmas Eve

I wish you peace...
... and joy ...

... and love on Christmas and through the coming year.

Merry Christmas!


Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Mitten Ornament...

... on Sideshow Bob.

Monday, December 21, 2009

Winter Solstice

Today marks the Winter Solstice - the shortest day of the year.
This means the days will only get longer from this point forward.
For that, I am grateful.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Saturday, December 19, 2009

My Prince


And a random ornament.

Friday, December 18, 2009

Ornament

One of several that belonged to my grandma,
then my mom, and now me.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Our Charlie Brown Christmas Tree

It's finally up.
The lighting in this shot stinks,
it was hand-held and should have been shot with a tripod,
the top is crooked,
but it's up.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Covered in Snow

I look at the Robert Gordon Veteran's Memorial every day at work.
It's right outside my window.
It looked kind of cool today underneath the snow.

Monday, December 14, 2009

City Christmas Tree, Take 2

Diane suggested I take a picture of the tree again today with the snow on it.
She was right - Thanks, Diane!
I figured that was it - the shot of the day.

But this sight greeted me when I left for the day.
The lights and the blue glow of dusk really add something, don't you think?

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Dried Flowers

These are dried Alaskan wildflowers, sent by Scott to his Grandma Mary.
When she passed away, they came back to us.
I love the colors.
And the butterfly is a nice touch.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Turtle with Tennis Shoes

Christmas Party

Here we are, on our way to my company Christmas party...

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Totem

Que

The pupalupagus.

Baby's First Birthday

The baby turned one this week.
She got a doll from Grandpa.
She had a little trouble with the wrapping paper.

And she got a cake.

She knew just what to do with the cake.


Monday, December 7, 2009

Presents for a little one

Today was spent wrapping the presents that have
to be shipped to Salt Lake for my grandson.
Man, I wish I could be there to watch him open them!

Road Trip to Washington

Sunday, we drove to Lacey, Washington to get the
rest of my daughter's things out of storage.
This was the scene at 7:30 a.m. We stopped at the rest stop by Sprague Lake.
The temperature was 19 degrees and the wind was howling out of the north.
Any idea of stopping for future photo ops was gone.
This was the scene at the top of Snoqualmie Pass. Beautiful...

...and treacherous. Please ignore the massive cracks in the windshield.

The rest of the day was spent packing the truck and worrying about the return trip over Snoqualmie. Luckily, the snow had stopped and the roads were snow packed and sanded.

We're home again, safe and sound, and that's what matters.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Music, music, music

Other than a brief trip to the hospital this morning for my MRI (more on that on Monday) and an hour spent in Scott's shop painting a turtle with tennis shoes (more on that next Saturday), this has been my world today. I'm burning CD's as part of a work/Christmas project. It started this morning, and after a couple of minor (I hope) setbacks, I have 16 of 70 done.
Tomorrow is a road trip. Hopefully I'll have more interesting photos for you then.

Toys R Us

Spent an hour on Friday night shopping for the grand kids.
That's probably the most fun shopping trip of the season.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Ice on my Windshield

At least I spared you another shot of the Christmas Tree...

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

It's Bad

Today was a beautiful day: Bright blue sky, crisp air. I decided to take a picture of the City Christmas Tree on the way back from lunch. I was in a hurry and snapped a few quick shots and went back to work, satisfied that my "photo for the day" had been satisfied. Imagine my dismay when I got home from work and uploaded the photos, The tree was in the shade of the building and as a result, my beautiful blue sky is completely blown out.
In every stinking photo.

I know there were some in-camera adjustments I could have made to fix this.
There are probably things I could have done in Photoshop as well,
to salvage the shots. But it's beyond my level of experience.

And I'm in too much pain to care.
I hurt my shoulder during the trip to Salt Lake at the beginning of November.
I'm having an MRI on Saturday to determine if it's "just" a bad case of bursitis
or a torn rotator cuff.

And because I'm grumpy and in too much pain
to figure out how to fix these photos,
we all suffer.

To add insult to injury, I'm going to try to get the photos right again tomorrow.
Straight out of the camera.
Stay tuned.