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!

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!!

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.

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.

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!"

Christmas Eve

I wish you peace...

... and joy ...

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

Merry Christmas!

Hope

Mitten Ornament...

... on Sideshow Bob.

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.

Santa's Little Helper

My Prince

And a random ornament.

Ornament

One of several that belonged to my grandma,

then my mom, and now me.

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.

Ornaments in the trees

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.

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?

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.

Turtle with Tennis Shoes

Christmas Party

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

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.

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.

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.

Ice on my Windshield

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

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.