334/365

If you’ve followed my blog for any time at all you’ve probably “met” my amazing friend, Felice. Tomorrow is her 40th birthday, so a couple of our friends organized a surprise birthday party for her. All I took with me was my cell phone, so please forgive the quality of the photos. I think you’ll see how much Felice enjoyed the party despite the poor photo quality – it was the first birthday party she has EVER had!

		Felice's party VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Happy, happy birthday, my precious friend. I thank God for you every day!

333/365

TDS - "Illustrate what the word vision means to you. Either be literal or interpret it broadly and artistically."

I had a vision for a portrait of Austin - one in which he had a pleasant expression, eye contact, and no bruises. I was able to carry out my vision with a combination of camera settings, Photoshop, and luck. (For those who are unaware - This special little man has always been interesting to shoot - he has a hard time with eye contact and attention span, and he wasn't able to use his facial muscles until relatively recently, so smiling photos of him are rare. I was pleased with this one.)

332/365

Today was not much of a photo day. After being out until early this morning and having to get up in time to get everyone ready for church, I didn't have the energy to go photo hunting today. My 17-year-old daughter had a car accident last night, and although she was okay, we took her to the ER to be checked out. We ended up not getting home and in bed until after 1am - it was a short night. We weren't the only family with difficult circumstances last night, and we ended up at church without anyone to teach Sunday School, so I brought the younger Sunday School kids into the church nursery with me. That was interesting, but those older kids weren't very entertained by the toddler toys. How do you keep a group of restless 5-9 year olds quiet and busy? Give them a cell phone camera! 

Okay - here's the challenge...can you tell which photos I took? LOL!!

1. 

2. 

3. 

4.

5. 

6. 

7. 

 

331/365

Today's Daily Shoot assignment is "Go for an unusual point of view and make a photograph that can only be made from that viewpoint." Well, I don't know if this is a particularly unusual viewpoint, but it's the best vantage point to see how Molly is cradling her face. She either sleeps like this - with her face cradled by one paw - or she crosses her front feet and rests her chin on them. She's a funny girl. 

Yesterday, after all that playing at Nana's, she came home and found her cushion. At that time it was just tossed in my bedroom - not its normal place - but she went in and went to sleep on it like it was bedtime. I guess she wore herself out! Apparently she wasn't the only one. Last night is the first night in years that we did not have to reprimand the boys for talking after it was sleep time. I guess 3-4 hours of sledding will wear a body out!

330/365

I took my camera to Nana's with me, but I never got around to using it - it was too much fun to take video of the kids and the dog frolicking in the snow. Some of you will have seen this already...sorry about that...but I just had to share it with everyone else. My family is just too much fun.

329/365

I didn't take many pictures today - I was too busy preparing for Thanksgiving dinner and enjoying our friends and family. I think I only took a total of 8 photos all day long! Here's the first one I took today - our Sweet Potato Muffins. A delicious Thanksgiving Day breakfast!

For my photog friends - I used my white diffuser panel as the bottom for this and set up in a corner with two white walls. I bounced my flash off the ceiling to spread the light around, and somehow my settings were close enough the first time! This was the only shot I took of the muffins because I was satisfied with my first one. 

Here's a link to the recipe I used. http://www.brucefoods.com/recipes/new/spb/spb.html - I obviously made muffins instead of bread loaves. I put pecans on top and then baked them for 15-18 minutes, I think. When they were still warm I brushed them with butter and then dipped the tops in granulated sugar. I don't have any left, so I'm thinking they were okay.

328/365

I was thinking about trying the water/oil stuff that Sandra shared today, but it just never happened. I also wanted to do the Daily Shoot assignment - "travel" - but I didn't travel anywhere! Actually, since it was hovering around 0* Fahrenheit today, and I wasn't required to go anywhere, I didn't. I stayed home, and the closest I got to traveling was venturing down my front steps. I didn't even get that far to take this wintery shot of my neighbor's garden wagon.
 
(Yes, it's this wagon.) 

Tomorrow 19 people will be gathering here at our house to share fellowship and offer thanks to God for all He has done for us. I'm looking forward to it - I love Thanksgiving, and I especially love having my family and friends around. I hope all my 365 friends have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and may it truly be a day of thankfulness for you and your family. I am so thankful for all of you! I wouldn't be where I am with my photography without friends who keep challenging me!

327/365

I didn't have any trouble finding a subject for The Daily Shoot today - "Go white on white today. Make a photograph of a white subject on a white background." For this photo I went back over to Vance's yard and took another shot of this great wheel.
 

We had blizzard conditions overnight and early this morning. It was quite wintery! As my husband said, "winter has winted." It sounds as if we're done getting snow for now, but the temperatures are supposed to be very low - single digits Fahrenheit, and even below zero for a short period of time. Cold enough to stay inside by the fire!

326/365

Instead of doing the Daily Shoot assignment today (horizontal lines) I decided to capture some snow. It seems we have it in abundance today, and it's covering the horizontal lines I was going to shoot! It looks like it's time for my neighbor to put some decorations on his tree!

325/365

I went back to Snapshot Sunday for today’s photos. In fact, the only shot of all these that I took was the one of the cheese toasties we had with our potato soup. The kids played with my cell phone, and this is what we ended up with. Just some snapshots of a moment in Scrivnerburg.

324/365

The guys (my husband and sons) were working hard on the bedroom floor to prepare it for laminate flooring. They were working with one tungsten light bulb until Mom came in and ::gasp:: opened the curtains! But before opening the curtains I took a tungsten shot of the staple remover just for my TDS photo.
 

TDS - "Tungsten light can often create a warming effect, depending on your white balance. Use tungsten light in a photo today."

Here's one more shot of the work...
 

I'm really looking forward to having the laminate flooring in the boys' room. Their carpet has been so yucky for so long!

323/365

A late photo for me today! It’s been a very busy day for me. I didn’t even get to work until dinnertime tonight, but now I’m done with that, so I could play with my camera. The Project 365 Friday Challenge was “Curves” so I used my pretty apples (lotsa curves), and then I edited it with Photoshop’s curves adjustment…so there’s double curves!

322/365

What’s more fun than a barrel of monkeys? A barrow of puppies! Or a little wheelbarrow of yorkie puppies.

These guys were quite a challenge – there were only 3 of us (me with the camera – so I couldn’t do much, Caleb, and the puppies’ person-mommy) and it was very hard to keep them under control. ROFL! Like we had any control at all! They were all over the place, but they sure were fun!

If you’ve been hanging around my blog, you will have “met” the dog-mommy last year. (Safaria is her registered name, I believe, but she is called Stumpy.)

I had some technical troubles – very low light, so a high ISO which mean noisy photos; only one off-camera flash that was only working sporadically; five dogs; a mini photo assistant who kept tipping, dropping, or tossing puppies; five playful dogs…

This little monster had my shoelace in a death grip. I think he won.

321/365

Today’s assignment from The Daily Shoot is “Graffiti is unwanted by many, but can be visually interesting. Find visual interest in something you don't like today.”
I hate having kids' toys strewn all over my brand new lawn (if you knew how hard we've worked for this lawn you'd completely understand!) so I'm calling this Lawn Graffiti! As far as visual interest goes, I used my 50mm lens at 1.8 to get the narrow depth of field…that’s visual interest, right?

While I was out shooting various toys (there were actually 7 or 8 to choose from) I also saw this one…

but this one doesn’t bother me as much because it just looks like it belongs there. Fallen maple leaves and football are what autumn is all about, right?

Thanks for stopping by!

320/365

I’m kinda bummed that I didn’t get a chance to do the Daily Shoot's photo assignment today – it was a photo with a single element. I liked the idea, but I just wasn’t able to get to photography until waaaaaay late in the day, and then it had to be a photo of opportunity. Today was a busy day, and one of my activities was my friend’s Pampered Chef show. We (I use that loosely – Brenda, the Consultant, did the work) made this yummy Mediterranean pizza. The first shot was just to meter light, and I decided I liked it, so here it is…

This is the shot I was going for. I realize it’s very much like the shot I took of the pizza we made at my own PC show, but that’s just the way it is!

319/365

Today is the last day of The Daily Shoot's first year! 
 

Okay...after I wrote on the calendar and took the photo I realized tomorrow is actually Daily Shoot's birthday. Oh well. Happy early birthday then!

TDS - "Can you believe it's been a year of @dailyshoot? We can't! Make a photograph with a calendar theme today."

 

I have really enjoyed the Daily Shoot assignments. I didn't join in that fun until they were about halfway through, but it has been such a great place for me to start on days when I had no inspiration. I've also encountered some great photographers in the group, and learned a lot about shooting things I'd never think of focusing on. Thanks, Daily Shoot, for so much photo fun!

318/365

Today’s Daily Shoot assignment was the concept of “free.” I didn’t really have a good mental picture of what I wanted until my neighbor waved me down and told me to send some future gardeners over to get the last of the carrots. Not only did my kids get carrots, but they got potatoes, strawberries, and a bag of prepicked tomatoes! Yay for free produce!

317/365

TDS - "What is your favorite material? Make a creative photograph today that emphasizes its characteristics."

I chose to go quite literal with "material." This is my new scarf - it's my current favorite material...especially the bold flowers. It is happily modeled by my 9-year-old daughter who was apparently hoping she could keep it after she was done modeling. I don't think so!!

 

316/365

The Daily Shoot - "Create a composition that playfully incorporates text of some sort in it today. Make it meaningful to you if you can."

Today is my darling’s birthday. I took him out to dinner and had these great candles put on his apple streusel cheesecake. In case you have trouble reading it..."LOST COUNT"

(I really should have used a tripod and a slow shutter speed to get better light, but those candles were burning really fast!)

315/365

As promised, I took real pictures today! We had a well-child check today, and our doctor’s office is just down the street from this building that just had a new façade put on it. What a serendipitous situation for me – the Daily Shoot assignment is “Facades give buildings their public face. Make a photo of a building's facade today that tells its story.” Here are a couple shots I took of Devries Real Estate’s new façade…

Both of these photos were touched with CoffeeShop’s Bold Pop. I say “touched with” because I pulled the effects way back…but I’m pleased with the results.

314/365

Another semi-cheat post...but at least this one fits the Daily Shoot assignment - "Gauges, meters, and turn signals are all indicators. Make a photograph of an indicator that catches your attention today." I'm semi-cheating because this isn't a photograph - it's a screen capture of the online software I use to keep track of my work time. This is from the toggl.com website - it's a great tool! This shot should give you an idea of what I've spent the entire evening doing, after having an informal counseling session this morning, and tough appointment, and then 5 parent-teacher conferences. 
 

Today was an emotional wringer of a day, so I'm headed to bed. I promise a blog-worthy photo for tomorrow!

313/365

I'm totally cheating by sending an uninspired cell phone shot, but it's all I have time for today. I was unable to work yesterday due to technical issues, so I had a LOT to do today. It also turned out to be a busy day with other obligations, so here I am, at 8pm, with a mountain of work still to do. It's a good thing I love my job!

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

312/365

Today's assignment from The Daily Shoot is "Radiating lines pull the viewer directly to a center of interest. Take advantage of this in a photo you create today." I always read the Daily Shoot assignments early in the morning so I can be watching for something that suits the topic. I don't think this would have caught my interest if I hadn't already read "radiating lines" - I've seen lots of pumpkins without giving them a second glance. That's why I love using the Daily Shoot or similar inspirations - they make me think outside of my own little box. I actually really like this photo and subject - I had never noticed the star shape to a pumpkin's stem until I took this photo. Fascinating details are everywhere!
 

311/365

The assignment from The Daily Shoot today is “Sometimes what’s out of focus can make the shot. Create a photograph today where some/all of your subject isn't in focus.” Since my beloved was preparing for our church Thanksgiving Dinner, I decided to use him for my subject.

He really makes awesome deviled eggs!

It’s a heavily overcast day, and I used window light for this…I should have upped my ISO and played with my settings so the white parts weren’t blown out so much, but he was filling too fast! Oh well…the consolation for a photo that’s not quite what I had hoped is that I get to eat some of the deviled eggs! (By the way – I used my 50mm 1.8 for this. I haven’t used that lens in months!)

310/365

It wasn't much of a photo day today, but Felice brought her awesome new doormat over for me to see. I love love love it! (I don't know if you all still have vacuum salespeople and evangelists at your door often, but we sure do!)

It seems like fall is finally on its way out here in the Bitterroot Valley - it felt chilly today for the first time all season!
Thanks for stopping by!

309/365

Today was one of “those” days. It wasn’t a bad day – just ineffectual. Unfortunately, that means that I didn’t have time for a good photo today. I really wanted to go for a walk to look for today’s Daily Shoot assignment (low color saturation), and today’s Project 365 challenge (texture). I didn’t get to do either. I spent a big chunk of my day in the mall waiting for a pair of glasses to be finished. While we were waiting Ken, Austin, and I went to Red Robin for dinner – Austin loved the tower of onion rings!

Those onion rings definitely had texture! They were nice and crispy on the outside, and very oniony on the inside. Hey…I think a few of those came home with us…maybe I should heat ‘em up in a pan…

(Sorry for the cell phone photo, but I didn’t carry my big camera bag into the mall for our 3-hour foray.)

308/365

I let this go until too late. Oops! The Daily Shoot assignment today was to make a photo that emphasizes or exaggerates brightness. Here is my submission...
 

307/365

I’m getting to my blog earlier today than I have been lately! That’s partially because I’m so inspired by the amazing fall colors we still have. I don’t recall ever seeing an autumn this lovely! The colors have been astounding, and they have lasted far longer than is normal for western Montana. I had to go out and shoot my neighbor’s mountain ash this morning when the sun was lighting it up – it almost looked electric!

Today’s assignment from The Daily Shoot is “Frames outline the focus of a subject. Make a creative photo with natural framing: windows, doors, trees, borders, etc.” Here is my submission for that assignment…

Thanks for stopping by!

306/365

I made homemade Cream of Potato soup for dinner. It was the first time I’ve made it, and it was delicious! I’m not much of a soup fan, but this was a soup I’ll make over and over. Of course, I had to take a picture (or 7) of it.

Not my best food photo ever, but I didn’t have much time before the vultures descended on the soup – it’s a good thing I took the pictures before dinner – there wasn’t enough left to take photos after dinner. If you’re interested in the recipe I got it here - http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pats-Cream-of-Potato-Soup/Detail.aspx.

305/365

Today’s Daily Shoot assignment is “balance.” I chose to interpret it in artistic terms – in terms of having the image appear harmonious, with all the elements playing a part in the overall scheme. More info on artistic balance can be found here.

Here is my shot for the day. For this shot “balance” could take on another meaning – in order to make sure my car, the neighbor’s car, the skateboard, the joggers, and the street traffic didn’t show in this photo I had to balance on the edge of the other bench in my front yard, hold my tongue just so, and stretch up and to the right. :-)