158/365

I’m going to post today’s Monochrome Monday shot while my computer is working well.

I have started following The Daily Shoot, and although I can’t do every assignment (yesterday’s was sunflare – no sun=no flare), I love the challenge of a new topic every day. Here is today’s:

“Manhole covers have character and quietly tell a story. Make a photo of a manhole cover in your neighborhood today.”

I liked the fact that there was something to be gained by the incessant rain. I was able to shoot the manhole cover and a reflection!

Thank you, Sandra, for leading me to The Daily Shoot!

137/365

I went on a bit of a photo walk for my Monochrome Monday shot today. I may have shared shots of this church before, but if I have, this is a slightly different perspective, and I don’t think I’ve ever done a mocha latte version before.

This is the Methodist church – just a couple blocks from my house. I has a lovely red door that I would love to use as a background sometime, some great locations on the grounds, and a carillon that plays at noon and 6pm.

130/365

Quick Monochrome Monday today – it’s been a busy day! I’m starting a new adventure (a new part-time job) and it called for a new laptop. Well, it wasn’t a requirement, but it will certainly make my job easier. So I went to Missoula today to find the very thing. Here is my new Toshiba laptop…

Now I’m off to finish that employee handbook and figure out what I’m doing! Thanks for stopping by!

123/365

For this Monochrome Monday shot I stayed indoors and took pictures of my african violet. Not only have I not killed this plant in the 2 years I’ve had it (amazing – trust me!), I have been able to take proper care of it so that it bloomed again and looks beautiful and healthy! It’s blossoms are white, so it’s a good candidate for black and white, I think.

Here’s a color version of the same shot.

I would never have thought of adding a warming filter to a black and white image, but one of my blog followers suggested it (thanks sasi! http://my3rdi.org/) and I really like what it did. This is a very light version, but it really added richness to the photo!

116/365

Zowie, this year is going fast! I can’t believe it’s almost the end of April!

For my Monochrome Monday shot I took my Kristi-girl over to the local park and took some shots of her swinging. The swingset isn’t in a good place for unobstructed photos, so I had trees no matter which way I went, but I kinda liked this anyway.

If you’re doing a 365 (or 52) project, what is your purpose for it? What do you hope/expect to accomplish over the course of the year?

109/365

Monochrome Monday! My great neighbor Vance always provides me with interesting things for black and white…

Here’s another view of the “thingy.”

And here’s a color shot of the beautiful bouquet Caleb gave me for my birthday…

It was a beautiful day today, so Ken, Caleb and I took a walk to the little park (the one with the Joy statue) and sorta had lunch. It was very nice, even if Ken was the only one to eat anything. I took pictures and Caleb played with sunshine flowers (aka dandelions). What a nice day! (It’s a good thing, too – the afternoon was INSANE!)
Anyway…I’m off to watch Chuck with my sweetheart. Tell me what you did or didn’t like about my photos!

102/365

Monochrome Monday again! These Mondays are coming around very fast! I was browsing through Flickr this afternoon and saw this photo. I used it as inspiration for my Monochrome Monday photo…

88/365

For Monochrome Monday I took a short jaunt down to the park across Main Street. I’ve take a couple photos of Joy before, but today I decided to get up close and personal…

Here’s one I took of the fence-y thingy that goes around part of the park…

I spent some time on Flickr going through monochrome photos – so much to look at there!

One more addition…

For this one I used the Coffeeshop Splendor B&W action and turned the brown tint and purple tint layers to soft light, then lowered the opacity on each until I got the look I wanted. I like the tones of this one.

I especially love how it looks on black!

81/365

Monochrome Monday! I got near the end of this day and realized I hadn’t shot my photo for today. I’ve been too busy playing with my new phone! So I went across to my neighbor’s yard to take some shots of his collection of old wheels/tires. These are set up as a sort of yard boundary.

I downloaded some new stuff for Photoshop today from this site. If you scroll down the page a bit there’s a section of free downloads. I used the PhotoTools 2.5 to edit this. I put the HDR effect on it, then Chrome to turn it black and white. I like the result for this subject.

Thanks for all the well-wishes. I think I’m back to “normal” for me. I didn’t do any photo browsing or reading today – too busy learning the cool new phone! :-)

Monday Meanderings

Monochrome Monday! As Caleb and I were taking our photo walk today we passed by these air conditioning units (I assume – they’re sticking out of windows in a building). Caleb pointed at the filter portion and said, “That’s black and white!” He was absolutely correct, so I shot it for my monochrome Monday photo. I like the pattern.

Word of the day – Catkin.  We also discovered these wonderful treasures on our walk. I knew they were the cottonwood flowers but I could not remember what they were called. Caleb and I talked about it for most of our walk, and when we got home the first thing we did was Google it. Catkins! That was it!

Amanda Hill shared this nice, simple storyboard on her blog recently– thanks Amanda! I put a few photos from the weekend in it just to test it out. I’m sure you’ll be seeing this layout often!

67/365

Well, it’s Monochrome Monday, so I will share a black and white photo…

I used Totally Rad Action’s Bitchin Black & White action to do this (I tried several other methods and didn’t like any of them – I kinda like this one). I only did this because is Monochrome Monday. I’m much happier with the color version…

Spring is coming, and I can tell because the tulips are coming up! So are the crocuses, but they weren’t as interesting yet.

I also have to share this funny little storyboard. This is Caleb’s current favorite lunch…

He was really ready for me to be done taking pictures of his lunch. That’s why he was hanging on the counter staring at it – he kept asking if I was done taking pictures yet. lol.

60/365

My Monochrome Monday shot is an outdoor shot of my poor, sick baby. He was out enjoying the sunshine for a bit in this shot, but he came in and conked out on the couch while the rest of us ate dinner. Poor guy. It seems the stomach bug that’s been running around has caught up to him. I’m hoping that we can keep the other kids away from that bug! Notice the bags under his sunken eyes…

f/2.2
1/500
iso 100
Converted using CoffeeShop Regular Cup of Joe preset for ACR

(He’s been drinking well, including Pedialyte and eating a bit – for those who will want to know.)

53/365

I’m totally wiped out today. Ready for bed at 6:21pm. Hmmm. Do you think the kids would notice?

I was hunting repeating patterns today. (Rachel, I thought it was funny that we both shot repeating patterns today!) I like the same-same-sameness in black and white.

 

f/8
1/50
iso 400
50mm

46/365

This is the second Monday in a row that I’ve just quickly snapped a moment. This one’s purpose is to document that Kristi and Caleb can actually play nicely together for a few minutes. They were sharing The Chair and playing a video game. It was sweet! (For a moment. Then Kristi objected to Caleb touching her or something.)

39/365

It’s a snapshot Monochrome Monday. I took my camera with me everywhere and never had a chance to use it. I ended up using it to capture a cute moment in my own living room. This was a quick snap just before the majority of the kids got home from school…Caleb and Molly were waiting eagerly for their playmates.

Are they home yet?

32/365

Happy February!

Photographers, if you’re not a follower of The Pioneer Woman’s photography blog, you should be. She shares great photos, good info, and a lot of inspiration. If you’re not a photographer and you don’t follow The Pioneer Woman’s Confessions blog you’re really missing out. She’s funny, talented, and a very real person. She must spend a lot of time blogging – she has so much going on over on her site!

Anyway…there is a point to this…The Pioneer Woman has a Charlie. I want a Charlie. He’s beautiful and wonderful!  I know that I will not have a Charlie any time soon, but I sure do love her posts about Charlie. Here’s my very favoritest one.

Since I don’t have and won’t have a Charlie soon, I decided to take pictures of the closest thing in my house. (By the way, Mom, this is actually yours. Barbara got it for you at the auction.) :-)

Thanks for stopping by on Monochrome Monday!

(Oh – lit by a candle and some ambient light, ISO 1600)

25/365

I was hoping for a dramatic landscape for Monochrome Monday. Nope. Just gray clouds again.

I went to a Thirty-One party today. Neat stuff! Check out that site! I wasn’t able to buy anything today, but I have a wish list, for sure! While I was at my friend’s house for the party I took some shots of her beautiful grand piano.

18/365

I’m having a hard time with Monochrome Monday – I want my pictures to be in color! We finally got a beautiful day – blue sky, bright sun, warm temps. Aaaahhhhhhh…

But here’s my Monochrome Monday shot – the fog this morning was light and beautiful. I loved the way it was just hanging around that farm.

Here’s the same shot in color…

And another one of the same view…

And then one more down by the river…

By the way, Mom is doing well and should be coming home this afternoon. Thank you all for your prayers and support.

11/365

Just another monochrome Monday! (Did anyone else hear The Bangles when they read that?) This is a church just down the street. I edited with my own normal workflow, then used CoffeeShop Creamy Chocolate on this twice, then put the brand new photo corner template from CoffeeShop on it for a somewhat old-timey look.

Photoshop gurus…what would be your suggested method for removing the car and garbage can from the lower right?

And while I’ve been working on this my mini-geek has been working hard too…

4/365

It’s Monochrome Monday! This is one of my neighbor’s wheels…he has several of these old wheels with rubber tires on them. Some of them are even wooden wheels, and some are metal…very cool old things.